See Change Happen

Another reason to love kickstarter

 More info at: http://kck.st/al8N3p

Bye Bye Plastic Bags

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I asked a friend if he had an extra plastic bag from the supermarket. My shoes were wet from rain and I wanted to spare my suitcase and other clothes from returning to NYC wet and soggy.  But, my friend didn't have any plastic bags, only a couple of paper bags from Whole Foods and some canvas reusable bags.

According to SF Gate, plastic bags were banned in San Francisco in 2007. It is amazing what can be legislated in SF in a relatively short period of time. The article included a couple of interesting statistics including "Roughly the number of plastic shopping bags distributed in San Francisco each year (pre-ban): 180 million." Going from 180 million to zero practically overnight is pretty remarkable.

As plastic declines and more consumers are given discounts for bringing a bag, reusable canvas bags are becoming part of our lives and increasingly an integral accessory. Fashion designers have already jumped on board. Design Observer recently did a nice story on the rise of the canvas bag and the social commentary that accompanies many of them. Here are a couple of examples from "Paper, Plastic or Canvas."

An inverse relationship - communications and design

This is really cool packaging for sneakers -  I like how the visual cues of "eco" have become ubiquitous enough that packaging alone (materials, color, shape, size) can tell the story that would have previously been told in words. I know the "message is the medium" concept is old news but as current communication models become increasing irrelevant, the importance of design and brand experience increase and visual identity systems will have to be created to tell particular stories. Here's the full story at Adage.  The Newton site says the shoes were inspired by "advantages of barefoot running." That concept would make for some pretty interesting product demos or in-store experiences.
 

Art comes from anywhere

It is possible to make beautiful art out of just about anything. These plastic bottle jellyfish are amazing.
http://miwa.metm.org/PET_project/index.html

The Smart Car Visualized

Wired.com featured this great shot of a Smart Car next to a stretch limo. After seeing the YouTube crash test videos,
I'm not quite ready to buy one, but I love the impact of this visual.
http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/multimedia/2008/03/gallery_smartcar_review?slide=3&slideView=3

Helen Walters on why Apple's design is so good

In her Business Week blog, Helen gives a great explanation or actually, translation, of how Apple creates products consumers love.

Interesting presentation at SXSW from Michael Lopp, senior engineering manager at Apple, who tried to assess how Apple “gets” design when so many other companies try and fail. After describing Apple’s process of delivering consumers with a succession of presents (“really good ideas wrapped up in other really good ideas” — in other words, great software in fabulous hardware in beautiful packaging

Here's the rest of the story: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2008/03/apples_design_p.html

Forget the $100 Laptop, it's the $2500 car!

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2008/01/indias_new_car.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_nussbaumondesign

Designing for the dead

Last week, the NYT Magazine did a feature on ideas. I loved the story on biodegradable coffins, called Ecopods. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09_6_coffin.html?_r=2&ref=magazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Described as "a 100 percent biodegradable coffin made of recycled paper. The seedpod-shaped coffin is designed to be planted in the ground, dissolve and replenish the earth with its nutrient-rich contents."

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, indeed.

Pictures from space

These photos from a recent space mission are truly amazing.

http://www.texasjim.com/NASApix/NASA%20pix.htm

Design for the whole year

Perfect example of great problem solving through design. The task: design a year-long calendar that is the size of a business card. The results: http://elzr.com/posts/infodesign-challenge