10/GUI aims to bridge this gap by rethinking the desktop to leverage technology in an intuitive and powerful way. Over a quarter-century ago, Xerox introduced the modern graphical user interface paradigm we today take for granted. That it has endured is a testament to the genius of its design. But the industry is now at a crossroads: New technologies promise higher-bandwidth interaction, but have yet to find a truly viable implementation. 10/GUI aims to bridge this gap by rethinking the desktop to leverage technology in an intuitive and powerful way.

I was pretty impressed at the original OLPC (One lap top per child) when it was first introduced a couple of years back and what it currently is, yes they had some issues to keep the price point at what they had originally promised (sub $100 laptop), etc etc. Even with all the issues it had in development they still delivered something worthwhile that stands for something greater than the bottom line (profit). Now comes the next iteration of OLPC designer Yves Behar has unveiled his latest concept design for the now-aiming-for-$75 vision, and it’s all screen. Keeping with the newfound trend toward tablets, the XO-3 is an 8.5 x 11 touchscreen, coupled with a little folding ring in the corner for grip and a camera in the back. To keep things minimal the plan is to use Palm Pre-style induction charging, and less than a watt of power to keep an “8 gigaherz [sic]” (800MHz?) processor and a Pixel Qi screen powered. At half the thickness of an iPhone, this vision is obviously banking heavily on presumed technology advances by 2012 (the projected release date). WOW can’t wait to get my hands on this I’d buy 3 in an instant and 1 for my mum.

Another bloody illustrator that’s doing some pretty neat work. The super clean and simple style is starting to become a trend or vice versa, similar artists that has the same “style” and some of my favourites are James Joyce, Anthony Burill, Geoff Mcfetridge and the grand father of them all Peter Grundini the list goes on and on. Love it tho have always been a fan of the flat look, you can’t go wrong.

Sanna Annukka who I’ve had the pleasure to work with in the past has updated her site. Very unique and distinct illustration style. Beautiful…

Mark Coleran’s work in motion graphics has included television show titles and branding through to his specialist area; the design, creation and animation of fantasy user interfaces for film. “Fantasy User Interface” like the sound of that…. I guess there’s no need for a sitemap on his end, looking at the frames a lot are just eye candy buttons, lorem ipsum text…. ha nice…

An interesting concept: Eko light is a simple yet, highly practical concept for traffic lights that not only helps preserve the environment by reducing pollution but promotes safer driving as well. Eko can be easily installed onto existing traffic light systems without much effort while significantly improving overall traffic dynamics.

One benefit being touted by the designer Damjan Stankovic:  “Less stress Since you know exactly how long you have to wait you can sit back and clear your head for a while. No need to keep your foot on the gas. Relax. Less pollution. Drivers can turn their engines off and cut carbon emissions while waiting for the green light. Less fuel consumption Turning off your vehicle while waiting on the traffic light can lower fuel consumption in the long run. Safer driving – With the Eko light both drivers and pedestrians can be fully aware of how much time they have left before the light changes and that way reduce the chance for potential traffic accidents”I personally see these lights as a count down to jump the lights and anticipate the green light, and race the mum in her mini-van next to you.

Generative identity software for COP15 the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen in 2009. The software adds dynamic, real-time movement to the logo and takes the rigid grid of the logo and animates it with a series of parameters like flocking and flow fields. The animation software is customizable to render out a large variety of styles and moods in formats useable for broadcast HD-TV and vector-graphics for printed media.

Created using “Processing” an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool.

Amazing identity but…..The question is, will this absence of designer intuition and personal taste remove the heart and soul from design???

Litl is an innovative new web computer, or webbook, that marries the communication functions of a laptop and TV. Small, portable, and equally at home on a kitchen countertop or a living-room coffee table, the webbook is designed for families with multiple users who like to keep in touch and socialize. Litl is always connected to the web (with access to Wi-Fi) and flips upright like an easel for TV-like viewing of photos and video. It has no hard drive, files or applications of its own, but instead runs on the “cloud,” using web-based applications like webmail, Google, Flickr and Facebook. The Litl webbook can be used in two configurations: like a traditional laptop, with full keyboard, used to surf the Web; or flipped upright, like an easel or picture frame, for broadcast of photo and video. The laptop configuration has been conceived as a “lean forward” mode, for active participation; the easel configuration conceived as “lean back,” for watching. (The laptop was designed by Yves Behar at Fuseproject.)

Pentagram developed an interface that creates a continuous experience between different user modes. The GUI is based on a series of “cards,” each card functioning like a tab in an open browser window. In the laptop configuration, these cards can appear arranged on the screen like thumbnails, or opened up one at a time in full screen; in the easel/broadcast configuration, the cards appear as a stack and can be selected or “tuned in” like a channel.

The cards function like different applications or widgets. Each card is devoted to a different use: one tuned to Facebook, one to Flickr, one to the Weather Channel, one to the time, etc. We worked on the customized visualization of data for several of these cards, including the weather and alarm clock. The cards are color-coded: black for the widgets, or “channels”; white for web browsers; and blue for “permanent” cards for the Litl’s users, photos of family and friends or personal settings. In the Web navigation mode, the screen accommodates 12 of the cards at a time, set up like thumbnails. (More can be opened and scrolled through, using the blue ring on the laptop’s hinge.) In broadcast mode, with Litl functioning like a TV or viewing screen, the cards become a stack of larger windows that can be flipped through and selected to fill the whole screen. Litl features an unusual, TV-like 178-degree viewing “cone” that allows a group of users to see the screen at once, and the webbook can be hooked up to a hi-def televisions to view images or video. (post from pentagram).

Also check out the essays written about their thinking and process, nice for them to share. Philosophy, software, hardware.

Trans-continental exploration of the notion of advertising in context, and its interplay with a specific environment. Locations: Place de la Concorde, Pont Alexandre III, Paris. Sai Yeung Choi South street & Shantung street, Hong Kong. Lafayette Street & Kenmare Street, Grand Central Station, New York. Campaign by Petronio Associates

As the decade comes to a close, we’re seeing a bevy of real and mythical devices bent on saving main stream media through the execution of a variety of proposed content partnerships. Unfortunately, it’s still hard to imagine how all this will play out in reality. That’s where slickly produced concepts can be of benefit. Like this one from the R&D wing of Bonnier, the publisher of Popular Science magazine among others. While the concept still treats electronic magazines as periodic issues, the interaction is entirely new and immersive compared to their printed forms. Interestingly enough, our future is ad free if the video (and not Google) is to be believed. Compelling stuff and a possible glimpse at our not too distant future. WOW! The heated mode is fucking awesome!…..

From Bonnier: “The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories. The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming”.

It’s different but not sure i’m a fan of the crazy beveled 3d high gloss espn like interface here, looks very gimmicky to me, but hey I have to give credit where it’s due, without teams developing crazy shit like this even tho I’m not a fan of it, this becomes an inspiration for someone else that eventually leads to the evolution of the mobile interface and more, it’s all part of the “process”.  The motion/design reminds me a lot of Yugo Nakumura’s work on wonderwall website.

Everyone should know who this guy is but for those who don’t shame on you. My man Dieter Rams…  Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design? As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design.

1. Good Design Is Innovative: The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

2. Good design makes a product useful: A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

3. Good design is aesthetic: The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

4. Good design makes a product understandable: It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

5. Good design is unobtrusive: Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

6. Good design is honest: It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

7. Good design is long-lasting: It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail: Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

9. Good design is environmentally-friendly: Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

10. Good design is as little design as possible: Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.

I think no matter what “type” of design you are doing whether it’s a new brand to the form and shape of a product to the interaction/interface model, design is the process in which the problem can be solved successfully. One of my mentors had this to say in regards to design “The truly brilliant ‘designers’ are not specialists. They blur boundaries very, very effectively and can speak to the idea of design in a 360-degree realm successfully. This isn’t to say that specialization is dead, but even as a specialist, if you can’t decipher the other design dialects, you’ll never achieve truly transcendent ideas.” that’s my philosophy in everything I do.

(Less and More, Dieter Rams’ retrospective at the London Design Museum 18 November 2009 to 7 March 2009)

Rocker a universal attachment to turn almost any four-legged chair into a real rocking chair. By Oooms

Radical teaser concept could pave the way for a 21st-century Mini Moke perfect for Australian lifestyles. Memories of the door-less Mini Moke will be revived at January’s Detroit motor show with this radical Mini concept. This Beachcomber show car mimics the open-body style of the Moke, as well as the Jeep Wrangler, and is the latest precursor to what will become the Mini brand’s most dramatic variant under BMW ownership – a compact 4WD that will go on sale in late 2010.

Unlike the front-drive Moke that was even built in Australia from the late ’60s until 1982, the Beachcomber uses the all-wheel-drive system that will be employed by the Mini soft-roader expected to be called Countryman or Crossman. The Beachcomber’s grille design also makes a nod to the Moke, while the tough off-road look is aided by an elevated ride height and 17-inch wheels wrapped in chunky off-road rubber and housed in bulky wheel-arches. more over at sydney morning herald.

With just once quick glance you know that it’s a mini, love that about it, kept true to the overall brand design aethetics of mini whilst still keeping up with the concept of the “beachcomber”.

Le Creative Sweatshop is the result of the encounter between Ndeur and Make a Paper World in January 2009: a conceptual agency based of modern communication means and mediums, through the lens of the DIY culture, working on volume and space scenography. love it.