Came across a great survey published by AIGA and Adobe. What skills will the Designer of 2015 need?
During my annual post-Earth Day news roundup, I found this inspiring article about design’s great potential for creating sustainability.
Nature has rhythms, people have rhythms. In fact, we ought to remind ourselves every so often that people are part of nature, too. Our interactions with nature are choreographed by our designs, so when we embrace natural rhythms, the outcomes can be delightfully compelling.
Imagine, for instance, an urban landscape powered in part by local foot traffic, or a streetlight system that, by dimming and brightening with the lunar cycle, saves 90-95% of the energy typically used. These innovations are not indifferent automatons. They are active participants in the cyclical rhythms of nature, at once saving energy and sparking wonder. Most importantly, they are part of an ever-increasing pool of nature-inspired designs that give reason to be optimistic about the future.
Congratulations to featured designer Elizabeth Redmond, founder of the POWERLeap energy-harnessing floor tile system. She works with our good friends over at Ecolect.net and attended our Green Design event back in December 2007.
True Designers should be required to go on a Pilgrimage, once in a lifetime, to experience the spiritual source of all meaning in design – Il Salone del Mobile. Put on your horn-rimmed glasses and black turtlenecks and join the celebration of everything you can sit on, sleep in and eat at. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
From April 16-21, the Milan Furniture Fair attracted over 300.000 designers, architects, etc, and some 2,000 exhibitors who showcased the latest and greatest in furniture, lighting, and accessories – A designers’ dream.
I won’t bore you with how much I enjoyed Moooi’s work or how many Negroni’s we had at Bar Basso. I just wanted to take a moment and pay homage to the often misunderstood “Classic” Pavilion. Check out some of our pictures from the Fair. Enjoy!
In our latest engagement with Respironics, a leader in the home respiratory care market, we faced an interesting challenge: take an intimidating piece of medical equipment–a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine–and make it feel approachable and usable for sleep apnea sufferers. We realized quickly that the use of a CPAP comes with much stigma. Patients are required to wear a cumbersome mask and tube system that simulates breathing during the night. As a result, the treatment helps deliver a regenerating, restful sleep.
We were recently honored with an MDEA Award for our work on Respironic’s REMStar CPAP base station. It got us thinking. With the rapid increase in Point of Care (POC) medical devices, we frequently find ourselves having to translate the aesthetics of in-hospital devices into versions appropriate for consumer use. Below are some guiding principles we use to design solutions that make conditions like sleep apnea or diabetes a smaller part of life:
Sohrab Vossoughi’s latest article on Businessweek.com talks about innovation not delivering anymore. He goes onto examine Experience Design as the next potential differentiator.
In the article he mentions one our clients, American Express. I was very happy to see them singled out in such a positive article about the next evolution of what I do for a living. But I was even happier to see Apple Computer NOT mentioned.
This past weekend, Continuum hosted a sustainable design training program for clients and colleagues. The training was delivered by Dr. Benjamin Linder of Olin College. Ben has been giving this training to Continuum staff, in chunks of 15-20 people. We ask a lot of him: take what you teach over 2 or 3 courses, add a professional perspective, and then trim it down to fit in a total of about 12 hours. It’s not everything you need to know about sustainable design, just the first few things. As Ben says, “This program will change your head, but you need more training to teach your hands.”
The attendees ranged in seniority and spread across industries, from appliances to building materials to lighting. The best part of the sessions was the discussion among the attendees. Each brought a different perspective to the design exercises, and each had a story to share about the progress they made and challenges they faced bringing sustainability into their business activities. Late in the second day, it occurred to the group that Wal-Mart had provided the strongest impetus for change in the companies of several attendees. These companies had wanted to adopt more sustainable practices, but the demands of business always took precedence. As soon as Wal-Mart began making demands of suppliers, the intent to green up was galvanized into action.
We were really pleased to hear that our friends over at Design Squad were the recipients of a Peabody Award for last year’s season. We had a great time hosting the finale in our studio last Summer. Great job guys!
Here’s the press release.
Also check out this time lapse video of our shop crew deconstructing the enormous grass hill we built in our lobby for the kids to test their designs on.
Yolanda sees the other side
I was coming home from from a visit to the Center for Creative Leadership, which teaches C-levels, admirals, and strivers of all levels to lead others better by first understanding self. The approach is humanistic but entirely without fluff — every principle is backed by decades of supporting data.
Flying from Greensboro to Boston, the only good flight is on Delta — unless it’s cancelled like mine. Along with my travelmates, I scrambled onto an already-boarding two-leg flight by US Airways. I arrived in Philly and found the connecting gate to be overflowing with misery. The preceding flight to Boston had been boarded, then held on the tarmac, and then returned to the gate. The customers were variously folded, splayed and contorted in seats that were designed for the short rests of the previous era of air travel — regulated, expensive and punctual. The previous flight was defunct, and it became clear that those passengers were to be given my plane for their ride home. My mates left for the bar, and I stayed at the gate, determined to join these ragged souls on the next plane to Boston.
One US Airways employee was at the gate desk, occasionally looking around at the scene but never at any one person, and typing into his screen prodigiously. The plane arrived for boarding. Travelers shoved their way to gate door. A few customers were not passing through but were instead lingering near the desk and leering needily at the US Airways employee, whom I shall now name Sir System. Sir System was expert at the operations of the gate computer, and he was assiduous about the order of boarding. Glued tightly to Sir System’s counter was a customer whom I shall name Nigel (Nice Intelligent Guy with English Lilt). As a customer, Nigel had everything going for him. We was tidily groomed, had a pleasant face and wore a gentlemanly overcoat. Nigel was, I imagined, an ex-pat of many years, as he spoke with the perfectly diluted English accent that Americans equate with social refinement. But Nigel was not happy.
I had a chance to go over to Nearlife in Cambridge,MA last week to play with the interactive tables for the new Sprint Studio Store. These things are awesome. They work by combining high-end projectors, a mirroring system, and infrared technology to create a multi-touch surface you can interact with using both hands. They also have these neat little pucks you can place on the table’s surface. The system optically recognizes which puck you put down and loads additional content around it.
Thanks for the link Mark!
Last Thursday night, Harry West took part in a dinner panel discussing what it takes to succeed in the consumer technology sector here in Massachusetts. Harry joined the following speakers and moderator, Scott Kirsner, for the talk:
Steve Krampf, Co-founder and CEO, Chestnut Hill Sound
Antonio Rodriguez, Founder, Tebblo; General Manager, HP Publishing Services
Carl Yankowski, CEO, Ambient Devices
You can download the audio file of the talk here. Its just about 50 minutes long and covers topics ranging from consumer research to hardware/software services integration.
