Design is too important to be left to the thinkers

Design strategy is far too important to be left to designers.

50 Great Examples of Data Visualization

Wrapping your brain around data online can be challenging, especially when dealing with huge volumes of information.

Here are 50 of the best data visualizations and tools for creating your own visualizations out there, covering everything from Digg activity to network connectivity to what’s currently happening on Twitter.

Best of May 2009

Some interesting designs worth looking over.

I Can Read Your Language

Digital translators may not be new to the scene, but what makes ViewTrans different is that it “translates what you see.”

What is design?

What is design? Is it something you sketch? Is it a bright idea in your mind? Is it something that makes you ponder? There are endless questions and answers about what design is. It is hard to just give one precise answer because design lives in so many areas of our lives.

What is the creative process?

The creative process is not just iterative; it’s also recursive. It plays out “in the large” and “in the small”—in defining the broadest goals and concepts and refining the smallest details.

25 examples of great architecture

Some human-scaled cool houses.

Cutting Off the Power: New Green Product Invention

It takes the chore out of conserving energy. Simply assign your electronic devices to the ‘always on’ or ‘can be powered down’ ports of this surge protector. Then, the next time you leave home, all you have to do is use the wireless switch that you mount next to your light switch to save on your electric bill. Simply brilliant!

Giant Eco-Egg Skyscraper: A Conceptual Luxury Hotel

From the unseen, unsung files of design competitions past comes the Envision Green Hotel proposed by Miami-based Michael Rosenthal Associates for Hospitality Design’s Radical Innovation design competition. Part wind tower, part urban eco-resort, and all egg, this “lobular” structure is touted as one of the most recognizable landmarks for the city in which it would ultimately be…laid. Read the article here.

TED talk: behind the design of DIY charcoal

MIT senior lecturer Amy Smith’s TED talk begins with the best thing a design presentation can share: failures along the path to successful solutions. Smith wanted to design a locally producible fuel that would eliminate Haitian preference for wood-based fires.

Hippo Roller announces $25 x 200 campaign

With the Hippo Water Roller, an individual can transport 24 gallons (200 pounds) of water as if pushing a 22-pound weight.

40 Fantastic Sand Sculptures

It's amazing what people can do out of sand and also how big and detailed they can be.

Transport TW: Magnet-powered vehicle promises green commuting

Designed by Harsha Vardhan, the “Transport TW” is a futuristic car that generates power from magnetic field generated by on-board electricity powered systems. The Transporter TW (Twin Wheel) is based around an electric engine which produces a magnetic field to drive the large wheels.

Mobility

Mobile experiences are changing the rules of behavior by enabling persistent access to information, creation of media, sense of discovery, and emotional connections.

100 Most Creative People in Business

There are no rules about creativity. Which made constructing our list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business a tricky task.

The REFRACT House

An interdisciplinary team from CCA (California College of Arts) and the University of Santa Clara have been working on a project for the 2009 Solar Decathlon. The video tells a very nice story of a group of smart students dealing with the challenges of a complex piece of design thinking. A link to the project on the CCA site is here. The movie was made by one of the project team members, Alexander Winter.

Ideas Project

People talking about ideas around communications technology.

In Italy, futuristic bus stops to blend practical, chic

High-tech bus stops so cool they might actually entice you to take a ride will be installed next year in Florence, Italy.

The urban fixtures have been designed by a group of researchers led by Carlo Ratti, head of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SunRun PPA

The cool tool here is creative solar financing. Solar-electric panels are pretty much a commodity, but still high priced. What's new is an innovative way for a homeowner to afford an expensive solar set up.

Google Wonder Wheel: Exploring Related Keyword Search Queries

Somehow feeling guilty this has not surfaced on infosthetics before, but here it is anyway. Google recently introduced its so-called Wonder Wheel [google.com] as an addition to its normal results page. Read the rest of the article here...don't miss the YouTube video about Wonder Wheel.

Variable Frame Bike

The bike is up, then the bike is down. You sit on the bike upright in the city, then set it down to cruise in the suburbs. It’s intuitive.

Designing An End to Poverty

The philosophy of Jeffrey Sachs revolves around a simple tenet: the world’s problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man. Of course, immediately following that simple idea is an avalanche of complexity: how to decide which issues get priority, how to navigate through governments, how to raise funds for foreign aid, how to distribute those funds.

Designing the Future

“Designers have been failing to humanize their work for years,” explains Brian Collins, president of the New York-based design firm COLLINS:. “The problem is that they apply a top down approach, where they impose their design onto something or someone. Yet what they should be doing is thinking of word ‘design’ as being synonymous with ‘empathy’ and working from the bottom up.

Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons

Paul Rand's thoughts on logo design.

Designing presentations in the TED style

TED has earned a lot of attention over the years for many reasons, including the nature and quality of its short-form conference presentations. All presenters lucky enough to be asked to speak at TED are given 18-minute slots maximum (some are for even less time such as 3- and 6-minute slots).

Ignite: a great implementation of the short-form presentation

The point of an Ignite talk is not to rush through the topic or to dumb it down, but rather to work within the constraints to illuminate and illustrate the essence of your idea and of your story.

Beyond the fold

Beyond the Fold is a speculative approach to the electronic newspaper of the future. It explores gesture as a means to interface with the device and bridge the digital and physical worlds. The design process employs cultural metaphors, human experience and rituals to create meaningful interactions.

The 99% Conference: Scott Thomas On Designing the Obama Campaign

At the recent, The 99% Conference, Scott Thomas took the stage to talk about what it was like to design Obama's digital campaign on the fly. This video culls the highlights from his presentation and catches up with him afterward to find out more about his theories on simplicity and his plans for working in politics in the future.

CCC Car

The renderings from ZEEP Design display a concept car named “CCC Car” that transforms into a helicopter.

Creating a Post-Crisis Economy: How to Design a Participatory System

The best examples of current participatory systems included a significant amount of "user" participation in the design process itself. Whether it is Facebook or Apple, the richness and variety of their offerings are created by untold developers, not employed by the host brand, who have created solutions never imagined by the original architects of the platform.

Kindle DX: Why Size Matters

People have a lot of expectations for the new, larger-sized Kindle DX. Interesting how a shift in size / form factor can hold the fate of an entire industry (newspapers in this case) in its hand.

How to feed the whole world (the case for white bread)

Louise Fresco argues that a smart approach to large-scale, industrial farming and food production will feed our planet's incoming population of nine billion. Only foods like (the scorned) supermarket white bread, she says, will nourish on a global scale. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 18:00.)

13 Super Cool Computer Keyboards

Keyboards are an essential part of out computers. We use computer keyboards mostly to type. However in recent times we have seen a diversification in the use and design of keyboards.

Redesign Your Street

America’s streets leave a lot to be desired. As Carly Clark and Aaron Naparstek write in the latest issue of GOOD, “For the most part, [traffic engineers] viewed the city from behind a windshield and saw the street as a problem to be solved for automobiles. The result is the America city that most of us know today: sprawling, traffic-choked, hostile to pedestrians and cyclists, dependent on a vast, never-ending flow of cheap oil, and deeply unsustainable.” Check out these ideas!

The Unusual Architecture of Dubai

Dubai is the most populated city in the United Arab Emirates with more than 1.5 million inhabitants. However, in 1975 this number was much smaller, something around 183,200. Seen by the whole world as a futuristic and modern city, it's in constantly change, Dubai has invested heavily in architecture, hiring some of the most famous architects to project its skyline.

100 Amazing Futuristic Design Concepts We Wish Were Real

Concept designers are also referred to as “visual futurists”.

These concept designs may not be on the market yet, but they can still inspire you to create something just as futuristic and exciting online.

How Long Will the World’s Natural Resources Last?

This graphic from New Scientist shows when certain natural resources will run out in the world if we continue at the current consumption rate. However

Nine Ideas to Save the World

The visionary architect Buckminster Fuller believed that a single design could save the world.

Change By Design

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, shows how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business.

Urban Quad: ATV lookalike only for dudes on the urban street

Rapid urban development in the recent past has enticed designers to toss up some sophisticated auto designs to meet the style and authority of the next-gen commuters.

Explaining human-center design...in 138 seconds

If you have to explain to someone what human centered design is and you only have about two minutes: show them the movie below from MAYA design.

World Builder: the Future of Interacting with Holographic Tools

A strange man uses a set of sophisticated holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves, like SketchUp on steroids. See the movie.

The Webby Awards

This year's Nominees and Official Honorees have been revealed! See the lists then head on over to the People's Voice site to vote for the best websites, online videos, interactive ads & more.

The Inside Scoop on Design

Hartmut was instrumental in the design of Macintosh. If you’re into industrial design, you’ll enjoy this interview.

TechCrunch Tablet Leaked, Own Medicine Administered

TechCrunch is getting a feel for its subjects’ woes now that photos of the prototype TechCrunch Tablet are in the wild.

Design Our Waste

Twenty-five designers, writers and academics from an array of disciplines took residence on the Beauchamp 'Electric Barge', to begin a trip to Powerday waste recycling plant in west London. Docked at Little Venice in Paddington, the electrically powered barge is a silently running and environmentally sound answer to canal travel.

"Good" visual examples to get you thinking

Here's GOOD Magazine, and their website www.good.is. The magazine was launched in 2006 and focuses on issues related to sustainable living, politics, and other social issues of our time. On their website they feature many short video presentations that are worth checking.

Lima

It's a non invasive gluco-meter concept.

Beautiful And Creative Logo Designs For Your Inspiration

Here's a collection of 40 more beautiful and creative logo designs. Browsing through the showcase, you will notice many trends. Some of these include the usage of simple shapes to create something complex, origami shapes, coloring and transparency trends, and many more.

30 Creative Examples of Using Paper in Web Designs

The utilization of paper as a design element in a web design is one of the most popular design trends. By using scraps of paper, cardboard textures, notebooks and notepads, a designer is able to compose an interesting and elaborate design.

miniHome Hitting California - Gitcher Perfectly Petite Prefab Here

Visit the miniHome.

Forget Slumdog - India Has A New Star

If you want air-con, and you certainly do in India, you use the old fashioned method - you wind down the window and hope for a stiff breeze. It has three nuts on the wheels instead of four. It has no petrol cap, as such.

5 Secrets of Strategic Designers

Strategic Designers have a very unique approach to things, especially in regard to the design process. The strategic designers’ pathway around the design process oscillates from a “bird’s eye” view of things to a “telescopic” focused one and then back up to a “bird’s eye” view again.

3 Seconds, starting...now!

In a blink of an eye, a potential buyer would have entered a store, quickly scan the different products on the shelf and then make a decision to engage with a particular product.

Information Visualization: Beyond Reporting and Into Collaboration

While there are amazing things happening throughout the visual thinking community, some of the most interesting are happening at our sponsors, not the least of which is happening at Tableau.

The Power of Immersion and Visual Thinking

Your task is to re-invent the consulting business model. Instead of starting with a business model innovation think about how consulting clients really feel and start innovating from there.

To Be Sustainable Organizations Must Balance Empathy and Power

“Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change …

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Design Should Be an Iterative Process Not a Linear One

Anders Ramsay, a UX designer, has done an excellent job in explaining on his blog the advantages of an Iterative Design Process versus a “Waterfall” (or Linear as I call it) design process.

Strategy Vs. Strategic Innovation?

Strategy is a company's game plan for winning, either by competing on scale, speed or special relationships. Strategic innovation is a company’s game plan to win by changing the game.

P&G Knows It Is Important To Master The Art Of Failing.

The secret to successful innovation for CPG companies is knowing how to fail early, fail cheaply.

Almost Barefoot Shoe

These shoes allow you to walk with a barefoot gait, without a bare foot, avoiding the injuries that could sideline you.

Thinking of Going Blond? Consult the Kiosk First

Sales clerks still ask customers, “May I help you?” on the floors of many department stores, but some shoppers may soon choose to be served instead by a computer kiosk with clever software.

Pain In The Back?

The VertaBrate focuses on areas where the spinal nerves begin to permeate through the back and aims at diminishing the amount of discomfort that spawns at the beginning of these spinal nerves. It bends over the shoulders and clings to the body using sticky pads.

Forget Me Not

The Mnemonic is the kinda device that will help an Alzheimer patient to be more independent by being the constant companion that reminds them about the little things in life.

Rebirth of Linksys

There was a time when all routers were ugly boxes designed only to perform. Looks played no importance because it was normal to relegate them to the back of the closet or tucked away in the corner below your desk.

Vite: Collapsible snow stretcher for immediate rescue on slopes

Here's a collapsible snow stretcher that enhances the safety measures that will allow an immediate rescue, in case of an accident or injury.

Dashboards meet the 21st century

Hint: analog is out, glass screens are in.

Super Social Security Card

"Of the three forms of identification we have in the states - the other two being the passport and driver's license - the Social Security card is the one that unlocks your life," says Frog designer Laura Richardson.

Want True Sustainability? Then Design to Seduce

Sustainable design is a hot topic. While most people applaud the idea of designers using ecofriendly materials, others insist that that's missing the point.

Bill Buxton on Design & Return on Experience

You may not have heard of Bill Buxton yet, but the Canadian designer and computer scientist is well known in the field of human–computer interaction. Currently he is Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. Read article.

Puma

GM and Segway showed off a two-wheel prototype vehicle based on Segway's scooter platform that lets two people tool around the city at 35 miles an hour on electric power. GM touted the vehicle's OnStar wireless communications to let people communicate with each other and stay clear of other vehicles. Go to Segway/Puma here

Always ask: What's it like from their point of view?

A good designer always tries to see things from the point of view of the user (or the customer, viewer, audience member, etc.).

Colgate Wisps!

Its a lot of plastic to basically get a tiny melt in your mouth bead of mouthwash into your mouth as you scrub with some harsh plasticiness…

Italian Transportation Infographics

I don’t speak Italian. But I get the gist of these.