What is Eco-design?

Design Victoria is sowing the seeds to sustainable design with What is Eco-design? – a practical, online How to Kit for industrial, graphic, fashion and textile designers.

What is Eco-design? provides solid grounding in eco-design principles and practice, making it an ideal starting place for designers interested in exploring and practicing environmentally sustainable design. Design Victoria engaged Centre for Design RMIT University and consulted WSP Environmental and leading industry experts in the development of the kit.

What is Eco-design? — designvic.com/whatisecodesign
Design Providence — designprovidence.com.au

Connecting Designers of Color in the 21st Century

Join us at NeoCon East! Designers421 presents a forum along with DC NOMA and FOD, Wednesday, October 28 • 1:30-3:30 p.m. • Baltimore Convention Center, Third Floor • Credits: 0.2 CEU/2 LU, Fee: $15.00. Students free.

Highlights: This interactive session will share the successful launch of D421, a growing cross-cultural, interdisciplinary network of leaders in design practice and education who are dedicated to building professional and community relationships and activities that support the interests of, and connections to, minority designers. Come learn about the development of the network and how you can benefit from and contribute to D421 initiatives. There will be plenty of insightful dialogue about the needs of the minority design community and opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Speakers: Eric Anderson, President IDSA, and associate professor of Industrial Design, Carnegie Mellon University; Joi Roberts, design ambassador, Motorola Consumer Experience Design.

For more information on this design forum and other activities for designers of color at NeoCon East, click here.

The Changing Face of Diversity in the Architecture Industry

by Curtis J. Moody, FAIA

How do you . . . Set your compass toward success under adverse conditions?

Summary: Finding success is a talent minority- and women-owned firms have honed in the past quarter century, argues Curtis Moody, FAIA, name principal of the largest minority-owned firm in the country. And it is not a matter of prevailing alone, he says. It requires developing collaboration, trust, perseverance, and self confidence. For more on this article go to: http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek09/0320/0320rc_face.cfm

Simone Williams is quite the melting pot of a designer.

Simone Williams knows how to effortlessly fuse together: sophistication, sensuality, femininity and edginess in her collections and manages do it so that it all works together with a unique and modern twist. No matter what look you’re trying to achieve, be it daily street wear or classy evening gowns, The Simone Williams Label has something for every discerning fashionista that wants the attention focused solely on her.

Simone Williams has come a long way from her younger years of designing Doll’s clothes for friends and immensely watching her Grandmother and Aunts design clothes. She took her obvious love of the craft of design, put a plan to action and started her own label, The Simone Williams Label in 2004. Starting off as a new designer is never an easy task. Simone’s most difficult challenge was getting her name out there to the masses. But it was through the positive praises from those who viewed her work that kept the flustered designer motivated to continue pursuing her dreams. Through all the hard work and tough times, Simone has gradually managed to build a name for herself over the years as an established designer in the London fashion scene.

By having such a unique creative vision for her brand, The Simone Williams label is highly sought after by top stylists and their celebrity clients. With a newly launched ready to wear brand “Saw U” and her Spring ‘09 collection, “Fusion” currently in the works, Simone is well on her way to make her brand a national and international household name.

By Kristina Williams
From Clutch Magazine
Mar 1, 2009

i4design Announces Creative Design Festival

Founding member of the American Branch of the Asia Pacific Federation of Architect/Interior Designers, Mitchell M. Obstfeld, (Publisher, i4design Media LLC) has been appointed as a Senior Consultant of the International Creative Design Festival being held in Shanghai, October 17th-21st in 2009.

He is asking for interested persons to enter a project(s) from their firm in this competition. In addition to procuring three judges for the award competition, he has also been asked to invite a dozen firms to enter the competition that are a good representation of Design and Architecture that is coming out of this the DC Metro area. This is a highly esteemed award and is a wonderful opportunity for designer/architects and their firms to be put on an international platform.

Below is some additional information on the Awards program and the event. These documents have been translated from Chinese, please excuse the translation…..

Asia Pacific Federation of Architects/Interior Designers (IAI )
(http://www.iai-ap.org/index.php)
International Federation of Art Design Education (IFAE)
Organization Committee of Shanghai International Creative Industry Week

Location: Rm/618, 6/F, No.45 Guangyuanxi Road , Shanghai ,
China
Zip Code: 200030
Tel: +86-21-62820584, 52300496
Fax: +86-21-62820584
Email: iai.award@yahoo.com.cn
Websites: http://www.iai-ap.org

Chinese Style-IAI 2009 Asia Pacific
Interior Design Awards for Elite

Background Introduction

The twenty-first century is generally considered to belong to Asian Pacific. When the world faces a series of unprecedented challenges, such as natural disasters, worse and worse living surroundings and the changing social environment. Especially in 2008 since the outbreak of financial crisis, the world is in an economic recession and panic. The world can not stay out of this drastic
environment, including China. But for decades with the Chinese economic and political status increasing, China has leapt to the forefront of the world. The world has placed more expectations and hopes on China that China will be able to lead the world out of the crisis and leading the world toward the new millennium.

At the same time, as one of the world civilization region, Chinese culture is also increasingly affecting the world. Oriental elements, especially Chinese elements, are respected around the world. In such special background, Asia Pacific Federation of Architects /Interior designers(IAI) will organize an event of “Chinese Style-IAI 2009 Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards for Elite”, hoping
through this kind of Chinese style event, inviting the famous designers all over the world to research the essence of Chinese culture we can carry it forward to benefit our human being. At the same time, IAI will organize a series of theme activities in the Asian Pacific countries to tap the essence of the excellent culture of all the countries and display to the world public, writing a new chapter of “harmonious world” in the field of cultural innovation.

After Asia Pacific Interior Design Biennial Awards(IAIC), as one of the most important event, with the idea of promoting contemporary advanced science technology, environmental protection and energy saving, “Chinese Style-IAI 2009 Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards for Elite”, which theme is Chinese style, will show their value and effects.

“Chinese Style-IAI 2009 Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards for Elite” is organized and hosted by Asia Pacific Federation of Architects /Interior Designers(IAI), and gets the recognition and supports from Hangzhou West Lake Expo and 2009 China (Hangzhou) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo. Now it is recognized and supported by the most authoritative design organizations of International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers(IFI), Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) and International Council of Societies of Industrial Design(ICSID). In addition, we get the supports and participation from interior design associations of Asian Pacific countries and of America, Germany, Austria, France and so on.

Event’s theme – Chinese Elements
Event exhibition
1. Time: Sep. 17th – Sep. 20th, 2009.
2. Place: 2009 Hangzhou West Lake International Expo(Main venue of 2009 China (Hangzhou) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo)
3. Exhibition form: The exhibition area of Asia Pacific entries; The exhibition area of international famous teams;

Organizations
Organizing committee of the event: Asia Pacific Federation of Architects/Interior Designers(IAI), the organizing committee of Hangzhou West Lake Expo, the organizing committee of 2009 China (Hangzhou) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo

Supporting organizations: International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers(IFI), Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) and International Council of Societies of Industrial Design(ICSID)

Contractors: Shanghai Caicos Business Advisory Management Ltd and Hong Kong D&C Design Cunsultants Ltd.

Cooperation organizations: Malaysian Institute of Geomancy Sciences(MINGS), Taipei Chartered Chamber Association of Interior Design and Decoration, Singapore Interior Designer Association, Malaysia Interior Designer Association, Indonesian Interior Designers Association and Korean Interior Designer Association, and so on.

Event agenda
1. Start-up: The event will be held on 23rd March of 2009 in Hong Kong and there will be a press conference, which
will be held.
2. Work collecting – The organizations, including Asian Pacific design associations and institutes, will invite the local influential designers to participate the events with the entries, which should be in line with the event’s theme, from March 23rd 2009 to August 15th. IAI will take responsibility of the domestic entries and confirm which entries is good enough to be invited to the
event.
3. Review – The panel will select the entries and then give the final results durning August 20th to September 30th 2009, which
won’t open to the publich until October 17th 2009.
4. Awarding – During the Opening Ceremony of Hangzhou West Lake Expo and 2009 China (Hangzhou) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo on October 17th 2009, the awards giving ceremony will be held. The award-giving guests will announce the final results and issue the awards to the prize-winning designers.
5. Exhibitions – The entries will be exhibited during Hangzhou West Lake Expo and 2009 China (Hangzhou) International Cultural &
Creative Industry Expo from October 17th to 20th 2009. At the same time, there will be the activities on spot, such as the activities of communication and remarks of expert on spot.
6. All the entries will published in the domestic and Asian Pacific areas. And the prizing-winning entries will be exhibited around the country as well as Asian Pacific areas.

Entry’s categories:
1. Commerce – Various commercial space, franchised stores, retail stores, cosmetic salon, fitness centers, theaters and cinemas.
2. Restaurant – All kinds of restaurants and amusement districts.
3. Bar – All kinds of bars, including entertainment districts, lobbies of the hotels and so on.
4. Hotel – All facilities related to the hotel, such as business hotel, city hotel, holiday hotel and so on. The hotel must include guest room, hall, coffee room and so on.
5. Residential Unit – All kinds of living space, such as villas, houses, lofts and flats
6.Project – Any types of design projects is OK.

Entry Requirements
1.Completing the registration form in accordance to the requirement
a. The printed design of the works being evaluated the text (A4)
b. The statement of the entries
c. The printed plan (A4)
d. The printed entry’s pictures (A4, up to 10 images)
e. Individual designers or teams digital photos
f. The entries must be made after January 2008. Including the above-mentioned data to JPG format, a CD-ROM in two pictures request of no less than 350 dpi.The design statement should use Word format.

2. Fee of the participants International designers: $150/each Domestic designers: 800RMB/each
3. Designers should pay for fee of transportation and mailing by yourselves.
4. To participate in a regimental is allowed
5. More works provided by one participant are also allowed, but each should include the mentioned materials above.
6. The host organizers will make an examination of forms. The design works which are incomplete, inaccurate or can
not meet our requirements shall be deemed to be invalid. We have the right to disqualify them from the competition.
7. When you submit entries, please select the category belongs to. If it is hard to decide clearly, the job will be done by the judges.
8. Rights and obligations
a. All persons have the equal rights to participate in the activities of awarding, supervision, and give proposal. The organizing
committee has the obligation of supervision, and listening to proposals;
b. All the participants have the obligation to authorize the organization committee to broadcast, to exhibit and to publish all the
products being evaluated;
c. It is not allowed for the participants to request the organization committee to set back the mark or any other data, or any
forms of damages from the host union, support organization and the organizing committee;
d. And if there is no works to satisfy the standards, the organizing committee reserve the right not to issue any prize;
e. The participants have the full responsibility of their entries, if it is found that the entries being evaluated are not eligible for
the contest, the organizing committee has the right to cancel the qualification in any phrase of the contest and recover it from
the award. Any damages or loss caused by those situations will be undertaken by the participant;
f. In addition to this rule, otherwise expressly regulations provided, the submission, exhibitions, publicity, propaganda,
publishing and all other matters of the contest, the organizers are not entitled to any compensation, consideration, payment
and expense for the participants. Also some special rights or intentions to share the revenue and income are not permitted;
g. The participant has the right to decide whether to join this competition, but once they are engaged in any phrases of the
competition, it will be treated as accepting all of the items of the regulation, together with their explanations.

Disputes:
1. If there is any dispute concerning on the evaluation process, the negotiation is the first way out. In occasion that the problem cannot be solved by themselves, the organizing committee can serve as mediation. When it fails again, the parties themselves could seek legal means.
2. As for other disputes proposed by other parties of the works being evaluated, it should be tackled with by participants themselves and undertake all the responsibilities. Once the host reorganization is involved
in the disputes, all the loss and damages should be born by the participant;.
3. All the disputes during the assembly, evaluation,exhibition and promotion process should be negotiated friendly. If no consensus are reached, the issue can be submitted to the local court to proceed a lawsuit.

Validity and Interpretation
1. The power of interpretation and amendment of this regulation shall be vested in the organizers.
2. This regulation will come into effect from 23rd March,2009.

The Scheme of Setting up Awards
1. Three Best Original Design Award
2. Every categories has one gold medal, two silver medals and 3 e cupreous medals in the project .
3. Ten Asian Pacific Rising Star Award
4. Honor Award

Reviewer
President of the Syndicate: Tonghe Xing(National level architectural master, Dean of 2010 Shanghai Expo Research Centre)

Panel: Donna Robertson, Dean Of Architecture; IIT, Chicago, USA Joseph Rosa, Chief Curator, Chicago Institute of Arts, Chicago, USA
Mitchell Obstfeld, Publisher, i4design magazine, Chicago, USA Tonghe Xing (National level architectural master,
Dean of 2010 Shanghai Expo Research Centre); Shashi Caan(IFI election president, the founder of ShashiCaan Collective Association and ex-President of New York Interior Design College in America); PPerry NG (President of Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association-APSDA, which is the most authoritative ) Claude(ex-President of IFI,ex-President of Canada Interior Design Association and President of Asia Pacific Federation of Architects/Interior Designer) Peter Ebner (one of the most influential architects, and Professor of Technical University in Munich)
Micheal Schwarz(one of the most famous architects and professor of Faculty of Engineering in Ajman University of Science and Technology, UAE,)

IAIC-Awards Organizing Committee
Place: Room 618 at No.45 West Guangyuan Road in Shanghai
Tel: +8621-628211286
Fax : 62821128
Email: iai_cs2009@yahoo.com.cn
http: www.iai-ap.org
Liaison persons: Miss Cong, Miss Guo

Mitchell M. Obstfeld, Publisher
i4design Media LLC
Zhou B. Arts Center
1029 W. 35th St.
Chicago, IL 60609
00.1.773.523.0203
www.i4designmedia.com

Did you know that the designer behind the new Twitter interface is Brazilian?

The design mind behind Twitter, 21 year old Vitor Lourenco is responsible for creating the elegantly spare Twitter UI. He’s got 7 years’ experience and counting.

Remember those heady days, circa 1997, when if you wanted to change the world it seemed you had to be 23? Apparently, they never went away. Just look at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Or the lesser known Vitor Lourenco, a 21-year-old Sao Paulo native who’s been the designer behind Twitter’s wild success. Designer’s couch has an interview with the astonishingly self-possessed and well read whippersnapper, who’s already done work for clients including Yahoo! at an age when his peers are still trying to pretend that they never liked the Jonas brothers:

A constant theme that you carry on your Web site is “simplicity.” Why do you prefer this approach over one that might be more graphical?

I believe that a good interface is the one that fades gracefully, allowing content to be in the very front row. As a designer, you must always remember that, in most cases, your users aren’t there to appreciate your mad visual skills, but to accomplish a task that is important for them in some way. I love a quote from Alan Cooper that says: “No matter how cool your interface is, less of it would be better.”

You’ve also worked on other social sites such as Yahoo! and the Orkut app. From your experience, what are the key aspects in design necessary for such sites to be successful?

Each project has its own key aspects, and most of the time a project’s success is not only attached to its design. There are deeper concerns for a project to be successful, most of them related to solving a problem that users have. You always have to ask yourself if you’re solving an actual problem–then it’s a matter of executing it in the right way, and there’s no formula for that.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/design-mind-behind-twitter-hes-21

Designers Couch Interviews Vitor.
At a young age Vitor’s designs have reached millions through his work on Twitter, the free social messaging utility that is changing the way people communicate. Twitter aside, Vitor has worked with other major companies such as Yahoo! and TV Globo.

Vitor, it’s quite exciting to have this interview with you. What inspired you to get involved in design? You must have gotten interested in this field at a very young age.

I got interested in web design when I was 12, but I never planned to pursue it as a career. It was something that happened for fun, and suddenly started to generate a great income while bringing happiness to my life. The first websites I created were related to gaming and animé, some passions I had at that time.

On your website you describe yourself not simply as a ‘Web Designer’ but rather a ‘User Experience Designer’. Can you explain what is a ‘User Experience Designer’?

I often change these titles—and haven’t found the perfect one yet. At the time I put that on my website, I was concerned about all the aspects that involve a great user experience on the web, and I thought I could shape that. Turns out, you can’t really design an experience—it’s something that happens on the user end, where many variables are out of the designer’s reach and control. Right now, I’m calling myself a Product/UI designer, since I spent most of my time creating and polishing this layer of a user’s experience.

A constant theme that you carry on your website is ’simplicity’. Why do you prefer this approach over one that might be more graphical?

I believe that a good interface is the one that fades gracefully, allowing content to be in the very front row. As a designer, you must always remember that, in most cases, your users aren’t there to appreciate your mad visual skills, but to accomplish a task that is important for them in some way. I love a quote from Alan Cooper that says: “No matter how cool your interface is, less of it would be better.”

http://designerscouch.org/show_article/98/interview-with-vitor-lourenco.html#

Ron Eglash on African Fractuals

“I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof.” That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he noticed in villages across the continent. Watch this video and comment!

Ron Eglash is an ethno-mathematician: he studies the way math and cultures intersect. He has shown that many aspects of African design — in architecture, art, even hair braiding — are based on perfect fractal patterns.

Why you should listen to him:

“Ethno-mathematician” Ron Eglash is the author of African Fractals, a book that examines the fractal patterns underpinning architecture, art and design in many parts of Africa. By looking at aerial-view photos — and then following up with detailed research on the ground — Eglash discovered that many African villages are purposely laid out to form perfect fractals, with self-similar shapes repeated in the rooms of the house, and the house itself, and the clusters of houses in the village, in mathematically predictable patterns.

As he puts it: “When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganized and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn’t even discovered yet.”

His other areas of study are equally fascinating, including research into African and Native American cybernetics, teaching kids math through culturally specific design tools (such as the Virtual Breakdancer applet, which explores rotation and sine functions), and race and ethnicity issues in science and technology. Eglash teaches in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and he recently co-edited the book Appropriating Technology, about how we reinvent consumer tech for our own uses.

“Next time you bump into one of those idiots who starts asking you questions like, ‘where is the African Mozart, or where is the African Brunel?’ — implying that Africans do not think — send them a copy of Ron Eglash’s study of fractals in African architecture and watch their heads explode.” mentalacrobatics.com

Hood Design Wins Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award

Hood Design (Oakland, CA), has won the Landscape Design category of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s 10th Annual National Design Awards. Hood Design is the design firm of Walter Hood, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design.

From the Cooper-Hewitt press release:

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in design this fall with its 10th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Warwick Thompson announced the winners and finalists of the 2009 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines. The Award recipients will be honored at a gala dinner Oct. 22 at Cipriani in New York.

“This year’s winners reflect the design climate of the times,” said Thompson. “We are in an era that demands public commitment and work that strives for change and the responsible use of resources. The public impact of the daily work of the nominees demonstrates the far-reaching effect of design innovation in every sector.”

The 2009 National Design Awards nominations were solicited from a committee of more than 2,500 designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures and corporate leaders from every state in the nation. Nominees must have at least seven years of experience in order to be nominated, and winners are selected based on the level of excellence, innovation and public impact of their body of work. This year’s jury—a diverse group of former National Design Award winners convened by Cooper-Hewitt—reviewed the nominations and chose Lifetime Achievement and Design Mind recipients, and selected winners and finalists in the Corporate Achievement, Architecture Design, Communication Design, Fashion Design, Interaction Design, Interior Design, Landscape Design and Product Design categories. This year the new Interaction Design category was added to the Awards, celebrating exceptional work using digital technology.

….

The recipient of the Landscape Design Award, which is presented for work in urban planning or park and garden design, is Hood Design. Hood Design was established by Walter Hood in 1992, in Oakland, Calif. The firm is committed to issues that address the re-construction of urban landscapes within towns and cities. Hood Design’s approach is multidimensional, exploring the role of specific landscape typologies and topologies that together reinforce and re-make landscapes that are specific to place and people. Hood is a professor and former chair of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning program at the University of California, Berkeley. His area of teaching and research, American urban landscape history and design, is intertwined with office practice creating a didactic approach to projects. Hood’s projects include the landscape for the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and Poplar Street, a green boulevard in the heart of downtown Macon, Ga.

Finalists in the Landscape Design category are Andrea Cochran, principal of Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture in San Francisco; and Rios Clementi Hale Studios, also California-based, dedicated to an interdisciplinary design approach.

The Sculpture Garden at the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA; Hood Design, landscape architects.

LAEP News – April 30, 2009

http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/events/news/laep/hood-design-wins-cooper-hewitt

Walter Hood, FAAR

Mr. Hood is Professor and former Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and principal of Hood Design in Oakland, CA. Hood has worked in a variety of settings including architecture, urban design, community planning, environmental art, and research. He was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture, 1997 and has exhibited and lectured on his professional projects and theoretical works nationally and abroad. His work was recently featured in the exhibition and publication, “Open” New Designs For Public Spaces, Van Allen Institute, NY, The New York Times, Metropolis and Dwell magazines. His firm designed the gardens and landscape for the new De Young Museum, San Francisco with Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. Hood’s published monographs: Urban Diaries and Blues & Jazz Landscape Improvisations illuminate his unique approach to the design of urban landscapes. These works won an ASLA Research award in 1996. His essay “Macon Memories” is featured in Sites of Memory, Princeton Press, 2001. Hood participated in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s “Revelatory Landscapes” Exhibition 2000-2001. He is currently researching and writing a book entitled Urban Landscapes: American Landscape Typologies. His area of teaching, the American Urban Landscape, is intertwined with his design work creating a didactic approach to the design of urban landscapes.