Medical Design Excellence Awards

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A really great design just may save your life. That is the thought behind the Medical Design Excellence Awards held this June 10 in NYC. Damian Joseph of Business Week writes on the winners of the competition, "Judges base their decisions on criteria that include the innovative use of materials, the user-related design features of a product, and aspects of a design that improve a company's own bottom line. " For a slide show and description of the winning designs, please click here.

Green Speakers

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Interesting design by Pekka Salokannel on The Design Blog. The solar powered "Gramo Speakers" is music's new way of going green. The photovoltaic panels that power the speakers even charge the built-in battery pack, so you can still enjoy music long after the sun has set.

Rite Aid designs new layout

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Yesterday in Troy, New York, a new store opened with a new design that was centrally focused on their core business -- medicine. Along with wide aisles, an open layout, a centrally located cosmetic department, customers can see the pharmacy when they enter the doors. Read more about the new store layout here.

National Children's Museum Gets "Green" Treatment

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Designed by the architectural firm of Pelli Clarke Pelli, the National Children's Museum will be an ecologically friendly house that will highlight the environment, health, play and other subjects. The museum, will be located in National Harbor in Prince Georges County, Md. According to the NYTimes.com, the museum will offer several environmentally friendly features, including a wind turbine that will supply the building with energy, a sun reflector on the roof to reduce the use of artificial light, and a roof system that will absorb rainwater and improve insulation.

Tired of Tangled Earphones?

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Here's a solution to the problem of tangled earphones to those users who love to listen to music on the go. Ji Woong designed a set of innovative earphones called, YI Sound, which allows users to enjoy their music without having to worry about getting their earphones all messed up. The earphones, which can be seen in this post on The Design Blog, serves as a zipper which can be zipped up and down. The zipped earphones also comes with a sound button to control the volume.

What do you think of the design? Nifty huh.

Music Player with Pre-Loaded Songs

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The NY Times highlights how unlike the iPod, SanDisk's slotRadio player will come with a micro SD card with preloaded songs on them arranged into different playlists. The idea behind this concept is to have a no-hassle music player in which you don't have to spend time downloading music and uploading them to your player. The preloaded song card can hold up to 1,000 songs. The only foreseeable problem here is what if you don't like any of the songs?

Sara Lee Opens R&D Center

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It seems that the recession hasn't really hit Sara Lee. Instead of scaling back their budget, the company is creating a fun zone for research and development. Located in Downer's Grove, IL the new center will have a plethora of offerings for the creative researcher and the staunch market researcher.

According to CSP, the research and development center has the following:

Packaging Labs with rapid prototyping capabilities can shape plastic and paper prototypes in minutes and test packaging before suppliers begin production.

Meat Labs offer bench-top product formulation capabilities, and also simulate Sara Lee plant processes to test product components and packaging prototypes before they enter full-scale production.

The Bakery Pilot Plant allows a better understanding of how formulas will translate to commercial-size facilities, and offers new process testing and bench-top product formulation.

Foodservice Kitchens feature plug-and-play equipment that can be custom-arranged to replicate a quick-service restaurant or a foodservice operation.

Sensory & Product Performance Labs assist with turning consumer insights into desired product attributes and scalable design that increases value to customers.

According to CSP, Because of the new facilities' flexibility and customizable resources, Sara Lee North American businesses are better positioned to further improve the innovation process, it said.

Along with improving innovation, Sara Lee will likely make changes in their packaging design. With the recession, we've seen grocery products revisit and redesign their standard labels to attract budget-minded customers. It will be interesting to see with Sara Lee does next.

Red Roof Inn goes through a redesign

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In this pressing economic time, Red Roof Inn realized that the cash-strapped business needed a cost-efficient place to send their traveling employees. They've undergone a redesign that caters to those employees. The first Red Roof Inn like this has opened in Locust Grove, Georgia. They've increased the luxury and outfitted rooms with granite counter tops, vessel sinks and rain-flow shower heads. Read the full story at Hospitality Design.

Coloring Your Own Dress

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Staying within the lines has a whole new meaning, now you can wear a coloring book literally on your sleeve. CNET reports on the new fashion trend Color-in-Clothing.

The customizable garb is the result of a collaboration between Dutch fashion designer Berber Soepboer and Dutch graphic designer Michiel Schuurman.

Fabric pens are required and staying within the lines is not.

Shoes you can Read

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As if running wasn't enough, this post in the Design Blog highlights the Correr which is a sleek concept running shoe. The shoe has a chip installed in it that projects an image a couple of feet in front of the shoes that displays heart rate, speed, and distance. It'll be hard enough to run for miles let alone look down at the same time! What do you think of the design?

Fiat 500 wins 2009 World Car Design of the Year

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According to Core 77, the Fiat 500 has won the 2009 World Car Design of the Year.

According to PR-Net: "Icon is an overused word in the automotive world, but the Fiat 500 dating from 1957 genuinely deserves the sobriquet. Revived by Fiat last year, the new Cinquecento is larger than its predecessor but still smaller than a Mini. Cheerful and cheeky, it does a brilliant job of capturing the visual appeal of the original version while meeting modern design and engineering standards. Design consultant Robert Cumberford says the new 500 "pushes the emotional hot buttons of several generations of people who might never have driven one of the early models, but who admired them on European streets. Built on the Panda platform, the 500 keeps the original's charm, adding two more seats and all contemporary safety, anti-pollution and driving aids." In Tom Matano's opinion the Fiat possesses "heart-warming style. It is genuine, straightforward, without gimmicks. It is a welcome addition to a car world full of non-humanistic designs."

New Kayak Designed to Rescue Flood Victims

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The Design Blog highlights a new kayak designed by Jacob Bullard, which can aid people in distress during storms and floods. The Rez-Q can be thrown from a helicopter out to sea, and then can be expanded using a lever at the end of the boat. The kayak uses lightweight elastic urethane material, and creates an additional 3 feet of space to accommodate an extra person. What do you think of the new designs for disaster relief equipment like this one?

The UK looks at possible ambulances for the future

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The Royal College of Art in London recently started an exhibition shows the designs that researchers have come up with to better treat patients who have to be treated by an ambulance. What do you think? Will the be saving lives near you soon?

5 Harsh Truths about Web Design firms

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Saddam Azad's recent post outlines the 5 secrets of web design firms. Azad, a London-based front-end devloper runs his blog backed with experience in the field. His top five truths?

• 1.The Jack Of All Trade guys

• 2. Print designers designing websites
  

• 3. It is a matter of revenue vs cost

• 4. Designers lack creative freedom

• 5. Little concern for web standards

Check out his post in its entirety here. Can you add to the list?

Gehry Partners gets the Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Bid

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This post on the NY Times Art Beat discusses how architect Frank Gehry from Gehry Partners have been chosen to design a memorial in Washington D.C. to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ron Krueck of Krueck & Sexton, Rob Rogers and Jonathan Marvel of Rogers Marvel Architects, and Peter Walker of PWP Landscape Architecture are among others that were up for the bid on the project. It's scheduled to take roughly 5 years and cost anywhere from $90 million to $120 million.

New head of Design for Volvo

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Peter Horbury, the current Head of Design for Ford Americas, will move to Sweden and become Volvo's Vice President of Design.

For Horbury, his career has come full circle, as he was Volvo's design director from 1991 until 2002 when he moved to the Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin design studios. The British designer is credited with creating Volvo's current look after getting rid of the boxy shape that had become synonymous with the Swedish cars.

For the full story, read here.

Architect Frank O. Gehry to Design Eisenhower Memorial

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According to The Washington Post, award-winning architect Frank O. Gehry has been chosen to design the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. Gehry Partners, LLP, the architect's Los Angeles-based firm, was selected from four finalists yesterday by the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and the General Services Administration. The other finalists were Krueck & Sexton of Chicago; Peter Walker of Berkeley, Calif., and Rogers Marvel Architects of New York.

For more information, please visit the original article here.