About four years ago I had the rare opportunity to start collaborating with Jonathan Ward, founder of Icon. Jonathan and his team hand build limited edition vehicles in California. Calling them vehicles is almost an insult—they are rolling testaments to what happens when you go the extra mile on every single detail. The vehicles don't have headlights, they have LED assemblies made by the same people who made the lights for the Mars rover. They don't have paint jobs, they have electrostatically applied powder coated finishes. The emblems are hand cast by a jeweler. The upholstery is made by Chilewich. When people say things like "They don't build them like they used to," tell them to look up Jonathan.

This is not the kind of object you use and toss. Its very existence nurtures its owner's desire to keep it, to take care of it and be proud of it. Working with Jonathan reminds me a bit of something that frog's founder, Hartmut Esslinger, once wrote:

"If you build in emotional value, people will keep products longer and take more care of it; this of course saves energy and materials. It is the difference between selling an ordinary hi-fi and selling amazing sound."

...or so goes the tagline to Brendan Ravenhill's aptly named Dustbin.

We've seen a fair share of convertible dustpans before—Lufdesign's (never produced?) pan × bin and Kawamura Ganjavian's dubious pan × funnel—not to mention garbage can galore, but none quite like Ravenhill's design, where the former has been incorporated into the lid of the latter. He's turned it on end, in a manner of speaking, such that the dustpan does double duty as the lid of the bin.

It's certainly a neat idea, executed with Ravenhill's signature thoughtfulness and attention to detail, and while I've found that plastic wastebins inevitably pick up a permanent funk, I'm curious as to whether a steel one—"fabricated by Angell & Giroux, Los Angeles, CA... powdercoated for durability"—is more resistant to odors. (Naturally, one would be wise to thoroughly clean his or her garbage can regularly, especially if it's intended to last a lifetime; who knows what ungodly stench might lurk in the bin, awaiting the chance to escape when the lid is fulfilling its responsibilities as a dustpan.)

Meanwhile, the beech brush, fabricated by Gordon Brush of Commerce, CA, is about as elegant a brush as we've ever seen (I'd never even heard of tampico fibers before), but it's almost literally tacked on to the side of the otherwise minimalist form. Of course, it's a logical placement for the brush—the "rare earth magnets" are a nice touch—but it really just kind of... sticks out.

Still, the making-of video is a nice touch:

Although the video below is intended to be a commercial for author Steven Johnson's latest book, it would also be a good standalone three-and-a-half-minute podcast clip on innovation. Johnson's just-released The Innovator's Cookbook is a selection of essays on innovation across a diversity of fields, touching on everything from Brian Eno's instrument swaps to IDEO's storied show-and-tell sessions.

Sketch by Geoff Garstecki

Carl Olsen was the head of the College for Creative Studies Transportation Design program from 1987-2000. Having previously been Director of Style for Citroen, Director of Design at Ogle Design Ltd., and Tutor in Transportation Design Royal College of Art London, Carl brought a distinct flavor to the program, adding to its already established reputation as a transportation design powerhouse.

One of our designers at frog, Amina Horozic, a CCS grad herself, brought it to my attention that Carl had preserved much of his best student's work and placed it in a convenient online archive. Check out the dozen or so deep galleries, some with sub galleries, of some of the most fantastic transportation work from that era. You might recognize many of the student names, like Ralph Gilles, currently the CEO of the SRT brand and senior vice-president of design at Chrysler.

Enjoy the galleries HERE.

Sketch by Mark Micelli

This British video produced by the trifecta of the Seymourpowell Design & Innovation Consultants, the Design & Technology Association and the James Dyson Foundation lines up a series of UK design heavyweights: Paul Smith, Ian Callum, James Dyson and more, all explaining the clear value of design education to Britain's future economic success. Design education engages children, creates jobs, improves companies' bottom lines, and strengthens the country as a whole, to say nothing of the benefits to end users of owning well-designed products.

The points in the video are all well-made, perfectly articulated and obviously sensible. So why do they have such an uphill battle to fight? Because while they are arguing for the education of children in the video, the video itself is designed to educate a far more difficult creature: The British politicians responsible for education policies.

UK-based product designer Finn Magee "uses advertising techniques such as surprise, juxtaposition and humor" in his designs, perhaps best seen in his Flat Life series of objects. Each is a poster image of an object, with the twist being that the objects actually work.

"Flat Sound" uses manufacturer Warwick Audio's absurdly thin 4mm speaker to produce "crisp, clear sound" from your MP3 player.

"Flat Time" uses a 7-segment LED embedded within a photo of an old-school digital alarm clock.

On occasion of the "Year of the Superconductor," here's a duly infinite variation on a recent theme.

I don't know where to start paraphrasing this:

As part of the MOSEM² project a group of students at Vestfold University College, Norway, has developed and produced a unique Möbius-shaped track for a superconducting levitating train. This is an extension of the MOSEM "High-Tech Kit" which contains a straight track for demonstration of two types of levitation; with the Meissner effect and with flux pinning.

The Möbius track employs the flux pinning phenomenon to keep the train "on track" while it zips around the track. The geometry of a Möbius band allows the train to keep going in circles while also turning around its own axis. This proves that levitation with flux pinning is highly stable and different from magnetic levitation by simple magnetic repulsion using electromagnets (used by commercial full-size levitating trains) or permanent magnets (used by some model trains) that can only work on a horizontal track.

This model demonstrates a completely new concept that inspires a vision for the future of transportation.

Shop talk aside, it's definitely an upgrade from Escher's ants or stop-motion wizardry:

As the imagery and copywriting suggest, Brennwagen grills are inspired Formula 1 racing: founder Florian Wagner "wanted a new challenge after Toyota's withdrawal from the racing circuit and made the natural switch from burning rubber to burning charcoal." Along with his longtime friend Daniel Ernst, the former F1 engineer has outfitted the grill with "low profile tires, drop-center rims, center nuts [and] safety brakes" in an effort to "take the barbecuing world by storm."

The Black+Blum Hot-Pot BBQ might be a perfect outdoor cooking solution for the fire escape of your fourth-floor Brooklyn walk-up, but if you want to get serious about grilling, Brennwagen's got your number. Even as temperatures drop in the Northern hemisphere, those of you who seek the smoky, savory flavors of the open flame in colder climes can turn to the German portable grill specialists at Brennwagen.

Our new [ski undercarriage] design keeps our Brennwagen on their tracks even on snow and ice. Why wait for summer when you can have a juicy steak in midwinter? There is a saying: there is no such thing as bad weather—only bad barbecues!

Of course, Brennwagen's offerings will do the trick—and then some—all year-'round: these are statement grills, the equivalent of a top-of-the-line DSLR or carbon fiber TT bike, high-end hardware for the mobile foodie. From the rolling luggage-like GTC 500 to the top-of-the-line GTX 1500, the Hummer of portable grills, Brennwagen's handcrafted, carefully-sourced grills are for the prosumer who simply won't settle for less:

At Brennwagen, we use only the choicest materials for all barbecues in our stables: a body formed of premium stainless steel. The perfect choice not only for its great looks, but also for its absolute food safety. The interiors rely on titanium heat ducts, similar to the materials used in jet engine designs. Our Brennwagen barbecues use a light-weight, but extremely robust aluminum chassis. As a final touch, all handles and furnishings are made of exclusive mahogany wood. A luxury choice, but also true understatement. We only use sustainably farmed mahogany, a safe choice for protecting our tropical rainforests.

Our belief in top quality is not limited to our materials alone. We are committed to exceptional workmanship. Most parts of our Brennwagen products are handmade, a unique mark of distinction in Germany's barbecue industry. The same is true of our choice of production site: our products are manufactured at a small workshop in Oberndorf in the Black Forest. India might be today's first choice for manufacturers, but not for the perfect beef steak...

Director of Operations
Acquinity Interactive
Deerfield Beach, Florida

Acquinity Interactive is hiring a Director of Operations for their Deerfield Beach location. This position will report to our COO/CTO. This candidate will have advanced working knowledge of both Affiliate Marketing and Data Monetization. This position will guide the strategic direction to develop, implement, sustain and manage the integration and communication of our business. This position will drive an effective performance management process. This candidate will also serve as an advisor and sounding board to help establish business direction. This role will be responsible for identifying the directional compass and developing a roadmap of strategic plays and initiatives. The candidate we are looking for should have exceptional quantitative, analytical, problem solving, leadership, and presentation skills.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

For those of you wandering around Philadelphia's Center City this weekend, you might notice something a little different—giant red arrows have replaced select parking meter poles around the area. Bresslergroup, in support of this year's DesignPhiladelphia programs, has given these old meter poles a new purpose by installing red arrow view- design-finders pointing at places where "designers do their thing." Telling curious passerbys to, "Park it here," the viewfinders shine a spotlight on local designers, "who are generally invisible, but whose creative output is experienced by millions of people in Philly, nationally and beyond."

Featured in the "Pole Position" installation are: Lagos, fine jewelry design; Red Tettemer, branding and advertising; Urban Outfitters, design-driven retail behemoth headquartered in Philadelphia; Electronic Ink, international business systems design firm and Bresslergroup, product design and development. Leave a comment and let us know what other Philly-based designers you'd like to see through the design-finder!

Interview by Will Evans, Semantic Foundary

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Ted Booth, Director of Interaction Design at Smart Design in New York. Smart Design got its start more than 30 years ago as an industrial design studio creating consumer products for clients such OXO and HP. Today, the company has studios in San Francisco as well as Barcelona, and designs for industries as diverse as entertainment, healthcare and consumer finance.

In anticipation of the upcoming DMI Design at Scale conference, Ted and I took the opportunity to talk about the expanding scope of design capabilities at Smart, the increasing attention being paid to design, as well as how design leaders can scale that capability both within design firms as well as other organizations. Ted will be participating on the panel, "Building and Fostering a Design-Driven Culture From Scratch."

* * *

Will Evans: How did Smart Design expand beyond industrial design for consumer products?
Ted Booth: We had a really deep expertise in large-scale consumer products, and a lot of technology companies started to come to Smart when they realized that they weren't just selling bits of technology—they were selling consumer products. So HP is one whom we continue to work with. And through that the natural evolution of designing a product and then the packaging and then how it's presented in retail, the capabilities of the company really expanded. So as new types of requests have come in, as the role of design has shifted particularly in the last ten years, we've started to add a lot more strategic capability.

So how have you handled that challenge over the past few years?
What I've been doing at Smart for the last four years is really building up the specific practice of interaction design and then the overall digital offerings. So, as I sometimes ask, "What do carrot-peeler designers have to say about financial services websites?" And we actually have a lot to say because of what we did with OXO. We took a commodity product that was 79 cents, the most everyday thing, and turned it into a $6 product designed in a human-centric way that met a real need in the marketplace.

Sara Krugman is a Brooklyn-based designer, artist and health educator whose interests intersect in her current focus on the aesthetics of healthcare technology. Her project "Gio," a collaboration with Eric Forman made it to the semi-finals of the Diabetes Mine 2011 Design Challenge, though it merits another look here.

The Gio is a small, sleek one-handed blood glucose (BG) meter designed to make testing fast and instinctive. It combines existing technologies (meter, lancet device, and lancet/strip drum) in a sleek and portable form that can be used at work, on the street, while exercising, even while walking fast to a late appointment. Displaying BG results only, the Gio offers a radically simple and clean user experience.

The device itself is intuitive and ergonomic, neither over- nor under-designed, and duly unassuming. The "Gio" is so discreet, in fact, that it might be mistaken for something else—an office accessory, candy dispenser or even a toy—such that a user would still be wise to keep it somewhere safe.

- On-the-go usability: needs just one hand and no surface
- Fast: 7 second total test time vs. ˜70 seconds with current meters
- Less pain: lancet drum automatically changes lancets
- Compatible with all application and other devices via bluetooth and mini-USB
- Self-contained and durable: no external case needed
- Dual-sided screen for fast testing with either hand
- Clear viewing lens keeps port clean while allowing visibility
- Lancing depth adjustment via intuitive finger pressure
- Fits in your pocket

Editor's note: Updated on Monday, October 17

Sara Krugman is a Brooklyn-based designer, artist and health educator whose interests intersect in her current focus on the aesthetics of healthcare technology. She recently collaborated with designer Eric Forman on "Gio," the One-Handed Blood Glucose Meter, which made it to the semi-finals of the Diabetes Mine 2011 Design Challenge.

The Gio is a small, sleek one-handed blood glucose (BG) meter designed to make testing fast and instinctive. It combines existing technologies (meter, lancet device, and lancet/strip drum) in a sleek and portable form that can be used at work, on the street, while exercising, even while walking fast to a late appointment. Displaying BG results only, the Gio offers a radically simple and clean user experience.

The device itself is intuitive and ergonomic, neither over- nor under-designed, and duly unassuming. The "Gio" is so discreet, in fact, that it might be mistaken for something else—an office accessory, candy dispenser or even a toy—such that a user would still be wise to keep it somewhere safe.

- On-the-go usability: needs just one hand and no surface
- Fast: 7 second total test time vs. ˜70 seconds with current meters
- Less pain: lancet drum automatically changes lancets
- Compatible with all application and other devices via bluetooth and mini-USB
- Self-contained and durable: no external case needed
- Dual-sided screen for fast testing with either hand
- Clear viewing lens keeps port clean while allowing visibility
- Lancing depth adjustment via intuitive finger pressure
- Fits in your pocket

Where we left off in Part 1 of the Hellman-Chang story, Dan and Eric were freshly-minted college grads with rather unlikely degrees between them: Classical Guitar Performance and Music Business Management for Dan, Finance and Marketing for Eric. But independent of their jobs in those fields, they were itching to build furniture.

Here in Part 2 they find the closest thing to a shop they can afford, then quickly discover that furniture design is too expensive a hobby to sustain. Decisions have to be made. We get to see Eric expressing some of the thinking that went into formulating the Hellman-Chang brand, and Dan figuring out how to pick up the technical skills that will advance them to the next level. There is also the writing of a fateful $175 check that ends up changing both their lives and, ultimately, a series of interiors around the world.

* * *

Core77: Okay, so it's 2004 and the two of you are fresh out of college, back together in the same city, and eager to start making sawdust.
Dan: At this point we weren't thinking "We've got to quit our jobs and start a furniture company." It was more like, "We've got to find a space where we can build furniture, to get this creative energy out." So we started doing some research and we found a co-op.

Eric: Fortunately we were in New York, where Brooklyn is such a huge creative hub that it had a lot these co-op spaces for artists and craftsmen. So we found one in Bushwick and rented 50 square feet.

Dan: Just a 5x10 spot.

Eric: Just bench space, basically. And the co-op had a shared machine room with all of the industrial versions of the rudimentary tools we'd bought way back when at Home Depot. So now we had access to much better equipment and could do all of our major cuts in the machine room, then bring the pieces back to our little 5x10 space and work on them by hand.

And this was your first time working with that level of equipment?
Eric: Yes.

What was that like?
Eric: Totally different from the garage, right off the bat. With these better machines and tools we were able to achieve a much higher quality. At one point we considered finding a space of our own and buying this level of machinery.

Dan: But we crunched the numbers and it was astronomical, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Eric: So the co-op was a perfect solution. It was also great because we were surrounded by these other artists and craftsmen who did it for their nine to five jobs. There was a lot that we got from watching them work and talking with them. It was a big open loft and we were a bunch of dudes hanging out and making stuff. It was a very creative Brooklyn vibe, a very communal feel. We could ask them "Hey, how would you approach this piece," and they'd give us tips. "Oh, cut it this way" or "Shape it that way." It was a good learning experience.

And at this point, Dan, you're working at a music company and Eric, you're working at your marketing firm start-up.
Eric: Yeah, we'd be at our normal day jobs, but thinking "Can't wait to get off work, head out to Brooklyn and start building stuff." And we'd meet up on nights and weekends.

Dan: We'd get together three or four nights during the week, getting to the studio at 6:30 or 7:00 and we'd stay 'til 11:00 or midnight.

Eric: And then all day Saturday and Sunday.

What were some of the things you guys were turning out at this point?
Eric: Coffee tables, side tables, benches. For our apartments in New York or for friends and family.

Dan: And after about six months, we realized how expensive it was. Let's say you want to make a coffee table: It's $300 in wood and you're spending $450 on rent, and it takes you a month to build, so right off the bat that thing costs you almost $800 to make. We were spending a lot of money to be able to make stuff. So that's really when it was like, "Hey, we've got to start selling this stuff."

Eric: Yeah. In order to make our passion sustainable, it made sense to start selling it.

While it's the Jobs biography I'm waiting on, a recent announcement has me curious: Discovery and NBC have apparently put together a one-hour documentary called "iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World," hosted by Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.

"Someone once said that to follow the path that others have laid before you is a very reasonable course of action, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men," Savage said. "Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man. He didn't simply give the public what they wanted, he defined entirely new ways of thinking about our lives in the digital space: productivity, creativity, music, communication, media and art. He has touched, directly and indirectly, all of our lives."

I have no idea how long this documentary has been in the works for or if it has been hastily thrown together, but either way it's airing this coming Sunday, October 16th.

via ew.com

The Wispr recently hit the market and has given a previously untapped segment of the smoking population something to shout about. The Wispr is a new product from the world's leading manufacturer of portable herbal vaporizers, Oglesby & Butler, designed by the groovy folks of Thing Tank in San Francisco. After some serious design research on usage and feedback on Oglesby & Butler's successful IOLITE vaporizer, Thing Tank went to work, improving on the original technology and transforming the form. Explains Chris Luomanen, Principal of Thing Tank:

From a form perspective, this is a dream brief for a product designer. It's a category that doesn't know what it looks like yet. When radios first came out and people made them look like churches and fireplaces because nobody knew what a radio looked like.

The butane-powered catalytic heater uses a grill to disperse heat which presents a challenge in keeping the vaporizer cool. Instead of burning the herb, it heats it to a temperature that vaporizes the active elements and creates a vapor that users inhale. Luckily for users, according to a recent NYTimes article on vaporizing, "Vaporized marijuana is virtually free of whatever toxic properties come with burning the plant," said Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School."

Read on to hear more from Thing Tank about the design process for the new Wispr and check out their rad video with Sequitur Creative on how to use it.

So you need a Vintage Industrial Typesetter's Box, a Victorian-era steamer trunk, or a floor-mounted Book Rail from the 1930s. Where do you go? You go to Sterling, Virginia, after you've made an appointment to see Factory 20's astonishingly deep and tasteful collection of vintage objects for sale or rental as props.

Photos by Jamie Newkirk

DesignPhiladelphia 2011 has officially arrived! DesignPhiladelphia is a week-long celebration of design that not only offers great lectures, exhibitions, street installations and workshops—but also allows creative individuals to network and collaborate across a breadth of design disciplines. Philadelphia is quickly proving itself to be one of the up-and-coming design capitals of the world. DesignPhiladelphia helps showcase the role that design has played historically in Philadelphia, the "workshop of the world," but—most importantly—showcases the city as a hub for innovation and design.

To begin the festivities, DesignPhiladelphia hosted a benefit kick-off party Thursday evening at the Liao Collection, an Asian antique emporium located in a large brick-exposed showroom on the first floor of an old warehouse building. While the house band snared their drums and plucked the bass, guests in their best dress sipped on margaritas and picked at gourmet finger-foods, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the evening's most notable guest—Mayor Michael Nutter. Not a stranger to the public eye and known for his late arrivals, Mayor Nutter arrived surprisingly on time—perhaps eager to accept the first annual Design Champion Award from DesignPhiladelphia.

"Design matters," says Mayor Nutter. "The industry is growing in Philadelphia. It is open in Philadelphia. It's creating jobs and economic opportunity. It's actually drawing people to this city; it's a part of the reason why our population actually went up for the first time in 60 years." Mayor Nutter humbly accepted his award; a curious shadowbox with a painted bird and LED lights, presented to him by DesignPhiladelphia's founder & executive director Hilary Jay, exclaiming that Mayor Nutter has helped Philadelphia's design community "soar."

I'm loving the Com-Oda seating surface, by Valencia, Spain-based graphic and product design studio Mr. Simon. The space-saving twist on the director's chair collapses into a console/ of sorts, allowing you to stow enough chairs for six guests in the space required by just one and a half.

Photography by Sam Dunne for Core77

Put the coffee on, close your email, and brace yourself!

We just finished uploading our mega-photo coverage from this year's London Design Festival—truly our favorite design event amongst the many happening globally this season. While 100% Design is still very much at the festivals heart, it get's bigger every year with design destinations including; Decorex, designjunction, Tramshed, Tent, Origin, Designersblock, Brompton Design District, The Dock, Oxo Wharf Tower, V&A, and The Design Museum.

Checkout the highlights for 2011 in our comprehensive gallery and don't miss this crazy Lego Greenhouse, the impressive wooden entrance to the V&A, some stunning new work from design outfit gt2p, this remarkable ball of floorboards installation, and the tribute show to Alan Fletcher.

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