Archives

Archive for April, 2006

Bauhaus by Frank Whitford (world of art)

In this ‘world of art’ series from Thames and Hudson, Frank Whitford takes a look into the history of the Bauhaus. The book starts at the Bauhaus’ inception in 1919 and ends soon after the close of the Bauhaus in 1933.
This short book seems like the perfect introduction to the Bauhaus, and within the week […]

The Driveway Conundrum

driveway

Generally speaking I walk past this driveway on the way to and from work. I always find it fairly strange how these people managed to build this driveway without wondering how they get into their house.
The driveway is large enough to park two cars with a nice bit of room to get in and out […]

The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman

The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Beating The Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organisation, by Tom Kelley and with Jonathan Littman.
IDEO are world leaders in their field. They are essentially an Industrial Design Consultancy with numerous offices worldwide and have a unique view on how to solve real world problems with […]

IDEO Method Cards

IDEO Method Cards

These are the latest addition to my design book collection. They were posted on the 13th in California and arrived at my door on the 19th.

Toolbars and Templates, Working Quicker With Rhinoceros 3D

For the past year I have been using Rhino (Rhinoceros 3D) at work and for a further three years before that, and I am only just starting to realise some of the key things which should be addressed quickly to make sure you can work quicker and therefore cram more work into a shorter period […]

Clifton Crossing Competition 2006

A little while ago an email spun around the office asking if there was anyone interested in taking part in the “Clifton Crossing Competition 2006.” As I don’t really know much about bridge design I thought this would be a great chance for me to take part in the designing of a bridge. I hoped […]

Not This Year

After applying to the Royal College of Art’s Industrial Design Engineering Masters Degree in January and an interview at the end of March, a letter arrived through the post on Tuesday of this week informing me that I will not be accepted to this years course admissions.
It’s unfortunate to recieve the letter after waiting so […]

IDEO Innovate With Method Cards, Arup Create Drivers of Change 2006

I happened to glimpse upon an article yesterday evening “Arup Joins IDEO with Cards for Innovation” over at Bruce Nussbaum’s Design Blog (Businessweek.com).

The article explains that Arup, a leading engineering firm, have launched their “Drivers of Change 2006” series of 50 cards and made them available to the public for the reasonable price of £19.95. […]

Modernism Exhibition At The V&A

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to have a look at the newly opened Modernism exhibition. Apart from being packed full of people, the exhibition was a great chance to learn more about modernism in a very visual and friendly environment. The whole exhibition took us around […]

IDSA - Design Questions

Ok, so it’s been a while since i visited the front page of the IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) website, but then since i am not a member and I don’t reside within the USA I cannot become one, i don’t think it’s such a bad thing. But anyway, i came across the Innovation […]

The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life

The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Benjamin and Rosamund Stone Zander is the latest paper based factual adventure that I have partaken in. The reccomendation for this book came through Tom Kelley who mentioned one of the chapters within his book “The Art of Innovation.” After becoming intrigued within the type […]

Multi Means Two

My impression from some of my colleagues is that Multi actually means Two.
I think that when a few engineers think of multi-disciplinary teams, they think about crossing the boundaries between disciplines between structural engineering and building services engineering. I think this might be because of the way that they have been brought up within the […]

Selling Yourself

I have been thinking over the last few days about how a designer can improve his or her chances of being accepted for a job interview. One of the key things I think that is important, apart from the Portfolio, is the Cover Letter.
“Of course,” I hear you chanting by the thousands, but I was […]

People Motivation

I have read an article in Business Week recently titled “Keeping Your People Pumped.” It’s writted by Jack and Suzy Welch and they have some great points to make. Within the article, they cite that there are four important factors to keep you motivated within the workplace, aside from financial.
Recognition
Celebration
A Clear Mission
Balancing Achievement and Challenge.
Recently, […]