Yves Behar is a household name when it comes to Industrial Design and is synonymous with socially responsible design. He is the founder of the ID firm Fuseproject with offices in San Francisco and New York. Yves Behar is known for, among other things, the One Laptop for Every Child campaign and the New York City Condom campaign.
I had the pleasure of hearing Yves Behar speak at last year's Greener Gadgets Conference in Manhattan. The theme of the conference was sustainable and social design and challenged designers to think about the products they design on higher levels.
Fuseproject has teamed up with GE to develop the WattStation. It is a charging station for electric vehicles that aimes to blend into the lanscape that it is placed into. It's design is minimal with the focus on the details and the user interaction. The WattStation is very iconic and will be embedded into GE's smart power grid. GE is planning to install these all over the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Furniture is an arm of product design that has always fascinated me. Designers can be extremely creative with it and do not have to deal with as many constraints as other forms of design. Two classmates and I designed and built a chair with a detachable ottoman my sophomore year of design school and had a blast doing it. After countless hours in the wood shop, we found ourselves with a piece of furniture that we were very proud of. J. Rusten Furniture Studio in San Francisco has taken furniture to the next level with the California Desk.
The desk screams California pride and is constructed from salvaged Claro walnut. The beautiful wavy grain of the wood compliments the asymmetrical California coast line.
For more information, check out J. Rusten. If I ever open my own design firm, this would be my conference table.
A lot of what I do for my current company is design promotional products for various companies. These are some renders I did a while back for the pasta company Bertolli. Bertolli was a Unilever brand, but it was sold off in 2008. The most important aspect of designing promotional products (I think) is logo placement.
Stainless Steel Salt and Pepper Shakers
Combination Cookbook Holder/Kitchen Timer
Pasta Container with Measuring Cap
Kitchen Timer
Oil Cruet
Pasta Server with Epoxy Dome Branding
Cheese Grater (my personal favorite :))
These renders were all modeled in Solidworks and rendered in Hypershot.
I first learned about Spencer Nugent at the 2009 IDSA Western District Conference in Santa Monica, CA. During the conference, he did a presentation and tutorial on sketching for Industrial Designers. It was the most clear and informative presentation about sketching I had ever seen. It just made sense. As an Industrial Designer, I know that sketching can be kind of a touchy topic because of all the techniques, variations, and alternatives to it with technology. No tool in a designer's tool box is as important as the ability to quickly and clearly display ideas and concepts on paper to everybody involved in the product development process. I've always struggled to keep my sketching skills sharp and current.
Spencer has created a website, IDSKETCHING.com, that is a one stop shop for everything about sketching for Industrial Designers. His video demos continue to help my sketching develop and I recommend it to all designers.
I had the pleasure to interview Spencer Nugent about himself and his site. Spencer and his business partner, John Muhlenkamp (also involved with IDSKETCHING.com), have launched their own design firm in the Sacramento area called studio tminus. Spencer studied Industrial Design at Brigham Young University and interned with General Motors and Astro Studios.
?: When did you first learn about Industrial Design?
Spencer: I first learned about Industrial Design from a friend in college whilst I was studying to be a Math Professor. He told me what he did for his major and I was intrigued by his sketches and models he had done for projects.
?: What made you pursue a career in Industrial Design?
Spencer: I guess I've always had an interest in technical things - how things are put together, why they work the way they work etc. I also have always had an artistic side as well. My father painted recreationally, and I was constantly exposed to the arts. So, when I was told about ID, everything seemed to click for me. It all made sense - using technical skill and thinking with creative more artistic thinking.
Intel Juice Concept by Spencer Nugent
?: Where has the world of Industrial Design taken you (literally and figuratively)?
Spencer: Mmmmmm ID has taken me many places literally. I've been to several states, and even as far as China for manufacturing purposes. I think more so however, ID and my related pursuits have allowed me to meet many influential people and spread good will amongst my peers.
?: Has your background in ID enabled you to be creative in other ways?
Spencer: I certainly enjoy dabbling in new things. I think being trained in ID has allowed me to definitely be a more creative thinker, and I always try to take a fresh look at that which is familiar to me. I was trained in the school of thought of just trying "it" and seeing what happens, so in that sense, I've been able to dabble in a a lot of things - illustration, web design, video editing, and web coding.
Spencer:IDSKETCHING.com was created in an effort to provide some decent quality tutorials for free to those trying to improve their skills. I saw a youtube video online once of a car sketch and it was horrible, so I thought hey, I can do better than this, and if I do it , I'm going to do it right. SO I hunkered down, learned html, php, javascript and css and built the site from scratch. It was tough - I spent many a night up until 4am coding away and editing video.
?: What is your favorite/most rewarding part of the blog?
Spencer: I think the best part of having IDSKETCHING.com has been receiving emails from people who visit the site and have benefitted from it. Nothing beats a thank you after spending so much time building this is a resource. I also quite enjoy traveling and doing workshops or working sessions with others on site.
The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego is hosting a street art exhibition in the Jacobs Building in downtown San Diego. The exhibit features gallery works and examples of street art throughout the downtown San Diego area.
Artists include: Akay (Sweden), Banksy (U.K.), Blu (Italy), Mark Bradford (U.S.), William Cordova (U.S.), Date Farmers (U.S.), Stephan Doitschinoff [CALMA] (Brazil), Dr. Lakra (Mexico), Dzine (U.S.), David Ellis (U.S.), FAILE (U.S.), Shepard Fairey (U.S.), Invader (France), JR (France), Barry McGee (U.S.), Ryan McGinness (U.S.), Moris (Mexico), Os Gemeos (Brazil), Swoon (U.S.), and Vhils (Portugal).
The opening reception is on Saturday, July 17th from 7-10 PM.
I'm totally going to check this out. It features some of my favorite contemporary street artists.
