Design:
Building Things:
- Voodoo Manufacturing, which produces plastic parts on demand via a large network of 3D printers has added a robotic tender for their factory floor, removing prints so that new jobs can begin. Their post states their desire to take on production volumes of 10,000 plastic parts or more, which has mostly been the domain of injection molding. This is ambitious but not entirely practical: energy efficiency for injection molding is vastly superior to 3D printing and it's much easier for a manufacturer to add production capacity with molding machines instead of a whole hive of printers. Voodoo seems to primarily use FDM processes so they still have the problems of surface finish and limited material selection: ABS, PLA, Nylon, and a handful of others. Anyone who has taken a product through UL or other regulatory requirements knows a more complete library of polymers to draw from is essential, and that consistency of parts needs to be higher than what current FDM can provide. The case studies on their website show mostly simple, single piece plastic widgets like keychains or trophies along with a couple of niche hobby products where product liability risk is low. The bottom line is that while they're doing some novel work on advancing print-centric production models, companies like Foxconn or The Rodon Group shouldn't be worried about disruption to their business model anytime soon.
- A more balanced, nuanced take on how additive manufacturing will supplant or complement traditional manufacturing from Dávid Lakatos at Formlabs focuses on how additive enables mass-customization rather than pitting the approach as a head-to-head competitor with injection molding across the full range of product needs.
Body/Image:
- An article on artists developing counter-surveillance clothing, like a scarf for subverting facial recognition tech and burkas that mask the heat signatures drones use for targeting. In both cases the counter measures are simple, cheap, and easy to manufacture. In a world of blue-chip paintings viewed more as investments than aesthetic objects, it's nice to be reminded that art can be subversive, practical, and beneficial to the masses all at once.
Branded:
- The super-luxury phone market hasn't developed as planned. Vertu (maker of $6,000 phones) sold once again after further stumbles, and Sirin Labs (maker of $13,000+ phones) is laying off staff and attempting a pivot after reporting sales of $10 MM since launching their product line (Sirin Labs has raised $97 MM to date). There's obviously a market for high-price luxury goods across a broad range of goods, from handbags to cars. We would argue that what both of these companies did wrong is not picking the wrong market, but rather misunderstanding how luxury brands need to look, feel, and function in order to command their (arguably absurd) mark-ups. It's not actually about the features (Balmain jeans have the same number of pockets as Levi's), it's about the aura and origins of the brand itself. If you compare the website of Sirin Labs or Vertu to established luxury brands in other product categories, the tech-industry temptation to lead with features becomes clear. But leading with features is to argue for value rooted in quality or utility, where luxury lines presume a high value by virtue of invisible metrics like provenance. Trying to talk you into the genuine luxury of something is akin to telling everyone how cool you are: It doesn't work and serves only to undermine the message. Also, while not a luxury brand per se, Apple charges a fair amount for their top line products and has brand cache and build quality that creates a high bar for would-be luxury phone makers to clear with enough space to seem notable.
Engineering Communities:
- The ad-hoc power networks known as microgrids that are driven by solar panels and use pay-as-you-go models have been deployed all over the world and often viewed as a solution for places where traditional infrastructure is lagging behind. Even if your country has a robust, centralized power grid, the promise of energy independence on a local level is attractive. Communities in the U.S. are getting involved with their own microgrid projects; an example of "reverse innovation" where initiatives originally designed for developing countries finds adaptation and usage in the wealthiest nations. In our opinion getting to a better future will require more DIY and independent, community driven projects like these, which can be implemented quickly compared to initiatives at the top levels of government vulnerable to rollbacks and politically driven funding battles.
More next week.
Design:
- International Women's Day was this past Wednesday, and this report that shows how the number of women in design declines as the career arc continues: from 67% female at the Junior Designer level, dropping to 39% at the Leadership level. This echoes what is seen in certain STEM professions as well- it's often not a pipeline problem as much as it is a retention/promotion problem. Willoughby, the design firm that put together the presentation based on AIGA design survey stats has their own commentary on why the wage and seniority gap exists, but we don't think extrapolating from their internal anecdotes is wise. There's a lot of work to be done inside and out of the design industry when it comes to equality, representation and ethical practices.
Work-Life:
- Stories of microdosing various illicit drugs to boost focus or creativity have been coming out of Silicon Valley for awhile. What is new and warrants some exploration is how workplaces should deal with microdosing of now (in some places) legal marijuana. While there might be a knee-jerk response to say that obviously such substances should be banned in the workplace, the arguments against are not so clear cut. Generally offices tolerate or even encourage caffeine to boost productivity. U.S. workers and students consume a huge amount of Adderall (a prescription amphetamine) every year, and anti-anxiety drugs help many to meet the work day with reduced stress and higher productivity. Substances and labor have intersected (legally, illegally, formally and informally) and where problems arise, there tends to be an underlying workplace or management environment that is unhealthy: abusively overloaded workers can turn to stimulants to keep up with an inhuman pace, beers-after-work can transform quieter, chronic harassment into something louder and more acute. In other words personal and organizational responsibility both figure into whether chemistry in the workplace helps or harms.
- Architects attempt to build workplaces that improve employee health by design.
Communication:
Solutions from the Down the Supply Chain:
Our Weird Future:
More next week.
Design:
- How digital tools and marketplaces are leading to greater variety and lower risk in designing and producing textiles. The stylistic trends mentioned in the article are also an indication that the glassy-smooth minimalism of the iPhone era is feeling stale and contradictory - the black and white expanses of space age surfaces have long signaled the optimism of scientific progress: that through embracing high technology we would transcend our base animal natures and enter a time of reason, peace and plenty, with our basic needs fulfilled so that we can focus on grand questions and rewarding pursuits. Technology has improved many things but in certain regards the world feels far less stable. A hunger for expressive aesthetics that call back to nature and the human hand instead of the sharp, smooth lines of the mechanically perfect is a natural response to the promises of technological progress going unfulfilled.
- Some superb data visualization work from Brown University on statistics and probability.
Building Things:
Automatons:
- Always on voice-based interfaces like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home are relatively new (Apple's Siri is 5 years old) and a new generation is growing up with those devices as a consistent presence ready and willing to answer their questions near instantaneously, if imperfectly. While the article seems to be mostly concerned with manners and whether bots you can boss around will lead to making similar demands of people, maybe more concerning is that platform filter bubbles could begin forming even earlier in life. While there are benefits in terms of ease of use in voice interfaces, that so much is hidden behind the curtain makes it more difficult to discern quality of information when all answers are delivered in the same familiar and softly-authoritative voice. Given that sources are opaque, it might be best for these bots to take a step back and acknowledge a more limited range of expertise: help us to order pizza, set reminders, and cue up our favorite songs instead of trying to explain still-developing geopolitical stories.
Body/Image:
Behavior:
- A new study on trolling finds that the creatures lurking under the bridges of the internet are really all of us. While truly dedicated, malicious trolls exist (the kind of people responsible for doxxing, coordinating harassment campaigns, etc.) much of the ill will thrown about online comes from ordinary people. The study found some correlation of troll activities with time of day and week, suggesting that these anti-social behaviors may be as much about a bad mood finding a target as it is about genuine contempt. As more and more of our communication time is logged with keyboards and screens, a better understanding of how the means of conversation can impact discourse for the worse may prove key to unwinding our sharpest political divisions.
More next week.
