Hasta La Ideas

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pAh, design cross-pollination./p

pYesterday A HREF=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/bmw_designworksusa_shares_design_knowledge_with_embraer_16431.asp” we wrote about/A BMW DesignWorksUSA lending (okay, selling) some of their design expertise to Embraer for a new line of jets. And earlier this week on “V” Anna decided to share their Blue Energy technology with the humans, so even bloodthirsty lizard aliens are into the design collaboration thing./p

pIn short, I like the thought of companies (or super-hot aliens) that have a track record of getting things right sharing that knowledge to improve situations outside of their original arena of influence. /p

pOne business grossly in need of help are airlines. I’m not talking about the volcano thing, I mean the crappy check-in process. Yes it’s a miracle we’re able to fly places at all, but there’s no reason this process couldn’t be made more pleasant by a little studious application of technology by people who know what the hell they’re doing. And in this instance, I mean Apple./p

pYes, Apple. They tend to get things right, and they make what could easily be frustrating experiences easy and intuitive. They design products that don’t really need instruction manuals by putting careful thought into their processes. And just so you don’t think I’m crazy, Apple’s been thinking about airlines too./p

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pSomeone over at the A HREF=”http://www.patentlyapple.com” Patently Apple/A fan website has taken a lot of time to go through an Apple patent filed this month and uncover drawings for an A HREF=”http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/04/itravel-apples-future-travel-centric-app-for-the-iphone.html” Apple iPhone app called iTravel/A, which would handle ticket-buying, electronic check-in, car rentals, and perhaps even integrate airport kiosks of Apple’s own designs (that last part is speculation based on my limited understanding of patent applications). /p

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pYes, electronic check-in already exists, and no, it’s not a seamless process. In contrast the Apple patent throws out some cool ideas like using your cell phone camera to snap a shot of your computer screen, and having OCR technology turn that photograph into a useable boarding pass on your phone. It would also be possible to purchase tickets from within your phone itself (which is possible now, but the iTravel app would presumably make it much easier). That information could then be read by an unmanned kiosk at the airport which would speed passenger time at checkpoints in some unspecified way./p

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pAm I bothered by the “unspecified” part? Not at all, because like I said, I trust Apple to get it right, or at least get it better than anyone else had it. This is the most exciting thing I’ve read about Apple that wasn’t left in a bar by a drunken engineer./p

pA HREF=”http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/04/itravel-apples-future-travel-centric-app-for-the-iphone.html” Check out the drawings/A for yourself and let us know what you think./p

pLastly, the Patently Apple writer points out one amusing fact: In one of the patent drawings, the carrier for a particular flight is listed as “Apple Airlines.” I bet you Ithey’d/I have free on-board wi-fi./p

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/2010/04/0itravel06.jpg” width=”468″ height=”379″ alt=”0itravel06.jpg”//diva href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/spreading_systems_design_expertise_around_i_want_to_fly_the_friendly_skies_with_apples_itravel_16439.asp”(more…)/a
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pLast week A HREF=”http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15911021″ IThe Economist/I ran a piece entitled “The rise of Big Solar,”/A reporting on the different technologies competing to make that energy source viably affordable. /p

pThe article provides a good business overview of the current state of solar, but one tech they didn’t touch on is a new photosynthesis-based solar cell invented at Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. Four design schools around the world (California College of the Arts, London’s Royal College of Art, Switzerland’s University of Art and Design Lausanne, and Paris’ Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creations Industrielle) have recently explored this technology and have collaborated to mount an attendant workshop, “A HREF=”http://www.wattis.org/exhibitions/sunnymemories/” Sunny Memories/A,” at CCA:/p

pimg alt=”0ccasolarsm.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/0ccasolarsm.jpg” width=”468″ height=”783″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

blockquoteSunny Memories combines new solar cell technologies developed in Switzerland with design thinking and object thinking from students around the world. The exhibit explores the broad new realm of technology and energy harnessed from the sun: thanks to new flexible colored surfaces, there are now endless possibilities for solar innovation at the crossroads of design, engineering, and architecture.

pOver 80 students shared their vision of the future of solar energy under the guidance of top-level designers: Yves Behar, Rick Lewis, Brian Gulassa, Christoph Behling, Durell Bishop, Sam Hecht, Andree Klauser, Jorg Boner, and Jean-Francois Dingjian./blockquote/p

pFor those in the Bay Area, the reception is tonight at 6pm at CCA’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. A HREF=”http://www.wattis.org/exhibitions/sunnymemories/” Click here/A for more info.br /
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pI remember seeing a documentary on Richard Sapper in college, and he revealed he liked to work in a darkened room lit by a single bulb over his project, the better to focus and concentrate. Since then I’ve been fascinated by how people work. For that reason I enjoyed Seed Magazine’s “A HREF=”http://seedmagazine.com/content/tag/workbench/” Workbench/A” features, where they’d examine the workstation of a creative and provide some context, but they apparently killed that feature in January./p

pTo a lesser degree I dug looking through Onextrapixel’s “A HREF=”http://www.onextrapixel.com/2010/04/05/peeping-into-88-designers-workstations-in-the-design-community/” Peeping into 88 Designers’ Workstations/A” post earlier this month, but after a while, photo after photo of a tidy workspace absent of any context or explanation becomes almost disappointing. You want to know more: Why is their desk arranged so? What personal idiosyncrasies led to this configuration? What are they happy or unhappy with about their workspace?/p

pimg alt=”0benegrcic2.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/0benegrcic2.jpg” width=”468″ height=”350″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pAlong these lines, a more satisfying read is A HREF=”http://bene.com/office-furniture/konstantin-grcic-industrial-design-schillerstrasse-40/” Bene Office Furniture’s interview with Konstantin Grcic/A–not on his work, but on his workflow. Grcic talks about working on the road versus in his own office, what type of environments help him concentrate, his favorite work tools, and more. An excerpt:/p

blockquoteBBene: What type of office do you like – an open office or a cubicle? Do you prefer to be alone or to be in a room together with other people?/B

pGrcic: The whole office is just one room, about 120 square metres, a very open, light space that we all share. This exposure forces me to work even harder to achieve concentration. You hear noises and music playing. I like this environment – that’s work. It’s also movement. Working means physical movement for me; like building models, the hum of the drill. So you can sense the work process, and I find that motivating./blockquote/p

pRead the full interview A HREF=”http://bene.com/office-furniture/konstantin-grcic-industrial-design-schillerstrasse-40/” here/A.br /
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Dans le cadre du concours Fermi imaginé par les logiciels de rendus Refractive Software, voici ce travail graphique par le designer polonais Artur Szymczak autour d’un concept-car de la marque Lexus. Une utilisation spécifique d’Autodesk Softimage 2010 et d’Octane Render.

Previously on Fubiz

• Tata Vislevskaya
• Alfa Romeo Pininfarina
• Graffomat

Milan 2010: french designer Mathieu Lehanneur presented a bed for curing insomnia in the Zona Tortona district of Milan last week. (more…)