On Design
Service Design
Service design, while often talked about in academia, is getting more and more attention from design companies and service providers, as the impact of experience design has been proven to increase customer satisfaction and brand perception. By Jennifer Bove
On Design
Premiering New Luxury
With advertising revenue down and luxury magazine titles closing, luxury fashion brands are finding new forms of expression and, in doing so, are redefining and re-clarifying their difference. One new kind of behaviour is Luxury Brands: The Movie. Chanel, Dior, Tom Ford and Stella McCartney have all recently completed or debuted films bringing their message, aesthetic and 'world of their brand' to a greater degree of life. By Sophie Maxwell
On Design
Design as Social Protest
I heard wind of the news of the proposed closing of 220 California State Parks earlier this month and felt my stomach drop. Are there more ways that designers can motivate people to act on this issue? How can the power of design be harnessed to ignite change? By Ivy Chuang
On Design
The Screen: Content Beyond the Surface
Sometimes you come across things that seem so obvious and right that you can't imagine how they didn't always exist. Since the beginning of the 20th century, we have taken for granted what a screen could be. Televisions, billboards, computers, smart mobile devices and light-emitting diodes (LED) all assume that a screen is a flat surface. My encounter with M. Hank Haeusler was a reminder to me that our imagination is the source of most of our limitations. By Tali Krakowsky
On Design
Future Possible
Imagining possible futures is a large part of a designer's job, and it's no surprise that so many people in this field are also sci-fi fans. Sci-fi is the designer's role on steroids. The genre's ability to take liberties, to imagine a world that mirrors our own, and explore pathways that we'd never convince a client to follow make it attractive to those in the business of shorter-term future-casting. By Nick de la Mare
On Design
Cause Design at Pecha Kucha
A few examples of cause-inspired design from a Pecha Kucha night during San Francisco Design Week. By Ivy Chuang
On Design
A Design for Dad
In honor of Father's Day this Sunday, I thought I'd share a concept project we did over at Kicker Studio last month that was inspired by mine. Happy Father's Day, Dad! By Jennifer Bove
On Design
Why Prefab Failed... Again
As a concept, prefabricated housing seems to make so much sense that it's a wonder why all houses aren't built with prefab techniques and methods. I thought the prefab manufacturing methods had finally reached a level of efficiency that would enable mass customization, but it was brought to my attention just last week, that one of the most well-known players in the prefab housing industry was shuttering its doors. So what happened? By Ivy Chuang
On Design
Curating Innovation
I was lucky enough to be a part of Flashbelt this year. Flashbelt is a conference about and for media artists, interactive designers and web programmers, and Dave Schroeder curated an amazing experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend the whole event, but wanted to share with you just a few little highlights. By Tali Krakowsky
On Design
Environmental Whimsy
A North Carolina State University student named Joseph Carnevale stole orange construction barrels to construct this street art he called Barrel Monster. Where the routine often becomes invisible, Carnevale and artists like Banksy play off of this phenomenon, creating murals and sculptures that effectively cause passersby to do a double take. And as designers, whether we're working in print, digital, product or environment, we too are largely in the business of making the invisible visible. By Nick de la Mare
