wants a Sr. Ind. Housewares Designer
in Boca Raton, Florida

Epoca International is all about building high quality products and brands that are ecologically conscious and rooted in tradition, but driven by innovation and efficiency. Their fast paced and energetic team is growing, so they need you to jump on board and bring your housewares product design and development expertise with you.

Since you can seamlessly blend aesthetic and creative value with steadfast functionality, sketch/draw/present concepts for potential projects, and manage multiple projects simultaneously, you'll have no trouble landing this outstanding career opportunity.

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Continuing our journey through Design @ Your Service, the article below is a contribution from service thinker Luis Alt (founder of live|work in Brazil). Good read!

–Tennyson Pinheiro

Take a look around. It is very likely that right now you are surrounded by objects that in some way or another make your life better and more pleasant. All those objects have been in some degree designed—some nicely, others not so much.

Now, if you start thinking about the way you interact with the world around you, you will notice one other common pattern: you access your life through services. Private services, governmental services, local services, global services, digital services, physical services. You use the world around through the services that somewhat are available to you. When you interact with a product, very often someone has put a lot of thought into figuring out beforehand how your experience should be when dealing with this object. Product and interaction designers take into consideration users desires and needs, materials and processes that are available for manufacturing the product and they run a series of anthropometric and ergonomic studies to come up with the final object. Everything is done in order to make sure that you will get the best experience possible when in contact with this product—which also makes it easier to sell it in the first place.

But let's take a look at the different services that we access. Who is behind the solutions we use on a daily basis? Who is thinking about our experience when we order something at a restaurant, don't receive a package at home or forget to pay a bill that never got to us in the first place? Unfortunately the answer is, in most cases, no one. We are using everyday services that have not been thought to our benefit as customers, but instead to be easy and, most of all, efficient to its providers. The business must run efficiently and it's up to the user to 'deal' with it.

Much has been said in marketing theories that we get to use products by interacting with a whole range of services that exist around it. If I want to use my phone, for instance, I have to buy it in a retail store, pay my monthly bills and then I'm ready to, well, use the device. We think the opposite. Service thinking teaches us that any product is just one mean to access a set of services (or a main service). Take the mobile phone, for instance: in the essence of everything is the service. The bill, the store, the mobile phone, etc. are just products or services that help me to communicate with others or access information through a connected network. In the core of everything, there is the service.

Now the really good question is, "What exactly should be designed in a service?" And our answer to that is: what shouldn't? Service designers have to take an important role in the new service order, given they are the ones with the capacity to navigate between the broad and strategic aspects of the service and to translate the business purpose into user journeys that are useful, usable and desirable, thinking on the overall experiences of clients and service providers that are connected throughout different touchpoints.

When it comes to innovations in staircases, we've seen ones that disappear (like this one and that one) but more often, it's staircases doing double-duty as storage (like this and that) that tend to get the most blog ink. And it's no wonder; stairs are handy places to stack things.

This South Korean house by architect Moon Hoon is the first new construction we've seen in which the staircase is specifically intended to do triple-duty: It's a means of ascending & descending, it's a storage unit, and it's furniture.

"The basic request of upper and lower spatial organization and the shape of the site prompted a long and thing house with fluctuating facade which would allow for more differentiated [views]," writes Moon. "The key was coming up with a multi-functional space which is a large staircase, bookshelves, casual reading space, home cinema, slide...."

The hybrid fashion label/experimental design lab, Continuum Fashion, was first on our radar for their 3D printed bikini manufactured with Shapeways in 2011. Since the initial buzz, the design duo Jenna Fizel and Mary Huang have expanded into software, giving design power directly to the user to create their own garment.

With projects like the Diatom's SketchChair floating around, made-to-order furniture and fashion seem to be carving out their own unique—and maybe even affordable—place in the design world. Continuum's CONSTRVCT and D.dress software gives pretty much anyone a creative platform and foolproof software to act as their own fashion designer with no assembly (or drawing skills) required.

The fashion industry, like ID, is no stranger to digital fabrication—particularly with the rising fame of Iris van Herpen, the 3D printing hype is flowing directly onto the runway. With the D.Dress software, the guesswork is taken out of the avant-garde dress making completely. The CAD-savvy might recognize the D.dress's triangulated surface structure as a consideration more for ease of outputting quick .stl files than either aesthetics or sewing. To Continuum's credit,however, they make a good case that "the triangulation also ensures that almost any drawing will produce an interesting form, and in fact produces good meshes from mere scribbles."

Of all the different types of industrial designers we cover, it's exhibit designers and toy designers that get the shortest shrift; there simply aren't many of you lot giving out interviews. But now Lenny Panzica, a Hasbro product designer has stepped up for a Gizmodo interview explaining the design process behind the latest Transformers toy. (Panzica, by the way, is a natural fit to design the dragon-inspired "Predaking" robot; the dinosaur enthusiast has degrees in both archaeology and toy design.)

You'd think something as sophisticated as a transforming robot would be worked out almost exclusivly in CAD, so I was surprised to see how much of it is done on good ol' pen and paper:

Designer Ivan Zhang originally hails from Shanghai but is currently working towards his Masters degree at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Germany. Indeed, his work draws heavily on a certain school of Northern European design, which holds that form follows function. In keeping with the unassailable logic of minimalism, Zhang has developed his own formula, simplifying "A + B → C" to "A’ → C"—something to the effect of incorporating a "correction" (user-generated solution for specific use cases) into a product.

For example, not only does the Bookshelf’ incorporate a flatpack-friendly hinged top and bottom panel, the slightly arching shelves eliminate the need for bookends (or the ad hoc solution of propping of a book to serve as such.)

We usually tilt the last book on the shelf in order to prevent the books from falling. Likewise, a wide variety of bookends are on the market for the same purpose. This "conscious action" or "auxiliary bookend" is defined as "B" in A’ philosophy, that is: correction... This natural shape of Bookshelf’ makes conscious rectification unnecessary.

Elaborate justification aside, the work is quite interesting in itself—the tension in the shelves suggests a tautly composed structure, and Zhang notes that "with the strength produced by the arched board itself, users can easily assemble the bookshelf without punching or screws."

wants an Interactive Designer
in Stamford, CT

How would you like to shape the design of NBC Sports digital properties including brand, look and feel, and usability, with an overarching goal of providing an excellent user experience? On top of that, you'll focus a good deal on making all that enjoyable on mobile platforms.

If this sounds like a dream job, click the link below, but only if you have what it takes to succeed in this role, which includes 2 years experience of web and mobile standards, a strong understanding of a variety of online marketing concepts, best practices and procedures, and the ability to apply creativity and consistency in a manner that strengthens the brand and end-user experience.... among other things you'll find on the next page.

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It's 8:00am and you are wide awake from a speed boat ride that took you across the sapphire-colored waters surrounding Central America. When the boat stops, you are staring at an island so untouched by mankind that you wonder if this is a movie set. Your instructor tells you to put on your goggles because there a few thousand fish she would like you to meet. You dive in, expecting to be jarred by the cold, but are greeted instead with bathtub-warm water and underwater creatures you have never seen in your life. Class has just begun.

Next Friday, April 26, marks the last day to apply for the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program. The globally renowned program is a part-time, two-year, master's-level course designed to empower change-agents who are passionate about a world mentored by life's genius. Biomimicry 3.8 is doing what no other design, engineering, business, or sustainability program is offering: delivering a deeply immersive experience while learning from some of the most spectacular biomes across the planet. We are thrilled to share with you more information about the dramatic ecosystems you will visit as part of the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program. ("BProfessional"). It was designed for people like you, designers who are serious about learning and applying biomimicry to new products and services.

Over the two years you will travel from the mountains of North Carolina to African plains of Botswana to the bioluminescent waters of Vancouver, Canada, and three other locations (like Costa Rica). We hope to see your name among the applicants, and, more importantly, to meet you in Montana in the heart of the Rocky Mountains for our kick-off session this September.

To read about the program in full, see our website.

Tetris - Alexey Pajitnov 1984

When you think about what you might encounter at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Pac-Man and Tetris are generally not first on the list... if they're on the list at all. Last month, MoMA opened the doors on their new exhibition 'Applied Design,' showcasing a range of designed objects, interfaces and interactions dealing with nearly every facet of society. One of the major highlights of the show is the controversial addition of 14 video games to MoMA's permanent collection. The acquisition seems to toe the line between obvious and ridiculous, but we have to admit, MoMA is right on target for envisioning the modern museum collection of the digital age.

The 14 games, showcasing an array of videogames from traditional arcade, single-player fantasy to MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) were selected not on their graphic quality or aesthetics, but as exemplary pieces of interaction design.

Applied Design is the brainchild of Senior Curator of Architecture and Design, Paola Antonelli, who is no stranger to stretching the boundaries of the contemporary art museum (she was responsible for such shows as Talk to Me and Design and the Elastic Mind; for years she had been pushing to include a Boeing 747 in the permanent collection). The physical museum display of the games feels a little strange, appearing to transform part of the gallery into an arcade. From the collection of 14, about half of the games are playable for museum guests. Games employing longer narratives (Myst and the Sims among others) are displayed with a pre-recording to show the scope, while not letting guests interact directly.

As Antonelli says of her non-traditional acquisitions in MoMA's Inside/Out Blog:

The process by which such unconventional works are selected and acquired for our collection can take surprising turns as well, as can the mode in which they're eventually appreciated by our audiences. While installations have for decades provided museums with interesting challenges involving acquisition, storage, reproducibility, authorship, maintenance, manufacture, context—even questions about the essence of a work of art in itself—MoMA curators have recently ventured further.

Martin Azua - Basic House (1999)

Longtime authority on color and professional color standards Pantone announced the launch of PANTONEVIEW.COM, an online resource for everything color. "Catering to all color-conscious industries, PANTONEVIEW.com provides visual inspiration, direction and a global perspective on color from the world's leading color experts so you can make more informed color decisions and perfect your color strategy."

The platform offers analysis and reporting across six verticals, as well as news and live webcasted events with the experts.

COLOUR VIEW
This is where we apply our policy of colour orientation and analysis product sector by product sector—apparel, homewares, interior design, graphic design, branding, gardening, industrial design, automotives and food to name a few. Here is where we want to build the common language of colour that will take our community of subscribers beyond their own areas of expertise by linking them to what's happening in parallel areas of design.

MATERIAL VIEW
To really understand colour, you have to understand the science of colour. We take you into the world of colour technology - the machines, the dyestuffs, the R&D that will change the way we choose and look at colour in the future.

WORLD VIEW
Regional and geographical color and trend reports. We look at this locally but we also try and put all our information together so that we can provide you with some global conclusions.

EXPERT VIEW
Strategic information and a long term look at the influences that will affect colour in tomorrow's world. Everyone knows what is happening today and maybe in six months time, but how about in five years, ten years and even forty years time.

FUTURE VIEW
Strategic information and a long term look at the influences that will affect colour in tomorrow's world. Everyone knows what is happening today and maybe in six months time, but how about in five years, ten years and even forty years time.

The subscription service "zeros in on the color zeitgeist and features comprehensive color direction, market validation and the psychology behind color trends." For $24.95/mo. or $169.95/yr., "PANTONEVIEW.com includes forecasting and orientation where key color direction is mapped out six to 12 months ahead of the season, in addition to reporting and analysis as the season progresses, in order to provide color confirmation and any new color updates."

Longtime friend of Core, proud Staten Islander and current Director of Product Design at Parsons, Rama Chorpash has been on sabbatical in order to get back to his craft: product design. His recent design for a cleverly-manufactured potato masher was selected for the 11th edition of the MoMA Design Store's "Destination: Design" series, which celebrates geographic diversity in design through a collection of products from a certain region. After traveling far and wide—from Buenos Aires to Seoul to Istanbul and half a dozen other countries—the MoMA Store turns to its hometown for the latest (and largest ever) collection, which is set to launch in May on the occasion of the ICFF.

Here, Chorpash presents a brief history of the Spiraloop.

As a combined venture between my creative-practice and academic scholarship, I have been investigating how America's broken chain of once-networked facilities and factories, struggling to function as a whole, might employ overlooked and standalone industrial processes. Utopian Gardens is a series of project-based investigations that imagine a new future for production. Artifacts such as the Spiraloop are intended to seed conversation around innovative visions of more localized production and social use.

Why this local spring manufacturer? Over the last two years, I have been gathering what I call 'Stand Alone Manufacturers,' whom I could work with to create Utopian Gardens. When the MoMA Design Store's Destination: NYC (Made in the USA) open call went out, I saw it as a challenge to not only have product made in the US, but made hyper-locally. In my matrix of categories, I had a long list of spring bending facilities (along with many other industrial categories), but nothing local. It turns out that, my research assistant had met a young Australian spring engineer through a fellow student; he had come to New York and found employment at Lee Spring through the phone book. He has been great to work with—very knowledgeable. His father owns another spring maker in Australia, inherited from his grandfather...

I live on the north shore of Staten Island, so I wanted to find a producer within a short distance. The producer is a 10 minute drive across the Verrazano Bridge to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Made in Brooklyn, New York, the product is manufactured with minimized energy output, labor, material waste, and shipping cost. While Lee is an international company (with plants also in five other locales with two additional distribution centers in the UK and China), they primarily produce mechanical springs, not consumer products. The proposal was demanding as I had to imagine what would catalyze the imagination of the MoMA Store curatorial team and their public while working within the core manufacturing constraints of the spring industry.

While Budweiser's new bowtie-shaped beer can is a couple of weeks away from launch, a series of smaller breweries have already launched another new type of can: One with a "360 Lid" that peels completely away, allowing tipplers to drink brew through a circular, drinking-glass-like aperture.

Here at the Core77 offices we rarely drink beer out of cans. (That's not snobbery; unlike bottles, cans cannot be broken against desks and wielded as weapons during editorial squabbles that devolve into melees.) But the few times we have, we've never had a problem getting beer to pour from the tab-sized opening into our gulping mouths. So why the new can? Pennsylvania-based licenser Sly Fox Brewing Company insists a circular opening "allows the full flavor and aroma of the beer to hit the drinker's senses." And yes, the drinking rim is rounded over, so you don't cut your lips with each swig.

Tokyo is futuristic, but maybe not this futuristic... yet.

I spent a little time in and around Roppongi neighborhood during my first trip to Tokyo last June, but (as is the case with most work-related travel), I didn't have much time to explore the city on my own. Given the diverse texture of the city and the overflowing stimuli of a new and different urban setting, it didn't occur to me that Roppongi Hills is a relatively new construction, some $4 billion and three years in the making. Centered on the 54-story, Kohn Pedersen Fox-design Mori Tower—named after the developer behind the entire project—the 27-acre megaplex opened its doors in April 2003... which means that this week marks its tenth anniversary.

To commemorate the milestone, Mori Building Co., Ltd., has commissioned Creative Director Tsubasa Oyagi to create a digital experience, the very first project for his new boutique SIX. Working with a team of media production all-stars, Oyagi created "TOKYO CITY SYMPHONY," an interactive web app that combines projection mapping with a simple music composition engine to create user-generated ditties with brilliant visuals.

"TOKYO CITY SYMPHONY" is an interactive website, in which users can experience playing with 3D projection mapping on a 1:1000 miniature model of the city of Tokyo. The handcrafted model is an exact replica of the cityscape of Tokyo in every detail.

Three visual motifs are projected onto the city in sync with music: "FUTURE CITY," conjuring futuristic images; "ROCK CITY" that playfully transforms Roppongi Hills into colorful musical instruments and monsters; and "EDO CITY," or "Traditional Tokyo," which portrays beautiful Japanese images. Users could play a complex, yet exquisitely beautiful harmony on the city by pressing the keys on the computer keyboard. Each key plays a different beat along with various visual motifs, creating over one hundred different sound and visual combinations. Each user is assigned a symphony score of eight seconds, of which could be shared via Facebook, twitter, and Google+. The numerous symphony scores submitted by the users are put together online to create an infinite symphony.

wants a Product Design Mechanical Engineer
in San Francisco, California

When was the last time you created something that was more than just good... it was awesome?

Meraki (may-rah-kee) is a Greek word that means doing something with passion and soul, and this company is all about delivering awesome networking and cloud computing solutions with passion and soul. They're backed by Sequoia Capital and Google, and their products are used in over 20,000 customer networks, from Starbucks and Stanford University to schools and small businesses.

They need your exquisite product design skills to tackle a diversity of challenges including but not limited to industrial design explorations, human factors design, CAD design, DFM, reliability, and supply base engineering in order to uphold Meraki's value of the end-to-end user experience.

Did we mention the weekly yoga classes, free lunches and snacks, foosball and ping-pong, kegerator, plus medical, dental, and vision insurance? Meraki employees enjoy all that, and more.

Go on and Apply Now . You know you want to.

Bud's new beer can comes out in May, and Sly Fox's 360 Lid can is out now. Recently there's been word that a major brewer is introducing a yet another new can this summer. How much more design variance is possible in an aluminum beer can?

Samuel Adams' parent company, Boston Beer Co., hired IDEO to find out. The Sam Adams brand has famously eschewed cans for years; company founder Jim Koch, displaying a Steve-Jobs-like asceticism, felt that cans offered an inferior customer experience and refused to deal in them. But beer sold in cans is some 57% of the U.S. market, and are the only way beer can be served in certain places, like airplanes and stadiums. That translates to millions of dollars' worth. So two years ago, Koch decided he'd consider cans and contracted IDEO to design a better type.

The Boston Globe'sgot the skinny on what the subsequent research turned up, and it might surprise some of you beer drinkers:

The big discovery: Conventional cans don't allow enough air into people's mouths as they drink. Turns out much of what consumers believe they taste is actually smell.... Increasing exposure to the beer's aromas of hops and fruit can make a big difference in taste, said Roy Desrochers, a professional beer taster at GEI Consultants in Woburn.

So the team began looking for ways to improve air flow. Over several months, IDEO proposed dozens of designs and created eight prototypes that expanded the size and shape of the can's opening. Larger apertures—one shaped like a bell, another like a peanut—were supposed to enhance the air flow and access to aromas. The most promising idea, according to Koch, was a design that allowed drinkers to tear off the entire top.

...But there were problems [with the open-top design]: the tear-off top violated litter laws in most states. And the gaping opening made people nervous. They were worried about cutting their nose or lip on the edge, afraid of bugs flying inside, or the drink spilling.

What IDEO finally came up with is a can with a wider lid (as seen at right, below):

The wider top pushes the aperture closer to the rim (again, below at right), which means beer tips more readily into the mouth.

Are these the keys to easier texting?

I send text messages less frequently with my iPhone than I did in the T9 days. I get so frustrated trying to tap out a text that I often wait until I get to a computer to switch to e-mail and a proper keyboard. The interface just sucks, and I cannot remember the last time I was able to send a text without backspacing repeatedly.

One part of the problem is the tiny buttons. Another part of the problem might be the QWERTY layout itself. Ideally what you want is "two-thumb tapping," where the keyboard's letters are divided in such a way that you're alternating between right- and left-thumbs for each keystroke; a group of international researchers reckons this increases efficiency and reduces errors. With that in mind they've created KALQ, a split keyboard with a new layout.

KALQ is a split keyboard for touchscreen devices. The position of the keyboard on the display and the assignment of letters to keyslots were informed by a series of studies conducted with the aim of maximizing typing performance. KALQ is used by gripping the device from its corners. Trained users achieved an entry rate of 37 wpm (5% error rate). This is an improvement of 34% over their baseline performance with a standard touch-QWERTY system. This rate is the highest ever reported for two-thumb typing on a touchscreen device.

Six years ago, industrial designer Sam Pearce was sitting in an airport when "I saw a mother pushing her child in a buggy," he writes. "The front wheel hit a slight kerb [sic] and the child jolted forward because of the impact. It happened several times in the time I was waiting there." He then did what many ID'ers do, which is to find the nearest piece of paper and sketch out a potential solution. What he drew in his notebook was this:

A simple idea for a wheel with built-in suspension.

Two years later, while off-road cycling, he remembered the sketch and began thinking if a suspension system like that could be built into a bike wheel. Now, many years of tinkering later, what Pearce has come up with is this:

It's called the Loopwheel, and its system of "tangential suspension"—essentially leaf springs folded back in on themselves—are not only workable, but they provide a gentler ride over sharp obstacles due to physics:

For now, Pearce is focusing on developing Loopwheels for smaller bikes, because the design "[allows] suspension where suspension can't normally fit," as with a folding bike design.

Last month Pearce debuted his creation at the UK's Bespoked Bicycle show. Response was tremendous, and he's now seeking Kickstarter funding to get the Loopwheel into proper production; up until now he's been making them as one-offs in his shop.

Last week, we posted a set of wooden knives and posed the age-old question, "Yea or Nay?" (I, for one, was curious as to how FDRL bonded the metal blades to the wood; based on a verso photo on their site, it looks like they're actually riveted.)

In any case, Andrea Ponti does them one better. The Italian designer set up shop in Japan after completing his degree at the Politecnico in Milan and his latest project, a series of ultra high-end, handcrafted-in-Kyoto wooden knives, is known as "Fusion" not for their physical attributes—they're made of solid wood—but for their twofold cultural inspiration:

East and West. Industrial design and craftsmanship. Two cultures and two design languages usually far apart from one another blend in the common language of design and tell the story of a project that spans from research to the creation of innovative products for markets around the world. This design and cultural blend produced Fusion: two kitchen knives made of ebony and white maple. Handmade in Kyoto as a limited edition by Japanese artist/craftsman Issei Hanaoka, these knives are inspired by the traditional Japanese art of wood crafting and they have a minimalist design: extremely simple yet modern and universal.

Each of the two sizes is available in either material with an option for a serrated blade (for bread) for a rubric of eight options in all; every Fusion knife features "an ergonomic handle for slip-resistant ultra-comfort grip." Anticipating concerns about care and durability, as was the case for the previously-seen knives, Ponti notes that"the seamless design allows for unparalleled cleanliness and easy care. Thanks to their ultra-fine edge, the knives are extremely sharp but also easy to sharpen."

Hideaki Iida

Marcus Classen

Michal Vlcek

As one of the premier art and design schools in not only the UK but the world, the Royal College of Art boasts the world's longest-running Vehicle Design postgraduate program (i.e. Masters program, for statesiders). The Class of ’13 has recently launched a Tumblog of their endeavors at VehicleDesignLab.com, which is essentially a daily dose of auto design porn: mostly digital sketches, supplemented by abstract form studies and a few tidbits of inspiration and documentation of the coursework.

Ki Kim

Jungwook Jay Lee

Nir Siegel

The image blog is intended to offer a glimpse of the inner workings of a design department, specifically "to follow the process of final projects in real-time." Ian Slattery (MA ’13) elaborates:

So much of the studio work and process is unseen. Traditionally students work for six months in seclusion before displaying their designs. This year, vehicle design students will update the blog daily and give the chance for people to follow and interact with the run up to the graduate show.

Qiannan Wang

Shihan Pi

This year's class was keen to investigate new ways of displaying work in order to open up to a wider audience. As a year we are striving to update the traditional design degree show format, and will be continuing this theme in our final exhibition in June.

We feel the automotive industry is evolving and we wanted to evolve with it by using all the media available to us, in order to create a richer narrative to our work.

Ewan Gallimore

wants a Product/Interior Designer
in Shanghai, China

First, this is your opportunity to advance your Product/Interior Design career with a company that has enjoyed fourty years as a leading, award winning strategic design consultancy. Just imagine what that will look like on your resume...

Second, DesignworksUSA continually collaborates with academic, technical, and artistic institutions which spurs exciting exchanges of design, technology and business knowledge. As a creative staff member, these exchanges will expand your horizons, keep you inspired, up-to-the-minute and globally aware.

Third, if you aren't already fluent in Mandarin, you'll pick it up in no time, which comes in handy when you want to impress your friends and family.

If you really need more reasons than those, click the link below.

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