This is just awesome!

Redley

Osklen

Wöllner

Maria Filó

Triton

Alexandre Herchcovitch

Espaço Fashion

Salinas

Maria Bonita Extra

Farm Rio

Eclectic

Cantao

Shop126

Rygy

Lenny

Arezzo

Andarella

 

An here a highlight: Maria Filó has a model inspired on the Bavarian and Austrian Dirndls! Fantastic!

Source: www.mariafilo.com.br

groundpulse
'groundpulse' is syntfarm's new mobile unit that enables artists to perform with impulses gathered from the movement of the ground. The design of 'groundpulse' is based on the Lehman's seismometer principle. The unit is capable of detecting movements of the ground including: long distance earthquakes or short distance impulses produced by human bodies.

By exploring translations of soil movements into a synthetic world of real time visualization, syntfarm are developing a system, which can be used to enhance and make the experiences of natural environments more accessible to others. On display during ISEA09 in Belfast, Ireland at the SPARK exhibition

SOURCE: http://www.syntfarm.org/

I would take it even further. Think about a company as a 'friend'. The same rules of friendships or other relationships can be directly applied. If a friend tells you he would call you back, unless he/she has a really good excuse, you will naturally be upset... And on and on...

Link

 

The interview above (in Portuguese, sorry...) with the author of Mentes Perigosas (Bad translation: Dangerous Minds) made me think about how the world we live today is very psychopathic but there might a solution right under our noses.

Ana Beatriz (her name) mentions in the book and on the interview how the society and especially corporations reward psychopathic behaviors like: manipulation, intrigue, winning without considering the others and ultimately individualism. The main characteristic that can reveal who is a psychopath - some of them have very low levels whereas some others reach the point of killing somebody - is the incapacity to create empathy with others, to feel what they feel, to be on somebody else's shoes.

Here is where design comes to play a big role. At IDEO - and I'm sure in other design companies as well - empathy is the number one asset that we sell and that we work on a daily basis. If one can't empathize with the users of a certain product, service or space, better not be a designer... Design work has shifted from designing stuff to designing behaviors and big systems (organizations, communities, etc). We very often have the task to share stories with our clients to 'teach' empathy. Perhaps design is a 'new' way of doing things that work as the antithesis of psicopathy. At least, I hope so :)

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/ferrari-458-italia-to-replace-f430

 

Taco Lab is based in SF. Below is how they describe themselves. They actually do some cool stuff.

 

 

Nice projects are Siftables, Tiny Icon Factory and etc...

 

This is me using the Tenori on :)

I just came back from London UK where I have been to participate at the Sketching in Hardware 2009 conference.

This year's theme was Incentives. The way I interpreted it was that we should look back on what we have accomplished so far in prototyping or sketching using electronic toolkits and what's next. On my presentation I focused on the latter.

I could go on forever telling about it. I'm pretty sure others will cover it from different perspectives as well. I think one recurrent theme that I touched on and others as well, including my IDEO colleague Dave Vondle was Open Innovation and how to involve an increasing number of users in design projects from the beginning.

 

 My presentation was early in the morning on Saturday (which prevented me to drink on Friday). :-/

 

This is the Bioduino, a proposed toolkit focused on collecting biometric data and presentation the values in a way that designer can easily use through Processing or AS to prototype new experiences like the ones required on connect health projects.

 

VisionSpring prototyping eye camps for children in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Open-Source Innovation: IDEO's Human-Centered Design Toolkit

As designers working to improve the quality of life in other countries, the firm IDEO has spent more than 10 years creating a methodology focused on designing for the user. And now, IDEO wants to give all of that methodology away. A series of PDFs that are free to download, theHuman-Centered Design Toolkithopes to empower organizations and design firms by giving them their field-tested tools for social impact in a way that focuses more on sharing information than authorship.

Source:http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/alissa-walker/designerati/human-centered-design-toolkit-shares-information

http://www.lightlanebike.com/

 

Much of persuasion and other forms of changing minds is based on a relatively small number of principles. If you can understand the principles, then you can invent your own techniques. It thus makes sense to spend time to understand these principles (persuaded yet?).

Source: http://changingminds.org/principles/principles.htm

 

• Alignment: When everything lines up, there are no contradictions to cause disagreement.

• Amplification: Make the important bits bigger and other bits smaller.

• Appeal: If asked nicely, we will follow the rules we have made for ourselves.

• Arousal: When I am aroused I am full engaged and hence more likely to pay attention.

• Association: Our thoughts are connected. Think one thing and the next is automatic.

• Assumption: Acting as if something is true often makes it true.

• Attention: Make sure they are listening before you try to sell them something.

• Authority: Use your authority and others will obey.

• Bonding: I will usually do what my friends ask of me, without negotiation.

• Closure: Close the door of thinking and the deal is done.

• Completion: We need to complete that which is started.

• Confidence: If I am confident, then you can be confident.

• Confusion: A drowning person will clutch at a straw. So will a confused one.

• Consistency: We like to maintain consistency between what we think, say and do.

• Contrast: We notice and decide by difference between two things, not absolute measures.

• Daring: If you dare me to do something, I daren't not do it.

• Deception: Convincing by trickery.

• Dependence: If you are dependent on me, I can use this as a lever to persuade you.

• Distraction: If I distract your attention, I can then slip around your guard.

• Evidence:  I cannot deny what I see with my own eyes.

• Exchange: if I do something for you, then you are obliged to do something for me.

• Experience: I cannot deny what I experience for myself.

• Fragmentation: Break up the problem into agreeable parts.

• Framing: Meaning depends on context. So control the context.

• Harmony: Go with the flow to build trust and create subtle shifts.

• Hurt and Rescue: Make them uncomfortable then throw them a rope.

• Interest: If I am interested then I will pay attention.

• Investment: If I have invested in something, I do not want to waste that investment.

• Involvement: Action leads to commitment.

• Logic: What makes sense must be true.

• Objectivity: Standing back decreases emotion and increases logic.

• Obligation: Creating a duty that must be discharged.

• Passion: Enthusiasm is catching.

• Perception: Perception is reality. So manage it.

• Pull: Create attraction that pulls people in.

• Push: I give you no option but to obey.

• Repetition: If something happens often enough, I will eventually be persuaded.

• Scarcity: I want now what I may not be able to get in the future.

• Similarity: We trust people who are like us or who are similar to people we like.

• Specificity: People fill in the gaps in vague statements.

• Substitution: Put them into the story.

• Surprise: When what happens is not what I expect, I must rethink my understanding.

• Tension: I will act to reduce the tension gaps I feel.

• Threat: If my deep needs are threatened, I will act to protect them.

• Trust: If I trust you, I will accept your truth and expose my vulnerabilities.

• Understanding: If I understand you, then I can interact more accurately with you.

"In a world that is really upside down, the true is a moment of the false".