From Top to Bottom: New Design Magazine Emerging Markets Special February 2008
The challenge to address the issues faced by the significant proportion of the world’s population who live on less than £ 1 a day has been taken up eagerly by many in the global design industry. The INDEX awards regularly nominate some of the best in the world, and others are frequently seen in the […]
Thought experiment: A world without SMS
Imagine a world without SMS. What would have been the situation in the world today if the man who invented the short messaging system used for text based communication by mobile phones across the world had decided to patent his invention? Its uptake would have been far slower, the cost higher and we are unable […]
Thursday’s Things that made me Think
Sam Ladner, PhD writes extensively on design research. Her latest post Designing a design-thinking organization is a well-written, cohesive and insightful take on the challenge of imbuing traditional organizations with the free-flowing interdisciplinary cross-pollination that effective design thinking requires by virtue of its nature. Here’s the snippet on what inspired her to write this post: […]
Exploring the future of design: Maximize constraints; minimize resources
If necessity is the mother of invention, is prosperity the father of consumption? Industrial design as a profession emerged from the roots of the first Industrial Revolution, and flowered into full force during the post war (WWII) boom of consumption and productivity in the 50′s and 60′s – thus it has always had its foundations […]
PDP Gala: The night before…
The Product Development Program’s Annual Product Design Gala kicks off early tomorrow morning. Live videostreaming here from 1200 to 1700. Time: Friday 23 April 2010 Exhibition open: 9:00 – 17:00 Seminars starting at: 12:00, 13:45 & 16:00 Place: Aalto Design Factory, Betonimiehenkuja 5, Otaniemi, Espoo Here’s a quick look at the scene downstairs, Here’s the […]
Developing Car for Emerging Markets – Case Tata Nano
Bachelor’s Thesis, Aalto University of Science and Technology, April 16 2010 Auton suunnitteluprosessi kehittyville markkinoille myytäessä – Case Tata Nano by Justus Reinikainen (English translation available) Summary: This thesis dealt with the Indian Tata Motors’ biggest successes, the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano. The car is sold in India for about 100 000 rupees, or […]
Why is design important?
Design is first and foremost a philosophy, based on a system of values, which seeks to solve problems. What are we creating? Why and for whom? Are we correctly framing the problem to be solved? These are the questions to which the answers are then manifested tangibly in the form of a new product, service […]
Systems design lessons from challenging and demanding environments
The most common question posed by designers (at the Design Factory, in Finland) has been “What is different about designing for the BoP from the way I already design for mainstream consumers?” Its a good question to ask, because it takes a systemic view of the user centered design process and methods being taught to […]
iBoP Asia 2008 Small Grant Projects – Part two
iBoP Asia 2008 Small Grant Projects – March 2010 Jakarta
Exhibits of projects completed displayed at the Frontiers seminar on March 3rd in Jakarta, Indonesia. Click on photos to see details. continued in next post.
