the future of cars rises in the east

interestic article on the worlds largest car manufacturer SAIC, a chinese company which has stakes in GM volkswagen and owns MG, it has also opened a design studio in the uk. iterestingly they focus on the local market at the moment and have a super green concept called YEZ meaning leaf, which has the aim of a negative carbon footprint, thugh future gazing they say it should be viable within 20 years. a long time but at least the intention is there, and china with its\'s mass ubanisation has the greatest need for EV's and is pushing hard. so as the infomative video tells us. the future of cars is likley to be determened in china, developed for the chinese market.
see http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jul2010/bw20100727_832636_page_6.htm
and vieo on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pObxCXhf9-E

portfolio updated

Open publication - Free publishing - More product design

steelcase

I like the principles use here, down to earth and non dictorialJ

 

1. Less is more -- A small footprint to fit into the real world of healthcare; only the most essential features, creating low cost high value; zero noise (really) and less effort to roll with the best wheels in the industry

2. Accommodate changing technology -- Pocket easily handles a wide variety of technology -- lap tops, tablets, monitors, CPU's, all-in-ones -- even pen & paper

3. People do things differently... let them -- Moveable magnetic accessories allow for quick user configuration; Flexibility - non-prescribed surfaces and light storage ready to be transformed to the work process of the user

 

gaudi stool

Bram Geenen's Gaudi stool

Seen on www.core77.com

scot wilson's nano watches

Seen on www.core777.com

Scott Wilson nano watch

marveland_HINA-THIBAUD

Nice toy design

screen of tommorow (like realy soon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7_mOdi3O5E&feature=player_embedded

cool video

TAT screen concept

TAT technoligy in fujitsu mobile, dual screen tribe technology, sounds interesting, product desaign is less exciting so far ;)

Helmet

In form, not new but Nice!

Emailing: cycleton one

Nice electric bike concept, called cycleton.
Seen on www.core77.com

Like the light feel, powerfull open wheel at back, retro low slung headlamp, and wheel rims that give it grounding and power
nice

Zones

The use of material and colour to define user areas

i want this camera

A nice balance of old school ceamra design and sleek contemporey, the extra large lens works really well giving the SLR feel.( lens is exchangeable)

Sonyy nex-3

importance of collaberation

a interesting point on ho trading has exploded the human potential far beyond its own individual reach. "no one knows how to make a computer mouse" no one person has all the knowladge and skills the carry out all the steps!

pritty funky thought

http://metacool.typepad.com/metacool/2010/07/when-ideas-have-sex.html

Watch the TED

 

attention to detail

Herman millers medical Furniture system, has edges that make sure any spilled water runs directly to the floor and not into drawers ect, causing hygiene issues. How cool is that!

Seen on www.core77.com

Emailing: reusetoys

The makedo kit has a few connectors and hinge pieces to allow you to create toys out of found materials.

How nice is that! I want this kit for my-kido J

case et! :)

Love the camera hole detail

the influence of history

Gota luv it! J

toshiba, build on ideas

Logical step but somehow lame. Would apple have done something like this? Probably not though it may be better to use more flexable for applications and more ergonomic (slightly) Ithink it would go against the purist grain, more than needed, even this simple adition of one screen complicates it so much more  visually and technically.

What do you think?

apple works like a start up

A nice article about culture and how jobs ensures that apple has a the same spirit and focus of a start up.

Jobs could have focused on near-term fixes. Instead, he focused on building a high-performance culture by doing three things well.

1. He refocused the strategy to be about one thing. That meant he killed off even good things. I led server channel management at Apple when Jobs returned to the company in 1997, and I was there when he made the decision to shut down big portions of revenue-generating businesses (including my division) because they didn't fit with his vision for the company. Some people thought he was crazy. But he was being extremely clear, and in doing so, he "MurderBoarded"—eliminated many options to get one cohesive strategy—his way to greatness.

2. He eliminated passive aggressiveness and encouraged debate when new ideas were forming. When you are thinking about difficult problems together with exceptionally bright people, there are going to be disagreements. But it is through the tension of that creative conflict that new ideas get born, new angles get explored, and risks get mitigated. Thinking together means you deal with conflict up front, rather than have to counter passive aggressiveness on the back end.

3. He set up a cross-disciplinary view of how the company would succeed. This holistic vision means there is cohesion throughout the company, from concept to product to sales. For example, the retail strategy could have been a separate or disparate part of the whole, but Apple has made its retail strategy part and parcel of its overall promise of ease of use.

None of these three things is easy to do. It would be easy to count any revenue as good revenue, to allow a few people to stay even though they were rotting the culture, or to allow the different parts of a business to act in their silos. Apple's leadership doesn't accept easy. Executives believe that when the company wins, everyone wins. That belief drives the necessary behavior and tradeoffs necessary to achieve success. That's why Jobs has earned the respect of his peers. He has recreated a culture in which the company acts like all the best parts of a startup.

Full article on

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2010/id20100610_525759.htm

 

additional thought on xbox vs apple

Discussing with a fellow designer, he said to me but i would much rather have the apple box in my living room than the gaudy xbox, an interesting dilemma, to fit in to the surroundings beautifully or to express the spirit of the product? In this case the comparison is not very fair, a home computer is so general in function, a friendly but precise box is quite ok as a form langague, the xbox on the other hand has a much more outspoken use and spirit making a good candidate for expressive (non blend) form.

divergance of form langague

www.core77.coms post on the difference of the alienware direction of Microsoft versus the minimalistic approach.

I am not sure if the discussion is relevant, I am glad there are different approaches, as much as I love apple design, I would not want to live in an apple world, I also appreciate the dynamic crips lines of the new x box, a great improvement in comparison to the previous, it,s hard edge dynamic communicates a serious powerfull and ecxiting machine. I like it! (but am sticking to my ps3J)

respect the fuzzy end

Nice article seen on www.metacool.com

Innovation Principle 18: Learn to orbit the hairball

If the process of bringing new things to life were a living, breathing organism, it would be a nasty beast!  It would be unpredictable.  It would consume as much as you dared to feed it.  Some days, it would really stink.  Yucko!  And it would have a tendency to chew up people and spit them out.  Most of all, though, it would hairy.  Really hairy -- think dense forests of tangly, greasy, matted, hair, the likes of which make people run for shampoo, scissors, clippers, straight razors, and a blow dryer.

However, if you shave a hairball, there's nothing left.  You know, it's just a ball of hair, right?  But in that fuzziness is an unpredictable wellspring of creativity, which -- if left to do what it will in in its own nonlinear way -- is the source of the new and the wonderful.  Consequently, one must never give in to the temptation to shave the fuzzy hairball that is innovation.  As institutions and individuals, we have to learn how to live with the hairball and respect it.  If we get enough mileage under our belt, we may even come to relish being in situations of great ambiguity and fuzziness.  I know that I can't get enough of being there, which is why I do what I do. 

Organizations need to find a way to let the hairball be a hairy mess. The fuzziness of the innovation hairball makes its very presence uncomfortable for mature organizations.  Successful organizations have gotten to where they are by being able to sell, ship, and support things on a regular basis.  If the honest answer to the question "When will this be done?" is "We have no idea!" (which is what the hairball always says), a mature organization will be sorely tempted to lend clarity and structure to the hairball.  "Let's put you on a firm schedule with staged checkpoints!", it says.  "Here, let me clean up that mess of hair."  Instead, we have to be able to let the hairball be greasy and stinky, and learn how to celebrate it.  This is a hard thing to do, as leaving a pool of ambiguity unmopped rarely not squares well with meeting your quarterly numbers.  As to where and how to do that, well there are many books written around those subjects, so let's just leave it that we need to let the hair be fuzzy.  Don't shave it.  Find a place for it to grow.

To that point, my friend Bob Sutton wrote a wonderful post about his own experience of learning to respect the fuzzy front end.  In it he quotes Bill Coyne, who led innovation efforts at 3M for many years:

Finally, don't try to control or make safe the fumbling, panicky, glorious adventure of discovery. Occasionally, one sees articles that describe how to rationalize this process, how to take the fuzzy front end and give it a nice haircut. This is self-defeating. We should allow the fuzzy front end to be as unkempt and as fuzzy as we can. Long-- term growth depends on innovation, and innovation isn't neat. We stumble on many of our best discoveries. If you want to follow the rapidly moving leading edge, you must learn to live on your feet. And you must be willing to make necessary, healthy stumble.

I really like Bob's post because of the way he relates the need for organizations to build up muscles around grappling with fuzziness with his own personal journey as a design thinker. 

As I've said earlier, at a personal level, being comfortable with the innovation process is largely a matter of learning by doing.  The more you're in hairy, fuzzy situations, and the more you find your way out of them, the more your confidence in your own creative process will grow.  At an individual level, if you want to be able to live in more innovative ways, you need to learn how to orbit the hairball.  That phrase, of course, is the title of Gordon McKenzie's masterpiece Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace, which occupies a hallowed spot on my bookshelf.  For me, McKenzie's masterpiece is a valuable personal "owner's manual", as it helps you find your own ways to avoid the temptation to shave the hairball.  It teaches you instead to find ways orbit it when necessary (which may be almost all the time for some folks).

Know thyself.  Understanding how to deal with ambiguity at a personal level is the key to unlocking one's creative confidence.  An organization which understands how to resist shaving the hairball, populated by people who know how to orbit the hairball, will be capable of bringing amazing things to life.

Know thyself.

This is number 18 in a series of principles of innovation.  It is an evolving work.  Please give me your thoughts, suggestions, and good ideas

 

Emailing: chalk-puma1

 

Emailing: stoop-bench

Seen on www.core77.com by Alvaro Uribe

Unexpected  double use, different sides of a product can have different functions, resulting in an interesting, curious form. This is a nice thought to apply elsewhere.

asian car makers heavly pumping up the design

 

Kia and hyundai both have design centeres in europe aswell as asia. Hyundai showing here a nicely proportioned and dynamic, often a bit too much ‘flaming’ happening, but still expressive interesting and cohesive. The high rear giving powerful haunches and the sweeping roof line down to the dipping nose tiyeng it together with a crouching tiger poise. I think the recess in the hood is to catch the dipping effect but still met the regulations on front end hight? Or is it just to beef up the muscle feel at the front.

 

All in all something nicely sophisticated about it!

auston martin rapide

4 door remains difficult, it's so looooong, it loses the power

and forward dynamic of the 2 doors vantage and v8.

the sketch has more aggressive proportions than the production

model which became conservative and unexciting, but it remains

auston and therfore elegant!

telescope

Nice material combination. Sleak forms…

 

 designed by odoardo fioravanti and produced by palomar.

round shoulders

How funky is this!

SEEN ON WWW.CORE77.COM

a mouse or a mobile?

A familar aesthetic, which I like, edgey and spophisticated but could use a dash more sophistication, it’s a touch too ;my first cad model. And is it realy a mouse?

Emailing: 0yujifujimura

Yuji Fujimura's electric bike concept, seen on www.core77.com , closed wheels rule!

Emailing: Tongue_468

Hmmm, are we so predictable? I guess so.

nice bench

designer Alexandre Moronnoz's Seen on core 77,

hooydonk throught the monocle

http://monocle.com/sections/design/Web-Articles/Adrian-van-Hooydonk/

nice video interview with BMW ‘s hooydonk, notable extracts; the lasting impact of the crisis is that people with think longer about purchases, this also enhances the need for story telling, and better stories to tell around a product.

The future of form is going to be sharp, sharp is surprisingly effective in the wind tunnel. Functionalities will increase, more for your money, well considered purschases. Luxuary will reamin a theme as the experience of products becomes more important than the simple having of trophy pieces.

Bmw expresses engineering precision with the sharp styling lines.

Importance of authenticity, where does the product come from, who is behind it. This will be increasingly important.

nike is serious about green

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/16/how-nike-considered-uses-innovation-and-collaboration-to-close-the-loop/

 

 

nice article about nikes perspective on turning green.

FW: nissan_fuga_hybrid

 

Ouch! Going very much in the direction of the porsche work. Nasty, heavy and bumpy. In particular the nose is going wrong.

lexus goes sports

Hmm whats lexus up to these days?

Interesting mix of Ferrari and Nissan z. with a pinch of corvette for the USA market. Like the looks so far in this elevation. Stylish and luxurious without being heavy handed

 

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/10/1021_best_of_tokyo_auto_show/2.htm

 

see more from Tokyo car show, follow link.

 

 

FW: _honda_ev_n

 

Sorry more cars!, but this is s osweet, nice retro colouring and the graphic newson-esk front plate is very nice. Looks fun!

Emailing: Peugeot-RCZ_2011_800x600_wallpaper_06

 

Emailing: herehook_layout

This caught my eye

 

Yankodesign.com

Emailing: onehand2

The one handed cook aid with loots of help me jigs.

Seen on yankodesign.com

 

Proving design for the physically challenged can also look very good.

Emailing: bb-hianddry-comp3

Nice but i must wonder does it need to be plastic base ect. The classic wooden fold out dish rack is also nice,

Seen on core77

FW: cyberpunk funk

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seen on core77

just for fun, a turkish designer did these cyberpunk mobile modifications.
pritty funky!

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new BMW concept

"efficient dynamics concept"

clear influences from Gina and the M1 concept, thats what happens once chris is out of the picture.

i love the 'fluid control' very expressive whithout being too feminine or aggressive as bmw often is.

link lamp

the link lamp, very graphical, i particulaly like the eyelet hindge detail.(sorry for the bad pic)

follow the lines

quite retro, but i liked the line play, looping and interlocking to
create a whole.

metal and wood

is this a dell?

shine!

i love the simplification of the bike down to a single loop icon, which works very well with the coasting, be one with your bike idea.
seen on thecoolhunter.com designed by Teague

Great ideas

this is just so sweet! a fold flat strainer!!

see josephjoseph.com for more nice ideas and to buy

the game changer

 

book review

the game changer

 

exellent book, if maybe somewhat american, and somewhat repetative, it gives many interesting examples of how p&g have succeded in reorientating there company towards innovation, how a large company can mobelize to be fast and innovative time and time again. gives lots of ideas and insights into how a company should structure it's self for sustainable innovation (as the only way for sustainable growth)

 

key points were;

-clear management goals that stretch theorganisation just enough.

-one clear rule of all rules "the customer is boss" this seems top settle all discussion, a good consumer trial will beat all opinions.

-indepth "living in research" for the insights then good old hard core quantative reaserch for validation

-grow your product range, add value (thus margin)grow your market

-create a people culture, people need to be comfortable without hirachy to stick there neck out for ideas, and thats what you need. p&G has special locations to take groups out of context and speed develop concepts, in small 'flat' divierse teams

-raipd consumer testing

-courageous

-process frees up creativity ( was that this book??not sure)

innovation makes money, otherwise its invention

-set asside a clear budget for innovation seperate to daily business funds

-people and cominication are KEY

-look look look look test test test test

 

 

Amazone http://www.amazon.com/Game-Changer-Revenue-Profit-Growth-Innovation/dp/0307381730/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233648923&sr=8-1