This video is so freaking awesome, because it’s like an ID modelmaking class on speed. Atlanta-based prop designer Harrison Krix decided to make his own Daft Punk helmet, spending an amazing 17 months getting it just right. (It almost might have been faster to try joining the band!) Turn your volume down if music will jolt your Monday-morning co-workers awake and get you in trouble, and behold what Krix hath wrought:

Though you can see some process shots on Krix’s website, there’s probably not gonna be an Instructable on this one–it took him 749 steps!

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Designer Michael Harboun from Paris has lent out promise of a ‘Living Kitchen’ based on Claytronics, a technology developed by guys at Carnegie Mellon. Michael’s Living Kitchen comprises a communicating wall which functions according to user needs.

He visualizes a concept kitchen wall made from LEGO blocks which are actually tiny robots that can communicate with each other to figure out their respective role in a group in order to form a macroscopic structure.

Such technology when applied to a kitchen wall sounds more like science fiction. Just check out the video on how the kitchen wall can be used to prepare steaming pasta.

Via: Vidafine

Shared by FF6600

and yet another word in the discussion of design….
“context is king!”

On a client project, we were trying to articulate a set of high-level principles to explain desired media experiences. One of the first ones we came up with was “simplicity”, but realized that it was insufficient.

One of the challenges is that “simplicity” has become overloaded, and as Don Norman pointed out, when he wrote “Simplicity is Not the Answer,” the desire for simplicity is often simply a desire for lessening frustration.

We realized that when were describing people’s desired media experiences, we often used the word “frictionless.” It was meant to evoke an “it just works” sentiment. While akin to simplicity, it is different. For example, Kindle is a surprisingly frictionless device — no wires, you ask for a book and get it in less than a minute. The Kindle experience, however, is not simple — there are hundreds of thousands of books to choose from, there is serious power in the reading experience.

When it comes to media, friction is often a result of technical barriers and constraints — the spaghetti of wires that connect televisions to DVRs, DVD players, set-top boxes, game consoles, or the challenge of getting media from one device to another, wireless connectivity getting interrupted. I think about my recent experiences with the Flip Ultra HD Camera. It’s dumb simple — press a button and it records, press it again and it stops. But I found immense friction, either due to massive file sizes, which took forever to copy or process, or due to startlingly low battery life, which required frequent replacement.

This is not to discount the importance of simplicity. In contradiction to Don’s claim, we witnessed that, at least in the realm of media experiences, people desired simplicity, and increasingly favored solutions that were simpler. Whereas friction was about barriers and constraints, we saw simplicity as being about cognitive load. Simple things don’t require a lot of thought. Choices are eliminated, recall is not required.

I’d love to hear how others have handled this, and if anyone has developed a language or taxonomy to help make critical conversations more meaningful.

On a client project, we were trying to articulate a set of high-level principles to explain desired media experiences. One of the first ones we came up with was “simplicity”, but realized that it was insufficient.

One of the challenges is that “simplicity” has become overloaded, and as Don Norman pointed out, when he wrote “Simplicity is Not the Answer,” the desire for simplicity is often simply a desire for lessening frustration.

We realized that when were describing people’s desired media experiences, we often used the word “frictionless.” It was meant to evoke an “it just works” sentiment. While akin to simplicity, it is different. For example, Kindle is a surprisingly frictionless device — no wires, you ask for a book and get it in less than a minute. The Kindle experience, however, is not simple — there are hundreds of thousands of books to choose from, there is serious power in the reading experience.

When it comes to media, friction is often a result of technical barriers and constraints — the spaghetti of wires that connect televisions to DVRs, DVD players, set-top boxes, game consoles, or the challenge of getting media from one device to another, wireless connectivity getting interrupted. I think about my recent experiences with the Flip Ultra HD Camera. It’s dumb simple — press a button and it records, press it again and it stops. But I found immense friction, either due to massive file sizes, which took forever to copy or process, or due to startlingly low battery life, which required frequent replacement.

This is not to discount the importance of simplicity. In contradiction to Don’s claim, we witnessed that, at least in the realm of media experiences, people desired simplicity, and increasingly favored solutions that were simpler. Whereas friction was about barriers and constraints, we saw simplicity as being about cognitive load. Simple things don’t require a lot of thought. Choices are eliminated, recall is not required.

I’d love to hear how others have handled this, and if anyone has developed a language or taxonomy to help make critical conversations more meaningful.

Inspired by the skaters, Argentine designer Soledad Martin has come up with a cellphone charger concept, based on the modern way of transforming movement into electric energy called the “kinetic energy,” thanks to the nanogenerator system. What is interesting about this charger is that you can attach it firmly to your shoe and just go outside and practice any kind of sport or even just go for a walk and charge the battery attached to the device. So when you are running low on battery, just remove the lid and attach the USB cable to juice up your mobile phone right there on the street .In addition, the charger comes with interchangeable straps with snap buttons so the user can choose what color to wear.

[Thanks Sole]

Awesomest name for a Norwegian furniture company: Fjordfiesta.

Fjordfiesta is a small firm whose mission is “to combine continental elegance with Scandinavian simplicity,” and in addition to putting out modern stuff like the 2004 Nordica Dining Table, above, they also produce classics. Check out the ahead-of-its-time Scandia Senior Easy Chair, which designer Hans Brattrud banged out in 1957:

We’re guessing the original was designed using birch, but the currently-produced version you see here is made in American walnut or oak.

For a list of Fjordfiesta-carrying retailers, click here.

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Taking Lotus’ overriding design philosophy of featherweight construction to the next level, designer Jack Lamburn has come up with a car concept that features impact-absorbing fabric body to reduce its weight. Dubbed the “Esira,” the Lotus concept features the bodywork finished in two advanced and reactive materials, the d3o and the metal rubber. The d3o is a non-Newtonian material used in protective motorcycle gear to bulletproof vests; while on the other hand, the metal rubber stretches and molds like rubber. Therefore, the bodywork reacts to the movement of the suspension system and conducts electricity to adjust its shape using the onboard computer.

As the car moves, the bodywork changes its shape to maintain the smooth airflow as well. It also includes a tubular frame to add support to the bodywork. Presenting a bit more traditional interior made in carbon fiber, the Lotus runs on a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain with two asynchronous electric motors transmitting power to the rear wheels. The Esira replaces the handle with a lever, located under the seats, to open the doors, which gives you the feel of riding in a fighter aircraft. While the lower center of gravity helps in increasing the agility of the car.

Via: Diseno-art/Carbodydesign

A little retro and a little steampunk, this clock would be truly miraculous in a modern setting. The retro flip-down clock is entirely crafted from solid metal, and the clock combines precision electronics with steampunk design with great ingenuity. The flip-down number swatches of the clock have been made from durable acrylic. You can adjust the timing using the turn dial on the right side of the clock. Powered by a single D battery which keeps it juiced for months at stretch, the clock is a perfect gift for geeky nerds.

Via: Chinavision

Antenna-aid, a simple solution for the iPhone 4 antenna problem.

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

black vase with white weld

‘weld vases’ by UK-based designer phil cuttance take a bit of a departure from the typical
machine-made mass replicated plastic vessels. here, cuttance has individually hand-crafted each
of his vases through hot air welding, a process that is commonly used to repair broken plastic parts,
joining thin plastic shapes together to create strong, distinctive edges. the plastic from the vases
are made from discarded off-cut pieces of ABS plastic from a local london plastic fabricator,
and each vase is individually numbered on the base.

white vase with black weld

the vases are available in three tonal combinations:
black with white weld
white with black weld
mixed with both black and white faces and black weld (the mixed vases have randomly selected combinations of black and white faces to use up extra off-cut pieces).

they are also available in three shapes:
tall (37 x 13.5 cm), high waisted (26 x 13 cm) and low waisted (28 x 12 cm)

mixed black and white vases with black weld

‘weld vases’

up close

group shot from above

front view

‘weld vases’

production of the ‘weld vases’:

plastic offcuts from a local london fabricator are used to produce the vases

cutting the off-cut plastic on the table saw

the individual faces of the vases cut to the correct template shapes

tacking two faces together before welding

welding faces of the vase together

welding faces of the vase together

set-up for welding two halves

the halves being welded together

two halves being welded together

three individual parts of one of the vases

planing the edges

aligning the top of a vase

welding the top to the base

welding the top edge

scribing vase number on base

welding on the base

a completed ‘weld vase’

We so often see design done by engineers, and rarely see engineering done by designers. But Chris Holloway, an industrial design student at London’s Brunel University, has pulled off a rather impressive feat of ID’s sibling-rival profession.

“While every other part of the modern mountain bike has changed to meet the modern demands of downhill racing, the gear system has barely changed for more than 100 years. For the pinnacle of the sport, it is clear that a better alternative had to be found,” said Holloway, providing background for his invention: The Link gear system, which rather than being a series of fixed-size gears is instead made of four moveable segments.

By shifting inward or outward, the segments essentially change the diameter of the gear and thus the gear ratio. Beyond that I have absolutely no frickin’ idea how it works or how he could have possibly cooked up something this complicated-looking. And Holloway even designed it so it could be retrofitted to existing cranksets, so you don’t have to get a whole new bike to enjoy his system.

“On full suspension bikes, it is important to minimise unsprung weight to obtain the maximum performance. By removing the rear derailleur and cassette, the mass is relocated between the riders feet and away from the suspension, which gives much better small bump response, as well as increased grip and cornering ability,” Holloway explains.

Is the idea both workable and mass-produceable? It sure has Brunel University’s vote of confidence–they’ve patented the design.

via the engineer

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I know you secretly love all information in periodic tables. It’s okay, you can laugh. I won’t tell anyone. In the latest to the ever-growing list of non-element tables, Modern Toss has a look at all the lovely four-letter words and expressive phrases at your disposal.

[via Boing Boing]

Several years ago I wrote about the virtues of Keynote as a prototyping tool. In a nutshell: it’s fast, it doesn’t require code writing, and you can turn it into flash and present it over the web.

This week I was shocked with the inventive but pragmatic application of Keynote as a prototyping tool for iPad. See Amir Khella here using Keynote to prototype a realistic iPad application, and (if you skip ahead in the video) run it on the iPad:

Here’s more about how he did it.

Such a good way to test out your concepts fast. Thanks Amir for sharing your good idea!

Roboforming ist ein neuartiges Umformverfahren zur Herstellung von Blechbauteilen für Prototypen und Kleinstserien. Die kinematische Gestalterzeugung wird mit Hilfe einer neuartigen, aus zwei Industrierobotern bestehenden Umformeinrichtung realisiert. Dabei zeichnet sich das Verfahren durch werkstückformunabhängige Werkzeuge sowie eine flexible Formgebung der Fertigteile aus. Es werden Anforderungen und Ergebnisse aus den ersten Versuchsreihen in Form von erreichbaren Werkstückgeometrien und -eigenschaften für einfache Regelgeometrien beschrieben.

Takashi Kondo, an interactive design student at at IAMAS in Japan, has created these novel interface studies using conductive ink screened onto paper.

The first, Zipper Messenger (above) is an interactive card screen printed with an image of a ribbon using conductive ink. When the user tears open the card, a “Happy birthday, thanks for everyday” message plays in Japanese.

More obscure than the first, the second experiment is a graphic of a brain printed using conductive ink. From the video it appears that touching the conductive graphic triggers various sounds.

Paper Piano

Lastly, my personal favorite, is a paper piano created using an arduino chip, paper and printed conductive ink. Unfortunately no video of the paper piano yet.

These playful experiments are hinting to a possible new trend towards paper circuitry.

Glam the Glo Bug

When I was writing Fashioning Technology, I experimented a lot with conductive inks but I found them messy and difficult to work with. Once dry, the ink would always crack and I would have issues with continuity. For the paper circuit project in the book, Glam the Glo Bug, I opted for conductive fabric tape instead.

Tear Dop Kit

There are several other wonderful projects that use conductive inks, specifically all the experiments currently in development at the MIT’s High Low Tech group. Tear Drop, for example, is an electronic tool kit focused entirely on paper computing.

Paperduino

From interactive electronic pop-up books to the Paperduino, is there a new craft trend of paper circuitry emerging?

What do you all think about paper computing?

A plentiful organic material has been used to create a promising PET substitute.

Chinese biking culture shall readily embrace Bubble Bike for its ingenious design responsive to the people’s need. The recipient of 2009 Red Star Design Award is a three-wheeled electric bike which presents itself as a low cost commuting alternative in congested urban settings which experience climatic extremes.

The light electric bike has a near elliptical shape with reclining shade that can be stretched out in the eventuality of rain or snow. Its interior provides enough seating space for a traditional Chinese family of three, or luggage. The bikes’ road holding aspect helps maintain low center of gravity which keeps it closer to the ground thereby lending protection to the commuter.

The electric bike has a range of 100 Km, takes six to eight hours to recharge at negligible cost and reaches a top speed of 45 km/h. The three-wheel Bubble Bike sells in China for RMB 5000 (around US$730).

Via: Gizmag