This is probably the closest I'll ever get to light speed, but in a good way! This thing, named Multiverse, was installed by artist Leo Villareal inside of a 200' long tunnel inside the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. It's going to be on display throughout 2009 and animated and moves on it's own using a randomness algorithm to make sure it's different every time you see it.

via Gizmodo via PSFK

This thing is amazing! It's a totally rad way to pick a color scheme inside any OS X application that runs on cocoa! The color schemes are accessed from the Adobe Kuler website so you need an internet connection to get to them but, they can be saved offline once you've accessed them! check it out!

Mondrianum(Via Lifehacker via switching to mac)

This dude has some seriously awesome vehicle concept skills. You can check out his blog for newer concepts, or buy his book for a mere $19.77! It's not much for so many great concepts.
You can also see






via Core77 via io9

For those of you in the know, IDSA national has setup a FREE webinar, the 1st of a three-part series on sketching, hosted by Thomas Maguire.

Registration for the webinar can be found here.

Thank you IDSA and Thomas Maguire!

p.s. The 1st session is starting RIGHT NOW... sorry for the late post.

Hey IDSAers (and guests),

It is time to officially get the design gears churning at our First IDSA SFSU Meeting of the Spring. For those of you that don't know, IDSA stands for the Industrial Designers Society of America, and our student chapter at SFSU is dedicated to elevating the quality and impact of design, both here on campus and out in the professional world.

We Are All Designers

Any and all design specialties are welcome. There is a tremendous amount of common ground between the different design disciplines, let's share and learn from eachother.

Know Your Competition

It can be tough to get a job in design, especially right out of school. The best design students at SFSU can compete with students from the top design schools in the country... but this is not a given. There is lot to know (what are other students producing, what are professionals doing, what are hiring managers looking for, how are hiring trends likely to change by the time you are applying for a job...) and sharing our collective knowledge is just one of the many opportunities that can separate us from the annual masses of graduating designers.

Live Design

The San Francisco Bay Area holds a rich and thriving design community. There is a lot to learn outside of campus and a student status can offer financial savings and open doors to exclusive opportunities. Don't wait. It is vital that you take an active role in your education if you want to excel in design.

IDSA SFSU offers the following:

• Community
• Connections
• Events
• Opportunity

These will all be explained in detail at our first meeting. This will be a very exciting semester for design in San Francisco. There will be many major events in the coming weeks as well as valuable opportunities to get involved, learn outside of class, and prepare for employment as a designer.

Stop by and check us out:

Fine Arts Building, room 163 (next to the Wood Lab)
Wednesday, February 18th, 1-2pm

See you there!


Sincerely,
Thomas Deckert
President, IDSA SFSU

Labels: IDSA SFSU, Kickoff, meeting

Sketching User Experiences, by Bill Buxton, is one of those books that every designer should read. It is a page turner and an inspiring resource. The experience of reading it felt like a front-row seat throughout the entire semester of a design studio class. In many ways this book offers the quantity and quality of design education (thought processes, methodologies, tricks and techniques) that I always look for yet rarely find in any single design course. I strongly recommend you check out this book. It may not hook you at first. Give it a chance, and get past the cover, it will be worth it. If you are a student, and want to elevate your design education, do the math. This book costs nothing compared to the value it offers.

(image courtesy of www.billbuxton.com)

Labels: Buxton, library, Sketching User Experiences

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Industrial Design Outreach Launches New User-Friendly Website With Web 2.0 Technologies.

SAN FRANCISCO, California – February 1, 2009 The Industrial Design Outreach (iDo) announced the launch of its new website, www.industrialdesignoutreach.org today. The new site utilizes web 2.0 technologies, which enables iDo to collaborate with design and experiential learning programs worldwide.

“The main objective of the new website is to incorporate web 2.0 technologies, market iDo to a world audience, and establish group collaboration on an international level,” said Holly Burton, creator of the new website.

IDo is a design program run by mentors from San Francisco State University under the direction of founding director and Associate Professor of Design, Martin Linder. Founded in 2003, iDo has been actively working within the San Francisco community to raise awareness about design education. The program’s first website was created in 2006 to expand iDo’s mission and efforts, then was re-designed in Fall 2007 to reach a wider audience beyond the San Francisco community. Now, working since Fall 2008, mentors have created a new site with the intent to market iDo to an international audience.

Through the new website, iDo and other experiential learning programs worldwide will finally be able to share and build upon each other’s ideas and methods. In addition, the website’s new networking capabilities will allow iDo supporters to interact directly with the iDo community.

The new website also has a new user-friendly look and feel catering to investors, educators, and students. “We have streamlined navigation, incorporated a series of templates that pertain to certain information, and devised a professional yet youthful color scheme,” said Burton. There is also an increase in curriculum examples, imagery, student galleries, production galleries, video, surveys, and scholarly articles.

iDo is committed to developing the next generation of creative thinkers though the interdisciplinary and experiential teaching of design. To learn more about Industrial Design Outreach (iDo), please visit http://www.industrialdesignoutreach.org or call 415-338-6525.

Interview Contact: Martin Linder, Founding Director
Telephone: 415-338-6525
Email: mlinder@sfsu.edu
http://www.industrialdesignoutreach.org
iDo - Industrial Design Outreach
1600 Holloway Avenue - FA 419
San Francisco, California 94132