The next time you're ready for a mildly productive break from work, take a few minutes to find your creative type with this recently debuted quiz from Adobe Create. Inspired by the idea that creatives have a tendency to "contain contradictory extremes," as psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi put it, the test employs top-notch design and graphics to uncover your core creative personality.

The test is composed of fifteen questions inspired by popular personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs and Jungian archetypes. With only two possible responses for each question, some are hard to answer definitively and your answers may change depending on when you take the test—but that's ok.

"The types aren't black and white; I think of them as more of a spectrum. You might be one type at a certain point of your life—or even at a certain point in your creative process—and another type at a different time," said Carolyn Gregoire, who developed the test and co-authored Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind. "Ultimately, every creative has a little bit of each of these types inside of them."

London-based creative agency Anyways was tasked with transforming Gregoire's test into a fun and immersive digital experience. They teamed up with installation and spatial design duo Isabel + Helen to create a series of short videos that run after each question and visually represent your answer.

Consider the following simple but illuminating question: Updates are ready to install: 1) Restart now; or 2) Remind me tomorrow. "The concept is that an action-oriented person prefers to focus and get things done right away, while someone who is more ideas-oriented is more likely to procrastinate and put things off," Gregoire explains. "If you select 'restart now,' a series of glass cubes slot down perfectly one by one into the floor, turning on a light from below that signals the completion of the task. Watching the video, you can feel the methodical mindset and sense of satisfaction that comes with checking things off your to-do list...But if you click 'remind me later,' you see a series of glass cubes falling from off-screen and piling on top of one another, capturing the feeling of tasks piling up and a busy mind that's juggling lots of different input."

3D artist Anton Hjertstedt designed the characters and they playfully and symbolically capture the different energies of each type. The Dreamer's head is composed of several layers as if to suggest their ideas are protected from the world outside; the Innovator has multiple "brains" all just barely contained within a wire frame; the Maker is an assemblage of different materials.

Check out the test for yourself here!

ASTRO Studios blends lifestyle, technology and design into valuable, tangible, high-impact brands and products for many of the world’s most recognized companies. We are looking for an inspiring Brand Director that has a proven ability to work with cross-functional teams to develop innovative brand strategy solutions and experiences. The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of brand strategy consulting experience.

As part of the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Tom Dixon and IKEA have designed an experimental model for urban farming. Titled "Gardening will Save the World," the exhibition demonstrates how people can grow food at home and do their best to reduce food waste, through the combination of design and technology.

The two-level garden will feature over 4,000 plants, as well as a horticultural lab that integrates technology into the system. "Aiming to give back to cities and create productive landscapes within urban zones, the garden includes a raised modular landscape with edible and medicinal plants and an enclosed based garden fueled by hydroponic systems and controllable lighting," says Dixon.

IKEA has explored gardening systems in the past, but this is the first time the company is working on a scalable system that can be applied to both large spaces and the individual home. "We want to create smart solutions to encourage people and to make it easier for them to grow plants anywhere they can, whether that's in their community garden, rooftop or in containers on balconies and window sills," says James Futcher, Creative Leader at IKEA Range and Supply.

A few of the solutions for urban growing that resulted from this collaboration will actually be available at IKEA stores globally in 2021. After the Chelsea Flower Show comes to a close, "Gardening will Save the World" will be donated to Participatory City and moved to East London for at least three years.

Provides consulting services on one or more technical specialties such as usability, interaction or visual design, prototyping or content. Leads project teams to define and document site architecture, navigation elements, content strategy, map user flows, and propose best practices in usability and interactive design based on a deep understanding of customer needs. Recommends innovative solutions that balance customer needs with business viability and technical feasibility. Creates exceptional user experiences that result in market differentiation and efficiency improvements while maintaining brand standards and meeting business objectives.

Project Hurrah! is an urban musical instrument designed by Karol Murlak, Danielle Begnaud, Kasia Michnowska, and Marzena Krupa. This playful and interactive installation is a celebration of the hundredth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Poland and the United States.
The installation takes the form of a large-scale xylophone composed of stainless steel vertical tubes. When tapped consecutively with a drumstick, the tubes play the Polish birthday and anniversary song, Sto Lat. Users don't need to have any previous musical knowledge to experience the joy of playing music. The tune, known to every Pole and some Americans, recalls universal themes of fun, friendship, and love.

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Credit: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez

Elastomers: what you need to know

With 3D printing came a revolution in manufacturing and industrial design, underpinned by dramatic developments in printing materials. One material that has provided proved material innovation is the elastomer, which gives users the ability to 3D print flexible parts to meet their prototyping needs.

What is elastomer?

The name elastomer comes from the term 'elastic polymer'. An elastomer is a rubbery material composed of long chainlike molecules—polymers. Elastomer is often used interchangeably with the word 'rubber' because both are similarly flexible and elastic. The key difference between elastomers and rigid polymers, though, is resilience. A rigid polymer will yield, deform, or even break if forced to stretch, bend, or compress. By contrast, an elastomer will simply stretch or compress before returning to its original shape.

How does elastomer work?

When we take a microscope to an elastomer, we can see it's made up of various crosslinks between the polymer chains. These links tell the material how much to stretch before going back to their original form.

Under normal conditions, the long molecules of the elastomer are coiled in an irregular configuration. But when the molecules are stretched, they straighten in the direction the force is being applied. When the elastomer is released, the molecules return to their original configuration straight away. This gives the material a flexible but rigid quality, allowing it to be used in a host of different ways.

What is elastomer used for?

Elastomers are all around us—the global elastomer raw material market is worth over $20 billion. And there are more than 20 different types of elastomer, including natural and synthetic varieties.

Almost half of that market is accounted for in the transportation industry. A further 14% is wheels and tires for various uses, followed by 9% in both construction and, perhaps surprisingly, footwear. That gives you a glimpse into how prevalent this material could be in your day-to-day life.

A few objects that elastomers can help manufacture include:

• Belts

• Balloons

• Floor mats

• Gloves

• Hoses and tubes

• Pencil erasers

• Rubber bands

• Seals and gaskets

• Toothbrushes

What is the best type of elastomer for 3D printing?

Elastomers are already widely used across different industries and manufacturing techniques, and they are developing all the time. One of the latest improvements is Stratasys' durable elastomer TPU 92A—a thermoplastic polyurethane with a shore value of 92A.

TPU is renowned for high elongation, superior toughness, and extreme durability. This makes TPU 92A ideal for 3D printing, working equally well across functional or ergonomic prototyping, and end-use parts.

What is 'shore value'?

Shore value is a way of describing a material's hardness or softness, ranging from rubber bands to tire treads, shoe heels and all the way to rubber casters. Around that point on the scale is where TPU 92A sits.

Parts in this range have outstanding tear resistance, fatigue resistance, memory, and recovery compared to softer shore elastomers. This makes TPU 92A especially suited to prototyping high functioning, durable elastomeric parts.

Over 30,000 hours of testing have helped create 3D printing materials that outperform expectations

Is shore value the only factor to consider?

Not quite. Material is important—and TPU 29A has tested well against the competition, ranking two times better in key properties such as size, hardness, elongation, tensile strength, and tear strength.

However, the material alone does not give you the complete picture: you will need to be equally careful in selecting a printer that makes the most of your elastomer material.

Many low-cost 3D printers can print versions of flexible materials, however they rarely do so efficiently or accurately. And forget support removal; it's a complex and hands on process. To get the complete picture, you need to interrogate performance of the printed part, the printer's ability to produce large and complex parts, and the overall cost per part once labor and accuracy have been considered.

The freedom to go large and complex

The most common complaint about systems that print elastomers is a toss-up between small build volume or slow print speeds—it can take a long time to print even the smallest and simplest of parts.

With TPU 92A and a F123 Series Stratasys printer—F170, F270 or F370 models —you can create large parts and overhangs and incorporate cavities and complex geometries. Best of all, you can do it accurately and repeatably.

The mark of a good quality printer is its ability to retain the best properties of the elastomer material in the final part. How will your part perform as it is stretched and compressed? In tests, elastomer parts produced using Stratasys printers elongate to 500%; the nearest competitor failed at 350%.

FDM TPU 92A eliminates expensive and time-consuming molding or casting methods to produce elastomer parts

Considering cost per part

It seems natural that a cheaper material would lead to a lower total cost per part. However, the reality is a little more complex, especially when it comes to removing supports that hold the material in place.

Removing supports by hand is intricate, labor-intensive work, and it sometimes results in a damaged part. It can take up to an hour to remove a simple part by hand, which means additional labor costs of around $50. For a complex part, that rises to $65.

Stratasys' printers have soluble support—which means you don't need to spend that time and money removing the support. The support simply dissolves to release your printed part, which can reduce labor costs by up to 76%—saving you money on every single part.

Elastomer: the future of design

3D printing should free you from design constraints, not add restrictions. With TPU 29A and Stratasys' printers, you can reduce your prototype-to-production cycle and print more complex parts, more reliably—all for a lower total cost-per-part. This is a new world of design freedom.

Find out more about Stratasys TPU 92A here.

In partnership with Austin–based construction technologies company ICON, and nonprofit New Story, Yves Béhar has revealed plans to build the world's first 3D-printed community this summer in a yet-to-be-disclosed, semi-rural location in Latin America. The ambitious project plans to provide homes for over 50 families.

Images of ICON's proof of concept home in Austin (courtesy of ICON)

The project adapted ICON's $4,000 3D-printed home—which debuted during SXSW in 2018—through a variety of community workshops. "As we spoke to the community members, we realized that a single house design doesn't respond to the needs and expectations. This led us to design a system that allows for different programs, climate factors, and growth for families and spaces," noted Béhar. The community is said to be comprised mainly of farmers and palm weavers of varying ages, who often live in multigenerational homes and typically on less than $200 per month.

The designs feature outdoor kitchens and space for residents to keep chickens and gardens. Inside, an open living space with a clerestory is a response to the tropical climate and designed to maximize ventilation. 3D-printing allows for lots of built-in elements such as counters in the kitchen and bathroom, seating, shelves and ledges in the walls and embedded structural hooks for closets, storage, and clotheslines. Each lot is 1,300 square feet, while the living space adds up to approximately 600 square feet.

"We've created options and areas for customization that families can choose from to help them personalize their homes, feel a sense of ownership, community, and security," Béhar added. One such tweak would be adding a tint to the concrete to allow for different color walls and a diverse feel once the community is complete. "The design and technology also allow the home to adapt to the local environmental conditions such as climate and seismic activity with simple enhancements to the base structure, by incorporating additional reinforcement into the wall cavities and using the walls themselves to resist lateral movement."

Working off of their prototype in Austin, ICON developed the portable printer that will build the homes out of local concrete. The device is engineered to work in remote areas that may lack access to water, power, and labor infrastructure. Once things get off the ground, they're expected to move quickly—each home can be printed in just 24 hours with nearly zero waste.

Sister City, a new hotel in NYC designed by Atelier Ace, is quickly becoming known for their efficiently sized yet lavishly decorated rooms, which feature Italian cherry-wood accents, custom terrazzo vanities, and beloved furnishings like Noguchi lamps. But the sounds that greet visitors when entering the lobby might not sound familiar. Instead of hitting play on an elevator music playlist on Spotify, the hotel instead relinquished the metaphorical aux cord to Microsoft's Custom Vision API.

The generative lobby soundtrack was created in collaboration between Microsoft's AI system and experimental musician Julianna Barwick. Barwick created a composition based on movements captured by a camera atop Sister City's roof, such as pigeons or airplanes passing by, sunrise, sunset and rain. Microsoft's AI has been trained to ID various objects or incidents and match them with specific loops and sounds composed by Barwick. It is an ever-evolving audio experience that reacts to its active urban surroundings, or as Barwick describes, "infinite and evergreen."

Keeping with the evolutionary theme of the first soundtrack, Sister City has decided to keep partnering with Microsoft to develop ongoing collaborations with musicians for future lobby scores. During NYCxDesign, we recommend visiting the space to grab a drink and listen to the sweet sounds of AI-interpreted music.

Standard Issue is looking for a new project manager to join our growing team! We are a small design firm in Brooklyn working on graphic, branding, product and interior design projects. The Project Manager role will have you working closely with the partners and designers to provide clients with an outstanding experience.

FLYDE (danish: "to flow") is a floating cutlery set consisting of a fork, a knife and a spoon. On many cutlery sets, the parts that are meant to touch the food as well as your mouth are often in contact with the table's surface. The idea of FLYDE is that the functional parts do not touch the table and remain hygienic. The asymmetric Design of the Fork and the Spoon evolved from the dynamic silhouette of the knife to create a consistent look of the set.

While there's a lot of public discourse about where plastics go, not much attention is typically paid to where they come from. For interdisciplinary designer Charlotte McCurdy, who began researching the chemical processes of material production during her graduate studies at RISD, our focus on waste reduction and biodegradability is more of a "band-aid solution" that misses the larger connection between common plastics and climate change.

Most plastics today are made from fossil fuels, which are formed from the carbon-rich remains of prehistoric marine plants and algae that thrived on "ancient sunlight," as McCurdy puts it. Thinking about these materials as ancient sunlight raised a question for McCurdy: What would happen if we made them out of "present-tense sunlight"?

"If our materials were the product of photosynthesis happening now, not only could we reduce our dependence on ancient carbon, we could store our current carbon in our materials," she explains. "We have guilt about consumption. We've told each other that the moral thing to do is to reduce our consumption. Well, how's that going?" Instead of the endless guilt trips, McCurdy sees a better path forward through the development of materials that are actively helping combat climate change by metabolizing atmospheric carbon, such as plant matter.

"I envision a future where the buildings that shelter us and the shirts on our backs have a desirable impact on the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere and where individuals have re-engaged with the issue of climate change because they can touch it."

Her first experiments led her to develop a carbon-negative, algae-based plastic, which she was able to use to create a functional, ethereal raincoat that is now on display during Nature—the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. McCurdy's work draws on cutting-edge breakthroughs that are happening in the fields of biotechnology and catalytic chemistry, and as such much of her development process remains difficult to access. For the next part of her project, McCurdy, now a member of NEW INC, will be working on a book that sheds light on these breakthroughs and the companies and people who are innovating in the carbon-negative space.

"Last year solar electricity crossed the threshold of being cost competitive with conventional fuels after 60 years of research and development. We are at the very beginning of an analogous journey for materials innovation, but need the same kind of values-driven public support that buoyed solar to get these technologies to scale," she explains. "We're on the edge of a revolution but we don't yet have the vocabulary for it."

"After Ancient Sunlight" is on view as part of "Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial" through January 20, 2020.

SoHo is one of New York City's most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods--and paradoxically, the best place in Manhattan to see every car design on Earth. On Lafayette, bland rideshare Toyotas share lanes with Teslas. On West Broadway's restaurant row, delivery trucks are wedged in with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, the odd Bugatti. The streets in between are the parking lot of the upper middle class, awash with everything else--primarily crossover SUVs of German and Japanese heritage, so numerous and similar that they are rendered bland.

Unless you're on West Broadway, it takes a lot for a car to catch your eye there. But on my daily dog walks through SoHo, sometime around 2011 or 2012 I started seeing an unusual dark grey vehicle regularly parked on Greene, sometimes Mercer. It looked like a small Range Rover that had had its roof squashed by some prankster giant.

First generation Evoque, By Vauxford - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

A longer look revealed that the designers had not only slanted the roof very intentionally, but even leaned into it by adding a steadily ascending beltline to magnify the effect, suggesting a vanishing point. It could not be mistaken for any other vehicle.

I hated it. The car always caught my eye, and its lines were clean enough but the roofline didn't make any sense to me, from a functionality standpoint; it turned the rear window into little more than a slit. It did, however, remind me of an early design gig I had doing sneaker concepts for a major manufacturer. The brief the Design Director gave was: "Draw me something that the kids will notice from across the street." This car certainly fulfilled that.

I learned the car was in fact a Range Rover, a new model called the Evoque. I regarded it as a curiosity, a novelty that wouldn't sell well.

I was wrong, as it turns out. And because I did not know the context of the car at the time, I completely missed the design lessons contained within it: Why it looks the way it does, and what it would go on to accomplish for its parent company. To date the car has sold--largely on the strength of its design--roughly 800,000 units, from a company that could not have dreamed of those numbers when the design was first conceived.

The Context

The proper Range Rover is a full-size SUV that has evolved over the decades from a utilitarian vehicle to a luxury one. It's been a steady performer for parent company Jaguar Land Rover; in 2011 it had annual worldwide sales of 29,626--not GM or Ford figures, but certainly respectable for a challenger brand that's a fraction of the size. After a 2012 redesign, sales began to climb, and by 2015 had more than doubled the 2011 figure, coming to 60,226. These are fairly staggering sales numbers for a car with a price that can stretch into six figures.

2019 Range Rover

As good as both those sales and growth figures are, that price tag will confer a ceiling at some point. It's true that each year sees more people becoming millionaires--last year another 238,000 people reached that category in the U.S. alone, according to Investopedia--but the far larger market is obviously those of us in the middle class. In order for the company to grow, JLR needed an entry-level vehicle in the Range Rover line, something an average Joe could actually afford. And with more people moving to cities, a vehicle that could easily be maneuvered through traffic and parked in tight spaces would be a plus.

To fulfill this mandate, in 2008 Land Rover (the company at the time had yet to be stabled with Jaguar) unveiled the LRX concept, designed by Gerry McGovern, at the North American International Auto Show:

LRX Concept, 2008

The response was positive from not only show attendees, but more critically, both dealerships and the all-important press. "Gerry McGovern's first effort since becoming design director of Land Rover is this LRX concept and it's a stylistic home run," wrote Car & Driver at the time. "the LRX is an SUV coupe concept in a size that is both both sensible and practical."

"Don't let its macho-sport exterior fool you—McGovern refers to the LRX as Land Rover's Mini Cooper or Audi TT. As fans of the Range Rover Sport that came from now-retired designer Geoff Upex, we embrace this mini-ute as well."

Motor Trend was similarly effusive, referring to it as "The beautifully detailed and artfully proportioned LRX" and confirming JLR's confidence in the concept and subsequent production plans. "It will be a bold step for the company, and a bold step for the brand," said Chris Marchand (then Land Rover's North America Sales and Marketing head, now Executive Vice President of Operations).

The UK's Car Magazine explained the point of the design: "Here is Land Rover's riposte to the anti-SUV brigade: the long-awaited baby Landy – a hybrid 4x4 so small it shares a footprint with a Ford Focus," they wrote. "This is a car for people who deride the unnecessary heft of large SUVs, but want to retain the visual presence of 4x4s. It's Land Rover lite."

LRX Concept, 2008

LRX Concept, 2008

As Marchand told Motor Trend, "This vehicle will be a segment changer…. It will set us up for the future."

Marchand turned out to be right. The production version of the LRX--which remained incredibly faithful to the concept, due to care on McGovern's part during the design process--was dubbed the Evoque, and it debuted in 2011 with annual worldwide sales of 22,710. Close to the Range Rover's 29,626, in other words.

However, the Evoque had debuted mid-year in 2011. In 2012, the Evoque's first full year of production, annual sales jumped to a whopping 108,598 units. The following year it was 124,292. In 2014 it hit 125,364, before calming down to roughly 110,000 a year for the next three years.

2014 Evoque HSE

Then came 2018. A bad year for Land Rover, with a looming Brexit and global trade tensions impacting consumer confidence, a shift away from using diesel fuel in Europe (84% of Euro-market JLR vehicles are sold with diesel powertrains, according to Automotive News) and a rapid cooling of the highly-profitable Chinese market. On top of that, with the announcement of a new Evoque, would-be buyers were waiting for it rather than helping dealerships clear current inventory. "Sales of Land Rover models [in 2018] fell by 6.9% as market conditions in China and Europe and the run-out of the current Evoque held back performance," the company wrote.

Even still, by the end of 2018 JLR had sold a staggering 777,182 Evoques since launch; by press time, the number has undoubtedly topped 800,000. "Evoque has been the superstar sales success over the past eight years for Range Rover," says Richard Agnew, Land Rover's Director of Global Brand Communications. And incredibly, the Evoque had accomplished these sales figures without receiving a redesign in its first eight years of production.

So Why Redesign the Evoque Now?

As evinced by the launch of their highly-capable, all-electric I-Pace last year, JLR is making a massive shift towards electric. Having a more sustainable power source is not only environmentally responsible, but makes good business sense as both Europe and China's CO2 targets are being toughened up. It would also make the company less vulnerable to shifts in diesel demand. Thus they've set the ambitious goal to offer, by 2020, all new Jaguar Land Rover vehicles with the option for electric powertrains.

From an engineering standpoint, the Evoque required new architecture to accommodate an electric powerplant. Some car brands would take this opportunity to completely overhaul the design, but that isn't JLR and McGovern's way. "There's this preoccupation in the automotive industry that ever time you do a new car, it has to be completely different. Why?" McGovern says. "When it comes to a new vehicle that we haven't produced before, that's our opportunity to be radical. But if you've got something that's established, that people love, [I'd rather] refine it. Look at the evolution of the 911, it's a very good example. Or the evolution of the Range Rover. That is our approach.

"The Evoque is incredibly successful for us, [with nearly] 800,000 vehicles sold," McGovern continues. "A vehicle that truly did resonate with consumers, and it is the first Land Rover ever that did sell predominantly on its design." The challenge, then, was to maintain the design elements that made the Evoque a hit while still producing something new.

McGovern and his team's redesign is thus a meticulous refinement of the first generation. The goal, in McGovern's words, was for folks to see it and say "'That is unmistakably an Evoque,' and in the second sentence, 'but it's the new one.'"

"You can tell it's the new one because of how clean it is," McGovern says. "The reductive nature, the levels of precision. In the details of the car there's a sense of order and discipline, every line is doing a job even if it is just to create a beautiful aesthetic.

"The car overall, give or take a few mil, is virtually the same size [as its predecessor] but it is subtly different: We've made the proportion even better than on the original by increasing the wheelbase slightly. We've given it bigger wheels to optimize that proportion, and the increase in the wheel base helps in terms of the rear package, you get slightly better ingress/egress and it gives you a better stance."

Because the vehicle (at first glance) looks so similar to the previous generation, one might suspect that the development team's workload was light. But in actuality, as JLR Chief Engineer Peter Bingham points out, "Within the body structure, the metalwork of the vehicle, the only pieces that carry over from the old car are the door hinges." Everything else is all-new. Most importantly, it's now capable of housing an electric powertrain, but "we didn't want to do that at the expense of the customer," Bingham explains, "so the batteries are underneath the floor of the car," creating space.

As one bonus of the rejiggered structure, more trunk space was gained. And on the ride quality front, the new cast-aluminum front subframe and shock towers increase stiffness, to better absorb impacts. The new engineering improvements also serve the design directly: "By increasing strength in those areas, that's allowed us to fit 21" wheels for the first time to Evoque," Bingham says. "That gives the car a great stance and the proportions that it has."

Fine, So 800,000 Customers Disagreed With Your Correspondent About the Roof

During the press event, I was of course waiting for McGovern to address the divisive design element that first irked me, the plunging roofline and rising beltline. McGovern reveals that he did indeed encounter resistance, but doubled down on his commitment to it during the design process: "I can remember having heated battles on the first Evoque, where people tried to get me to lift the roof--'We need to see'--Nope, because that's it's character, and sometimes to get character you have to compromise. Some people actually look better with a scar on their face, it gives them more character."

For their part, JLR's engineering team came up with a technological solution that removed the key UX criticism for the roofline. And what they developed became "my favorite feature," McGovern says. "When you look at it, falling roof, rising beltline, visual robustness and that little window in the back that you can't bloody see anything out of, we kept it. But these geniuses [the engineering group] found a way of being able to see much better out of the back. We call it ClearSight." Bingham and his group's ClearSight Rear View Mirror doubles as a camera-fed monitor, eliminating blind spots to provide a wide and completely unobstructed view, even if you've got passengers or cargo in the back. (Note: GM has a similar feature, which I recently demonstrated in the GMC Sierra review; GM and JLR's systems were developed independently).

Normal mirror view

ClearSight view

Animal-Free Alternatives to Leather

JLR's sustainability drive manifests not only in their electric initiative, but also in the materials science they're availing themselves of for the interior. While leather seats go hand-in-hand with luxury vehicles, one issue is that you have to kill some cows for the material. And while traditionalists can still order leather in the Evoque, the company is also offering animal-free alternatives using high-tech fabrics from natural and sustainable sources. One is a blend of wool and suedecloth that actually incorporates recycled plastic bottles; the other comes from natural fibers. Both are tested for stain- and abrasion-resistance, with the intention of rivaling or surpassing leather.

"I think in time, this will become the norm," McGovern says. "We're now seeing more and more people want [material alternatives with] non-animal by-products, and I think there's some beautiful materials that have the quality and the durability that leathers do. I'm not saying it's going to replace leather, but I think we're going to see more of that."

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

So what do all of these improvements mean for the all-important user experience of the car? To find out, Core77 joined a team of automotive journalists on a series of spirited test drives from Athens to the Peloponnesian peninsula and back. Over the course of the drives we covered every type of terrain, from paved highway to rocky off-road, from logging-style, gravel pathways freshly cut into mountainsides--terrifyingly, often without guardrails at perilous hairpins--to dirt-track farm roads best suited to the sure-footed goats that inhabited them.

Interior

The interior of the Evoque is almost shockingly modernist. The luxury feel comes not from a bunch of gaudy, glossy surfaces, but rather from the minimalism. If it didn't actually turn on when you pressed the Start button, you'd think it was the interior of a concept car, a buck for a sci-fi movie. There are wide, unbroken stretches of material, a marked lack of clutter, and a series of well-crafted surfaces that appear to have been slaved over. When you look closely at any of the transitions in the dash, the controls or the seating, you see what reads as high-tech craftsmanship.

My personal automotive experience is primarily with Japanese, German and American cars. The Evoque's interior does not read as either of those things; and having next to no experience with British cars I can't say if the interior is English, JLR, or McGovernish. But it is something I hadn't seen before.

Driving Performance

The engine performance is obviously going to vary depending on whether you choose the base turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder, or the variant of that engine with the 48-volt torque infill system (electric launch, essentially), or a hybrid- or all-electric version. Our test cars were fitted with the second variant on that list and the car was sufficiently peppy for spirited driving. (If the electric powerplants JLR eventually provides are anything like the ones in the I-Pace we previously tested, it will likely be "sufficiently Holy Shit for spirited driving.")

On-Road

Maneuvering the car at slow speeds on crowded streets, and fitting it through tight spots, was easy; this would be a fantastic city car. At highway speeds the car handles well and feels like a larger car, meaning there is none of the unpleasant, jittery characteristics you may have experienced in, say, a budget compact rental car. It feels stable, well-planted and easy to control. The cabin is also surprisingly quiet. Overall, it feels and handles like a sporty luxury car.

One thing I didn't care for, is the lack of a feature that admittedly no luxury buyer desires these days, which is a manual transmission. I am biased; I hate automatics. In spirited driving through corners, the nine-speed automatic transmission often downshifted when I didn't want it to, and I don't like being surprised by gear changes. It's possible that if I owned the car long-term I'd master the automatic transmission's shift points with better throttle control on my part, but this was a short-term test.

Your correspondent is terrified of heights but yes, the route called for us to drive over this thing. It was a long way down.

Off-Road

During the first leg of our drive, when we were on paved roads, I saw this as the perfect city car; the suspension handles well on the highway, but is also well suited to swallow the bumpy cobblestones of SoHo, where I'd first seen one, and I figured that would be as far as it went.

As for the wilder portions of the routes, let me say: The Evoque was so ridiculously competent off-road, that it was almost confusing. The car's sure-footedness and overall offroad prowess was completely unexpected in what visually reads as a car designed for urban environments.

When we were navigating the decidedly un-urban, steep, unpaved, gravel-surfaced, twisty mountain roads with sheer drop-offs and no guardrails, the car's stability, predictability and 4WD inspired confidence. I saw more than a few of the other automotive journalists tackling these roads significantly faster than I'd be comfortable doing, so I'm gathering they found the same.

But it was after taking the car truly off-road that most impressed me. The route called for us to traverse a rocky riverbed, the type of obstacle that in a lesser car would have you reaching for your cell phone rather than the gear selector. But the Evoque crawled smoothly up and down the rocky terrain, confidently and relentlessly. At the low speeds required, the engine had more than enough torque to get us up and over improbably large rocks. And while we journalists were allowed to ford shallow bits of water, Bingham reveals that "the car can run through 600 millimeters or nearly two feet of water, which is deeper even than we used to advise for the old Defender."

The Evoque's ground clearance is 8.3 inches, comparable to a Subaru Outback. While that's not quite enough to tackle Defender-level rock climbs, the Evoque's 4WD system, along with well-considered angles of approach (25 degrees) and departure (30.6 degrees), mean you can put the car into situations I'd never dream of with most cars this size.

What most surprised me was the versatility; this car is undoubtedly aimed at the luxury market, so I wasn't expecting the off-road chops. "Under all of this it's still a Land Rover," Bingham said to us after the drive, "and as you found today, that means it's best-in-class off road."

I did wonder: Would any urbanite purchase the Evoque with the intent of truly letting it do its thing off-road, out in the wild? With a car this well-engineered it would be a crying shame not to. If I was stuck out in the rugged wilderness and with the keys to nothing but a nearby Evoque, I'd be glad I had one; I just can't imagine the situation that would put me there. I suppose that's a question for JLR's marketers to answer.

Conclusion

At a starting price of $42,500, the Evoque provides a strong-performing and relatively affordable entrée into the world of Range Rover. If the previous version performed half as well as the one we journalists drove, the car's high sales figures are no surprise. It's got the attention to design, it's got the attention to engineering, it's got the luxury.

The vehicle's versatility is astonishing. The car is well-suited and sized for the city, comfortable and zippy on two-lanes or the highway, and almost absurdly capable off-road; it's designed as if targeted towards a city dweller who doesn't want to get stuck after they flee into the wilderness to dodge an upcoming zombie apocalypse.

On top of that, the clean, minimalist design, along with the fit-and-finish, make it feel like a much more expensive car.

The Design Takeaway

McGovern took a bold risk with the design of the Evoque, doubling down in the face of resistance to see his vision through. Land Rover wisely backed him and as you've learned above, it paid off with numbers on the verge of shocking. What we didn't get to discuss much here are McGovern's design philosophies and disciplined approach to creating the Land Rover lineup. On this front, we'll have some excerpts from a chat with him coming up next.

Happy 50th birthday frog! To celebrate, the iconic design firm is currently hosting a retrospective at their Brooklyn office as part of NYCxDesign. The exhibition celebrates the vast amount of work that frog has been a part of over the years, displayed in the form of physical products, framed advertisements and even interactive AR displays. In the above slideshow, view some of the products we were most excited to nerd out over, from original Mac computers to a futuristic dishwasher.

For those who are in in town for NYCxDesign, we recommend taking a trip over to frog's office to experience this taste of design history in person. And if you need help planning the rest of your NYCxDesign experience, be sure to check out our handy NYCxDesign Map.

Oh, and we can't leave out one of our favorite displays at the frog show—the below miniature model inside of a 1980 Mac SE computer:

Cleo Laptop for Vadem Cleo, 1998

A convertible computer that served as a predecessor for current laptops and tablets.

Cleo Laptop for Vadem Cleo, 1998

The retractable arm allows the screen to swivel up to become a laptop and down to become a tablet.

Dual Stereo for Dual Electronics, 1994-1996

frog designed a complete user experience for Dual Electronics, who needed to reinvent themselves for the digital age.

Dual Stereo for Dual Electronics, 1994-1996

The Dual Stereo features a panel that can be removed and turned into a remote control.

51K Audio Concept for Wega, 1978

An all-in-one turntable, cassette tape player and radio tuner that set the stage for Wega being acquired by Sony soon after.

51K Audio Concept for WEGA, 1978

So. Many. Dials.

NeXT Cube for NeXT, 1987

When Steve Jobs left Apple to found NeXT, he partnered with frog to create the infamous NeXT Cube, a "smart station" for the higher education market.

NeXT Cube for NeXT, 1987

The Cube didn't exactly take off in the market, but it offered something new in a sea of boring beige computers.

NeXT Cube for NeXT, 1987

Hey, at least the company's focus on design carried over into Jobs' future work with Apple.

Digital Answering Machine for AT&T, 1990

The first digital machine produced by AT&T.

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:

The designers behind the Tessel Jet Pack grew up building stealth jets and spaceships, and they were drawn to that aesthetic when they created the tessellated paneling on their backpack. Just futuristic-looking enough, the latest version of the backpack is made of more durable materials and features upgraded zippers and padded shoulder straps.

This apartment-friendly countertop dryer uses vacuum pressure to dry your clothes in only 15 minutes.

Morrama has made a sleek brush and bowl set to complement the minimalist Angle Razor that they successfully crowdfunded last year. The handle of the bowl doubles as a resting place for the brush, allowing it to drip dry.

British designers James Clark and Iliana Pavlova have developed a color-based wall clock that may just change the way you look at time.

An invaluable tool for architecture and engineering students, Mola is a cool model kit made of magnetic elements so you can easily assemble a wide range of structures and easily visualize how they work in real life.

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.

We are looking for an Associate Designer, a Designer, & a Sr. Designer to join our Softgoods Product Team in Burlington, VT. Our Design Team is responsible for assisting all aspects of design for the multi-season apparel line and providing support to the design team. Help

It was back in 2012 that design and technology luminaries Berg released Little Printer onto the world—the charming, connected mini-printer that could do all manner of useful and/or whimsical things from receiving messages and ticker-tape news updates, to churning our your daily agenda and bringing your digital to-do list into the physical realm. Somewhat ahead of its time, the trailblazing IoT device was met with much adulation from the creative and technophile communities—no trend report or mood board at the time being complete without it.

When Berg sadly shut up shop in 2014, and the lights went off on their cloud servers, Little Printers across the globe simply ground to a halt. Ever since the little guys have mostly sat idle, forgotten in drawers or retired to lives as ornaments, their stoic smiles and neatly parted fringe undoubtedly masking the pain of their untimely obsolescence.

Five years on, however, there is good news for Little Printers (and their owners) everywhere. A group of talented Litter Printer enthusiasts have apparently been collaborating for years to rebuild the server under an open-source license. With both the products cloud bridge hacked and the server-side software created by the open source community, London-based design invention studio Nord Projects have brought all the hard work together by rebuilding the user experience—bring the little fellas back to life with a new user-friendly platform along with slick supporting app.

Whilst being true to much of the design stylings of the original and rebuilding most of the classic features, Nord Projects seem to have refreshed the look and added in some fun little updates including a free-hand doodle feature and the ability to use iOS Share sheets.

Perhaps most notably, Nord Projects' new platform suggests a new sharing model that will make any resuscitated Little Printers instantly more sociable than their former selves. By giving each Little Printer a new 'device key'—a unique URL that grants access to message a specific printer—device owners can now invite contacts to send them all sorts of printed nonsense. You can also print out a QR code to give visiting guests instant access. For those concerned that this new system sounds like it could leave your precious Little Printer open to abuse, the system cleverly allows for an unlimited number of device keys and the ability to revoke a key (if it has spread to those it was not intended for, for example) at any time.

On top of being a fun little project that Little Printer owners might appreciate, the death and subsequent resurrection of Little Printers tells an interesting tale about the state of connected products. In an article accompanying the launch of their new platform Nord Projects reflects on the difficulties of keeping connected devices alive for the long-run and the importance of designing for with the death of servers in mind. As the authors point out, connected products are beholden to a fundamental problem—the devices are typically bought with a single upfront cost, but the cloud component that supports their use cost money to run. The team points to a few ideas for increasing the resilience of connected hardware, including designing to open standards and open-sourcing the product's backend—they themselves having done the latter with their own device, Tingbot, in the wake of the Little Printers demise.

If you have a Little Printer you want to bring back from the dead, they guys at Nord Projects have pulled together this thorough and easy-to-follow guide to hacking the hardware and joining their new platform. Be warned, however, this is not for the faint-hearted looking for instant gratification—there will be some getting hands dirty with circuit boards...

And some cryptic code to deal with...

2.3 Type screen /yourdevicepath 115200 8N1 (substituting in the correct device path for your computer): E.g. screen /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART 115200 8NzAnd

If you simply want to read more about the design of the new platform or the work of the open source community on the technology front, go take a look at the Nord Projects page here.

Plot twist: Even though NYCxDesign is technically centered around ICFF, WantedDesign Manhattan and WantedDesign Brooklyn, we're here to tell you that there's plenty more to do and see during our favorite—but maybe we're biased—design week of the year. As you get ready to plan your inspiration-filled weekend, here is a list of exhibitions to consider including in your schedule:

Trueing at pas de calais

Housed in the minimal pas des calais Soho storefront is a lovely new lighting collection of sconces, pendant lights and floor lamps designed by Aiden Bowman and Josh Metersky of Trueing, a Brooklyn-based lighting studio. Their latest collection Cerine's focal point is the beautiful colored borosilicate glass chain that holds the lighting, which was produced by local laboratory glassmakers.

482 Broome St, New York

Visibility's "Under the Office"

To celebrate their 5th year as an established studio, Sina Sohrab and Joseph Guerra have organized an exhibition called "Under the Office", featuring their best work over the past half decade. The exhibit features finished products as well as prototypes, so it's a great show for anyone interested in gaining insight on designing within a small studio setting.

195 Chrystie St, New York

Furnishing Utopia 4.0: Drawing Upon Frameworks

This year, the beloved Furnishing Utopia show will exhibit hand-created 2D work that examines frameworks—both formal and conceptual—and how they influence design. From pencil sketches to shape collages, the exhibition aims to challenge visitors to think critically about and find harmony within structured systems.

251 Park Ave S, New York

Arcade

During NYCxDesign, the Neoclassical Merchants Square Building in Tribeca sets the scene for the new Chamber lighting range by Workstead and the Relic collection by Calico Wallpaper. Arcade Bakery (designed by Workstead) also resides in the same building, so be sure to pop by for a snack while you're at it.

220 Church Street, New York

JONALDDUDD

Year after year, JONALDUDD offers up one of the wackiest shows of the NYC x Design season, showcasing design works that bridge the gap between art and design. Their 2019 edition promises more of the same, with featured projects such as Matt Branham and Sophie Dannin's 'least functioning' object series and Space Jam themed furniture. Get weird this weekend at JONALDDUDD.

152 Lexington Ave, New York

Pas de Deux at Colony

Colony gave their designers free reign to showcase new design work with a fine art piece of their choosing. The goal of the show is to blur the line between curator and designer, and the result is an exhibition that not only showcases new work but carefully considers the context in which it lives in.

324 Canal St 2nd Floor, New York

frog's 50th Anniversary Exhibition

2019 marks frog's whopping 50th anniversary, and to celebrate, they organized an in-house retrospective exhibition that features some of their most iconic designed objects from 1969 to now. Take a chance this weekend to visit frog's offices and learn more about products you didn't even know they helped design, such as the first digital answering machine, the 1980 Mac SE computer, and Steve Job's infamous 1987 NeXT Cube.

55 Prospect St, Brooklyn

A/D/O

Photo by Luke Walker

There may not be too many NYCxDesign events going on in Greenpoint this year, but A/D/O makes up for the trek with two exciting exhibitions to check out within their space. "Urban Imprint" is an installation designed for A/D/O's outdoor courtyard that "reimagines the relationship between people and their built environment, allowing visitors to reshape their physical space and architecture as a result of their own movement"—aka, you really have to visit to experience its wonder.

The other exhibit to check out there is West Elm's Atitlán Project, which a collaboration between the furniture giant, design firm Roar + Rabbit and designer Diego Olivero to create a limited edition collection inspired by Pintando Santa Catarina Palopó, an architectural effort in Guatemala with a mission to paint 960 buildings with colorful patterns near Lake Atitlán.

29 Norman Ave, Brooklyn

Sound + Vision

Produced by American Design Club, this exhibition celebrates the fascinating crossover between sound and design. Following an open call for submissions, Sound + Vision includes an exhibition of products, a performance series and an engaging installation. Times Square is also home to many other exhibitions happening throughout Design Week, so be sure to wander around if you decide to brave the crowds.

Times Square Pedestrian Plaza

Sister City

If you're looking to grab drinks after hopping from exhibition to exhibition, we recommend checking out the rooftop bar at the new hotel Sister City for a classic view of the NYC skyline and a trippy AI-generated soundtrack that reacts to movement.

225 Bowery, New York

Isamu Noguchi Installation at Totokaelo

In collaboration with Totokaelo and Gray Magazine, a site specific installation of Isamu Noguchi's Akari light sculptures are on display at Totokaelo's SoHo store. If you didn't get the chance to make it to a similar exhibition at the Noguchi Museum earlier this year, now is your chance to experience a smaller version in Soho.

61 Crosby St, New York

Inside/Out

Inside/Out aims to remedy the gap between the independent design community and the overlooked outdoor furniture space. The installation, put together in partnership between Sight Unseen and Wescover is open to guests and locals to interact directly with the designs outdoors.

Next Level

This show curated by designers features 35 participants in a 9,000 square foot space, and features everything from paper lamps to dining tables. Head over to the exhibition for a moody vibe and lots of inspiration.

718 Broadway, New York

For more NYCxDesign scheduling inspiration, be sure to check out our handy NYCxDesign Map!

Are you passionate about design research and mentoring research teams? We're looking for a Director of Design & User Research to lead our passionate researchers and to guide clients in translating research into actionable insights for their products. SKILLS: Manage research initiatives; qualitative and quantitative research

McDonald's had a mystery on their hands. While seeking to boost milkshake sales, they were analyzing franchise data in a particular region of the U.S. when they discovered four peculiar statistics:

- 50% of all milkshakes were sold before 8 a.m.

- Customers buying the shakes were always alone.

- The milkshake was the only item they bought.

- They never drank the shake in the restaurant.

This was pretty strange behavior, so they engaged a consulting firm to find out what was going on. This obsession with data, by the way, is pretty much a core McDonald's trait. Way back in in 1940, Dick and Mac McDonald painstakingly developed the optimal oil temperature (360 degrees) and cooking time (3.5 minutes) for the perfect French fry. The brothers' modus operandi was to measure everything, then iterate all processes to arrive at innovation. By optimizing their menu options, their customer service, their operations, et cetera, they arrived at their biggest win of all: Time, enabling them to put an order in a customer's hands in 170 seconds. And despite the takeover by Ray Kroc in 1961, McDonald's remains true to its data-driven roots.

Back to the milkshakes. The consulting firm staked out several franchises like detectives, approaching and questioning milkshake-bearers as they departed. "Excuse me, but what job does that milkshake solve for you?" A strange way to frame it, but the consultants were using a formal innovation methodology, popularly referred to as Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD).

The idea is that people don't want the product itself, but rather the outcome the product provides. The marketer and Harvard professor Theodore Levitt summed it up perfectly: "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill [bit], they want a quarter inch hole."

Although the JTBD framework has recently received a huge boost in recognition from Clay Christensen, the business consultant known as one of the godfathers of modern innovation methods, the process originally emerged over 20 years ago with the less catchy title, Outcome Driven Innovation (ODI).

As innovation expert Tony Ulwick, the founder of ODI describes it, "Customers are not buyers, they are job executors. Competitors aren't companies that make products like yours, they are any solution being used to get the job done."

Here is the useful thing about using JTBD lens for your designs and your products: Solutions change a lot, but the jobs don't; they tend to be stable over time. Consider music. We still love listening to music on the go, but in the last 25 years the tool we used to do that has profoundly changed, from the Walkman, to the iPod, to Spotify.

So in our mystery at McDonald's, what "job" is the milkshake addressing? This is what customers told the consultants: They needed something to do during their long morning commute; something that would fill them up, keep them awake, and allow them to have one hand free. Apparently the McDonald's milkshake, with its viscosity, calories, and coldness executed that job better than the competition. Competitors included a cream cheese bagel (messy), a banana (requires two hands to peel) and a snickers bar (too much guilt).

Once McDonald's leadership saw their milkshake through the JTBD lens, they were able to improve upon it using a completely different strategy than they had originally planned. They offered a pre-paid card and moved the milkshakes closer to the cash register so customers could dash in and go. Sales increased sevenfold.

In Ulwick's framework, there is an important distinction between a "solution" and an "outcome" – for instance in the milkshake example, the solution is the milkshake but the outcome is that the commuter has something to occupy his time until 10 a.m. Ulwick and Christensen have found that winning products are those that help customers get to a desired outcome better or more cheaply than other solutions.

In order to leverage JTBD, the innovator must first break the job down into an underlying process, then measure two variables from the customer's point of view:

1) How important is the job?

2) How satisfied are they with the current solution?

All of this is anchored in the customer's overarching desired outcome, and the best solution is the one that helps them reach it.

There's at least two things that designers, or companies hiring designers, need to bear in mind here. One is that the solution might have nothing to do with the company's existing product designs or form factors. Two is that the answers given in interviews may not be straightforward and will require a particular type of questioning.

I'll give you an example. Consider Cordis Corporation, a company that manufactures the angioplasty balloon, a tool enabling cardiologists to restore bloodflow in a blocked artery. In 1993 Cordis leadership used the JTBD process to better understand what outcome cardiologists wanted, as well as the series of jobs necessary for that outcome. The idea was to iterate on their current product designs.

To gather data, they conducted dozens of interviews with surgeons, nurses, and hospital administrators. JTBD interviews are an important part of this process – and tough to do correctly. The first step is to have the participant describe their process or "job" in detail; however, participants will often describe solutions or products. For instance, surgeons would say "I use a balloon that is smooth and easy to maneuver." In order to get to key insights, the JTBD interviewer followed up with, "Why?" Surgeons said, "I need to move quickly through tortuous vessels." The JTBD team translated this into: "Job is to minimize the time it takes to maneuver through a winding vessel."

When framed in this light, Cordis realized that they didn't need to iterate on the angioplasty balloon at all; they needed a completely new tool that minimizes surgical time.

Once the JTBD team completes a sufficient number of interviews, they rate the needs and outcomes on two measurements: The importance of the outcome and the degree of satisfaction with the current solution. These ratings are then prioritized via an algorithm to provide an accurate idea of potential opportunities for product development.

For the Cordis team, the rating algorithm revealed a surprising insight: the most important job with the least satisfying solution was to stop an artery blockage from recurring. Armed with this information, Cordis went on to develop the coronary stent, which became the fastest-growing product in medical device history, delivering $1B in revenue during its first year. The company's revenues doubled within two years. Three years after the JTBD interviews, Johnson & Johnson acquired Cordis for $109 a share.

The striking point illuminated by the JTBD methodology is that it is not the solution that's important; the product is the method that customers use (or "hire") to reach their ideal outcome. Once we embrace the idea that a customer's desired outcome is what we ought to focus on, innovative design can become predictable and powerful.

________________

Further Reading:

- More info on the Cordis case study here.

- Here's a PDF link where you can learn more about ODI and JTBD.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Pentagram New York has brought on a new partner: interaction designer and 2013 Core77 Design Awards honoree Giorgia Lupi. In addition to being the co-founder and design director of Accurat, Lupi is also known for co-authoring Dear Data. She's worked with clients including IBM, Google, Starbucks, United Nations, and the World Health Organization among many others. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, and in 2018 she was named one of "Fast Company's" 100 Most Creative People in Business. At Pentagram, Lupi will continue to expand her practice and explore ways of integrating data visualization into our daily experiences.

For the XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, Lupi and her team created the "Room of Change," a data-tapestry illustrating how multiple aspects of our environment have changed in the past centuries, how they are still changing, and how they will likely continue changing.

Lupi first got a masters of architecture but she wasn't interested in building buildings as much as she was in mapping and uncovering new dimensions about the built world. Soon after graduating she began working for two different interaction design firms in Italy, where she worked on information mapping projects and interactive installations. "I progressively discovered that data can be an incredible lens to find and build stories and ideas, and at the same time a creative material we can use to visually narrate it, I simply fell in love with this world and the realms of possibilities it opens," Lupi told us in a recent interview.

For Lupi, data isn't just a cold set of hard facts, it's a way of revealing new details about human nature. When expressed with nuance and in a visually engaging way, information design can "re-connect numbers to what they stand for: stories, people, ideas."

Lupi's humanist design manifesto

In 2011, she founded her data-driven design firm Accurat, with offices in both Milan and New York. In addition to her own expertise, part of what Lupi will bring to Pentagram is her extensive network. "At Pentagram I'll be working in continuity with my past experience, building my in-house team and maintaining the relationships I built over the years and creating opportunities to collaborate with the people I have been working with for such a long time," she noted. "I'm very close to this team and I look forward to opportunities to work together under the Pentagram umbrella."

In 2018, when Starbucks opened its first store in Milan, Lupi and her team designed an augmented-reality-enabled wall depicting Starbucks' history and coffee-making process.

Having led her own company for nearly a decade, Lupi took her existing creative freedom under consideration when deciding to join Pentagram. "Most of all I value variety and to see my work applied to different worlds and fields, and I also love to have the freedom to make my own calls on what to take on and which risks to take. With this premise, the Pentagram platform is really exciting for me because of the scale and the potential impact of projects that Pentagram can take on is unmatched."

Lupi's winning Core77 Design Awards entry was part of a project her team worked on with the newspaper Corriere della Sera. This visualization explores Nobel prizes and laureates from 1901 to 2012, analyzing the age of the recipients, the level of education and degrees of the laureates, and their university affiliations and hometowns.

At Pentagram she'll work on a wide range of quantitative and qualitative projects, from brand identities and campaigns to environmental graphics, exhibitions, events, reports and interactive experiences. "If you see data the way I see data, data can be a lens, or a filter to parse the stories of a brand, of an institution, of a community of people, and then as a design material for communication design projects of different kinds. In this sense, I will work with data that clients might have already gathered, as well as exploring new types of data that can be unearthed to tell more hand-crafted stories."