Monthly Archives: August 2011

Vacuum forming has long been a favorite design medium: there is an element of mystery as the inner object pushes through a plane of material, resulting in an interplay between the underlying form and the overlying plane. Typically this production method has been reserved for large, simple plastic enclosures such...

The term “affordances” came to be used in interaction design to indicate a visual cue to indicate the proper way for a user to interact with a device. That scoop under your door handle is an affordance, telling you where your fingers go in a visual language that all humans...

There is always an effort to humanize our technology. Technology’s most raw forms typically start with harsh geometries and cold, precise materials as a result of the production process. Much of the function of the design industry as a whole is countering the harshness of tech: softening, inviting, comforting, empowering...

Often, designers are asked to provide glimpses of what the future will hold. Throughout the evolution of the design industry over the last century, designers have always reached for visions of the future to inspire the products of today. We act as aesthetic change agents, taking the phrase “Fake it...

One of the most important (and most overlooked) elements of design that can have the greatest effect on an objects overall aesthetics are its proportions. Short and wide, long and skinny, accelerating or tapering, many designers typically accept the proportions they are dealt at the beginning of a project and...

In keeping with this category’s theme of mashing disparate concepts together, here we see stylistic motifs from two distinctly different visual eras juxtaposed together. This method first appeared at the Milan furniture fair in the mid 2000’s. The most common combination so far has been more Baroque/Victorian themes with modern...

The concept of minimalism has its roots in the mid-20th century, but is still a major design influence today (Apple and other consumer electronics manufacturers have embraced this principle, as have furniture brands like IKEA and CB2). Early minimalist artists and musicians sought to reduce a concept to its most...

Technology is increasingly becoming a visual motif in our lives. Just as the ancients adorned their objects with natural images of their surrounding environment, we are seeing visual representations of the digital age become ornamentations. In every product category, the most readily recognizable embodiment of this is the flowing, jogging,...

This early trend seems poised to establish the new “it” color across many product categories. Orange and Lime Green have long faded, Silver is toast; this sky-blue echoes the modern need for a color that’s restful and inviting, but also fresh and current. Currently it is emerging heavily in the...

  We are surrounded by a rich terrain of icons, visual metaphors that are immediately recognizable to everyone. Depending on your age, cultural background, or region, we each possesses a unique catalog of icons onto which we load meaning and past experience. Some icons are incredibly powerful, due to their...