Hasta La Ideas

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/1hdc-topper.jpg” width=”468″ height=”278″ alt=”1hdc-topper.jpg”//div

pWe’re a little over two weeks into our latest 1 Hour Design Challenge: Gestural Interfaces. In this challenge, Teague and Core77 want to see you create a simple but engaging interaction that does not rely on a screen for input or output. You are free to appropriate an everyday object or to create a unique piece of geometry, but your solution must invite the user to interact with information or their surroundings in a way that encourages discovery while delivering an element of performance. /p

pYou’ve got a href=”http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35t=21539″11 days left to enter,/a so set aside an hour and dream up something ingenious. The first place winner will receive and Arduino kit, and both first and second place winners will have $500 donated in their name to NPower Seattle and Project H Design./p

pBelow, a few of our favorites:/p

pimg alt=”” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/1hdc-cooking.jpg” width=”468″ height=”381″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pYhan kicks a href=”http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35t=21539#p148801br /
“induction stoves/a up a notch, and uses the entire surface (including the pan) as an interface. When the pan is down, the heat is on, when it’s lifted, the heat turns off. While on the stove, the angle of the pan’s handle in relation to magnets embedded in the surface will turn the heat up or down. Though originally designed for safety, we imagine that such an interface, with a few tweaks, could be nuanced and intuitive enough to give way to new culinary habits and inventions. /p

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/1hdc-candle.jpg” width=”500″ height=”315″ alt=”1hdc-candle.jpg”//div

pNomad proposes a href=”http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35t=21539sid=2034c8f633a26879a35838d7a76d4991start=15#p149366″an interface to end a meal/a. By blowing a candle out, the diners signify they are done with the meal, avoiding the sometimes-awkward flagging down of already stressed waitstaff. What we love about this idea is that it doesn’t have to be electronically or digitally implemented. Nomad points out that staff could simply look for tell-tale (colored?) smoke or, in contrast, the candle could contain a thermally sensitive component that communicates wirelessly with waitstaff and tills. /p

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/1hdc-lock.jpg” width=”500″ height=”289″ alt=”1hdc-lock.jpg”//div

pFinally, LabRats have turned a a href=”http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35t=21539#p148561″ pavement into a hopscotch lock./a While the potential security threat should probably be addressed, we love how physical this interface is, bringing muscle memory into the equation. The project also suggests that physical feats and learned skills could be used as a means of securitymdash;if the sequence in the pavement was complex enough and came with a time limit, a highly practiced dance or walk could be required to gain entry./p

pIn all of these examples, simplicity is key, but they also suggest new attitudes towards embedded interfaces and everyday space. You’ve still got time to a href=”http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35t=21539″enter your own/a, so get to work!/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/1_hour_design_challenge_highlights_gestural_interfaces__16600.asp”(more…)/a
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pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/colab-bluesky.jpg” width=”468″ height=”311″ alt=”colab-bluesky.jpg”//p

pa href=”http://colab.syr.edu/”COLAB/a (Collaboration Laboratory) is a groundbreaking a href=”http://www.syr.edu/”Syracuse University/a (SU) initiative that connects students, communities and corporations, to bridge gaps, create opportunities and solve some of today’s top social, economical and environmental crises. We facilitate visual thinking and collaborative practices through what we’ve termed serious play. /p

pWe believe this is an effective, relevant and critical model for education, with the potential to be utilized and nurtured on a broader academic level to encourage effective collaboration. While there are many initiatives that address similar themes (the a href=”http://dschool.stanford.edu/”d.school at Stanford/a, a href=”http://www.hhc.rca.ac.uk/”Hellen Hamlyn Centre/a at The Royal College of Art), COLAB is the first program of this kind that we know of. This means we don’t have a lot of precedent and have started from scratch on many platforms. We want to share our story, the things we’ve learned and the way we work, with you, in the hopes of seeing more programs like this in the future, and more opportunities to work with like-minded organizations or corporations./p

pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/colab-space05.jpg” width=”468″ height=”491″ alt=”colab-space05.jpg”/br /
img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/colab-collaborating3.jpg” width=”468″ height=”312″ alt=”colab-collaborating3.jpg”//p

pemGarth Robert’s AdHoc workspace at COLAB. Bottom: Students at COLAB’s Social Media Charrette./em/p

pWhile COLAB is new, the idea of COLAB is not new, it has been a conversation since the 1960s. a href=”http://www.idsa.org/absolutenm/templates/?a=4835″Arthur Pulos/a, former a href=”http://www.idsa.org/”IDSA/a president and then chair of SU’s department of design, pushed the idea that design should act as a bridge across disciplines and across colleges within the academy. He believed that design needs other disciplines in order to be most successful. “The student learns under the stimulus of the interplay of all of the disciplines, that education is more than the mere acquisition of knowledge and skills, that it is rather concerned with developing that intuitive sense of structure of the various disciplines which will help them become self-propelled during a lifetime of exposure to new learning experiences.” /p

pSyracuse University has finally realized Pulos’ vision./p

div class=”article_quote” COLAB believes that examining collaboration at an educational level is key to saving it from dying in buzzword hell, next to its friend “green.” /div

pI arrived at COLAB last August, after months of conversation with Chris McCray, COLAB’s executive director, who, to put things in context, has a foot-long ZZ Top beard; self-designed, handmade aluminum glasses; and can sell ice to a penguin. The space was not finished. There was a list of projects a mile long and a lot of hard work to do. But, there was also a clear vision and a lot of heart./p

pOur mission statement reads: COLAB is a creative space for the exploration of complex issues in a multidisciplinary environment. At COLAB diverse talents and visions intersect to engage wicked problems and implement responsible solutions, while fostering future leaders in innovation./p

pA shift to collaborative practices has been apparent in creative fields for some time, especially in big consultancy firms like IDEO and Continuum, where teams of anthropologists, designers and engineers work together on everything from product and systems design to rebranding and strategy. Specialties are also shifting–borders between graphic, product, system and interaction designers are blurring. In the best case, this results in original, dynamic, innovative work. In the worst, muddy work that’s imprecise and difficult to evaluate. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/colab_a_laboratory_for_collaboration_and_serious_play_by_shoham_arad__16513.asp”(more…)/a
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pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-kinkos-inside.jpg” width=”468″ height=”344″ alt=”aa-kinkos-inside.jpg”/br /
img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-hope3.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”aa-hope3.jpg”//p

pemTop: The instantly recognizable interior of Fed Ex Office. Bottom: Jim DiMarcantonio and Paul O’Conner working at a href=”http://www.hopebindery.com/”Hope Bindery./a /em/p

pMuch like its name, FedEx Office, the store formerly known as Kinko’s and FedEx-Kinko’s, seems to be in a perennial state of reorganization and flux. Much of the very dated but “refurbished” location on Meeting Street in Providence, Rhode Island is unused and no longer houses any viable service. Nearly half of the location’s floor space is occupied by computer workstations behind a glass partition, like a mausoleum from a bygone era when computers were not an everyday commodity. Stacked boxes serve as storage for the location’s new identity as a printing and shipping outletmdash;a combination that always seemed a bit awkward. For a business that prides itself on its organization and punctuality, (“The World on Time”) FedEx Office feels neither global nor of this time. br /
br /
By stark contrast, Hope Bindery, a one-room studio owned and operated by a quirky craftsman, a RISD alum named Jim, is bursting at the seams. Located deep in the heart of a mill-turned-studio in Pawtucket, the location boasts no illuminated sign but instead, a hand scrawled note taped to the stairs reading: “Hope Bindery: Third Floor Fourth Door on Your Left.” Inside the space, there is no division between you (the client) and the craftsman. You are all at once in his workspace, forcing you to become part of the work. And, if you hope to have Jim practice his magic for you, you had better be able to speak the language of bookbinding and design./p

div class=”article_quote”The departure from relying on human capital for skilled processes has clearly streamlined transactions and improved business, but it has been at the sacrifice of what made those experiences worthwhile and “human” to begin with./div

pWhile the two don’t offer identical services, the nature of their business, the production of printed matter, and their significance to my personal development as a designer and thinker offer an opportunity to make a revealing comparison between the automaton and the artisan. /p

pAs more of our experience becomes enmeshed in “designed” environments, the automaton will continue to affect more and more of our service experience. The departure from relying on human capital for skilled processes has clearly streamlined transactions and improved business, but it has been at the sacrifice of what made those experiences worthwhile and “human” to begin with. We are all familiar with the automaton in our daily life–the self checkout at your supermarket, the voice on the other end of an 800 number–and in more sacred situations like our classrooms–No Child Left Behind, internet universities. Here, I am exploring the specific situation of FedEx Office and Hope Bindery, illustrating something of the relationship between the artisan and the automaton and providing a snapshot beyond scripted experiences into a more aware and educated cooperative process./p

pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-fedex1.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”aa-fedex1.jpg”/br /
img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-hope2.jpg” width=”468″ height=”350″ alt=”aa-hope2.jpg”//p

pBack in the quietly humming, halogen-lit expanse of the FedEx Office, you enter feeling instantly alienated. The black and purple clad employee, who has probably had little training in paper goods (not their fault), follows the guide of a computer system instructing them to enter paper type, quantity, and any other specifications an order may have. The system is effective, standardizes the process, and makes for an efficient and transparent transaction. However, the moment the client attempts to deviate from the preordained path, the shallowness of the protocol is revealed. Essentially all of the “work” autonomy has been transferred from the hands of the transient and unskilled employee, (who remains nameless because each visit to this particular branch seems to yield an entirely new staff), to the machine and its touch screen interface. The photocopiers, just like the computer workstations, sit in mirror positions across the floor, were a revolutionary piece of office equipment at their inception. But now, the entire institution of FedEx Office seems dated and unsure of its position and role in the modern world post-print. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/the_artisan_and_the_automaton_fedex_office_and_hope_bindery__16510.asp”(more…)/a
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pimg alt=”image8_tejo_philly_show.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/image8_tejo_philly_show.jpg” width=”468″ height=”311″ class=”mt-image-left” style=”float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;” //p

pstrongComfort zones/strongbr /
“I must confess, this workshop will take me way out of my comfort zone, ” I sheepishly admitted to Tejo Remy, Dutch contemporary designer and partner at a href=”http://www.remyveenhuizen.nl/”Atelier Remy Veenhuizen/a, over coffee just before his workshop began. “That’s the point,” he said, “it’s out of everybody’s comfort zone!” The event, organized by Drexel’s University’s Mike Glaser, Program Director for the institution’s new a href=”http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/academics/undergraduate/productdesign/”Product Design program/a, was led by Remy, who is known for his unique approach to furniture design using reclaimed and commonly-found materials. His works are carried by the famous Dutch distributor a href=”http://www.droog.com/”Droog design/a, and have become coveted pieces of high design. HIs latest work is currently on view at a href=”http://www.industrygallerydc.com”Industry Gallery/a in Washington, D.C. /p

pimg alt=”image1_chestOfDrawers.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/image1_chestOfDrawers.jpg” width=”468″ height=”283″ class=”mt-image-left” style=”float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;” /br /
em Chest of drawers entitled “You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory”./em/p

pbr /
img alt=”image2_recycledBlanketRug.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/image2_recycledBlanketRug.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” /br /
em”Accidental Carpet” recycled blanket rug by Atelier Remy Veenhuizen./em/p

pThe 20 workshop participants, (12 students from a number of institutions along with 8 design professionals) put their everyday lives aside for 4 days in order to get a first-hand experience of Tejo’s latest passion: the “impromolding” process, or improvisational molding using concrete as a medium. /p

pimg alt=”image3_concreteChair.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/image3_concreteChair.jpg” width=”468″ height=”352″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” /br /
emConcrete chair by Atelier Remy Veenhuizen. Image courtesy of Industry Gallery in Washington D.C./embr /
/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/try_this_at_home_a_workshop_with_tejo_remy_16501.asp”(more…)/a
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pimg alt=”nydw_guide_2010_clogger.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/nydw_guide_2010_clogger.jpg” width=”468″ height=”240″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pCore77 is busily putting together our annual Essential Guide to the best of New York Design Week 2010. If you’re planning an event, opening, exhibition, or just all-around shit-disturbing and want to be considered for the list, send us the details to calendar[at]core77[dot]com./p

pNo pdf’s please – here’s what to include, in what order:/p

pSubject: br /
New York Design Week Event Submission: {name of your event}/p

pEmail body:br /
– Name of eventbr /
– Date and Timebr /
– Locationbr /
– 1 sentence concise description (really, 1 sentence only; submissions without this sentence will not be considered)br /
– 1 paragraph expanded description with more background and infobr /
– Link (critical!)br /
– Your name, email, and tel. number/p

pThanks, and see you in New York!/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/submit_your_event_new_york_design_week_guide_2010__16486.asp”(more…)/a
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