Fabric suppliers

TreeFall design listed and commented on online fabric stores. A useful list for any craft designer! Via craft magazine

Part suppliers

Adam Kumpf from the Tangible Media Group at MIT created this very comprehensive list of part suppliers for getting electronic components! A useful guide for any tech-researcher!

You need a brand?

A nice set of slides about branding a logo, a product or a company created by Neutronllc.



More slides on slideshare.net



The company also published a book The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design

A funny graphic with cross cultural meaning the nail that sticks up is one brave nail

A breathing robot

Few weeks ago, I carried in my arms Omo, Kelly Dobson's new companion robot. A very therapeutic robot, it expands and matches your breathing. Made of rubber, shaped like an egg to be carried in your arms, it feels soft and alive.

Omo is an alternative relational object. While similar to "carebots" and companion robots, Omo draws on ongoing Machine Therapy work revealing the psychological, social, and political dynamics between people and machines. As a result, Omo's role is empathic and sometimes unexpected rather than normative. Omo breathes and senses the breathing of anyone interacting closely with it, matching—or seeking to lead—patterns of breathing. Omo does not always privilege soothing.

Materializing 3D

The company Dassault Systèmes envisions ways to materialize 3D, a research theme that has also been explored and implemented for quite a long time in the Tangible Media group. Dassault Systèmes made an inspiring TV commercial, probably in the same vein than SF.
One can always find inspiration in Philip K. Dick's books ... Now the hard part is to materialize these concepts into a working prototype. How can we physically manipulate objects that can morphed themselves in the desired physical form?

Video of the TV commercial, a bit too Adolf Loos' form follows function type of aesthetic, but definitly explains their concept.

Fashion digital

by Anthony Vaccarello

Transmitting power and data using the human body makes us seamless with the digital environment. It feels we are not invaded with digital data anymore, neither do we invade digital data, we are just seamlessly part of it, with it.

This particular piece of Anthony Vaccarello discovered on Style Bubble is for me a subtle left over of our cyborg mania, organic yet wired looking.

Invasion of new AIM buddies

I recently found 4 new AIM buddies: Prof Gilzot, sharthisdotcom, Spleak and WSJ. I started looking online for some info about these new buddies and I discovered that Prof Gilzot is an automatic tutor to help school students prepare for their S.A.T with practice questions. Type "Menu" or "More" will get you started!
sharthisdotcom is an aim version of share this
Spleak is a 21-year old virtual girl who can chat with you.
And your WSJ aim buddy is the Wall Street Journal!

Info online about these new AIM buddies and more info here.

Framework: the four pleasures?

Designing Pleasurable Products by Patrick Jordan presents four pleasures to understand human experience (with products and services). In an interview for design and emotion he explains: "The Four Pleasures is a framework developed in the field of anthropology. In his book, The Pursuit of Pleasure, Lionel Tiger identifies four different ways in which humans can feel pleasure. These are: physiologically [the body and the senses], psychologically emotions and thoughts], sociologically [relationships], and ideologically [values]. I thought that if we applied the framework to understanding people and what they wanted from products, it could provide some useful insights and help guide design, marketing and branding decisions as well as business strategy."
His book aims to help designers structure their approach in understanding their users.

Playground for all ages

The company Lappset designed Smart Us, a technological playground to connect all age users. Even though it is a very interesting concept and I cannot wait to try the interactive playground, I could not determine how it can really connect users of all ages, especially ederly. Thank you Susanne Jacobson for introducing me to this innovative Finish company!

SmartUs is a product concept developed by Lappset that uses technology to link the playground and its users. SmartUs offers interactive games for all age groups. The users can create games and applications based on images, sounds and text that support learning on the playground. The SmartUs product concept can be made use of in learning through play, playing computer games physically and in different kinds of well-being applications for special groups.

Among the four games available, the conquistador is a game of conquest, which gets people moving. Conquistador is played over the whole SmartUs field and players compete to be the first player or team to gain a specified number of different territories within the field. Territorial conquest is achieved by getting to the iPosts message poles and showing your iTag ID at the pole’s identification point. "It is especially suitable for players who are agile and alert. On the field, each player tries to conquer his/her own part of the game's fantasy world, and helps his/her team towards a common goal. The game develops tactical ability and teamwork skills."



Players carry on the iTag with them. The iTag sensor, distributed to users of the SmartUs environment is a key-sized sensor, that can be carried as a wrist watch or at a key chain.

Modern bird houses

I could not resist, these bird houses are awesome. Birds deserve architecture too!

Design Commission’s The Modern Bird, an exhibition of designer birdhouses created by more than 20 of the top artists and design studios worldwide, will show how far contemporary visionaries have taken the traditional wooden birdhouse.
The structures—of laminated wood, plastic, clay, and even stainless steel—include several designed especially for this show. They range in size from a six-inch creation to a 2-foot birdhouse.
The eclectic mix includes Modern Birdhouses’ sleek architect-designed homes made with oil-finished teak, stainless steel screws, and sandblasted aluminum roofs. For a little whimsy, there’s even J. Schatz’s colorful ceramic birdhouses shaped like eggs. Seattle artists Erich Ginder and Toi Sennhauser are also contributing original pieces to the show.

Web site of the commission