Design  

The Art of Product Design by Hardi Meybaum explains the rise of Open Engineering, a way of breaking down barriers and taking advantage of web-based communities, knowledge, and tools to accelerate the design and manufacturing processes.

Product development is a team sport, but most companies don't practice it that way. Organizations should be drawing on the creativity of engaged customers and outsiders, but instead they rely on the same small group of internal "experts" for new ideas. Designers and engineers should be connecting with marketing, sales, customer support, suppliers, and most importantly, customers. The Art of Product Design: Changing How Things Get Madeexplains the rise of "Open Engineering," a way of breaking down barriers and taking advantage of web-based communities, knowledge, and tools to accelerate the design and manufacturing processes.

The book helps explain how to establish open flows of information inside and outside an organization, increasing the quality and frequency of input from different groups and stakeholders.

 Design  

The iconic American industrial designer, Niels Diffrient has passed away at the age of 84.  Diffrient will be remembered for his bringing ergonomics to the fore in design and for his famous Freedom Chair.

N iels Diffrient was a pioneer of ergonomic design -- taking the radical approach of examining the human body as it interacts with furniture, and asking, Is there a better way to sit?

The iconic American designer has passed away at the age of 84.

 Design  

Carl de Smet has developed a concept for self-assembling furniture that’s just as cool to watch. Once removed from the box, his block of smart foam quickly unfolds and stretches into a perfectly useable chair.

The armchair up top was created Belgian designer Carl de Smet. The furniture is made of a smart polymer that "remembers" its shape, even after being compressed down into a tiny little box.

The technology arrives at a dynamic moment in materials design. With 3D printing becoming affordable enough to use for more than just prototypes, other designers, entrepreneurs, and researchers are either reviving older techniques that the 3D printing craze has overshadowed or introducing even newer concepts, like 4D Printing another smart materials concept rolled out at TED last month.
The trick to the polymer's shape-memory is heat, which de Smet demonstrates in the BBC video below by warming the material to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. "The material is the mechanism," he says. "Finally, the material is doing the work."—


SOURCE  Fast Company Co.Exist

By kree8tiv

Subscribe to kree8tiv

  Open Source Design  

Industrial designer Tom Dixon and Dassault Systèmes have teamed up to create the first open design competition based on a modular concept. Dixon will give participants access to the design files of new products, and challenge them to re-configure and remix into different functional objects.

Industrial designer Tom Dixon and Dassault Systèmes have teamed up to create the first open design competition based on a modular concept.

In a bold move, Dixon will give participants access to the design files of new products, and challenge them to re-configure and remix into different functional objects.

This new modular rapid manufacture concept leverages 3D printing technology to create junctions, which will then be combined and assembled with aluminum tubes to complete truss-like structures.

3D printing, which was previously limited to small parts, can now be used to create real life products - such as furnitures for instance. This concept will lead to unique and innovative objects.

Tom Dixon

"Disrupt being the theme of the MOST Salone 2013, this design hacking contest is a natural way to go! Thanks to online social 3D Experiences, anyone can be a designer today and express creativity," said Dixon.


The concept is also relying on the fact that the various parts and "joints", may be 3D printed to give life to the final creation. The contest will start on April, 8th and we will accept submissions until June, 30. The winner will be chosen by the jury on July, 31st. —

The winning entry, chosen by a jury including Tom Dixon, will receive an iPad, his concept 3D printed and assembled and featured at the Maison & Object trade show in Paris.


SOURCE  Disrupt Design

By kree8tiv

Subscribe to kree8tiv

 3D Printing  

Fabricated, the new book by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman provides readers with practical and imaginative insights to the question "how will 3D printing technologies change my life?" Based on hundreds of hours of research and dozens of interviews with experts from a broad range of industries, Fabricated offers readers an informative, engaging and fast-paced introduction to 3D printing now and in the future.

The first chapter of Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman's Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing is set in the future with the family kitchen incorporating a 3D printer outfitted with food cartridges cooks up breakfast, while across the street a giant printing nozzle oozes out the concrete foundation of a new home. Investigators look into the  bioprinting black market, where counterfeiters sell sloppily printed organs for transplants.

The scenario seems like science fiction, but Lipson and Kurman make a compelling case that some version of it is not far off.

3D printing creates objects by building up successive layers of material, is poised to shake up everything from manufacturing to medicine according to the authors.

Based on hundreds of hours of research and dozens of interviews with experts from a broad range of industries, Fabricated offers readers an informative, engaging and fast-paced introduction to 3D printing now and in the future. Written by two leading experts on 3D printing, Fabricated is the first book to address both the practical and imaginative insights to the question “how will this technology change my life?”

Lipson, a robotics engineer at Cornell University, and technology analyst Kurman explore how these machines are already wending their way into many facets of society, including food, fashion and education.

 Alexander Lervik  

One of the top designers in Sweden has a new limited-edition chair inspired by a rainy trip to the Philippines   Alexander Lervik's Spike Chair is as mush about sculpture as it is about seating.

Alexander Lervik is one of Sweden's most well known designers, collaborating with a number of national and international producers, including Moroso, Dark and Johansson Design.

Though his main focus is lighting, furniture and product design, he also creates concepts for hotel and restaurant interiors and collaborate with fashion brands. Throughout the years, Lervik has received a number of awards, amongst them Best of The Best at 100% Design, +1 Best in show at Stockholm Furniture fair, Utmärkt Svensk Form and the prestigious award Design S. he is represented at Nasjonalmuseum in Oslo, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the design museum Rhösska in Gothenburg, Sweden. —

Lervik's Spike chair is unique in shape. The seat and seat back are fashioned from a number of rods, like a bed of nails, which collectively mimic the curve of a body. The base of the chair is made of tubular steel, welded together with a three-millimetre steel base plate. The upper section is made of turned ash components.

 Color  

In this guest post, author Daniel Harris examines the fine techniques of color matching that are used in nearly every product manufactured today.  With plastic parts and metal parts requiring seamless design integration in final assembly, color matching is essential to industrial design and manufacturing.

W e’ve all thrown up our hands in frustration with a cry of “close enough!” Sometimes it really is close enough like when you substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream or just use duct tape when that last screw is missing.

But when it comes to production even the smallest mistake can potentially cost millions of dollars. Mistakes with color can easily happen, especially if parts are being manufactured in different plants. Everyone perceives color differently based on mood, age, health, and a host of other factors. When it comes to production, here are some of the biggest factors when it comes to choosing and matching color.

• Light Source: Light changes the most underneath different lighting which is too be expected since color is simply a reflection and absorption of light waves. Different lighting has different spectrums and materials will latterly reflect the changes by being a different color. Imagine you’re designing a sports jersey for a large college or professional football team. The fabric looks great in your studio, but underneath the halogen lights something is off. Products need be tested underneath an agreed upon light source for consistent results.  

• Different Materials: Car manufacturers deal with this all the time. The soft grey on the hard plastic dash needs to be the same soft grey as the plush faux leather seats, but the two materials reflect light differently. This means a different solution is needed for each material to get the same result.

• Different Surfaces: Even though you may have the same material, the material can have different surface textures and finishes. A rough texture will not look as bright as a smooth texture just like gloss will appear much brighter than matte.

 Industrial Design  

Apple will soon be reporting its first profit drop in many years. According to Peter Cohan this outcome brings into clearer focus the biggest challenge facing Apple’s board: Is Tim Cook the person for the CEO job and if not, who would be better?  Cohan points his finger directly at Jonathan Ive.

In a interesting article Forbes contributor Peter Cohan, an author, former management consultant and former venture capitalist, has suggested that Apple's Tim Cook should step down to make way for Jonathan Ive.

"Now it's time," Cohan writes, "for Apple's board to put the person with design skill in the CEO job."

Ive's impact on Apple has been considerable since Steve Jobs returned to helm the company in 1997.  At that time, Jobs refocused the company to once again become a design-first leader in the industry.

With the iMac and the iPod to the iPad and iPhone, Jobs and Ive in tandem brought the company to soaring heights and the design to new levels of simplicity and ubiquity.