pedestrian guides

In a big city, but it really can happen anywhere, pedestrians are used to walking where they please. So they can cut across here rather than going to the corner and use the cross walk. How do you change that behavior?

Create a barrier that is not easy to cross!

This is just one of several examples from downtown Newark, NJ where the pedestrian is guided to use and stay within the crosswalk. No 'desire line' to be made in this case.

TED: John Hockenberry on Design

A little story telling, a little humor and some great insights into design.

“An object imbued with intent — it has power, it's treasure, we're drawn to it. An object devoid of intent — it's random, it's imitative, it repels us. It's like a piece of junk mail to be thrown away.” — John Hockenberry

John found his difference with intent. What is your intent?

Designed?

Not the most elegant solution but it is functional.



Good design works the form into the function so it just looks like it was made for this.

As opposed to sticking out from the wall, seemingly out of place

What is your type?

The design of things has attracted me. Type is one item I have spent little time with but probably will be noticing more.

What is your type?




Enjoy!

The future is all a game!

Sunday video time. This one is fun to watch but it also asks a lot of questions. Are you ready for some questions? They save the best questions for last, of course.

And what the future world looks like starts about 20 minutes into this but don't skip to that part. You do need to be reminded of the past that builds and enabled the present which sets up for the leap to the future.

Life is a continuum. The question is, will we like what it will be when we get there?

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

Well?

What do you think?


Hat tip to @ZeFrank for the link

good experience: transparent factory

Good design leads to good experiences. How else to lead into this video of VW's "transparent factory" in Dresden Germany?




The wikipedia entry for the transparent factory can be found here

I hope you enjoyed this.

What was your one key take away from this video?

Little Red Riding Hood - updated version

This is a good experience!


Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Thanks to the tip from the Very Short List

new desk for study

new desk for study, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Some assembly was required and it was completed without too much trouble last evening. I chuckled at the instructions:

"Only one person is necessary for the assembly of this product. However one or more step may need a second person to assist."

I was more concerned because the Allen wrench connections were to be hand done:

"Do not fully tighten Allen bolts until Step 17"

Guess how many steps there were?

Yep, 17. How did you know?

They also instruct on Step 17:

"You may need to go back through the steps to make sure you have tightened them all."

I don't see the need for the "flexibility" that they seemed to prepare for. The tolerance for alignment shouldn't be so loose as to leave the connections incomplete until the end. It would make much more sense to tighten the blots as you go along the way.

Michael Graves coffee maker

You may have noticed that Michael Graves has some designer goods at Target. I stopped in for only the second time to look for and pickup a new coffee maker as ours decided to quit.

His coffee maker was in the mid-price range and seemed to have some good features to make it worthwhile. It is manufactured by Hamilton Beach.

The water container comes out and makes it easy to load.
He still uses paper coffee filters so it is not very green on that front. And speaking of green, did you notice the blue oval! It is bright enough to light up the entire kitchen in the dark. You could use the coffee maker for the dual purpose of coffee and night light, that might qualify for a little green savings.





For all the Michael Graves designed items at Target click here or go to Target and search for "Michael Graves".

red eye blue eye

simple design cues, red = hot, blue = cold

Mobile post sent by shersteve using Utterli. Replies.

5 for Friday

1 - 10 ways to become a writer (that gets paid)


2 -I have seen most tumbler blogs as an alternate collection of multiple writings in one place. I found via my explorations a good design blog at DesignAday.


3 - More developments in the news this week around the chemical compound in Nalgene although the news articles this week did not mention Nalgene by name. Wikipedia is keeping up with it. I wrote about Nalgene here.

4 - Danah Boyd has a posting linking to a very interesting study on cell phone use amongst teenage girls in Palestine. Well worth reading how technology in this case is providing an out for some girls from their societies restrictions and yet is also entangling them.

5 - and for fun on a Friday, lets visit Bernie DeKoven who provides some insight into the folks at ImprovEverywhere as they pull off another event, this time "The Best game ever"

Enjoy

Dilbert's Cubicle

Did you see the work the good design firm Ideo did for Dilbert?

I for one, just found this and love it.

Where can I get this?

Milwaukee Art Museum - ship ashore

Milwaukee Art Museum - ship ashore
Originally uploaded by shersteve

a view from the northern side of the building

Milwaukee Art Museum

Chicago_70715 028
Originally uploaded by shersteve

We visited Milwaukee this weekend and were enthralled by the design of the Art Museum there. Each perspective gave it a slightly different but related view.

The theme of sailing and going with the flow of the wind and water was evident at each view point.

Seagulls, swordfish, ship prow, ship mast, gang plank; all these an more appeared. Stay tuned for more pictures.

We need to come back to Milwaukee. We had so much fun walking around and along the waterfront, we did not get into the exhibits of the museum at all!

Fast Company's Top Jobs for 2007

With my parent hat on, I find and review the outlook provided by Fast Company on the Top Jobs for 2007 with a keen interest. Not that I am looking, but I do have two fine young ladies in college who will be looking soon.

I find it interesting that by my count 7 of the top 10 are design related.

Experience designer, web designer, security systems engineer, urban planners, viral marketers and media promoters, talent agents, and art directors.

(1) Medical researchers, (2) buyers and purchasing agents, and (3) news analysts, reports, and bloggers are the other three in the top ten.

What's that? Bloggers in the top ten. Wowza!

You can read their full listing here. They also have this in a slide show format.

Design certainly is a common item across the seven. I think that communication skills, project management, and internet savvy will also be good skills to have.

What else would you add to the list of skills needed for the future?