What would be the point of designing and developing “Magic Machines” in the form of a “Poo Detector” … Or an “Eyes and Ears” gizmo? … One reason would be to draw attention to the effects of so-called ‘Solutionism’ – prevalent in today’s world where technological ‘solutions’ (esp. gadgets) are constantly presented to solve problems […]
Tag: design
Holding the door open for others – the darkside?
Back in 2011 Improbable drew attention to the ubiquitous (though at the time somewhat under-investigated) social phenomenon of ‘Door Holding’ see : Etiquette and effort. At the time. a research team from Penn State University, US, proposed that ‘Door Holding’ may have evolved because its perceived effort-saving efficiency might be uplifting for society. (press release […]
Ball squeezing – Kick Butt™
Ethnomusicologist Dr. Verna Gillis (previously an assistant professor at Brooklyn College and Carnegie Mellon University, US), has just recently been granted a US design patent for her ‘Ball’. (Jan. 7th, 2014) More accurately named as the Kick Butt Ball™, which is described as “… a novel spin on a stress ball, with one side shaped […]
How to Kill People
“How to Kill People” is a TV documentary made in 1960. The underlying theme: how to design weapons that kill people, but — as the occasionally-coughing on-camera host George Nelson, himself an influential product designer, explains — does not murder them. The passing years have added blurrgh-blurrgh-blurrghiness to the sound track: (HT Paola Antonelli) BONUS […]