designswarm thoughts

So i havent been a good little designer and haven’t updated you what is up these days. I’ve been working on the 2 radio projects that me and Dave Chiu developed first more than a year ago. These will be shown at IDII’s presence in Salone del Mobile 2006 at the Fabbrica del Vapore from the 6th of April to the 10th actively ( i will be there in the evenings) and then till the 20th on exhibit. Come and see it as well as my Service design project that we did with Haiyan Zhang.

Down load the invitation.

The american Association of Women Industrial Designers just came out with Goddess in the details one of the latest publications exploring women’s impact on design. This goes back to a former rant on the eternal debate on the value of design work and whether there is a difference when a woman designs a product or a man. I tend to ask a different question: ask not who designed this or whether the result is actually a valuable piece of design, a design statement, then value comes out and the designer will be admired, whether its a man or a woman, i care not.

Sigh. Ok so I’ve been thinking about the olden values we had when we were dealing with physical tokens to exchange music or the social and status-related social intricacies that musical taste can bridge and i find it hilarious to see this iPod bag that has a pair of embedded speakers on it. Its proving that although the medium of individual pieces of music has changed, nothing else has, our social needs remain the same and in a way, the iPod hasn’t changed much.

MP3 embedded in a sports show.

Via Endgadget

“I am a woman or maybe I am a dog”

“and then there was design”

” they treat the battering ram pretty well”

Interesting project that acts as ” GPS unit that can phone home with realtime tracking data”… interesting but does that mean i can no longer tap someone on the shoulder without thinking its going to alert local authorities?

Via Endgadget

Nokia’s new “L’Amour Collection” (love the use of french for this title) uses a definite fabric and leather visual language for their new designer collection. Although they are of course still using metal and plastic covers, they are recognising the use of textile fabric inspired look and feel to their phone. Definitely getting closer and closer to my thesis result.

A screen and keyboard made out of wood!!!

“”People are tired of everything in plastic and want to return to the genuine. Some people would love to have something exclusive and stylish in the office.”

Ok so maybe the reasons that the company gives aren’t exactly convincing but i believe that the white box regime will soon be over mouhahahahha! : )

Via Core 77

I like this set that came out originally in 1983 but that they are rereleasing again, showing once more that consumer involvement in a product’s lifespan creates richer relationships.

Via Cool Hunting.

Sigh, my life is just about adding more books to a long list which i never seem to get to the end of..

So this is Everyware: the dawning age of Ubiquitous Computing by Adam Greenfield.

A good Boxes and Arrows interview of him and his latest book reveals that this touches exactly on the topics of spimes like Shaping Things the Bruce Sterling book I’m reading at the moment.

This just might shape my life’s work me thinks…

Victor helped me out pimping my blog today… so no more weird sidebar errors…yeh!!! Thanks victor…

I’ve always been an avid fan of bitching the iPod, as my thesis’s enemy and now they’ve given me new reasons… I think ill start an iPod rant category for this…

So they come out with the iPod HiFi which includes a “Universal dock” on which you plug your iPod and the added feature of a bloody remote control to control the whole thing. Hello world, here i come with product multiplication…

I would be very impressed if i just needed to walk into my apartment for the sound to transition from my earphones to the HI FI directly… where is my flying car???