Thursday

Beijing Olympic Torch




It's been always amazing for me to see how and why olympic torches are designed. Well, the upcoming Beijing olympic torch was designed by Lenovo (PC company!!) chosen among 300 competitor themes under the title of "Cloud of Promise", Resembling an ancient scroll and featuring "lucky cloud", and it took Lenovo 10 months to design it. It's made of polished aluminum-magnesium alloy. Material plays major role in this torch, esp. coated rubber-based paint of the handle to emulate sensation of one hand holding another. Each Olympic Torch keeps stories, history, traditions of its time and host, manifested in forms, colors, symbols and materials.

Thinnovation



Every Design by Apple is a unique phenomenon to be considered. MacBook air is one of the Apple masterpieces. this "i-" added culture of Apple (pay close attention to "Built-in iSight camera" in MacBook Air, which is really smart) is really innovative and thoughtful. I believe that people in Apple largely stick to their promise to Think Different and this is why a mobile phone is born like "iPhone" and this new laptop computer is launched like non of its predecessors. even the way they wear those simple black t-shirts, this all means, Corporate Identity.

Sunday

Tribute to Sottsass


Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) was one of the first names I heard when started getting familiar with IDesign. He was like a grandfather for ID and would always keep his own room in the world of Design as long as Aesthetics and struggle for spreading beauty do matter. Olivetti typewriter and Memphis Group respectively pushed Product Design and Design Thinking one step further. He says:" If today somebody comes to me for a new lighting fixture, we will work on it for at least 2-3 months, there was a time when I would have known at once, what this fixture should look like ... today I am not sure I know what to do and in which style to work ... the relationship with the public which is going to use the product has grown so complex ... that I simply don't know how to touch people I am not familiar with ... "

Thursday

Feng Shui


Feng Shui (Wind Water), ancient Chinese metaphysical discipline that studies how mankind is affected, for better or for worst, by the environment. it is the art of achieving harmony through your surroundings. See it if you can learn Feng Shui? and check out one of the heroes of this art. if it deals with emotion, then it would be appealing. These are five elements in Feng Shui. and if you want to consider Feng Shui practically in design, have a look at these great beautiful architectures. Its a nice oriental philosophy to put in design thinking and solutions.