Practice
Good design
12/12/0919:10
It’s great to find like folk elsewhere in the world who, like thomas.matthews are equally passionate - and importantly, concrete - about the way in which sustainability can offer tremendous potential to projects, to clients, suppliers and the general public.
Check out the website at: www.designcanchange.org and check the resources section for some outline tips on how design transforms the world.
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Greengaged on film
06/10/0917:01
This was the week that was ‘Greengaged’. For further information check out our blog posts at Greengaged.com.
Innovate, then innovate more
21/07/0910:04
I had the good fortune to spend time with Bill Buxton a few years back, a talented multidisciplinarian, renowned for his work in computer interaction and interface design, he brings a fascinating openness to probe new questions. When I noticed his recent article on the value of being a multidisciplinary practitioner, I couldn’t resist putting it up here, having the same enjoyment of different modes of practice. He suggests that there are personal value limitations to developing personal excellence, and if the goal is innovation then that makes a lot of sense.
Here is a potted version of Bill’s list on Businessweek:
Always be bad at something that you are passionate about.
You can be everything in your life—just not all at once.
Life is too short to waste on bad teachers and inefficient learning.
Remember: You can learn from anyone.
Check out the full detail behind these points on: www.businessweek.com
TED alive!
10/07/0914:30
Summer is obviously the time for design events, and now the big one, TED is on, in oxford, UK. If you don’t know about this conference, prepare to be very jealous of anyone attending, or register for next year! All is not lost however, as you can always catch up on all the talks through the videos which TED graciously upload following the event. A very interesting and promising line up for this year, as usual.
Read more at ted.com
Greengaged 09 website is live
25/06/0918:35
Greengaged, the sustainable design hub for the London Design Festival is returning for its second year with some very exciting plans. Don't wait until the event in September, get online to find out more, join the community and enter the debate on the fabulous new and improved website. The event is being developed by thomas.matthews, Kingston University and Re:Design in association with the the Design Council.
Check out the site at greengaged.com
Read the more recent DesignWeek article
Innovation to change the world
13/04/0911:18
Calling all software developers, designers, business brains and other seriously creative minds, oh, and a raft of social problems which need to be solved through some innovative thinking, and action.
Over one weekend from 19th-21st June 2009, some of the best of the UK’s software developers and designers will be brought together with those at the sharp end of social problems at the Saltire Centre, Glasgow.
Their mission will be to convert six raw ideas to change the world into six social start-ups in under 48 hours — complete with working software.
If you would like to take part, or have the ideas for problems which need to be solved (from education, to health care, the environment; something on your doorstep or stuff that effects the world) then take a look at the Social Innovation Camp website to join up.
The deadline for the big problems is Friday 22 May 2009, so check out: www.scotland.sicamp.org
Creative accounting?
01/03/0908:55
It’s good to hear some positive news, not least when the focus is how creativity might solve the financial challenges faced across the sectors:
A report from Nesta, published in Designweek suggests that between 2009 and 2013, the UK's creative industries will grow, on average, by 4 per cent, more than double the rate of the rest of the economy. The sector will then outstrip financial services, which currently employs 1.2 million professionals, according to Financial Services Skills Council figures.
The organisation predicts that, by 2013, there may be as many as 180 000 creative businesses in the sector, compared to the current number of 148 000, and the sector will be contributing as much as £85bn to the UK economy, compared to £57bn now.
Jonathan Kestenbaum, chief executive of Nesta, says, 'Today's figures point to the creative industries, and specifically the talent we have nurtured within it, becoming a key driver in the UK's recovery from recession.'
DesignArt bends over backwards?
02/02/0918:54
Sebastian Brajkovic: Lathe V, Bronze, embroidered upholstery, Edition of 8.
Over the past few years the term ‘DesignArt’ has been growing in use. That’s not Design and Art, or even the old educational combo Art & Design, but one word, ‘DesignArt’. Whilst this is clearly a rather fuzzy label, it is an attempt to reflect the sprawling borders of creative practice.
Generally fuzzy labels can obscure the point, but if nothing else it gives writers and bloggers something to bash against to help determine and define the scale of any paradigm shift in practice, and the markets and audiences it serves. With a training as an artist, and years experience as a designer, this is a title which intrigues me as I’m constantly jumping over the parapet to see what design can learn, borrow, and steal from other creative models, no matter how divergent. If DesignArt is a new model of practice to be taken seriously, why stop there, shouldn’t we also consider DesignLiterature, DesignAirtrafficcontrol, or DesignCircus?
There’s no doubt that multidisciplinary practice has something to offer the world, which specialism cannot, I’ll be writing more on this in a following post which looks at connection between sustainability, the markets and the need for design practice to adapt to those changes. Having worked as an installation artist for a number of years, it does feel like the world of design catching up the world of art in a lot of ways. And there’s a lot to glean from art practice,context is 50% of the work, understanding human relationships to space and to objects, storytelling, the list goes on.
So what are we to make of the market being created for DesignArt such as that of Sebastian Brajkovic, currently on show at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery (a business which specialises in promoting the converging fields of art and design through editing limited-edition works). On analysis, the majority of the galleries DesignArt practitioner’s are actually defiantly artists, rather than designers. (Marc Quinn, Atelier van Lieshout, Ron Arad, Wendell Castel, Ingrid Donat and extends to the current generation : Sebastian Brajkovic, Robert Stadler, Pablo Reinoso, Demakersvan, Xavier Lust, Vincent Dubourg and Mathieu Lehanneur.
Maybe it’s about recognising the role which art brings to a world; it is our cultural lifeline, the thing which keeps us growing, innovating and creative, and yet in less certain economic times it might otherwise be demoted. Personally, I feel that the longer that DesignArt refuses definition, the better; the questioning which pushes practitioners from all backgrounds to extend their practice, to risk working across boundaries, will create some interesting and engaging results.
You can see the work of Sebastian Brajkovic at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in from 5 February to 14 March: http://cwgdesign.com
Further links on DesignArt can be found through:
In your element?
24/01/0910:20
Released this month ‘The Element: a new view of human capacity’ is sure to be another amazing read by Ken Robinson, agitator for the enhancement of creativity as critical to education. If you don’t know this guy, look back at my previous post on this brilliant, witty speaker and author, ‘Mr Ken Robinson speaks’. The cover design may not be a great creative work, but the content should be more captivating. Available from all good bookstores.
News relationships lead to innovation
04/12/0814:34
We’re used to seeing sponsored sections of newspaper, the big player’s version of an inserted flyer, the PR value is varied but always clearly focussed on the sponsor’s product as the result of a simple cash/ad space exchange. In this hard copy news encounter there’s obviously a halo effect between the brands of sponsor and news organisation.
Things have been a little more clear-cut in the online world of news organisations; The Guardian’s website was The Guardian’s own domain, apart from the odd banner ad,
A new kind of relationship with IDEO looks set to change that online balance. Since working with IDEO as a consultant a few years back I’ve kept an interest in the relationship of their practice to the PR, and this recent development is an interesting and rather impressive move. IDEO and The Guardian Online have started a quasi joint venture to publish thoughts on... anything to do with ‘innovation’ (which happens to be one of IDEO’s key self generating labels.) Whilst it could be easy to dismiss this a purely a PR exercise for a big and bright international service and product design company, it is also a significant move for Guardian themselves.
This IDEO driven/branded marketing exercise uses some of the Guardian’s columnists shoulder to shoulder with its own writers. There is clearly an eye for an opportunity from the guardian in this new style relationship. The news industry has been in sharp decline in recent years, and clearly they are looking at expanding and innovating themselves into new relationships with thinkers, content makers, and ultimately it’s increasingly technologically driven public.
In the same way that ‘everyone’ can now call themselves a ‘designer’ (from bioengineers to service strategists), the news industry is opening themselves up to new ‘content developers’ from diverse practice backgrounds. This isn’t much of a surprise when you consider the impressive rise of the blogger, however there is an interesting paradigm shift when institutions such as the Guardian open up their website, and not only their comments and blog in collaboration with their own columnists. Let’s see where this can go next.
Take a look and see what you make of the inspire-innovate relationship.
Just DO something
12/11/0800:19
I’ve just come across what looks like it was an interesting lecture series, thankfully the site contains a good amount of info too lead the casual reader down a long, and interestingly winding path.
Check out the site for more info at dolectures.co.uk
"Things I have learned in my life..."
09/10/0822:57
Generally I'm not terribly impressed by graphic design (which might sound strange coming from a proponent of communication design, amongst other things), however Stefan Sagmeister's work often makes me smile, his talk at TED earlier this year has some nice examples, showing his playful approach.
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
Design the world: solutions to water crisis: competition
30/09/0820:06
Another fascinating and ambitious competition from the people at Aspen, lets see more ambition changing events like this, certainly it makes a more relevant focus than the usual, 'design a poster', water is going to be one of the most highly contested resources over the next few decades. Aspendesignchallenge.org
Ken Robinson speaks
26/09/0810:01
When I first encountered the challenging mix of wit and tell it like it is approach of Sir Ken Robinson, I must have emailed and recommended it to almost everyone I know. This guy has some really solid inspirational thinking on the relationships of creativity, innovation and culture, and the way in which society continually fails to promote it, particularly within education (however the points are more broadly socially relevant too).
Here is Ken's talk at TED, which - by the way - is an amazing site crammed full of inspirational thinkers and doers from all walks of life, check them out after Ken's talk at ted.com
And if you liked that, take a look at Sir Ken speaking at the RSA
...and now, a book alert: ‘The Element’, to be published in January 2009. Sure to be a fascinating investigation into the potency of creativity, a must read (I can't wait!). Glad he's dropped the 'Sir', replaced by the Ph.D (now that must be an old fashioned Ph.D rather one driven by the current funding takeover of higher education).
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.
One eye on design competitors?
18/09/0801:04
Are you competitive? Here’s a great list of
opportunities in one space:
facesofdesign.com/competitions
facesofdesign.com/competitions
Sustainable Branding
10/09/0808:32
How
can socially responsible businesses build authentic
brands for a
more sustainable future? That's the question at the center of an
upcoming workshop series entitled "Branding for Sustainability"
featuring top executives from:
Gap Inc. (September 17 in San Francisco)
Whole Foods (September 22 in Austin)
Eileen Fisher (October 20 in New York City)
For further information take a look at brandingforsustainability.com
more sustainable future? That's the question at the center of an
upcoming workshop series entitled "Branding for Sustainability"
featuring top executives from:
Gap Inc. (September 17 in San Francisco)
Whole Foods (September 22 in Austin)
Eileen Fisher (October 20 in New York City)
For further information take a look at brandingforsustainability.com
Diller & Scofidio
10/09/0800:46
The work of Diller & Scofidio is pretty engaging stuff, thinking differently about architecture, I came across their newish website, the interface of which bows more than a nod to the apple interface, great work though dillerscofidio.com
The world according to design...
15/07/0818:02
I have to admit that I was originally curious, and concerned about the principles The Designers Accord being, as it is, an uncertified denomination of designers who would like to associate themselves with the issues of sustainability.
At a time when popular awareness is starting to understand terms like ‘greenwash’ there is obviously a commercial as well as ethical demand for design companies to step towards an understanding of their impact, both positive and negative, on the issues in sustainability. The idea that signing up to the label of the Designers Accord (DA) has been criticized for suggesting your company may have taken ambitious steps towards a sustainable future, yet in an unmonitored and uncertified way.
That criticism assumes of course that the DA is like so many other ‘membership’ organisations designed to give the client a supposed confidence in the members associated green credentials. Interestingly, the DA makes no claims to be anything other than a group of designers of very different backgrounds and standards with an interest in change. Whilst it has to be acknowledged that change ultimately comes out of action, a critical first step must surely be based around communication, and developing a forum to explore pathways through an unchartered future. Perhaps the DA is a first move towards establishing a community, but is it useful if it doesn’t demand an agreed, measured, certified adoption structure for its members.
‘Movement’ and the Internet also make bedfellows that can make people wary, largely because a culture of joining and subscribing must make ‘action’ follow along way behind the click of the mouse.
Bringing sustainable design practice to your own design company requires more than membership, to go further than that, at thomas.matthews over ten years work in the field of sustainable design means that the greater ambition is to go beyond even the expectation of certification (such as the popular ISO 14001).
Point your mouse towards designersaccord.org.
Nathalie de Briey
27/06/0819:00
I was going to pop this in a category called ‘Links’ until my brain caught up with the fact that all blog postings are links. If that had been the case then, my wife’s site would obviously be top of the list. Artist extraordinaire, Nathalie works with the most challenging materials, from breath, to frost, rubberbands, and wind. Check out her site, and most of all her blog at: nathaliedebriey.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