‘Design Thoughts’ : rjslade

Some interesting trends

Every two or three months I receive a free newsletter from the people at Trendwatching.com. To me it is very interesting, looking forward to what might be of interest in promotion of products and services, but also as a tool to educate individuals in new ways of looking at an event – changing one’s ‘point of view’. From the newsletter regarding trends in 2008, I found the following particularly interesting but a visit to Trendwatching site will provide you access to the whole article, the archive of other articles and the opportunity to sign yourself up if you want.

How many times have the young people in your life answered – ‘WHATEVER’Anything and Whatever A Singapore beverage company Out of the Box caters to consumers who respond to “What would you like to drink?” with a non-committal “anything” or “whatever”. The company has launched two complementary brands: Anything is fizzy and comes in six flavors (Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer), while Whatever is non-carbonated (Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea, Chrysanthemum Tea). The surprise part? Consumers don ‘t know which flavor they’re getting until they take a sip. Cans are simply labeled Anything and Whatever, and the list of ingredients is limited to generic wording. Judging from the buzz on Singapore forums, teens immediately got the concept and are loving it.

I knew this was now no longer science fiction but at this sort of cost it is no longer only in the realm of the well heeled corporation. Order yours now!

Desktop Factory: 3D Printers The Desktop Factory 3D printer builds durable, functional models from the bottom up, one layer at a time. The Desktop Factory 3D printer has a build speed comparable to existing 3D printing technologies, and produces robust parts that are strong enough to be thrown across a conference room table! Desktop Factory proprietary software imports STL files and other industry standard 3D printer formats, automatically slices and orients the part for optimal build performance and creates any required support structures. The Desktop Factory 3D printer measures about 25 x 20 x 20 inches and weighs less than 90 lbs. The maximum build volume of the initial product will be 5 x 5 x 5 inches. The thickness of each layer is 0.010 inch.

If you thought the transition from mayline and drafting table to the computer screen and software was a learning curve i can just imagine what the results of this transition could be…

Sketchfurniture Is it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space? The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialize free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined. Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialized through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture.

Here is a site that will price and manufacture an object for you from a sheet material of your choice. If you have an idea they provide the infrastructure…

Ponoko is the world’s first personal 2D manufacturing platform. It’s the online space for a community of creators and consumers to use a global network of digital manufacturing hardware to co-create, make and trade individualized product ideas on demand. The Ponoko.com marketplace connects creators, consumers, digital manufacturing hardware and service providers to promote, make and trade products on Ponoko and social networking websites.

So that is it for this post. Hope you find in useful. I have a lot of other subjects to cover so will be adding to the ‘blog’ frequently in the next few days. Enjoy it and hoping to hear from you – R