1) Check out this very cool short 3D film called "9" by Shane Acker. 2) Coroflot's Creative Seeds has a good article on how to keep your creativity flowing and also growing in their "Climbing out of the Genius Trap". 3) Design is all about Change, we are used to it, but what about the rest and is change, though exciting, really good? 4) Struggling with your Nurbs to Parametric modeling conversions? Can't get your 3D Computer Aided Industrial Design (CAID) to speak properly with engineers? Well help is on the way with this article that is almost a "cheat sheet" on how to get your Rhino to talk with Pro-Engineer. Nice work Sim! 5) Finally Go Olympics Go! How wonderful it is to finally be in Asia? Shall we forget about all our troubles and enjoy the cohesive spirit of the games? Anyways, if you happened to be interested in the Industrial Design of the Olympic Medals which are a combination of 2 materials (metal and stone), check out the interview with the Olympic medal designer Xiao Yong here.

Dom was a fellow speaker at the Idea Forum in Bucharest the other week. Since Glue is blazing quite a trail in the interactive world at the moment, I thought it was worth asking its technology guru some questions about his job and the changing world of brands in the interactive space.

1. Briefly describe Glue and your role at the agency?

I work at UK digital ad agency glue London (current clients include the likes of Adidas, Toyota, Bacardi, Nokia, 3, Playstation, McCain, COI and Virgin Trains)

My role is Head of Emerging Technology which is a job title shrouded in ambiguity I know, but actually means I focus on identifying how technology can enhance glue’s creative idea, and how technology can be harnessed to take the creative idea out to new audiences. A lot of time is spent digging out links to the best campaigns and technology partners, creating learning's and then trying to educate and inspire the wider agency on how to do cool stuff.

2. How does technology integrate itself into the creative solution?

We strive to integrate technology as seamlessly as possible. We always approach things from the consumers perspective who on the whole couldn't care less about technology. What people want is a great experience that's tailored to the channel they're on. People should stay oblivious to what's going on under the bonnet. The best technology is invisible.

Once we have a creative idea and understand who the audience is, we're then in the position to identify which channels could be relevant - out of which the technologies generally fall. It's massively important to fully understand the opportunities and limitations of each of the channels, and to try and push those boundaries with each project.

3. What new demands are clients placing on interactive communications?

We’ve witnessed a shift from brands buying time with an audience, to a need for brands to create time with an audience – and by that I mean creating experiences or utilities that add value and that people choose to spend time with.

It’s human nature that once we’ve had a great experience we tell our friends about it (and by experience I mean any experience). Our objective is therefore to enable our brands to enter peoples everyday conversations in a positive fashion, and we do this by building rich and engaging experiences or utilities that people want to spend time with. 

4. Looking ahead, what technology trends do you think are going to be big in the interactive space?

Everything is so new that the industry as a whole is on a collective learning exercise to understand what channel opportunities are out there, how people are using these channels, how brands can add value to people on these channels, and also how to build for them. (Made easier by the fact that all of these are constantly evolving!)

For me the special campaigns will be those that understand how people use particular channels, and identify when to employ them in combination to produce something special. The Nike piece is a perfect example.

The other big thing for me is dynamic video. The digital industry has historically been restricted on how work is executed by the limitations of Flash. Motion graphics and 3d applications offer a much wider variety of techniques and better production values, so I think we’ll see a lot more agencies moving into this space.

5. What work out there do you wish Glue had been involved with?

There is so much good work out there. The work R/GA do for Nike is amazing. I love Absolut Machines as an example of how to create a real world experience that is controlled virtually. The Japanese have always been good at technology and their creative skills are now catching up fast. The recent Uniqlock piece is a great example of this and is a strong creative idea is deployed over a variety of channels.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

I have a wide group of friends from all walks of life. I expose myself and absorb as much as I can across all disciplines. I make time to look on the interweb but also make sure I do real world things too.

There’s an interesting insight to be had everywhere. We’re lucky in London because there’s stuff going on around us all the time, the trick is finding the time to go to it.




Posted by Ed Cotton

I get regularly asked by people from outside the design (management) community what can design actually do for them and their business. My spontaneous answer for sure is: A lot! - However the tricky part begins right after when it comes to explaining why and how ;-)

Therefore as part of my design management lecturing activities and inspired by Roger Martin’s thinking I try to give my audiences an answer to the question above by starting with a broader illustration what makes Design (Thinking) different from Business (Thinking). Wait, wait this is not a question of black/white, right/wrong, better/worse, but rather an issue of ‘context’ in which problems occur.

Without going into details here I do start my workshops by presenting my audiences different approaches on how to perceive and understand problems on a general scale. From this level at the two ends of a spectrum you can perceive a problem as something that has one, single solution (a Puzzle) while at the other side problems are paradoxes with multiple possible options. The tendency to see problems as puzzles is more likely to be found in business schools while designers somehow unconsciously accept paradoxes as a natural part of their problem solving process.

While this might sound reasonable on paper audiences are indeed interested to see what ‘overcoming paradoxes’ means in terms of design solutions. Well not surprisingly I do show some great everyday examples (no iPhones, iPods, etc. ;-) like for example Orikaso tableware. Fortunately over at Core77 today I’ve found another great YouTube video that shows what you can do with design as a tool to solve paradoxes. Watching this reminds me on how puzzle driven I am too often ;-) Simplicity rules!

This week's MoCo picks, Summer pool edition.

+ Norisada Maeda's "MACHINE HEAD ?UNSUI" house in Kanagawa, Japan at architecturephoto.net. Via Dezain.

+ JM Architecture's Dolomites House at Arch Daily, "A wood deck made of 14cm wide Ipe wood planks surrounds the house, runs up a sunbathing platform with a Jacuzzi inserted, and covers two long decks.".

+ Büro Wehberg's 40 meter floating pool in Wolfsburg harbour, Germany. Via Judit Bellostes and Designlines.

+ Alverto Kalach & Daniel Alvarez Architects' jungle pool at Casa Negro. Via mopu42.

+ How Much Should Design Cost? at TreeHugger, "The architectural profession is broken in the single-family house biz; the vast majority of people live in houses that were built by developers from generic plans.".

+ ReCollections of Kiki and Joost video at Designguide.TV, "It?s about memories about forgotten objects, values or techniques.".

+ voonwong&bensonsaw's SETCAST bone china collection, ?a collection that makes the best use of bone china?s excellent light-reflective properties and also moves away from traditional decorative tableware to focus on striking new typologies that make a bold statement.?. Via NOTCOT.

+ Wasara disposable paper products inspired by traditional Japanese forms and aesthetics. Via swissmiss.

+ Fiona Thomson's wireless candelabra, "cleverly transforms what were purely ornamental objects into functional and useful objects.". Via Cool Hunting.

+ Eiry Rock's collection of chair designs "explore the relationship between objects and their reliance on each other.". Via designboom.

+ ibride's Ming vase made up of six stackable melamine dishes and bowls that come apart for dinner duty. Via Apartment Therapy.

+ The Amadana AD-203 iPod and CD Player, "cradles your iPod, plays your CDs, wakes you up via alarm". Via Apartment Therapy.

+ Michael Young's Cityspeed urban bike for Giant at Dezeen, "The bike features LED headlights and tail lights integrated into the frame.".

Innovative ways of applying mobile devices give audience worldwide unique perspectives of the event.

Trend Description:

Not being able to launch 3G does not mean this year’s Olympics keeps  the hottest mobile media outside China. A bunch of companies are rolling out their mobile applications for the Games, which, if not becoming popular right away, carry profound meanings for world-level events later on.

Cases:

Twitter’s #080808 Campaign

Twitter’s campaign (pronounced tag 080808) is chalking up good result since the opening ceremony on August 8, 2008. Initiated only two days before the opening of the Games, it claims about 5000 entries coming in on the big day and is updated with an average rate of 1 piece every 0.2 seconds. A secret of its success is the easy way to press the keys of “0? and “8? on mobile phones. No matter who are you are and where you are, as long as you think or experience something related to the Olympics, you can tweet a couple of words starting with�#080808?.

Lenovo Olympics 2008 Application

Levono, one of the top sponsors of the Beijing Games and the official PC provider is NOT gonna lag behind those mobile savvy in playing with new technology. It lined up with Zumobi and rolled out the Lenovo Olympic 2008 Application, with which users of microsoft mobile, blackberries and iPhone can follow up the latest sports news, images and comments during the Olympics. It also contains blog posts selected ramdonly from anonymous athletes and is powered by ads of Lenovo and Intel.

Qik:

Located in California, Qik is a video-sharing company that allows Qikkers to stream their mobile captures directly to the website. Users have access to the service when they buy mobile phones installed with the software and will save money if they have signed up for unlimited data plans. Qik is now encouraging its users to send back footages taken on-the-spot of the Games. It will be  a great fun for journalists and spectators who use proper telephone plans to point their mobile phones directly to what they are experiencing. Check up the Qikker’s footage of the opening ceremony here.

Trend Potential:

Given the fact that 3G is still to come in China, there is no sweeping success for any mobile application in the Beijing Games so far. However, the experience drawn here and business models initiated will remain good cases for later studies.

For the original post and the latest reviews on other Chinese trends please visit our CScout China blog.

Companies are developing new ways to energise customers by infusing natural foods with stimulants.

Companies are infusing energy-giving ingredients into food products as a new way to attract customers. Energy foods provide all the stimulation of energy drinks, whilst possibly cutting out high levels of sugar, unpleasant tastes and unnatural chemicals. This trend is further evidence of the ‘functional food’ trend, which refers to foods chosen for reasons beyond satisfying hunger.

Cases

Sumseeds – Energized Sunflower Seeds
Promising to fill the customer with energy, Dakota Valley Products use a patented process to manufacture natural, healthy seeds infused with caffeine, taurine, lysine, and ginseng. Customers are drawn to the product for the flavour and energy-giving nature of the seeds, which gives twice the amount of energy as an energy drink without the added sugar.

NRG Potato Chips
Noted by some as a strange idea for a product associated with television snacking, NRG Potato Chips are the world’s first “energy potato chip”, containing taurine, caffeine, and B-vitamins. The chips’ flavourings mask the stimulants’ bitter tastes to provide a similar amount of stimulation per serving as a cup of coffee.

Engobi Energy Go Bites
Engobi is targeting video gamers with its caffeine-infused ‘Energy Go Bites’, with the point of differentiation being the 70% higher caffeine content when compared to conventional energy drinks.

Trend impact
This trend shows that consumers may be distinguishing between somewhat unhealthy stimulants, which they desire, and high sugar content in drinks, which they do not. Stimulants could be infused into many other foods – breakfast foods may be a particularly good candidate, including energy-giving cereals, breads and spreads. There may also be an opportunity in the sports or body-building market to develop very specific functional meals, for example a pre-gym meal of chicken infused with taurine to boost performance and results.

Its time to wrap up our series on pref-fab house building in Sweden. In previous entries we've looked at how the houses are put together, and the products and technology that have enabled the technique. Today we are going to look at the last part of the process: delivery and installation at the site.



As we've hinted at before the panelized method used by the Swedes requires less shipping than a modular technique. Where modular requires a separate truck/trailer for each module box with panelized a few trucks can usually deliver all the parts. All the wall and floor panels can be loaded on one truck, roof trusses and roofing materials on another. Its a denser method of transport compared to the hollow box of modular construction. Remember, Ikea ships their goods flat-packed because it avoids shipping air!



The parts arrive at the site and are craned into place, carpenter fastening the wall panels as they are off-loaded. This is important! They are not stacking them on site to be handled again when they are installed. The come off the truck and into their final resting place in one step. When the ground floor walls are up, then the drywall for the ceilings and wall patches is placed on the floor before the second floor framing goes on. The drywall is delivered with the rest of the panels from the factory, so there is no separate order of materials, and no unloading and carrying of drywall into the house. They leverage the crane for this. Here is a time lapse installation video made by Scott. As you will see the entire house goes up in one day.



Another common technique is the crane enabled delivery truck. This is a flat bed deliver truck which includes a relatively small crane for unloading the panels. We've seen similar equipment in the US. Often lumber yards will have a small lift arm on a flat bed truck for lifting drywall or lumber to a convenient spot on a construction site. Scale that up and you have the Swedish house delivery truck. Often the controls are wireless allowing the operator to get a better view of the load and place it with more ease. These trucks are commonly owned by the factory, which if you remember from earlier posts owns the entire process at the site. So unlike a lumber delivery truck in the US, the truck is not running to the next delivery. It can remain on site and assist with the remaining lifting work - this may mean spending a day at the site, vs unloading in an hour or two and disappearing. This can mean a lot to the speed of construction overall, and it is certainly convenient for delivery and assembly to be unified. Otherwise the builder must have his own equipment on site to handle the panels after delivery. That all adds extra steps which erodes the efficiency of the process.





While the house walls are going in on another part of the site the roof will be assembled. The trusses come off the truck and are placed onto a steel jig which has been previously set up to match the top plates of the walls. Roof sheathing goes on, pre-sided end panels go on, and the roof is shingled. This all happens just a few feet above the ground instead of an entire story up. This makes it easier for the workers to get on and off the roof, and carrying materials up is also much easier. From here the roof assembly is craned to the flat bed, carried over to the house, and craned in place.



It all happens very quickly, and everything that has gone before was designed to make this field install as fast and as systematic as possible. Remember this is not a curiosity there. This method has completely replaced the site based construction we do here in the US. This is the way the commercial house builders work in Sweden.



Now that the house is together what is left to do? The joints between panels must be finished and sealed on the outside, and drywalled on the inside. Ceiling drywall must be installed, and wires pulled through the conduits. Connections must be made for plumbing and electrical services, and the HVAC system connections as well. Windows and hardware must be adjusted, and the house made clean for the buyer. Buyers often add sweat equity to finish houses. Painting is common. Floor finishes sometimes as well. Plumbing fixtures as explained before are often installed like appliances after the fact.

One more entry to wrap up the series - we'll look at a range of Swedish house vendors.

Thanks to Scott for photos and video.
Previously:
Letters from Sweden - plumbing the prefab
Letters from Sweden - wiring zen
Letters from Sweden - a windows tale
Letters from Sweden - panel building in Sweden vs the USA
Letters from Sweden - Europe is different, Sweden is not, sort of..
Letters from Sweden - land of modern, land of prefab
Letters from Sweden - conversations with an expatriate builder

Technorati Tags: modern design, modern house, prefab house

Packaged for mass consumption - video of Michelle Kaufman designed home on "display" at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. (via MSNBC)

Without question, the coolest thing about doing Future House Now has been hearing from people who share my interest in better family homes, modern design, and greener living. I really didn't expect that when I started blogging but it's definitely got me hooked. And sometimes I'm fortunate enough to hear from someone who already took the plunge and is building their modern dream home.

That was the case again this week when I got an e-mail from Ben, who pointed me to his site, Bare Hill Barn House. Ben's blog chronicles his very cool project of dismantling, moving and then transforming a once forgotten barn into a totally hip modernist house.

What a fabulous study in recycling and reclamation. America is dotted with old barns, full of big hardwood timbers you can only buy at very high prices today. I really enjoy seeing someone make good use of these materials. There's an old barn not too far from where I live and every time I pass by it I look at those heavy oak beams and think "hmmm ... what if." Ben and his family have taken that idea to reality, and with a modernist twist.

Ben's site is really great. He does a wonderful job telling the story of what it's like to take on a project like this. He has lot of thoughtful posts about the nature of the project and some of the choices they've made, as well as the inspiration behind it. And besides seeing pics of the house's progress you'll also find video as well as great links to barn home resources.

Ben and his family should be in before year end. I know I'll be following along on Ben's site, watching as things progress. I can't wait to see the finished home!

By the way, Ben is working with JASONOAH Design Build on this project. The firm does some really unique and interesting work. Their theme is "designing and building for healthy, inspirational living." You can't beat that. Very nice. It's awesome to see yet another firm promoting great green design. Definitely check their site, especially their Chatham House. Really nice.

Image credits - Bare Hill Barn House site and JASONOAH Design Build for elevations and renderings (copyright).

You know I'm a huge fan of Japanese modernist houses. This one is genius.

'Penguin House' (aka Skin House Project #2) by Yasuhiro Yamashita of Atelier Tekuto.

Via the girl in the green dress

Product packaging has borne some serious brunt as of late, with bottled water being lambasted left and right as a a needless contributor to landfills. Taking this into account, everyone’s favorite celebrity designer Yves Béhar created these vibrant Y Water bottles with a life-cycle that extends beyond their initial use. The bottles are completely recyclable, don’t leech chemicals, and once empty, each little bottles becomes a building block that combines to create expansive geodesic shapes. These alchemical combinations of lucent plastic propose an innovative solution to the bottle’s lifecycle, extending it through play. Plus, they taste pretty good too. Row your boat over to Inhabitots for the full story.

Recyclable Y Bottles at Inhabitots >

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