Anti-ownership, holography, and revisiting hippie values: Curators, critics, experts, designers, and Metropolis editors share their predictions for the year ahead.
Design Forecast
Design Week Studio Sessions #1 – Koto on setting up a studio
Design Week’s new Studio Sessions documentary series looks at the stories behind designers’ studios – from how to find the right space to tips on making it your own and what happens when you need to move. In the first episode of our new Studio Sessions film series, we talk to Koto about how they set up home in their Southwark space.
Read the article on designweek.co.uk >
Video: See What's New at HOK Product Design
See what's new at HOK Product Design, LLC, which engages designers who use design thinking to create innovative products for the built environment.
Richard Sapper, Designer Of IBM's ThinkPad, Has Died
Richard Sapper died New Year's eve at the age of 83, his daughter Carola Sapper confirmed in an email to Co.Design. The German-born, Italy-based industrial designer created all manner of products, from household goods to cars, but is arguably best known for being the chief industrial design consultant for IBM and masterminding the first ThinkPad in 1992.
FRIDAY FIVE WITH MARIE KRISTINE SCHMIDT OF BANG & OLUFSEN
Chances are if you’re a Design Milk reader, you’re pretty familiar with the Danish electronics brand Bang & Olufsen, and while we’ve featured many of their products, we haven’t showcased any of the talented folks behind the well-known name. For this Friday Five, we asked Marie Kristine Schmidt to step forward, as she leads design, insights, branding, and marketing across the brand’s impressive portfolio. Schmidt joined the team in 2012 to run its Creative Center before moving into her current position. Her degree in business led to moving up the ranks in the Danish army where she achieved officer status, after which she spent over a decade at design consultancies. All of this prepared her for her gig at Bang & Olufsen where she most recently guided the design of the new BeoLab 90, one of the most technologically advanced speakers in the world. Take a look to see what keeps Schmidt happy.
The Three Environments That Create Every Employee Experience
I define “employee experience” as an organization creating a place where people want to show up instead of assuming that people need to show up. This shift from “need” to “want” is the fundamental change that organizations around the world are starting to experience. This is why we see so much investment in new offices spaces, health and well-being programs, maternity and paternity leave, healthy foods, workplace flexibility, and so much more. There are a lot of things that can go into creating an employee experience but the good news is that every single company regardless of their industry, geography, or size, only need to focus on three things.
The Year in Furniture Designs: Design/Build Techniques, Learning From the Past and Present
This year in furniture, we got to write up a lot of furniture building/designing techniques, both old and new. We also got to see some good examples of what the past—not just 2015, we mean "the past" as in centuries ago—still has to offer in terms of learning about furniture design.
Archinect's Guide to Presentations, Part I: The Visuals
It’s 4:30 in the morning, and you are just heading to bed after polishing your latest project. The client meeting starts in three hours and you have yet to go home, change, and come back to whip up a quick presentation. What you don’t realize in the wee hours of the day is that excellent design will get you nowhere without a compelling presentation. How do we convey our façade intention to a client who has never heard of a detailed wall section? How do we convince government officials to allow the development of air rights above a listed building? How do we demonstrate to our future employer that we are the candidate of their dreams?
Read the article on architect.com >
How Design Could Make You Calmer, Thinner, And Better At Your Job
In Evidence, our column on the science of creativity and visual culture, we try to unpack the subtle ways design shapes human perception and behavior. Consider how color can make you trust an untrustworthy brand, packaging can alter how food tastes, and playful—some might say juvenile—offices may help you achieve personal job goals.
Muting Unwanted Noise in an Open Office
Ah, the open-plan office, that shining example of egalitarian design, the great leveler of the corporate caste system. Just one problem: there’s no privacy. Open-plan offices are distractingly noisy. Their intended purpose is to boost collaboration and productivity, but these designs have actually done quite the opposite. Research shows that open-plan workspaces damage employees’ attention spans, stress levels, short-term memory, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction.
Design Inspiration Tips from a Craftsman's Perspective
Todd Clippinger of the American Craftsman Workshop on how to keep your creative mind sharp.
Watch the video above or read the article on core77.com >
A CHAIR BORN FROM RESEARCHING NEW WAYS TO JOIN METALLIC TUBES
Part of their In Tube collection, Achodoso Estudio’s In_tube chair is the result of researching new ways of joining metallic tubes. Their finding was to make a partial cut at the outside curve letting a tube with a slightly smaller diameter fit inside it to create a connection.
Hong Kong McDonald's pilots "an experiment in non-design"
Concrete tables and atmospheric lighting feature inside this Hong Kong branch of McDonald's, designed by branding consultancy Landini Associates as an alternative to bright and colourful fast-food restaurants.
Vitra Eames Wire Chair reinterpreted by Odile Decq, Christian Louboutin + Philippe Starck
Fifty-one creatives were invited to put their spin on the classic VITRA wire chair by charles and ray eames, and given completely free reign to transform the iconic design in a manner they saw fit. conceived by the likes of matali crasset, odile decq, noé duchaufour-lawrance, edouard françois, christian louboutin, jasper morrison, inga sempé and philippe starck, to name a few, the result is a series of expressive one-of-a-kind pieces — from a lamp by patrick jouin, to a barbecue by 5.5 design studio. the 51 unique creations were auctioned off by simon de pury to raise funds for la source, an educational and social action initiative created in the 1990s by french artist and painter gérard garouste. the group assists underprivileged youth to achieve personal goals through artistic development.
Insta-Architecture: How Social Media Will Build Buildings
We have evolved into digitized beasts capable of sending personal statements in a matter of seconds. Whether via images, posts, invites, and tweets, we have the ability to disseminate opinions and ideas — from the half-baked to the fully fledged — in a moment’s notice. We communicate daily with audiences comprised of people we know and some we don’t, and, while many use it to dish out selfies, troll celebs, or express their very public infatuation with a favorite donut shop, I can’t help but consider how harvesting these opinions can (and will) affect the practice of design.
Knotted Chair by Marcel Wanders was "a little miracle"
Marcel Wanders looks back at his chair made from knotted rope, which helped propel the Dutch designer to international stardom when it was launched in 1996, in the first movie of our exclusive new video series.
How to design workplace tools for the knowledge-sharing styles of Millennials
Sharing and distributing information efficiently is key to unlocking the potential of your staff in the knowledge economy. But do they really use the right tools, pay heed to security or tow the line of company policy in the age of the Millennials?
Why wireless charging furniture will be a huge trend in 2016
With everything going wireless these days, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the next cord to go away might be your smartphone charger. The talk amidst phone companies about wireless charging phones has furniture designers contemplating new features for next season’s pieces. But why are we so excited?
10 Key Design Trends For 2016 (And How To Make The Most Of Them)
Apps as we know them will disappear. Luxury will trickle down to the masses. VR will go mainstream. These are just a few of the major design and technology trends shaping the world in 2016.
Prism™ by David Adjaye is Architectural Record RECORD Product of the Year
The Architectural Record's annual RECORD Products contest named Prism by David Adjaye one of the best new products of 2015 in the Furnishings category. The magazine announced the winners in its December issue.