The current issue of Fast Company features a story on The Femme Den, an "internal collective" of four women at the NYC firm, Smart Design. The Femme Den's mission is to explore how best to design for women, and the members do their own research on the subject as well as consult on specific Smart Design jobs. For example, the company Pure Digital Technology came to Smart Design to create a camcorder. The result: the Flip Camera, probably one of the coolest and easiest to use gadgets out there, and a byproduct of the Den's viewpoint that since women approach technology intuitively, the ideal recorder would prioritize "ease of use." And as the article's author Kate Rockwood points out, the Flip is as popular with men as women, which proves the Femme Den point that incorporating frank discussions about gender preferences in the design process doesn't mean you end up with a product that alienates half the population. You just create a better product.

Read the whole article here: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/139/separate-and-equal-femme-den.html

More about the Femme Den here: http://www.femmeden.com

As Design Director of the Obama campaign, Scott Thomas had a front row seat to all the work that the candidate inspired. Subsequently, he has created the book, Designing Obama, which recaps the campaign through the design lens, contains forwards by Steven Heller and Michael Bierut and features the work of 50+ artists.

Thomas needs $65,000 to publish the tome and has turned to the entrepreneurial website Kickstarter to raise the money through small donations (a strategy which itself is a salute to Obama.) $10+ gives you access to a digital version of the book; for $50+ you'll get a copy of the book and digital access. Special perks for donations of $100 and more.

For more about the project: http://www.designing-obama.com

To pledge: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simplescott/designing-obama

Snap-on jar tops turn your old spaghetti sauce container into a pitcher/creamer/shaker, etc.

http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=1072

On October 22 the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum will hold its annual awards gala and distribute laurels including the People's Design Award, submitted and chosen by us, the People. As of today, there are 86 nominees including the very cool Uniform Project, which I wrote about here (http://blog.urbanmammal.com/the-uniform-project-4) in July and voted for. Other notables:

The Stat Key's custom keys.
www.statkeycompany.com

The Obama presidency has ushered in many new things, not least of which is a respectable white house website.
www.whitehouse.gov

Yes, the Airblade makes your skin wrinkle up like tissue paper but unlike most air hand dryers, it actually works, and fast.
Dyson Airblade

Unlike some contest websites, this one is actually well-organized and fun to peruse, so check it out. Browse, vote or nominate here: http://peoplesdesignaward.cooperhewitt.org/2009

This is harder than it looks...

Play here: http://cheeseorfont.mogrify.org/

The Michael Jackson Monument Design Competition, Live Forever, hosted by Archinect.com and Bustler.net, announced its winners last month.
In case you were too busy commemorating the King of Pop in your own way, here's a recap:

 Baddest: A digital clock that countdowns to the time (aprox. 70 years from now) when MJ's music hits the public domain.

Badder: A gold wind turbine, in the middle of nowhere, which powers a stereo system and dance floor, a la the Billie Jean video. Burning Man attendees, take note.

Bad: A bed installed in the Jackson Casino, which I gather doesn't exist (yet), meant to evoke Jackson's philosophy of communal sleeping, which he memorably articulated during his child molestation trial.

And lastly, my favorite of the ten honorable mentions: Vacuous Tears, a wall display of test tubes filled with fans' tears. A creepy and intriguingly clinical approach to fandom and grief.

More on the winners and honorable mentions here: http://www.bustler.net/index.php/michael_jackson_competition/winners/

San Francisco designer Gabe Ruane has launched the Identity Archives Project, a growing online database of logos submitted by their respective designers worldwide. Anyone can submit a logo, providing it "is/was a client approved design, and that it is/was in use publicly." With enough contributions, the site will function as a great resource for researchers and a pit-stop for designers wanting to avoid accidental logo look-alikes. So dig through your personal oeuvre and start uploading!

  
http://www.identityarchives.com

Paula Scher is as well known for her map paintings as her graphic & environmental design. In this video, Scher explains that she painted her first map as a way to make an expense-free cover for an AIGA annual in order to keep the allotted $1,000 budget for herself.

 I love that A) Scher's practical and totally non-artistic goal to pocket some money led to her discovering a satisfying creative outlet, and B) that she's willing to admit as much. A good balance to all the highfalutin talk of muses and obscure inspirations so often spouted by Les Artistes.

 

 The video is the second of a two-part series made by Nicolas Heller (son of Steven). In Part 1 Scher discusses how NYC influences her graphic design work.

 More of Scher's map paintings here: http://www.paulascher.com