This one’s dedicated to all the students working on their final thesis or senior project. It shows the suffering on deadlines, doubts and dreads that artists and designers have to fight against while trying to finish their work.

Bang-yao Liu, a student from the Savannah College of Art and Design made it subject to his senior project. For him post-it notes were the real enemies in his work.

This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its.

So if you are suffering too much make it topic of your thesis to deal with your psychological creativity blocades before you enter real life. Interesting is also the making-of movie.
Found via Wooster Collective.

This post is available in German only – in case of sincere interest, please use the translating service on bottom of the post.

Endlich ist es da – ein Regalsystem, auf das ich schon lange gewartet habe: es ist modular, flexibel kombinierbar und schaut nicht so gleichförmig aus, wie zum Beispiel ein 606 von Rams. CUBIT (so heißt das Regal, welches man im Übrigen aber auch zum Schreibtischbau verwenden kann) lässt sich so kombinieren, wie man es gerade will.

Erfunden haben es Malte, Minou und Thomas und liefern auch gleich die Geschichte dazu. Ein weiterer Clou, wie ich finde, ist, dass – obwohl das ganze System in Kombination eine hervorragende Ästhetik aufweist und obendrein dem modernen “Prosumer” genug Raum lässt, um sich selbst in seinem neuen Möbel gestalterisch zu verwirklichen – CUBIT nicht viel kostet: das kleine CD-Modul beispielsweise gibt es schon für 16 Euro.

Zusammen gehalten werden die scheinbar lose aufeinander stehenden Elemente übrigens mittels einer doppelwändigen Rückwand und einem patentierten Stecksystem. Und wenn man umzieht, nimmt man die Kästen samt Inhalt einfach mit. Supersache!

Foto: CUBIT

Geruchsexpertin Sissel Tolaas

Vom 24. bis 25. Juni 2009 findet in Berlin eine Veranstaltung statt, die sich mit den 5 Sinnen beschäftigt: das 5 GUM Vision Lab. Jeder Sinn wird von einem Experten repräsentiert. LOOK von der Modedesignerin Eley Kishimoto, HEAR vom Produzenten und DJ Ewan Pearson, SMELL von der Geruchstforscherin Sissel Tolaas, TASTE von der Molekularköchin Telse Bus, TOUCH wird repräsentiert von den Objektdesignerinnen von FRONT. Kurator ist Holm Friebe. Jeder Experte hält einen Vortrag und leitet einen Workshop.

Teilnehmen können allerdings nur diejenigen, die sich bis zum 31. Mai mit außergewöhnlichen Projekten rund um die 5 Sinne bewerben und unter den besten 10 Projekten landen. Dem Gewinner winken zusätzlich 10,000 Euro. Initiiert wird der Wettbewerb von Wrigley, die im Juni ein neues Kaugummi launchen, eben das “5 GUM”. Ein aufwendig geplantes und inhaltlich viel versprechendes Projekt – ein Besuch der Website lohnt sich. Alleine um Ideen und Impressionen rund um die fünf Sinne zu gewinnen.

Sustainable Personal Mobility and Mobility-on-Demand Systems (SPM/MoD), submitted by an interdisciplinary team of students at MIT has been selected as the winner of the prestigious 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. The team will receive a $100,000 prize at a conferring ceremony on June 6th, 2009 at 2pm at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago followed by a reception and celebration featuring a presentation by design innovator Bruce Mau.

Given the nature of the crises we are facing, from climate change to economic collapse, what is important is to demonstrate that the approach to design and problem solving at the core of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge – while always thinking big – has the potential to bring about changes in the near-term. The winning project is a perfect example of the kind of radical, transformative change that is possible when we reconceive the old ways of doing things and take a systems-based approach to design,” said The Buckminster Fuller Challenge jurors in a statement about their decision. “SPM/MoD isn’t just about the design of these lightweight, highly efficient, electric vehicles, it is about inserting that technological innovation into the social and cultural environment and designing an intuitive system within which they function.

To learn more about the winning strategy, visit: http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2009

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge from Buckminster Fuller Institute on Vimeo.

Marco Siebertz and a guest in front of the 100 CUPS. Photo: Carsten Fork

Last Sunday the exhibition “100 CUPS” as part of the “new talents 2008 – the junge biennale koeln” closed its doors. Marco Siebertz must have been happy with the result of those 9 days in the Cologne docklands “Rheinauhafen”. Especially on the weekends hundreds of visitors strolled in and got fascinated by the 100 paper cups that strung orderly on the CUPboard.

The designer, who was invited to show his talent on this new interdisciplinary biennale, is interested in objects of everyday life and was always wondering where all those paper cup come from and why it is such a growing trend. Involving the psychologist Darina Barooah, he did an analysis about the social implications of “paper cupping”. He found out that the paper cup e.g. is a strong symbol for our performance society: “The cup is a strong symbol. It says: look here! I got not time to sit and relax in a café. I’m already heading towards my next appointment. I’m important.” Moreover Marco Siebertz thinks that the paper cup will be an ersatz (replacement) for the more and more outlawed cigarette. “There are certain similarities in the attributes: as a cigarette, the Coffee To Go is made of paper, becomes warm, it gives you access to a druglike substance, you can grab hold of it and most important: you can suck it!”

As the design researcher did not want to strain the visitors with too much analytical input, he decided to give the exhibition a visual centre that was meant to attract interest to the visitors – what it did indeed! Siebertz produced 100 variations of paper cups that partly refered to the analytical part, but also where connected to completely different (e.g. political or social) contexts. Those mostly satirical designs opened the chance to the viewer spending more time with an object that is usually a mere transient good: you drink the coffee and throw it away.

Some CUPS: the LoC(k)-UP, War-on-Terror-CUP, Social-CUP, Free CUP and Tele-CUP - Photo: Carsten Fork

There is for example the ”Hurry-(C)UP” – a paper cup with a hole at the lower part that is closed by a removable strip. When you follow the instructions saying “open here” and you remove the strip there’s not much time left to empty the cup without spilling most of your coffee. “This cup is a reference to our accelerated lifestyle”, says the designer. Or there is the “Pay-Attention-CUP” which has ten holes that the user has to concentrated upon keeping them closed with his fingers for not pouring the coffee.”T(w)o-Coffee-Go” however is a more satirical one: two cups with legs that walk together.

A bit sterile, but chique: the freshly inaugurated Rheinauhafen. - Photo: Carsten Fork

The exhibition received a lot of feedback. Many visitors drafted and designed their own ideas on blank paper cups, newspapers reported about it, e.g. the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger“, newspaper of the Cologne region. As also many asked for pictures of the exhibition, ROGER LiVE will continue publishing one cup a day from the exhibition.

A big thank you goes to Carsten Fork for providing the pictures. There is also an audio guide description in German that explains the exhibition.

Guter Konsum – böser Konsum

David Carlson has been working with design as a competitive weapon for twenty years. With design as an added value the Swedish designer helps his assigners create attractive brands ready for the challenges of the future. His assigners include Absolut, Level Vodka and Sony Ericsson to mention a few.

Since 2005 Carlson is sharing his thoughts on design in a quaterly report, called the »David Report«. The latest issue »I shop therefore I am« is about our consumption. Sponsor is the vodka brand »Absolute« from Sweden. The report consist of his thoughts and insights on consumption and also has an interview with Mathilde Tham, a professor of Beckmans College of Design and features Kristina Dryza, a trend forecaster and Sante Poroma, a Zen teacher from Stockholm.

[…] maybe it’s time to divide our consumption into good and bad consumption? […] we do have the opportunity to, through our consumption and our choices, create a better world (one mustn’t forget that the power of the consumer is enormous). It is all about WHAT Continue Reading »

There is a lot of »Liechtenstein« in the media these days, because Klaus Zumwinkel, CEO of Deutsche Post, brought millions of Euros to »LGT«, the bank of the sovereign family of Liechtenstein. All this wouldn’t be a problem would Zumwinkel, who was boss of the German post for 18 years, would have paid taxes for those millions. Zumwinkel was arrested on Thursday morning in his house in Cologne and set free later in the day by paying a bail. On Friday Deutsche Post announced that Zumwinkel steps down as CEO and also as member of the advisory board of Deutsche Telekom and Postbank.

In a James-Bond-like manner the German secret service bought thousands of files from an whistle-blower for around 5 million Euros. Those data carry information about customers of two Liechtenstein banks that illegally Continue Reading »

The thrill grows after the opening band “The Kilians” finished its set. It was a perfect entry – but perfection is not what the crowd is waiting for. Everyone is waiting for Pete Doherty and his band to enter stage. The excitement is so hight as it is never quite sure if Babyshambles can really make it to the show. But on Wednesday night in the Columbiahalle in Berlin everything is going to be fine. After having some pyhsical problems (probably the stomach…) in Cologne the day before that lead to quite an early finish after not even an hour, Pete Doherty gave everything in Berlin – he was Continue Reading »

It is always a special occasion when Cosmit, the company behind the Salone Internazionale del Mobile (the Milan Furniture Fair), enters the lion’s den and invites to an opulent dinner in the week of the Cologne Furniture Fair (IMM). Self-confidently the Salone shows its biggest competitor that Italians offer the better hospitality. This year the Italian furniture fair invited for a panel discussion showing Paul-Bernd Berger, a furniture and design marketing and sales expert, Ralf Raimo Jung, journalist and film producer, Stefan Diez, an new star on the German design scene and – tataahhh! – Richard Sapper – one of the old school of Italian designers with cult status. Munich-born Sapper started his career at Mercedes-Benz and went on working for names like Gio Ponti, Zanuso, Kartell, Fiat, Pirelle, IBM, Artemide or Alessi. Numerous products he designed can be found in the MoMA in New York.

Of course the subject was about design in Italy and also of course it was mainly the star – Richard Sapper – who had the lead. He gave away some amusing experiences he had in his career. For example a story from Continue Reading »

Admittedly it is always complicated to describe more or less abstract objects visually. And it is hard to combine arts and industry. When done so, many people understand the outcome as »design«. So it happened with the Audi design award for the eastern region of Germany where the task was to create a sculpture.

From three design schools – the Hochschule Wismar, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau – only 8 concepts participated. A rather small competition. Task was to create a sculpture that is connected to the Corporate Design of Audi. The winner sculpture would be handed out on special occasions of Audi in the eastern region (of Germany – yes it is still in the heads…).

Winner of the competition with a prize money of 2.000 Euros is Sandra Huxoll. Not her fault is the wish-wash statement of the jury: »The design convinced the jury by its modern and at the same time timeless style. The model has a high design Continue Reading »