This bag (owner) is… morally superior

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This bag (owner) is… morally superior, originally uploaded by Nico Macdonald.

Interesting to note “morally superior” becoming fashionable..

Pentagram Film

A beautiful film by HillmanCurtis showing the history and ethos of Pentagram.

(and if you’ve got a bit more time check out their other films here)

Crayon Physics taps in to the child in you..

Ever wanted those drawings you did as a child come to life? Well now someones done it!

Download the demo version (not as advanced as the video but worth it) here!

“Time Management”

After this last essay fiasco I know I’m not good at it, yet, thats for sure. It seems that as a student I have fallen into the typical trap of leaving things ’till the last possible moment. Only then springing into action, maybe working through the night until the deadline. Well, that sucked, so I’ve decided that this must change.

I’m going to start using the techniques described in Behance to help me do it.

Anyone else got some motivational/organisational tips?

The relevance of Sci Fi

“Science Fiction? what has that got to do with Industrial Design?”

This was the latest reaction to an essay I’m writing as a assignment for my course, and indeed on the face of it, it seems a bit ‘out there’ and irrelevant. But it’s not.

To all those that don’t see the value, a brief explanation… culture, technology, the future, this is what designers knowingly or not shape. So in fact I think that this sort of anaylsis is essential to developing an agile designers mind, knowing the big picture and designing it too.

Plus its just fun to watch Science fiction films and call it ‘work’

This is how I think…

Often it’s hard to get across how a designers mind work’s to those not trained as one. IDEO nailed it.

What is Industrial Design?

Often as a student of design I find one of the hardest things to deal with is the lack of knowledge about ‘Design’; We all dread the question “So what do you do?”

“Er.. well.. Product Design, you know, iPods and stuff..?”
“Oh cool I’ve got one of those”
“..yeah its great isn’t it..”

This is too simple an explanation is often all us Design students manage at a party/social that isn’t attended by other Designers. For those ‘in the know’, Design is such a deep and varied industry, with many complicated nuances, it seems almost criminal to try and sum it up.

But i’ll try..

We creatively solve problems.
- sometimes that is manifested in a product
- sometimes in a system (often with products within it)

We also creatively find problems
- often we call them ‘insights’ or ‘insight finding’
- these then form the core of the idea of the product/system

Whats your view of Industrial Design?

My First Post

This blog will be an exploration into documenting and debating the learnings of an Industrial Design Student learning at a university in the UK. I hope this stimulates and invigorates!