Design Something.

The site for design inspiration.

Nov
02
2009

Philippe Starck The So Called “Bad Boy” of the Design World.

Philippe Starck is a French born Product design and probably is best known to me for two things, claiming that “design is dead,” and for his functionless juicer design. (Something which is a pet hate of mine.)

Philippe Starck has made designs in all kinds of industrial design and product design areas, from interior to mass produced consumer goods such as toothbrushes and chairs. He has been working as an interior and product designer since 1975 and has accrued a vast reputation for several things across the design world, his work his wide ranging and something which can often found to provoke a response. His product designs are often usable household items which Starck himself helps to market for mass production. His awards are too long to list and his work is admired by many allowing him to work with many large multinational firms, so why does he have this success? Does he deserve this attention?

If you haven’t already seen it yet Starck has been the face of a new product design reality television show, the producers must love his wacky personality and style, (because the students themselves are nothing to shout about.) The show is about whittling down 12 students hand-picked by Starck to compete to win a place at his design studio. ‘Design For Life’ is a good show in the sense that it has brought the idea of product design into the public viewpoint and has shown the viewer what product design is. Starck provides for the viewer that eccentricity and exuberance most televisions shows showcase, it’s a shame he picked such mindless idiots who have little imagination and ideas to win a priceless place at his design studio.

36_photo_1_035823The ‘Leggy Chrome Juicer.’

This is one of the single most useless products i have come across, what is it’s purpose? It has zero functionality and is simple a style piece. But it’s a juicer, surely the minimum it should do is it set function. Yet I have heard many designers speak of how much they love this item and confess to owning one at home, why? It is one of the main reasons I have had a black mark against Starck’s name.

meArticle written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Nov
02
2009

Designers of Inspiration: Dieter Rams

dieter-rams-0012Dieter Rams started out his life in Germany in the 1930s and did first begin as an apprentice carpenter, he then worked his way up as an architect and interior designer before working for Braun. It wasn’t until the 1950s and working for Braun did his interest move away from architecture and interior design and move towards the design of products.

Dieter Rams is probably most famous for his work with Braun in the 1950s and 60s, many of which can be found in the Museum of Modern Art as they are such iconic pieces of product design. His work for Braun is highly regarded as being a huge influence over Jonathan Ive who’s work on the iMac and iPod began Apple’s huge rise to fame and fortune in the late 20th century and to the present day.

Dieter Rams has a great passion for simplicity and honesty in design, people looking at Rams should also recognize his work on the “ten principles of design.”

  1. Good design is innovative.

  2. Good design makes a product useful.

  3. Good design is aesthetic.

  4. Good design helps us understand a product.

  5. Good design is unobtrusive.

  6. Good design is honest.

  7. Good design is durable.

  8. Good design is consequent to the last detail.

  9. Good design is concerned with the environment.

  10. Good design is as little design as possible.

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The first picture is the Braun T3 pocket radio, this has the same styling characteristics as the original iPod. Its simplistic design and minimal functions showcase his design principles and this is one of my favourite Dieter Rams product. The second picture shown above is the Braun T1000 Radio heavily influential on the Powermac G5. The third picture being the Braun LE1 speaker which has the complete look and feel of the Apple iMac. Dieter Rams work ended up providing the basis for Johnathan Ive who has recycled them into new and improved design products of high quality.

Other Products Dieter Rams Designed for Braun:

meArticle written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Oct
30
2009

A Designers Guide to the Ghouls and Ghosts of Halloween

eye-256x256Halloween is just a day away and i’m sure many of us have parties to go to and fancy dress costumes to make and prepare all for a few hours of drinks, fun and games. What does Halloween mean for us as designers? Well it allows us to be creative around a well established theme opening up all sorts of ways. Whether its with creative costumes, wallpapers, themes, artwork or Halloween themed packaging and products.

Looking to be inspired to make your Halloween Costume this weekend? Then look no further in checking out 12 of the best found on Toxel.com

12 Creative Halloween Costumes_1256922742037

Found over on Design Week, design group pinched post have created there own pumpkin font which has been based upon the matrix system. The typeface has been made by puncturing into the pumpkins.

Pinched Post releases pumpkin font for Halloween | News | Design Week_1256922911695

head-256x256My top 10 Ghostly Wallpapers to darken your Desktop

Whether you want a terrifying pumpkin, something abstract or a bloody hand they are all here.

‘Halloween’

‘Trick or Treat’

‘Think Halloween’

Poze Horor Desktop’


‘Happy Halloween’

‘GrimReaper Halloween’

‘Halloween’

‘Abstract Halloween’

‘Oh no s’


‘Halloween’

pumpkin-256x256Two Brilliant Free WordPress Halloween Themes

Give your WordPress blog/website a few cobwebs this Halloween.

Theme Preview_1256925695964

Halloween

Test Drive Blog_1256925724311

Halloween in Blue

jack-256x256You’ll love these pieces of Halloween Digital Art:

Be sure to visit DeviantART for more great digital art, customisation, photography and much more, my DeviantART profile can be found here + dj23′s here.

Queen of Halloween

Happy Halloween

Halloween Witch Fairy

Halloween Natalia

Halloween

scream-256x256The best in Halloween Party Flyers:

Get your party promotion all spooky and scary with inspiration from these great flyer designs.

halloween party flyer. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1256927795037

‘Bam Magazine flyer’

Halloween Flyer on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1256927822580

‘Eskepe Halloween flyer’

Illbotz Halloween Show Flyer on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1256927845783

‘Illbotz Halloween Show Flyer’

Halloween Party Flyer on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1256927868573

‘Halloween Party Flyer’

Adv Flyer for Lucifer - Halloween on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1256927885659

‘Adv Flyer for Lucifer’

Leave Your comments below!

profile pictureArticle written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

rss-reflection

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter! Check out his Design Portfolio here!

Be sure to subscribe to the RSS Feed for the best in design blog posts every week of the year!

Some great Halloween themed links from great design blogs:

Oct
26
2009

Design Something Flickr Group Launched!

I have now setup a Flickr design something blog showcase group! I want you all to join and start to add your current, best, favorite works and then I will routine collate groups or my favorites and showcase them to the world via the design something blog!

The Design Something Blog Showcase Designs Pool_1256579160509

Visit the Flickr group page here

Oct
16
2009

Re-inventing Time Itself

Your taught how to tell the time as a young child, whether it’s through a small wristwatch or a big grandfather clock you had in your living room. These clocks attempt to confuse you further and look at new and interesting ways in which we can tell the time.

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Vadim Kibardin: ‘Killer Clock Concept.’

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Myznik Egor: ‘Soft Clock Concept.’ (This was selected for a red-dot design award in 2009.)

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Yiran Qian: ‘vice versa’

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continue-time-by-sander-mulder-06

Sander Mulder: ‘Continue Time.’

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the-clock-clock-2_xUt3n_6648

Humans since 1982: ‘Clock Clock.’

Energy-Aware-Clock

Loove Brooms: ‘Energy Aware Clock.’

habitat_wall_clock

Niels Van Eijk and Miriam Van Der Lubbe: ‘Tik Tak.’

decodemain

Arthur Yung + Clement Cheung: ‘Decode Clock.’

switchital01

switchital02

Matthias Pugin: ‘Switchital.’

def_time3

The definition of Time by Wooteik Lim » Yanko Design_1255705036843

Wooteik Lim : ‘Definition of Time.’

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Lisa Sandall: ‘Corner Clock.’

Mintselect (www.mintpass.com) - Seoul, South Korea - Contour Clock_1255707025743

Mintpass.com: ‘Contour clock.’

pill-clock

Pascal Barde: ‘Gélule.’

Leave Your comments below!

profile picture

Article written by Jared Thompson

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Sep
04
2009

The wonderful world of… Chindōgu.

Chindōgu is an unusual art of inventing, that, for some reason, I have followed since I was a child. My father had a book that documented a collection of some of the products, I could never put it down. To put it straight, the products that result from Chindōgu just make me laugh. They are products that seem to solve a common day problem, yet in reality create numerous problems instead of eliminating them. Chindōgu is a form of art that originates from Japan, the name simply means ‘unusual’, which in my opinion, is certainly a great way to describe the products…

Anyways, I therefore thought I would dedicate some time to this ‘innovative’ way of thinking and post a couple of images up of some designs that have resulted thanks to Chindōgu.

360-degree-panoramic-camera360 Degree panoramic Camera

umbrella-head-bandUmbrella Headband

Rain-saverRain Saver

portable-office-tiePortable Office Tie

helmetSleeping Helmet

hay-fever-hatHay Fever Hat

cockroach-swatting-slippersInsect Swatter

chopstckNoodles Cooler

chindogu2Baby Duster

13Cat Duster

chindogu1Umbrella Tie

chindo11Male Baby Milking

butter stickButter Stick

shoe protectorsShoe Protectors

For a larger collection, yet poor/small image display, check out:

http://website.lineone.net/~sobriety/

Aug
24
2009

Amazing Typography Packaging

One of the most common examples of great graphic design is packaging, apart from holding the relevant information for the product itself it becomes a brilliant tool for sales. Illustration often is the main feature in packaging but color and typography are also major factors. Typography can give the packaging a desired edge and make it stand out against the competition. Plus who doesn’t like a typography dominated roundup?

boxedwater

Boxed Water: Part sustainable water, part art project; designed by Eric Monroe

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Effen Vodka: Arlo Design

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Wyborowa Vodka: Keving Leung

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Robot food have designed this great label design for ‘Drinks Well.’

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Assemblage: designed by Swiss designer Elsa Degirmenciler.

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Georgia Coffee: Nicely designed coffee by coca-cola japan.

HappyPlanet01

Subplot: Happy Planet Shots

milk-01

Alvaro Rubio designs this new way of packaging milk.

packmilk

Innovative milk packaging found on Fubiz.

brooklyn2

Brooklyn Fare: Designed by Mucca Design

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Lindsey Faye Sherman: Organic Eggs Container

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6a00d8345250f069e2011571eb3872970b-550wi

Created by UK firm Brandy: Scratch

sivaris

Innovative Way of repackaging Rice: By Pepe Gimeno

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Waitrose Fresh Herbs: Lewis Moerly

sweet

Sweet Freedom by Agency Holmes and Merchant

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Deep Purple: Child in Time ‘Cover Exercise’ by Sabri Akin

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Design Bridge Netherland design these innovating hairdressing gels.

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Aquados sell this great detergent with a brilliant typography dominated package.6a00d8345250f069e20115703753ab970b-550wi

Felicia Hildenbrandt: Walters Sugar

Photo 32Article written by Jared Thompson

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

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