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How Smart Design Made a Home-Energy Device Simple Enough for Your Grandma to Use

It's not easy to design a home-energy monitoring device that people actually want to use--and pay for. Enter EnergyHub, a consumer-facing energy management company. READ»

Microgrid Energy Rules the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open

What is a sustainable innovation? I had the pleasure of representing Fast Company among judges from Nike and IDEO at the Sustainable Brands Conference's second annual Innovation Open in Monterey, CA this week, and we had a lively ...READ»

Biomimicry Challenge: For IBM, Smart Design Draws Water Conservation Inspiration From Ecosystems

Smart Design was paired with IBM's SmarterCity initiatives to find a better way to monitor water consumption on a personal, community, and societal level. READ»

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Oxo Good Grips Designers Take on Tablet Magazines

Smart looks at how traditional print media such as newspapers and magazines might be repurposed to play out in the iPad domain. READ»

Smart Design's iPad ... Circa 1989

As we wait to get our hands on the iPad, Tom Dair remembers the challenges of designing an Apple tablet--20 years ago.READ»

What Would You Ask Nature? Submit to the Biomimicry Institute/Designers Accord Challenge!

Deadline to submit is March 17! We've picked three teams from leading design firms who will be working with biologists. Now all we need is your company's real-world design problem.READ»

Diagnosis: FAIL. Poorly Designed Tech Infects Health-Care Industry

A medical devices manufacturer might spend millions of dollars over several years improving an old hospital standby--a bedside monitor, say, which measures blood pressure, heart rate, or blood-oxygen levels, and which sounds an ...READ»

Introducing Guest Blogger Tucker Viemeister: Industrial Design Is in His Blood

Designers often talk about the moment they realized their destiny lay in design. For Tucker Viemeister, it was pretty much the moment he was conceived. Tucker was born to Read Viemeister, a famous industrial designer (and an activist ...READ»

Masters of Design - What's Your Morning Routine?

At our Masters of Design event Wednesday night at the Chelsea Art Museum, we caught up with some of our expert design bloggers to find out how some of the most creative minds in the business start their day.  Video by Anne ...READ»