Design Something. » Products

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

Jared — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:11:10 +0000

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.

The ‘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.

Article 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!

Designers of Inspiration: Dieter Rams

Jared — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:47:53 +0000

Dieter 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.”

Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design helps us understand a product.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is durable.
Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Good design is concerned with the environment.
Good design is as little design as possible.

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:

Article 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!

A Designers Guide to the Ghouls and Ghosts of Halloween

Jared — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:14:06 +0000

Halloween 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

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.

My 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’

Two Brilliant Free WordPress Halloween Themes

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

Halloween

Halloween in Blue

You’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

The best in Halloween Party Flyers:

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

‘Bam Magazine flyer’

‘Eskepe Halloween flyer’

‘Illbotz Halloween Show Flyer’

‘Halloween Party Flyer’

‘Adv Flyer for Lucifer’

Leave Your comments below!

Article 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! 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:

Design Something Flickr Group Launched!

Jared — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:47:35 +0000

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!

Visit the Flickr group page here

Re-inventing Time Itself

Jared — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:45:39 +0000

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.

Vadim Kibardin: ‘Killer Clock Concept.’

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

Yiran Qian: ‘vice versa’

Sander Mulder: ‘Continue Time.’

Humans since 1982: ‘Clock Clock.’

Loove Brooms: ‘Energy Aware Clock.’

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

Arthur Yung + Clement Cheung: ‘Decode Clock.’

Matthias Pugin: ‘Switchital.’

Wooteik Lim : ‘Definition of Time.’

Lisa Sandall: ‘Corner Clock.’

Mintpass.com: ‘Contour clock.’

Pascal Barde: ‘Gélule.’

Leave Your comments below!

Article written by Jared Thompson

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

The wonderful world of… Chindōgu.

dan j. 23 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:31:58 +0000

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 Camera

Umbrella Headband

Rain Saver

Portable Office Tie

Sleeping Helmet

Hay Fever Hat

Insect Swatter

Noodles Cooler

Baby Duster

Cat Duster

Umbrella Tie

Male Baby Milking

Butter Stick

Shoe Protectors

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

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

Amazing Typography Packaging

Jared — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:55:16 +0000

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?

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

Effen Vodka: Arlo Design

Wyborowa Vodka: Keving Leung

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

Assemblage: designed by Swiss designer Elsa Degirmenciler.

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

Subplot: Happy Planet Shots

Alvaro Rubio designs this new way of packaging milk.

Innovative milk packaging found on Fubiz.

Brooklyn Fare: Designed by Mucca Design

Lindsey Faye Sherman: Organic Eggs Container

Created by UK firm Brandy: Scratch