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Reader Submitted: What if Google Assistants Used More than Voice to Communicate?

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Conventional smart speakers work with voice and allow a conversation with the user. However, Those products have limitations since they are only using voice to communicate and exchange information.

Our idea of 'visible artificial intelligence' takes a step further into shaping our relationship with products that surrounds us. It uses Google's artificial intelligence, speech recognition and space recognition technology.

Google Visual Assistant is a new 'AI projector' concept that combines sound and visual information to create new possibilities.

View the full project here

At SXSW, New Dutch Wave Presents an Optimistic View of the Future

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For the third year in a row, a selection of top Dutch designers are representing the Netherlands at SXSW in Austin. New Dutch Wave brings together six cross-disciplinary innovators who are thinking through some of the world's biggest issues and presenting new ways forward. They all seem to ask the question: "If not now then when?" The selected designers (including our very own Dave Hakkens) were chosen based on the following criteria: impact, innovation, experiment, and originality. Some, like Hakkens, will be expanding on existing projects, while others will debut new work at SXSW. Read on to find out more about three of the projects.

Urban Safety Kit by Bas Timmer

Bas Timmer was inspired to create the Sheltersuit—a coat that doubles as a sleeping bag—after his friend's father was turned away from a maxed-out shelter and ended up dying of hypothermia on the streets. He used sleeping bags gathered from the aftermath of music festivals to create the first samples and launched Sheltersuit in 2014. Since then, Timmer has distributed 5,100 coats to refugees and homeless people around the world and picked up the Dutch Design Award in 2017 and the German Design Award in 2018.

In addition to being wind and water-proof, the Sheltersuit is insulated and comes with a hood, an integrated scarf, and large pockets. The bottom portion zips on and off to give the wearer mobility and a seamless transition between the coat's two functions. The suit also comes with a backpack that can be used to store the coat/sleeping bag as needed.

At SXSW, Timmer is introducing the latest evolution of his project: an Urban Safety Kit comprising the tools one would need to ensure their safety on the street: access to medical help, protection from violence, and connectivity. With support from various industry and research partners, Timmer has developed a prototype that embeds smart technology to tackle these issues. He's added sensors that pick up heart rate and body temperature and emit alarms if hypothermia is detected, as well as a proximity alert sensor that will react if a person is robbed, or worse. Timmer also integrated solar panels into his latest design which will allow wearers to charge their devices and remain connected to society.

Precious Plastic by Dave Hakkens

You're probably already familiar with Dave Hakkens' long-term project Precious Plastics. A few years ago the Dutch designer and Core77 contributor decided to take a grass-roots approach to the complicated process of large-scale recycling and developed simplified, DIY versions of industrial recycling machines that anyone could replicate. Maker spaces, workshops, and designers around the world have used the open-source instructions to build their own tools, recycle plastic and manufacture new plastic products on their own.

Fundamentally a project about social engagement, Hakkens continues his movement at SXSW in a workshop developed alongside Andre Amaro. Together with 25 students from Texas University, they will pick up plastic waste around Austin's Waller Creek and immediately turn it into various one-of-a-kind products that will be available for sale.

KozieWe and KozieMe by Tom Kortbeek and Roos Meerman

The KozieWe is an interactive wall tapestry that reacts to motion and allows users to generate their own musical compositions. When you touch the wall, you'll hear an instrument playing. If another person starts interacting with it, another instrument will be heard, and so on. Tapping into research that shows a link between music, sound, and the recovery of memory, KozieWe has been used to help dementia patients living at home and in care facilities. The sounds can be personalized to better suit individuals. For example, a soundtrack of forest sounds might help a nature lover reconnect with those memories.

Whereas the KozieWe was designed to foster connections between multiple people, Kortbeek and Meerman's latest design, the KozieMe, is more intimate. Inspired by research into multi-sensory environments, the design is a simple plush pillow with built-in speakers that are activated by touch. Highly intuitive, it has an SD card slot so it can be customized with personal messages.

March 12 is Dutch Design Day at SXSW and participating designers will host a full day of events, including lectures and performances.



Design Job: Don't Sleep on This Opportunity! Astro Studios Is Seeking a Senior Graphic Designer in San Francisco, Ca

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Our goal at ASTRO as a design studio is to bridge the gap that exists between people culture and technology by designing meaningful products, brands and experiences that improve the human experience. Rooted in design empowerment, User Experience is the fabric that knits together our multidisciplinary practice. We collaborate with

View the full design job here

A Step-by-Step Look at Cody Hoyt's Inlaid Ceramic Technique 

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Trained as a painter and printmaker and entirely self-taught in ceramics, Brooklyn-based artist Cody Hoyt lets his experience with the two-dimensional inform his sculptural work. "When it comes to my process, I still feel like I'm living in a two-dimensional world," he says. "I'm finding a voice in three-dimensional form." Best known for his faceted ceramic vessels made of intricately patterned clay slabs, his latest body of work, currently on view at Patrick Parrish Gallery, includes his first foray into table design.

"I haven't done anything like this before," he told me in a recent email. To make it happen, he developed an intricate technique of pigmented, cut, and inlaid clay. Below, Hoyt takes us step-by-step through his process.

Hoyt started out his Flat Earth table by building up concentric circles of colored clay on a pottery wheel. He takes the resulting disc and slices through it horizontally to expose the precise cross-section hidden inside. Once the clay is dry, it gets placed into the kiln—but its survival is not guaranteed beyond this point. Firing is "a natural process and the work is subject to this sort of 'final judgment,'" he says. "A lot of things break, and a lot of things get weird and change."

In this case, things went wrong but the process didn't end there. "I painstakingly replaced every shard and broken piece back into the original form," he explained. "Once everything had been put back the way it was, I took a step back and thought about my life and choices I've made."

From there, he prepares to cast the piece in resin by taping up the remaining cracks. "The tape 'stops' the resin from bleeding everywhere," he says. "I put 'stops' in quotations because it doesn't work. Once the resin has cured, I remove all the tape and polish the fuck out of the newly Frankensteined slab of fired ceramic," he continues. "I use a Makita wet grinder and start with 80 grit and go up to around 800 or 1000. The surface gets very silky-smooth like marble and is irresistible to touch."

To make the Poincaré table, Hoyt first maps out a hyperbolic tessellation on two slabs of wet clay. "Then I cut out all the pieces and swap 'em together," he says. "Doing it this way I end up with two complete patterns."

After the clay gets fired, each piece shrinks by about 11%. The shrunken edges create a gap that Hoyt fills with epoxy. "I transfer the pattern piece-by-piece from the kiln shelf onto a plastic surface, cleaning up edges as I go," he says. "Then I dam it up with clay in preparation for an epoxy fill."

He mixes stainless steel powder into the epoxy to give the final result a metallic quality, seen in the detail shot above. By keeping the edges irregular, "the pattern nods at infinity. It goes in all directions," he explains.

The legs of both tables are made from stacks of colored clay that have been cut down to the proper shape and length. "The leather-hard clay legs get routed out so they have a hollow core. After the clay is dry and fired I put a threaded rod through the length of the leg and fill it with epoxy. After a lot of careful measuring and cutting, the legs can be screwed into the base in 3 places."

Both tables are included in the show at Patrick Parrish, alongside several new ceramic vessels and a series of intricate wall works inspired by the nine-square grid and made using the same inlaid techniques.

"Full Time, Non Primitive" is on view at Patrick Parrish Gallery through April 14, 2019.


Reader Submitted: Snapboard: Magnetically Managed Measuring

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The kitchen drawer containing the measuring cups and spoons is often one of the most cluttered. In an effort to keep measuring cups organized, they are typically stacked. However, the process of stacking and unstacking can be tedious. Measuring spoons are even more frustrating to deal with. Although the spoons often come attached together with a ring, using them while connected is incredibly clumsy and clipping them on and off the ring is, again, tedious.

Snapboard was designed to be the most foolproof and simple method to organize measuring cups and spoons.

Experimenting with layouts and various attachment methods.
Exploring slots, into which measuring spoons would be inserted.
The first magnetic prototype.
The final prototype.
View the full project here

Design Job: Descente is Seeking an Engineered Footwear Designer in South Korea

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‘To Bring the Enjoyment of Sports to All’ Descente LTD is running an Apparel R&D center in Japan and a Footwear R&D center in Korea. Descente is determined to improve the competitiveness of its products and to become a global leader in athletic footwear.The state of the

View the full design job here

Yuliya Veligurskaya of Studio Cult Co on Ditching a Career in Architecture to Design the Brand of Her Dreams

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Have you ever had a persistent itch to leave your corporate job to start your own business? You know, the kind that comes and goes in waves, hitting you hardest when your ideas get shot down by upper management and when you find yourself still in the office at 2am on a Wednesday? Well, maybe it's time you take a hint from Studio Cult Co founder, Yuliya Veligurskaya, and just go for it.

After working a corporate design job for a year out of school, Veligurskaya knew her life was meant to follow a different path—a path that lead to designing enamel pins and other small objects for designers who typically create things for others. From enormous PhotoShop pins to toolbar keychains, Veligurskaya designs and manufactures humorous, high quality artifacts that represent the trials and tribulations of the design process. Here she details the highs and lows of starting your own studio and gives advice for those considering a similar path:

How did your design career begin?

I studied architecture at NJIT and then worked as a junior at a large architecture firm in New York City for a year. However, it was always a dream of mine to open my own store and make cool little objects. After a while I couldn't ignore the itch, so I left my job to start Studio Cult Co. Growing up I was very inspired by museum gift shops and design stores, more so than the actual museums. I love collecting and enjoying the stockpile of chachkis I accumulated over the years, so what I ended up doing with my career makes perfect sense.

When did you decide to create Studio Cult Co, and what were some of the driving factors of branching out to start your own studio?

I feel that when you work for someone you are building someone else's dream. I'm very driven, but I never really found jobs that inspired me. I searched far and wide for interesting employment opportunities, but I either received no response or was confronted with very low salaries. So you see, the natural answer was to start my own business.

"I thought it would be a great idea to start a brand that creates gifts for people who committed their lives to making things for others."

I'm also a big personal development junkie and was aware of the booming e-commerce scene. Books like the 4 Hour Work Week were so fascinating to me and inspired me to make a business of my wild imagination. It was part situational, but I was up for the challenge. I wasn't going to wait for someone to give me an opportunity or settle, so I created one myself. This was the best choice I have ever made.

What is the inspiration behind your humorous, often sarcastic, designs?

The name "Studio Cult Co" is short for "studio culture." I noticed that there were no brands that were dedicated to celebrating the culture of the design community. I thought it would be a great idea to start a brand that creates gifts for people who committed their lives to making things for others. Whether you are a seasoned professional or an incoming design student, almost anyone can appreciate these funny trinkets. From pins that say "I don't get paid enough to put up with this" to keychains that look like toolbars we've used on a daily basis for the last 10 years, my goal is to capture the little moments in a designer's life into fun objects that celebrate our day to day. It's all about also finding joy in the ugly, funny parts of design. The brand celebrates the first and final draft, as well as the whole journey along the way.

What are some of the challenges and triumphs you've faced during the manufacturing process?

I experience a lot friction trying to create innovative pin ideas. Typically the process is straightforward for something more run-of-the-mill, which can be a bit off-putting with some of my peculiar requests. Also certain factories are better at a particular process than another, so it takes time to figure out who can deliver the best result.

For one of my designs, I had to approach about ten different factories to find one that would produce pins with my very specific instructions. It's very hard to change my mind on how I want something to be made. I have found that if you insist enough, more often than not you figure out a way to achieve the desired result. There was one time I decided to let go of a factory because they could not deliver the desired result, and the sales representative responded with 20 crying emojis... I wasn't sure how to console her.

When I first started I had another factory send me several beautiful samples. However after placing a large order with them, nearly half the inventory I received had to be thrown away. Finding your first manufacturer can be a bit of a shot in the dark if you have no references like I did. I think the greatest triumph is that I now I have great relationships with high quality manufacturers. They are critical to the success of the studio and are total rockstars.

"[Studio Cult Co] celebrates the first and final draft, as well as the whole journey along the way."

What's a product you haven't made before that you hope to make in the future?

I am currently developing a mid-range unisex jewelry brand called Components for Humans which I am very excited about. I like to describe the upcoming pieces as architectural interventions to the body. I plan to launch this brand in early May. As far as the Studio Cult Co brand, I've been itching to create a kitchenware line: silverware, towels, plates, small decorative dishes and so on. I envision it to be along the lines of the digital nostalgia theme that I love so much.

What have been some of your biggest challenges as a young designer in NYC starting your own business?

Honestly I think the toughest part was starting. It was difficult to acquire solid footing in the market. It was a delicate balance of what I am talented at, what I care about, what the market cares about, cost of production and healthy margins. It took a lot of research, and for a while I felt like I could only see 5 feet ahead at a time. NYC is an expensive place to live, so the pressure to succeed is very real. Although, if that pressure wasn't there I don't think the brand would be where it is now. I try to take my own advice and enjoy the journey. People in this city have been incredibly encouraging, and I think it's a great place to be a young designer. I have met so many talented people here fighting the same good fight.

Do you have any tips for designers looking to delve into getting some of their work made for the first time?

Being a good business person and marketer are essential to the success of an independent designer. Before you start coming up with any ideas, get really clear on who you want to sell to, how big that market is, who your competitors are and what would your market absolutely love to have at the right price point. Answer all of these questions first, and then let your imagination run wild.

Also, pick one thing and make it be exceptional. Something I hear quite often is that people want to hit the ground running and make several kind of products in five different variations. I discourage this, especially if you're planning on doing this alone. My advice would be to focus on making one phenomenal thing, get known for it and then expand from that point. Trust me it's easier that way.

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Grab some Studio Cult Co gear for yourself here.

The Radical Innovation Award Looks Toward the Future of Transportation Design as it Relates to Hospitality 

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If you're into exploring the future of mobility and/or hospitality, the Radical Innovation Award just crossed our radar and might be worth applying to. The annual competition, now open for submissions, challenges designers, architects, hoteliers and students to create new and innovative ideas for the travel and hospitality industries.

Since its founding in 2006, Radical Innovation has awarded nearly $200,000 to its international network of creative talents. Past winners include the Autonomous Travel Suite by Aprilli Design Studio and the Hyperloop Hotel by Brandan Siebrecht, which both focused on combining transportation and accommodation, saving time and money while on route to your next destination. A standout in the field was 2015 winner, Abdelfattah Soliman of Effat University in Saudi Arabia. She created "Adaptive Balloons," a concept that imagined pop-up refuges for people who have been affected by natural disasters around the planet. The inflatable vinyl balloons would act as living spaces and could be suitable to land or water for any inclement condition.

"Radical Innovation discovers and spotlights creative geniuses with the drive to create entirely new segments of the hospitality industry" —John Hardy, Founder of Radical Innovation and CEO of The John Hardy Group.

The panel is made up of jurors from a variety of different industries that evaluate entries based on originality, creativity, design and potential impact. Most importantly, judges are looking for feasibility, as the concept must have an action plan of how it can be achieved in the next three to five years. New for this year, they will distinguish between built and unbuilt and will highlight an innovator in 2019. Until teleportation can actually happen, Radical Innovation is churning out interesting ideas that we hope will come to life in the near future.


By Eliminating a Major CAD Drawback, SimSolid Gives Designers New Opportunities for Workflow

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We've just learned about a fantastic CAD tool—one that works with whatever CAD package you have—that will be a game-changer in the industrial design space. Altair's SimSolid is a simulation plug-in (also available as a stand-alone app) that completely eliminates meshing, that tedious process of simplifying geometry for Finite Element Analysis (FEA). By running SimSolid over your CAD model, you can do simulations nearly instantly—on your original geometry, with no clean-up required.

I know what you're thinking: "Isn't that FEA stuff for engineers? I'm a designer, why should I care about this?" To answer that, let's explain what has been the traditional FEA process up until now, then show you how SimSolid's new advantages would make a difference in your design workflow.

SimSolid is structural analysis software developed specifically for design engineers, enabling the analysis of fully-featured CAD assemblies in minutes without meshing.

Traditional FEA: Useful, But Often Difficult to Use

Finite Element Analysis, or FEA, has become a crucial step in the CAD process. The more simulations you can do, the less prototypes you have to build, saving you both time and money. The problem is that no CAD program is sophisticated enough to run simulations on original CAD geometry, particularly with complicated assemblies, and requires the dreaded meshing step.

So traditionally, you'd design something and draw it up in CAD. It then goes over to an analyst or CAE department, where your CAD geometry is converted into a mesh so that simulations can be run on it. This geometry conversion is time-consuming and a bit of a black art: Should we run a coarse mesh for greater speed, and sacrifice accuracy? Or should we run a finer mesh for accuracy, waiting hours or even days for the computer to produce it?

Another problem with meshing is that it plays havoc with CAD geometry, creating extra busywork and providing opportunities for error. Often lost in translation during the meshing process are crucial connections, gaps and overlaps. Mating parts that you slaved over no longer line up precisely. Designs with small features, both thick and thin parts and/or irregular transitions all provide headaches that must be hunted down and re-worked. To save time, a common trick is to break your assembly into parts and analyze them separately. This introduces the opportunity for errors that can cost end users even more time down the road.

According to the website of one major CAD manufacturer, "Meshing a model is an integral step in performing any simulation. There's no getting around it—it has to be done." Well, with the arrival of SimSolid, that's no longer true.

SimSolid Simplifies FEA, Making it Easy for Designers to Use

SimSolid can run analyses nearly instantly—on your original CAD geometry. There's no meshing required; you pull your CAD file in and it's ready to go within seconds. You don't need to be an analyst with a background in mesh voodoo. You, the designer, can run simulations to figure out if your concept is even viable before kicking it over to ME.

SimSolid eliminates geometry simplification and meshing, the two most time-consuming and expertise-extensive tasks done in traditional FEA.

And if you're a designer working without the benefit of a dedicated engineering department—let's say you're a design entrepreneur or part of a small team crafting low-tech objects for a crowdfunding campaign—the utility of SimSolid should be obvious. Where is the clamp for your new bike light design most liable to break? Will your design for a cantilevered monitor stand support the 21.5 pounds of a 27" iMac Pro? Is the wall thickness for your object appropriate for the application? Are two mounting bolts enough, or do you need four?

A complex machined part with more than 100 small holes. It's time-consuming to mesh and solve this using traditional FEA. SimSolid does it in seconds.

To be able to see these results in seconds to minutes—rather than hours or days—can let you know, early on, if you're barking up the right design tree. And as you refine the design, having the ability to definitively see whether you're over- or under-engineering an object can give you a more accurate idea of BOM and eliminate that "Hey Kickstarter backers, sorry, but we screwed up" update down the line.

For a designer working within an organization that does have access to a dedicated engineering branch, SimSolid can provide an entirely new workflow. Even if ME ultimately needs to sign off after doing their own analysis, you can learn if your initial designs are viable well before knocking on their door. And by being able to spot problems early, you can tackle them with design proposals that hew more closely to your original vision, rather than you designing a unicorn and the engineers coming back with a rhinoceros.

Without having to ask the engineers, you can quickly find out exactly where this stepladder's liable to break if overloaded. That gives you the power to foresee problems and tackle them with design first.

"SimSolid a very empowering piece of software for those users who were locked out of a part of the process; now they can participate," says co-developer Ken Welch. "Let's say you're an industrial designer, and you realize 'I can run a structural simulation right now, without having to wait.' Well, now you can ask a question, and answer it yourself.

"That allows you to develop your designs faster, because now you can use simulation as an integral part of the design process. When you have performance insights available to you early on in the design process, that opens up the possibility for new workflows that were simply not possible in the past."

You can use SimSolid to quickly check where the stress points are on this pull-up bar, and how they change depending on which of the three handle sets are pulled on.

"And you can explore more. Not just with simple parts, as with most other FEA systems; with SimSolid you can look at full assemblies and very complex geometries."

Video Demonstrations

The following videos can give you a better idea of what SimSolid can do for you.

An Introduction to SimSolid

In this first video Warren Dias, Altair's Director of Global Business Developmen, explains the benefits of the software. This is the video you show to your manager:

Demonstration #1: Modal Analysis

Here you can see not only the multitude of CAD formats supported, but just how fast it is to pull a complicated part into SimSolid and run a quick modal analysis:

Demonstration #2: Comparing Multiple Design Variants

In this second demo, Dias r?uns a linear static analysis on two models, showing you how easy it is to compare them directly:

Demonstration #3: Performing a Non-Linear Static Analysis

In the third demo a non-linear static analysis is run, revealing separating contacts with as much ease as the first two demos:

As you can see, results are nearly instantaneous; that little flashing green bar at the bottom left of the screen seems to finish impossibly quickly. I noticed the same during demonstrations given to us by Welch, and I asked him what kind of high-powered hardware the program required.

"I'm just running it on a laptop," he explained. "A lot of people see the demos and think 'I need to run this on a supercomputer in the cloud, right? Or buy a really expensive GPU?' But no, I'm running this on a standard-core i7 laptop, and it runs great."

In short, SimSolid is fast, accurate, and doesn't require extra computing. It opens up a world of possibilities to designers working within today's fast-paced timelines, removing a barrier between ID and ME that seemed intractable. "Analysis never really had the impact it could," Welch says, "because it just couldn't work at the speed of design."

Well, now it can.

To confirm it yourself, you can try SimSolid for free. Altair has also launched a social media promotion where SimSolid users can post a simulation for a chance to win weekly cash prizes. 

"Post your SimSolid simulation results to social media throughout the months of March and April 2019," the company writes, "and every week, five people will be selected to win $50 Visa Gift Cards. The best model at the end of the promotion will win a $1000 grand prize." 

Click here for details on how to enter.

Design Job: Small Planet is Seeking a UI/UX Designer in Brooklyn, NY

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The UI/UX Designer role at Small Planet encompasses both Interaction Design and Visual Design in the service of creating inspired mobile applications and other digital products. Our designers contribute to the entire product lifecycle, from problem validation and UX research, to UX/UI design and development, testing, and iteration.

View the full design job here

Exploring the Dangers of Industrial Design Instagram Influencers

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A few months ago, a video emerged of Kanye West giving one of his signature verbal fire hoses to the students at Detroit College for Creative Studies. As I watched, a smile slowly curled on my face, anticipating the silence he would receive at the end of his rant.

That didn't happen.

I started to dig around, and I was shocked to see that generally speaking, students and graduates admire Kanye West. Remember, there's a very key difference between working with designers, and being one. Kanye is not a trained designer, but he's a creative mind that has the ability to pay designers to work on and execute his ideas. So then how did Kanye West become a design influencer that can do no wrong in the minds of design students?

All illustrations by Connor Pelletier-Sutton

I have a real love/hate relationship with concept of the "influencer" as a whole. I think it's magnificent that an individual's work can be collectively appreciated on a social platform, validating that there are thousands upon thousands of incredibly talented people out there viewing and interacting with their work. But the game has evolved so much from the dream we had 10 years ago, and it's fascinating (or quite frankly, upsetting) to dissect.

So let's start by focusing on Instagram, the clear choice for all types of creatives to share their work and watch an appreciative audience grow in front of their eyes in 2019. I joined Instagram back in 2011 while doing my masters in Architecture. "This is awesome!" I thought—a way to share my architecture models and ideas without bothering friends who wouldn't care about that on Facebook. And those filters, oh boy those filters. How wonderfully they would cover up the crappiness of my photos and quality issues in the models (or so I thought). At the time, "influencers" didn't really exist. The audience was small, and hash tagging wasn't a thing quite yet. We would mostly share our handles by word of mouth to one another, and the focus was on sharing our work. It was awesome.

via GIPHY

Inherently, that hasn't changed—Instagram is still for sharing images. But as the platform gathered more users and it felt more and more crowded, we evolved with it. Whether intentional or not, Instagram today is a tacitly competitive space when it comes to creatives. It's as though we're all fighting for an audience that in actuality, can and does consume content from everyone. And out of this innate human need to compete and be the leader of the pack, we birthed influencers.

Now, it's not all bad. One of the greatest things to have come from this evolution is the desire to push ourselves and create better content to share, making us all better and hopefully encouraging others to push themselves too. Even this has its pitfalls, though, which lies mostly on the shoulders of influencers.

The problem here is that we're painting a complete illusion of what we do to the next generation of designers and reduce the job down to some beautiful renders or sketches.

One thing that social media influencers experience far less than a more traditional celebrity is the rise to fame through an in-person audience. That in-person experience helps others understand the impact of their actions and words, (positive or negative) more effectively than through only digital means. As a result, they may not necessarily think about the impact of their actions and how they influence others.

Let's take a minute to remember we're talking about creatives here, not socialites, movie stars, etc. Our influence and impact is minimal in the grand scheme of things, but our actions can be damaging in many other ways. I am not an influencer by any stretch, but on a near daily basis, I receive a message from a junior designer, student, or teenager saying something to the effect of "I wish I had your job!" Or "I hope to do what you do when I'm older!". But what nobody ever sees is all the work and time it took to get to there in the first place, and that's the danger.

A number of professional industrial designers use instagram as a way to detox from the reality of being a designer in the working world by sharing wild concepts, and beautifully rendered but essentially unusable designs, which in my eyes reduces them to sculpture. The problem here is that we're painting a complete illusion of what we do to the next generation of designers and reduce the job down to some beautiful renders or sketches. After all, who wants to see a photo of you on a bad hair day struggling to come up with an idea or paying invoices?

Even in my own line of work, I am not a traditional industrial designer. I often work on projects that are at times ridiculous and over the top. But because of social media, people have the illusion that I work on those types of projects all day everyday. What they don't see are the behind the scenes hours of PowerPoint, strategic meetings and tactical reviews I often go through see if the projects I propose will be actually be approved.

Now imagine then, the impact that someone with an even more significant following has on their audience? Whether they like it or not, everything they share or do will be consumed, and most likely, emulated. So do influencers need to be more mindful and conscientious? Absolutely.

However, plot twist: this isn't about them—it's actually about you. The clue to the power you as a "follower" hold is in the name we've given these people: influencers. Do you want to blindly follow and be influenced, or do you want to stop, take a minute and think about what you just saw or read, and decide if it makes sense for you to emulate?

That's not to say you should unfollow every industrial design influencer you admire. But I am saying that, especially when it comes to your current or future career, it's important to be practical and pragmatic with the loads of information you consume on a daily basis, whether it be via Instagram, YouTube or even design blogs. Take in the information for what it is—not for what you want it to be.

Remember the Kanye anecdote at the beginning of this article? It's understandable if you admire Kanye in some capacity as an artistic and cultural influencer, but please take his creative rants for what they are and avoid worshiping his every move, especially in a design context. Same goes for social media influencers within the industrial design industry.

The New Tia Clinic is a Complete Reimagining of the Gynecology Office Experience

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When history credits a man for introducing modern gynecology (yes, it’s true, his name is James Marion Sims, and he was known to experiment on enslaved women at that) it’s no surprise that OBGYN clinics receive notorious complaints as being a place of angst and uneasiness. Whoever decided that asylum-like patient rooms, harsh white lights, and cheap paper gowns would foster the cornerstones of a place where females get their reproductive health examined was probably not a woman. Let us introduce you to Tia, the healthcare clinic in New York City that opened just last week that's designed by women, for women.

All photography by Kezi Ban courtesy of Rockwell Group

What was once a popular digital health app, a high level of positive feedback from its users led Tia to open a physical extension of their brand with the mission of redesigning the sphere of women’s healthcare. Located in the Flatiron District, their in-clinic services include basic primary and gynecological care, as well as holistic healthcare like acupuncture. But there’s more—one of the most riveting aspects of the clinic is that every detail of the space, physical and experiential, were designed carefully to enhance a woman’s experience of the clinical process.

But what specifically does it mean when a space is designed by women, for women? Reduced waitlists, same day appointments, and evening and weekend booking availability are only some of the perks members can expect. Even more importantly, Tia's original app is thoughtfully integrated into the in-person experience; members can simply keep track of their health in the app's comprehensive wellness tracker, which doctors utilize for a deeper look into the patient's general health and habits.

The founders partnered with the LAB at Rockwell to help translate their online brand into a space—bright colored bricks, soft light, abstract fixtures and pastel murals commissioned by artist Alex Proba adorn the clinic's white walls, creating a warmer and engaging alternative to medical poster taped hallways.

But what specifically does it mean when a space is designed by women, for women? Reduced waitlists, same day appointments, and evening and weekend booking availability are only some of the perks members can expect. The founders partnered with the LAB at Rockwell to help translate their online brand into a space—bright colored bricks, soft light, abstract fixtures and pastel murals commissioned by artist Alex Proba adorn the clinic’s white walls, creating a warmer and engaging alternative to medical poster taped hallways.

"We interviewed all the women in our company and Tia's company to learn more about what their clinical experiences are like. Across the board, it was interesting to see so many negative experiences. We think a lot about how to connect people to their spaces, and there aren't many things out there in terms of women's care where there's a space created specifically for women by women," explained Melissa Hoffman, Studio Head at the Rockwell Group. "We commissioned artwork by women, and had women upholster the furniture that we chose. Everyone who played a role in building this clinic was a woman, who knew what they would want when going to the doctor," Hoffman said.


Each exam room is equipped with a closet for patients to hang their clothes and belongings, which afterwards they’ll have a comfortable kimono robe waiting to be slipped into. Patients can also say sayonara to the militant layout of the traditional waiting room, replaced with a “community room” that also serves as an event space during off-hours. Through an immersive and collaborative process, Hoffman’s team found simple design solutions to put hospitality back into the hospital, one of many ways women’s healthcare is improving, to which she adds, “I do believe this is a wave of the future, retail spaces around wellness especially are moving this way.”


Currently Crowdfunding: A Smart Teapot, a Home Cheesemaker, and More

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Brought to you by MAKO Design + Invent, North America's leading design firm for taking your product idea from a sketch on a napkin to store shelves. Download Mako's Invention Guide for free here.

Navigating the world of crowdfunding can be overwhelming, to put it lightly. Which projects are worth backing? Where's the filter to weed out the hundreds of useless smart devices? To make the process less frustrating, we scour the various online crowdfunding platforms to put together a weekly roundup of our favorite campaigns for your viewing (and spending!) pleasure. Go ahead, free your disposable income:

Teplo aims to be your personal tea master. The connected teapot is powered by a database of hundreds of tea types, each with a custom brewing time and temperature. The on-button doubles as a heart rate sensor that will know when you're stressed and adjust your brew so you get a more calming cup.

From the designers who brought you the ultimate minimalist pen, here's a minimalist sketchbook with maximum impact. The Studio Sketchbook is made with durable Hanji paper and will always lay perfectly flat.

The first book to tell the story behind the 1972 Munich Olympics identity, developed by Otl Aicher and his design team, Dept. XI. Their immense output included designing everything from print materials and signage, to the stadium decorations and souvenirs.

Mozzarella, blue cheese, cheddar, feta, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, provolone—Fromaggio lets you make all these cheeses (and more!) right at home. After the initial investment, you should be able to make your favorite cheeses at a fraction of what you're used to paying in stores.

Kinflyte's three-piece set includes a wire-free bra, a built-in bra top, and high-rise underwear—a trio of better essentials that feature a hidden compression system to promote body alignment and help you achieve better posture.

Do you need help designing, developing, patenting, manufacturing, and/or selling YOUR product idea? MAKO Design + Invent is a one-stop-shop specifically for inventors / startups / small businesses. Click HERE for a free confidential product consultation.


Design Job: IDSA is Seeing a Visual Brand Designer in San Francisco, CA

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You are a talented, creative, detail-oriented and proven Visual Brand Designer whose portfolio of work shows a rich diversity of well-executed projects. In this role, you will uphold and express IDSA’s brand, mission and programs through the creation of compelling graphic design work for use in print, digital and environmental

View the full design job here

Reader Submitted: A Wine Rack Inspired by Tongues


A New Game That Aims to Change How Kids Learn About Periods

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We've got a new game for game night, and it's likely not at all what you're expecting— introducing The Period Game. This Kickstarter campaign (which recently ended, but now features a link for pre-order) aims to revolutionize how teach children about periods, turning a topic that is uncomfortable for many into an interactive game that makes learning about periods approachable. The game is based on the menstrual cycle and includes all of the challenges that young women may go through as they learn about their periods and how their bodies will react.

The board has four different spaces, each representing a different week in the roughly four weeks in the menstrual cycle, and includes an assortment of the symptoms associated with phases of the cycle.

Yes, the centerpiece of this game board is meant to represent the female reproductive system and yes, we think it's great. To move forward in the game, you'll twist one of the ovaries and a colored marble is released which indicates your next move. Got a red marble? You've got your period. Clear? Move forward one space and play a card. Purple? You leaked, go to the nurse's office and miss your turn.

A variety of cards will teach you about the different forms of leak protection and what PMS might be and how to deal with the symptoms.

Learning about reproductive health may be uncomfortable at times, but it is a crucial step in normalizing the body's biological processes and realizing it isn't the end of the world if you do leak during your period. Another thoughtful way this game is breaking stigmas is that it isn't just for women! The Period Game is designed to be an educational tool for all to normalize periods and the challenges that women face every cycle.

The Period Game Kickstarter campaign ended above their goal at $39, 412, now making it available for pre-order to be delivered by early next year.


Design Job: Hungry for a Career Change? Uber Eats is Seeking a Sr Product Designer in Toronto

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About the team Uber Eats is looking for great design thinkers and problem solvers for a brand new team that will transform how people get their groceries. As a Product Designer on the grocery team, you’ll take on tough interaction and service design challenges, and you’ll work on big

View the full design job here

A Perfect Explanation of the Ideal Relationship Between Designers and Engineers

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Quick question: How many executives do you know that can do renderings?

ArtCenter graduate Jon Ikeda is one of those rare designers that have risen through the ranks to become a high-level executive. As Vice President and General Manager of Acura, Ikeda brings 30 years of Honda/Acura experience--primarily from the design side--to the table. This gives him a perspective that few Veeps and C-suiters possess, and in our upcoming Acura story, we'll show you how that benefits the company. Not to mention the company's designers.

But first, a teaser. While visiting the Acura Design Studio in Torrance, California, we pulled Ikeda's coat for quotes, and are glad we did; during a casual chat he revealed a rather insightful take on the ideal relationship between car designers and car engineers. Let's just say that Ikeda's mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations, and to boldly go where (few) designers have gone before.

Core77: You've been in this game for a while. How has automotive design changed in the past 30 years?

Jon Ikeda: Back in the day, we [car designers] didn't have all the information. No internet, we didn't do as much benchmarking, we didn't have all the analytics to cloud what we wanted to do. See, too much information is not good either, because then you'll try to analyze your way into a solution, instead of doing what your heart tells you. And we need to be true to self.

How would you define being true to self, in an auto design context?

With my group, I always talk about it in the context of Star Trek. The two guys that drive that show are Kirk and Spock. I've always identified designers as Kirk, and engineers as Spock.

We're an engineering company, so there's a lot of Spocks around. We live on the Vulcan planet. And we designers, we're so insulated that we always say, "They don't get it, they don't understand what we're trying to do here." That's because we don't understand their language. We have to learn it so we can discuss things with them.

We've gotta talk about it with the engineers--and even the bean counters. The bean counters and engineers have something in common, which is numbers. They love to talk to each other with graphs and charts. They have those language skills that they can logic their way into, and they can talk to each other.

But with designers, it's all gut feel, intuition. "How do you know this is right?" --"Because it looks cool."

So here's the thing: If you try to do a show like Star Trek with only Kirk, you'd fly the Enterprise into the sun in episode three because you had a gut feeling about something. And you won't have a franchise. But if you did it all with just a bunch of Spocks, it would be the most boring show on Earth. It would never go anywhere. Just before they go exploring, some meteor shows up and now they have to do a bunch of recalculations for safety. Nobody would watch it.

So you have to balance your Kirks and Spocks. You have to respect each other and figure out what's best. Anytime I'd go over this with our engineers, they'd all say "Yes, we have to work together." And once you get full agreement, this is what I always drop on them:

"Never forget who the Captain is."

You always have to go with your heart. At some point, there's not going to be enough data, so what does your heart tell you? That's what really rules design at the end.

So we talk about Kirk and Spock all the time on my team. If I have plenty of time to think something out, I'll say "We can Spock this thing for a while and see what happens."

But if we have no time, I'm like "We're Kirking it. We're Kirking this thing right now. I'm feeling this. You feeling this? Okay--let's go."

_____

Up Next: The story of Acura's design turnaround. Stay tuned!

The Joys and Despairs of Visiting MoMA's "The Value of Good Design" Exhibit

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Since its inception, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) claims to have asked "What is good design and how can it enhance everyday life?" Made from a variety of materials—textiles, wood, plastics, leather, metals, glass, etc.—using then-innovative technology, 100-plus featured objects within MoMA's 2019 "The Value of Good Design" exhibit highlight the guiding design principles which shaped the tastes of worldwide consumers across generations.

Showcasing a global perspective, from a Brazilian bowl chair to a Japanese poster for a Mitsubishi sewing machine to a mass-market Italian Fiat Cinquecento to a Soviet-era East German Werra camera to an American shrimp cleaner and a propaganda film, MoMA selected pieces featured in past "Good Design" exhibits that demonstrated design's ability to reflect nations' respective and shared social and aesthetic values.

Passing Arthur Young's bulbous 1945 Bell-47D1 Helicopter (technically not included in the Good Design exhibit, though with it's plastic bubble made of just one piece, it should be) and instantly encountering Dante Giacosa's Fiat 500f city car, entering MoMA's "The Value of Good Design" feels monumental. Upon closer inspection, the exhibit design itself is nothing to write home about. With minimal flow, inconvenient physical pausing points for videos or projections, few object descriptions, etc., the exhibit caused me to wonder if its designers thought to apply the "good design" principles, printed on their walls and projected through their screens, to their spaces and experiences. Perhaps that will be something they will consider in their museum overhaul?

That is not to say the exhibit design was all bad. Standing in the middle of that space, surrounded by pieces—vacuums, furniture, pamphlets, tools, posters, tapestries, and more—whose design principles embody why I chose to pursue industrial design, filled me with joy.

"Since undefinable emotional factors as well as judgment play a part in what one likes, good design will always be different things to different people." — Betty Pepis, The New York Times, 1951

I was instantly reminded of my first year studying industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design, facing assignments that filled me a mix of dread for and paranoia about my inevitable future of designing and creating enough plastic trash to occupy my own personal landfill. I was about to transfer, either out of my major or out of design school all together. Then, as a major requirement, I took Matthew Bird's class, The History of Industrial Design. Learning about the history of manmade things, about the manufacturing, material developments, and timelines that allowed the objects, furniture, and buildings surrounding me to be built in the first place was perhaps the most fascinating part of my undergraduate education. Deeply thankful for those lessons, I stayed.

But what about people who don't have that background? That education? That privilege? With many objects resembling those lining the shelves of Salvation Armies and Goodwills everywhere, and with most labels citing only the designer, object name, manufacturer, distributor, and years, how do visitors assign and understand the value of what's before them?

Without knowledge of and consequent passion for the "Tupperware Seal," borosilicate glass, furniture systems, and other niche industrial design history, visitors do not know what makes these pieces—pails, rakes, fishing rods, glasses, vacuums, shrimp cleaners, brooms, and other everyday objects—worthy of a museum pedestal. "I have never seen any useful object that could not have been done in innumerable ways, shapes and contours equally well-suited to its purpose," declared Eva Zeisel in 1946, according to the exhibit's rotating screen of "good design" quotes. In omitting information regarding the noteworthy aspects of a particular design, the institution leaves the viewer, unaware of the design's contexts, of which shapes and contours made the object museum-worthy. What responsibility does the museum—an educational resource—have to actually educate, to provide context and information?

"I have never seen any useful object that could not have been done in innumerable ways, shapes and contours equally well-suited to its purpose." —Eva Zeisel, designer, 1946

The exhibit's Good Design Lab, hidden behind a wall on the exhibit's far edge, serves as an opportunity for visitors to interact with some of the show's pieces.

MoMA aims for the exhibit to raise “questions about what Good Design might mean today, and whether values from mid-century can be translated and redefined for a 21st-century audience.” With that, I anticipated the exhibition to identify how and through what objects and experiences midcentury design principles are still relevant today. Yet, questions regarding what “good design” means today aren’t posed directly in the exhibit. At the most, it is clear what good design was. Perhaps for MoMA, a promotional powerhouse, “good design” is anything they can sell in their gift shops, as they invite visitors to explore “how, through its design stores, MoMA continues to incubate new products and ideas in an international marketplace.”

With very little separating “The Value of Good Design” from a glorified showroom shopping guide, to encourage the purchase of these products (though beautiful testaments to their times) today feels like promotion of the middle-upper class mass consumerism that is destroying the planet. I look forward to a museum exhibition that explores beyond the mass consumption paradigm, offering potential solutions and examples of what iconic, “good design” can look like in 2019 and beyond.

"The Value of Good Design" is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City until June 15, 2019.

Design Job: Ready for Some Fun? Areaware is Seeking a Packaging Designer in Brooklyn, NY

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As Graphic Designer for Areaware, you will report directly to the Art Director. Your job is to create visual assets for all our packaging and communication channels that clearly communicate the Areaware point-of-view. The ideal candidate is versatile, driven,

View the full design job here
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