Design Week
7 May 2009
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...as tools are only as effective as the designers in charge
7 May 2009
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A leap of faith
7 May 2009
Some say launching a start-up in a downturn is madness, others see it as the perfect time to make the leap. Suzanne Hinchliffe offers budding consultancy chiefs a guide on what to do, and asks three brave souls who’ve done it for advice
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Cockpit Arts wins £50K LDA grant
7 May 2009
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Craft and design are much the same thing these days
7 May 2009
There was a time when a show like Collect might not have merited much space in Design Week (see News Analysis, page 9). Our focus is on commercial design and Collect is unashamedly about craft - something its shift from the Victoria & Albert Museum to the
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Craft for art's sake?
7 May 2009
As craft fair Collect prepares to throw open its doors to a different crowd at new venue the Saatchi Gallery, exhibitors are conjuring up the forces of art and technology in their battle for survival in this year of recession.'Now that it's at the Saatchi Gallery, people will see it more as an art show, which is good,' says glass craftsman Bruno Romanelli, agreeing with fellow Collect exhibitor and furniture maker Gareth Neal that 'the Saatchi will bring in an extra audience that ...
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Crisis works with Loft on new website
7 May 2009
Homeless charity Crisis is preparing to relaunch its website, with design by Loft Digital. Due to launch in July or August, the new site will place the charity’s policy and research work centre stage.Crisis appointed Loft to the £10 000-£12 000 contract last November, following a competitive creative pitch.‘The brief was very open and flexible,’ says Loft founder Nick Nettleton, although the group is having to work within the brand guidelines produced last autumn ...
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Design Bridge brands summer arts festival
7 May 2009
Design Bridge has created the identity for the first Holt Summer Festival, which will take place in Norfolk later this year.The festival will be held in the town of Holt from 3-9 August, and will feature music, theatre, comedy, cinema art and literary events.Design Bridge was appointed about two months ago following a recommendation, according to group creative director Graham Shearsby.He says the festival features 'a pretty eclectic mix' of events, and adds that ...
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Design mustn't become the slave of technology...
7 May 2009
Last week you ran an item on Jonathan Ive blaming the rise of rapid prototyping for distancing designers from the physical design process and creating 'a lot of lousy design' (Voxpop, DW 30 April). I agree with his comments and believe that technology should be reliant on design, rather than design reliant on technology. The haptic 'feel' of objects, developed in the workshop by carving wood and foam, is as important as the use of pencil and paper in creating a product's ...
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Design won't save the world single-handedly
7 May 2009
I was filled with both hope and despair after reading about the Audi Design Foundation's latest venture into the trendy waters of social innovation and service design (DW 16 April). I was hopeful that this project might mean more designers channelling their fresh thinking into challenges that matter, rather than just looking to fill their portfolio with work for sexy brands. Any initiative that encourages responsible design can only be a good thing, can't it? However, the ...
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Draught Associates
7 May 2009
Draught Associates has designed the exhibition Visualisations of the 21st Century City 2009 - Conflict in Architecture, which is at the Royal Institute of British Architects, London W1, from today until 30 May. The show, which has been created for the RIBA initiative Building Futures, explores the concept of architectural change in towns and cities.
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Inked up
7 May 2009
Screen-printing as a craft resonates with artists and designers. Not only is it a well-respected way to attain a multiple of one design or illustration, the hands-on process of ink and screen-printing bed combines usefulness with a touch of nostalgia. New screen-printing exhibition Edition/Power in Numbers at the Bodhi Gallery, organised by Cure Studio and Print Club London, showcases work from more than 40 artists from around the world. 'The quality of the artist is the measure of a good ...
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Inspired, Robin Richmond: Method
7 May 2009
The accepted backdrop to modern life is a vortex of change dominated by new devices, killer apps and ways of doing things - information overload. It's therefore refreshing to find that the most challenging medium of change, human thinking, is alive, well and flourishing at Ted.com.The site is the true democratisation of a one-time tight-knit conference that only a privileged few could attend, now enabling millions of browsers access to listen to innovative ideas and discussions ...
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Kay Why Marketing
7 May 2009
Kay Why Marketing has designed the packaging for Swedish fish roe-based spread Kalles Prickiga, which combines a mild cheese spread with 'dots' of roe. The Kalles brand, owned by Abba Seafood, has been on the market in Sweden for more than 50 years, and Kalles Prickiga launches this week.
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Manha restyles London Property Review
7 May 2009
Manha is working on a new brand and editorial designs for the London Property Review.The magazine, which is currently published quarterly, will become a hardback offering published once a year, while an enhanced website will offer more topical news.Manha director Nick Freeman says the new designs will 'be something that befits an annual'.He says that as well as getting a new marque, the title's new look will also feature high production values and an improved paper ...
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Neon founder Dana Robertson talks start-ups
7 May 2009
The move from Identica senior creative director to consultancy founder has been smooth for Dana Robertson. In a week when DW focuses on start-up success, Anna Richardson discovers his grown-up and quiet approach
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News in Pictures
7 May 2009
1 Together has created the 2007-08 annual report for charity Asthma UK, which is being sent out to members ahead of the AGM to be held on 2 June.
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News in Pictures
7 May 2009
Photographs by Guy Bourdin will be on display at the Unseen Guy Bourdin exhibition at the Wapping Project, London E1, from 9 May to 4 July.
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Nice Nose
7 May 2009
Harrogate-based consultancy Robot Food has created new high-end wine brand Nice Nose for the RPB Winery in the Mendoza region of Argentina. Richard Schophield provided illustrations for the brand, which launches in the US next month.
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Remanufacturing to affect sustainability standards
7 May 2009
Greater clarity and more sharing of best practice is needed if national standards in sustainable design are to be established, according to the director of The Centre for Sustainable Design, Martin Charter.The British Standards Institute is working towards creating a set of UK standards for products at its sustainable design conference next month.The aim of the event, to be chaired by Charter, is to identify specific processes and design issues that require further consideration ...
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Rewriting the rules
7 May 2009
Downturns favour the brave, so perhaps we don’t have that much to worry about. Jeremy Myerson finds reassurance in a historical perspective
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Roughing it in the name of authenticity isn't good enough
7 May 2009
I'm sure I'm not the only reader to have raised an eyebrow or two over the type of 'authentic' product likely to appeal to the 'market-influencing wealthy' (News in Depth, DW 9 April). These products may have a very limited appeal in some niche corner of fashionable London, but this market surely only actually exists in the heads of certain highfalutin design consultancies. I suggest that these companies try doing some market research, particularly with regard to the hotel ...
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Slowly but surely
7 May 2009
Designers’ complicity in the promotion of disposability undermines their environmental credentials, but even though true eco-design is still some way off, practitioners can make a difference by making products sustainably, says Scott Billings
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Student designs Peepo satnav for guide-dog users
7 May 2009
Jason Perkins, a product design student at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, has created the Peepo, a satellite navigation system designed to help guide dog users find their way.The handheld GPS system (pictured) steers by way of pulse zones and vibrations at the user's fingertips, while a separate sensor notifies the user that they are travelling in the right direction.Perkins, who has been working with the Cardiff Institute for the Blind to develop the product, ...
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Tom Dixon and Design Research Studio
7 May 2009
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Voxpop
7 May 2009
General Motors has announced it is to ditch its iconic Pontiac car brand. Which now-defunct brand do you miss most, and why?
