Squarespace rejects claims its online logo design tool is “a replacement for professional designers”

squarespace-logo_dezeen-sq

News: New York technology firm Squarespace has published a statement slamming criticism that its new service for creating logos demeans the role of the graphic designer.

Following the launch of Squarespace Logo last week, designers took to Twitter to express their views on the online design tool, with some branding it as “disgusting” and “one giant F U to entire design community”.

squarespace-logo_dezeen-3
Squarespace Logo’s user interface allows users to customise the design of their logo

The furore provoked Squarespace founder Anthony Casalena to post an addendum to a statement on the project’s blog, explaining its position regarding the importance of professional graphic designers:

“We’ve seen a number of comments online about Squarespace Logo being positioned as a replacement for professional designers,” the statement read. “Squarespace Logo is a basic tool for individuals and small businesses with limited resources to create a simple identity for themselves. It is not a replacement for the brand identity a professional designer can craft and deserves to be compensated for.”

“We expect Logo, much like Squarespace itself, to drive more people to appreciate the importance of design, leading to increased demand for professional creative services,” the statement continued. “Similarly, the fees generated by Squarespace Logo are used in part to compensate the graphic designers who contribute their work.”

squarespace-logo_dezeen-2
Logos produced with Squarespace’s tool can be used for various commercial purposes including websites

Squarespace, which launched in 2004 as a service for developing simple websites based on standard templates, teamed up with online icon database The Noun Project to create the new logo design tool.

It allows users to choose from a range of over 7000 basic icons and manipulate them to their own specifications, adding text, changing colours, proportions and the alignment of the various components to produce a logo that can be used on websites, business cards and other branded material.

The vector icons that are available on the site are submitted by graphic designers, who are credited on the interface page and receive a royalty every time their icon is specified for a project.

Once customers have designed their logo they can download a high resolution version for commercial use by paying $10. The service is free to existing Squarespace customers.

squarespace-logo_dezeen-4
The icons available range from simple shapes to more sophisticated vector drawings

Reaction on Twitter ranged from outrage about the tool seeming to oversimplify the process of brand identity creation, to support for Squarespace’s attempt to make graphic design more accessible to novices.

“At first I kind of thought everyone was overreacting about #squarespacelogo until I saw how much of a mockery it makes of my profession,” said a tweet from @carolineroyce.

“Honestly, if you’re worried that #squarespacelogo will replace your line of design work, you must not be that good at design,” countered ‏@gburnham.

squarespace-logo_dezeen-5
The online tool allows users to see how their logo would look on a t-shirt

Critics who published articles about the issue are largely in favour of the way the service enables users with little knowledge of graphic design to produce simple and attractive logos, while recognising that brand identity is a specialist skill that remains the domain of professional designers.

“Squarespace’s Logo service isn’t in competition with the work of good designers,” said Tom Actman of Creative Review. “It’s merely a (pretty good) creative tool to help those visualise their own ideas.”

Tina Roth Eisenberg of graphic design blog Swiss Miss added: “Am I super thrilled that [Squarespace] are saying ‘anyone can design a great logo’, not really, but that’s not the point. Their logo builder is not much different than a tool like Adobe Illustrator.”

The post Squarespace rejects claims its online logo design
tool is “a replacement for professional designers”
appeared first on Dezeen.

Pieke Bergmans’ blown-plastic VAPOR lighting “grows like a plant or animal”

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: Amsterdam designer Pieke Bergmans explains that she used a process similar to glass blowing to create the plastic lighting she exhibited during Dutch Design Week 2013 in Eindhoven.

Vapor by Pieke Bergmans

Showcased amongst the pipes in a former pump house in Eindhoven, Bergmans exhibited two groups of objects as part of her VAPOR collection, which she created by heating and rapidly inflating PVC plastic.

Vapor by Pieke Bergmans

Swaying, ethereal shapes were hung in the main room, which Bergmans made by blowing air into the plastic until it stretched into an extremely thin, translucent tube at one end.

“The material is solid and somehow it fades away almost into nothingness,” she explains. “It dissolves like a gas. It’s very thin plastic at the ends, but on the top it’s quite solid.”

Vapor by Pieke Bergmans

A second installation in the basement of the pump house consisted of a series of twisted, rippled pipes.

Vapor by Pieke Bergmans

“The shapes are really organic, they grow like a plant or an animal,” she says. “That is something I really love, because I don’t like to design being very precise. I actually prefer that shapes grow into their natural environments.”

She continues: “So this plastic is actually grown. The only thing I decide is to add more or less air into it, or maybe add a few colours, or maybe add more material.”

Vapor by Pieke Bergmans

Bergmans explains that the pieces she exhibited at Dutch Design Week were the result of many different experiments.

“I’m very free and experimental and I try to understand the boundaries [of a production process],” she explains. “I will make things with lots of air and it will explode, maybe. After lots of experiments I know the limits; I know the edges. And actually, the edges are most of the time the nicest.”

Pieke Bergmans portrait
Pieke Bergmans. Copyright: Dezeen

We drove around Eindhoven in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Family Music by Eindhoven-based hip hop producer Y’Skid.

You can listen to more music by Y’Skid on Dezeen Music Project and watch more of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies here.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: Eindhoven
Our MINI Paceman in Eindhoven

The post Pieke Bergmans’ blown-plastic VAPOR
lighting “grows like a plant or animal”
appeared first on Dezeen.

Glass House by Harumi Yukutake

Réalisée en 2012 par Harumi Yukutake, cette maison est recouverte de miroirs en forme de cercles de différentes tailles et formes, tous taillés à la main par l’artiste. Reflétant ainsi la nature et donnant ainsi un rendu visuel du plus bel effet, cette création Glass House se dévoile dans plusieurs images dans la suite.

Glass House by Harumi Yukutake8
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake7
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake6
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake5
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake4
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake3
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake2
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake1
Glass House by Harumi Yukutake9

Futuristic Styled Apartment in Moscow

Les décorateurs d’intérieur russes de chez Geometrix Design ont imaginé cette maison à Moscou avec pour seul mot d’ordre : le futur. Et ils ont merveilleusement réussi à rendre compte de la dimension futuriste avec un jeu sur les formes cubiques des objets et des murs en relief. Plus d’images dans la suite.

Futuristic Apartment in Russia 13
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 12
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 11
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 10
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 9
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 7
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 6
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 5
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 4
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 3
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 2
Futuristic Apartment in Russia 1

Trout Rainwear: Attractive, technical outerwear for women, designed in Toronto and made in Vancouver

Trout Rainwear


While visiting the Westcomb factory in Vancouver, BC earlier last month we happened upon a stack of classic-looking raincoats being sewn by hand. After further inspection, it was revealed that…

Continue Reading…

Sweatshirt by The T-Shirt Issue appears to melt

Berlin collective The T-Shirt Issue has sliced up jersey fabric to create four faceted garments that capture stages of a sweatshirt melting into the ground (+ slideshow).

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue

Hande Akcayli, Murat Kocyigit and Rozi Rexhepi of the The T-Shirt Issue deconstruct the everyday garment into new forms.

“Our approach is to take an incredibly common object like a T-shirt and break it into its smallest meaningful elements to build a new piece free from the strictures of the original,” they said.

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue

Their latest project, Melt, takes a long-sleeved sweatshirt and breaks it down in four stages until it becomes a flat puddle of jersey.

Starting with an easily recognisable faceted form, each subsequent piece is more crumpled and folded as if it has melted.

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue

The sleeves merge with the body of the top and the hem splays outward until it becomes horizontally flat.

“With Melt we shape and deconstruct the ego in real life,” said the designers. “Each polygon stands for a different facet of the persona, symbolising the process of development, connected through personal experience. With each step, the ego increasingly lets go of social structures and self-centredness. What remains is a melting pot of possibility.”

Sweatshirt that appears to melts by The T-Shirt Issue

To create the designs, high resolution 3D scans of a sweatshirt were reduced to just 360 polygons and the creases where the shapes met were exaggerated.

A 3D animation tool was used to morph the shape into three more forms, reducing the amount of polygons each time.

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue
Data visuals showing the four stages of the sweatshirt “melting” in elevation

Jersey fabric was then laser cut using a card pattern and sewn together, stiffened with thick paper on the inside to keep the forms rigid.

Melt will be installed at Gallery R’Pure during New York Fashion Week, from 6 February at 7pm.

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue
Data visuals showing the four stages of the sweatshirt “melting” in plan

We featured more designs by The T-Shirt Issue created using human body scans to create sewing patterns in 2008 and included the project in our Dezeen Book of Ideas.

Sweatshirt that appears to melt by The T-Shirt Issue
Rendered data visuals showing the four stages of the sweatshirt “melting”

The post Sweatshirt by The T-Shirt Issue
appears to melt
appeared first on Dezeen.

Claesson Koivisto Rune for Offecct Lab: The Modena Chair: The internationally acclaimed designer creates a progressive office chair for the modern workplace

Claesson Koivisto Rune for Offecct Lab: The Modena Chair


Launched in 2013, Tibro, Sweden-based Offecct Lab released its inaugural piece, the Cape chair by Nendo, garnering many an admirer. This year, it steps up its intentions with a brace…

Continue Reading…

Samuel Wilkinson designs faceted stationery for Lexon

Maison&Objet 2014: each item in this six-piece stationery set by London designer Samuel Wilkinson has a soft faceted body (+ slideshow).

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

Samuel Wilkinson‘s Babylon stationery collection for design brand Lexon contains a pen, a pen pot, scissors, a stapler, a tape dispenser and an alarm clock.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

“I wanted to create an aesthetic, tactile set of objects that work as well in the office as the home,” Wilkinson told Dezeen. “Each object has its own individuality but still looks coherent in a group.”

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

Made from a thick injection-moulded plastic in a matte finish, all the pieces feature vertical creases down the curvaceous forms that create multi-faceted shapes based on rock formations. Each design is comes in its own bright colour and the entire range is also available in slate grey.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

“We were searching for an distinct surface treatment that could elevate the series and tie all of the objects together,” Wilkinson explained. “Through our research we came across inspiring images of rock strata, such as the The Wave, on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in Arizona.”

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

The twelve-sided alarm clock has raised markings on the face to indicate the hours, with white hands for telling the time contrasted by a green alarm hand.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

Controls and battery are stored inside the rear case, which is held to the face with magnets and cut at the end so it sits the correct way up on the desk.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

A refillable ball-point pen that comes in ink blue is shaped to flow into its weighted stand.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

The scissor handles are designed to be comfortable for both left and right-handed users. A tall stand completely covers the blades when stored away.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

Coloured bright yellow, the stapler is moulded to hide the hinge at the back and can rest either horizontally or vertically.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

Tape loads into the top of the green dispenser, which appears to squeeze around the wheel from the wide weighted base.

Samuel Wilkinson Babylon faceted stationery

There’s also a ten-sided pen holder that includes a soft inner base to muffle the noise created when writing implements are dropped in. Photography is by Sylvain Deleu.

The post Samuel Wilkinson designs faceted
stationery for Lexon
appeared first on Dezeen.

Colonel launches collection based on nomadic furniture at Maison&Objet

Maison&Object 2014 French design duo Colonel has launched its third furniture collection, featuring items based on camping equipment (+ slideshow).

Third furniture collection by Colonel

Designers Isabelle Gilles and Yann Poncelet of Colonel have released a series of new products and updated items in their previous collection, released at the same exhibition last year.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

“[We] drew this new collection in the same spirit as the previous one, which makes the brand signature – light wood, patterns and fresh colours reminding travel and holidays throughout the year,” said the designers.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

The two sliding doors of a small beech wood sideboard are cut with perpendicular slots, which create a grid pattern when they overlap.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

Designed to look like a shepherd’s stool, the three-legged Bob wooden coffee table with a curved lip comes in beech or light grey and at two heights.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

The Swarm lamps comprise a metal frame covered with a layer of coloured fabric behind a honeycomb mesh, pulled in at the top and bottom with drawstrings. The lamps sit on three spindly legs, either long or short, and also come as a pendant version.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

A piece of wood veneer curved into a cylinder is hand painted with watercolours and mounted on a metal frame to form another lamp called Dowood.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

The collection also includes a set of turned wood containers with patterned fabric rims and mirrors with curved ladder-like metal frames.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

Updated items include the Caracas chair – a contemporary version of a 1960s camping chair – that has been revamped with new graphics for the seat material.

Third furniture collection by Colonel

Also new fabrics are available for the tiltable faceted shade of the Faces floor lamp, which has a branch halfway up its stem for hanging coils of the colourful cord.

The full collection is on display at Maison&Objet, taking place outside Paris until tomorrow.

The post Colonel launches collection based on
nomadic furniture at Maison&Objet
appeared first on Dezeen.

Wooden Textiles

La designer Elisa Strozyk imagine de superbes compositions en combinant le bois aux motifs géométriques. Avec une texture appelée « Wooden Textiles », l’artiste nous propose des assemblages réussis, jouant entre rigidité et souplesse, et donnant ainsi un travail en 3D grâce au découpage des chutes de bois au laser.

Wooden Textiles16
Wooden Textiles15
Wooden Textiles14
Wooden Textiles13
elisa strozyk challenges our perception of everyday materials wi
Wooden Textiles11
Wooden Textiles10
Wooden Textiles9
Wooden Textiles8
Wooden Textiles7
Wooden Textiles5
Wooden Textiles4
Wooden Textiles3
Wooden Textiles17
Wooden Textiles2
Wooden Textiles1
Wooden Textiles18
Wooden Textiles
Wooden Textiles19