Imagine Designing Spring

Janine Banyus is a pioneer in the field of biomimicry, and in her most recent talk on TED she calls on designers and innovators to ask ‘how does nature do this?’ when working on an invention or design solution. She points out that every organism in nature uses their resources and tools efficiently in order to coexist peacefully on the planet, and it would benefit humans to learn how to live this way.

Banyus’ new website Ask Nature, will eventually be a comprehensive database of nature-inspired solutions that hopefully will be a primary resource for designers in every field. She asks, ‘imagine designing spring?’… the incredible orchestration of every change in form and color throughout the world could be the greatest and most efficient design solutions ever! Given the visual from Dr. Adam Neiman below, she asks how did the relatively small amounts of air and water on the planet create conditions conducive to life?

Dr. Adam Neiman visual – the ball on the left represents the total amount of water on the Earth’s surface compared to the entire mass of Earth. The ball on the right represents the amount of air in the Earth’s atmosphere.

There are many ways to let nature inspire innovative thinking in design. For example, a cement-making company mimics the natural world by using CO2 as a component in creating their product, instead of expelling the byproduct of cement production into the air… An Amazon eel creates a 600 Volt electric charge only using the chemicals in it’s body (these are the same chemicals found in a human body!)… A wind turbine manufacturer was inspired by the scalloped edges of humpback whale’s fins to inspire a technology that reduces drag by 32%, thus increasing the amount of energy harvested.

Through her work at the Biomimicry Institute, Banyus is confident that with the help of our ‘elders’ we will learn to live on this Earth, which is ‘ours but not ours alone’.

Design for a Living World

What IS organic design exactly? My recent visit to Cooper-Hewitt answered part of that question for me.

The Nature Conservancy developed an exhibition in which 10 leading designers were commissioned to develop new uses for sustainable materials and tell a unique story about the land and culture from which they came. This exhibition is beautiful because it asks designers to reshape our material economy by choosing products that support rather than deplete endangered places. Take a look at the incredible designs, beautiful regions of the world, and stories about these brilliant designers: Design for a Living World

Most products featured in the exhibition are decorative: items like bamboo furniture, chicle latex vases and vegetable ivory jewelry. These products are created with a Western consumer in mind, but wouldn’t it be fascinating if they created products to add value to the people’s lives in these developing villages and communities? There is a strong demand for textiles and furniture in the developed world, and the motivation to profit from these materials possibly led to the outcome. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially since the profits are mostly going back to the indigenous communities! However, it would be even more interesting of a challenge if the designers used these materials to create products FOR the populations that so kindly lend their materials for production. This project created a lot of awareness for these regions and helped the communities, there is just something missing… when I see the salmon skin heels from Isaac Mizrahi, I wonder if anyone in Southwest Alaska, from which the salmon came, would ever wear these shoes? Would the Bribri women in Costa Rica make hot chocolate for their families with Yves Behar’s invention below?

Mmmmm chocolate! Yves Behar 100% organic cocoa, made in Costa Rica. Sales from the product support the Bribri community and help to preserve biodiversity in the rain forest. To make the patty, Bribri women grind cacao beans to a paste and let it harden. The patty is meant to be grinded with the tool above and added to milk to make hot cocoa.

Organic Design

SolidThinking is a new achitectural design software that allows designers to scan a basic sketch in and create a nature-inspired design using the morphogenesis tool. In this New York Times blog post, they mention that this gives designers a valuable automated tool. The software creates curves and organic shapes where there were none before, and the architect can use these shapes as inspiration for their final vision.

Gaudi’s House, Barcelona

Doesn’t this concept remind you of the original work of architects like Gaudi or more recently Calatrava? For many years, designers have used the understanding of nature to create beautiful and efficient designs. It seems that this software simply tries to make an automated tool to replace the creative mind, but could potentially lead to more organic design in architecture. It allows the designer to envision the natural world in their work where they otherwise may not see it.

Will Ferrell takes on insurance companies!

Yes! Finally someone explains health care reform in terms that regular people like me can understand. By creating this video, Will Farrell has branded insurance companies and their executives as bloated, greedy and ruthless. The reason this format works better than the thousands of scathing articles and reports, is because it’s funny. It uses satire and irony to create a dramatic and very memorable message. And an A-list celebrity backing the cause helps a little too…

Health care reform is so complicated that in order to influence the American people to support one side or the other, oversimplifications such as this are necessary. President Obama, in his media blitz the past few days, has admitted repeatedly that he made the mistake of not creating a catch-phrase or other simple concept that his supporters could latch on to. ‘Public option’ anyone? This video was produced in part by Moveon.org, a grass-roots political action organization with 5 million members in the US.

For the record, insurance companies do not make a ton of profit (around 2%). However their overhead costs are around 15%, compared to 4% overhead for most government-run agencies. This overhead is what pays the bloated salaries and covers excessive costs that make the system inefficient. This information is from CNN – Wolf Blitzer and Paul Begala on September 22.

Marian Bantjes

I was lucky enough to pick up Eye Magazine #72, with an interview with the illustrious Marian Bantjes. Her work is so inspiring for me because of the complexity, amount of time spent on each piece, and obsession with the smallest details.

 

How do you charge clients for your work?
‘People often ask me for a quote, and I tell them: Pay me as much as you possibly can. I think that’s fair… If they want something really great from me, dig to the bottom of the money barrel, give me the number that hurts, but is still doable, be nice to me, trust me, and I’ll be nice back, and we’ll have a great relationship and do some great work.’

So you turn work down?
‘A couple of times I have had to, because the copy was so bad: a very good agency came to me with a brand I consume and like, but their copy was so corny… I sat there and looked at it, and felt dead. I knew I couldn’t work with these words, but I didn’t know what to do. Finally I wrote back and said, I’m really sorry you will probably hate me, but this is the lamest copy I’ve ever read. The only thing that would work for this is if you put this in a speech bubble coming out of the mouth of a cartoon cow. They were very good about it, and they are still speaking to me, so far.’ Eye Magazine #72

Bantjes definitely has a unique perspective on the designer/client relationship – earned with incredibly hard work. It’s amazing that she can have such a fabulous career while living in the middle of the wilderness on an island off Vancouver, while I’m stuck in the middle of the busiest metropolitan area on Earth. That is probably the biggest benefit of our internet-connection obsessed world. Just a small garden, that’s all I wish for right now…

Further clarity to brand platform

Voltree Power teamed up with scientists at MIT, and has successfully tested the wireless network powered by trees in Boise, Idaho. Now they need a brand platform to attract investors from the technology industry and increase public interest in this ‘green’ discovery.

At the moment it is a government funded project through the Bureau of Land Management, primarily academic/research focused. They are developing a working prototype for industry, at which point they will pursue a partnership to investigate self-organizing wireless ‘mesh’ networks.

THE BENEFITS OF HARNESSING THE ELECTRICITY OF TREES
1. Trees can provide valuable information on national security by detecting radioactive materials at our extensive land borders. 2. Using trees as sensors will increase the safety of firefighters, people living near forests, and forest-dwelling animals by preventing the spread of wildfires. 3. Sensors can remotely detect environmental changes and tree health, reducing the need for field work. 4. Creating demand for larger trees with greater electrical charge will protect old growth forests and therefore improve environmental conditions. 5. Further harnessing the electricity of trees could provide a new source of sustainable energy and prevent hazardous waste of battery disposal. 6. Possibility of a wireless network system.

DESIRED PERCEPTION
Wow, this is a safe and reliable source of power, and very green!

Ghostbusting

The dishonest and utterly diabolical practice of ghostwriting is widespread in most respected medical journals. It’s when the pharmaceutical company sponsors writers to publish bogus research on their products. Since the medical journals rely on the honor system to get disclosure on writer’s funding, we never find out that the study on that diet pill was actually run by the people who want to sell it.

This article in the New York Times explains that this procedure has become more widespread than we would like to think. It started with anti-depressants and painkillers but has since been tied to drugs that could make people very sick and even kill them.

Shame on you pharmaceutical companies! At least the medical journals such as the one featured in this article, Blood, are implementing no-tolerance policies to ghostwriting. Considering that the sole purpose of medical journals is to progress the field of medicine and human health, it would make sense that they would want to publish good information and unbiased studies.

Cover, September 2009 issue of Blood

Why New York Magazine will always be my favorite… as long as they cut it out with the fur

For many years that I’ve lived in New York City (seven so far), I have subscribed to New York Magazine. It’s a weekly ritual of tearing through the juicy articles, well-thought-out design and of course the too amusing approval matrix. I have to point out however that the amount of fur on the pages of the fashion issue made my skin crawl. Regardless of my personal aversion to wearing fur, I just can’t quit this mag for putting fur in one article (I tried). Anyways, why do I love New York Magazine? I will do some brainstorming on that here:

1. They love New York as much as I do
2. They hate New York as much as I do
3. They appreciate the characters walking on the street, the real estate deals, financial world acquisitions and political scandals more than I do
4. The restaurants reviews are mandatory for making decisions on what new place to check out or recommending a place for a friend
5. The Lookbook (where they stop a random exquisitely/absurdly dressed person on the street and pepper them with questions)
6. This typeface:

Thank you Typophile.com
I think it is a version of the font Vinyl

Eye Magazine features New York Magazine in an article on art direction and how print publications are holding up compared to web-based media. ‘At the heart of the magazine is the relationship between words and pictures and the way they are used to tell a story.’

‘The magazine was founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as the first ‘city magazine’… Adam Moss was appointed editor in March 2004 and hired Luke Hayman as design director soon afterwards. ‘Adam Moss has brought a specific tone of voice to the magazine,’ says design director Hayman. ‘It’s complicated and nuanced: sophisticated, intelligent, funny, serious, self-depreciating. The art direction tries to reinforce that. A huge part of the look of the magazine is due to photo director Jody Quon.’ Eye Magazine #61

Mediabistro also has a great interview on the redesign. When Jody Quon was asked about the challenges of putting together a killer magazine on a weekly pace, she explains: ‘You know, the more you are asked to do, the more you accomplish. The busier you are, the more productive you are. And I think, as much as it can be difficult at times, we are even happier that way.’ Wait, I love her. That’s really true! I heard someone say about President Obama, ‘If you want something done, ask a busy man.’ Now HE’S got a lot on his plate. I can’t complain about my workload at school at all when I think about his job. Jeez…

The redesign of the New York Magazine was genius. The attention to quality and detail is apparent on every page, and consistent every week. My favorite was when they had a cover design contest and I saw my former teacher from Parsons, Evan Gaffney’s designs. He didn’t make the cover but they did a spread of all the runners-up and his were incredible. Check out some of his book cover designs here.

Worst web design EVER

For such an inspiring topic, and possibility to make a huge difference in the world, David MacKay really needs to rethink his web design. View the remarkably hard-to-read-or-understand-any-information-at-all website here.

The boxes, colors and type jumble together to form a Times Square-ish sensory overload. Why are the contents each in an array of different color boxes? Why the neon yellow left sidebar with images of two different covers (below – I assume/hope the pinwheel one is new)? And the positive reviews are diminished by the distracting hairline grid they are trapped in.

The book, which can be downloaded for free on the site, argues that it is possible to get 100% carbon-free energy. There is so much confusion on how much power renewable energy provides, and the general public does not understand the whole picture because of our dependence on the oil/coal industry. It is UK based, but seems to (I only read the 10 page synopsis) provide some good data for the world’s ultimate move to sustainable energy.

But please, do something about that website design!


April Greiman is really cool

I found a great blog called idsgn by way of the New York Times article on the overly discussed Ikea typography change. I refuse to comment on that here (except to say that this was a business decision, not a design decision – changing the font from Futura to Verdana will save buckets of money and not affect sales of their furniture). Ok maybe I did comment on that!

The interview with April Greiman on idsgn is good. She was one of the first designers to use a Mac in 1984, and has an incredibly innovative 3D style (I will post some work below). A graduate of RISD and Basel School of Design, ‘April is also credited with introducing America to New Wave, postmodern design’.

 Does it Make Sense?, Greiman’s Design Quarterly, 1986

She also has some interesting thoughts on the way design programs are, well, programmed. The problem may be that programmers are very technically minded and are not creating the ideal interface for creative-minded designers. This brings up a classic case of left brain vs. right brain, and could be holding back progress in design capabilities. Truth be told, web programming does seem rather barbaric. We should have cohesive, user-friendly technology that allows us more freedom with web design. Instead, we are stuck within a framework that does not encourage design innovation.

Greiman explains, ‘It’s just repeating tasks and cut-and-paste and not really thinking. We are sort of subscribing then, to what engineers of the software have thought about this medium of communication. Because, keep in mind, designers like us are not designing the software. We’re not writing code. We’re just using the code.’

Her last words:
Do you have any advice for young designers?
Just make sure you love what you do…
or this would be a pretty crappy way to spend your life!

Greiman’s U.S. Postage stamp celebrating the 19th amendment (left), Poster for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (right)