Join modern design firms Maharam, Design Within Reach and Tricycle as they share their companies’ approaches for marketing design. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product, this panel will explore current marketing trends such as consumer customization and online outreach.

This Friday, April 22, is Earth Day. On April 20, 1970, the first Earth day celebration was launched. It sparked a momentum credited with launching the modern environmental movement and the creation of many environmental laws, such as the landmark Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. Currently, Earth Day involves over one billion...

This is the fourth interview in Chapter 3 in my new book, Designing Media Bob Mason & Jeremy Merle, November 2008 Bob Mason cofounded Brightcove in 2004 with Jeremy Allaire. They saw the possibility of a complete end-to-end solution to deliver video from any creator to any customer, across diverse devices, allowing content owners to...

A physical indicator of virtual reality, this leather wallet actually gets harder to open as funds decrease. The wallet “knows” how to behave based on a bluetooth signal from your online banking account. Developed by The Information Ecology Group at the MIT Media Lab, The Proverbial Wallets project also includes a concept for a wallet...

Aptly described by one blogger as “Home Depot from the future,” Inventables is a store unlike any other. The materials vendor sells unusual and unreal-sounding stuff, from rubber glass to translucent concrete. Their website is intended to help designers, artists and inventors “streamline the process of innovation and explore what’s possible.” Shape memory polymer that...

This is the fourth interview in Chapter 2 in my new book, Designing Media Erin Zhu and Blixa Bargeld, December 2008 I read a piece in the paper about the way that Blixa Bargeld and Einstürzende Neubauten were able to survive by fan subscription, thus avoiding the traditional perils of the music industry. I sent...

Cooper-Hewitt’s education department hosts a conversation board for K-12 educators interested in bringing design-based learning into their classroom. The conversation board hosts links to articles and teachers around the country posting their thoughts. Below are a few highlights from this months postings. Take a look and join in. Educator Resource Center Conversation Board No Right...

This is the first interview in Chapter 2 in my new book, Designing Media Jimmy Wales, October 2008 Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia in 2001, harnessing voluntary contributions from anyone with sufficient interest and time to create the world’s largest encyclopedia. I was surprised that the first email that I received from him was signed Jimbo,...

This is the seventh in a series of posts about my new book, Designing Media DJ Spooky, AKA Paul D. Miller, October 2009 Paul Miller may seem a less interesting name than DJ Spooky: That Subliminal Kid, but he makes up for it with his erudite conversation, informed by his background in philosophy and French...

This is the fifth in a series of posts about my new book, Designing Media Chris Anderson, November 2008 I interviewed Chris Anderson in the offices of Wired magazine in San Francisco. He had taken the job of Editor in Chief just before the crash in 2001, so he was faced with hard choices about...

This is the second in a series of posts about my new book, Designing Media Mark Zuckerberg, November 2009 Mark stares at you from the cover of this week’s Time Magazine with intense green eyes. Here is Time’s accolade: “For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for...

images from The IFF’s contributors’ galleries You’ve heard of open-source software. But what about open-source objects? The Los Angeles-based Institute For Figuring shares the instructions and principles behind their hyperbolic crochet technique right on their website. Like a team of data-hungry programmers, they invite people from all over the world to replicate the design, and...

Were you the kid doodling in the back of the classroom? During gym did you draw elaborate designs on your arm with a Bic pen while waiting to be picked for a team? If you are reading a design blog I would think you might have been one of those kids. In my previous post...

  There was a deluge at dawn on Friday, canceling many trains and tempting people to stay at home, in spite of their commitment to arrive at Jazz at Lincoln Center by 9:00 am for the start of the WHY DESIGN NOW? Solving Global Challenges Conference. Luckily, the event was streamed live, both on CooperHewitt.org...

Angela Riechers is a student from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team. Her first post titled “Green Burials: Recycling Our Loved Ones” appeared on the Design Blog July 9th and was met with a huge response. We figured a follow up was warranted!   Despite the 21st century’s...