Please take a moment to admire the beauty and elegance of Deglon’s Meeting Knife Set. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Done? Why not take another minute?
Ok, ready? Let’s continue.
Designed by Mia Schmallenbach, this design is a wonderful exercise of merging utility with aesthetics. A sublimely beautiful design that stopped me dead in my tracks, and compelled me to study how to lines and shapes worked together. Furthermore this design is not just “form for form’s sake”. The knives cleverly tuck back into each other like Russian dolls thereby organizing and removing clutter on your kitchen counter. Some people have concerns on the functionality, but I’ll reserve judgment on this until I get a chance to hold one myself.

Here is what Mia had to say about her design.
Meeting is a set of kitchen knives: paring knife, carving knife, chef’s knife, filleting knife and their block. They all seem to be sculpted out of one piece of steel. The proportions are determined by the Fibonacci sequence with as its base the average width of a hand.

It is refreshing to see old school design methodologies, such as the Fibonacci sequence, given a new lease of life by combining the thinking with modern manufacturing technologies. Found everywhere in nature, we know that Fibonacci sequences work well in design, as proven by the Renaissance masters in the past. And it looks like it is still relevant in today’s context.

A big thanks to Shang Lee for this wonderful find.

ClipGun

Oh the nostalgia! Designer Shira Nahon designed this range of classic toy weapons all in the name of fun! Aptly called “Piu Piu”, it is a nod towards the sounds we make when we pretend to “shoot” our friends. Actually now we can!
I really like the simplicity of the designs as it really highlights the functionality of the toy and allows users to implicitly get how it works. (Well, maybe not the boom ball…)

Break

Boomball

Rubber

One Shot

ClipGun : here’s one you may remember, as the laundry clip on a stick design has been around for quite a few years. I remember wanting something like this when I was about 10 years old, wanting it SO BAD. This one’s a bit more refined, incorporating the clip into the stick. One less ingredient – a designer’s most basic goal. Beak: What! A paper airplane? No way. This is a stainless STEEL airplane. Made to fly… right into your neighbors eye. BoomBall: A boomerang-like device which is made of strips of thin, flexible steel. You might remember these strips as “slap bracelets.” When this crazy object makes contact with any other solid object, it curls up into a sphere (if you’re lucky, it ensnares the target object inside!) Very wild. Rubber: Not THAT kind of rubber. This Rubber is packaged as the rubber sling part of a slingshot only, encouraging the user to find their own perfect bit of tree branch to shoot with. OneShot: A single metal rod twisted and turned into an ingenious neu-form rubber band shooter. Totally and completely intuitive. So simple, a baby could fire it. Via: Yanko Design.

More than his vast fortune or rocket-soled boots or even Pepper Potts, the thing I envy most about Tony Stark are his computers. Here's a video of how motion design company Prologue perfected Tony's fantastic holographic interfaces. More »

Iron Man - Pepper Potts - Tony Stark - Robert Downey - Arts

http://www.ted.com In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

CBS News anchor Bill Whitaker reports on the ICON A5 and its exquisite design.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo. “The Sandpit” is a stunning, tilt-shift stop-action reflection of a day in New York City. It warms my heart, especially, as a lot of it is the world steps from where I live and work (which, by virtue of all these tall Manhattan buildings, I can’t actually see — maybe I’ll run this thing on continuous loop on a small screen here). Definitely watch it in HD. A day in the life of New York City, in miniature. Original Music: composed by Human, co-written by Rosi Golan and Alex Wong. For full details of how “The Sandpit” was made: “The Sandpit” – A short film by Aero Director, Sam O’Hare! [Aero Films] Of course, part of the reason the tilt-shift “gimmick” continues to work is that our brain really is hard-wired to perceive depth and scale in certain ways. It’s a reminder of how vital those elements are to all production of visuals, whether we willfully ignore them and take viewers in a journey into flatland or employ them to our own ends. See also the work of Keith Loutit, below (or more on Keith’s Vimeo channel), among countless other examples. Aside from scale of the image, though, stop-action and timelapse can, naturally, compress time.

Helpless from Keith Loutit on Vimeo. This video happens to land in my inbox just as a discussion is going on the Bl mailing list (a small interactive community) about the technique of timelapse. That leads to a number of other examples, each an interesting meditation on time and photography themselves – and thus absolutely appropriate here. What happens when you compress an entire year:

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo. Images from the same spot through one year. Audio captured at the same place. All details on how this video was made, another video of these images and a place to download all the footage here: eirikso.com/2008/12/27/one-year-worth-of-images-give-some-amazing-videos/ The images are creative commons licensed and available for you to download and play with.

(I could imagine someone doing interesting stuff with those images with Processing / OpenFrameworks.) A performance example (there’s something about NYC and time, apparently):

Fashionably Late For The Relationship (2/8) from R. Luke DuBois on Vimeo. Part 2 of Fashionably Late For The Relationship, a film by R. Luke DuBois of a 72-hour continuous performance by Lián Amaris that took place in Union Square in NYC in 2007. Cinematography by Toshiaki Ozawa. Music by Todd Reynolds and R. Luke DuBois. fashionablylatefortherelationship.com And I think most interesting conceptually, here’s a video that extends the idea to choreography (the video that started the Bl list discussion):

Here the Nothing from gloobic on Vimeo. A timelapse dance video. Etude No. 1 in a series of studies in sound and movement. Music………………………….gloobic Choreography & Dance…..Eric Gunther Director of Photography….Jeff Lieberman Editing………………………..Eric Gunther & Jeff Lieberman gloobic.com Syncing to a music track played through headphones at quarter speed, the dance is exactly four times slower than the action around it. This is idea I’d love for other people to steal – erm, borrow – and continue to develop, as it could lead to all sorts of places choreographically, musically, and visually. Thanks to Jeff Lieberman and Kyle McDonald for all of these links. Of course, I don’t intend this to be a comprehensive guide to timelapse. That’d be, well, impossible – like doing a blog post on “videos.” But I do find each of these videos suggests its own directions for further exploration. Now, if only we all had the ability to slow down time, we’d have the time to explore.

This is an experimental film made up of over 35,000 photographs. It combines an innovative mix of stop motion and live projection mapping techniques.

Directed by

Music by myspace.com/fedaden Cast: Xavier Chassaing

Apple Macintosh Mouse Design Evolution. 2009 /Apple Magic Mouse 2005 /Apple Mighty Mouse (2006 /Wireless) 2003 /Apple Wireless Mouse 2003 /Apple Pro Mouse (White) 2000 /Apple Pro Mouse (Black) 1998 /Apple USB Mouse 1993 /Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II 1986 /Apple Desktop Bus Mouse 1984 /Apple Macintosh Mouse M0100

Image by Rob Warde Wow what a year 2009 was? We got hit right in the face by the economic down turn and designers all over the world were falling like flies as companies cut R&D or design budgets in response to a drop in consumer spending. While we all tighten our belts and expected the worst, I saw 2009 as a humongous opportunity to position a brand, company and even ourselves, so that we can be well prepared for the recovery and be miles ahead of the competition.
Being a glass half full kind of guy, I was sort of glad that 2009 happened. 2009 got us to sit up and reconsider our spending habits, almost managed to purge the world of dodgy finance, and in a spectacular Darwinian fashion only the fittest company survived. However despite this, I’m glad 2009 is over and am really looking forward to flying start in 2010.
I’m sure you are equally well positioned to leverage on this so called “V” shaped recession/recovery, because you are reading this post or have been following this blog! If you have been walking this learning journey with me you would likely be as ready as I am! With that, let me share my 5 things I wish for in 2010: 1) Another brand becomes synonymous with design and innovation like Apple Apple has done a fantastic job since the maestro Steve Jobs retook the helm as CEO. Their design-focused organization reaped the rewards of their effort by turning in a fantastic profit even during a recession.
However, while Apple is the king of the hill in design and innovation, I am keen to see another company, not necessary a competitor, be considered an equal peer to Apple. Dyson or Oakley probably comes close, but considering Apple’s dedicated fan base and universal appeal, they still lack behind.
It’s really not that difficult to build a design focused organization and everyone seems to know what to do. But organizations will still struggle as long as design is seen as “one” of the processes. Design needs to be part of a cultural mindset and something that has to be entrenched in the DNA of the organization before “it” can happen. 2) Design Thinking moves to a higher level of credibility and trust I sincerely hope that in 2010, Design Thinking really sorts itself out. The competence gets defined properly, practitioners suitably qualified, and the results justify its investment. In other words Design Thinking really becomes a means to an end.
Furthermore, I like to see more designers get involved in Design Thinking, picking up the skills necessary to bridge the gap. In my mind Design and Design Thinking are two sides of the same coin. Therefore I believe designers are best suited to grow and be part of this competence as they have the right foundation anyway. What they need is to pick up the right skills to communicate what they have been trained for. Eventually I see this as a great career opportunity for designers, especially if Design Thinking moves into organizations that do not traditionally hire designers. It means more work for all of us! 3) Brands realize that people are not stupid Businesses have always known this but somehow live in denial. They continue to deliver product propositions that don’t make sense. With the Internet allowing both wide and in depth access to information; brands and businesses have to realize that you can no longer expect to “sell ice to an eskimo”. This fact was brought into sharp relieve in 2009 when the cash strapped, informed and savvy consumer only bought products that made sense or are the best their money can buy. Again it’s survival of the fittest, Apple turned a profit and Dell tanked.
4) People grow immune to consumerism Conversely, consumers need to adopt more sustainable behaviors and better manage their consumption habits. To a certain extent, businesses that flood the market with product dribble can still get away with this, as there are consumers that are still buy said dribble. When there is a willing buyer, there will always be a willing seller. I was appalled during this Christmas season at the number of shops flogging, for the lack of a better word, crap. On sale were cigarette lighters crossed with Swiss army knives, head bobbing figurines, phone charms, color changing light pipes, 1001+ pouches for all occasions, digital clocks, FM radio statues and teddy bears at the end of a pens etc. To top it off this “marketplace” was the busiest and noisiest place in the entire mall. Really do we really need all this stuff? 5) Sustainability becomes part of the brief I’ll be straight with all of you. We can easily create sustainable products. So why don’t we do it more frequently? Because it requires additional (in fact a lot of) time and effort to ensure all the factors are in place to make a product sustainable. So in the hum drum of daily business financials, cost management, and shorter product lead times; sustainable discussions often fall by the way side. Compounded by the inertia of large organizations, moving towards sustainable product solutions will be a slow process indeed. However I believe we can get more than half way there if sustainability is made part of the product brief. The other half would be motivation. I sincerely hope that sustainability becomes a habit, but it is still a very tough discussion. As off right now, sustainability does not gel with economics. But we will need to persevere for our children’s sake. When we can get more people to be part of the solution, sustainability in products will be easier to implement. When sustainability finally moves to a critical mass, it will then take off, as economics of scale will now be our friend. ———- Well that’s my 5 wishes for 2010, a year that I can’t wait for, as I expect it to be really exciting! What about you? What do you hope or wish for yourself, career, design profession or industry? I look forward to hearing from you!

This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D;into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future, presented by our design partners at BERG.

The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories.

The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.

The purpose of publishing this concept video is first and foremost to spark a discussion around the digital reading experience in general, and digital reading platforms in particular. Thus, we would be more than happy to hear what you have to say regarding the concept and ideas expressed in the video: the magazine reading experience, digital browsing, text versus images, as well as hear about your own digital reading experiences and thoughts. We are all ears.

Follow the discussion in the Bonnier R&D;Beta Lab: bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype

For additional information, please contact Sara Öhrvall at sara [dot] ohrvall [at] bonnier [dot] se (+46 (0) 8 736 4009) or Pontus Schultz at pontus [dot] schultz [at] bonnier [dot] se Cast: Bonnier, Berg London, ineedmydevice, timo, schulze and blackbeltjones

This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D;into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future, presented by our design partners at BERG.

The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories.

The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.

The purpose of publishing this concept video is first and foremost to spark a discussion around the digital reading experience in general, and digital reading platforms in particular. Thus, we would be more than happy to hear what you have to say regarding the concept and ideas expressed in the video: the magazine reading experience, digital browsing, text versus images, as well as hear about your own digital reading experiences and thoughts. We are all ears.

Follow the discussion in the Bonnier R&D;Beta Lab: bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype

For additional information, please contact Sara Öhrvall at sara [dot] ohrvall [at] bonnier [dot] se (+46 (0) 8 736 4009) or Pontus Schultz at pontus [dot] schultz [at] bonnier [dot] se Cast: Bonnier, schulze, timo, ineedmydevice, blackbeltjones and Berg London

creativeapplications.net/processing/decode-by-karsten-schmidt-processing/ Cast: CreativeApplications.Net, postspectacular

“Decode,” “Digital Design Sesnsations,” opened last night in London at the Victoria & Albert museum in a show running through April. The event was held in collaboration with onedotzero, a digital arts label, presenting organization, and production firm.  Rarely has there been this kind of blow-out explosion of interactive design creativity on this scale. Decode is showing some of the most sophisticated, bleeding-edge work out there, with artists including Daniel Brown, Golan Levin, Daniel Rozin, Troika, Chris O’Shea, and Karsten Schmidt. Photos at top from the official show’s Flickr stream; more from Chris O’Shea after the jump. (Artists, if you’d like to talk to CDM about your particular pieces, please do get in touch.) Decode microsite One of the most interesting pieces is the logo itself, coded by Karsten (toxi) in Processing and open-sourced for modification. Open sourcing the logo has allowed others to participate in the show, a bit like the remix contests held by artists; hacked versions (cleverly dubbed “Recode Decode”) will appear in the London Underground. There are already some extraordinary works, like the moody grayscale rework by Joao Martinho Moura. Of course, this also means you can have a look at Karsten’s code yourself and see if it can inspire your own work in Processing. It’s the modern-day, digital equivalent of drawing study sketches of a painting or apprenticing with an artist: Decode Google code page

Decode by Karsten Schmidt [Processing] from CreativeApplications.Net on Vimeo.

The superb site Creative Applications picks up on the open source logo story, and also goes behind the scenes on the software project, encouraging people to share their results. (Here, here!)

onedotzero.app from CreativeApplications.Net on Vimeo. More images from Karsten’s work, interpreting a design identity produced in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy:

And from the show itself, the opening as photographed by Chris O’Shea:

Piano Staircase: ”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here. This video really made me smile. It was created by The Fun Theory an initiative by Volkswagen “…dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.” It is great to see examples of design or designers succeeding in encouraging people to recycle or take the stairs, get healthy and perhaps save some electricity by shutting down the escalators. Check out another of my favorite below for inspiration in your next sustainable project.

Bottle Bank Arcade Machine: Many of us return our plastic bottles and cans. Noticeably fewer recycle their glass. Maybe that’s because we don’t get any money in return, as we do for cans and plastic. Can we change this attitude by making recycling glass fun to do? So you are not just rewarded with a good conscience, you also get a smile. See the results here.

Check out the rest of their videos at The Fun Theory.

Here it is: my crazy summer project to reinvent desktop human-computer interaction.

This video examines the benefits and limitations inherent in current mouse-based and window-oriented interfaces, the problems facing other potential solutions, and visualizes my proposal for a completely new way of interacting with desktop computers.

There's more information at 10gui.com . Cast: C. Miller

I love it when Industrial Designers don’t take themselves or their sketches so seriously. Reviewing sketch after sketch in an automotive style does get tiresome at times. Enter Craighton Berman, an Industrial Designer and Creative Director, who is not afraid to share his view on the lighter side of Industrial Design at his Fueled by Coffee blog. The Ultimate Remote Control: Lego

Segway Hacks

Nice work Craighton and check out the rest of his work at his blog. Via: Reuben Miller

http://www.ted.com Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Introducing Ubiquity for Firefox, and experiment in connecting the Web with language. labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-ubiquity/

Ubiquity's goals are to:

Empower users to control the web browser with language-based instructions. (With search, users type what they want to find. With Ubiquity, they type what they want to do.)

Enable on-demand, user-generated mashups with existing open Web APIs. (In other words, allowing everyone (not just Web developers) to remix the Web so it fits their needs, no matter what page they are on, or what they are doing.)

Use Trust networks and social constructs to balance security with ease of extensibility.

Extend the browser functionality easily. Cast: Aza Raskin

Introducing Ubiquity for Firefox, and experiment in connecting the Web with language. labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-ubiquity/

Ubiquity's goals are to:

Empower users to control the web browser with language-based instructions. (With search, users type what they want to find. With Ubiquity, they type what they want to do.)

Enable on-demand, user-generated mashups with existing open Web APIs. (In other words, allowing everyone (not just Web developers) to remix the Web so it fits their needs, no matter what page they are on, or what they are doing.)

Use Trust networks and social constructs to balance security with ease of extensibility.

Extend the browser functionality easily. Cast: Aza Raskin