The most successful State of Design Festival wrapped up last Sunday after 12 days of events, exhibitions and local and international guests attracted an estimated 150,000 visitors.

Lou Weis, Creative Director for Victoria’s State of Design Festival (14-25 July) says “The State of Design has succeeded in its mission to connect diverse audiences to a relevant and approachable design conversation. Across the Festival’s 100 activities we saw people engage in everything from intimate workshops to large scale keynote addresses all focusing on how society can change by design.”

Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings said: “State of Design Festival is without doubt the biggest event on the Australian design calendar with the festival experiencing an unprecedented number of visitors. The Victorian Government is proud to support the State of Design Festival which shows how design can generate products, services and processes that promote economic growth and create jobs.”

Under the theme of ‘Change by Design’, the festival held four major programs: Design for Everyone, Design Capital, Design:Made:Trade and the Premier’s Design Awards 2010.

DESIGN FOR EVERYONE

The festival’s public program brought together participants of all ages and backgrounds to explore and learn at events across Melbourne and in Victorian regional centres.

Design for Everyone displayed an abundant cross-section of design from architecture, interior, landscape, product and communication design to fashion, textiles, jewellery and contemporary craft; there was something for everyone. Highlights included Creating Liveable Cities, presented by Melbourne Water, the much loved Paper Plane Academy, Preston Zly’s free screening of 1950’s film The Red Shoes and the Lace by Design performance for the fashion savvy, the popular Melbourne Open House, showcasing unique buildings and spaces, the competition Iron Designer III and a thought-provoking Melbourne Cycling Forum lead by international guest Mikael Colville-Andersen.

DESIGN CAPITAL

Moderated by Janne Ryan, ideas curator and producer of the ABC Radio National program, By Design, the 2010 Design Capital Speaker Series revealed an unparalleled line up of guests from around Australia and the world.

Highlights were plenty and included Chris Bangle talking on The Future of Personal Mobility, Els Zijlstra (Materia – The Netherlands) talking on Sustainable Materials to Inspire, and Axel Enthoven (Enthoven Associates Design Consultants - Belgium) speaking on The Power of More: When Collaboration is Better Business.

From sustainable innovation through to new technology and systems, the 2010 speakers presented their vision and insights into the strategies and tools that can help businesses respond to shifting and ever-changing market conditions.

DESIGN:MADE:TRADE

Created to provide a professional environment in which to showcase the very best of Australia’s product designers and design makers whilst connecting them with retail and export buyers, Design:Made:Trade has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2008.

In 2010, 95 exhibitors participated in the event across Product Design, Graphic Design, Textiles, Lighting, Furniture, Fashion, Accessories and Hand Made Objects. Attracting an impressive 4,441 trade visits (40% up on 2009) and 3,946 public visitors (43.5% up on 2009) to the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton there is no doubt Design: Made: Trade was the ideal place to connect with, and shop from, some of the best designers in Australia.

Lightsource: In addition, Lightsource, a new lighting feature for The State of Design Festival, previewed a selection of leading Australian and international brands and lighting designers. Technically advanced designs and specialised applications provided an educational platform for energy saving technology and environmentally sustainable lighting.

THE PREMIER’S DESIGN AWARDS

The Premier’s Design Awards is a biennial event which recognises and rewards excellence in the application of design. Recipients of a Premier’s Design Award are leaders in the effective and strategic use of design. The Premier’s Design Awards is part of the Victorian Government’s $15 million Design Victoria Strategy which recognises and promotes good design

2010 Premier’s Design Award winners are:

•        Python Underground Processing Plant - Gekko Systems SA Pty Ltd and Gekko Systems Pty Ltd (Ballarat)

•        The Golden Age of Couture Exhibition - Bendigo Art Gallery and Studio Round

•        Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program - Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

•        Eastlink (Urban Design) - ConnectEast, Wood Marsh Architecture and John Holland

•        Whizkids, the National eTherapy Centre and Swinburne University of Technology, Faculty of Design

·         2010 Premier’s Recognition Award repient was Whizkids Games. Produced by the National eTherapy Centre and Swinburne University of Technology’s Faculty of Design.

State of Design Festival will be held in Victoria from 20-31 July 2011.

For more information visit stateofdesign.com.au

For further media information including images, please contact:

The State of Design Festival is an initiative of the Victorian Government, delivered in 2010 by Australian Exhibitions & Conferences Pty. Ltd.

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Here are 6 industrial design blogs that you might not know yet, but perhaps you will get interested in following them. No introductions needed, just check them out and it might also help motivating them to keep up their good work on blogging by leaving a comment on their blogs.

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How users created a new sport by Innovating on the "fly".

Users are great Innovators.

A growing body of empirical work shows that users are the first to develop many and perhaps most new industrial and consumer products. Further, the contribution of users is growing steadily larger as a result of continuing advances in computer and communications capabilities.

Some facts that prove this:

• Annual sales of lead user product ideas generated by the average lead user project at 3M were conservatively forecast by management to be more than 8 times the sales forecast for new products developed in the traditional manner—$146 million versus $18 million per year.
• Empirical studies show that many users—from 10% to nearly 40%—engage in developing or modifying products.
• Studies have shown that these individuals are often strongly motivated to innovate by the joy and learning they get from this activity.

Story and facts: By Eric Von Hippel. Democratizing Innovation 2007.

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Having not studied design I cannot pretend to understand the significance of all Dieter Rams work, however his principle of good design being ‘as little design as possible’ is something I have witnessed firsthand in the evolution of products created to help youngsters learn to ride bicycles.

Whilst going through this boyhood initiation I had stabilizers added to my bike so that I wouldn’t have to worry about balancing straightaway and could instead concentrate on getting to grips with the peddling, steering and braking.

It can however be argued that balance is the skill most needed when riding a bike and thus should be learnt first. The idea of pedaling to increase speed, steering to move in the right direction and braking to slow down all come secondary to this core skill and can be mastered later on. 

 

The genius of the Like-a-bike design is that rather than complicate a bicycle by adding an additional element (stabilizers) the pedals, cranks and chain have been removed. This simplified design allows the brain to concentrate fully on balancing and steering.

The Like-a-bike shows that looking to remove something and use ‘as little design as possible’ can be more effective than looking to add further components, no matter how logical that addition may seem.

About the author: this article was written by Charlie Bestall a communications professional and design enthusiast from Bristol, England. You can reach me with any questions, suggestions or ideas at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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