Innovation Universities Are Hot--Rotman, Ziba, IDEO, Continuum, Stanford, Institute of Design.

Article Link: Innovation Universities Are Hot--Rotman, Ziba, IDEO, Continuum, Stanford, Institute of Design.

This article is about design "universities" being set up to teach corporate managers to think like designers.

I think it's great that businesses and corporations are recognizing the importance of design in the workplace. Hopefully this will mean more jobs for designers (and future designers!) in the near future.

London Design Festival 2008: Video Drive-By: Designersblock: Nosigner's BentoBox

Article Link: London Design Festival 2008: Video Drive-By: Designersblock: Nosigner's BentoBox



This video is about a designer named Nosigner who created a new type of bento box called the Sumi.

Wow, I love this. I love lunch boxes and containers and boxes of all shapes and sizes, so this really appealed to nearly everything I love. I also really like the fact that it comes with its own holder and handle. That is just really cool.

In the Penthouse, a True Garden Apartment

Article Link: In the Penthouse, a True Garden Apartment

This article is about two Yale professors, Joel Sanders and Diana Balmori, living in an apartment in Lower Manhattan, and turning it into an experiment of sorts on how nature reacts with architecture. They also teach a class together called "Interface" about integrating architecture and landscape design.

I think this is great. Not only does it give your home a unique look, but sometimes I feel as if nature is slipping away as more buildings are built throughout the world, and it's just amazing to know that there are people are working to integrate plants and buildings together. Plus I've always loved the way vines looked on brick.

My only problem is that all these plants no doubtably need a lot of care, and I personally don't know that many gardeners who take care of a lot of plants, who also have full-time jobs to go to.

A dog-eat-dog design

Article Link: A dog-eat-dog design

This article is about a new design for dog bowls that will allow dogs wearing Elizabethan collars to eat properly.

I love this design, and being a person who likes to have options, love the fact that it comes in different colors. But since I don't have dogs, I really want to see it in action, because I'd like to know how it works and how this type of bowl, raised and tilted at an angle, is different than a bowl on the ground. I think it's great, though, that people are actively out there solving problems for pets and animals.

Also, I disagree with the article when he says that he doesn't like the design because it looks like a dog. He says:

"Why is it shaped like a dog, with the bowl located at the head, no less? Does it make sense, design-wise, to have a dog eating out of another dog's head? Can you imagine the human tableware equivalent?

I like the design, and I didn't think it looked like a dog until he said so. Besides the point that other animals also stand on four feet, I don't think that having it shaped like a dog is weird at all.

London Design Festival 2008: Tent London: Theodosis Zeniou's Domestic Landscape

Article Link: London Design Festival 2008: Tent London: Theodosis Zeniou's Domestic Landscape



This video is about an interior and furniture designer named Theodosis Zeniou who is showing us his design of a pop art wall that cal also be used as a desk and chair.

I, for one, love the colors of his design, and think the idea of having your decorations be interesting and useful is a great one, but, as a generally lazy person, I'm sure I speak for most people when I say that is just too much to do if you're really going to use it as a desk/table.

Prada's new building - more than meets the eye!

Article link: Prada's new building - more than meets the eye!

This is an article about a Prada building in Seoul called the "Prada Transformer." Prada collaborated with Rem Koolhaas and AMO to build this building, which is designed to fit different types of art, film, and fashion events. To quote the article:

The form of the Transformer is derived from a Tetrahedron and when rotated each side facilitates a different cultural program. Each of the four programs will function on unique steel framed shapes including a hexagon, a cross, a rectangle and a circle. Thus, over the course of the exposition, floors will become walls and walls will become ceiling.

I love the way this looks and that it can house any type of event. It reminds me of some kind of futuristic arena. I do wonder, though, how one would switch the frame, and how long it would take.

Possible music for Psych podcast

I Know You Know by the Friendly Indians (Psych Theme Song)


Horrible Theme by Jed Whedon (Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog theme song)


Soul with a Capital 'S' by Tower of Power (Below is just a preview of the song. To hear the whole thing, click here.)

Japanese Design, Some to See and Some to Buy

Article link: Japanese Design, Some to See and Some to Buy

This is a really short article on a show at the Felissimo Design House in Manhattan. It's called "JapanC," and it started on August 16th.

The only thing I have to say is that I agree with what Felissimo’s director, Haruko Smith, said about the show, while explaining the letter C in the exhibition’s name, that "all things Japanese that are cute, cool, clever, creative and communicative."

London Design Festival 2008: Cardboard Cafe

Article link: London Design Festival 2008: Cardboard Cafe

This article is about a café (or is it an exhibit?) at the London Design Festival which was made entirely of cardboard boxes. The exhibit/café was designed by B3 Designers, an interior architect firm in London.

I love this! Not only is it extremely different, it's also, I guess the word I'm looking for is, 'cute.' Also, I'm glad that the 8,000 boxes aren't being thrown away, and are being reused for a later show/exhibit. I wonder what other designs they'll come up with.

Designers of High Fashion Enter the Age of High Tech

Article post: Macho Mesh Is Back (Warning: The article might not be viewable.)

This article was about black mesh, and its prevalence in fashion and design today as opposed to its use in the past. According to the article, "mesh suggests royalty and the age of chivalry. It evokes origins as diverse as chain mail and chain-link fence. It also recalls the front of early racing cars. It can be light and ethereal or tough and forbidding. Mesh can be macho."

I think it's interesting that while mesh has always been apart of our lives (like the article said, "mesh is everywhere"), I find it interesting that mesh is making a comeback, especially in furniture, architecture, and automobile design.

Disappearing projection screen wins award

Article link: Disappearing projection screen wins award

This article is about a flatscreen TV that disappears into its base with the push of a button. There's also a video of the TV working.

I'm not entirely sure if I like this or not. On one hand, it looks really cool and works better than the other models (says the article), but on the other, it looks like a futuristic coffee table. Unless they knew it was a TV, other people could mistakenly place something there, and the TV could break. Also, assuming that the TV was placed against a wall, the empty space behind the TV when the screen is up would look extremely empty while the screen is down.

Down With Helvetica: Design Your Own Font

Article link: Down With Helvetica: Design Your Own Font

This article is about companies and clients who make custom fonts or prefer them. One of the main websites they talk about is FontStruct, a website where users can create fonts in their own browsers. When they're finished, they can download the font onto their computer and actually use it.

While I'm not a typographer or a huge font fanatic, I do have a small collection of them on my personal computer, and I'm both happy and awed at the fact that there is a website (a free one!) that lets you design your own fonts. I can't wait to try it out for myself. The idea of having this available to so many people (anyone that can access the web, anyway) is astounding as it lets people who have wanted to try to create their own fonts, but couldn't because they didn't know how to, or couldn't afford the software.

Modular Refrigerator for Student Houses

Article link: Modular Refrigerator for Student Houses

This article is about a refrigerator which was designed by a student, Stefan Buchberger of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and won the Electrolux Design Lab competition of 2008. It was designed for students or people sharing housing to keep their individual food items in their individual refrigerator units.

I liked this article for two reasons: It's a genius idea to keep the food separated by the actual refrigerator; I know many of my friends who share fridges with other people could definitely benefit from this. Also, the second reason, is that it's stackable. Multiple coolers or mini-fridges can take up so much space in a small apartment or dorm room, so not only do you have the benefit of keeping food to yourself, but having more room to keep your stuff to yourself as well.

Ecolab's Bottle-in-a-Bottle Package Design

Article link: Ecolab's Bottle-in-a-Bottle Package Design

This short article was about the new package design by Ecolab, where they fit a spray bottle inside a bigger refill bottle. The article also linked to the longer, original article, which I did not read.

But, anyway, I picked this article to write about because "going green" has become a bigger aspect of my life over the past couple of years, and since then, I've liked the new package designs of the more eco-friendly products.

Reaching the right people

Article post: Reaching the right people

In the article, Seth talks about a new way to advertise that involves putting your product into other items that you sell. He uses the eBay/Amazon example of putting a demo CD of your band into the package with a CD of a band that is similar to yours.

While this is an interesting idea that I'm sure will be popular, I'm one of those people that don't bother looking at other products if I like the one I currently have. Take the CD example. If I bought a CD of a band that I like, and the person who sold it to me sent his/her band's CD along with the one I got, I would probably put the CD on my shelf, and it would never been seen again. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this.

But, he uses another example of the masseur/personal trainer relationship. I'm more inclined to take that opportunity, assuming I didn't have either one already, if both parties are aware of the promotions.

Designing Dictators

Article link: Designing Dictators

The article was about a book titled Iron Fists, a graphic designer's study on four totalitarian leaders and the ways they used design in their "marketing."

I found this article to be very interesting. I had to admit, that while their practices were wrong, their design was intriguing, and like the article said, avant-garde. One of the pictures in particular stood out to me: Hitler's poster of "Give Me Four Years." He's using two of the most popular design elements I see everyday: drop shadow on his lettering, and grayscale with the emphasis on one color. The grayscale/emphasis on one color really stood out to me, because I see it used, and I use it, all the time.

(Re)make it New

Article link: (Re)make it New

In this article, William Bostwick, the author, talks about how designers and artists should stop making "found objects" art, and start using elements of different objects to make something new.

There were parts of his argument where I agreed, and parts where I didn't. A lot of objects now, and in the past, have certain design qualities in them that, while I wouldn't call art, are definitely artistic in nature. If they're nice to look at, why not put it on display? And I honestly don't see what's so wrong about recasting. The way I see it, it's a different way of thinking, which I consider to be a creative outlet one way or another.

However, I do agree that artists should focus more on putting different elements in their designs, rather than using old objects and calling them art. If too many artists did something like Duchamps did, and called a shovel art, what Duchamps did in the first place would lose its impact on art, not to mention put a stop on art, design and their progresses through history.

Research on Psych

These sites are articles that describe the demographics of Psych's viewers:

Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen Media, Multichannel.

These sites are general Psych fansites/message boards:

TV Squad, Fanpop, Totally Psyched message board, IGN, USA Network, LiveJournal, TV Guide, TV!Yahoo, FunTimesGuide

Fan photos:

Flickr Psych group

Do You Matter? How great design will make people love your company

Article link: Do You Matter? How great design will make people love your company.

The article reviews a book with the same name. The book is about how designers working in companies are helping those businesses create identities for themselves.

First of all, I love the cover of the book. Orange is very much a "look at me!" color, and the first thing you see after the color of the outside, is the title: Do You Matter? Both things really draw you in to the book. After reading the article, it really made me want to get the book, if not because that sounds like something I'd be interested in reading about, then because it might help me in the future if that's the way my career takes me. Plus, having a strong emphasis in Apple never hurt me before.

The myth of launch PR

Article link: The myth of launch PR.

In the article, Seth basically talks about how startup companies rely on having a big launch day, and how they use that day to determine how well the company is going to do, but he goes on to say that a lot of companies and brands, including Harry Potter and Starbucks, started out extremely small and tiny.

This reminds me of the book series Twilight. While I don't read it, I know plenty of people who do, and it's grown so big in the past couple of years, that there's even a movie coming out in November. But still: in 2005, when the book was published, I didn't even see it on the bookshelves, but now, the whole series is almost as popular as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.