Design is changing, and so are the ways that WE design. No longer is it about the individual or even a team, it is about a transparent global initiative. Solving problems as a community, using unlimited resources and user generated content.

I am proud to announce the formation of a new Design/Technology/ Education Blog, “Knot Theory”. Our aim is to distance ourselves from the copacetic bloggers that are out there, whom inundate and over embellish the blogosphere with useless knowledge and redundant “news”. Our mission  is to bring industry knowledge and experience, along with cutting edge technology,  and creative design in an ambient space where ideas and thoughts coexist. We at Knot-Theory.net are providing this ambient space with the premise of creating “knots” or inter lapping connections that may not have existed prior to the ambient space.  We are hoping to launch at the end of this month and are currently looking for contributors.

www.knot-theory.net

This is probably one of the better more inspiring clips i have seen in a long time. Right up there with my Tap Project post <http://mreisen83.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/for-a-great-cause/> Check it out.

What ThruYOU tells us is that all bets are off. The DNA of our media system has mutated so completely that it’s only a matter of time before our society changes as well.
In fact, that change is already happening.

In politics, economics, arts and culture, an era of privileged access is giving way to something that’s much more decentralized, participatory and personal.

We no longer passively consume media, we actively participate in it. This often means creating content, in whatever form and from whatever sources — what author Jonathan Zittrain calls “generativity.”

Every now and then comes something that is a perfect expression of what the Internet is about.

This was an excellent campaign done buy UNICEF. Powerful.

8:27: President Obama climaxes his speech with: “Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

A more hopeful depiction of our future, illustrating that this is a capital moment in history.  A time of Massive Change, and revolutionary ideas, where the ideas of culture, technology, and hope revolutionize a new Industrial Renaissance.

Wabi-sabi (in Kanji: 侘寂) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” (according to Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers). It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence — Anicca, or in Japanese, 無常 (mujyou, or mujō)), Impermanence.　Note also that the Japanese word for rust, 錆 is also pronounced sabi (the borrowed Chinese character is different, but the word itself is of assumed common etymology), and there is an obvious semantic connection between these concepts.

Design is a signal of intention. What is the very “best” a designer can intend? How might a design manifest that intention? What do you think was this designers’ intention was?

It unfortunately isn’t as often as we like that we come across a design that impacts an entire body, or in this case a village. Bringing meaning to life and giving life meaning is a constant challenge. And on very rare occasions design can give life meaning. Meaning, how often does design impact so many people, and rather, how often does design serve such a greater good? As far as I am concerned not very often, and in this case it wasn’t apple.

PlayPumps. Kids play on a merry-go-round and pump water for villages at the same time. Girls benefit in particular because they are usually the ones fetching water.