There are still people who think that design is just about making things, people, and places pretty. In truth, design has spread to almost every facet of human activity, from science and education to politics and policymaking, for a simple reason: one of design’s most fundamental tasks is to help people respond to change. A designer today can choose to focus on interactions, interfaces, the Internet, visualizations, socially minded infrastructures and products, 5-D spaces, bioengineering, sustainability, video games, critical scenarios, and yes, even furniture. Several outstanding examples of this vitality and diversity are presented in this installation, ranging from a mine detonator by young Afghani designer Massoud Hassani to a vessel made by transforming desert sand into glass using only the energy of the sun. Also on display are 14 videogames—including Pac-Man, The Sims, and Katamari Damacy—that constitute the beginning of a new branch of MoMA’s collection.

www.moma.org

\"No Name Design\" ist eine Liebeserklärung an die unscheinbaren Dinge, die uns im Alltag begleiten und selten aufmerksame Blicke auf sich ziehen. Die Ausstellung ist Hommage und zugleich Eldorado für Liebhaber von Trouvaillen und Fundstücken, die weder blenden noch verführen wollen, sondern einfach da sind und einen aufmerksamen Beobachter wie Franco Clivio brauchen.

Der Gestalter und Dozent Franco Clivio (*1942) ist seit Jahrzehnten auch Sucher und Finder. Seine Leidenschaft gilt dem Banalen, dem scheinbar Ungestalteten. Er spürt die hohe gestalterische Qualität auf und sucht nach dem Ungewöhnlichen im Gewöhnlichen. Dazu durchstöbert er Brockenhäuser, Flohmärkte, Trödelläden oder auch Eisenwarenläden und Warenhäuser - immer von der Neugierde getrieben, ohne Plan. Entstanden ist ein grandioses Sammelsurium von anonym gestalteten Gegenständen, die, ins rechte Licht gerückt, plötzlich Qualitäten zeigen, die gemeinhin im Verborgenen schlummern.

Die Ausstellung ist eine Art Wunderkammer mit enzyklopädischem Charakter und lehrreicher Auslegung. Präsentiert werden rund 900 zumeist kleine Objekte – beispielsweise Klappmesser, Lieblingsobjekte, Vielkönner, Greifwerkzeuge oder auch Weiterentwicklungen von alten Bekannten wie Scheren, Brillen oder Messinstrumenten. Gemeinsamer Nenner ist immer die raffinierte gestalterische Qualität, die weniger auf der guten Form denn vielmehr auf einer Besonderheit von Funktion, Material und Konstruktion beruht.

In über 40 bewegten Fotosequenzen wird veranschaulicht, wie die Gegenstände funktionieren. Daneben zeigt ein neues Filmporträt Franco Clivio im Reich seiner Objekte.

Dates: 27-29 November 2013
Location: University of Luxembourg
Website: www.ipsed.org
Deadline for submissions: 30 August 2013

The Engineering Design and Methodology Group at the University of Luxembourg will be organising the 1st International PhD Symposium on Engineering Design (IPSED’13) from 27-29 November 2013 in Luxembourg. The symposium will focus on research issues in the area of engineering design research and design science. IPSED’13 provides two different tracks for submitted contributions. The beginners track offers a platform to present early stage research and new research ideas. The advanced track is intended to present research results in a matured stage.

Extended abstracts (beginners track) and full papers (advanced track) to be submitted by 30 August 2013.

For further details and deadlines, please visit our website www.ipsed.org.

Die Pictoplasma Academy ruft zur Teilnahme auf! Die Deadline der Bewerbungsfrist ist der 26. Juli.

The Pictoplasma Academy is a new intensified programme, suited for all longing to expand and professionalise their practise in a specific field related to the creation of characters – whether as illustrators, animation filmmakers, fine artists, or graphic, fashion, and product designers.

The programme takes place this October 12–20 and will admit a limited amount of participants selected upon application for a dense 8-day summer-school experience in the heart of Berlin. Under the close guidance of some of today\'s most outstanding professionals, participants will focus on refining their own character-driven projects and ideas.

academy.pictoplasma.com.

In the tradition of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, Michael Rock, principal and founder of 2x4 Design in New York, explores the history and development of twenty-first-century visual and design culture. This book presents a thoughtful and witty exploration of graphic design today produced by Michael Rock of 2x4, the powerhouse creative firm that partners with some of the most design-savvy brands and institutions in the world to develop design systems that draw on both modernist traditions and the exuberance of contemporary life. Set forth in an engaging and humorous way, Multiple Signatures examines all aspects of modern design, from typography to the evolution of screens in advertising to trusting one’s own creative instincts, through a series of smart and often irreverent essays and images. Using 2x4’s own collaborations and projects as examples, and drawing on the experience of the contributing authors, the result is not a clinical textbook, but a fantastic and thought-provoking work about the limitless applications of design. A must-have for design students and professionals, Multiple Signatures challenges standard ways of understanding design and inspires readers to think of graphic design as a building block for all creative disciplines.
Written by Michael Rock, Contribution by Rick Poynor, Mark Wigley, Susan Sellers and Georgie Stout

Michael Rock is a National Design Award winner and principal of 2x4. Rick Poynor is a journalist and writer whose focus is design and visual culture. Mark Wigley is an architect and dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Susan Sellers is a founding partner and creative director at 2x4 and senior critic at Yale University School of Art. Georgie Stout is a founding partner and creative director of 2x4. Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist, and professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Michael Rock 2x4
Multiple Signatures. On Designers, Authors, Readers and Users
Rizzoli, 2013, 978-0-8478-3973-5

Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? How come concrete pours? Why does a paperclip bend? Why does any material look and behave the way it does? From the towering skyscrapers of our cities to the most ordinary objects in our homes, Stuff Matters tells enthralling stories that explain the science and history of materials we take entirely for granted, while introducing some of humankind\'s most ingenious and improbable inventions. From the tea-cup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants, world-leading materials scientist Mark Miodownik reveals the miracles of engineering and ingenuity that permeate every aspect of our lives. Along the way, he introduces materials that can heal themselves, implants that become living bone, the explosive that made the movie business, materials that might one day save the world - and others that already have. Mark Miodownik recently appeared in The Times\' inaugural list of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK. He is Professor of Materials and Society at UCL and presenter of several BBC television documentaries, including How it Works and The Genius of Invention, as well as appearing as scientist-in-residence on Dara O Briain\'s Science Club. In 2010, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. He is Director of the UCL Institute of Making which is home to a materials library containing some of the most wondrous matter on earth, and has collaborated to make interactive events with many museums, such as Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery and Wellcome Collection.

Mark Miodownik
Stuff matters. The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World
Penguin, 2013, 9780670920532

Ten years after the first FabLab (a so called fabrication laboratory) was opened at MIT, more than 120 FabLabs exist all over the world. Today, it is time to look back at a decade of FabLab activities. This book shows how small production devices, such as laser cutters and 3D printers, and dedicated educationists, researchers and FabLab practitioners transform the fields of learning, work, production, design, maker culture, law and science on a global scale. In this composition experts from various countries, such as Germany, India or the USA, and distinguished academic institutions, such as MIT or Stanford University, discuss theoretical questions and introduce practical approaches concerning FabLab activities.

Julia Walter-Herrmann, Corinne Büching (Eds.)
FabLab. Of Machines, Makers and Inventors
Transcript, 2013, 9783837

Die Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin bietet, für Fachkräfte aus unterschiedlichen Fachbereichen, eine gezielte Weiterbildung im Bereich \"Ambient Assisted Living\" an. Unter Ambient Assisted Living versteht man Produkte und Dienstleistungen, die ein selbst bestimmtes Leben ermöglichen und sich nahtlos in den Alltag der Menschen einfügen. Das Besondere am neuen Studiengang ist die konsequente Wissensübermittlung mit Hilfe digitaler Medien. Mit gezielten Onlinevorlesungen und flexiblem Nachlesen in speziell für dieses Studium erstellten Onlineskripten lässt sich das Studium ideal in den Berufsalltag integrieren und von überall auf der Welt studieren. Studierte und berufserfahrene Fachkräfte aus dem Design können zum Winter- und Sommersemester die viersemestrige Weiterbildung, die mit einem Master of Science abschließt, beginnen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter:

maal.htw-berlin.de