Tag Archives: technology

The art of paper-folding originated in China and Japan hundreds of years ago, and has evolved into a masterful artistic genre. This simple method of turning a two-dimensional pattern into a three-dimensional form has been (for us Westerners) a delightful source of little paper swans, jumping frogs, boats, and tiny...

Rapid prototyping has been a tool used by the design, engineering, and architecture fields since the advent of computer-controlled fabrication systems in the 1990’s. The basic methods have been either additive (stereolithgraphy, 3D printing) or subtractive (CNC machining). Additive methods slowly “grow” the part within a build chamber out of...

Many have said that Design is communication. Typically designers are trying to express elements of a brand’s values, or communicate a device’s functionality or proper method of use, or weave a narrative about the relevance of the object in a person’s life. Sometimes, “because it looks cool” is as deep...

One of the most exciting endeavors for designers in any category is the chance to work with a completely new medium. By exploring the unique nature of a novel material, or employing a new manufacturing process to an existing material, new materials and processes bring the potential of incredibly unique...

Silver paint is a Declining Trend, but the story of its rise to glory is worth knowing. Around the late 1990s, starting in the Consumer Electronics category, silver paint started a decade-long march across the design community. The inception was most likely two sources: the long use of lightly metallic-flaked...

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...

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,...