Core77 joins a growing community of websites and organizations on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, commonly referred to as SOPA and PROTECT IP/PIPA, by taking down or blocking our own sites to protest these pieces of legislation.
The International CES 2012, as it does every year, presented an enormous array of gadgets, technology innovations and a feeding frenzy of consumer electronics commerce.
But looking above the fray of the convention floors, we see several disruptors to shape the macro trends of the coming years. Major technology and consumer behavior shifts are emerging that are changing the business of consumer electronics, media and entertainment and digital-online media. As social and mobile adoption mainstreams for consumers and marketers, new platforms, technology and media will emerge shaped by these fundamental disruptors:
APPIFICATION: The term "product" is evolving as mobile, online and tablet applications open up a new market for entrepreneurs, brands and businesses to create new services, utility and enhancements to existing products.
POST-SOCIAL WORLD: Social media and social networks, having reached mainstream, become less of a point of focus and integrate into consumer and marketer toolbox. New space races will emerge from combined social, mobile, local and digital enabled products that are accessed in new ways via tablets, ubiquitous smartphones and portable ultrabooks.
UBIQUITOUS CONTENT & DATA: Data is everywhere and content can be accessed in multiple forms. This overwhelming choice and abundance of invisible data collection is presenting opportunities and obstacles for people and brands to filter through clutter to get better information, more product and service relevance, and new social connections while retaining trust in providers and a promise of privacy.
UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY: Technology, media and entertainment companies are finally unlocking content portability for consumers, so ownership and access of media can happen anywhere on any device in many forms. Once thought to be a barrier to success for the media industry, open and integrated content platforms are leading to smarter strategies to own media ecosystems with content, devices, online media and valuable data assets to monetize. Technology devices will also become more accessible, with low cost of entry of tablets, ultrabooks and feature rich mobile devices for middle and low income consumers.
GAMIFIED VALUE: Privacy concerns abound in a world where so much behavior happens in the digital space and new predictive and analytic technologies can understand personal behavior in new ways. However, as laws and standards come into place for data privacy and trusted data centric brands emerge, some of these fears will erode. As part of this, people will increasingly be willing to give up even more personal information to brands and online services for the return of rewards, social currency and "gamified" value.
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY & MOBILE: The coming years will see a major shift of how technology and data is stored and accessed. Where processing power and media storage once was primarily housed on local hard-drives and servers, most of this data will shift to wirelessly accessed networks that store content and data invisibly, automatically in large, enterprise driven server farms of Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook. Over time, these server farms may translate to insight mines that store valuable, anonymous data the individuals, marketers and institutions will want to understand and access.
TRENDING IN 2012
Disruptive technologies are driving tangible product innovations and market-shifting invention. This is all possible as:
Given the accelerated nature and unknowns of these events, in 2012 we'll likely see start-up driven activity and new product introductions from that major players (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc) that will create new dynamics in the market. Judging several categories of the CES Innovation Awards over the last three years has revealed five patterns we, at UPSTREAM, believe will impact the business of innovation for digital, physical and experience designers in the near term:
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As we saw with Jake Dyson's CSYS lamp, an integrated cooling system can enable LED bulbs to live longer lives. Now a company called Switch has encapsulated that principle in the very bulb itself—with liquid-cooled lightbulbs.
Switch claims that their bulbs, which are dimmable and can be screwed into any standard fixture, will last 25,000 hours and generate $150 in savings over their lifetime. (A good thing, as the $25-$35 price per bulb is bound to provide some sticker shock.) Unsurprisingly they're mum about how the liquid cooling technology works, but perhaps they'll release more information when the bulbs start shipping later this year.
via jetson green
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Our friend Marko Manriquez and his fellow creatives at 319 Scholes are pleased to announce that they are hosting a "huge interactive hacking event"in their 3,000 sf exhibition space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Art Hack Day is (somewhat contrary to its name) a 48-hour marathon of digital creative activity—"part happening, part hackathon"—featuring "many prominent hackers, netartists and geeks in their respective fields will spend 3 days straight creating amazing works of interactivity, digital fabrication and DIY."
Art Hack Day is an event dedicated to cracking open the process of art making, with special reverence toward open-source technologies. Between January 26-28, artists and collaborators will inhabit 319 Scholes to create and explore the participatory nature of technology, bringing together hackers whose medium is art and artists whose medium is technology. The event will be streamed to online audiences, who will be encouraged to participate through various platforms to be listed on the ArtHackDay.net website. Visitors are invited to engage and interact with the projects online throughout the hack, as well as join the teams on Saturday night starting at 7:00pm for a closing exhibition, live performances, and a massive party.
Rendering of the space
The general public is invited to attend the closing party on Saturday, January 28; RSVP on Facebook.
Core77 isn't the only one eager to help you prepare for the end of days, many exhibitors here at the 2012 SHOT Show are marketing gear specifically towards would-be zombie hunters. From Armageddon cleaning kits to bayonet-fitted anti-zombie rifles, this SHOT Show is all about the undead.
Reporting by Barbara Eldredge
According to armorer DoubleStar Corp, "In a post-apocalyptic world, red dots and holographic sights will not be a viable solution. Technology is dead, and the undead are coming after you. You aren't afraid. You're prepared. Armed with your DSC Zombie Slayer, the mobs of the undead will meet their match." This rifle is easy to shoot and its attachable bayonet is sure to come in handy when the world's ammo runs out.
Otis Zombie Cleaning System
Otis Technologies recently launched its Zombie Cleaning System for 5.56mm rifles, 9mm, .40 &.45 caliber pistols, and 12-gauge shotguns. Suppressing a chuckle, one fella at Otis told me that it is important to keep one's firearms clean and ever-ready for the apocalypse.
Gerber's Apocalypse Kit, as seen on AMC's Walking Dead
Gerber has even teamed up with the hit TV show Walking Dead to produce their sold-out Apocalypse Kit. The kit's canvas roll bag contains two styles of Gator Machete, a Camp Axe, Parang (the #1 selling product on Gerber's website), and three styles of knives. Gerber's senior brand manager Jason Michelotti told me that their zombie marketing has "had a huge impact on our business and enabled us to reach a new consumer. It has enabled us to stress the attributes of preparedness and survival." In addition to all of their zombie fighting tools, at the Gerber booth, you can kill a real live zombie! Well, you can pretend to kill one, anyway.
There are also an array of zombie-themed targets. In addition to zombie-printed paper targets, Zombie Industries makes a gruesome-looking manikin zombie target that bleeds when hit. They were quite popular at the range yesterday.
David Markus is one of the five lucky design students that we featured in our "Design for (Your) Product Lifetime" series with Autodesk Sustainability Workshop. The young designer is set to complete his in June and he's got several interesting projects to show for his time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, including "Ferrite," an interactive liquid sculpture.
Ferrofluid is an extraordinary material with unique ferromagnetic properties. Although dozens of applications for it have been found—from hard drives to loudspeakers—its most impressive is arguably as an interactive display.Ferrofluid displays capture the best qualities of ferrofluid, both as a liquid and as a ferromagnetic substance. By applying magnetic fields of different strengths, different shapes and formations begin to appear in this otherworldly black liquid. By suspending it in a clear liquid, even more interactive qualities are exposed.
Lest the renderings and stills fail to convey its elegance, see "Ferrite" in action after the jump:
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Japanese saddle purveyors Kashimax have the stateside cachet of NJS certification: a growing contingent of Keirin fetishists in urban areas won't settle for anything less than that which has been deemed race-worthy in the Land of the Rising Sun.
That said, there's no indication that this interesting fender design, brought to you by none other than NYC Keirin specialists Chari & Co., is intended for velodrome use... though it is certainly preferable to other rain gear we've seen. The "Rain Tail" is a telescoping fender that is fully concealed under one's saddle when not in use.
Curiously enough, Chari have opted for a non-NJS saddle and frame for their product photography... though this simply might be to demonstrate that it works on certain non-Kashimax products as well: "we are still not sure which saddle can fit this fender. We verified this fender is attachable to: Kashimax (43mm), San Marco Rolls Saddle, Fujita Compy and Selle Italia Turbo."
A man whose work speaks for itself: Photographer Carl Kleiner's product photography has an odd way of making collections of 3D objects striking in a 2D way. The Stockholm-based shooter's recent IKEA campaign turns their flatware into artwork.
Another good "object being made" video also coming from the UK is this Globe-Trotter Suitcase spot. This one is different from the Dunhill short in that there's more human-operated machinery involved, and more explanation is given both of the on-screen steps being taken and of the role a particular machine is playing. The video also annotates how long each step takes, so by the end you have a firm grasp on why this object—a sturdy, predominantly leather suitcase—takes a whopping ten days and change to produce.
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Interaction Design Director
R/GA
New York, New York
Interaction Design Directors at R/GA are integral to the creative process and play pivotal roles in the strategy, conception and design of groundbreaking multi-context platforms like Nike Plus and NikeiD. They are seeking Interaction Design Directors and Designers of all levels who have experience connecting customers and brands through intuitive interfaces and trans-formative brand experiences. Preference will be given to people who demonstrate a combination of strategic, conceptual and design chops.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
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Yves Béhar and entrepreneur Assaf Wand are pleased to announce a new venture called Sabi, a forthcoming line of "lifestyle and welllness products designed to transform life's small tasks into moments of joy." The first collection of products captures the essence of this design philosophy: "Vitality" is a line of accessories for medication and pill management.
Inspiration to create Sabi first struck Wand when his wife, then pregnant with their first son, went shopping for a case for her prenatal vitamins and supplements, and couldn't find anything on the market that was both easy to use and aesthetically appealing. Wand realized there was a need not just for a more attractive way to store pills, but a more organized way to keep vitamins and medications on hand.
Wand turned to the Swiss-born, San Francisco-based designer to turn his vision into a thoughtfully-designed reality: "to create products that infuse the tasks and rituals of daily life with a sense of delight, while also inspiring users to appreciate life's little moments." Béhar, in turn, recognized the need and the challenges immediately:
As a designer and entrepreneur, I have long had a simple question no one has been able to answer: why is there no functional brand that speaks to the boomers while taking care of their everyday needs? With such a large demographic of people in their 60's and older, it is not only a missed business opportunity, but also an insult that products with low quality and lesser design are still the norm.
Thus, the principle of Universal Design—"the actual executions needed to assess all users needs throughout the design process, especially populations that have special needs"—was the starting point for Béhar and his team at fuseproject. From there, they determined that the "line of products—from weeklong pill storage to convenient on the go solutions—cover wide ranging needs, instead of just a singular solutions."
In our increasingly interconnected world, giving is no longer bound by geographic, ethnic or other traditional parameters. From donating online to donating overseas, people are making unprecedented choices about where to give, to whom and why.
So what will giving look like in the 21st century? It certainly won't be done by collecting coins in a box anymore. And it's got to go beyond giving to our family and neighbors.
Enter the Where Do You Give? National Design Competition. Where Do You Give? challenges artists to create a 21st century icon inspired by the values and imagery of the traditional Jewish tzedakah, or charity, box. The design competition "seeks to bring an ancient Jewish ritual object—the tzedakah box—into active dialogue with contemporary thinking about philanthropy and social change. We hope to catalyze deeper engagement around what philanthropy means in our increasingly interconnected, global and technologically accelerated world," according to the project's website.
Contestants have until March 1, 2012 to submit their entry in one of three categories: a traditional collection box; an interactive multimedia and user interface design for websites, mobile devices and web- or mobile-based games; or "outside the box", which can include exploratory or conceptual design.
The grand prize winner will receive $2,500 cash and an opportunity to travel with AJWS to visit some of their partners in the developing world. All finalists will receive $250 and have their work included in a national mobile tour.
To learn more about the competition, visit wheredoyougive.org. Ready to design the future of giving? Register to submit here.
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I wish the device was a tad smaller, but I love the idea of being able to automatically retract and store whatever cables I want. The Hub is a round aluminum housing containing a spring mechanism; wrap your cable inside, close it up, hit the button, and your cable woes go away. The push-button action looks pretty awesome:
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New York City welcomes Webvisions this week, a 3-day conference to explore the future of design, content creation, user experience and business strategy. Webvisions kicked off yesterday with a series of workshops covering topics from building HTML5 games to Adaptive Web Design. Conference goers ranged from hard-core developers to visual designers and the workshops seemed to offer something for everyone.
Three morning workshops held simultaneously initiated the conference. Aaron Gustafson led Adaptive Web Design, guiding us through different ways to think about how a site works in a variety of browsers, on a range of devices.
Small teams set out to define the information hierarchy with a single content set on four different devices: an iPhone, a 7" tablet, a 10" tablet, and a desktop computer. Gustafson questioned our placement navigation on a mobile device, asking, "Would it be better for the user if the nav was as the bottom of the page, after they looked at all the content and are ready to move to another area?"
Gustafson introduced us to Progressive Enhancement (PE), a methodology that encourages web developers to tackle issues based on each user-agent. PE follows the principle of starting with a strong default foundation and if a user-agent can handle it, the developer can add enhancements to improve the experience.
Gustafson is passionate about about this, "Progressive Enhancement isn't about browsers. Browsers and technology come and go. You have to think about your users," he says.
Seoul's Monocomplex design studio is back with "Pulley." In keeping with their minimalist design philosophy, the concept is elegant for its simplicity (liberally copyedited for clarity):
To human beings, light is the closest and the most important factor. But not everyone feels it and considers its value important.'Pulley' realizes the slight but important value of light using a crane structure that easily pulls heavy things. The thin frame and different pulley for each point of contact lets the current flow intersect between them.
This structure evokes a feeling of tension, as if the pulley is delivering a heavy thing to a high place.
The drawing-like lines of the stand are made of walnut; two-tone steel rollers at the endpoints guide a handsome crimson Teflon line. Monocomplex has struck a nice balance of color and form with their choice of materials, though I'd like to see the abat-jour itself a little higher off the ground and angled downward, i.e. as a reading lamp.
Organizational Designer
IDEO
London, UK
IDEO's London studio seeks a unique professional to help build our capability in Organizational Design. They are looking for a design thinker who in a team environment can provide organization solutions with a design slant. The candidate will not be afraid to challenge received wisdom around existing people practices within organizations. Qualified candidates will have 3-4 years organizational design experience working in large business and corporate environments. They will have been involved in change programs, either as a consultant or in-house, in multiple industries including Services and FMCG.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
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DI and ARTI staff in Phaltan, India
Are you passionate about working for a more equitable world? Are you willing to live and work for ten months amongst the challenges faced by resource-poor communities? Do you want to apply your design skills to some of the world's most pressing needs? Does the idea of working on teams made of social sector experts and grass roots implementers excite you?
Then becoming a 2012 Design Impact fellow may be the perfect thing for you.
Design Impact is looking for self-motivated, multi-skilled designers who genuinely want to work full-time in Indian communities affected by poverty. But, we aren't just looking for great designers; we are looking for great organizers, communicators, and relationship builders. We need individuals that can quickly adapt to new environments, demonstrate the value of design in the social sector, lead diverse teams, and constantly improve their own process.
Think you have what it takes to become a fellow or want more information? Then check out the 2012 Fellowship PDF which covers all of the details. The initial application is easy—just a detailed letter of intent and current resume. The application period closes on February 28th and the ten month Fellowship commences on July 1st, 2012!
Design Impact currently has six fellows in the field and is planning to embed six more in July of 2012. 2012 Fellows will likely work to continue the projects already established. In addition to these projects, we are also planning on adding projects that focus on rural access to potable water, rural access to healthcare, and rights advocacy for displaced communities.
While the fellowship has a design focus, it is not limited to only designers. Many of these projects require strategy, engineering, and business skills for completion. So, if you are creative minded and fulfill all of the other requirements, but are not a traditionally-trained Designer, please feel free to apply!
Creative Front Cambridgeshire is a UK-based business network for creative industries, based at Cambridge's Anglia Ruskin University. They've been selected by the UK's Design Council to kick off Design Icons, a series of national design events, this February.
The Design Icons Exhibition Launch Party is slated for February 9th and will celebrate local design talent, with pieces like Alex Driver and Carlos Peralta's Moss Table, above, which turns the moss in biophotovoltaic energy generators strong enough to power the table's lamp.
Nineteen other Cambridge-designed objects, ranging from housewares to medical devices to consumer electronics, will be on display. Click here for more information on the exhibit and see Creative Front Cambridgeshire's weekly schedule of design-, manufacturing- and business-related events.
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This post is part of our year-long series, Apocalypse 2012, where our favorite futurists, resiliency and disaster experts examine the role of design to help you prepare for...the end?
If you asked me what the two most important design tasks at hand for humanity is right now it would be:
1. Preserving human habitat
2. Creating new habitats for humans
The response I often get to these mandates is that the two are mutually exclusive; that if we preserve our habitat, planet Earth, we don't need to find a new planet. Some might argue that searching for new planets advances unsustainable technologies while simultaneously promoting fatalism with regards to our environment. In other words, the first proposal is proper tree-hugging and the second is dirty, quasi-steampunk.
I believe nothing could be further from the truth. It is an astronomical fact that planet Earth, in the long run, is doomed regardless of how well we handle the present greenhouse effect and related environmental challenges. Secondly, finding alternative habitats will not be feasible if we don't overcome present environmental challenges. Thirdly, the knowledge needed to terraform planets and to geo-engineer earth is the same.
I do think that we need to take our environment in general—our water and energy supply and global warming specifically—far more seriously than we do. I also don't think that spacefaring plans should diminish our current obligations to the Earth's environment. Within design and innovation we are already exploring the next frontier: innovation that breaks away from resource-dependence, where growth is uncoupled from consumption and product life cycles are prolonged.
Spacefaring is tougher to deal with because it seems remote; both physically and in terms of relevance and time. So the stickiest criticism is: "Why invest is space migration now?"
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Just a reminder that SUNDAY is the last day you can submit entries into Round 1 of the Braun & Core77 Design in the Wild global photo challenge. Enter today for a chance to win the grand prize package of an industry leading notebook computer AND tablet not to mention your pick of Braun products for theme winners.
All you have to do is snap a picture of great design in everyday objects you encounter. Check out what entries we've seen so far and enter today! Voting opens up on Monday to pick a theme winner and our next theme, PLAY starts by Friday. Remember, you are what you EAT so snap up inspiration at this weekend's brunch, playoff party or while you're in the kitchen. Good design is all around, so take a moment to capture it, and enter today.
Design in the Wild is presented with the support of BraunPrize 2012. Established in 1968, the international BraunPrize competition is a triennial design competition aimed at promoting the work of young designers, highlighting the importance of industrial design and increasing the profile of innovative product ideas globally. This year's theme, "Genius design for a better everyday," emphasizes the importance of well-designed products that enhance the everyday lives of consumers around the world.
Visit the BraunPrize 2012.
