Readymade News

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 10 November 2009

It looks like Michael Young is on a roll after moving from Iceland to Hong Kong. DesignBoom has an article on the i24r3 portable wireless waterproof digital speaker and Dezeen covers his Chair-4A, a dining chair made of recycled aluminum.

Design Sojourn has posted a great video of Michael Bierut of Pentagram and Design Observer, summarizing 5 design secrets:

1) Listen first, then design
2) Don’t avoid the obvious
3) The problem contains the solution
4) Indulge your obsessions
5) Love is the answer

Beirut also says he is more "like a 'doctor' waiting for 'patients' to come to him with design problems to solve".    

The T.27 is the brainchild of McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray and Zytek Automotive Technology. The car has been designed in a way that minimizes the use of materials and keeps the embedded carbon of the vehicle as low as possible. The firm claims the innovative manufacturing system will use 20 per cent less space and 80 per cent less capital investment than a conventional factory A spokesman for Gordon Murray Design said the body panels, for example, would be made from material originating from PET bottles. Via BBC.

Yesterday Tasos gave a talk at the SABS Design Institute which marked the opening  an exhibition tour of the 40 years of South African design excellence, celebrating original designs (innovations) from South Africa. Tasos presented selected Readymade projects including strategic consulting for Optimal Energy, the company behind the Joule and the Arivi Non-Pressure paraffin stove. See the presentation here. 

 

Lastly Wired.co.uk examines IDEO's design thinking approach and how they use lessons learned from product design to solving bigger challenges. Bill Moggridge one of the co-founders of IDEO says "if you don't get out there and see what it's like, then you couldn't really design it right."

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 03 November 2009

Tasos has written an article for the November issue of Management Today; South Africa’s leading management Journal describing Design Thinking. The title is Design for future business: thinking like a designer to solve problems and create new solutions. Here is an excerpt: "Organizations everywhere are recognizing the need to change radically in a rapidly changing world. Unfortunately many of these attempts fail because traditional management systems lack the tools to innovate in complex environments and much less so when faced with wicked problems. However, some businesses have solved this dilemma and are able to consistently innovate and grow over the long term, despite temporary setbacks during economic downcycles. These include Apple, Dell, GE, P&G, Infosys. Tata, Toyota, Amazon and ebay. What these organizations all have in common is that they have used design thinking to help guide their traditional business processes. This has allowed them to concentrate on the factors that improve competitiveness rather than doing the wrong things very well.

Design thinking can radically change organizations by embracing complexity and constraints, working collaboratively and iteratively and using expanded logic to achieve this. Inherent in this approach is the ability to see issues as part of a system, with all of its components, relationships and maintaining a view of the overall context. Design thinking also is adept at cultivating a deep understanding of customers and using this together with the factors above to create synthesis, or resolution rather than compromise. Design implies something creative but this is not some sort of art school freeform wackiness, this is creativity in its true meaning as the act of creation. In that sense, design can be thought of as the careful conception of a plan and the disciplined execution of that plan to create something new. 

In fact, design has a process as structured and rigorous as anything in business. It is a process aimed at solving problems by using our ability to create new solutions. This design process consists of several phases. Firstly, creating common understanding by analyzing data and research. Secondly, creation, where the data and insights drawn from research guide the creation of new options. Thirdly, filtering, using critical thinking to select the most promising options. Fourthly, validation, where fieldwork is done to test assumptions. Fifthly, synthesis, where options are drawn into a business model and assembled into the strategic plan. Sixthly, engineering, which develops the idea technically. And finally, implementation where the chosen solution is built in totality."

For more on design thinking and what it means for business read The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger Martin, review here and if you happen to be in New York on the 11th of November catch Bruce Nussbaum talking to Roger Martin and Tim Brown of IDEO.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 27 October 2009

 
Apple has re-invented the mouse, literally. The Magic Mouse uses the same multi touch technology that iPhones, iPods and MacBooks use. People can do a lot more than simple point and click. It's been a long time since there has been any real innovation in one of the most commonly used pieces of hardware.

"It began with iPhone. Then came iPod touch. Then MacBook Pro. Intuitive, smart, dynamic. Multi-Touch technology introduced a remarkably better way to interact with your portable devices — all using gestures. Now we’ve reached another milestone by bringing gestures to the desktop with a mouse that’s unlike anything ever before. It's called Magic Mouse. It's the world's first Multi-Touch mouse." Apple. Earlier this month BusinessWeek reported that Apple's revenues grew 25% over the same quarter a year ago and profits that grew 46%. Brian Ling argues that Design is their key strategic competitive advantage.

D.light Design has developed a solar powered lamp that they hope will replace millions of kersosene lanterns used by household in developing countries. The Kiran can be charged using the integrated solar panels or be AC-charged with a standard 0.5mm Nokia phone adapter. The Kiran can last up to 8 hours on a full charge and should retail for $10. "The Kiran is designed to be extremely user-friendly and flexible. It has no detachable parts, including an integrated solar panel that makes recharging simple and easy. The product shape, portability, and a handle with 9 different settings give the customer many options for use. The Kiran can be carried, hung from the wall or ceiling, or placed on any surface to effectively illuminate the surrounding area." D.light Design.

Great review of Herman Miller's new Setu chairs and the design studio behind it on Core77. Studio 7.5 designed a chair that works for just about everybody and it only requires adjusting the height. The chair has a seemingly simple wave contour that was developed using several prototypes to develop the "kinematic spine" that flexes when a person sits in the chair, obviating the need for a metal hinge and springs.

Tasos was a panelist at the Da Vinci Institute’s “Making Innovation Work” conference last week. The conference was run together with Breakthrough Management Group International (BMGI) and the Technology Top 100. “Dr Phil Samuel of BMGI  was with me on the panel. We discussed the need for organizations to design their own future rather than allowing circumstances to dictate their future. The conversation encompassed robust innovation processes and the link to Design Thinking though considering the human element. Creating the future requires collaboration, optimism, empathy, experimentalism, integrative thinking and storytelling. These are natural for most people; it’s the way we solve problems in our personal lives but organizational structures frequently don’t allow for them. This stifles innovation and positive change. The panel then placed this in the context of Systems Thinking.  It’s clear that solving problems in a holistic way is much more effective than dealing with symptoms.  The conclusion was that innovation processes, Design Thinking and Systems Thinking combine in very useful ways to solve the most pressing organizational issues.” Tasos Calantzis. 

Lastly we would like to mention Chic Cheat, a fashion blog, which shows people how to alter inexpensive clothing into their own versions of expensive fashion clothing. Nice bit of upcycling happening in the fashion design world. Charley Helfet is the daughter of Keith Helfet, the renowned automotive designer who spent most of his career at Jaguar, the company admired for its elegant design. At Jaguar, Keith designed cars such as the legendary XJ220 supercar, the show-stopping F-Type and many others. Most recently Keith has been involved with the design of the Joule.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 20 October 2009

The Dyson Air Multiplier™ Fan is the latest from James Dyson, the British inventor famous for making ordinary household appliances like vacuum cleaners better through technology and engineering. The Air Multiplier™ technology was discovered almost by accident. When working on the Airblade the team noticed  that the device was dragging a large amount of the surrounding air along with it, something that fluid dynamics people call "inducement."

The Air Multiplyer draws air in through the bottom of the unit and "is accelerated through an annular aperture. This creates a jet of air that passes over a 16° airfoil-shaped ramp, channeling its direction. Using an airfoil-shaped ramp (like a cross-section through an airplane wing), airflow is amplified 15 times." There are no blades, so there is no danger of children hurting themselves by accident. The Air Multiplyer is not cheap, but Dyson believes the technology could be put to use in other appliances. 

More British design news, Andrew Ritchie, designer of the Brompton folding bicycle, has won the 2009 Prince Philip Designers Prize. Brompton, which first developed its folding bicycle design has remained fundamentally unchanged for more than 20 years but compared to other types of folding bicycles, the Brompton is frequently held up as the winner. 22 000 bicycles are made in London annually with 70% being exported.

Ritchie spends more time on designing the manufacturing process than the bike itself. "It’s all very well designing the product, but it has to be makeable."

The Wikireader is one of those devices that does on thing really well, it is a simple device that has the whole of Wikipedia loaded. The small, durable and very energy efficient product is the latest from Openmoko with design from Thomas Meyerhoffer. Wikipedia is stored on an 8 gig SD card, which can be updated for a fee, the reader will retail for $99. Via DesignBoom.

It seems that Gizmodo has the lowdown on the Barnes and Noble Athena or ebook. Nice looking design that has an e-ink display and a touch sensitive color screen for navigation and input. Rumors are that it will have a direct link to 1 million Google Books. The product was designed by Ammunition Partners, a San Francisco firm headed by former Apple design chief Robert Brunner although there is no confirmation from any parties regarding the product.

Last week Tasos was a speaker at the University of Johannesburg’s two-day colloquium on Practice-Led Research in creative production. Tasos talked on Readymade's approach to design thinking. And yesterday he talked some more when the SABS Design Institute filmed at Readymade HQ for a new video featuring some of South Africa’s successful designers of the last 40 years.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 06 October 2009

       

BusinessWeek compiled a comprehensive list of the world's best design programs as "companies in every industry have adopted design thinking to offer fresh insight in functions from strategy to finance. BusinessWeek selected 39 master's and MBA programs from North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia that significantly integrate design thinking and business. Students in these programs take classes in art, management and science, for example, and create projects in multi-disciplinary teams with students from other schools. They aim to use design for strategy rather than merely for aesthetics and may find jobs as design managers, researchers or business consultants. These 30 programs have formally established hybrid curricula." 

Venessa Wong states in the article that there are different approaches between schools that teach design thinking and that the fruits of this approach are yet to become apparent but that these graduates might just redefine the way the world does business.

William Kamkwamba has been having a great week in the US promoting his book 'The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind' which he co-authored with Bryan Mealer. When he was just 14 years old, William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book.

William is currently studying at  the African Leadership Academy and has started the Doers Club. He plans to develop a solar powered steam engine that can be used to power a water pump or windmill and a hand operated borehole drill based on a tobacco press. Support Williams work at Moving Windmills.

Helix Wind announced that they will begin testing their products in Nigeria and USA to power cell phone towers; "wind turbines are ideal ways to lower the costs of operating expenses associated with cell phone towers in remote locations. These solutions are ideal for telecom infrastructure providers worldwide dealing with cell towers that are remote or off-grid and utilize unreliable or expensive energy sources. Depending on the configuration, Helix turbines can produce enough power to pay for themselves in as little as six months." Via DesignBoom.

Lastly, Readymade is happy to announce that we are working with USA chain Anthropologie to create a new addition to our Nest decor range. Pictured above is a current product, our take on the traditional fruit bowl. This range is developed under our Fabrication Africa brand. For information on stockists have a look at www.fabaf.com.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 29 September 2009

IDEO is exploring the use of design thinking to tackle a very large problem, that of climate change. Living Climate Change "is a place where the most defining challenge of our time is explored through design thinking. It's also a place to show, discuss, and share compelling and provocative thoughts and ideas about the future." 

Nathan Lorenz and Tim Bauer of Envirofit have been hailed as one of Time magazines Heroes of the Environment 2009. "In 2003, the two founded Envirofit, a nonprofit that uses their research into clean two-stroke-engine technology to create greener auto-rickshaws for Southeast Asia and India. Their expertise, they realized, could be applied to stoves. "When you visit these countries, you know that people should not be dying just because they're cooking breakfast," says Lorenz."

Compared to traditional cooking fires, Envirofit cookstoves reduce emissions by as much as 80%, use up to 60% less fuel and reduce cooking cycle time by up to 50%. Built and engineered to address the unique cooking habits of our customers, Envirofit clean cookstoves are a result of over five years of market research, engineering R & D. Envirofit International’s goal is to develop affordable, aesthetic, well-engineered technology solutions that have significant global health and environmental impacts and economic payback incentives for users.

Luke Wroblewski has picked up an interesting article about Taiwanese handset maker, HTC's unique design relationship with the San Francisco-based firm One & Co in Forbes; "The relationship is an unusual one. After hiring One & Co for a consulting project in 2006, HTC acquired the firm in December 2008. Though now a wholly owned subsidiary, One & Co continues to operate as an independent consultancy. To keep their ideas fresh, One & Co designers rotate between HTC projects and jobs for other companies, including Microsoft, Kodak, Nike, and European furniture makers. "Phones are about capturing what's coming tomorrow, while furniture is about longevity," says Zellweger. "It's good to have that balance in your head." Some materials migrate between projects, such as a plastic mesh that found use as a lamp cover, a bracelet and the speaker cover in the Hero."

Seems like there is a trend lately for well known British designers to open shops, a while back it was Jasper Morrison converting part of his studio into a retail space. Now Tom Dixon has followed suit and employed Studio Toogood to kit out a space in the Wharf Building at Portobello Dock in West London.

The shop consists of a number of set like areas that showcase Dixons products with aged walls contrasting against chromed lights for example. "The design is in the form of a stage set which is a representation of Tom Dixon's industrial aesthetic. The set divides the space into rooms, and visitors are able to explore aspects of the shop by peering through various windows and doors which contain the individual room sets whose overall themes are derived from materials such as copper, cast iron and wood. The new 1800 sqft space showcases a series of products from Dixon's new 2009 collection 'utility' and is part of Tom Dixon's new office complex." DesignBoom.

Bell is a new alarm clock that has been designed by Industrial Facility for IDEA Japan. The alarm clock is a less is more design approach and the result is a much louder alarm clock, because the back ‘housing’ is the actual bell component. It is louder than a mobile phone, desk clock or watch and has simple controls, it may only tell the time and wake you up, but it does it very well. Via Dezeen.

There has been several good ideas for creatives to get started or to realize their projects, but it looks like Kickstarter is really working. Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, filmmakers, journalists, designers amongst others, it works on the premise that a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide and a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement. Some projects are so popular that  they are up to 1500% funded. Interesting projects on the site include The Wonder City a graphic novel that reimagines New York’s entire history and MakerBeam, an open source building kit. If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter will apply a 5% charge to the funds raised. If funding isn't successful, there are no charges. 

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 22 September 2009

The Mission One Superbike was recently been put through its paces at the Bonneville Salt Flats, USA. The bike surpassed previous land speed records for an electric motorcycle, reaching 161 mph, which is almost 260 kilometers per hour! 

Designed in collaboration with Fuse Project, the "challenge was to create a design that would be accepted by motorcycle enthusiasts while also being immediately recognizable as a vehicle fueled by alternative energy. A central goal was not to appear as an ‘eco-toy’ but instead a performance bike augmented by electric power. Ultimately, the bike needed to balance innovation with tradition, overcome the stigma of a silent ride and define what an electric Bike should look like." 

The records were made with a production prototype, Mission One plans to sell 300 models in 2010 at a price tag of $69,000, with a cheaper version to launch in 2012. See YouTube videos here.

It seems almost everyone is launching an electric vehicle, the Trabant NT has been unveiled at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, Germany. The Trabant NT (new Trabant) is based on the original 1957 East German model. The project is the work of toy manufacturer Herpa, in partnership with auto parts maker IndiKar and engineering group IAV. The design was done by Nils Poschwatta, who previously worked for VW as a “Transportation Designer”. Out of enthusiasm for the newTrabi, he decided to devote himself to the project full-time and came up with the entire design-work for the “Trabant nT”.

The London Design Festival started on Saturday in London, seems like a busy week with 100% Design and Tent London happening from the 24th to 27th September. Additonally The Dock is an emporium of creative talent curated by Tom Dixon, running from the 21st to 27th. For coverage during the week make sure you follow Core77 and DesignBoom.

Fast Company Masters of Design has a great article on David Butler, the 43 year old master design strategist for Coke. Since he arrived in 2004, he has torn down and rebuilt the design strategy at every level of the company. And he has managed this epic list of projects with a low-key but extraordinarily effective strategy: avoid using the word "design" at all costs. "At work, I don't use the phrase 'design thinking.' Here, it's about creating more value. How do we sell more of something? How do we improve the experience to make more money and create a sustainable planet?" And "we're leveraging design to drive innovation and to win at the point of sale, which is fundamental to our business. Full stop."

The I.D. Annual Design Review 2010 is open for entries. Work must have been created between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 and student work must be the result of a classroom/academic assignment completed during the 2008/2009 academic year. Related: Five Truths About Design Awards.

Johanna Schoemaker was declared the winner for her "Clam OLED lamp," at the BraunPrize 2009 Award Ceremony on September 16th, with about 150 jurors voting in her favor. The other Top 3 from the 22 finalists include Karsten Willmann for Skylino, Stephan Zimmermann for Anemone and Tobias Stuntebeck for White Cane.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 15 September 2009

     

Hack 2 Work, 'essential tips for design professionals' from Core77 has articles like On Being T-Shaped by Tim Brown, How to Look Bigger Than You Are by Allan Chochinov and 5 Keys to Successful Design Research by Steve Portigal. Image: Ernesto Rodriguez.

Hack 2 Work has everything from how not to design a business card to dealing with clients. Well worth the read.

For students and professional designers Design Droplets has a great compilation of sketching resources including IDSketching, Coroflot and links to books and tutorial DVDs.

 

Apple launched a new version of the iPod Nano at a special event called "It's Only Rock and Roll" early in September. The new iPod Nano now has added photo and video capabilities, the quality of the video is good enough, but what really stands out is battery life and storage capacity, the 16 GB version holds up to 16 hours of video. Not bad for a device you can keep in even the smallest of pockets.

Design Thinking for Startups from Amir Khella of Fictiv is a good explanation of design thinking and how innovation fits into it. Some quotes from the presentation-design thinking is: "a mindset of combining creative and analytical thinking, and applying it to solving a problem", "it's believing the best solution is yet to be found" and  "it's being comfortable going forward in a state of uncertainty". 

The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. Run by the James Dyson Foundation, as part of its mission to inspire young people about design engineering. The brief for the 2009 competition was put simply; design something that solves a problem.

One of the finalists was the Prio Paper Cast from American design student Nicholas Riddle. The products is a flat pack splint for disaster response that combines low-weight, ease of installation, and easy triage identification within a folding paper cast. The primary function of the paper cast is to immobilize injured limbs, in this case an arm. The problem that exists at the site of an accident or disaster is one of scarcity – of medical expertise, resources and communication.         

   

Congratulations to Clive Roux on becoming IDSA's (The Industrial Designers Society of America) new executive director on September the 14th. Clive was previously Chief Marketing Officer for Baumgartens and former design leader with internationally-renowned Philips Design. 

"With significant global experience across the design disciplines—including four years working in Africa, seven years in Europe, seven years in Asia and nine years in the US—Roux will bring both design thinking and business management skills to his new role, which will help him represent the Society both within the design world and to the business community." IDSA.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 08 September 2009

Reuters reports that Tesla Motors will collaborate with executives from around the world to reinvent the car-buying experience as part of the Customer-Focused Innovation executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tesla, a pioneer in electric vehicle manufacturing, will be featured as a week long class project to immerse participating executives in the practice of corporate innovation and "design thinking." Developed by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, Customer-Focused Innovation marries business school classroom models with the d-school's hands-on field research to help executives better understand customer experiences, develop deeper customer insights, diffuse customer learning throughout their organizations, and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Key features of the Stanford collaboration will have program participants conducting:

* Interviews of Tesla's key management and dealership personnel
* Observation of real car buyers at Tesla and non-Tesla dealerships
* Ideation, design, prototyping and iteration of new vehicle purchase models
* Presentation of proposed models to Tesla management

   

Nice one-pager explaining design thinking from Change by Design by Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO.

"This book introduces design thinking, the collaborative process by which the designer’s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short, design thinking converts need into demand. It’s a human-centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and creative.

Design thinking is not just applicable to so-called creative industries or people who work in the design field. It’s an approach that has been used by organizations such as Kaiser Permanente to increase the quality of patient care by re-examining the ways that their nurses manage shift change or Kraft to rethink supply chain management. This book is for creative business leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service to drive new alternatives for business and society."

The book will be launched late September.

Via DesignBoom; Jasper Morrison has opened up a shop in part of his studio in London. The shop is open daily from 11AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday.

During the London Design Festival the shop will open its first exhibition, 'jugs, jars & pitchers' from September the 19th to the 30th.

Morrison has also done the latest Icon cover which is a handwritten note stating "design for life, not magazine covers" and initialed JM. The statement echos Morrison's thoughts on design as seen in his Manifesto #02:

'Design, which used to be almost unknown as a profession, has become a major source of pollution. Encouraged by glossy lifestyle magazines and marketing departments, it’s become a competition to make things as noticeable as possible by means of color, shape and surprise. Its historic and idealistic purpose, to serve industry and the happy consuming masses at the same time, of conceiving things easier to make and better to live with, seems to have been side-tracked. The virus has already infected the everyday environment. The need for businesses to attract attention provides the perfect carrier for the disease.

Design makes things seem special, and who wants normal if they can have special? And that’s the problem.'

A bunch of game controllers is the notepad for a book project about game controllers conducted by Nicolas Nova from liftlab/the near future laboratory and Laurent Bolli from Bread and Butter. The aim of the project is to focus and analyze "game pads" in terms of historical evolution as well as meaningful issues regarding their design. So far it has a few entries, but sure to become more interesting as time progresses.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 01 September 2009

 

The winners of the INDEX: Awards have been announced, they are Better Place, Pig 05049, Kiva, Street Swags, the Freeplay Fetal Heart Rate Monitor and the Chulha stove. Congratulations to all the winners.

The Freeplay Monitor is created expressly for the harsh conditions of rural and remote settings in the developing world. it is simple (it has only an on-off switch and a hand crank for generating its own electricity). it is built for robust operation and made to withstand knock-about conditions. The intent is to safeguard childbirth for mothers and infants in remote areas of the developing world where expert care and electrical power are in short supply.

 

The Chulha stove is being made available by Philips Design to the universe of social entrepreneurs so that they can, free of charge, produce the stove, themselves, and generate local business while helping counter what the World Health Organization estimates is some 1.6 million deaths per year from conditions prompted by the toxic fumes of indoor cooking with “bio-mass” fuels. The stove also won an IDEA Design Award last year. 

The BMW group has been busy this week, the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car is a low carbon plug-in hybrid supercar that not only looks amazing, but has the fuel consumption of 3.76 liters/100 kilometers.

The concept car will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. It has an anticipated top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) and can reach 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds.        

           

The design itself combines low weight materials, aerodynamic detailing such as the solid underside of the car which minimizes drag and an interplay between exterior and interior elements. More images at Car Body Design and Auto Blog Green.

 

More BMW related news, this time to celebrate the 50th anniversary, Mini has released a 'concept' model that is basically a Mini Cooper with a new roof. By eliminating the back seats and giving the car a more roadster look does make the car look a lot sportier than previous models.

We like LEGO, it is a great tool to grow creative minds and it's fun to use when making a pirate ship or using it it to explore creative solutions. But here is a new take on the humble LEGO block; Top Gear presenter James May is building a house made entirely from LEGO and he plans to live in it when it finished, at least until it falls apart. 

The building itself is located in a wine estate in Surrey, UK. Volunteers were invited to take part in the manufacturing process, 1200 people worked building LEGO 'bricks' which are made up of 272 LEGO pieces. The life-size house uses over three million bricks and features a staircase, toilet and shower. Via DesignBoom.  

To end off, another functional object inspired by toys; the Mechano Chair made of powder-coated folded mild steel was designed by Andre Klauser for Thorsten van Elten. Also available in black of course.