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Andy: What was your motivation to create objects out of street maps?  What inspired you?

John Briscella

John: In the past few years, I have been living in different cities around the world and started to have different emotions for each one. I am originally from Philadelphia, but was living mainly in Vienna, Austria, and my favorite city at the moment is Tokyo. One of my favorite things to do within a new city is to walk around without a map, try to get lost, and then if I make it back, chart out on a map the path I was going. Sometimes I miss alot about the city and sometimes I happen to find interesting areas, its all relative, but I try not to make the same path twice.
The clocks were an idea from these explorations, as well as some of my other projects, that begun to connect the formal aspects of the street network and their inherent qualities of the space.

Andy: How did you find Fluid Forms and how did things start?

John: While in Vienna, I happened to see the Fluid Forms Earth Bowl Design at a friend’s gallery shop. The concept was interesting and similar to my ideas about place. After taking a look at their complete works, I noticed I had similar works that might be interesting to them and sent them a email about my thoughts. Stephen wrote me back mentioning he had saw my Urban Gridded Notebook at the Kunsthaus in Graz, while looking for a gift.  From then on, we were having discussions about collaborating on new products.

Andy: What was the best / hardest thing to do in this project?

Urban Grided Notebook

John: Working with Stephen is really cool. We have been talking about techniques and he is able to see where the potential is to develop into a Fluid Forms concept. The hardest part of the project is to find the correct associations between the objects, the street network, usability, and production method. Its a delicate mixture.

more about John on his blog
more about the Urban Grided Notebook
buy the Urban Grided Notebook on Walking-Things.com

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A few days ago I introduced the terms Generative Design & Generative Art. Today I like to show you some wicked Generative Designs & Art in action. A broad spectrum of lampshades, tables  and other wonderful things created with generative methods.

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Kram/Weisshaar Breeding Tables:

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FOC – Freedom of Creation Lampshades

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MGX Lampshades:

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Geoffrey Mann Lampshades and Sculpture:

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Thomas Kräftner – Diploma Project “Coded Beauty – Die generative Methode als ästhetische Praxis der Computergrafik”

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OpenEndedGroup – Working with processing

A video that shows you how fast you can create objects with
generative methods (written in processing in this case)

Field — Processing Plugin overview from OpenEndedGroup on Vimeo.

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The comfy chair:

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Stefan Kainbacher – Generative Visual artist

Neon Golden vs. Tiefschwarz @ Conrad Sohm, Part. II from Stefan Kainbacher on Vimeo.

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About two weeks ago I posted the article “Mass Customization WON’T Make it for a Mainstream Business Model“  in which I mentioned the reason why so many companies experimenting with “Create Your Own” products stuck or even fail.

I also noted that the ominous Design Space (or Solution Space as Frank Piller e.a. call it) can serve as a source for  Mass Customization’s “salvation”.

I additionally mentioned that we use Creative Coding (to be understood as a certain kind of programming based on mathematical rules) to define Design Spaces and thus enable our customers to easily create their own products.

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Today I am introducing  Generative Design & Art, which are expressed best by Creative Coding and explained best by this quotes:

Generative Design allows to produce new designs automatically by the push of a button. A basic form, pattern, or object is automatically modified by an algorithm. The result: infinite random modifications of the starting solution (within a solution space set by the designer).
Frank Piller

Generative Design Processes is about the modeling of initial conditions of an object (its “genetics”) instead of modeling the final form.
@eloisapaola

Generative Art is a term given to work which stems from concentrating on the processes involved in producing an artwork, usually (although not strictly) automated by the use of a machine or computer, or by using mathematic or pragmatic instructions to define the rules by which such artworks are executed.
Adrian Ward

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Next time I’ll show you some awesome Generative Design & Art in action!

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…because most mass customizers don’t stop puzzling their prosumers.

In my article “Why Generative Design Pushes Mass Customization to the Next Level” I allured that the mass customization management system has still not made it for a mainstream business model.

The main reason why?

Companies are  overburdening its prosumers with pointless customization choices (a.k.a The Paradox of Choice).

Design Space/Solution Space (red shape)

I also introduced the concept of the “Solution Space“.  Frank Piller, Fabrizio Salvador and Martin de Holan from MIT Sloan School of Management argue that introducing the concept of the Solution Space, mass customization is applicable to most businesses.

So what does all this have to do with Fluid Forms? Everything!

Creating and implementing Solution Spaces or Design Spaces (as we prefer to call it) for mass customization was one key topic of Hanne’s academic diploma thesis back in 2004.

The Design Space, a set of mathematical rules to be understood as the border within prosumers can move freely and create their own unique objects, is the origin of Fluid Forms custom products.

By defining a Design Space for every product idea we try to limit customization variety to an essential, often emotional core. With the Earth Bowl as an example, customization is focused on favorite places or places someone has a strong emotional connection to.

Additionally our Creative Coders use Design Spaces to guarantee that each fluid form created online is functional, producible and cost-effective. Defining Design Spaces we can also assure that our products are in accordance with the design essence initially conceived by the Creative Coder.

Some of you probably argue now that with the Earth design interface you have almost infinite customization choice. Superficially looked at this might be true. But really think for yourself: How many favorite places on Earth do you have or do your friends have you would like to turn into a unique product? Thousands? I would guess a few.

Next time I will have a closer look on the mathematical rules I mentioned above. But don’t be afraid! I won’t make a lesson in algebra.
I just want to introduce the kind of programming  which is necessary for creating fluid forms: Creative Coding.

What’s your opinion? What’s the reason that mass customization is still a niche phenomena?

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Image by p8tch

QR Codes so weit das Auge reicht. Wenn etwas so verdammt gut aussieht und noch dazu nützliche (und unnützliche) Informationen tragen kann, dann wird es zum Kultobjekt erklärt. Da sind sich die Pet Shop Boys, Lendorff Kaywa und Laufsteg-Label Louis Vuitton einig.

Hier gibts natürlich wieder finanzielle Abstufungen. Ganz gratis, sozusagen die Billigsdorfer Variante ist das Video der Jungs vom Tiergeschäft, bei dem die pixeligen Punkte auf fast jedem Shot auftauchen. Wer schnell ist, kann ja die QR Codes fotografieren und so herausfinden, was uns die Musiker nur unterschwellig mitteilen wollen:

Viele lustige Sketches wie auch folgender stehen hinter dem Produkt von p8tch.com:

THEM: “Excuse me! Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”
YOU: “Wonderful! Simply scan the p8tch on my shoulder.”
THEM: [scans the p8tch: BEEP!] “Thank you, I have just subscribed to your RSS feed in Google Reader.”

Auf die Jacke, die Laptophülle oder den Rucksack genäht und schon ist man potentieller Werbeträger seines eigenen verschlüsselten Codes-genial!

Image by Lendorff-Kaywa

Heißer…äh…wärmer sind die Schals von den Pixelliebhabern Lendorff-Kaywa, die die QR-Codes in Schals nähen. Auch schön warm!

Image by Alexander Karelly

Trendige (und keinesfalls protzige) Gürtelschnallen sind bei uns erhältlich & das sogar in zwei Preisklassen. Der persönliche Code überm besten Stück. Pas mal…pas mal…!
Da bliebe dann nur noch das Ultradesignobjekt: Die Fusion von Louis Vuitton und dem japanischen Künstler Takashi Murakami. Lustig und bunt. Bleibt nur die Frage, ob dies das Design der neuen LV-Taschen prägen wird?

Image by Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami

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Image by Chris Carlson

Believe it or not: All of these different images have the same root: They are varieties of the famous Mercedes Benz-star. The program Mathematica makes it possible. The magic word is: generative design.

Just the imagination that a simple form only consisting out of three points framed by a circle can be formed into a whole new multiplicity of signs that I would never connect with the Mercedes-Logo, but with cinematography, folk art or some occult organisations makes me goggle. However, this is for real!

This program by Wolfram Research helps you with modeling, simulation, visualization, development and documentation. The pictures, which are displayed here should only demonstrate what can be done out of very simple forms that everybody recognizes immediately.

But how does it work? As Chris Carlson, a graphics develop

er at Wolfram Research puts it: “The geometry of the Mercede Benz-star is easily described in a few lines of Mathematica code.” At the end even he was surprised that a “straightforward parameterization” can lead to such a bulk of new images.

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“If you’re doing anything technical-think mathematica”-is the catchy phrase that should get everybody on board the program that has been developed throughout the last 20 years.

What came out of a more complex logo, namely one designed for a special edition of a magazine by Franco Grignani, is even more impressing.

These calculations out of the upper left symbol are both artistic and futuristic and simply make me wanna buy

this program, even though i’m not into mathematics at all. Maybe there is a slight chance that Mathematica7 will change my mind?

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Image by Patrick Chia

The oxymoron mass customization has been buzzing around for some years now. As far as I know the first big mass customization wave passed through back in the mid 90s. (Although the term was discussed before by e.g. futurist Alvin Toffler in the 70s . Toffler also coined the term “Prosumer” in the 80s by the way).

Mass customization was/is praised as the holy grail of customer satisfaction. But has the mass customization management system made it to become a widespread mainstream business model yet? Not really, maybe only within in a handful of branches (e.g. automotive sector).

But why not?

Let’s make a step back to Joseph Pine’s definition of mass customization in 1993:

In the mass customization management system, the goal is to develop, produce, market, and deliver affordable
goods and services with enough variety and customization that nearly everyone finds exactly what they want.

I think we should put some stress on the phrase “enough variety” to answer the question why mass customization isn’t so widespread yet. “Enough variety” does not necessarily refers to hundreds of product options to choose from.

“Enough variety” means that prosumers always feel good (receiving an additional benefit) when changing parameters or pushing triggers of a product configurator. Whatever they do, they should never feel overburdened while co-creating/co-designing a custom product.

In practice “enough variety” is often misunderstood: prosumers are often confronted with so many customization choices that they feel puzzled and uncertain about their custom creations. Offering an overwhelming variety of product options can even reduce the perceived benefit. This phenomena is known as the “Paradox of Choice”.

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Barry Schwartz (author of the book with the same name) on the Paradox of Choice:

.watch Barry Schwartz key lecture on youtube

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So how can we define “enough variety” then?

Frank Piller, Fabrizio Salvador and Martin de Holan from MIT Sloan School of Management argue in a recently published paper that the right amount of variety can be defined with what they call a “solution space“:

A mass customizer must first identify the idiosyncratic needs of its customers, specifically, the product attributes along which customer needs diverge the most. (This is in stark contrast to a mass producer, which must focus on identifying central tendencies so that it can target those needs with a limited number of standard products.) Once that information is known and understood, a business can define its “solution space,” clearly delineating what it will offer — and what it will not.

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The lessons we should learn for today:

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1.  Find out what you will not offer.
2. Offer a level of customization-attributes that make sense.

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Read next time:

- Fluid Forms generative design approach to define the solution space -> the Design Space
– Explanation of generative art and generative design

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On the 3rd day material and generative design experiments went on. And the “shrimp lampshade” began to materialize (check out more pics on our flickr account:

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Day 2 of our laser cut workshop was joined (among others) by Franz Piffl, Stefan Kainbacher, Tobias Kestel and Stefan Schmid.

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Tobias Kestel: The calm product designer from Graz is the iniciator of White Elefant DesignLab and always on the quest to reach the limits of the materials he works with. Together with Florian Puschmann he won the competition CRYSTALLIZED – Swarovski Elements Call for Tender with  with the customizable lamp Crystalswitch.

Tobi, listening to the laser cut blues:

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Stefan Kainbacher: Coding VJ from Vorarlberg enriches the crew with his artistic artwork. Check out some of his awesome visuals:

.find more from Stefan on vimeo, Neon Golden,

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Franz Piffl: Brother Design and Microgiants are the two companies Franz’s creative energy flows in. Franz is working on a pendant lampshade during the laser cut session.

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Stefan Schmid: documentary filmer Stefan Schmid joined the crew the take some nice shots of the laser cut session. Watch Stefan’s video Uganda Ruanda.

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Getting to know each other (the workshop crew and the Speedy 500 Laser Cutter) we started with first easy material experiments yesterday:

We are quite happy with the outcome. It’s funny to see how Hannes and Stephen bubble over with new product ideas…

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