“Dear Volkswagen. I’m stuck in traffic and my ‘Smileage’ is zero.”

My second post as guest editor for Branded Arts Review is all about Volkswagen's new app, Smileage.

Smileage is the first cab off the rank in Google’s Art, Copy & Code project, and for this reason alone it’s worth checking out.

The app allows you to tag passengers, share photos, virtually ‘punch’ other cars, and lets friends keep track of your journey. I'm not convinced it's going to change the world, but you can decide for yourself...

Target at TED & SXSW. Really?

I'm delighted to be guest editing Branded Arts Review this month, which critiques innovative projects that infiltrate popular culture, yet were created and funded by brands.

For my first post, I've written about Target.

When you think of Target, you probably think of its bullseye logo and the cheap clothes, kitchen appliances, tea towels, garden rakes and underpants that are sold from its gigantic superstores.

So what was Target doing last week at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, the world’s über-cool barometer of innovation and a breeding ground for the likes of Twitter?

And what was Target doing at TED’s Long Beach, California conference a couple of weeks earlier?

Was it a stroke of sponsorship genius? Or is Target skewing oddly off course, forgetting it is not in fact a start-up tech company, but a discount retailer?

You can read my critique here

Design Integration Pilot

"The Design Integration Pilot is helping Australian manufacturing businesses transform through design, proving designers may become in demand as business strategists."

I recently wrote about the Design Integration Pilot, which is helping Australian manufacturing businesses transform through design. Similar initiatives have proven hugely successful in countries like the UK and New Zealand, so it's about time we got a program of our own - we'll need something to fall back on if our coal runs out.

In a nutshell, the DIP is a pilot program that unites designers and manufacturers in South Australia and New South Wales with the goal of driving innovation, profitability and global competitiveness.

As one interviewee told me: “Australia is experiencing a blind spot and a skills gap. I don’t think Australia’s tertiary education system gives sufficient emphasis to design as a problem-solving enterprise. We have to move away from defining ‘design’ as a product outcome, to seeing ‘design’ as a process.”

Designers of the future will have the opportunity to design not just products, logos and brands, but also business strategies, operational systems and business models.

Read the full article here

Buro North interview

Melbourne studio Büro North designs everything from logos to signage and wayfinding systems...



My interview with Finn Butler, co-director of Büro North, is now up on CreativeInnovation

I found Finn to be an unusually thoughtful designer when it comes to articulating the thinking behind the studio's work. I learned that designing signage systems is far more complicated than designing signs -- it's about designing human behaviour. It's also fascinating that he worked on the way finding system at Terminal 5 at Heathrow, which must have been a logistical nightmare, before moving to Melbourne and eventually joining Soren Luckins as a partner at Buro North.

Creative3, Brisbane

I travelled to Brisbane last month to interview two of the speakers at the Creative3 forum, which was headlined by Stefan Sagmeister. Hats off to Stefan -- for years now he's given speeches and written books about the value of taking time off to creatively re-charge, and people still love hearing him talk. I've seen him give similar presentations in three different countries, and from a design perspective they're not all that surprising, and a little repetitive, though on a personal level they are endearing because they reveal the things that matter to Stefan -- happiness, friendship, curiosity, freedom, love.

More illuminating was the fact that Brisbane has come such a long way in terms of its support of the creative sector. The conference highlighted the business end of design -- pathways to investment, business culture, idea generation, disruptive entrepreneurs, new models for entertainment and arts financing -- all the aspects of business that creative professionals often need guidance with.

Most illuminating of all: I am forced to admit Brisbane has come a long way since my childhood, when I used to visit my grandma over the Christmas holidays, reluctantly, with my sisters, when we were overwhelmed by the sweltering boringness of the city compared to Sydney. Today, there's the GoMA, the award-winning State Library (designed by Donovan Hill), and tiny enclaves of designer restaurants and wines bars. I'd still never live there though.

Taste promotes its Sydney launch with a new magazine

Taste furniture showrooms recently opened in Sydney, with the goal of bringing affordable European-style designs to Australian renovators.

I've written three articles that feature in the first issue of the Taste magazine...

#1
The first article offers a modernist tour of Europe, from Eileen Gray's E-1027 house in the French Riviera to the Rietveld Schroder House in Utrecht. The house is tiny, but its significance is huge as it typifies the architectural principles of the De Stijl movement. The article also features the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, designed by Arne Jacobsen, and Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic, designed by Mies van der Rohe.

#2
The second article is all about Margarete Schutte-Lihotzkey, Austria's first female architect and designer of the pragmatic Frankfurt Kitchen, which has inspired all kitchens since the 1920s. Without Margarete, kitchens might look very different today - and while her original designs were akin to a laboratory, they were unpretentious, hygienic, affordable and remarkably efficient, making Margarete one of the world's most influential - yet lesser known - architects.

#2
The third article is a 'Design Showcase' featuring houses designed by award-winning Australian architects: MCK Architects, CODA (Perth), John Andreas and Greg Natale Design.

something splendid, melbourne

James Yencken and Jonathon Bellew were studying a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) at Monash University when they decided to launch their own design studio, Something Splendid. Their earliest clients were their friends, whose design briefs became their final year projects.

Something Splendid differentiates itself by fusing hand-made craftsmanship with digital animation.

I recently caught up with Something Splendid to uncover their secrets to launching a successful start-up design practice, and I thought they were splendidly clever in articulating their vision... The article appears here

Parallax has a new website

I interviewed Matthew Remphrey at Parallax for a story about graphic design today and noticed the studio has launched a new website.

Based in Adelaide, Parallax is one of Australia's most awarded design studios, famous for creating designs that are not only aesthetically original but also strategically robust. The studio's new website is worth browsing - not only does it unveil something of the studio's design process, but it summarizes each and every client neatly.

My interview with Matthew will appear in CREATIVE magazine's annual 'Design' issue in June 2011.

Polish designer Maciej Zien visits Sydney

Today I interviewed fashion designer Maciej Zien, who is in Sydney for a few days from Poland. I liked him so much I had the odd sensation of wishing we could be friends.

Today Zień is one of Poland’s most celebrated designers, and though I haven't seen enough of his work to know whether his talents live up to his fame, I was struck by his charm, confidence, and ambition to loan his name to a line of products far beyond the world of fashion, like all the world's cleverest designers do.

Maciej also designs interiors and his tile range will be available at Taste showrooms in Australia later this year. The textures are incredible- some tiles look like alligator skin. Here are his interior design tips, which I compiled for Taste's custom-published magazine:

1. USE BEAUTIFUL TEXTILES
“I use a lot of beautiful materials in my home. I have an amazing cashmere couch by Loro Piama, which is incredibly soft and comfortable. She also sells a line of cashmere carpets called ‘One Step to Heaven’. Materials are very important.”

2. LAMPS CREATE ROMANCE
“I put lights in the same part of the window where you would see the sun, and I put lamps around my couch to create a romantic atmosphere.”

3. CHOOSE COLOURS THAT CHANGE WITH THE LIGHT
“Taupe is my favorite colour. In the morning it looks greyish, but in the evening when you turn on your lamps you can see beige. It changes a little throughout the day.”

4. DESIGN FOR THE SENSES
“Some apartments make you think about an emotion – that’s very important for me. Fragrance and music help to evoke emotion; when you are in one of my stores, you can smell candles and hear music, so if you closed your eyes you would still know you’re in my shop.”

5. MIX OLD AND NEW
“It is sad to forget history, so I love to mix old details with modern design. This is also why artwork is very important. When you change your home, you take your artworks with you. When you put them in your new apartment, it immediately feels like home.”