Not two words you expect to see together, nonetheless I have been blown away by the ambition of the new TRIL centre (Technology Research for Independent Living). In a joint venture between Intel and the IDA, the team at TRIL are taking design for accessibility to new levels in their approach to some of the most common human problems as we age. They describe themselves as:

“a coordinated collection of research projects addressing the physical, cognitive and social consequences of ageing, all informed by ethnographic research and supported by a shared pool of knowledge and engineering resources.”

I would say that they are taking core design principles and applying them to one of the largest problems we face: the aging population. We really want to work with these people.

Designers draw. It is the most expressive way we know of communicating ideas succinctly and freeing up imagination. We wish everyone drew more (hence the doodles that make up our corporate identity).

Here is a wonderful little tool from General Electric that I found whilst browsing their site for the previous entry. I have already used it to send an image to an old friend who edited it whilst we were talking on the phone; it is a breeze to use and can help anyone draw and communicate their ideas. It is addictive and, I reckon, pretty useful.

One of the pet peeves of the former SAP chief executive officer (Hasso Plattner) is that software engineers often pack products with far too many functions that no one needs, often because they’re too focused on engineering. His aim with the new program is to help students take a more creative, interdisciplinary and user-oriented approach to new product design.

Read the press release
Hasso Plattner Institut
Related: SAP founder gives $35 million for Stanford D-School