Interaction
Designs on Christmas
18/12/0800:30
There’s no end of virtual Christmas cards this year, and generally you have to ask if it’s as much inspired by thrifty thinking as much making a step towards becoming more sustainable. Most companies’ physical cards are leave something to be desired at best and their virtual versions seem to follow the same character; so it’s nice when the fellows at the Design Council do something a little bit more enticing.
Are you ON for Christmas? The Design council have decided to focus on the small things which have a larger affect. Hopefully this shows a central commitment recognise the indelible link between ‘good design’ and ‘sustainable design’, how many Christmas tree lights will it manage to turn off by converted web visitors, that fact will remain in darkness unfortunately. But it’s great that the sustainable message will mean something for larger numbers of companies. Check out the Design Council’s virtual Christmas card
Recent statistics show that one billion Christmas cards, weighing 20,000 tonnes, will end up as waste this Christmas.
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No rain in the Tate Turbine Hall
21/10/0818:42
This erstwhile exhibition will be an engaging encounter for any visitors (particularly if you have an interest in the use of scenarios for visioning exercises!). This is the work of Dominique Gonzalez Foerster. The context for what is encountered in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern is set in text before you enter the space (see above image).
The visitor becomes participant to the imaginary event.
IKEA meets contemporary art space, where are the boundaries, where are the differences, how does it make you feel...
Nothing is quite as it seems, with perfect replicas of work owned by Tate Modern, of Louise Borgeois and Alexander Calder and others; these sculptures are larger than their originals, they confess to being props only when tapped on closer inspection. This isn’t a work about physical objects, but one of a socio-psychological encounter. Definitely worth checking out!
This exhibition runs at Tate Modern until 13 April 2009.
For more information visit tate.org.uk
Multi-touch
06/10/0822:02
I am fascinated by anything which creates interactivity, from pens and paper, to multi-touch and more. I found this back yard experiment online at IDEO Labs
Sketchy attitude
18/09/0808:12
Created by three researchers in the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, it’s great to see an interface which brings us back to basic directness of sketching. I noticed that there has been some criticism of this interface because there is a fear that many CAD trained operatives would be redundant, it’s an unfortunate thing that we are loosing that ability to sketch, as technological interfaces continue to develop, it shows how important it will be for us to connect back to simple tactile expression. Pick up your pencils now.
100 months to save the planet ...and counting
30/08/0821:53
One of a number of similar projects which are great too look at, what is the barrier to signing up though. Real action needs personal motivation, which of these projects can hope to achieve that result? Not to diss the motivation of those who have developed the project, but when thinking about issues like ‘credit crunch’ we know that people don’t necessarily respond to logic until it’s too late. Particularly when they have the feeling that there is safety in numbers (if we’re all doing it one way, it must surely be right...?) Making the issue of climate change personal is perhaps the key, how does it affect YOU, not your neighbour. The Internet is becoming a great social network, but can it develop as a space to create personal motivation to make change on the ground....
Check out the site at onehundredmonths.org
Make it instructable
31/07/0820:14
You have a spare hour, perhaps you fancy building a Stirling Engine? Welcome to the online hangout of the modern Heath Robinson at instructables.com
If you’ve not explored the portal of the Instructables website, some might say you’ve never lived, the reality is more that you will be amazed by the ingenuity of ordinary people looking for home cooked solutions to a myriad of problems so broad ranging it is almost untrue. Yes there are plenty of weird and wacky, with a few neat ideas rolled in to the mix.
Let awe and wonderment begin: Instructables.com
TM in the Consultation Games
23/06/0820:45
Always fantastic to see that an interactive we developed works well, particularly in the field of public consultation (a fascinating and varied audience to work with). We developed this design approach to inform the master plan for developing the approach to the Legacy of the Olympic Park. It’s nice when it gets this amount of press too.
Read all about it on the BBC website