Design Articles

Embracing failure.

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Milton Glaser is one of the world’s most noted graphic designers, having won a slew of industry awards and designed some of the world’s most recognised posters, logos and advertisements.

A scroll through the portfolio in his website’s ‘Work’ section is more than enough to prove the point that this is a man who knows what he’s doing.

Towering ambitions.

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

In the world of skyscraper design and manufacturing, bigger is always better, especially when national pride is at stake.

With a multitude of designs, projects and businesses all claiming to be 'sustainable' in every aspect of modern life, it's prudent to be extremely cautious about such claims, while trying not to be cynical.

The construction of 'sustainable skyscrapers' is a prime case in point.

But news from China on plans to construct the world’s tallest building with energy-efficiency at the core of its creation seems  genuinely to have something to celebrate – if it happens.

Flat out, flat on your back.

Monday, 18 June 2012

Today’s F1 drivers are arguably the best in the world, and if you’re at the top of the F1 pecking order like Ferrari’s undisputed number one driver, Fernando Alonso, you can also command a top salary.

Alonso was recently reported to be earning around 30 million Euros per year ­– not including personal sponsorship deals.

Perhaps it’s just as well, because he’s probably going to need to spend a lot on chiropractic care later in life – thanks to the ludicrous seating positions that Formula 1 drivers must assume in order to fit into their cars.

A meeting of hearts and minds.

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

The DIA’s new national student and graduate awards programme, AGOTYA, was revealed to the public for the first time at the recent designEX 2012 expo in Sydney.

The Australasian Graduate Of The Year Awards is a portfolio-based awards programme for final year design students and recent design graduates in Australia and New Zealand.

Breaking through.

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Can Facebook help residents avoid traffic jams in Istanbul?

How do you find your way around in Tokyo if there are no street names, and houses are numbered according to the date in which they were built?

These are the many types of mobility problems – and possible solutions – facing inhabitants of megacities of the future.

No time like the present if you want to see the future.

Thursday, 26 April 2012

Lincoln Steffens was a New York reporter around the time of the First World War, famous for investigating local government corruption in American cities.

In the early years of the Soviet Revolution, at the start of Communism, he made a trip to Russia and proclaimed that ‘I have seen the future, and it works.’

History later proved him wrong, but it was a nice line that entered common folklore.

Leading by example.

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

The Design Institute of Australia (DIA), Australia’s only multi-disciplinary, professional design organisation, has energised the Australian design community with the news that it has pledged $3000 towards a crowdfunding initiative to support the creation of a national Australian design policy.

The DIA’s pledge has been given to the Australian Design Alliance (AdA), an alliance of Australia’s peak professional design organisations which aims to highlight the value of design in Australia’s economy and everyday life.

State where you stand.

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

The first rule of advertising has always been deceptively simple: Be noticed.

In a crowded marketplace full of variously talented people, all claiming to be designers, membership of the DIA proclaims something genuinely credible, professional and worthwhile.

In praise of angularity.

Monday, 12 March 2012

Architectural design seems to oscillate wildly between rounded, flowing organic shapes inspired by nature and sharp, angular, geometric forms straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Both seem to have their place, with the advent of CAD and other computer software technologies giving architects and designers the ability to build homes that would have remained as scribbles on the doodle pad or consigned to the ‘concept only’ file not too many years ago.

Messing with your mind. (And your coffee.)

Monday, 5 March 2012

The praises of various Scandinavian countries have been sung before in several DIA news items, and with the ascension of Finland’s capital Helsinki as the 2012 World Design Capital, those clever Finns are at it yet again.

For instance (they thought), what might be the best way to underline the importance of good design in our daily lives?

How about subjecting people to the immediate effects of bad design?