August 2007
12 posts
“ Eventually, everything connects.”
– Charles Eames
Eamesephant
“To celebrate the 100th birthday of Charles Eames, Vitra is introducing a limited anniversary edition of the Eames Plywood Elephant, a legendary furniture sculpture that was designed in 1945 but never produced for general distribution and sale. Of the two known prototypes, only one remains in the Eames Family Archives.
Charles and Ray Eames were fascinated by elephants. Many images of...
Powers of 10
From Core 77:
“In 1977, the Eames’ made a great movie called Powers of 10. Starting with a sleeping man at a picnic, the film takes the viewer on a journey out to the edge of space and then back into a carbon atom in the hand of the man picnic, all in a single shot. Today, we can experience Nano Journeys, an interactive tour into the worlds of the micro- and nano-cosmos. Three...
July 2007
33 posts
WebbliWorld
My man Kai over in the UK sent this to me, it’s WebbliWorld.com! “Aardman Animations and Enable Interactive have created a new Interactive portal for Kids at www.webbliworld.com. Commissioned by WebbliWorld Ltd., the virtual world was designed and developed by Aardman, the U.K. animation entity behind the Wallace and Gromit shorts and feature film, as well as DreamWorks Animation’s Flushed Away...
The Magic Wheel
I can already see the SOMA hipsters drooling over this little contraption. But it’ll be the kids that really own the Magic Wheel. Check out the original Core 77 post here and peep the video below to see it in action.
Participatory Design
“So you’re 6 years old, you love playing with building blocks and you think the coolest job ever would be to play with building blocks for a living.
Iwan Lloyd Roberts of Pwllheli, Wales, got to enjoy that fantasy yesterday when he was invited to the Montreal headquarters of Mega Brands, makers of Mega Bloks, for a brainstorming design session with the manufacturers of the popular...
Grass in the Water
Slate has reviewed 7 kiddie pools for ease of pumping and filling, durability, capacity and splash factor! Bear with me folks, all the people who write about things that don’t feature hot moms in bikinis are on vacation. Hopefully I can scare up some more thought provoking fare tomorrow. But right now, I’m headed out the backyard to get me some splash factor.
“Young people don’t see “tech” as a separate entity -...”
– Andrew Davidson ~ VP of MTV’s VBS International Insight Unit
Keep It Simple
Reuters has an article covering two combined global surveys, by MTV/Nickelodeon and Microsoft, on kids’ attitudes and relationships to technology.
“The surveyors found the average Chinese computer user has 37 online friends they have never met, Indian youth are most likely to see cell phones as a status symbol, while one-in-three UK and U.S. teenagers say they cannot live without...
Yo'Play!
Social Design Network, Design 21, sponsored a kids’ toy design competition: “The DESIGN 21 series challenges designers of all disciplines to find solutions to social and global issues. It’s guided by UNESCO’s premise that education, science, technology, culture and communication are tools to spread knowledge and information, build awareness and foster dialogue.” Yo’Play, a yogurt packaging...
Sensix Allergy Alert System
Boston based design firm Essential has won a bronze International Design Excellence Award for their Sensix Allergy Alert System design concept. “Sensix is a monitoring and response system for children susceptible to severe allergic reactions. It includes three age-specific monitors that are physically and aesthetically suited to each age group. When an allergic reaction occurs, the monitor...
Lila
This collaborative storytelling design concept comes from Michael Cruz and Julia Frederking. It was recently awarded a bronze 2007 International Design Excellence Award.
“Lila is a digital-physical play module that allows children to collaborate on storytelling. By plugging in different combinations of pegs, children create animations that then appear on the digital touch screen. They...
e-Puzzle
Lite-on Technology has won an International Design Excellence Award for this design concept, which is a refreshing take on very old game, and maybe the best application of e-paper technology yet.
“E-puzzle uses e-paper technology to provide an infinite range of puzzle patterns using the same pieces. Parents can download patterns from the Internet or even select family photos from their...
H-Racer
This baby won a silver International Design Excellence Awards for consumer product design.
“The H-racer is not just a toy car: it is also a small-scale manifestation for environmentally sustainable, energy independent transportation based on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Children and their parents can watch as only water and the sun generate hydrogen in the fueling station and hydrogen...
The Museum of Science and Trucking, it ain’t.
In Jersey City, where everything old is new again, the Liberty Science Center has reopened after an extensive remodel and shift in educational philosophy. The New York Times has the most cynical review of a museum I’ve ever read, which is somewhat warranted given the museum’s stated social and educational goals. “The science museum, should provide “resources for living, learning, working in...
Wooden Robots
I don’t normally cover the collectable toy scene, because they’re not really toys and they’re not intended for kids. But I had to note this series of beautiful wooden figures from Japanese designers take-g toys.
As a rationalization for my stepping out of bounds, I’ll mention this equally cool transformer chair, which is a toy and for kids.
And this very simple, yet versatile set of...
The Museum of Childhood
Next time you’re in London pop on over to The Museum of Childhood. They’ve got a nice collection of toys, games and dollhouses on display that range from antiques to modern classics.
There’s also bunch of interesting exhibits showing now through March 2008.
Dreams of Flying by Jan von Holleben 14 July - 21 October 2007
“Crossing the desert on the back of a dog, or searching for lost...
Screen Kids
The Guardian Unlimited has a story about the latest Watching, Wanting and Wellbeing report from the National Consumer Council in the UK.
Apparently, kids from poor families are twice as likely to have a television in their rooms, than kids from wealthier families. They also found that: “Children’s TV appears to be losing its appeal to youngsters, who say they are not watching...
DigiBarbie
TechCrunch says: “Mattel’s virtual world Barbie Girls hit the 3 million user mark in its first 60 days and is growing at the rate of 50,000 new users a day, according to a report from the Scientific American. To put that in perspective, Second Life took 3 years to get to 1 million registered users. At its current growth rate, Barbie Girls should pass the number of Second Life registered users...
“Millions of children and adolescents are spending hours on these sites, which...”
– Matt Richtel and Brad Stone ~ New York Times
Pipe Dreams
The Times has an article on the decreasing ages of kids being sponsored by skateboard companies. A few weeks ago I wrote about American Girl providing an immersive experience for girls with their books, movies, magazine and stores. Skating and video games are the closest to providing that kind of experience for boys. And out of all the skate culture brands out there,...
k-i-s-s-i-n-g
Intel and One Laptop Per Child seem to have buried the hatchet. After Intel’s chairman, Craig Barrett, called the XO a “gadget” and Intel launched their own low cost PC aimed at the developing world, Nicholas Negroponte declared Intel’s actions “shameless.” But, as with many things, a little conversation seems to have cooled things out. Intel will now have a seat on OPLC’s board and...
But Remy, Anyone Can Design!
The UK based home décor company habitat has enlisted a bunch of celebs, including actress, Kate Winslet, former astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, star, diva, goddess, Miss Piggy, and the Harry Potter kid to design a line of kid’s furniture and toys.
The line is called VIP for kids, check it out in the This Season section.
A Divorce Toy?
“Just because Mommy and Daddy don’t love each other anymore, doesn’t mean they ever stopped loving you!” That sentence alone can’t help a child heal from the trauma of splitting parents and major lifestyle changes. Most family-oriented toys depict a picture-perfect unit that, as grown ups, we know certainly isn’t the norm. Designer Ben Forman’s Detacho...
The Best Coloring Book In the World
It’s not often you find a coloring book that asks kids to engage their imaginations by supplying only just enough context and direction to foster creativity, and then shuts up. Most often there’s some overbearing branding element that comes with predefined color schemes, rigid spatial relationships, and mazes of nice neat lines to stay inside of. That’s why what Taro Gomi does with Scribbles is...
Threadless
Threadless has a kid’s line. Cool graphics at a hefty price. $17 ducats, for something that’ll be outgrown in few months. But, if you got it flaunt it right? Threadless is an ongoing design competition where pro-am designers send in t-shirt designs. If a design receives enough votes it is selected to be produced in a limited run and sold on the Threadless web site. The designer also...
Design Squad
PBS Go! has a show that just wrapped up called Design Squad:
“Borrowing from the hugely popular reality competition format, DESIGN SQUAD is aimed at kids and people of all ages who like reality or how-to television. Its goal is to get viewers excited about engineering! Over 13 episodes, eight high school contestants tackle engineering challenges for an actual client—from...