industrial design

The Enduring Genius of Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams is a living legend. As Braun's head designer for almost 35 years, he defined what simple, functional products should look like. On Friday, London's Design Museum opens a mammoth survey of the more than 500 objects that Rams designed in his 50 year career, "Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams." Here are some highlights.READ»

Opening Today: Konstantin Grcic's "Decisive Designs" at the Art Institute of Chicago

Konstantin Grcic has quickly established himself as a master of contemporary design in the last twenty years. His grand theme has been a hyper-logical, ultra high-tech approach. Today marks his first U.S. retrospective, "Decisive Designs," at the Art Institute of Chicago. Here's a taste.READ»

Designer Master Richard Sapper's 50 Years of Butch Chic

Even if you don't know the name, you'll recognize his works.READ»

Phaidon's 100-Year, 1000-Product Survey of Design

Phaidon's most recent design compendium landed in bookstores with a thud: Spread over three volumes, it's a compendium of 1000 design classics, under three themes: Pioneers, Mass Production, and New Technologies. Here is a preview of what's between the covers.READ»

Inside Coke's "Freestyle" Soda Fountain

The new-fangled touchscreen gizmo has more in common with medical devices than with traditional soda fountains.READ»

Lisa Strausfeld, Yves Behar, and Abbott Miller Form Supergroup, Design Litl Netbook

The Litl netbook rethinks interface design, and boasts pitch-perfect design details. Too bad about the price.READ»

Bits 'n' Pieces: High-tech Design

If you're curious about high-tech design techniques, a new exhibit should appease your appetite. READ»

12 of the World's Coolest Packaging Designs

Two packaging design encyclopedias hit the shelves this month. Here's a sneak peak.READ»

Field Research Can Be Rough, but It's the Only Way to Design for the Developing World

Design consultancy Artefact specializes in developing products for the developing world--and they're happy to share their hard-won expertise.READ»

An Important Message About Apple Industrial Design from Jon Ive

Jon, whatever it is that you are having at the "communal design area," send some over:READ»

The Season's New Seats: Chairs to Nest In

The next generation of modern chairs is designed to envelop, not punish. This fall, imagine your seat in one of these top five plush seats. READ»

The Secrets Behind Great Design: IDSA Announces Catalyst Case Study Winners

The greatest design innovations invariably have a story behind them: the insight that led to a radical new way to solve a problem, the failure that led to a breakthrough, the serendipity where colliding forces led to a profound ...READ»

Design/Art

 Design/Art Last week, in a conversation with a colleague, I felt a little disappointed about a negative comment he made about the “Tuyomyo” bench designed by Frank Gehry for Emeco.  He said it was “impracticable ...READ»

Portfolio of the Day: Joey Roth

How one young designer creates products that celebrate ritual, using materials that break-in slowly.READ»

Creative Deconstruction: Why Dell's Designers Tear Apart Their Own Computers

Most designers' time is focused on creation when it comes to a product's lifecycle. But it is just as important to look at the other end of the lifecycle--the deconstruction of the very products that they create. READ»

• Ken Musgrave's Think.Design blog

What I Learned From a Restroom Tête-à-Tête with George Nelson

As a summer intern, Dan Harden learned the most about design by chatting up a legend in a corporate bathroom.READ»

• Dan Harden's Whipping Post blog

The Best Flashlight Ever Designed?

Blackfire's new concept puts to shame all the other flashlights sitting in your toolbox.READ»

Three Designers Beautifully Reinvent the Arm Cast + an Eames Leg Splint for Good Measure

Three arm-cast designs that improve upon age-old methods--and one classic that achieved world-changing influence.READ»

The Architect of Experience: Conversation With a Service Designer

Where interactive design meets industrial design, meets advertising, meets interior design, meets graphic design, meets sequential art. Savannah College of Art and Design president Paula Wallace interviews professor Peter Fossick.READ»

• Paula Wallace's Design (Education) Is Changing blog

Ziba Design's New HQ Is a Sustainable Pillar of the Community

The Portland-based strategic innovation and design consultancy builds a new office that also builds their neighborhood.READ»

• Designers Accord Case Studies

The "Power Funnel" and Other Design Innovations in Plantronics' Discovery 975 Headset

The company's chief designer gives Fast Company an exclusive interview about the design ideas behind the new Discovery 975 Bluetooth headset.READ»

Building Denmark's Design Identity, One Sale at a Time

The Crafts Collection promotes Danish designers who might otherwise get overshadowed. Their new wares include brilliant stacking mugs and gorgeous bikes.READ»

The Invention of Jawbone Offers Essential Lessons for Tech Start-Ups

Jawbone's designer and the company's CEO rap about how design is as important as tech for Silicon Valley start-ups.READ»

Les Paul: The Guitar, the Logo, the Legend

A tribute to the Architect of Rock & Roll, who died yesterday at 94.READ»

• Ken Carbone's Yes to Less blog

A Table That Turns Your Kitchen Into Mini Ecosystem [UPDATED]

This ingenious concept was modeled on nature's cycles, from rain to plants to soil.READ»