Swine Flew with panel at the conference.

For those of you who were never a Boy Scout, the Pinewood Derby is a competition in which contestants build a small wooden car to race on a 40 foot track against other cars of the same approximate size and weight. The goal is to work within the parameters of the rules to build the fastest car.

Several years ago, the IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) decided to sponsor a derby car race for designers at their annual IDSA National Conference in Pasadena. The response was overwhelming as designers and engineers entered dozens of impressive cars that would lie, cheat and creatively steal their way to the finish line.

Since that first race in 2004, the competition has raged on, with designers from all over the country fielding extraordinary cars. For this years IBM Unlimited Derby held at the IDSA conference in Miami, Continuum approached their participation in the race in a new way. Rather than trying to create the fastest car, the team decided to create the most memorable car. To accomplish this, we started by brainstorming themes that would be relevant to what’s going on in the world.

The planet is currently going through a financial crisis that hasn’t been experienced in eighty years. We’re all being forced to pinch pennies and find creative ways to save money. At the same time, worldwide concern is high around health threats like the swine flu. Continuum took these themes and turned them into a statement of hope, a piggy bank car called Swine Flew.

The generous contribution of the IDSA audience.

Throughout the four-day conference, the attendees were encouraged to add their spare change to the piggy bank. This served two purposes. First, each coin made the car slightly heavier, and consequently, faster. Second, Continuum offered to multiply every contribution by 10 and donate the final amount to design education.

The Swine Flew pit crew members, Jung Tak, Damien Vizcarra, and Kevin Young (many thanks to the non-traveling crew of Jake Childs, Rich Ciccarelli and Bruce MacRae) have returned from the IDSA National Conference and are proud to bring home the award for Fastest Car in the Gravity Weight Class as well as the award for Most Fun.

We’re also proud to say that the generous contributions of the IDSA audience helped Swine Flew raise a total of $1,274.40 for design education.

The crew members are proud to bring back two IBM Derby awards.

The March 22 New York Times ran a story on the troubles Harley-Davidson is experiencing as its aging boomer audience buys fewer bikes. The article mentions recent efforts being made to bring in younger and more diverse riders but apparently even that nod to a potential brighter future wasn’t enough to satisfy the leather-clad powers that be in Milwaukee.

This past Sunday, readers were treated to a full-color, spread ad in the Times business section from the Motor Co. in response to what they viewed as unfair treatment. Brilliant copy written in the form of the American Flag started off, “You can file our obituary where the sun don’t shine.”

Laced with attitude, the ad goes on to ask a series of either/or questions – cower or live free; succumb to fear or seize the throttle – before laying down the Harley ethos in stark terms for the nation.

“We see American companies and good old American ingenuity wrenching the life back into this economy of ours.”

It’s a powerful statement in these economic times and a perfect fit for the brand. Americana. Rebellious attitude. A call for “us” to push back against “them.”

After spending close to three years at the Motor Co. I found myself swelling with pride in seeing the ad. It’s a knee to the groin of malaise. A poke to the chest of anyone who says America can’t come back from this. And what’s perhaps most important, the ad speaks to everyone. You don’t have to own a bike, work at the company or even hold their shares. You just need to have a desire to fight back, to want to feel good again. And that in turn reinforces the brand in the public’s mind.

Former Starbucks CMO Scott Bedbury said, “A brand is a metaphorical story that’s evolving all the time. This connects with something very deep – a fundamental human appreciation of mythology. People have always needed to make sense of things at a higher level. We all want to think that we’re a piece of something bigger than ourselves. Companies that manifest that sensibility in their employees and consumers invoke something very powerful.”

Harley may be down right now but as long as they keep doing this, their brand, and by extension the company, will be just fine in the long run.

Screw it. Let’s ride.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/economy/22harley.html?_r=1

The Design Management Review‘s current issue features a piece by our sustainability experts Grant Kristofek and Mark Bates. Colorblind, our extensive in-house research project on consumers and their perception and digestion of all things green, is the focus of the piece.

Download it here.

One of our goals at Continuum is to partner with the best designers across the globe.  Elephant, a leading design consultancy in India, has become our newest partner in the quest to offer the best design and innovation to our clients worldwide.

Continuum and Elephant share a belief in the value of design. Both firms believe that design can help drive business success and that it is an essential contributor to the creation of value for economies, businesses, citizens and society.

Continuum and Elephant will use this partnership to: educate, share a cross cultural understanding of ideas and processes, assess emerging opportunities together and provide thought leadership on design’s ability to enact economic and social change.

Over the past five years, Continuum’s business has shifted dramatically toward a diverse project portfolio with global emphasis.  This partnership will help further strengthen this reality.

“Elephant is a respected and inspiring member of the global design community. Working with them thus far has provided a wealth of opportunity and learning. By formalizing this partnership we can continue the great work we have started and put our heads together toenvision bigger and better possibilities,” noted Dan Buchner, vice president of organizational innovation.

Read more

The first comprehensive exhibition of Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen is entering the American leg of its tour. Patronized by Finland’s President Tarja Halonen, the traveling installation celebrates Saarinen’s brief yet influential 15-year career.

Yale educated Saarinen followed in the footsteps of his father, renowned Scandinavian architect Eliel Saarinen, in designing some of the 20th century’s most recognizable and defining structures. His preference for clean, expansive shapes is embodied in all of his work, from the Memorial Gateway Arch in St. Louis to the iconic “Tulip” chair he designed in conjunction with Florence Knoll (pictured above). With the likes of Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, Saarinen emerged as a pioneering influence in modern architecture and an integral figure in American postwar aesthetics.

The exhibit is currently on display at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and will be making its way to Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, Washington, D.C., and New Haven in the coming months. If you have the chance, it’s a definite must-see.

A few days ago,Continuum, in collaboration with I/ACT, the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce and Technology and the Lombardy Region of Italy hosted a unique event at our West Newton studio.. The “Partners in Innovation” event celebrated the start of a closer collaboration between the Lombardy Region of Italy and the State of Massachusetts to create leading edge enterprises and to develop innovative products and services in the process.

Bringing together the best resources of two dynamic regions for mutual benefit is indicative of the new economic reality and the great opportunities of a borderless world.  It is appropriate to note that Boston’s Mayor, Tom Menino was recently in Cernobbio, on lake Como to attend the “Mini-Davos” Ambrosetti Forum.

Immediately following the event at Continuum, we showcased several Italian companies that are innovating in diverse industries–normally not associated with Italy–at the Angel Investor Conference hosted by the UMass Boston College of Management.  These pioneering companies ranging from Achtoons, a cartoon animation studio that creates magical multimedia programming for children; Crowd Engineering and SmartRM, two ground-breaking software companies, and i-m3d, a medical diagnostic innovator leading the way in non-invasive colon and breast cancer detection.

We at Continuum believe strongly in the power of interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and international collaboration to design a better future. We welcome the opportunity to contribute our innovation expertise to identify untapped areas for synergies between the regions and to make this collaboration successful across industries.

A recent NY Times article highlighted CNN Shirt, a Beta test offering from CNN.com Videos that provides t-shirts with “popular“ headlines printed on them. I have always been fascinated with t-shirt societies, and more and more lately, I find myself returning to the BustedTees.com site. It’s my culture shot at how news events are impacting the college crowd. If you track the site, you can get a pretty timely playback of significant events and trends–nicely digested in printed t-shirt form. But now, you can get your personal wearable belief statement directly from a trusted news source. I am glad that headlines are getting the second life they deserve–that is some of my favorite copywriting that just seems to go to waste after the news cycle is over.

The man who helped so many of us through our awkward teenage years, gave us a creative outlet where we might not have had one, and gave us a chance to enjoy something fun and rewarding with like-minded friends and family, passed away at the age of 69.

If you were affected by this, you already know who I mean. If you weren’t, then the name E. Gary Gygax probably doesn’t mean much to you either.

He didn’t invent a new biomedical process; he didn’t develop a more efficient internal combustion engine; he didn’t help squeeze more transistors onto a silicon wafer. E. Gary Gygax invented Dungeons and Dragons. I don’t want to go on and on about it; either you get what I’m saying already or you aren’t the slightest bit interested. What can’t be denied is that geek culture would not be recognizible today without his contributions.

Rest in Peace, O Grand Dungeon Master.

Both Wired and the New York Times have published great pieces on Gygax’s legacy.

Oh, and if you think I’m not cool because I like Dungeons and Dragons, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m one of the coolest guys out there – just ask my Mom!

I spent the earlier part of the week at SCAD at a design charrette we helped them host. Design for the other 90% was the theme. Some 200 or so industrial design students are spending 4 1/2 days working in groups of 5 or 6. The groups were assigned regions and topics – South America, peace and stability for instance. Each day (and most of each night) the groups are getting first hand experience with a phase of our design strategy process – alignment, discovery, analysis and envisioning. Its inspiring to see these talented young designers applying their time and talents to understanding and proposing solutions to some of the worlds real problems.

I’m hoping this experience will inspire them. I think it will. Focusing 4 days on far off lands and how most of the people on this planet live must seem such quite a departure from designing cars of the future and jet skis!

Congrats to the folks at SCAD (and Continuum’s Beth Johnson) for all the work to set this up. But, most of all thanks to the students participating. Perhaps you can see that you can make a difference in this world.

Check out details on the event

http://scadcharrette.net/

In Boston? Get to know us better. Come to an after work cocktail party….

Continuum sponsored AFTA work cocktail party in Boston at 28 Degrees on February 27; 6:30 to 9:00

AIGA Boston AFTA events are agenda-less, free-form gatherings of area creative folk. Each month a different firm gets to pick the place and play host for the evening; AIGA Boston gets to thank one of our generous sponsors for their ongoing partnership; and YOU get to drop by “afta” work and hang loose with the local design community!