In Dublin, nature meets future – an excellent basis for sustainable design, Dublin, with its visionary talents across all fields of design is growing the potential to be a model for a bridging cultures and connecting the world by design.

- Prof. H.c. Helmut Langer, Past President International Council of Graphic Design Associations

DUBLIN’S BID FOR WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL 2014

Rising to several centimetres thickness, each copy bearing one of 30 different covers submitted by 30 different designers, comprising a staggering 416 pages of dense research and vivid imagery and accompanied by a specially made film – Dublin’s bid for World Design Capital was submitted for the end of March deadline to the competition agency ICSID. Entitled “PIVOT Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out”, the bid celebrates ambiguity, diversity and difference.

Dublin is a paradox (…) it is not about dour perfection or monotony. It’s about everything that’s possible when people, relationships, creativity and culture collide.

The bid is a collaboration between the four Dublin Municipal Authorities and has National Government support. Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny, considers participation in the World Design Capital project a significant contribution to his Government’s ambitions for Ireland as a creative and innovative economy: In his letter of support for Dublin’s bid he says “this designation if awarded would provide a valuable opportunity for us to showcase Irelands vibrant design and creative industries while the invigoration provided by the proposed programme of events and projects would bring a renewed excitement and vibrancy to the city building on our experiences as City of Science 2012”.

The design and delivery of the bid document and associated film was undertaken by an interdisciplinary consortium of Red & Grey Design; Emma Curley Architect and Areaman Productions (film). Using material gathered from a year of exploratory workshops and conversations facilitated by the co-ordination team led by the Dublin City Architect, they have produced a document that arguably represents the most comprehensive research into a wider Irish design culture since the pioneering report Design in Ireland, which led to the establishment of the Kilkenny Design workshop in 1965. It is hoped that Dublin’s bid will act as a similar catalyst towards developing a shared understanding of the benefits design thinking can bring to economic, environmental, social and political challenges.

This ambition is encapsulated in the bid title ‘PIVOT Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out’ a response to Dublin’s unleashed potential to use design as the vehicle to turn things inside out; to adapt, innovate and grow. A key strength in Dublin’s bid lies in its diversity. Alongside the more established design disciplines such as product, craft, fashion and graphic design, it features architecture and urban design, as well as the new digital design cultures and reflects Ireland’s recent success in animation, film and the gaming industry. Overwhelmed by a plethora of design events that take place in the city, the biggest challenge for the bid team was in the editing of the information. To tell Dublin’s story, the team focused on a few key projects that have transformed the city – including the landmark new bridges that link north and south along the River Liffey, the community connections made by the Special Olympics in 2003, and the international outreach of a Digital Hub project that redesigns computers for schools in Africa.

The Pivot Dublin bid strategy identifies an opportunity to use Dublin as a test bed for new ideas which address local need yet have global relevance. The bid explores these challenges and opportunities under four themes, which represent issues that face all cities; ‘Connecting Cities, ‘Making Cities Lighter’, ‘Making Cities Flow’; and ‘Making Cities Smile’. These themes are being explored through the development of ‘seed’ project collaborations between the public sector, business and design communities. Central to the bid strategy is that the seed projects start in as soon as the bid is submitted and this work is now underway.

The PIVOT Dublin team hopes that the bid will convince an international audience that Dublin is a repository of much talent and a solid tradition of great Irish design. Above all, the bid conveys what a “cool city” Dublin is. Perhaps it does not tell a conventional story but it’s a fascinating one – a story about a very sociable city for an extraordinary design experience. The Dublin design community agrees; as is evident in this testimonial by graphic designer David Smith of Atelier, the first Irish Designer to be elected to the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale):

That is what I would love to emerge from it; the legacy. That we use design to make a difference. If that came out of it at the end – win, lose or fail – that would be the best thing that we could have gotten for our city and the bid certainly presents that opportunity.

More information on Dublin’s bid for World Design Capital 2014, is available from www.pivotdublin.com

I have always loved minimalist design. It has a beauty about its simple forms and clear lines that appeal to me. I came across this bin design by Grace Youngeun Lee and I liked it so much I began to visualize where I would put her design in my own home. That’s when I began to run into trouble. I live in your average apartment with the standard features, two bedroom, kitchen / living room combo, bathroom. Even though I thought the design was beautiful, I could not think of one place I could put such a distinctive item. It hadn’t really occurred to me before, that all the minimalistic items I love so much would struggle to work in your average home. The qualities that make the design striking cause it to sit uneasily in a mainstream context. Its clean aesthetics clash with your standard mass-produced product.

Does this mean a minimalist design can only work when surrounded by other minimalist products? Or the opposite, a lack of other products and just shear, clean space that allows it to be appreciated for its aesthetic beauty? If this is the case, where is the line drawn for its range of influence? Is the only true home of a minimal piece a modern residence, where clean lines and crisp aesthetics were at the front of the architects mind?

Perhaps the piece is intended to sit in contrast with the relative chaos of mass production? That this contrast serves to highlight its simple beauty.

I guess until I can figure out where to put my beloved Grace Youngeun Lee bin, I’ll just have to stick with my mass produced swing top. Function over form anyway, right?

However, the words of Jonathan Ive, from a recent and rare public appearance beg repeating to organisations of any size:

Ive also had bad news for anyone looking to foster a design or innovation-driven culture within an enterprise that doesn’t at heart “get” it. Unless the disciplines are acknowledged and embraced as core values by every employee, they won’t gain traction. “We don’t have identity manuals reminding us of points of philosophy for why our company exists … I’m sure those things are very well meaning, but if you have to institutionalize stuff, you end up chasing your tail.” In other words, unless the commitment to innovation or design is authentic and heartfelt, rather than this month’s short-term strategy to cater to a hot trend, it will be nigh on impossible to build a true, innovation-led culture.

I’d rather focus resources on the organisations that are committed; and work together to make a tangible impact, than fill a hundred auditoriums to put on a good show about what design can do.

Read the BusinessWeek article.

Paul Hughes of Orientation Lab, an initiative of Lava Design, Netherlands and Reza Abedini will conduct a day long workshop that will focus on how to use design to address issues or audiences that go beyond local and conventional visual frames of reference. The purpose of this workshop is to improve participants’ skills in thinking about design work produced for contemporary diverse communities and organisations. It will be of interest to organisations targeted at diverse audiences, NGOs, heads of communication who commission design, graphic designers, visual arts/design academics.

27th May, NCAD Gallery, Thomas Street, Dublin, 10 – 4pm
The cost of the workshop is €80 including lunch
To book, contact ICAD, elaine@icad.ie

Bob holds that 2009 will be a “springboard year”, one of great opportunity. While clearly a lot of organisations are just doing everything that they can just to survive there are clear trends that smart companies and entrepreneurs are taking insight from that will pay off within the next 10 years. 2019 will be a much more connected time, your Bebo and Facebook friends will be there in real time helping you shop, keeping you planet friendly and talking you out of the fattening pizza that looks good but your friends know doesn’t fit the diet. It won’t be all busy bodies either, safety data, traffic info and statistics will all be available, local to you through the miracle of geo-positioning and in-vision displays. Start investing in those language lessons too, multi-linguists are going to be powerful people. All that connectivity isn’t going away and your multilingual Twitter feed is going to be part of the instant data river your life is going to swim in.  There is plenty of room for the small and nimble player to create value once Cyberspace disappears like a shadow and integrates with the everyday life.

Mary Haugh versus 3,000 pigs in a barn. Her husband indisposed though ill health and she had to herd all their pigs. Now, traditionally a “chase board” is used to a guide and angle those pigs, too heavy for her and too short to be of much effect alone. Mary needed something new to be able to manage and set about solving the problem. Her solution cuts the time required to move the hogs by 70%, has won two prestigious innovation awards and become a commercial success.

She noticed that the pigs hesitated whenever they passed by the bright red chase boards. She wondered if the colour itself affected the pigs and whether a length of red fabric could be used as a long, flexible chase board. The pigs turned every time. Prototyping the idea with her brother she developed a roller based system that weights 14kg, extends to 15m and can be hooked into a gate post to be operated by one person.

All the classic hallmarks of the design innovation process are present; observation, imagination, experimentation, prototyping and delivery of the idea as a product. The innovation process may have happened far from a design studio and Mary never attended design school but the LongArm, her trademarked invention, is a good as it gets.

Check out the National Hog Farmer article for more

The pervasive notion was that thinking and knowledge were somehow something that happened inside the head … more recently, our notion of cognition has broadened considerably, and in particular, it embraces the notion that thought and knowledge may well occur as much in our physical and social environment as in the cortex itself.

Can design thinking be institutionalized, or does it happen to cities and businesses serendipitously?

This is one of the most important questions to ask. My answer is decidedly yes, it can be institutionalized. But at the same time, I have to qualify this by saying that the most creative challenge of any management is to figure out how.

Additional reading:

A New Mantra for Creativity

Related link: frog Design Mind

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

It was only a matter of time. China is making the transition from low-cost producer of goods at break neck speed. China Design Now just opened at London’s Victoria & Albert museum, tracing the trajectory of this emerging design economy.

‘Made in China’ has become a familiar tag, but the spectacular creative energy in modern China is barely known. During the last twenty years, the Chinese have rediscovered their pre-socialist past and begun to combine their own traditions with global influences to produce a cultural rebirth. At the heart of this lies a new culture of design.

Should we view China’s transition as an opportunity or a threat?

Read on:
Exploring China’s new long march- from manufacturer to designer
Top 10 Myths & Truths about Design in China
China Design

It was breath of fresh air to hear Irena Fonda discuss her choice to invest in design to drive their family-owned fish business forward in Slovenia at the DME Conference. Fonda feeds their fish by hand (only the best food) for four years before going to market. Since they control the feeding, their fish can have 13 times less mercury than wild fish.

Working with LUKSstudio, Fonda incorporated family values and created a brand around old family photos. The “mustache” in the final logo is applied to the family portrait in a humorous and memorable way. You can purchase fresh, tagged fish on the Internet and have it shipped directly to you in a packaged experience. A panel of Italian chefs preferred their sea bass to that caught in the wild in taste tests and within a year of the launch, their fish appears branded on menus in the best restaurants in Ljubljana. Quality product. Authenticity. Design. That should put an end to the term “fishy business.”

Irena referred to design as one of many business tools, and she made the decision to spend on design. That’s a story to get out to other small operations looking for the right investment when spending (literally) their own money.

(The Fonda site is currently not available in English.)