Early interface designs make me thankful for the modern-day keyboard

Folks, you have to wonder why no one else thought of this a long time ago:

This headphones packaging design (released last month by the European branch of Panasonic) was designed by Berlin-based Scholz & Friends, a creative agency whose motto is “Surprise! Convince!”

As Scholz & Friends explained to the Coloribus Global Advertising Archive,

The selection of earphones is huge and the products are often interchangeable. Only a packaging with a clear visual idea is able to stand out at the market among the generic packagings of the competition.

…The earphones show at first sight for whom they are made: for passionate music lovers.

…The new packaging was met with positive reactions from retailers and clients because it clearly stood out from the generic packaging of the competition. As such it helped to attract new target groups for Panasonic.

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[Update: This project was originally and erroneously credited to a UK-based design firm, who posted the project on their site with no proper attribution, leading one to believe the work was theirs, whether by accident or negligence. Please note that the designer is Daniel Dobrogorsky.]

Daniel Dobrogorsky’s Koolhaus concept is a faucet that lets you know how much water you’re using–not just from the Koolhaus itself, but throughout the entire bathroom, even dividing the bath tap and shower tap into separate categories.

I’m not crazy about the form factor–seems like a part from an extreme athlete’s bicycle–and the screen’s a bit too small for my tastes, but I realize these things are subjective, and overall I find the concept solid. Am also glad Dobrogorsky left toilet water consumption off the display–while it’s easy to take a shorter shower, I wouldn’t know how to begin curtailing toilet usage.

Hit the jump for some cool developmental shots.

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We didn’t think it could be done, but technology has advanced to the point where the Magic Tree air freshener may actually be supplanted by something more sophisticated.

“We want drivers to feel that they are healthier staying in the car instead of on the outside,” a Nissan engineer announced at a press event in Tokyo yesterday. To that end they’re looking into incorporating in-dash air purifiers designed by Sharp, air conditioners that spray a Vitamin C mist to moisturize skin, and special heated chairs–designed using NASA research–that promote better circulation.

There’s no word on when these features (and a few additional ones) will make their way into actual production models, but maybe we’ll get lucky and see them in Nissan’s new electric Leaf car, which launches later this year. In the meantime you’d better stock up on Magic Trees before they start disappearing like the rainforest.

via phys org

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That’s a prototype for an electric bicycle designed by Sir Misha Black, the influential UK industrial designer behind a 1946 exhibition called “Britain Can Make It.”

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Sir Misha designed the ‘Britain can make it’ exhibition, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition was intended to boost morale by promoting the British manufacturing industry that was decimated after the war. Industry was to play a vital part in British post-war reconstruction. Sir Misha included a section called the ‘benefits of good design’, where he promoted good design as a force for social change.

Black was made the first president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design in 1959, and was knighted for his contributions to industry and business in the UK. He is now being honored by ICSID on the occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday.

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Guest post by Paul Fraser.

Photography has come a long way in the last 200 years or so, or even since the first megapixel sensor. Newly developed robotics and software are now making it possible to photograph the tiniest of subjects, the most magnified close-ups, or the broadest panoramas with ridiculous depth of field, quality, and gigapixel resolution.

At SIGGRAPH 2010, where pixels are on everyone’s mind in some way, one exhibit focused exclusively on the topic. GigaPan, a company known for innovations in robotic camera mounts and custom image software, presented its latest hardware, software, and images. Using mounts that automatically move a camera’s view across a selected subject, software can then stitch together the high-resolution image pieces to construct photos at the gigapixel level. We captured a video of the photography in action below:

The first video shows the iterative photographing of a circuit board to create a gigapixel image. The second shows the demonstration of the GigaPan Epic 100. The robotic mount/software runs at about $350.

A collaboration among Gigapan.org, Carnegie Mellon, NASA, and Four Chambers Studio, the exhibit illustrated how photography and imaging play a vital role in the study of biological systems, allowing new and better science in general, as well as extending the use of photography fundamentally.

Click through the jump for some of the high-resolution images on display at SIGGRAPH 2010.

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Thomas Feichtner has created a simple lamp especially for the designer’s drawing table. With a simple change in position, the light emitted by the LED tube lamp changes from hyper-focused for detail work to more widely spread (but actually still pretty focused).

The lamp couldn’t get much simpler: it’s just a tube, an LED and a cable.

The light is not focused via a complex mechanical system or by adjusting a reflector but simply by putting the whole lamp into a horizontal position. Its construction allows placing it on the desk at two different angular positions. The lamp can be put down in a horizontal position with the illuminant slightly above the desk surface or in a vertical position with a maximum distance between the illuminant and the desk surface…only the sophisticated deformation of the tube provides the lamp with the benefit of adjustability. The interplay of angles, radiuses and lines results in an object which is conclusive in terms of construction and form.

More information here.

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Record label Ghostly will debut it’s new label release format, the Totem, with the release of Matthew Dear’s upcoming album Black City. More than a symbol or souvenir, these totems are an experiment in digital music delivery. providing a physical key to virtual content. Each one will be embossed with a unique four-character suffix that will allow visitors to access a private page on the internet, from where they can stream the album in entirety or download it. The Black City Totem was designed by the Boym Partners, who have created an abstract, indecipherable object emblematic of the album’s sensibility. A video of totem production set to a Matthew Dear track can be seen below.

From Ghostly:

The MDBC Totem is both a sculptural representation of the themes explored in Black City and a symbolic conduit to the music itself. Vaguely reminiscent of one of the soot-blackened skyscrapers that might populate Dear’s creeping, nameless city, the stacks upon the totem also call to mind the many shaped prongs of a universal power adaptor. In this sense, the totem is not simply a miniature building, but an abstract key to an unknown door. The branding of the totem has been purposefully reduced to its bare essentials—only the letters MDBC and unique three-digit suffixes are included—so that the totem’s meaning remains discernible only to its beholder.

We love the idea of a small village (or large city) of totems on a shelf or table, each one holding a digital key to a different piece of music. Already can’t wait to see the next ones.

The totems come in a limited edition of 100 (and an exclusive track). The objects will be available from August 3rd until they run out at The Ghostly Store.

Thanks, Craighton!

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Over the next six weeks, in a special Core77 exclusive, design firm Continuum will share, from start to finish, their latest branding project for the new, nomadic Design Museum Boston and ask for your feedback, kicking off with the brief introduction below.

How do you create an identity for an organization that is constantly changing? We’re taking on this challenge with a new project for Design Museum Boston and want your input to help determine the brand identity and visual language. The evolution of the design from problem to solution will be published in real time for you to watch, comment on and shape.

Design Museum Boston is a twist on the traditional brick and mortar space: it’s nomadic—existing mainly in a virtual space—creating pop-up exhibits, throughout Boston and New England, that educate the general public on the role of design in their lives. We’d like to reflect this itinerant character in the brand, making for an especially interesting project.

Every week for the next six weeks, we’ll post our progress and ask for feedback in each critical phase of design. In our posts, we’ll share things like the development of thematic approaches; the client’s competitive landscape; images from client meetings and in-house design charettes; and applications of the winning concepts.

Current Design Museum Boston brand identity.

Our goal is not only to demonstrate how a brand becomes a brand, but also to allow multiple perspectives determine how this identity will take shape.

Stay tuned for next week. We’ll start with the exploration of three thematic approaches for the new identity of Design Museum Boston with brand attributes, brand pillars, and mood boards.

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We love seeing industrial design process shots and concept sketches alongside the finished product, and one thing we can never get enough of is original inspiration pics compared directly to the market-ready end product. I guess the reason why is obvious–not a lot of designers want you to see where “the magic” came from.

Canada-based Fluid Faucets, on the other hand, puts the inspiration shots right next to their products on their website, and you can’t help but be impressed; just goes to show a talented designer can take things as different as a penguin, a violin and a Doric column and turn them into sink faucets:

To see more of Fluid’s stuff, click here.

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When you think of Artek you think of design classics in natural colors, as the Finnish company leans towards the muted and understated; so it’s a bit of surprise that they’re splashing out on black, white, grey and even red for their quick-ship Carry Away collection.

The line-up runs from Alvar Aalto’s classic Stool 60 from 1933 (top) up to Artek Studio’s Magazine/Firewood Rack from 2004 (bottom).

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