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designBytes
Nov.5.2007
Welcome to designBytes, the electronic newsletter of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). Here's the latest design news, sneak peeks of features on IDSA's web site, links to interesting articles elsewhere and upcoming articles in Design Perspectives (DP), IDSA's newsletter.
Having difficulty reading designBytes via email? designBytes is available as a Web page at ?a=1315.
- The People of the Sun: In his latest Fast Company blog entry, laga’s Mark Dziersk, FIDSA says consumers are finally ready to drink the Kool-Aid that the better product is the one designed to be ecologically responsible. He makes his argument here: http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/design/dziersk/sustaining-an-advantage-103107.html.
- The Ironic Oracle: If anyone could get away with calling a retrospective "15 Minutes Into the Future," it would be Karim Rashid. On the eve of the Canadian opening of his new exhibit, Rashid sits down with The Globe and Mail for an interview: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071103.ORACLE03/TPStory/Entertainment .
- “Shopping Is the Purpose of Life”: Rodney Fitch, of the Fitch Design Group, has always been something of an outsize personality. It should come as no surprise that he defines the retail revolution rather outrageously. Or that he has a keen interest in Dubai. ArabianBusiness.com has the story: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/503182-retail-revolution?ln=en.
- More CONNECTING!: If you're anything like us, you can't get enough talk about the conference. Thankfully, we can help sate your appetites. Bresselergroup’s Rob Tannen, IDSA has announced the results of his team’s service design audit of the conference experience. Two more attendees have chimed in with re-caps here and here. And, of course, more people are posting photos to the CONNECTING’07 flickr group. You can upload yours here: http://flickr.com/groups/connecting07/. Lastly, if you'd like to help construct the permanent record of what happened in San Francisco, please email Tim Adkins at tima@idsa.org.
- Never Trust a Skinny Cook: Bang & Olufsen (B&O)may be one of the few companies remaining whose design infrastructure is predicated solely upon the brilliance of its design minds, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting fat off of great industrial design. In one excerpt from this BusinessWeek story, it appears that B&O staffers actually prefer the design of another company’s product to its own offering: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_45/b4057057.htm.
- Designing the Houses of the Holy: Is it a mall or is it a church? Should one even be a separate experience from the other? When design meets religion, some unusual—if not orthodoxally sacred—things can happen. The Hartford Courant testifies: http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-sacredspace.artnov04,0,4425831.story.
- Nissan’s New Cubism: The Nissan Cube has already qualified as a hit in Japan. Now, the carmaker wants to bring its rolling box to the United States and has enlisted design students at Pratt and film students at the Brooks Institute to help launch the car stateside. http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/news,view.spy?artid=91259&pg=1.
- Disassembling Johnny 5: Countries in the European Union are finally implementing long-gestating laws aimed at codifying the process of how consumer electronic products can be broken down and effectively recycled. Designers will soon need to be more mindful of how their computer (and other electronic) designs can be disassembled. http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6496975&industryid=43654.
- African Design By African Designers?: The East Africa Submarine Cable System may be struggling with one of many snags in the execution process, but an East African designed cell phone isn’t struggling at all. Perhaps because one doesn’t exist yet. This blogger says that shouldn’t be the case: http://idsandbox.blogspot.com/2007/11/design-for-majority.html.
- Your Passion. Your PC. You Design It: Microsoft and IDSA want you to look long and hard at your PC and tell us how you’d reconstruct it—hardware, software and all—to make it a tool that better suits the way you engage and act on your passions. We’re accepting submissions for this year’s Next-Gen PC Design Competition now through Dec. 14. Get your ideas ready and send them in. https://www.nextgendesigncomp.com/Default.aspx.
- Design Goes to War: The University of Illinois-Chicago’s Elizabeth Tunstall, IDSA wonders how designers might contribute to a war effort if called upon to “serve” their country. She’s also touched off a lively discussion at Design Observer: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/029407.html.
- The Designer Has No Clothes: Design today is enjoying unparalleled media coverage. It’s ubiquitous and lauded. It seems that design has truly arrived. So why are so many designers feeling ultimately dissatisfied with the results of today’s "design society"? In spite of the unprecedented media coverage, are products and services actually getting any better? Where is the really great work and what does it tell us about the future? Join us on Wednesday, Nov. 14 when Teague's John Barratt, IDSA will talk about how designers can effectively operate in the age of design ubiquity. Call Donna at 703.707.6000 to register or visit: ?a=2765.
- Judge the MotherScratchin’ Ruckus: The Ruckus Nation contest is looking for designs that will motivate kids all over the world to get up and get active. And they need judges to determine what designs will do that and what designs won’t. Judging is very simple and will only require five hours of your time in early December to examine entries online. To volunteer your judging expertise, visit http://www.ruckusnation.com/beajudge.html.
- What Exactly Is Design Thinking Anyway?: Behavior’s Chris Fahey has asked a simple question about what separates design thinking from other modes of problem solving—igniting a thoughtful dialogue on his blog to try and answer it. http://www.graphpaper.com/2007/10-17_what-i-learned-in-art-school-is-it-design-thinking.
- LinkedIn Is the New Crack: And IDSA wants to encourage your habit. If you can’t add enough people to your LinkedIn network, IDSA is here to help with a special IDSA group on LinkedIn.com. Now, you can find other IDSA members, build your professional network and collect more connections than your friends and colleagues. To join the IDSA LinkedIn group, visit http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=40079&sharedKey=3930E179EBB2.
- Then You Can Head Straight to SNA: Some folks say sites like LinkedIn are actually more about social not-working than social networking. That, however, doesn’t have to be the case. Consider this article something of an antidote that will help keep you out of social networkaholics anonymous. http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/features/0,1000002000,39290463,00.htm.
- EXTRA! EXTRA!: Several of IDSA’s Chapters publish their own newsletters. (Maybe you’re familiar with IDSA-Chicago’s ID Dispatch. If not, here it is). Two more of them have the latest editions of their newsletters available online. Check out the what’s happening with IDSA-MN at http://www.idsamn.org/?p=124. And get the latest issue of Ink from IDSA-Northwest at: http://idsanw.org/idsanw/2007/11/02/october-ink/.
- What's Happening in Your Chapter This Week?:
For more info, visit the Chapter Events Page at /chap_events.htm. To include your upcoming event, please email it to designBytes@idsa.org.
- POLL: Visit the buzz at /buzz.htm and answer today's question: "Can you explain the practice of design thinking to someone who doesn't have a design background?"
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