Design Interns – Summer 2009
The Knot, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a fantastic opportunity for motivated students seeking real world hands-on design experience in both online and print mediums before they graduate. Intern duties will range from production work to assisting with in-house design projects and national ad campaigns.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Lead Interactive Designer
Astro Studios
San Francisco, California
ASTRO is currently seeking talented; forward looking, multi-tasking, interactive / motion graphic designer(s) to join our group. Applicants should have a minimum of 5 plus years experience in graphic and interactive design, preferably in the areas of Music, Gaming, Entertainment and Action Sports with a strong influence in Youth Culture.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Hardgoods Designer
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Vancouver, British Columbia
What you’ll be doing: Working as a team player within a team environment which includes technical developers, materials developer, pattern team, materials testing engineer, color designer. Developing concepts for new, innovative, product (Packs, Tents, Sleeping bags) with complete functional integrity…
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
If you couldn’t make it to the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City, here’s the video from the Live Greener Gadgets Design Competition session that closed out the day. Judges were Saul Griffith, Jill Fehrenbacher, and Jeffrey Kapec, with Core77’s Allan Chochinov moderating. There’s a ton of audience participation (turn up that volume!) in the second half, and then we use a clap-o-meter (WideNoise on the iPhone for the record) to measure the audience’s final vote!
Make sure to check out the Top 50 Entries at the Greener Gadgets Design Competition Site.
We’ve just opened up our latest 1 Hour Design Challenge, this time asking designers to come up with Business Card Hacks. Here’s the brief:
Business cards, those ubiquitous 2″ x 3.5″ pieces of paper stock, can be the perfect vehicle for invention. Bend one and it becomes a chopstick rest, add some paper clips and a bulldog clip and create an office pet, cut some notches in a bunch and you’ve got a versatile construction toy.
This 1 Hour Design Challenge invites designers to come up with a new use for the business card. The only condition is that it’s gotta be 3D in some way. You can add materials or remove materials, but it should be obvious that your design started out as a business card. Post sketches of your idea, or if you can construct it in an hour, upload photos of your creation. Or embed a YouTube video for that how-to vibe.
The top 5 entries will each receive 1000 free business cards from our sponsor, uprinting. Guest judge is Gino Orlandi.
Nathan Shedroff’s latest book, Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must Be Sustainable, has just been published by Rosenfeld Media, and is likely to become one of the most important books for designers on the subject of design, design practice, and sustainability. (If Bruce Sterling called Worldchanging “not the book of the year; the book of next year” when it was first released, we’re calling Design is the Problem “the definitive guidebook to the future of design practice.”) Filled with insanely pragmatic advice, persuasive argument, and impassioned calls for action, Nathan’s book is essential reading for all designers, design students, business people, business students, innovation specialists, and advocates of all stripes. In celebration of its launch (and in conjunction with our exclusive excerpt, Core77’s Editor-in-chief Allan Chochinov sat down with Nathan (well, email was more sustainable, being on opposite coasts) to chat about the book, the challenges ahead, the culture of business, and the amazing opportunities for designers right now.
Chochinov: Let’s start with the title, Nathan. “Design Is the Problem” is certainly a wonderful provocation, and then you follow it up with a subtitle imperative: “The Future of Design Must be Sustainable.” I know that the first publisher you worked with balked at the title. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nathan Shedroff: I’m grateful to Lou Rosenfeld who accepted the book and title. I think he’s still a little concerned that designers won’t find the book though.
The first publisher complained that the title “didn’t say what the book was about.” They envisioned that the book was about sustainable design, which is only partly true. For sure, the book discusses sustainability—what it is, why it’s important, how to approach it, and how to design for it. For those already on this path, this book can help with that journey; we’ll get them with the subtitle.
But, I didn’t want to only attract designers already interested in sustainability. Design is the Problem is a provocation to the designers (and engineers and managers, etc.) who aren’t yet ready to talk about sustainability and I want to draw them into a discussion about the contribution design has had in promoting consumption and the potential role Design can have in creating a more sustainable world. It’s a discussion the Design world needs to have because sustainability isn’t merely a few more things to add to the design checklist. If some are a little put-off or challenged by the title, they should jump into the conversation. Designers need to take a larger, systems-perspective to their work and to the world and a book like, Sustainable Design for Dummies, isn’t going to challenge them enough to change their mindsets.
This week marks the launch of Nathan Shedroff’s latest book, Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must Be Sustainable, published by Rosenfeld Media. The book is a must-read for all designers and businesspeople interested in sustainability and creating value, and Core77 is proud to publish the first excerpt from the book…fittingly, its introduction. Make sure to check out our interview with Nathan Shedroff, where he talks in more depth about the objectives of the book, his thoughts on design and business, and the opportunities for the future.
Also, Core77 readers will receive 15% off the purchase of the book, so read the introduction, read the interview, and then buy the thing for yourself, your staff, your clients, your students, and every other design and businessperson on your giftlist! Enter code CORE77 at the rosenfeldmedia.com site.
Introduction
This isn’t a book about sustainable design. Instead, it’s a book about how the design industry can approach the world in a more sustainable way. Design is interconnected—to engineering, management, production, customer experiences, and to the planet. Discussing and comprehending the relationship between design and sustainability requires a systems perspective to see these relationships clearly.
I hate discussions that start with definitions, but the truth is that the terms “sustainable” and “design” at the beginning of the 21st century are both malleable and subjective enough to warrant an explanation. However, I’ll try to get the definitions out of the way quickly and efficiently to get to the larger discussion.
What is Sustainability
Design is in great transition, thankfully. Traditionally, design has been practiced with a focus on appearance, whether it is represented in graphic, interior, industrial, fashion, furniture, automotive, marine, or any other kind of design. In truth, design has never been merely about appearance, although that’s been the most prominent phenomenon throughout its history. In addition, other disciplines use the word “design” to describe other functions, such as structuring databases, systems, services, or organizations (further confusing its use and meaning). But there have been moments in design’s past where truly great designers showed us that design was also concerned with performance, understanding, communication, emotion, desire, meaning, and humanity itself, even though these haven’t been the most lasting movements.
Ultimately, this is the design that I want to speak about in this book—design that encompasses the synthesis of usefulness, usability, desirability, appropriateness, balance, and systems that lead to better solutions, more opportunities, and better conditions, no matter what the endeavor or domain.
In the end, there is no reason that great design can’t be beautiful and meaningful and sustainable.
Technologist (Web, Desktop, Mobile)
Frog Design HR
Stuttgart, Germany
A Technologist at frog is an expert in building the UI layer of a user experience. While being responsible to deliver the UI layer in a high-fidelity implementation a Technologist is also considered as an integral part of the creative process to actively define and enhance the vision of the interaction and visual design. The Technologist works usually with one or more Technologists, User Experience Designers and Technical Architects.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Industrial Designer (Mid-Level)
Microsoft Corporation
Shenzhen, China
Responsibilities: Deliver compelling design solutions. Develop innovative materials, finishes, and forms. Touch multiple projects at various phases of the development cycle. Strive for excellence in design, user, quality and craftsmanship of product design solutions. Collaborate with multi-disciplinary project teams to execute on overall project objectives, deliverables, and timelines. Help to manage the industrial design implementation process. Work as an ID ambassador in Microsoft’s Asia Hardware Center.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Industrial Design Manager, Accessories
Research in Motion
Waterloo, Ontario
The successful candidate will be responsible for writing design briefs, developing the schedules and assigning projects for the design team. The candidate will attend program/project meetings with the engineering teams, be the main interface to the Accessory Business Unit and meet with outside vendors and ODM’s.
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
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