World Design Capital

The future success of each city lies in the hands of those who plan, design and manage the shared spaces and functions of their city.

For cities, design is at their very core and is leveraged in business, with citizens, as well as in government to make cities more attractive, more liveable and more efficient.

The World Design Capital is a city promotion project celebrating the merits of design. Held biennially, it seeks to highlight the accomplishments of cities that are truly leveraging design as a tool to improve the social, cultural and economic life of cities, throughout a yearlong program of design-related events.

Having beaten out Eindhoven, Helsinki appointed the World Design Capital for 2012.


We're getting more and more World Design STH and I hope this helps raising the awareness of design for human better life.
And the other wish is that I am dreaming Tehran to be a WDC one day.

a car for blind

Build a car that blind individuals can drive? that could navigate a curved course defined by a single lane of traffic cones; regulate speed within a predefined limit; and stop in time to avoid a collision. What do you say? National Federation of the Blind, challenged everyone to get involved in this idea and finally guys at Virginia Tech developed it. they employed other senses of blind - hearing and touch. The degree of vibration conveyed thru the worn vest by the blind, shows the blind how much brake is needed. Steering column "clicks" every 5 degrees turning and the driver verbally commands how many clicks needed. Again laser maps the path and tactile map helps blind on the way. This car is on progress.




VIA [MachineDesign]

PanorEmo

As I prompted here, measuring emotions is always a big issue when we are about to define a project involving users emotionally or improve the environment or product emotionally. PanorEmo is a tool to understand emotional reactions of the users to the environment that is captured in a panorama 360 view. Exploring this virtual space, users pin-point different characters - representing different emotions - to different places of the environment. Emotional characters have relevant sound for better expression and users write "why" they felt such so for each of them. Clustering of emotional characters indicates places of the environment that you have to take care of. Using PanorEmo is easy, you can try it for yourself here.

Climate Change

What I'm offering to you is that try googling "climate change" and checking the first few results. it is said:" Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years". And we are warned that:" Increasing greenhouse gas emissions are behind the rapid changes we see in our climate. The results could be catastrophic for people and nature alike." So? Take an Action via: Blog Action Day

Capsule endoscopy

Capsule endoscopy is a new term in medicine attempting to replace those long hoses!, pushing and pulling and ... . Although I wish you would never experience any method of endoscopy but at Vanderbilt a new capsule endoscopy introduced which is quite different and it is leggy kind! 11 by 25 mm, 12-legged, 2-engined! Check the CAD simulation here. Brainstorm the alternative ways, this is why you are reading this.

E Ink

it is really a broad issue to cover in a single post but this news caught my attention that finally we will see some paper with moving pictures and ads. Kindle was one of the first products using such EPDs(Electronic Paper Display), which is simply! a mix of e Ink and flexible displays (check popular products like this here). I am seeing the time that, as soon as we open a sci-fi book (you say it Harry Potter-ian kind), we will be taken into the world of multisensorized world. Video-in-Print by Americhip, could be the first generation of such multisensorized products. Don't miss the future!

Makrolon®

Makrolon® is the high-tech polycarbonate from Bayer MaterialScience. It is used in different products and places, from water bottles to roofing and glazing. Let's have a look at this special modern material thru some case study. Helmets made of this material are: fracture-proof and do not splinter. 100% UV screening (up to 400 nm), with outstanding mechanical strength at the same time. scratch-resistantand anti-fog. and the surprise's that Makrolon® LQ 3187 withstands steel balls traveling at 420 km/h without suffering any damag! So, be safe and look good.

WIDD '09

poster designed by Carla Sapiain

Here comes again the World Industrial Design Day, in 2009. Congrats. to all who care about design and to all who've come to this understanding of Design vital role in the world today.

This year's theme: 'Industrial Design: the product of human creativity'

Check the events of this day worldwide, here.
The poster I designed last year for WIDD, here.
And some pics I took of WIDD '08 in Iran, Tehran, here.

Let us know how you celebrate WIDD in your country.

Swedish Design Exhibition in Tehran | pictorial report |

Between 11th and 27th of June, 10 design students from Sweden exhibit Swedish contemporary design in Tehran. I had a visit from the exhibition and took some pictures to share with you.

copyright| all the rights of these pictures are reserved to Majid Dadgar and "once upon a time Design" blog. You are free to share the pics if only referring to the photographer or reference blog |

Measuring Emotion

Emotions are fuzzy but so vital in design. So to understand these emotional responses of the users, there should be some ways.

PrEmo helps us to measure the emotional experience of the product, service, environment or statement. Instead of relying on the use of words, respondents can report their emotions with the use of expressive cartoon animations. Each of the 12 measured emotions is portrayed by an animation of dynamic facial, bodily, and vocal expressions. Check the Quick tour and key benefits.

LEM is a scientifically validated cartoon character that expresses a set of eight specific emotions. You can use LEM emotions stickers to apply this method. There could different applications of evaluating different things, from products to magazines.