designBytes 08.16.10

08.16.2010
Welcome to designBytes, the electronic newsletter of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). Here's the latest design and design-related news we've collected from around the Web.

• Some Final Thoughts from IDSA’s DIY Conference: In the immediate aftermath of our DIY Conference in Portland, we exuberantly shared recaps that portrayed some instant reactions to the conference. Now that we’ve had a few days to digest what went down in Portland, we have some more measured thoughts from conference attendees to share, including observations by Metropolis, Farm and a very insightful podcast from Lunar: http://www.lunar.com/iconocast2/diy-design-recap/ .
  
  
• Everything Is Open: Or so it would seem. IDEO has created a space to enable broad collaboration on social innovation projects. And frog wants your help collecting unusual and brilliant design solutions that users have devised for themselves to fill in the gaps of their daily product experiences. Have designers finally lost control of the design process? Maybe. Maybe not. In any case, you can design into your work the ability for it to be hacked, modded or otherwise opened up. Here’s how: http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/openness-or-how-do-you-design-for-the-loss-of-control.html.
  
  

  

• Dear Don...: Design thinking is not a myth. That’s the short of it. The long of it is, well, considerably longer. What are we talking about here? It’s the inadvertent dialogue between Don Norman, IDSA and Bill Moggridge, FIDSA that continues to unfold over at Core77. Whereas Norman previously outlined an argument for design thinking as a myth, Moggridge recently countered to the contrary. http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/design_thinking_dear_don__17042.asp.
  
  
• It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right: Just as no one person designs a car, no one person should be tasked with saving the entire auto making industry. But what about two people? Could Ed Welburn and Ralph Gilles breathe new life into the US auto industry from their respective perches at GM and Chrysler? Their duties are pretty different. But their ambitions bear some resemblance to each other. Journalist Roger Witherspoon checks in with this consideration of both men and their missions: http://rwshiftinggears.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/red-ink-and-black-crayons-drawing-the-future-at-gm-and-chrysler/.
  
  
• The Dilemma Facing Chinese Car Designers: As of last year, China is the world’s biggest auto market. That should bode well for Chinese car designers, right? Well...not exactly. As this Wall Street Journal blog entry tells us, Chinese car designers are still fighting for respect from their engineering counterparts. At the moment, it does not appear to be a fair fight: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/08/12/budding-chinese-car-designers/.
  
  
• Waste Not, Drive Far: Have you heard about the team of British engineers who figured out how to power a car with a bio-fuel derived from human excrement? It’s a story that is a little bit gross and a lot bit genius. (We hope.) According to the Telegraph, the bio-fuel is generated via anaerobic digestion processes and emits no odor while allowing for optimum vehicle performance. It’s only a prototype, but it’s a pretty fascinating development. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7929191/Bio-Bug-Car-run-on-human-waste-is-launched.html.
  
  
• How to Lead Clients Toward Greener Design Solutions: Yes, we know that leading clients toward any type of behavioral change is much easier to type than it is to do. However, degree of difficulty should never deter you from attempting anything. With that said, have a look at these tips posted on the Living Principles Blog and—should you put any into action—let us know how they work for you: http://www.livingprinciples.org/7-tips-for-leading-clients-towards-greener-design-solutions/.
  
  
• The Five C’s of Sustainability Branding: When telling your company’s—or your product’s—sustainability story, sincerity is the first, best practice for crafting your narrative. Try as you might, you can’t fake green. Not for much longer, any way. In addition to getting the sincerity correct, you may want to consider these five suggestions for sound practices in sustainability branding: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/aug2010/ca2010089_664415.htm.
  
  
• The Back to School Ritual: The 18th edition of the International Housewares Association (IHA) annual student design competition is accepting entries. As has become custom, cash awards will be on the line as well as a unique opportunity to introduce yourself to the housewares industry. To obtain an entry kit for yourself or a batch of kits for your students, please contact Vicki Matranga, H/IDSA via vmatranga@housewares.org or visit: http://www.housewares.org.
  
  
• The Ideal Junior Designer: Michael Roller, IDSA is back with another survey. This time, he has polled senior designers to identify which skills and personality traits matter most to the people who make hiring decisions in design firms and organizations of all shapes and sizes. You may be surprised at some of his findings. (Or not.) If you’re a student or a junior designer, please take some time to measure yourself against these results. Your career could be better off for it. http://www.michaelroller.com/?p=1068.
  
  
• What Works?: Business may still struggle to understand us, but we’ve long known what makes our colleagues (and sometime adversaries) tick. Business strategy is built on what has been proven to work. As of late, what has been proven to work includes thinking broadly, borrowing from the entrepreneurial Silicon Valley model and paying close attention to customers and to emerging user needs. The New York Times shares three stories of innovation works in progress applying each of those approaches: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/business/15unboxed.html?_r=1&src=busln.
  
  
• Mobile Money’s Innovation Crisis: Mobile money is a convergence category that offers us a unique opportunity to learn how financial institutions, product designers and consumers from emerging markets can interact more effectively to help emerging markets mature and shed that awkward label, “emerging.” In this essay, two field experts share their thoughts on the current shortcomings of efforts to bank the unbanked: http://technology.cgap.org/2010/08/11/mobile-moneys-innovation-crisis/.
  
  

  

• The Design Story of the Fail Whale: We’re all probably better acquainted with Twitter’s Fail Whale than we’d like to be. (But do we necessarily dislike the whale itself?) The design story of the 2.0 icon has, at heart, very noble aspirations. If you haven’t heard it before, this four-minute video reveals the origin story of the world’s second most famous marine mammal: http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/2010/08/interview-with-fail-whale-designer-yiying-lu/.
  
  
• The Rise and Fall of the Waterbed: Forty-two years have passed since Charles Hall presented the very first waterbed as his Master’s Thesis project at San Francisco State University. While market shares for water beds have declined steadily since their peak amidst the sexual revolution in the States, the history of the water bed is a rather spectacular product story. The Atlantic tells its tale: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-sexy-icky-practical-waterbed/61426/.
  
  
• What's Happening This Week(s):
  
  • Aug. 16-20: Material Intelligence Workshop (NYC)
  • Aug. 18: Seminar | Protecting Your Design Ideas (Pittsburgh)
  • Aug. 19: Coaster Break Thursday 3.0 (Chicago)
  • Aug. 21: Center for Green Technology Tour (Chicago)
  • Aug. 28: Deadline to Submit for Design of the Decade (ONLINE)

  
  For more info, visit the Events Page at http://www.idsa.org/events. To include your upcoming event, please e-mail it to designBytes@idsa.org.
  
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