Ged Carroll

Category: design | 設計 | 예술과 디자인 | デザイン

Design was something that was important to me from the start of this blog, over different incarnations of the blog, I featured interesting design related news. Design is defined as a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, interfaces or other object before it is made.

But none of the definition really talks about what design really is in the way that Dieter Rams principles of good design do. His principles are:

  1. It is innovative
  2. It makes a product useful
  3. It is aesthetic
  4. It makes a product understandable
  5. It is unobtrusive
  6. It is honest
  7. It is long-lasting
  8. It is thorough down to the last detail
  9. It is environmentally-friendly – it can and must maintain its contribution towards protecting and sustaining the environment.
  10. It is as little design as possible

Bitcoin isn’t long lasting as a network, which is why people found the need to fork the blockchain and build other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin uses 91 terawatts of energy annually or about the entire energy consumption of Finland.

The Bitcoin network relies on thousands of miners running energy intensive machines 24/7 to verify and add transactions to the blockchain. This system is known as “proof-of-work.” Bitcoin’s energy usage depends on how many miners are operating on its network at any given time. – So Bitcoin is environmentally unfriendly by design.

On the other hand, Apple products, which are often claimed to be also influenced by Dieter Rams also fail his principles. They aren’t necessarily environmentally friendly as some like AirPods are impossible to repair or recycle.

  • Amerigo Gazaway + more

    Amerigo Gazaway

    A great summer soundtrack by Amerigo Gazaway who do some of the best blends of hip-hop with soul. More on Amerigo Gazaway here. Amerigo Gazaway has produced some amazing hip-hop versus soul and blues mashups including the likes of Marvin Gaye and BB King. 

    Unsafe At Any Speed

    I got this crash test video from an old college friend who had studied industrial design. The crash test of a modern car versus a 1959 model tells you a lot about how safety and design has come on in leaps and bounds.

    The massive improvements in car safety design depends a lot on owes a lot to Ralph Nader’s Unsafe At Any Speed. In his book Nader posited that cars were deliberately designed to be unsafe. I don’t think that it was the result of intentional design decisions, I just think that it didn’t explicitly put safety on the design brief.  

    I find it fascinating how the kinetic energy of the crash ripples through the Bel Air as if the car was a jelly mould as the metal and glass explodes to get out of the way of the Malibu. It’s also sad to see a car that has survived more than 50 years go out in a display of wanton destruction. More on design here.

    Unlimited Future by W&K for Nike

    Weiden & Kennedy for Nike came up with the Unlimited Future campaign. Nike opponents pointed out that it could be construed as a reference to their sweat shop factories. Either way you don’t see other sports apparel brands doing powerful brand anthems like this

    Manhole covers

    Pirate Printers: Shirts and Totes Printed Directly on Urban Utility Covers | Colossal – just waiting for a Stanton Warrior t-shirt or using city and prefecture customised Japanese manhole covers

    Marlene Dietrich as you’ve never seen her before

    US public broadcaster has been bringing some of its vintage interviews to life like this video featuring Marlene Dietrich

  • Benetton – new positioning

    Benetton was, from my personal perspective, a photo-streetwear brand of the 1980s and early 1990s. It had a particular European look.

    This was back when European tennis wear like Lacoste and Australian by L’Alpina were exotic. The Pet Shop Boys were singing about the Paninara sub culture that was obsessed with designer clothing and American movie style. Benetton made highly branded t-shirts and rugby shirts, but it was best known for its knitwear. It was a family run business that pioneered the use of technology to automate clothing manufacturing in the face of globalisation.

    At that time, thanks to Fiat adverts about its production line for the Fiat Strada, Italy was considered in the UK to be a highly sophisticated manufacturing power. There was a clear contrast with the striking British Leyland factory workers. Of course, the Fiats still rusted like their predecessor cars.

    Being a family business Benetton was also able to do a famous series of adverts that provided progressive social commentary through shock tactics.
    Benetton new positioning
    It’s new positioning is a marked move away from this heritage. It’s ‘Clothes for Humans’ tag line moves the brand towards the everyday – almost norm core in its message. It positions the brands as clothes for everyone – more Uniqlo or Gap than designer wear.

    More on streetwear here.

  • MasterCard logo + more

    MasterCard logo redesign struck a nice balance between  change and heritage. Wired magazine has more details on the MasterCard logo redesign and how it has changed or evolved over the years. More on branding related stories here.

    Snoop Dogg on a US game show via Zak Agency’s ‘cool sh*t‘ email newsletter. Legendary undersells the Doggfather.

    Masaaki Hiroi’s wooden toys look amazing. They are a great example of how Japanese artisan crafts continue to manage remaining relevant.

    Our Iain switched me on to Snoring (music to sleep by) from IGLOOGHOST. Which makes a lot of sense given the amount of focus on mindfulness and white noise generators in smartphone app stores.

    I went to see The Avalanches play their new album at Oval Space back in June and there were a number of people in the audience ignorant of their process and exceptionally vocal on social media.


    I honestly don’t know what they were expecting – Led Zeppelin type stage antics? They didn’t realise that The Avalanches are producers and turntablists. I guess this is what we get when people only know their music through their favourite playlists on Spotify rather than being able to read album notes.

    This was in advance of their new album drop Wildflower. The album is tremendous; Wildflower has been on heavy rotation in/on my iPod. It moves on from the ethereal quality that their first album had to something more confident in nature. Buy it, gift it to friends and relatives.

    The folks at who sampled put together this great run through of where all the pieces came from. Given The Avalanche’s creative process, this is a long but very worthwhile video walk through the Wildflower album.

  • Native materials + more news

    As Tastes Mature, Chinese Crave Native Materials | Global Currents | BoF – also mirrors a desire to look less flashy and moving away from tu hao jin products. Native materials also reflect a growing pride in China and what it means to be Chinese

    Photographer Bill Cunningham left the fashion world some brilliant advice on how to dress millennials – “I think what they should really think about, and be fearful [of], is the high-tech, and the high-tech kids,” he tells the interviewer, fashion consultant Fern Mallis. “They’re no longer dressing the outsides of their heads. This generation are dressing the inside of their heads.” 

    Asked by Mallis to clarify what he meant, he continued: “The whole country is electronically connected. They’re educating the insides of their heads, as they should do! Not the outside, with a fancy hat or a dress. Simple clothes… That’s the key. I think that’s what the fashion world should really think about.”

    BlackBerry has not informed Verizon or AT&T that BlackBerry 10 devices have been discontinued | CrackBerry.com – being a BlackBerry user must feel like being a Mac user circa 1996, though I don’t expect there will be any salvation with those few keeping the faith. In Senate, Blackberry Era Officially Over | bomble.com – the West Wing will start to look dated pretty darned quick once this goes through. More on BlackBerry here

    Brands who are part of Beijing’s Hutong Neighbourhoods – SocialBrandWatch – interesting the way Nestle has built a quality Chinese brand

    After Brexit, British scramble for foreign passports | HKEJ Insights – really good read on the change in dynamic between Britain and Ireland

    Chinese smartphone brands are dying off fast as market consolidates | Techinasia – Xiaomi’s diversifying strategy may look smart

    Private Equity Has a Crush on Tech – WSJ – recurring subscriptions, but cloud may disrupt traditional packaged enterprise software and is cycle resistant only insofar as the clients stay in business

    Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List Prices – The New York Times – “When Amazon began 21 years ago, the strategy was to lose on every sale but make it up on volume,” said Larry Compeau, a Clarkson University professor of consumer studies. “It was building for the future, and the future has arrived. Amazon doesn’t have to seduce customers with a deal because they’re going to buy anyway.”

    Pollster who called the EU referendum right: No late Leave swing after all • The Register – interesting descriptions about errors in poll design

    Sony chief Hirai places faith in AI | FT – interesting move given Sony’s relatively lack of prowess in software and services

    DriveTribe social network founded by the former ‘Top Gear’ presenters is launching this year – Business Insider – interesting that they’ve set up a passion based network.

    Remarks at the SASE Panel On The Moral Economy of Tech – really interesting essay

    EU regulations on algorithmic decision-making and a ‘right to explanation’ by Goodman & Flaxman – potential impact of the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation on the routine use of machine learning algorithms. The problem revolves around the ‘right to explanation’ (PDF)

  • ABZU & other things

    ABZU

    I like my computer entertainment trippy rather than action packed like this trailer for computer game ABZU

    Best battle of the bastards meme after the Game of Thrones episode caused an outburst of video creativity. Equating Jon Snow to Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins was genius. Whilst we talk about the fragmentary nature of online content, mainstream media is still providing the key cultural moments.

    Design

    The outlandish Rolls-Royce self-driving car of the future: Vision Next 100 | ExtremeTech – it has more of the design language of a Bristol than a Rolls Royce. Mercedes has an interesting take implying that UNHW individuals would still like the choice to drive rather than a self-driving car

    Amazing analysis of typography in Blade Runner. The level of detail is impressive. It also speaks volumes of the set designers and visualisers like Syd Mead

    FMCG

    Even the world’s biggest candy company doesn’t think you should be eating this much sugar | Quartz – there is another explanation to consider. Does having M&Ms in a McFlurry cheapen the brand or act as an economic substitute for a bag of M&Ms?

    Philadelphia Is the Nation’s First Major City to Pass a Soda Tax | Time – research on the effectiveness of this could be decisive in future legislation. It is interesting how it has also being rolled out in Mexico and discussed at a policy level across Europe

    Online

    Grandma with incredibly polite Google searches | BGR – it reminds me of my parents ‘Ask Google about…’

    US asks to join Irish data protection court case – Schrems argues that the use of these clauses does not change the fact that Facebook is still subject to the US mass surveillance program, and that the CJEU has already found them to be in conflict with EU law

    Software

    Samsung to Buy Joyent | WSJ – interesting move by Samsung. It makes sense for them to by as software and cloud has been a weaker capability than hardware design

    WeChat Moments – The Holy Grail of Social Media Marketing In China | Racepoint Global – my ex-B-M and Racepoint colleague James on WeChat

    Web of no web

    Biz Break: Apple Watch outlook may be dimming | SiliconBeat – the rationale is interesting and is category-wide rather than an Apple-specific platform. More on the Apple Watch here.