The Rare Raven's Wing Field Notes

The Safety Spectacles

The Killer Jellyfish of Graphic Design Favors Poster

The Denim Pointer Brand Shop Apron

The Shuriken Magnets

Order any of these by noon Friday December 18th 17th! (tomorrow!) and get them before X-mas!

Also check out our More than $50, Less than $25, and Less than $10 Lists!

ENGAGE is the name of an initiative at the California College of the Arts "combining community engagement with the project-based approach of the architecture and design disciplines." Earlier this year ENGAGE connected design students, marine biologists, a social activist group and an eco-science nonprofit with "Designing Ecology," a project to design and make nesting modules for threatened sea birds on California's Año Neuvo Island. Check it out:

Cyprien Côté loved people, loved nature, and everything in between. "Especially everything in between" he would say. He was an explorer, an industrial designer, and more than anything else a friend to the natural world. As a designer he was known for his strange antics with clients. Routinely he'd lose fifty pounds for the first meeting, get the brief, only to show up four months later buff with fifty pounds of new muscle. In the early 60's, when he got his start, he convinced more than one client that doing macaroni art was a critical part of the design process. He was from the town of Tadoussac in Quebec and from visits to his Aunt in Terrebonne he quickly gained an appreciation for plants and beasts early in his life. His first design/invention took 10 years to produce- the whalesong radio (CHANT DE BALEINES) - a radio that could tune in to the bellows of whales from around the world.

The radio was a collaboration with several colleges from all over the world. Special listening pods had to be sent throughout the world's oceans to pick up the sounds. Sadly, only one of the listening pods still exists today and if you're lucky enough to have one of the radios, you'll only be able to hear humpbacks a couple days out of the year.
After a brief hiatus, Cyprien returned to the design world with his now famous CowCows (VACHEMENT VACHE ). Completely "fed up" with seeing cows unsuccessfully wipe flies from their eyes, he came up with an ear extender that could be used by the cow to fully remove any pest that was bothering them. They were made out of a super-soft material and cost about fifty cents (Canadian) per set.

CowCows were a huge success in Sweden and in the Midwestern USA. Although the cows couldn't buy the extenders themselves, they could speak through their milk production. If one farmer got his cows the extenders, sooner or later his neighbor's cows would stop producing milk in protest until they also had them.

In 1968 Côté took a trip to Italy that would change his life forever. One morning he was outside exercising when a small earthquake took place. He noticed a beetle near his feet that left his den while the earthquake was progressing. Intrigued by this Côté took the beetle back to his lab. As it turns out, this insect- the LoDuca Beetle- can sense earth tremors and always comes out to the light when he senses anything. Côté immediately took over a thousand of the Beetles back to Quebec and designed his earthquake warning system, INSECTES TREMOLOITANTS. The device was simple- one dark room, one light room, one tunnel. If someone would ever see the beetle, they would know that an earthquake would be on the way. Insectes Tremoloitants has saved over 800 lives and counting.

Côté died young at age 35 in a diving accident. In 1974, four years after his death, his brother Cypriaque realized and released one of Cyprien's early sketches- a sea shell empowered white-noise generator. All proceeds went to an undisclosed charity.

Does Côté's legacy live on? A quick google search will tell you that it doesn't, but certainly this was a man that deserves to be remembered. There are huge gaps in his career history and any evidence of his existence is welcomed.
As Côt&eacute would say: "Fête fort pour les bêtes, fête fort pour toé."

Design Fancy is a series of short stories about fictional designers who make fictional things. The stories (and the objects) are by Matt Brown. Special thanks to Pierre-Alexandre Poirier and Jerry O'Leary.

The Predictable Magic to which Prahalad and Sawhney refer in their recent book has been given the moniker of Psycho-Aesthetics, and Ravi's firm RKS has applied it successfully to a range of products over his career as a consultant. What they're getting at is not what is commonly recognized as aesthetics (the visual sense). Instead what looks are to the eye, Psycho-Aesthetics are to the soul or the psyche. In the Afterward they provide the clearest description of their end goal: "It's not how you feel about the design or the experience; it's how it makes you feel about yourself."

After drooling yesterday over Henry O. Studley's ultimate tool cabinet from 1890, we began casting about to see if anyone had improved upon Studley's work in the past 100-something years. We still haven't found anything that comes close in terms of classic craftsmanship, though we did find this noteworthy and unabashedly modern tool storage solution.

The U.S. Army commissioned a heavy-duty toolbox from case manufacturer Pelican, and the result was the 0450 Mobile Tool Chest.

As you'd expect from a military-grade object holding very valuable kit, the 0450 is rugged and waterproof; it's also rollable, stackable, and features nice touches like nifty butterfly latches and a lid that opens and stays level so you can use it as worksurface, as you can see in the video below.

There's no price listed for the 0450 on Pelican's website--you're supposed to contact them for a quote--but internet elves suggest it costs around US $550, which is actually lower than we thought it would be. It's no Studley, but these days, what is?

The Kickstarter pledging period has ended on Scott Wilson and MNML's TikTok/LunaTik iPod Nano watch kits, announced with the understatement of the century: "This project successfully raised its funding goal about 11 hours ago." The funding goal was $15,000. The pledged amount was $941,558, so it was overshot by, oh, $926,558, and it's the most successful project in Kickstarter's history.

You'd think Wilson would be somewhere in Mexico by now sporting a fake moustache and a huge suitcase--maybe I'm just projecting my own fantasies here--but instead he's on the ground in Hong Kong, getting the manufacturing ready to go. (Read our earlier Q&A with Wilson here.)

Your correspondent has received an advance edition of the LunaTik (seen above and yes, I pledged) and viewed up close, this thing is suh-weet! The hot-stamped and CNC'd aluminum has an air of precision that seems like it should cost a heckuva lot more than the $69.95 it's going to retail for, and pledgers are getting it for a steal at just $50. With any luck the final production units will soon be making their way onto airplanes, cargo ships and wrists. Congrats again to Scott and MNML!

By the by, now that the pledging period's over, the watch kits can be ordered at their permanent website here.

This video aired a while back but we thought it was so great that we decided to type up a transcript. It's a TEDx talk given by Rachel Botsman, co-author of a new book entitled What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. The book and talk are about the re-emergence of redistribution markets, collaborative lifestyles, and product-service systems that are enabled by web and mobile technology.

What does all of this have to do with design? Well, that's what we'd like to ask you. If consumers are truly engaging more and more in sharing products and services, then how do we designers address that behavior with our work? As with any rising social change, we as designers have to ask - is this a threat or an opportunity? Have a look at the video and gives us your thoughts in the comments. How do you see Collaborative Consumption influencing the future of the way products and services are designed? How can design play a critical role in making the ideas of Collaborative Consumption appealing and scalable?

Philly-based artist Bradley N. Litwin is a self-taught "sculptor of kinetic automata" who has worked on everything from medical product manufacturing design to museum exhibit design and electronics equipment prototyping, among other things. He also cranks out insane machines like his Quadrotapult, below. (Check out when the camera angle switches at 0:28 so you can see what's actually happening.)

His Octapult is similarly nuts--check out that plate in the middle:

And if you were to receive a holiday card from Litwin, it would probably look like one of these:

Check out more of his stuff here.

This is a wicked idea, and we wish we could have experienced it firsthand: The clever guys at BMW figured out a way to literally burn their logo into your retinas.

They say the flash was harmless, and this article doesn't say anywhere that they blinded the first three focus groups and sent them into convulsions, so I'm probably just jumping to conclusions here.

Industrial Designer
MNML
Chicago, IL

MINIMAL is a small but growing studio founded by Scott Wilson that believes our employees are our most valuable resource. Because of this we invest in an environment that allows our carefully selected designers to grow to their true potential. We hold quality of work above all and work tirelessly to exceed expectations and maintain our reputation. As a result we have strong relationships with all of our clients. And we have a lot of fun.

MINIMAL is currently looking for a highly skilled designer in its Chicago studio. This position is for a driven, passionate designer with 5+ years of experience that always exceeds expectations and has a track record of consistently delivering game-changing, successful products to market but is looking for what's next. This is an opportunity to join one of the newest design studios in the industry and work on some of the most exciting projects in the gaming, consumer electronics, medical and furniture fields. This position is for someone who is experienced organizing and inspiring teams and clients, is self-managed, motivated, and has an unstoppable entrepreneurial drive.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

Generally, I'm not one to sport some middle-earth-looking orange-milky way-splashed brown borderline-KKK outfit, but under a sky suddenly darkened by black-edged clouds, on streets where all others have run for cover, well, hell yeah! Just need a good 1000-yard stare to accessorize it with. "Breathable micro polyester (100%) Water and wind resistant with an extra extension for backpacks" Perfect.

Here is an instructional video on how to rock the look.- though these guys need a bit more solemnity in their steps IMO.

Looks to be a limited edition art product by Ole Jensen

Almost too simple to be worthy of note, but we definitely got a kick out of the "Rudi" paper bag redesign by Austrian talent Gerlinde Gruber.

An extra gusset gives Gerlinde's bag a bit of extra capacity and a slightly different character to the ordinary brown paper variety. We particularly appreciated the touch of futuristic styling in the handle.

It's here. The annual awards program that represents the best in industrial design by the organization that's helped shape the industry for longer than anyone else. IDSA is now accepting entries for it's 2011 International Design Excellence Awards , and it's your time to select and submit your best in-production work from the past year. With categories spanning every aspect of the field, your product has the chance to garner international business and design acclaim from audiences that matter. This is more than a chance to show off amongst your peers, but an opportunity to let the world know why our work makes a difference.

Visit IDSA for complete details on registering and entering. The deadline for entry is January 28th, 2011.

If you buy before next Tuesday, Dec 21st by Noon Pacific Time you'll get yer goodies before xmas. We are providing free upgrades to USPS Priority Mail for all purchases - and if you order more than $50 shipping is free entirely! Check it out: Hand-Eye Supply

Got chores to do? You need a Pointer Brand Chore Coat (Also in washed denim.)

Add a little pizzazz to your time in the shop with the Pinnacle Safety Glasses.

Clean up the environmentally sound and healthy way with the Master's Hand Soap.

Blue stove enameled metal from Germany, to hold all your gear; the Gedore 5-compartment tool box.

Check out our popular gift items too!

On one of my daily walks to work through San Francisco I was struck by a particular composition of buildings including SF's iconic Transamerica building. It reminded me so strongly of the futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, who I mentioned a few weeks ago in my post "Three Artists Every Designer Should Know" that I had to research him further. I realized that we are largely living in a world that he envisioned in his very short career, 1912 to 1914. Very little of his work was built, but his drawings for various Futurist exhibitions and the Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, which is attributed to him, lived on past his death at age 28 during WWI. Sant'Elia's ability to foresee and celebrate the layered, chaotic effect of what became of the contemporary city is uncanny.

Check out the books "The Work of Antonio Sant`Elia: Retreat into the Future (Yale Publications in the History of Art)" and "Antonio Sant' Elia (Archipockets)" for more information.

As a Creative Director for a global innovation firm, I fly often. Having to get around the globe on short notice I sample a lot of airlines. All of us should be turning to the passenger next to us saying "can you believe this is really working" on every flight we take, but much of the majesty and magic has been sucked out of the flight experience. From the online booking process, the shoeless, beltless, TSA shuffle through security, to the ragged airplane interiors we are just trying to get through it, perhaps imagining we are in our "happy place".

Not on Virgin, where Sir Richard Branson, billionaire, innovator, adventurer (man crush) and Adam Wells, Virgin America's Design director, have created an immersive design based experience that brings back a touch of that wonder of flight. The planes are more than three years old now and it is amazing to see how far ahead they are of the competition. From the mood-lighting, to the CMF of the seat backs, to the sarcastic safety announcements, everything is just better. Because of routes (and my high mileage with United and Delta) I don't get to fly Virgin much. When I do, I'm reminded of the power of design to evoke a sense of dignity and fun to what is really an amazing fact of being hurtled through the air in a machine with a few strangers.

Appropriately, there is no one big WOW element in the design, but instead it is a collection of well orchestrated small things that make me actually want to be on the plane; like being able to order food anytime you want via the seat back UI, a remote control that feels like it was made in this century, a color palette that relates more to me than my grandmother and flight attendants that seem to be trained to be funny. So thank you Adam Wells. Thank you for not pandering, thank you for looking for the highest common denominator instead of the lowest, thank you for respecting your passengers and honoring the wonder of flight. Other airlines, take note, this is how you do it. Hope you are flying Virgin for the holidays!

Footwear Designer
Girl Skateboard Co INC
Torrance, CA

Lakai Limited Footwear is looking for the right person to join our team. This is a great opportunity for someone with previous footwear design experience within the action sports industry.

The Junior Designer will be responsible for designing footwear specific to skateboarding and lifestyle.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

You may have seen pics of this restored Marcos Mantis floating around on the internet lately. Like its namesake it has a menacing yet beautifully brutal look; angular and elegant at once, it is the rare fully-synthesized expression of ability and aesthetics - something all the more exceptional when you find out that it is made of plywood. Yes, a "stressed plywood monocoque."

Read a bit more about its creator Jem Marsh and see some interior and undercarriage shots by its owner here. Via thecoolist: originally at Blenheim Gang

More pics and photographic evidence of plywood after the jump.

As we turn our eye to a new year, why not keep track of your affairs with Most Wanted, this year's installment of the annual Moustache Calendar. Given the recent renaissance of upper lip hairstyles in the creative community, the Moustache calendar would make a perfect gift for any enthusiast or casual fan this holiday season. This year's installment also includes important dates and raises awareness for Movember, the month-long moustache powered campaign to fight prostate cancer.

This year's calendar theme "Most Wanted," (created by designer Shiman Shan and photographer Ricky Chapman) is a series "of mugshots taken of fictional criminals apprehended in the 1980's - con artists, bootleggers, poachers, car thieves, etc.." featuring "moustaches from all walks of life, from artists and designers, to teachers and students."

They also mention on their site that they've begun planning for next year, with their sights set on capturing the moustaches of Conan O'Brien, James Franco, and Michael Attree among others. Should be a sight to behold.

Check out more great gift ideas in Core77's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide 2010.

British artist, designer and inventor Dominic Wilcox has created this rather elaborate sculptural wire loop for the recently opened "About a Minute" exhibition at the Gopher Hole gallery in London.

Contributors to the exhibition were challenged to create pieces that explored and challenged the brevity with which modern day gallery goers contemplate works on display.

Dominic's piece invites interaction and play—but hit the wire and you will be brought immediately back to the gallery context, being told "Do Not Touch" by the adjoined speaker.