Say you want a revolution

I went to two talks this week. Both on similar subjects yet both very different in attitude and approach. The first was The Frontline’s talk on Cyber Snooping in partnership with BBC Arabic. The panel was well put together; consisting of a varied mix of people working at the forefront of technological and online governance in a range of capacities. Though proceedings occasionally took a turn for the paranoid, the general sentiment was that it was time to get real about the definition, legislation and regulation of online activity for individuals, corporations and governments on a global scale.

 In contrast, D&AD’s “Digital Revolution 2.0” event was, with a few minor exceptions, as worryingly backward as the title itself. Not only did I find myself wondering if 2.0 was just a way to make the proceedings feel more “Internet-y”, but, with references to Second Life and Star Trek, whether I had also somehow travelled back in time to 2004. Assuming, for a moment, that I had, then the event was right on the money. In the early noughties, technology had almost divested itself of its geeks-only image and started to go mainstream. The line between online and offline began to blur, and everyday life was changing dramatically as a consequence. It felt wondrous, magical and overwhelming. In 2004 we had no idea how it was all going to pan out or, to paraphrase Neville Brody in Wednesday’s opening remarks, how we as people might potentially interface and interact.

If I had been asked to present on Wednesday, which is unlikely since D&AD evidently find it unthinkable to have more than two women in a panel of six, I would have pointed out that this is 2012 and the Revolution has been and gone. Wikipedia (yes, no longer do I refer to my twelve volume encyclopedia) defines a post-Revolutionary state as one that has resulted in major changes in culture, economy and socio-political institutions. Could you argue that “Digital” has contributed to fundamental change in those areas already? Yes.

The Digital Revolution (let’s just drop the 2.0 shall we?) not only changed institutions, it instigated new ones. The human experience expanded from one existing entirely in the physical world, to one that now incorporates an ever-evolving online world. So much so that people like Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a panelist at the Frontline Club’s event, are not only championing civil rights in the context of the twenty-first century but actively pioneering things like a global freedom of information act and international codes of conduct.

D&AD stands to represent the global design, creative and advertising industries. In this privileged capacity, they ought not to be pontificating on “what it all means”. Getting up on stage and throwing around words like “instagram”, “fluid data” and “re-Renaissance” just add to the noise. Like their political counterparts, D&AD have a responsibility to leverage their name and their expertise to design the direction of digital culture in our changed, and still changing, world.

Roll up, roll up

Next week, as part of the Clerkenwell Design Week, I'll be on the panel for Design Crimes - a session of strong opinion and forthright debate around crimes in performance, function, form or simply interactive frustration. Previous selections have included TV remotes, DFS sofas and the UGG boot.

The theme for Wednesday's event is "Revival", and we've been asked to select those designs from the past which we believe would have been better left where they belonged: in the past.

More details here and Clerkenwell Design Week guide here. Get in.

Divorce Decor

What is this about? A new interior design specialism focuses on an emerging breed of client, the divorced man. According to a piece on the New York Times, divorcees are looking to create homes "fit for a family" but that also "appeals to dates". Apparently "a very large television" and the "persistent problem" of exposed wiring are key considerations for today's post-marriage singles. Niche interiors company, Sexy Bachelor Pad claim to bring "a sense of playfulness, humor, & down-to-earth communication to what has the tendency to feel overwhelming and stressful to most men". Loosely translated, the implication is that that black satin sheets are out, 500-thread count waffle bedding is in.

This is white people problem solving at its best. Identify a latent need, and commercialise the hell out of it. Time was that first wives had only to worry that the 'other woman' was a pert blonde who graduated in the same decade as the kids. Now, it's the ex-director of design and brand experience for W Hotels who's the major threat. Susan Manrao works her decorative magic through "vignettes" and "whimsical details" to ensure her gentlemen clients avoid the hermit existence of a man cave, and instead feel confident breaking in the Sabatier knife collection over some porcini mushrooms, while their dates admire the exposed brickwork.

Evidently, frisky divorcees are too preoccupied with the transformative power of an A.P.C linen blend blazer and splashing out on leather iPad covers to bother with such mundane issues as "procuring art" and "reallocating space". Le sigh.

Photos courtesy of The Sartorialist

She Decos

Well, work is nearly finished on the S&M Barbie Palace in Stoke Newington. The white goods have arrived, the paint colours have been chosen and the new floor is ready to go down. Time now, to start thinking about what's going to go IN it!

As a girl geek, I'm entranced by this QR code wallpaper. How cool to link to my latest thoughts, to-do notes and inspirations simply by holding up my iPhone!



Lighting-wise, the designers around me have been whipped up into a frenzy over the Plumen Bulb Loop - an aesthetically sensitive response to the energy-saving light bulb. Gorgeous.

Plumen Bulb Loop from Plumen on Vimeo.

Lastly, I must give a nod to the new Ikea viral which launched last week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one moggy crawled into my oven and is going to come live with me!



Check back soon for the Design Sponge orientated "sneak peek" shots. Work with me here, Grace!

A whole new world of consumption.

On Wednesday I get the keys to my first flat. It's pretty damn scary. Not because of the huge, great mortgage. Or because I've never lived on my own. Or because Stoke Newington is choc full of yummy mummies and doesn't have a tube station. No, my real cause for concern is that most of my shopping experience lies in clothes, shoes, bags and food. Kitchen work surfaces, wood flooring and sofas, however, I have no experience in at all. Re-enforced by the fact that recent trips to Habitat, Heals and Ikea have all lead to unsightly sweating and panic attacks.

Nevertheless, if I can get through jeggings, I can get through re-decorating a flat. Here's my inspiration... thoughts?





Or maybe this?



Thanks to Design Sponge and The Kitchn

Women! Know your (140 character) limits!

Just finished working on a collaborative project with Designers, Panja Gobel and Emma Barratt, for Project 10. Project 10 is Steve Price's philanthropic plan to work on 10 projects/collaborations in the next 10 months with 10 NFP/NGO organisations on projects that are ‘fun’. Bored of sending out generic press releases to promote the work Steve's doing, he's started printing a monthly newspaper stuffed with contributions from the great and good of the design world.



Steve and I forged a very modern friendship over Twitter and I feel very honoured to know him and to be invited to contribute to the up-coming women's only edition of the Project 10 newspaper. Keep an eye on Steve's site for updates.

Love these two examples of time keeping outside of the box.

First up is a digital clock from Kibardindesign consisting of autonomous digits which each have a self-contained power supply. Able to be placed anywhere, light sensors will switch the clock to an invert mode: the figures are white in the dark time of day and black at daytime.



And then there's this beautiful calender from Oscar Diaz which uses the capillary action of ink spreading across paper to display the date.



Suddenly my Lumie doesn't look quite so cool.

The New Aura Phone from Motorola

Ooh, loving this. It's like they've gone right back to the drawing board in terms of what we expect mobile phones to look like. The clock-face detail, in particular, is floating my boat. Gorgeous.

We can't have just Banksy's on our walls...

Posters from Ork Posters and The Poster List