Blackbird Mercedes Goes Tron

This is no run-of-the-mill Mercedes. This is a design exercise that pays homage to Mercedes-Benz’s racing history. The streamlined body is supposed to evoke airplanes, speed and movement. I love looking at exploratory sketches because you can get a feel on what designer Peter Vardai was thinking. As he evolved each shape, the decision to “TRON” out the design seemed like a good idea. Audi just released an official concept so why not Mercedes too?

Idea and Design: Peter Vardai

Final Renders: Tamas Fodor

Water Weighs All

Instead of using all that precious and energy-wasting metal in the construction of a scale, why not use water? That’s what the designer of this fabulous project thought, then he brought it to life – Water Scale, a scale that uses Archimedes’ Principle in a simple container to create just what he thought of in his mind.

The object that is to be weighed is placed ont he scale plate which then sinks into the water in proportion to its mass, overflowing the water which then moves up through channel under the water reservoir. The weight of the object is measured with water and the plastic bead in the channel. This scale can weigh objects up to 1000 grams, and is more economical and lighter than most electric and mechanical scales in the market.

Plus no electricity, no energy consumption – green.

Designer: Muzaffer Kocer & Ayca Guven

Ironing with Ceramic

The precepts of ironing hasn’t changed much. Take a hot flat surface and apply it to textiles to relax the fibers. Sometimes you use steam to crease and set them but if you step back, there’s still room for improvement. The “Easy Ironing” concept lets you define how much ironing you want to do and in turns tells you how much water to use; no waste. It also uses a ceramic glass panel which has superior thermal stability and makes it easier to clean. One of the top 25 finalists in this year’s Philips Award.

Designer: Mohsen Ahi Andy

Design Stinking, a POV on Design Thinking by Cheryl Heller

Cheryl Heller posted a fantastic point of view on the Design Thinking movement. One which aligns with my personal take but instead of posting my interpretation, I'll just let her tell it:

..."Instead of making design a more integral, universal and respected part of business, it creates another silo, another separation. Another category of specialists that builds one more barrier to the kind of real systems thinking we need to survive.

It lulls people into thinking they are being creative when they are not. It harbors procrastination and stereotypical thinking, substitutes process for real invention. It robs design of dimension by placing it solely in the world of the brain when design is much more than rational thinking - it is emotion and intuition and sensing and gut. When does a process become dogma? And why is our culture so afraid of the feminine energy? (Don't answer that, I already know.)

It becomes another bit of ideology that makes it even harder for business to embrace a truly original thinker."...

See her full post >>> HERE

This connects with a discussion about intuition or "gut" that has been going on in the discussion forums: read some of the discussion and contribute >>> HERE

Thanks Amina Horozic for the tip.

Recycling bin design with a suggestive lid

My biggest pet peeve about cleaning up the photo studio I run is picking other people's trash out of the recycling bin. Yes, it's a waste pail just like the garbage pail, but is it not clear that this one's for bottles and that one is for your half-finished pizza, you freaking Philistine?

So I'm digging Qualy Design's recycling bin, which is not only recycleable itself but also has the recycling logo cleverly worked into its lid.

But who am I fooling, this probably isn't going to stop careless rubbish-tossers. What I need is for the lid to be modified into a mechanical aperture that closes shut on a recycling offender's arm, pinning it with the arrow's points.