The Design Institution seeks to promote the development of the design practice and gathers together designers from all over the world who work everyday to improve the vision of the design world around us.

It’s currently hosting an international competition: The Designer’s Workstation 2008. Designers, both professional and students, are invited to submit their ideas about the ideal work station for the designer of the XXI century.

Materials should be submitted in jpeg format via the Design Institution website. Designs will be judged by an esteemed panel in accordance with the following criteria: innovation, functionality, materials, anthropometry, and context.

Cash prizes of up to $4000 USD will be awarded, and winning designs and other selected works will be published in a virtual exhibition on The Design Institution website.

The complete rules and regulations as well as entry forms can be found here.

I knew I was going to love this book when I read this line in the introduction: “Why does the world need another Photoshop book?” You don’t have to read the author’s answer to understand why the world needs this Photoshop book; a quick look at the imagery shows you that the title Creative Photoshop is no joke.

Derek Lea’s instructional book eschews the usual “this is a layer, this is the toolbox” talk and instead focuses on artistry, and by artistry, I don’t mean tips on gradient fills and drop shadows. We’re talking rich, complex illustrations that rival those found in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. Check out the author’s portfolio to see what I mean.

My fear when it comes to books touting the creative or artistic aspects of a digital application is that you’ll learn just one style that doesn’t translate well to most of your design or illustration needs. There’s no fear here, though. Each chapter tackles a different illustration style, including some that you wouldn’t expect to fit perfectly with Photoshop - retro art, “urban lowbrow,” antique effects, to name a few.

Though Creative Photoshop is meant for more experienced users, it doesn’t leave beginners high and dry. Thare a few early chapters that introduce new users to the basics of drawing and painting with Photoshop tools. More advanced users can learn a lot about using a graphics tablet with Photoshop and will get some tips on shape layers and tracing techniques in this section as well. Even in the early chapters, the focus is extremely high-quality artwork with special attention given (more…)

Or, is it both?

In creating a new MBA program in Design Strategy this past year, I have found that one of the most difficult ideas for people to wrap their heads around is that the “business” we refer to isn’t “how to run a design company” but, instead, “how to interface with organizations in order for design to be more influential in business strategy.”

For a the last 10 years or so, business and strategy issues have been creeping into the design experience more and more. While BusinessWeek extols the merits of design to the business world, designers-turned-strategists have been proclaiming the need for designers to better understand how organizations work (at the highest levels) if they hope to have the influence they’ve always desired. Coming from both directions, the meeting in the middle can be powerful.

When designers better understand business processes and issues across the organization, and when they can speak the language of their other business peers, they can better communicate customer needs, strategy, and design-based innovation. Likewise, when business leaders from all parts of an organization better understand meaningful, strategic innovation, they have more comfort dealing with the often ambiguous and fuzzy process it requires. What companies truly need is to strike a balance between the need to achieve operational efficiencies and, at the same time, make a place for free-thinking to drive new, appropriate, and meaningful solutions that have never been seen before. This isn’t easy–especially for someone who may have been brought-up on the idea that design is merely appliqué or decoration you add at the end to “spruce-up” a product or that it’s something trendy and ethereal that can’t really be planned strategically.

This is what is meant by the term Design Strategy: the use of design processes, perspectives, and tools to create truly meaningful, sustainable, and successful innovation across a variety of design disciplines, including industrial, interaction, visual, experience, and fashion design. (more…)

Last year, SIGG asked Japanese artists to design water bottles that captured the essence of their culture. The result was a wonderful collection that is going to be offered worldwide in SIGG’s 2008 water bottle line.

For 2009, SIGG is looking to create a similar line of bottles inspired by and representative of the United States. Contestants are encouraged to work creatively, to show the U.S. as they see it and experience it. SIGG is looking for unique, out-of-the-box designs that go beyond stars and stripes. The design should speak to an international audience while representing the United States.

The top 10 designs will be sent onto Switzerland and 6 top designs will be chosen for the new collection. The Grand Prize winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000 and 100 SIGG bottles (of their design) to give out to friends and family. The other 5 winners will receive 10 bottles of their design.

Complete rules and design templates are available here. The entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. PST on Saturday, January 19, 2008.

Entries are currently being accepted for I.D. magazine’s 2008 Student Design Review.

The magazine is searching for the best work from design schools around the world in four categories:

* Industrial Design
* Graphic Design
* Interactive Design
* Miscellaneous

One Best of Show winner will get US $1,000 in cold, hard cash. Plus, all winning projects will be featured in the I.D. September/October 2008 issue, and may be posted on the I.D. website with links to winners’ online portfolios.

The 2008 Student Design Review is open to any student enrolled in a collegiate-level design program (undergraduate or graduate), anywhere in the world. All projects entered must be the result of a classroom/academic assignment, and must have been designed/completed during the 2006-2007 academic year.

The entry deadline is February 1, 2008. Complete guidelines and entry forms can be found here.