Oscar Bolton Green may just be the most prolific illustrator his age. At 23, he's produced more illustrations, graphics, ads, animations, books and book covers than I can digest in a week's worth of online perusal—and I peruse a lot. Born in London, Green graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2010. "Pretty soon after I graduated in 2010 Corraini offered to publish Bird Beak Book, which was a dream come true," Green said. "Everything seemed to follow on from there, really."

Since then he's worked on projects big and small, from cheeky homages to Dieter Rams (above) and with larger clients like American Express, Rolling Stone, GE and Modus Magazine. His latest project is Un Sedicesimo, a series produced by Corraini. "Every couple of months they ask someone to design a 16 page book," said Green. "At the time I was doing these line drawings using a pen I'd recently discovered. These turned out to be the starting point for the book. It was a real honour to create number 25 alongside Nathalie Du Pasquier."

His figurative work and character pieces are a delight; I particularly love the pages filled to capacity with objects and people. But even more than that I'm drawn to "Alphabet Animation" (below), a quick tour of the alphabet through a series of simple sketches of letters that morph into object after object and finally into the next letter. Like the rest of his work, it knows its clever but it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Industrial Design Lead - City/Urban Category
Specialized Bicycle Components
Morgan Hill, California

Specialized Bicycle Components is seeking a City/Urban Bike Industrial Design Lead, who will support product development for all manner of products in the category; from complete bicycle frames, to helmets, components, and more. The Design Lead will work collaboratively with a cross-functional team of product managers, engineers, graphic designers, and outside vendors to create a line of bicycle products that convey performance and the Specialized Brand.

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Image Courtesy of Michael Ditullo

A continuing issue in industrial design education is when to allow students to move from sketch work to 3D CAD modelling during studio practice—or whether to let them use CAD at all! I've heard of first year undergraduate modules where students are 'banned' from the use of CAD in an attempt to encourage sketchbook work and more explorative conceptual design practice. In my view this approach is somewhat draconian and does little to deal with the underlying reasons that attract less experienced designers to the comparative certainty of 3D CAD.

Instead of setting constraints or limitations to dictate where and under what circumstances design tools must be used, design education needs to provide opportunities for young designers to reflect upon the nature of their own design activity and how this informs their use of design tools. Design students should consider the bigger picture that constitutes the various requirements of a design process in order to think about how tool use locates within and is informed by a requirement to design. This awareness will then provide opportunities for students to make more informed decisions when working with design tools; to be more critical in their use of CAD tools and more confident in their own sketching abilities.

My own research has explored the increasing variety of tools the industrial designer has at their disposal to support the development and communication of design intentions. Findings indicate that sketching continues to underpin design activity. Professional experience also influences the use of sketching in support of design activity. Less experienced design students tend to lack confidence in their sketch ability and they find the dynamic, unconstrained medium at odds with an approach to design activity that errs towards fixation and attachment to concept.

Figure 1: Design sketches used to support explorative design activity. Courtesy of Michael Ditullo

As part of my research I visited practicing designers at their places of work and interviewed them about their use of design tools. Interestingly, the designers often juxtaposed the affordance of sketching against the limitations of 3D CAD tools. Like many in design education, practitioners stressed the explorative, divergent affordance of sketching over the more constrained convergent nature of CAD. Of course they understood the value of CAD, but spoke of a concern for the ways it may limit student creativity, 'a student's design being too influenced by the constraints of this or that software.'

Of course, when used to support design activity, both sketching and CAD tools have the ability to complement one another in a process that has at its heart the representation and communication of design intent. Rather than limiting the use of a given tool, design education must provide opportunities for students to consider the relationship between their use of a given tool, the tool's possible influence on their own design activity and how tool use is located within and informed by the wider requirements and responsibilities of the design process. Much criticism has been leveled at the inability of CAD to support the kinds of explorative design activity required for conceptualisation. There can be no doubt that the tool-in-hand has an influence on the character of the design representation. However, it is also true that a tool is only a tool insofar as it is used as such by the tool-user. In turn, the user is motivated by their own perception of the purpose of tool use. For students to make best use of the availability of an ever-increasing variety of conventional, digital and hybrid design tools, they require an understanding of tool use within a context of the dynamic requirements of the process of industrial design.

Figure 2: Like chess, CAD can be described as a process of 'moves', defined and constrained by the system. Courtesy of Michael Ditullo

Experienced designers know this and tend to take a process-first approach to the use of design tools. They think more about what is required in terms of the design process; stakeholder expectations; budget; communication of intent: from explorative, divergent conceptualisation to more constrained, convergent specification. In short, they draw upon a wealth of knowledge and past experience to guide their approach to design activity and tool use.

Theo Gray is the co-founder of Wolfram Research, and as a science geek he's commissioned a rather unusual piece of furniture for himself: A Periodic Table that is literally a table, with samples of material contained in compartments within. (Unsurprisingly, the gold, silver and other precious metals are stored in a nearby safe rather than in the table, and we imagine the radioactive stuff is similarly tucked away.)

Find out why "the world needs a periodic table table":

In 2001 the Gujarat earthquake hit India. It lasted for more than two minutes and reached a magnitude of 7.7. It killed 20,000 people, injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes. Survivors who made it out of the flattened villages alive set out to search for family members. Imagine if that happened in your home town? Power lines are down and your cell phone has been destroyed. How do you find your family? That's the terrifying problem Do Initiative set out to solve with Safety Maps, a free, online emergency planning tool where you can coordinate with friends and family on a safe meeting place, print out a customized map (because Google Maps is dead, remember?) and share it.

Nurri Kim was so affected by the massive destruction of the Gujarat earthquake that she got her collaborators at Do Initiative to help design a non-electric solution for the worst case scenario. That means good old fashioned paper. Fellow collaborator Adam Greenfield of Urban Scale is quick to point out the many virtues of paper, like "its cheapness and ubiquity, its 'user-editable' nature and paradoxical robustness... It is easy to tear, easy to burn, and nearly impossible to repair, yet a folded up piece of paper can survive in your pocket for years. Paper is both resilient and fragile."

Stamen's Michal Migurski goes onto talk about Papernet, the term coined by Aaron Cope in 2007. "The Papernet is a closing of the loop between the digital and the physical, and owns up to the fact that our most durable everyday storage medium is also our easiest technology to read and write." It makes sense. When your most basic needs are at stake, our methods of survival go 'back to the basics,' too. Of course, no one wants to think about hypothetical, city-wide devastation, but talking about it with your family is important, so even if you never use the map, at least you're prepared.

This may be the most creative and unique design for a flat-pack chair I've ever seen. It consists of two identical, racetrack-shaped frames each supporting an elastic material and with zippers running around their perimeters and the two holes in the center.

Igor Lobanov's Wormhole chair won a Red Dot Award in the Home Furniture category; taking a look at the other categories, we find Lobanov's in good company, with a host of clever designs ranging from sophisticated to simple. The ones that most caught our attention are the concepts that address and improve the little everyday acts we all deal with.

In the Workplace category, Toshi Fukaya's biomimetic pushpins are designed to resemble smooth, pin-free capsules, so you can reach into a box full of them without pricking yourself. A silicone bubble encases the pin, and compresses under pressure you stick the pin into the wall. So where does the biomimetic part come in? Fukaya got the idea from studying his cat's retractable claws.

The AIGA student chapter at School of the Art Institute of Chicago will be hosting Design Overflow, the second student-led Designers Accord Town Hall Meeting. This event features designers speaking about projects they pursue from interest outside their professional life. Each speaker will present ideas, past projects or future endeavors on the theme Design Overflow. It is a great way for students, teachers and professionals to come and share a dialogue about how to undertake a self-initiated project: from idea generation and its development, to its final result.

Design Overflow: Conversations on self-initiated projects
Date: Wednesday, March 14
Time: 7:00-9:00
Location: SAIC Auditorium, 280 South Columbus Drive, Chicago IL 60601

RSVP for this free event!

Information designer Nick Felton probably needs no introduction here: besides his current dayjob at Facebook, his perennial reports have offered a unique window into one particularly astute designer's life as a sort of digital-age diary par excellence.

While the latest edition of the Feltron Annual Report spans twice as long a time period as the reports from 2005 through 2009, it is perhaps less ambitious than last year's report, which was dedicated to his late father. (Willem Van Lancker and Robin Camille Davis provided a nice bit of commentary on the Felton's "struggle to define and reaffirm departed loved ones' existence in the 21st century.")

Yet insofar as the designer himself is the subject of his report, the document contains a mind-boggling amount of raw data on a full gamut of otherwise mundane activities. That it's beautiful goes without saying; in fact, the visual and typographic presentation is arguably more significant than the content itself, at least to the extent that Felton's day-to-day activity consists mostly of enjoying coffee, riding the subway, spending time with friends and family, etc. In other words, he's just a regular guy... who happens to rigorously record his daily activities and compile the data in a brilliant artifact.

Which is to say that the Feltron Report is, as always, well worth closer examination (why summarize a summary?); the Dieter Rams shout-out—"Best Celebrity Encounter / at NYC Vitsoe Shop"—is just one of many hidden gems.

A kitchen whisk is a great tool for mixing everything from pancake batter to plaster, but depending on how viscous your mixture is, cleaning the gunk off the insides of the wires can be a real pain. What I hate is when the apexes of two wires intersect, creating a capillary-action nightmare that makes it impossible to remove material.

Red Dot Award winner Kwon Hansol's Divisible whisk, in the Domestic Aid category, solves this problem. The handle is made of two magnetic halves, each containing opposite ends of the wires, so after use you can straighten the entire thing out for easy cleaning.

I actually think it's good to eat with dirty hands once in a while, to keep your immune system up to snuff. I have two friends who were raised in germophobic households, fastidiously kept indoors away from dirt and ordered from childhood to frequently wash their hands, and I've noticed they get sick the easiest and most often.

Nevertheless, I've heard many a germophobe say things like "After using the toilet, when you turn the sink on, you put germs on the handles. Then you wash your hands, and turn the water off, and get the original germs on your hands again." It is for those people that designers Wu Chi-Hua and Wang Li-Hsin, Red Dot Award winners in the Bathroom category, have designed the Easy Clean faucet.

The concept is that you turn the water on by depressing the water spout itself, which acts as a lever to trigger waterflow. Thus your filthy, filthy germs from the initial contact are rinsed away by the flow of water. While I find germophobia silly, and I realize motion sensors can do the same trick, I love the look of the minimalist, no-handles-necessary spout.

Junior Product Designer
Seymourpowell
London, United Kingdom

Seymourpowell, one of the world's leading design and innovation companies, is seeking a confident and proactive Junior Product Designer for their expanding product design team.

The ideal candidate should have experience of working as part of a team to develop design concepts as well as working on projects independently. We are looking for individuals who can generate and clearly communicate inspiring ideas; from excellent sketch work through to the development of their designs in CAD.

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Hyperakt's founders Deroy Peraza and Julia Vakser Zeltser describe their design team as a family, and if you visit their cozy, exposed brick studio in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens it's easy to see why. The designers sit side-by-side along a desk that runs almost the whole length of the space. Music plays, a full bar is displayed prominently in the kitchen and the backyard patio calls to mind summer barbecues and outdoor parties. The mood is easy going yet spirited, and Julia and Deroy seem to be genuinely happy running a practice that prides itself on being the meeting point between social entrepreneurship and design. They practically beam with fulfillment when they talk about the passion they have for the work they do, and after ten years the world is taking notice.

Origins
Julia and Deroy met at Parsons in September of 1996. "We had very different personalities," Deroy said. "It wasn't an immediate, natural connection, but we do have a lot of similarities in that we're both immigrant kids. I came from Cuba and Julia came from Ukraine. We both had this work ethic. We approached work very seriously and we developed this competitive relationship. She would do something awesome and I would want to outdo her."

The two continued their friendly rivalry after graduation, bouncing ideas off each other while they worked a series of uninspiring corporate jobs. By September 2001 they'd had enough and decided to join forces. Four days before 9/11 they founded Hyperakt. "Everything was in flux." Deroy said. "It was a good period to try something new because nobody had any work anyway."

The overall cost of healthcare in the U.S. has reached a whopping $2.6 trillion, up from $256 billion in 1980, and $724 billion in 1990. In many ways, it seems that the rate of innovation in healthcare is moving in inverse proportion, with fewer truly significant interventions being created to tackle our collective health issues. While the quantified self movement has people talking (and measuring) all things health, and cool new products like the Jawbone UP are mainstreaming consumer wellness products, health innovation has remained somewhat niche. However, there has been a recent shift in the players in this space that bodes well for all of our health, despite the fact that these entities have sometimes been seen as our least likely allies.

In the health industry, we've always been inspired by the inquiring minds of designers. For years, big food has been singing a continuous refrain about healthier snacks (is less bad good enough?), and even Walmart is trying to help you make better decisions about health. But now most interesting (and perhaps most promising), government is placing bets on entrepreneurship and data (a great techy complement to Michele Obama's Let's Move campaign). The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a call to harness new thinking to deliver better care and better health at lower cost. At the recent Care Innovations Summit in Washington DC, the federal government appeared side-by-side with huge pharma companies and healthcare organizations to drive a new kind of innovation challenge.

These challenges are focused on tackling some of the most pressing health concerns in the US, but they are simultaneously supporting radical entrepreneurship. Each of the innovation challenges below are slightly different in their process (some have demo days and mentorships in addition to prize monies), but they are all unique in that they reward great ideas with cash while not taking any equity stake from the entrepreneur (quite a contrast to the VC and incubator model). It's free money and support, and may just get really great concepts in the hands of people who need them. Keep an eye on the following challenges, or better yet, submit your ideas:

Pfizer and Janssen Alzheimer's Challenge: Create concepts for early diagnosis and monitoring for people with Alzheimer's
Deadline: March 16
Website: alzheimerschallenge2012.com

Sanofi Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge: Improve health and experience for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes
Deadline: March 23
Website: datadesigndiabetes.com

Janssen (part of Johnson & Johnson) Connected Care Challenge: Ease patient transition from hospital to home
Deadline: March 25
Website: janssenhealthcareinnovation.com/connected-care-challenge

Allscripts Million Hearts Initiative CDS Challenge: Improve the clinical decision support functionality for people with cardiovascular disease
Deadline: July 6
Website: allscripts.com/cdschallenge

It's never been a better time to be a designer because healthcare innovation is going to depend on real human-centered design and non-traditional problem-solving. $100K of unrestricted cash ain't so bad either....

You've heard of the locavore diet: only eating what's available within 100 miles of you. Now there's loca-arch (yeah, we're still looking for a catchy name), a movement that supports new building with only the materials available in your immediate environment. Want Italian marble countertops? Unless there's a quarry nearby that can provide something similar, you're going to have to either find an alternative or move to Italy.

To promote the idea, the Architecture Foundation of British Columbia launched an international competition to design a 1,200-square-foot, four-person home that uses only materials made or recycled within 100 miles of Vancouver (much like the 100-mile locavore diet challenge, also born in Vancouver). While everyone's in a tizzy over getting LEED certified, 'locavore architecture' is a much more sustainable approach.

According to GOOD, "although a large percentage of the world's population live in homes made from local materials, the idea of intentionally setting geographic restraints on modern building materials is a relatively novel idea. One example of an existing 100-mile house is the home built by naturalist and writer Briony Penn in British Columbia, just across the Strait of Georgia from Vancouver. With help from builder Michael Dragland, she applied the principles of the diet to the 1,150-square-foot home she recently built on Salt Spring Island."

Penn said that while the experience of building the house was fun and allowed her to engage with her community, it wasn't always easy. "The most difficult things to find within 100 miles were insulation and light fixtures," she said. She had many items custom-made, and, at the end of the day, spent $300,000—much more than she would have on a traditional house. Still, she has no regrets. "If you just say, 'Here's my budget,' and then you build smaller, but sweeter, it's just a simple case of changing your parameters and values. Instead of trying to push for maximum space at the cheapest price, you push for maximum quality and you settle for less space, and honestly, you don't miss the space."

Ready to go back to basics and enter the competition to build your own 100-mile home? Submissions are due by the end of April. The first prize winner gets $5,000, which may not buy enough local timber for the whole frame, but if you're the kind of person who enters a contest like this, my guess is money is not a major motivator. Or, sit this round out and see how Penn built her 100-mile dream house.

Reporting by Yin Ho

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona started this week, with three of our winning apps, car-pal+, Cash Hound and Social Mints, on display as a part of the Microsoft showcase. They are loaded on Windows Phones for conference-goers to play with. And, as of last week, car-pal+ is now available on the Windows Marketplace! This last article in the Fast Track to the Mobile App series covers the development process of car pal+ and Blackbelt.

For the design competition, Alan Asher and Chris Barlett of car-pal+ wanted to create an app that would be useful to a large audience and could be developed over a short timeline. The audience they decided to build for were car owners, with specific app functionality for fuel and maintenance tracking. Since neither were familiar with the Windows Phone platform, they spent time playing with the phone in stores, watching YouTube videos on phone how-to's, and getting a feel for the Metro user interface style before they began designing. They first diagrammed their high-level workflow on paper, and then wireframed their app screens.

After playing around with the Windows Phone Software Development Kit, the two decided to work on the application without the help of a Microsoft developer. Though neither had developing experience, they found the existing documentation on AppHub and MSDN pages incredibly helpful, and decided to pursue a learning opportunity. With full-time jobs, the two met via Skype nightly to work on the app. With an eye towards having it in the Marketplace by the end of February, they decided to roll out their app in phases, adding fuel price and enhanced maintenance features with time. They expect to release an update for car-pal+ within the month.

Mark Salerno of Blackbelt is currently working with a Microsoft developer to complete his app. The level-up business productivity app takes the form of a game and requires two operating screens: one for a supervisor and another for the player. Like a referee or 'sensei,' the supervisor can set objectives, create incentives, and monitor the productivity of their 'players.' The player's portal is where they can view their 'mission' and meet goals to advance through (in the spirit of martial arts) different 'belt' colors.

Blackbelt Sensei

The abstract nature of dearly departed Bill Fogler's 3D Industrial Design class at Pratt Institute, circa early '90s, would have seemed bewildering to anyone without an art school background. We spent hours carving mailbox-sized chunks of plaster into undulating, twisting forms under the notion that discrete lines, curves and surfaces could contradict and yet somehow relate to each other in a universally pleasing way. Most bewildering was that you would actually receive a grade. This sculptural science, Fogler maintained, could be quantified and taught.

In the years since, I've looked at the shape of everything from Alfa Romeos to zucchini and noted which parts Fogler would have drawn an X on with his pencil, saying "This surface needs to come down more—look at how this curve on the other side relates to it." If every industrial designer in the world had been made to take Fogler's class, we'd all be better off for it.

So where is all this going? Ferrari has just released images of their F12berlinetta, which is scheduled to make its public debut at next week's Geneva Auto Show. And to me this object exemplifies everything Fogler was talking about.

The bold switchback curve cutting through the profile, the abrupt, shocking smile of the front grille, the surprising switchbacks in the tail—these are all things we've seen other auto stylists try and fail at, but on this one, I can't see a line out of place no matter what angle I look at it from.

According to The Washington Post, "American citizens know little about current events in general and even less about overseas events." This isn't a recent phenomenon. Designer Johnny Selman points out that "even at the height of the Cold War, when international issues were front page news, the American public displayed only superficial awareness of overseas events and foreign policy." But instead of just feeling depressed and embarrassed about it, Selman decided to create a poster based on the news he heard that day and every day, for an entire year.

BBCX365 became his thesis project at Academy of Art San Francisco, where he was mentored by graphic designer/artist Paula Scher. Selman devised a minimalist mantra to guide him through the year. He set goals for himself like, "Reduce the story to its simplest visual form. Don't over think it. Don't over work it... Stay neutral. Be bold. Don't be afraid." To that Scher added these very wise words:

Be culturally literate, because if you don't have any understanding of the world you live in and the culture you live in, you're not going to express anything to anybody else.

Whereas most thesis projects barely see the light of day, Selman's project was honored with two AIGA SF cause/affect awards as well as a Judges Choice and First Place in the Student category at Academy of Art. See the rest of the posters and the stories behind them as well as more of Selman's very excellent work.

Guactruck is Manila's first designer food truck.

They're a staple in New York City, Portland and much of California, turning up in urban centers across North America by the day (at least come summer time): colorful, designer food trucks hawking delicious street food from around the world, from Korean tacos to crispy falafel. Multiple trucks park outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard, and near the startup hub of San Francisco's Mission Street.

Now, the designer food truck phenomenon has spread its wings to the busy streets of Manila, Philippines. Started by Michealle Lee and Natassha Chan, Guactruck opened business recently as the country's first designer food truck. It wasn't easy, they tell me.

"In the first month, most of our customers were foreigners," said Ms. Lee, who hatched the idea after a stint living in Los Angeles to study business. "The Pinoys [Filipinos] were intimidated, even with free samples."

In the spirit of LA's many fusion restaurants, Guactruck provides Mexican-style Filipino dishes. Taking a page from Chipotle's playbook, they offer a build-your-meal plan along a buffet-style assembly line, with everything from soft tacos to burrito bowls stuffed with you choice of delicious Filipino dishes like pork adobo, chicken tocino and garlic rice. The tasty, unexpected blend partly reflects Guactruck's roots in Southern California, which has a rich Filipino and Mexican community.

Guactruck's food is all sourced from local businesses, thus substantially reducing the company's carbon footprint in an island nation.

"It's hard to find Mexican ingredients," Ms. Chan noted. "We made sure the food is more Filipino, prepared in a Mexican style."

This practical business decision—to use authentic, accessible ingredients—dovetails with their abiding interest in sustainability. All of the food is locally sourced, which drastically reduces their footprint in an island nation where much of the food is shipped in from overseas.

Beyond cuisine, Ms. Lee and Ms. Chan aim to innovate with sustainable business initiatives. The truck, a retrofitted Mitsubishi L300, is almost entirely self-contained and comes with LED and energy-saving lighting. They paid meticulous attention to the interior design to ensure all available space was maximized; only a generator sits outside to help power the truck during hours of operation.

The interior is as thoughtfully-designed as the exterior

Last summer, London-based architect Jack Woolley completed the renovation and expansion of a run-down carpenter's workshop, salvaging as much existing construction as possible to convert it into a beautiful live/work space flooded with natural light. It also has one of the best entrances I've ever seen, a "hidden" door in the brick wall that runs along the street. I caught up with Woolley this week to ask him how he made it and to talk about his other work, including his twelve crazy patents.

Core77: How was the former workshop accessed from the street?

Jack Woolley: The original workshop could not be accessed directly from the street. Instead you had to walk across the front garden of the neighboring house and through a gate which led to the back of the workshop where there was a door.

The new door onto the street was necessary to make the building effective as a live/work space. The door from the street gives access to both the work area and the live area, but by keeping the original entrance, an alternative is provided which allows the work area to be entered independently - important for the comings and goings of staff.

Core77: Why the "hidden" entrance in the stone wall out front?

JW: The brick street door is an attempt to mark the entrance in a way that is memorable yet simultaneously respectful of the original wall.