Eco-gems

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Green Cities
What all greening cities -- and we use the word "greening" as no city, not even Portland, is yet truly green with a capital "G" -- have in common is vision and policy plan for smart growth. After that, the other important factors seem to be:

• Good streets for bike and pedestrian traffic
  
• Robust transit
  
• Lots of green canopy
  
• Expanding and connecting of open spaces
  
• Natural storm water management techniques
  
• Renewable energy for metropolitan power generation
  

NOTCOT

NOTCOT Inc is a growing network of design sites currently including NOTCOT.com and innovative community contributed sites NOTCOT.org + NotCouture.com + Liqurious.com (+ previously TasteSpotting.com).

NOTCOT is a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements. NOTCOT's two sites have become the daily sources of inspiration for creatives everywhere, fighting the good fight against "creative block" since 2005 with visually stunning imagery, the latest in international trends, and a passion for all things well designed.

Miami Dade College is a Super Building

Located at Biscayne Boulevard and NE 5th Street in downtown Miami, the Campus Center for Miami Dade college looks like something out of OMA’s handbag.

Are Designers also Marketers?

Bokardo is a blog about interface design for social web sites and applications.

20 cool interaction design concepts

Here are twenty interaction design concepts, both 2D and 3D concepts. Every interaction designer out there should have a look at these concepts to get inspired! As the products are totally different they have not been ranked, just numbered, enjoy!

Shanghai and Industrial Design

Waikit Chung, born and grew up in the Netherlands and graduated with a Bachelor and Master Degree in Industrial Design from the Delft University of Technology. This is his blog on design.

Currently, he's designing experiences for all kind of people at Asentio Design in Shanghai, China.

What makes IDEO so... IDEO?

Want to see what makes a firm like IDEO an almost magical appeal when you're a design student -- what makes it so successful at continually turning out concepts that not only answer design questions, but answer them in ways that are often so far off the beaten path that they create entirely new product definitions? Read on

Part 2

Quito 1: Paisajes Emergentes

In August of this year, a design competition was launched to generate ideas to repurpose Quito's Mariscal Sucre International Airport after its planned closing in a couple of years.

IDSA

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the voice of the industrial design profession, advancing the quality and positive impact of design.

Industrial Design Sandbox

Here's a neat blog site I've discovered regarding thoughts about industrial design, its future, and present.

Compressed-Air Cars Planned for Airport Test, US Launch

If Luxembourg's Motor Development International gets its wish, the next wave of alternative-energy vehicles will be a real bunch of windbags.

50 Strange Buildings of the World

Here are some rather odd and different building designs.

Liz Diller: Architecture is a special effects machine

In this engrossing EG talk, architect Liz Diller shares her firm DS+R's more unusual work, including the Blur Building, whose walls are made of fog, and the revamped Alice Tully Hall, which is wrapped in glowing wooden skin.

Amazon designs new packaging

No more jaws of life to open that package from Amazon.

The Future of Healthcare Is In Your Hand(set)

Cell phones changed everything in emerging markets. Isolated communities got a taste of access and upward mobility they’d never known before. Entire economies shifted as people were able to leapfrog roadblocks to communication. Now mobile technology is promising to transform healthcare in the same way.

Designer Open 2008

DESIGNERSOPEN 2008 is one of the biggest design events in the east of Germany. During three days (24-26 Oct.)

How Blog

Here's a great resource for information on design.

Alli packaging for GSK consumer healthcare

In preparation for the launch of alli, the first FDA-approved over-the-counter diet pill, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare sought IDEO’s help in designing the product’s packaging. IDEO looked closely at key behaviors of dieters as well as stages of the dieter’s personal journey, conceiving a system of tools and materials to support individuals physically and emotionally, before, during, and after their diet.

Design Thinking

A blog who main topic is 'design thinking.'

Reconsidering Nike

Nike has come a long way since its early attempts to green its supply chain.

Design Mind magazine launch

Watch/listen to a few comments from Frog executives and the creative team behind Design Mind about print and the publication itself.

Go to Design Mind magazine.

Design Thinking and Marketing

What does “design thinking” actually mean?

Getting people to imagine

Where do you learn experience design and interactive design? Are the D-schools doing a good job producing design thinkers? What about cross-disciplinary designs? How expensive are D-schools?

Organic Essentialism

World's most lightweight suitcase.

'Onehundred&ten' is the world's most lightweight suitcase, designed by ross lovegrove
for british high-end luggage maker globetrotter.

Banpo Bridge

Just a twist of design, a splattering of paint, a cheeky addition to something old can make it look brightly cheerful and attractive to the eyes again.

50 Stunning Examples of a great redesign: My Top Picks

A redesign can be worth its weight in gold if you get it right. There is a thin line between freshening up your design, and taking a step backwards with a redesign. Sometimes a redesign can be subtle and simple, and other times it can be a huge re-vamp of a company and it’s goals. Check these.

Work is a pleasure in tomorrow's office

Work stations with a built-in treadmill and portable meeting rooms are just some of the developments that may become commonplace in the offices of the future.

7 Ingredients of good corporate design

For a good corporate design, we need to be aware of two main elements, which can be further broken down into a total of seven “ingredients”.

Incredible Custom Shoes Designs

Here is a mix of cool custom designs for shoes.

Creative Bus Stop Advertisement Designs

To catch the eye gives cause to design something completely different.

Gadgets we love...because of fine design

American industrial designers are the secret heroes of the marketplace, finessing products to make them easier to use and help them sell better. Here's how five top firms have been busy shaping our world.

8 concept cars that'll never see production

These prototypes may never go into production, but you'll find elements of their designs in the cars of the future.

Information Architecture for Audio: Doing It Right

Audio content is becoming increasingly prevalent. But do you know how to design it effectively? Jens Jacobsen combines information architecture, journalism, usability engineering and interface design to resolve some of the issues that arise from introducing audio. He shows us how he makes his magic..

Futuristic PCs

Review the fourth Microsoft-sponsored Next-Gen PC Design Competition, which this year encouraged entrants to dream up futuristic designs that not only feature eye-catching aesthetics, but also cater to people's passions

(Re)building a town

When a tornado leveled Greensburg, Kansas a class of college students took it on to help rebuild the town - with an eye on the environment.

Take on the urban with Beema

Beema is a inner city trick bike by Andreas Martin that allows you to take on any obstacle that the urban area throws up; chairs, banks, rails or just the street. It fills the gap between FMX, scooter and BMX.

Design for Social Impact

How can we unleash and leverage the power of the global design community on some of the world’s most intractable problems? How can we increase the collaboration between the design industry and the the social sector? And do so in a systematic and sustainable way? Read this great PDF article to find out.

5 Unusually Inventive Kitchen Furniture Concepts

When you think of interesting design in the home, the kitchen typically isn’t the first room that springs to mind.

Crazy: City-In-a-Pyramid Could House a Million Dubaians

A particularly optimistic design firm in Dubai called Timelinks has proposed designs for the Ziggurat, a complete city to be layered inside of a massive pyramid that could serve as home for a million people at a time.

Web Design: Black Layouts

Here are some beautiful designed black layouts.

Some interesting desgn concepts

According to Wikipedia, a concept car is a car prototype made to showcase a concept, new styling, technology and more. At Toxel, they believe that concept cars are made to inspire!

A skyscraper in motion

It's always been one of the enduring truths of architecture: buildings stand still. Parts may move--the arms on a windmill, the elevators and escalators, the occasional rotating restaurant on the top floor--but not whole huge swaths of skyscraper.

Why Apple doesn't do 'concept products'

Technology giants like Microsoft and Nokia have also had a penchant for concocting concept products that never see the light of day in the market. Why hasn’t Apple, the most innovative and visionary company in computing, produced a single concept product or vision in over a decade? Because, to paraphrase Jobs, 'real artists ship'.

Renzo Piano

Piano was born in Genoa, where he still maintains a home and office (Building Workshop). He was educated and subsequently taught at the Politecnico di Milano. From 1965 to 1970 he worked with Louis Kahn and with Makowsky. He worked together with Richard Rogers from 1971 to 1977; their most famous joint project is the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1977). He also had a long collaboration with the extraordinary engineer Peter Rice.

On March 18, 2008, he became an honorary citizen of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Also check out the upcoming opening of the new California Academy of Sciences building designed by Renzo.

7 essential guidelines for functional design

Look at what you’ve made. Beautiful, isn’t it? But does it work? For whom does it work? Of course you can use it, but can anyone else? In short, is it functional?

2008 Annual Design Review: Packaging

ID magazine evaluates several packaging ideas for its 2008 Annual Design Review.

Archinect

The goal of Archinect is to make architecture more connected and open-minded, and bring together designers from around the world to introduce new ideas from all disciplines.

Design Addict

Design Addict is the leading design portal online, targeting the international community of design professionals and private consumers.

It's the little ideas that count

Designing for speed, simplicity armed with 'Lots of Little Ideas'. The global world of web users crave simplicity, power, beauty, and that all-important human touch.

Google's design principles.

Focus web design on quick and easy

Jakob Nielsen says that web users are getting "more ruthless and selfish," meaning that they want to get onto a site, get what they need, and get right out. No dilly-dallying, hunting for information on a site, or waiting for those super-exciting, animated pages to load. He also reports that people are getting more savvy with the web as well, no longer getting duped by ads or marketing tricks at the same rates they had before. What does this mean for you? Start living by a mantra of simplicity and substance and you should be fine.

To those who do things for love, not money

Australian ad agency Jack Watts Currie, created some print campaigns to invigorate the Penfolds Wines brand.

Best design from Brazil

Amazing design and innovation is taking place in Brazil and this slideshow of winners (Brazil placed third behind the US and Korea in the number of IDEA awards in 2008) shows the wide range of activity.

Brazilians are designing sophisticated medical equipment, autos, clothes and jets. Sao Paulo is home is some great design consultancies.

Ever Notice?

How can an act as simple as noticing inspire and drive innovation?

Re:Design

Interesting notes on how Cooper-Hewitt went about to present new media, technology, and the amazing new advances in design.

Exhibit Design Awards

Are you in the trade show business? You may want to check out this out.

Yahoo's Design Pattern Library

Welcome to the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. Some interesting information dealing with code with the wed design and development community.

Yahoo's Design Pattern Library

Object

George Watson, has recently won the new designers vtech telecommunications award. he received the award for his design 'object', a photographic experience. the idea for 'object' was to relate digital data more physically with objects within the home and create meaningful links between both. Once images are taken the exchange converts them into associations with domestic objects by tagging an artefact with a small rfid chip. For example if an image of a beach is taken, pebbles are often associated with the landscape. You may have a pebble in your house, so you would roll the pebble over the 'object' viewer and an images of the beach will appear.

Winglet

Toyota revealed a range of personalised electric scooters. users can stand on two of the vehicles without using their arms and control it with their knees.

Learning from the Olympics

From GE to Nestlé to watchmaker Omega, companies use the Games to test-drive new ideas—and strut their stuff.

Equipment and apparel fit for Olympic athletes—and their mere mortal counterparts

24 Creative Business Card Designs

Some very simple but clever ideas for business cards.

What makes a good logo design?

When it comes to seeing a logo that makes you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?”, what exactly is it about the design that gives you that impression?

Design Studio of the week

Raw, is located in Manchester, UK. Their passion for design translates into success for their clients who range from online retailers, creatives, to public sector organisations. They question the ordinary to create innovative, effective design.

Polish Pavilion Expo 2010

Polish pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010/Pawilon Polski podczas EXPO 2010 w Szanghaju.

The MAG Lev Concept Car With Sexy Design And 3 Wheels

The MAG car would require that all automotive infrastructure be magnetized in order for it to work, a task well-neigh impossible for any large-scale implementation. However such a system would tremendously reduce the energy required to propel the car, as it’s electromagnetic motor would be calibrated to reduce the car’s weight.

Olympic torch design history

Take a look at past designs of the Olympic torch.

The next Starbucks

After two decades of breakneck growth, the world's largest coffee shop, Starbucks, stumbled in 2007. Company shares fell by 42 percent, and Howard Schultz, the former CEO, lamented that Starbucks had overextended itself and the stores “no longer have the soul of the past.”

Nokia 888 Design

More Nokia 888

Apple - Pro

For me, there is no better way to do your blog than using an iMac. Ok, I'm bias, but I know there are many out there who'll agree with me. If you're looking for tips on color tools, case studies, and more, go to Apple Pro.

Wooden Sci-fi sculptures make great geek art

Sculptor Michael Rea has a knack for building. But unlike most architects, he draws on an encyclopedic knowledge of geek culture and an eccentric sense of humor for his unique sculptures.

All-screen clamshell concept phone: a glimpse of the future

Cell phone designers struggle with two mutually exclusive directions: How do you make a phone with the smallest possible size, but the largest possible screen?

How do you enhance innovation?

Looking for ways to expand innovation bandwidth? Start with more playtime.

IDEA 2008 winners

The IDEA program fosters business and public understanding about the impact of industrial design excellence on the quality of life and the economy.

Contemporary airport design

Airports have become the hubs of global exchange and are seen as gateways into our world's metropolitan cities. they are architectural accomplishments which have considered environmental concerns, utilizing natural light and materials to enhance the overall airport experience.

Designboom

With more than 1,500,000 readers a month from over 165 countries, (including 180,000 subscribers to our monthly newsletter) designboom.com is the leading independent publication for key contemporary issues and the critique of all aspects of design, especially those topics which enrich the dialogue between design, creative professionals, industry and society.

MacBook Touch Mockup: Is This Apple's Top-Secret Laptop?

UPDATE (July 25): The Apple rumor mill is at it again, with reports surfacing this week that Steve Jobs and Co. are working on a touchscreen laptop to unveil as soon as the end of 2008. Good thing Glenn Derene dreamed up his own at the beginning of this year. Here's a fresh look at our would-be MacBook Touch.

Something interesting

Here are some of the most interesting designs that I've come across.

Prosthetic Limb Research Could Lead To Bionic Athletes, Gadgets Controlled by the Brain

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently succeeded in implanting sensors in the brain of a monkey, allowing it to move a mechanical arm with his thoughts. This is the latest breakthrough in the field of Neuroprosthetics, where implanted chips carry signals to the remaining limbs of an amputee, guiding movement.

Senior Screen Saver

The elderly often get things wrong, from parking a car to Murder She Wrote. However, we do love them so and want to keep them around for as long as possible

Cocobello Modular Cabin With Various Purposes

Building a new house in the old fashioned way, doesn’t allow change and takes not only a lot of time but a lot of personal effort.

Changing Building Facade acts Like Pixels formed by Natural Light

When you are looking at these pictures this might look like a modern piece of architecture, but after you’ll see the video attached below you’ll see that Flare is more than that.

IDEO

Each year, the best in design is honored with the Industrial Design Excellence Awards, sponsored by Business Week and presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America.

In 2008, IDEO won seven awards and had a total of 25 finalists.

Inside Beijing's National Swimming Center

A multidisciplinary design team employed an innovative digital process to produce a surprising, highly integrated envelope-and-structure combination.

Green car concept

Royal College of Art unveils their sleek sustainable concept list of cars. Made entirely of aerodynamic glass, these cars are envisioned to answer the emission and energy efficiency issues that we have at the moment.

Think like a designer

Dan Buchner drives business results through design. But design, says Buchner, isn't just about good-looking, functional products or attractive graphics. It's about putting the designer's mindset to work throughout the organization.

The Best, Weirdest, and Most Wonderful Gadget Designs of 2008

The 2008 International Design Excellence Awards are in. These are like the Oscars of the industrial design world, taking the pulse of what's going on, highlighting tons of weird and wonderful gadgets.

Facebook puts on a new face

Applications still play a big part in Facebook's experience, but the company has done a good job of taming them with this redesign.

When is a phone not a phone?

When it's the OpenMoko, that's when. In fact, its own creators are hesitant to call it a phone, but that's been one of the easiest ways to get it into the public eye. Their plan isn't to compete with juggernauts like the iPhone, but to take a much earlier cue from Apple's playbook: the Apple I.

Cryptex Phone Concept Makes Calls a Puzzling Experience

Sometimes I pick up my phone and say to myself “Gee, this communication device just isn't cryptic enough. It's too user friendly and not enough like a puzzle out of the Da Vinci Code.” Apparently designer Marc Schömann was listening in, because he's now created a baton style mobile that forces you to twist sections of it to make calls.

When you design, think different

Design site of the week

With almost 20 years of experience in information design, information architecture, and user-centered design, Peter J. Bogaards, is a recognized leader in the international information design community. Prior to founding BogieLand, he worked for the InfoDesign & Usability Group of Razorfish Europe and was information and user interface designer of Informaat.

Like Peace Corp for designers

Many of us pursue design partly because we wanted a life of creativity, and partly because we had our dreams of being a doctor crushed out of us by the first chemistry class in college. That nagging desire to do good in the world doesn’t have to go unfulfilled just because we chose to push around pixels and prototypes for our professional career. These organizations do a good job of helping designers find out how to do the right thing, by connecting them to causes and people in desperate need of a little design. Check them out, then use your creative powers for good.

http://www.designcanchange.org
http://www.design21sdn.com
http://www.themightyodo.com

Thoughts on design thinking

A powerful methodology for marrying creative right-brain thinking and analytical left-brain thinking, design thinking doesn’t prefer one method of thinking over another but rather, it blends the positive aspects of both.

Oriens Glider

This stunning energy-efficient glider recently took top prize in the Lucky Strike Junior Designer Competition for its innovative re-envisioning the life-cycle of the airplane. Designed by Roland Cernat, the Oriens Glider is constructed entirely of recyclable materials, runs on clean energy, and boasts a sleek translucent shell finished with glossy organic contours. Read more.

Mowercycle!

Behold the mowercycle! Is this an awesome DIY design or what? This ingenious bicycle-lawnmower fashioned by an unknown suburban lawn owner out of an old bicycle and a broken lawnmower, is a testament to the creativity of the human spirit.

inhabitat

Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Japan's New Green Car Push

Detroit will have to work hard to catch Japanese automakers in the race to produce hybrids, electric cars, cleaner diesels, and fuel-cell vehicles.

Swedish ski helmets and body armor rock.

With the spread of global information networks that tie everyone together over time and space, it is amazing what small companies in distant parts of the world can create and sell. POC is a tiny, new Swedish company that is designing protective gear for racing in X games at skiercross, advanced freeskiing or any other type of extreme alpine skiing.