Imagine a world without form

"Imagine Life without ID" conceptualized by Kristoffer Carillo of DLS-CSB 

industrial design
- the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer (IDSA, link)

On June 29, 2012, industrial designers all over the world will celebrate the 5th World Industrial Design Day, a event started by International Council of Societies of Industrial Design half a decade ago to observe and recognize the profession of industrial design. For the past years, other countries in the world had held this event, and it will be the first time WIDD will be celebrated here in the Philippines. Organized by the newly-formed National Council of Industrial Designers of the Philippines (NCIDP), the event will showcase exhibitions, contests and seminars to provide further knowledge to practitioners about the profession. The carrying banners "Lead and Change by Design" and "Imagine A World Without Industrial Design" will leave everyone wondering how the world will turn out if all the inventions are still the way they are (example, the steam locomotive as the primary transport, and even your iPhone or Blackberry still looking like an 80's handy phone). Eventually, everyone will also be challenged to think more rationally and design responsibly on how to make the world a better place with industrial design.

World Industrial Design Day in the Philippines will be held on June 29, 2012, from 12pm to 7pm (*updated time) at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde- School of Design and the Arts, Pablo Ocampo St., Manila.

More information can be found on NCIDP's offical website at www.ncidp.cc and Facebook page.

See you at the event! image via Nielson Navarrete

Designers should be Objectified

Objectified movie poster, image from http://www.wired.com

For the past days since starting this Extra Kanin blog, I was trying to write an article that will give our readers the basic definition of industrial design. Many people don’t even know what industrial design is and what the profession is for. We always come across friends and acquaintances back in college asking us what we do, and what makes us different from more popular courses like architecture, interior design and fine arts. From a point of view of an outsider, industrial design is an unknown degree with no solid future. However, for those who practice it, the profession is prestigious.

Just last night, I finished watching this 2009-released documentary about industrial design (much thanks to Nian Suministrado for referring this to me). The movie is entitled Objectified, directed by Gary Hustwit, the same man who created the Helvetica movie (next on my to-watch list). For the people who don’t have a clue, now you will get the chance to better understand the nature of our profession. Objectified is the 90-minute tour to the world of simplicity, common sense, modernism and creativity as ingredients for design.

Industrial Design Websites For Your Inspiration

As an industrial designer, it has always been a part of our design process to include research as a partner of every step. There is research done before the project starts, while idealization commences, laying out the mechanism, internal functions and the ergonomics of the initial design, the marketability of the product, and even the right way to deliver the product’s message. The hardest way of dealing with this is the lack of visuals and commentaries about how the ideas will run and be born. So the quickest place to go for a design study besides the library is the Internet, although industrial design is still not that popular of a topic to look for on the web. As to help the students and others of the same profession, I compiled a list of wonderful industrial websites that will give any designers ease on where to get ideas, backgrounds, methods, and of course motivation and inspiration while working on their designs.

CORE77
http://www.core77.com/
http://challenges.core77.com/

Every industrial design student knows about Core77. It’s like the “House of ID”, the one website where every design ideas converge. And that’s exactly how the website presents its contents. Core77 shows the readers what they need to know, in terms of latest designs, commentary columns, news, information, hotlinks, what’s coming, and a lot more. Designers that write about designs, so you can be sure of what you read were experienced firsthand and understood by the writers. Plus, they hold competitions in what they call the Design Arena for amateurs and professionals to participate in (with most cash prizes enough to make you start a business or design firm already). It is truly a haven for us industrial designers.