Disco Chair

Disco Chair was created by Kiwi & Pom, a London design studio. Here are some technical details from the project’s initiators:

Commissioned by Wallpaper* Magazine, the Disco Chair is a bespoke illuminated furniture concept. Constructed from 200 linear metres of Electroluminescent wire, the chair transforms into a neon rainbow when powered. A pulse setting enables the chair to flash on and off creating an instant disco installation.

This amazing chair could do wonders when it comes to creating a genuine disco atmosphere during a party and completely change the mood of a dull interior. I like the crazy idea behind it, even though its target is not that numerous.

Touch Gesture Reference Guide

Touch Gesture Reference Guide is a unique set of resources for software designers and developers working on touch-based user interfaces. contains:

1. an overview of the core gestures used for most touch commands.
2. how to utilize these gestures to support major user actions.
3. visual representations of each gesture to use in design documentation and deliverables.
4. an outline of how popular software platforms support core touch gestures.

The guide was conceived of, researched, illustrated, and designed by: Craig Villamor, Dan Willis, Luke Wroblewski and Jennifer Rhim (document design).

Download the full PDF here.

Infinite USB

One of the limitations on laptop is the lack of USB ports in proportion to the number of devices we'd like to hook up. Chinese designer Gonglue Jiang has shown us an alternative plug on devices that kinda acts like a tag team - the Infinite USB.

It's definitely a cool idea, isn't it? The color coding on plugs will make it easy to identify which plug belongs to which device. Smart, but there are limitations to it, when one wants to unplug a device that is connected in the middle of the combination, you'll need to start safely remove all the device connected after it. and also a problem of overloading, one will easily blow the power adapter of the laptop if too many usb devices are connected. anyway, I'm glad that more and more Chinese designers are showing their talents and inspirations.

Cube-Shaped Glass Concept House

I'd like to live in this glass house, a place in the middle of the woods that even has glass-based furniture. Damn Right! It would be so awesome to fall asleep looking up at the night sky.

by the interior design/architectural group, Santambrogiomilano | via Apartment Therapy

Inner City Bike

Design firm JRuiter Studio has designed this super minimalist “City Bike”. It was aim to live / worke in an inner city environment with minimal space.

Designers ended up rethinking what a “frame” meant, getting rid of basic key components, and creating a new type of bicycling that is more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.

How Should We Define “Design”?

How Should We Define “Design”? by Gardi Amit

1. Is there truly a “new design” phenomenon?
2. Is any idea, whether it’s an initiative for social progress or a clever way to market movies, enough to be declared a work of design?
3. Can a construct such as a “process,” “business plan” or a “system” be work of design?
4. Lastly, are these metaphysical constructs always design or is there a threshold of beauty, a rigorous process, or another quality standard that must be met for something to be considered a design? In other words, is a ‘business plan’ always a form of “new design” or does it have to involve some level of good, “old fashioned” design to be considered more than an ordinary business plan? And, if the latter, what are the requisite elements that would distinguish one from the other?

Design makes something more functional precisely because of its beautification. That also distinguishes design from say, engineering, where something is made better in ways that have nothing to do with its beauty.

To me, design is best defined with actions as opposed to words. I hope I never find the answer, and doubt I ever will.

Good Ideas Glow In The Dark

During difficult times, only good ideas can light up the path out of the crisis. Ideas are energy! They emerge in a moment and spread at the speed of thoughts and people channel them. Ideas are passed on from person to person until their radiance becomes powerful enough to light up the future.

Publisher: Adris Group d.d.

Link

100 Years of Design Manifestos

John Emerson has collected design manifestos dating back to 1909.

Since the days of radical printer-pamphleteers, design and designers have a long history of fighting for what's right and working to transform society. The rise of the literary form of the manifesto also parallels the rise of modernity and the spread of letterpress printing.

• 1909   The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, F.T. Marinetti
• 1914   Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, Antonio Sant’Elia
• 1919   Bauhaus Manifesto, Walter Gropius
• 1922   Manifesto of the Painters’ Union, Taller de Grafica Popular
• 1923   Topology of Typography, El Lissitzky
• 1923   The New Typography, László Moholy-Nagy - a call for design against the bourgeois, in support of the proletariat.
• 1959   The journal "New Graphic Design," though not explicitly a manifesto, called for a radical rethinking of design along more scientific lines.
• 1964   First Things First, Ken Garland
• 1967   The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord
• 1971   La coscienza del designer, Albe Steiner
• 1978   Atlante Secondo Lenin - not so much a design manifesto, as a designed manifesto. The innovative infographics visualize theories for gaining power.
• 1979   Ahmedabad Declaration on Industrial Design for Development
• 1983   The Free Software announcement, later clarified in 1985’s GNU Manifesto
• 1987   Design memorandum. Dall’etica del progetto al progetto dell’etica.
• 1989   Carta del progetto grafico, Giovanni Anceschi, Giovanni Baule, Gelsomino D’Ambrosio, Pino Grimaldi, Giancarlo Iliprandi, Giovanni Lussu, Alberto Marangoni, Gianfranco Torri
• 1990   A Scandinavian Design Council Manifesto on Nature, Ecology and Human Needs for the Future
• 1991   The Social Role of Design, Pierre Bernard
• 1991   The Munich Design Charter
• 1996   Viewer's Declaration of Independence
• 1998   Ne Pas Plier statement
• 1998   People's Communication Charter
• 2000   First Things First update - not just about advertising this time, but setting new values.
• 2000   Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, Bruce Mau (though I thought Dean Allen did a tidy job of demolishing this.)
• 2001   AIAP, diseno etica e comunicazione
• 2001   Socialist Designer's Manifesto - a series of ideologically driven limitations along the lines of Dogme 95.
• 2001   Designers Against Monoculture, Noah Scalin
• 2002   First Declaration of the St. Moritz Design Summit
• 2004   The Free Culture Manifesto
• 2006   The Public Role of the Graphic Designer
• 2006   Free Font Manifesto, Ellen Lupton
• 2006   Owner’s Manifesto, The Maker’s Bill of Rights
• 2007   The Designer’s Dilemma and subsequent Designers Accord
• 2007   1000 Words: A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design, Allan Chochinov
• 2008   White Night Before A Manifesto, Metahaven
• 2009   The Repair Manifesto from Platform21

The Magical Work of Tony Ariawan

Tony Ariawan is a digital artist from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Tony turns photos into a photon ballet or Incredible lightness of being. Beautiful colors. Some of the most original I’ve seen in a long time.

Star Trek Kokeshi Doll

Kokeshi are traditional Japanese wooden dolls.
Among the many ninja dolls, you also find all time favourites Cpt. Kirk and Spock.
Click here to find out more Kokeshi Dolls