Hasta La Ideas

The Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) conducts consumer research on how people are using power and collaborates with energy leaders to create industry best practices using their findings. This week, Jesse Berst, Executive Director of the SGCC held a frog design ThinkIn workshop to create a symbol and a brand for the energy conscious consumer that can be communicated simply and socially, ultimately leading to positive behavior change.The session’s broad participant list included Steve Hauser, VP of Grid integration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Allison Arieff, writer for the New York Times, GOOD and former editor of Dwell, Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity, Swati Joshi of GE, and Brian Sager, founder of Nanosolar.

David Merkoski, Executive Creative Director at frog, lead 50+ participants through a morning of unconventional lateral thinking exercises. These provoked the groups out of their typical working habits and solution spaces to trigger new concepts and ideas. The groups I participated in worked through everything from doorbells that double as displays for smart meters, to a role playing game called “Kill Pluggy” where players try to kill an energy vampire with solar power. The day ended with a debate on the day’s findings and a pitch back session of five ideas that were selected for further development. My personal take-away is that changing how we create and use energy is not a single issue, but instead a multitude of intertwined problems that may require a quiver full of targeted solutions residing under a single unifying brand shield. Check out the ThinkIn site to see lots of pics, more details on the exercises and sessions, and learn more about the participants.

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If you’re in NYC, keep your calendar open on the weekend of November 5th-7th for the New York Art Book Fair, presented by Printed Matter and hosted by MoMA PS1 in Long Island City for the fifth time. Not just a place to see the newest in art books, but also to explore the future of publishing, libraries, distribution and more. Don’t miss the Triple Canopy panel, entitled Print and Demand #2, with participants John Goggin, Jiminie Ha, and Rob Giampietro.

See you there!

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Thank you to EVERYONE (all 11,095 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who participated in our Kindle giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

3758

Which means, the winner of today’s Kindle Wireless Reading Device is:

@wickedphysics

I have direct messaged the winner of the Kindle and she has 24 hours to respond.

Again, thanks to everyone for participating in our giveaways and congratulations to @wickedphysics on winning the second Kindle. I hope the device helps to alleviate bookshelf clutter in your home.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Guest post by Twan Hoffman. Images by Lisa Klappe.

The 9th edition of Dutch Design Week (DDW)—from October 23th to 31th in Eindhoven, The Netherlands—opened last weekend with a celebratory event including guest speakers and premieres of fresh Dutch design, spiced up with drinks and (live) music by local rock band Woody & Paul. The official kick-off in the recently renovated Klokgebouw, a former factory building of multinational Philips, offered a variety of glimpses of what to expect during the following week, stuffed with more than 300 events by at least 1.000 designers. Exhibitions, workshops, fashion shows, awards and product launches—Dutch and from abroad.

More shots after the jump.

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Pratt Institute raised a record-breaking $522,000 last week at the school’s annual Legends scholarship benefit, held at 7 World Trade Center in Manhattan. More than 400 guests turned out to honor artist Ellsworth Kelly, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, and philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau (pictured at left), who were selected as “distinguished individuals whose accomplishments and values resonate with those of Pratt.” The healthy take from ticket sales got a surprise boost from on-the-spot pledges that brought the total amount raised to $560,000: Pratt Trustee James D. Kuhn donated $28,000 in honor of his wife and event co-chair Marjorie Kuhn while Larry Leeds, chairman of Buckingham Capital Management, donated an additional $10,000 in honor of Hilfiger. When it came time to hand out the awards, designed by Pratt industrial design undergrad Klara Varosy (who also got to present them to the honorees), Kelly looked back on his own student days at Pratt in the 1940s. “I want to thank Pratt for putting me on the road to becoming an artist,” he told the crowd, which included architect Robert Siegel, art director George Lois, artist Mickalene Thomas (Pratt alums all); Pratt Trustees and event co-chairs Kurt Andersen and Amy Cappellazzo; and artists Francesco Clemente, Glenn Ligon, and Edward Mapplethorpe. Later, Landau spoke of her legendary eye for artistic talent. “You could take me into any gallery with art around the room and I could tell you which was the best,” she said. “And that was usually the one the artist wasn’t selling.”

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