London Garden: Major city, no cars

London Garden. Imagine it—a city consisting only of buses, taxis, and bikes, where energy is constantly being collected and recycled between all pieces involved. Aside from public transportation, this would make London a car-free zone.

See, as described in one of the images in this post, traffic is so bad in London that the average speed is 10mph, “which is nearly the same speed as when we used to travel with horse and carriage.” So more and more, bikes are becoming the preferred mean of travel.

Envisioned by Sweden student Mårten Wållgren and three others, London Garden won a Seymour Powell award for best concept in the “Future City Mobility” design competition. Continue reading “London Garden: Major city, no cars”

Your design philosophy not style

Whenever I think of how a person designs I think of the term “design style,” but I’ve been thinking recently maybe it’s not the right word to use. “Style” seems to imply that a person visually designs a certain way all the time.

I think a better term is design “philosophy.” What I’ve always been interested in is why someone designs the way they do, not how. A person can potentially design different ways visually, but there will seem to be a connection between their designs if they have a certain philosophy. Continue reading “Your design philosophy not style”

Twittered Quotes

Bloggers seem to be fixated on list. I frequent design blogs, and everyday I see blog post with titles such as 35 Beautiful Photography Websites, and 50 Creative and Inspiring 404 Pages, and The 4 essential web writing tips. I can see the appeal of numbered list, but it’s just not my thing.

Nevertheless, I have a few quotes I would like to share, but I refuse to number them and title this post “10 quotes I like.” I’m taking a stand. Continue reading “Twittered Quotes”

Intelligent Design, Dumb Users?

A little while ago, a designer by the name of Jens Meiert asked on his blog: “How much intelligence does good design really require?

He explains his issue well by posing the following dilemma:

How would I design a door for people who don’t know what a door is? This means, is it legitimate to assume that people know the concept of doors? If it is, shouldn’t I expect the door to fail if I install it in a place that is frequented by people who don’t know doors?

This is the response I wrote in his comments. Continue reading “Intelligent Design, Dumb Users?”

The Objectivist Designer

I recently finished reading “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. I enjoy reading some philosophy now and then so I knew plenty about Rand and her ideas of objectivism before reading the novel.

Objectivism, put bluntly, is the idea that the proper way for one to live is to be selfish and egotistical. To live any other way is immoral. Continue reading “The Objectivist Designer”