Dieter Rahms and Vitsoe

Dieter Rams is best-known for his work at Braun–where he revolutionized the design of electronics–and his indelible influence on Apple’s Jony Ive. But he has had a decisive hand in another, much smaller company: Vitsœ, a British manufacturer that has been producing Rams’s modular shelving system for 50 years. To mark his 80th birthday, the German master has allowed Vitsœ to release the transcript of the speech he delivered in New York in 1976, in which he articulates his ethos of user-centered design and some of his famous 10 commandments. In 2012, they feel as if they were written yesterday. Enjoy–Ed.

(via FastCompany)

We’re (Cyborgs) disappearing into our Devices

Watching Amber Case’s presentation (‘From Solid to Liquid to Air’) about us ‘cyborgs’ at Media Evolution 2011 in Malmö, I went back to look at a video-skit I’d done for a project 2.5 years ago while still at UID.

The video was hacked together very quickly in a few hours, with my friends as actors and scenographers (a big thank you to all, if you’re reading!) but what struck me about it now was how much closer to the dream/myth/promise of augmented reality we are today. And where we’ll be in a few years from now.

I was reading ‘Talk to Me’, the exhibition put together at the MoMA by Paola Antonelli (another amazing person I was honored to meet at the conference) and I was astonished by the writing and thought of Kevin Slavin about why we needed to keep our reality untouched and intact.

More on that later, but this video needed a bit of dusting, and now I’m smiling. :)