Archive for July 2011
The material has come a long way from brown paper bags, as this new lamp proves.
The new W101 lamp, designed by Swedish architecture and design firm Claesson Koivisto Rune, does away with gangly components in favor of a single molded form.
The origami-like lamp is made from Södra DuraPulp, a biodegradable material that consists of wood pulp from managed forests combined with corn starch-based plastic. Purportedly as durable and long-lasting as wood or metal, the material can be pressed into a hard, molded form.
The lamp is made from a single piece of DuraPulp, attached to a base containing electronics. CKR collaborated with Wästberg to develop a strategy for integrated electricity and light within the paper structure. The final solution uses LEDs, which are efficient and produce little heat.
“I’ve met alot of designers in my limited experience that complain about the “sketchers”. Sometimes designers with an aptitude for sketching get labeled as being shallow or non-creative. However, I see sketching as a means to and ends rather than the end all. When all is said and done, regardless of how flashy the sketch may be or how killer it may look, the essence of why we sketch ideas as designers is seeded in effectively communicating those ideas to our clients. Sketching is our language of communication.”
Sometimes we sketch for fun, but most of the time when working, we sketch for clients or other designers. The sketches that go into your sketchbook are of a different quality than those you would show to your fellow designers in a review or to a client in a meeting, but both sketches have their uses nonetheless. Take this for example, you’re in a restaurant on a lunch break and something comes to mind. You quickly jot it down on a scraggly napkin so that you don’t forget the idea. That sketch too has its purpose. Although it could be the killer idea of a lifetime, the communication may be lacking from you to the client and may be more of a self communication tool.
So then what are the different types of sketches you ask? Well fortunately you are in the right place, at the right time, reading the right blog.
1. Personal Communication Sketches aka the Doodle:
These are the scraggliest of the scraggers. The dirtiest of the dirty. They sketches that tend to live in the sketchbook or on discarded pieces of paper. The purpose of doodling and sketching so roughly is for you the designer to work out the issues with form or function, but in a looser more empathic way. These sketches tend to be most present at the genesis of the product concept. For me, these are the doodles I do when preoccupied in thought on the bus or train as I try to fiddle around with new ideas or sketch techniques.
2. The Thinking Sketch:
Al little more focused and refined, these sketches are usually alot cleaner than the scraggly doodles you find in a sketchbook. You may find yourself showing these to other designers, so you can make certain assumptions as you sketch and use cues that your colleagues would pick up on suck as hatching and contour lines. Simple gestural sketches could also fall into this category. . .
3. The Technical Sketch
Designers bridge the gap between art and engineering. (you can decide for yourself what your role or mantra is) As such, sometimes it’s necessary when sitting and working with an engineer or clay modeler to then speak on their terms. That means pulling out the ol’ exploded views, cutaway views, and cross sections to help communicate your vision for the product your designing.
4. The Presentation Sketch:
This is where you bring out the big guns. These sketches tend to be a little more refined and thought out. you can think of them as being a little technical yet a little emotive. They serve to captivate the viewers interest while then explaining the concept visually. For a client that does not have the visual thinking skills of you fellow designers, it may be necessary to be a bit more explicit in how you explain things in your sketches (hence the technical aspect). Notes, callouts, different views – this is where you’ll want to be overt in how you express the idea.
5. The Emotive Sketch:
The gushy, over the top, killer sketch whose soul purpose is to make your viewer stare in awe at the killer sketch/render in front of them. Yes this is what tends to be the automotive sketch. Descriptive yet very emotional. I rarely do these much as I tend to work in 3-d once I get past the presentation sketch phase, but don’t get me wrong, I totally dig these and love a good emotionally and visually captivating sketch.
discuss it in the IDSKETCHING.COM forums,
Levels of Sketching | Industrial Design Sketching and Drawing Tutorials.
A good User Interface Lecture for building a Iphone App.
How to Build an iPhone App that Doesn’t Suck « charles perretti.
Magic Hole is a collection of a two-seats sofa and an armchair designed by Philippe Starck and Eugeni Quitllet for Kartell. Said to unify the style and practicality, Magic Hole collection is suitable for frequent use in public places, outside areas and even by swimming pools.
Magic Hole by Philippe Starck and Eugeni Quitllet for Kartell — Chair Blog.
On display at Ventura Lambrata’s „Poetry Happens“ this Hemp chair by Berlin, Germany, and Singapore based Werner Aisslinger:
A monobloc chair made of natural fibers – a project supported by the German chemical company BASF.
The Hemp Chair has been designed for a lightweight manufacturing process stemming from the car industry: the renewable raw materials hemp and kenaf are compressed with a water-based thermoset binder to form an eco-friendly, lightweight and yet strong composite.
Hemp Chair by Werner Aisslinger – Milan 2011 (23) — Chair Blog.
Remember my post The Chair and The Nobel Price with The Empty Chair which was reserved for Liu Xiaobo who could not attend the ceremony, because he was detained by the Chines government?
The occasion has inspired young German designer Tino Seubert to design a Nobel Peace Price Chair. A nice one, I would say.
Tino Seubert was born on December 29, 1986 in Forchheim, a suburb of Nuremberg in Germany. He went to Bolzano (Italy) to study design. In Paris he spent a year doing graphic design and he worked there for a Gallery.
