If you haven't see it yet, you have a month to visit SFMOMA for
"Less and More - THE DESIGN ETHOS OF DIETER RAMS," closing on February 20, 2012.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential industrial designers of our time, Dieter Rams produced iconic works and innovative ideas (in particular his advocacy for "less but better" design) that have proved seminal for our contemporary design culture. For more than 40 years, Rams was the lead designer for the German household appliance company Braun. He has also been the active designer for German furniture company Vitsœ since his start there in 1959. This exhibition includes more than 200 models and objects by Rams and his team, as well as contemporary designs influenced by his Ten Principles of Good Design, such as Apple computers.

The show is well worth the $18 admission fee for anyone involved in bringing products to life; industrial designers, engineers, marketers, manufacturers. Hours: M-Tu: 11-5:45 W: CLOSED Th: 11-8:45 F-Su: 11-5:45 Map:
View Larger Map

The quote of the week this week comes from Ola Stenegard, lead designer of the BMW S1000RR, in an interview with BikeExif:

Q: What motorcycle do you despise?

A: None. There is no bike out there that a good blowtorch, angle grinder and TIG welder can’t fix.

That's a spirit Form Loves Function can get behind.

Feast on some tasty concept sketches of the S 1000 RR: image: BMW Ducati Husqvarna Motorcycles of Atlanta

image: Pelican Parts Forum

... and the final product:

image: BMW Motorrad

But Stenegard isn't just a go-as-fast-as-you-can kind of guy. He has a real passion for two-wheeled machines. A passion that shines in his "Forsaken Shovelhead," hand crafted by the man himself:

image: Exclusive Choppers

image: Exclusive Choppers

...on the final launch of the NASA space shuttle program, this is what you would see:

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR FINAL LAUNCH from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

(watch full screen for maximum awesome)

Details on the product design and build process are rarely presented in the comprehensive, concise fashion of this video from John Cox's Creature Workshop. Sure, he's building limited run sculptures for the entertainment industry but the process of sculpting, scanning, processing, machining, and assembling is common to many design industries. Plus, I love seeing practical applications of 5-axis CNC machining.

Here are some photos of the process:

Scanning

Processing

Machining

Comment

Photographer Todd McLellan takes the product take-apart to a new level by artistically arranging the parts and photographing them, then photographing the parts, presumably, being tossed into the air.

The products he takes apart are a few technological generations old but it is still insightful to see how they look on the inside and marvel at the complexity. Younger engineers will be amazed at the level of detail achievable in the pre-CAD era. More at http://www.toddmclellan.com/; click the "New Work" link on the left and have a look at the video of the deconstruction and photography process.

It's a classic that you have probably seen before and here it is again for quick and easy reference:

Good design is innovative.

Good design makes a product useful.

Good design is aesthetic.

Good design makes a product understandable.

Good design is unobtrusive.

Good design is honest.

Good design is long-lasting.

Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

Good design is environmentally friendly.

Good design is as little design as possible.

Copyright Dieter Rams, amended March 2003 and October 2009

Though Dieter was primarily an industrial designer every one of these points are equally applicable to product engineering.

Check out the interview for some additional context.

Comment

Arduino + Kinect Hack + PureData = Minority Report + Real-world Productivity

I can't imagine modeling with this interface at this pace all day but this is still an impressive mashup of technology.