Steel Velcro

"Totally wicked: The Metaklett strips you see above are essentially steel Velcro, developed by German engineers at the Technical University of Munich and intended, like the regular stuff, to be fastened and unfastened without the use of tools.
The steel strips, "one kind bristling with springy steel brushes and the other sporting jagged spikes," are only 0.2 millimeters thick, but a square meter of the stuff can hold "a perpendicular load of 7 tonnes." Developer Josef Mair foresees the stuff being used for building facades or automobile assembly. And it will withstand temperatures of up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, so you could even use it in Arizona in July."

Via core77

Microsoft's Digital Shoebox

"Most current digital storage is provided by hard disks hidden away in PCs and laptops, its content arranged in a complex hierarchy of folders. Pictures stored in these hidden devices are rarely seen around the home unless they are printed out. Shoebox aims to challenge both the visibility of typical storage devices in the home, and the ease with which users can surround themselves with their digital memories, by providing a container that is intended to be on display, and that is also intended to be used to hold images from specific events or people, rather then all the users images."

What Is Design?

Also from John Heskett's 'Toothpicks & Logos'

'Design' has so many levels of meaning that it is itself a source of confusion.

The End Of Design!!!

"These changes are part of a repetitive historical pattern. As described earlier, the evolution of a new stage in design does not entirely replace what has gone before, but, instead, is layered over the old. This had been a recurrent pattern throughout the history of design. It not only helps explain why there is such a diversity of concepts and practices about what constitutes design in contemporary society, but also raises a question about what extent to which similar changes will confront us in the future. Exactly what will transpire is uncertain, but the signs are unmistakable - new technologies, new markets, new forms of business organization are fundamentally altering our world, and, without doubt, new design ideas and practices will be required to meet new circumstances. The greatest degree of uncertainty, however, revolves around the question: whose interests will they serve?"

p34 Toothpicks And Logos: John Heskett

After attending 'The End Of Design', a lecture held on thursday night at uni, by Tom Inns and Mike Press, I felt that this quote sums up what some of the lecture was about.

We are not coming to the end of design, we are coming to the end of a design era and a new one is about to begin. From the book by Heskett, he refers to the history of design ass being layers and when we come to a new age of design it is just added to the previous layers of design. (for a better understanding you might be better reading the book.)

And the last question in this quote emphasises what Mike Press said about how the new design direction is 'social design,' which is where the major priority will be designing for the publics needs and not for company profits.

"British Design Is Not Dead – It Is Overlooked"

"Things ain't what they used to be, and no mistake. This, more or less, is what Alice Rawsthorn, a well-known champion of modern design and ex-director of London's Design Museum, told New York Times readers on Sunday. Modern British design is often not very good, she says. Whether she turns her eye to telephone kiosks, London buses or the "achingly embarrassing" 2012 London Olympics logo, Rawsthorn sees change and decay all around.

She needn't have stopped there. She might have mentioned such things as Norwich Union's potty decision to change its tried-and-tested name and logo to the meaningless and forgettable – sorry, I'm going to have to look it up – Aviva. Or she might have turned her unforgiving gaze on contemporary "street furniture", from bus stops to benches, which are as ugly as they are banal.

Her American audience will no doubt lap up this act of British self-loathing. Yet Rawsthorn is right, at least in terms of public design. When she talks about such brilliant erstwhile design patrons as Frank Pick, chief executive of the pre-second world war London Passenger Transport Board – the man who gave Londoners, and visitors to the city, the very best in Tube trains, double-decker buses, maps, posters, station architecture and so much else – she is taking us into a past that has truly disappeared.

Why? Because in Pick's day, public design was what mattered. Consumerism was in its infancy; marketing a toddler. Most British people neither owned cars, nor had much to spend their money on on beyond the basics of everyday life. Over the past quarter of a century, the public sector in Britain has declined while the private sector has boomed. And, as investment in public sector design has dropped, so retail design has enjoyed a field day.

Today, there are inspired British designers working in all sorts of areas. Many people will enjoy the quality of their work in contemporary furniture, book jackets, graphics and much more. Think of the success Jonathan Ive has had as the designer of Apple's sleek iMac, iPod and iPhone. Look at the evergreen inventions of Tom Dixon, a prolific designer who began as a punky metal worker in the mid-80s and produces a wide range of his own lively furniture and lighting today. Or enjoy the intriguing fabrics and wallpapers designed by the Scottish duo Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, trading as Timorous Beasties, in which startling scenes of contemporary life are woven or printed into traditional patterns and materials.

There's no doubt that at the hi-tech end of design engineering, Britain can still take on the world. The Rolls-Royce engine design team, led by Geoff Kirk at Derby, is one of the world's very best. I can well imagine a designer like Jasper Morrison, with his cool, pared-down approach, working for a public sector client like Frank Pick; but, at the moment, there is little such work available.

Equally, much of what we buy as consumers in Britain is made overseas (mostly in China), so there is less and less of what we traditionally regard as British design, even in the private sector. I had a look at the Design Museum's website a moment ago: in their illustrated list of recommended new chairs designed in the 2000s, Morrison is the only British representative, while the companies he designs for are not British.

So, it's not a lack of homegrown design talent that's the problem, but the way that the economy and our ways of life have changed since London Transport, the Post Office and other public corporations led the way in public design. British design is often very good; for better or worse, we have to shop around for it."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/aug/26/british-design-public

Mobile Rings

"The color rings by BCK design team, including Javier Bertani, Ezequiel Castro and Vera Kade" (Via The Design Blog) More at http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/the-color-rings-is-wireless-est-way-in-cellphone-communication/

Kor One Bottles

Kor One bottles have hidden meaning behind their coloured exterior.

"When a product you're buying comes in different colors, picking one is just a matter of taste; but with the new line of RKS-Designed Kor One bottles, released as part of the Thirst for Giving program, selecting a color will directly benefit a particular water-related charity.

With each KOR ONE color tied to a specific cause, KOR will donate 1% of all sales to this select group. The original Ocean Blue KOR ONE supports Ocean Protection through the Agalita Marine Research Foundation. Sunrise Orange is for the Container Recycling Institute, while Sawgrass Green sales support Watershed Protection through The Wetlands Initiative. Orchid Pink is for the Global Water Crisis, with purchases supporting Blue Planet Run, a non-profit dedicated to bringing the global community together to provide safe drinking water to the more than one billion people who suffer for lack of access to clean water.

All four lustrous colors are made of BPA-free Eastman Tritan copolyester and include the original KOR ONE's see-through design (eliminating worries of what might be hidden inside a metal bottle), innovative one-handed opening, a cap you can't lose, inspirational KOR Stone inside lid, and a "just right" spout big enough for ice cubes and easy on the lips." (Via Core77)

Istanbul Design Week

"This year, Istanbul Design Weekend took place between 18-21 June 2009 with the theme of "Mediterranean Design between Present and Future". The four day event aimed to offer two core groups of activities linked by the theme of Mediterranean design." (Core77.com)

Another Product Design Definition

Can't remember where I took this from but I think its a pretty good explanation of product design;

"a sub-field of industrial design, product design is a field that uses various processes to develop physical solutions to specific needs. Products might make use of electronics but are not required to. They may be mass produced, custom-made or customized."

Emma Caselton's Recipe Timer

"Designer Emma Caselton has come up with a smart recipe holder for the wannabe cook who’s experiencing in the kitchen. This device has a creative way of telling what to do and when to do it. There’s a chronological timing bar that slides down the sheet ensuring you’re getting the timing right for all your ingredients. Although it’ll only work with the special printed recipes for the arm to follow, Emma’s neat concept sure makes for a nice addition in the kitchen if you plan on getting both the chicken and the veggies done at the same time." (from designcrave.com)

Embossing Braille Printer

"Braille definitely has given a new dimension to the life of the visually impaired; still they have to rely on the others to fulfill their day-to-day needs, for differentiation between identical objects often becomes difficult for the sight-impaired. Enhancing the value of Braille, Chinese designer Danni Luo has designed a printing device to create special embossed labels, so the visually impaired could also distinguish products with similar characteristics, such as pill bottles, CDs, files, etc., effortlessly without seeking help from others. Dubbed the “Embossing Braille Printer,” the hand held label printer lets the users install the name or brief information of the particular product onto a 25mm x 50mm label with embossed Braille characters via a voice-recognition recorder, so the sight-impaired could avoid misidentification of analogous objects, which often leads to grave consequences." (thedesignblog.org)

Rock Radio

By designer Guus Oosterbaan.

And I love how he describes this unusual piece:

"My ROCK Radio. The number two in my cement-audio-series. It started off being a very nice rectangular brick shape. Then I found out that a thick layer of cement shields the radio from actually receiving radio waves. With my “Now it doesn’t work anyway” philosophy, I took a big hammer and created this Flintstones look, and the radio works! "

'Rewired Radio'

Another awesome radio design blends retro design with modern functionality

Toothbrush Squeezer

Such a clever yet simple idea.

'Mini Giant' - A Similar Printer Idea

Noooo. I recently came across this on the core 77 twitter feed but refused to believe that it was true but have come across it again. It's similar to my HP PrintSmart idea although not exacly the same. This one seems alot more simpler to carry about with you and print large scale. Although my idea still has room for development I still think there is a market for it.

Winning entry at the Zero Boundaries Zink Product Design Competition, in the “Futures” category, the “Mini Giant” by designer Paula Adina Sumalan is a robotic printer that lets you print a large format poster with a portable gadget that literally fits in your palm or a side pocket of your backpack. Employing “inkless printing” technology of Zink, the portable printer self-propels itself over a sheet of Zink paper of any size to take a print, without the need for ink cartridges or ribbons. The futuristic printer is gonna be a boon for the users always on the move.

The E-lamp

The E-lamp lets you express your thoughts and feelings with every flash. An acronym for emotions, the E-lamp can be used to preserve all your moods with the wonder and power of its illumination. With an inner assembly of aluminum elbows and outer body of polyurethane, the E-lamp is shock-proof and water resistant, offering great safety for its users. Suiting your mood, you can alter its intensity, color, temperature and angle of spread with the help of rings present at the end of the lamp.It also allows you to choose the desirable light, confirming the best reading light or warm light for cool places. You can choose between romantic, happy, despair and any emotion from the bunch of available E-presets. Based on LED technology, with a hi-tech structure and functions, this lamp offers immense flexibility and adaptability. The powerful suction caps at both the ends assist you in fixing it over concrete as well as brick wall. With its astounding battery backup of 20 hours, with just 2 hours of charging, the E-lamp is best for energy saving, without the need to change its bulb for 20 years. This highly portable lamp can be used as a desk lamp, camping lamp, car lamp emergency lamp and even for decoration. With this E-lamp you can light up your surroundings as well as your emotions.

http://www.thedesignblog.org/

Radios Tubes!!

Forgot to post these up with the rest of my 'Radios' post. They are radio tubes but i'm not too sure about how they work.

D&AD - HP Workstations Performance - Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1U7gr_ye8U

One of the nominees for the D&AD Student Awards 2009 for the HP open brief. The other 2 nominees I don't like so much.


These can be found at http://studentawards.dandad.org/2009/categories/26/open-brief-2

Fortum and Mason 3D Product Design Brief nominee:
http://studentawards.dandad.org/2009/categories/23/3d-product-design/01691/callum-livingstone

Radios!

Love these and the idea of using rubber to case things.I also like these. Very aesthetically pleasing!

New Take on the British Power Socket