IDEO’s Winter Dining challenge’s winning designs balance safety without sacrificing the experience!

IDEO launched its very own Chicago-based Winter Dining Challenge during the age of COVID-19. Through this challenge, the city of Chicago aims to stimulate and encourage safe dining from Lake Michigan to Chicago Lawn and everywhere in between. This challenge is 2020 pandemic-specific since alternative dining experiences have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, as you probably already know. On October 8th, IDEO announced the top designs for Chicago, each of which brought with them a distinct interpretation of safe, yet lively dining experiences.

Cozy Cabins

Inspired by ice fishing huts, Young designed modular, transparent cabins so that dinner guests can enjoy the bustling streets of Chicago while maintaining safety protocol for social distancing. The cabins are identical in size and shape, which makes it easy to reproduce in other cities, fitting easily within average-sized parking spaces. Best yet, the cabins are also simply produced, requiring only wood, corrugated metal, polycarbonate plastic, and standard framing hardware. Additionally, these cabins are inexpensive to make and integrate a floor-heating system in order to keep diners warm while they enjoy their meals. Cozy Cabin would offer Chicagoans a warm, appetizing retreat during the city’s notoriously frigid winter months.

Designers:  Amy Young x ASD | SKY 

Each Cozy Cabin is identical in size and shape, making the process of construction and reproduction manageable. Additionally, the cabins require minimal material, all of which can be sustainably sourced and maintained. Diners will have lots of personal space in these Cozy Cabins, depending on their party’s size.

Block Party

Urban designers, Neil Reindel and Flo Mettetal designed expandable, life-size blocks for their alternative dining spaces. These blocks fit within parking lanes, in order to fully expand. However, if restaurants do not have enough space in their parking lots, then the blocks can be positioned on extended sidewalks or pocket parks. The blocks position diners amongst the busy and many pedestrians of city streets, bringing the communal experience of eating out to each block. Likely, the most exciting feature of this concept in particular is the expansion feature. If your party is bigger, then the blocks can be grouped together in order to enlarge the dining space. This dining experience is not fully enclosed, allowing for some air circulation. However, available curtains would allow diners to turn their dining experience into a private one. Each module would be constructed using Metal ‘C’ studs, in expanded polystyrene, and objects (tables, light fixtures, etc.) would be clad with sealed MDF, a material denser than plywood. By implementing a thermal mesh system, Block Party ensures a warm dining experience for each block partygoer.

Designers: Neil Reindel and Flo Mettetal

Each module seats two guests comfortably and can be arranged to accommodate bigger parties if the need arises.

Each module can be moved using a caster wheel dolly and combined so that modules can increase room for diners by increments of two. The modules fasten together using pin joints, which is a good option in order to prevent the modules from rotating or drifting.

The modules can be arranged so that the restaurant’s outdoor seating space is optimized and after work hours, the blocks can be separated and organized depending on the space available.

While these blocks themselves represent a safe dining experience, the Chicago-based, urban designers intend to implement further safety protocols, such as one-way routes for wait staff and pedestrians, along with security blocks in order to minimize traffic flow on the sidewalk.

Heated Tables

Working from Japanese modes of dining, Chicago-based Ellie Henderson planned outdoor heated tables for IDEO’s Winter Design Challenge. Heated tables, also known as kotatsu, are common in Japan and provide an economical way to keep warm during cold months. Typically found indoors, heated tables represent a hub of warmth for households. By making a few modifications, Henderson hopes to bring Hygge dining, a Danish concept meant in regard to life’s simple pleasures, to the streets of Chicago. This design stands out for its open-air approach to dining. This means that servers and restaurant-owners will still have to maintain COVID-19 safety protocol. Air circulation is vital in reducing the transmission of Coronavirus, which means this design might thrive so long as initiatives such as the closure of streets for comfortable outdoor dining remain in place. Perhaps the most economical design option, heated tables’ construction would require only preexisting material: a source of heat, blanket, screws, and a table.

Designer: Ellie Henderson

Inspired by the Japanese way of dining (kotatsu) an economical, and familiar material make up this design. All that it needs is a tabletop, blanket, a source of heat, and some screws. The heating element typically remains out of view, underneath the table and blanket covering.

In addition to dining experiences, bars, festivals, and other indoor services have changed their indoor seating to similar variants of the heated table design, inspired by kotatsu, as pictured above.

IDEO’s Play Lab is looking for a Senior Toy Designer!

Lauded as one of the most well know design and innovation brands in the world today, IDEO is an award-winning global design firm that is spearheading the movement to embrace design and design thinking. The multidisciplinary firm isn’t just responsible for designing end-products, but also helping businesses evolve and innovate, as well as allow individuals and companies to foster a culture of creative problem-solving through IDEO U, their online design-university. IDEO’s Play Lab is looking for a Senior Toy Designer to join their team in Palo Alto, California.

The Opportunity

IDEO’s Play Lab is looking for a talented, build-focused designer to join our toy invention team. As a senior designer, you will work closely with a skilled team of designers and engineers to dream up and bring toy concepts to life through prototyping. IDEO’s Play Lab creates innovative, fun, and engaging products and experiences with a focus on toys for kids. Will you join us in inventing the next generation of toys?

Responsibilities

• Join an experienced, interdisciplinary team of makers
• Support junior team members
• Generate new to-the-world toy ideas
• Identify toy invention opportunities
• Tinker, explore, and validate toy concepts
• Create high quality working prototypes
• Push our team to improve the quality of our work
• Solve complex mechanical challenges
• Explore and push concepts further through sketching
• Create engaging videos of prototypes and concepts
• Share our inventions with clients
• Have fun every day!

Requirements

• 2+ years of build experience
• A passion for making and inventing new ideas
• Experience bringing products to market
• An interest in toys and playful experiences
• Well developed skills in hand prototyping, rapid prototyping, and CAD
• Experience prototyping and solving complex mechanical challenges
• Experience self-guiding and leading projects
• A well developed, efficient project workflow
• A background in industrial design or engineering
• An aptitude for operating shop machinery
• Great communication and collaboration skills
• Motivation, initiative, and attention to detail
• An ability to generate ideas quickly
• Knowledge of how things are made
• Experience in and knowledge of the toy industry is a major plus

Some Previous Toy Inventions To Check Out

• Alpha Training Blue
• Flip Slide
• Barbie Dream Camper
• Paw Patrol Flip & Fly
• Barbie Sparkle Lights Mermaid
• Shopkins Super Mall
• Hungry Bunnies
• Little Live Pets Hedgehog
• Imaginext DC Super Friends R/C Mobile Command Center
• Barbie Hello Dreamhouse

Additional Information

Question For You
Please include your answer to the following question in your cover letter.

If you could redesign a toy: what would it be, why should it be redesigned, how might you make it better?

Application

Our ideal candidate is a builder at heart – who thrives on making things real. In addition to your resume and cover letter (with pop quiz answer), please submit examples of your work and capabilities – Design projects, mechanisms, electronics, personal projects, shop skills, etc. We look forward to hearing from you

Location

Palo Alto (California), USA.

Apply Now!


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Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop

Ideo owners cofounder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tabbased GRiD laptop

How to honor your legendary late-co-founder? If you're Ideo, it involves putting a modern spin on one of his most iconic creations. The design firm is paying tributing to computing pioneer Bill Moggridge with this Grid Compass-based Galaxy Tab dock, which combines the first laptop with Samsung's slate to add content to a tribute site for the innovator. Like the original Grid, the Tab shows off content with an orange tinge -- oh, and the keyboard works and it'll charge when plugged in. Check out a break down of the Galaxy Grid's creation in the source link below.

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Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop

Ideo owners cofounder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tabbased GRiD laptop

How to honor your legendary late-co-founder? If you're Ideo, it involves putting a modern spin on one of his most iconic creations. The design firm is paying tributing to computing pioneer Bill Moggridge with this Grid Compass-based Galaxy Tab dock, which combines the first laptop with Samsung's slate to add content to a tribute site for the innovator. Like the original Grid, the Tab shows off content with an orange tinge -- oh, and the keyboard works and it'll charge when plugged in. Check out a break down of the Galaxy Grid's creation in the source link below.

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Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop

Ideo owners cofounder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tabbased GRiD laptop

How to honor your legendary late-co-founder? If you're Ideo, it involves putting a modern spin on one of his most iconic creations. The design firm is paying tributing to computing pioneer Bill Moggridge with this Grid Compass-based Galaxy Tab dock, which combines the first laptop with Samsung's slate to add content to a tribute site for the innovator. Like the original Grid, the Tab shows off content with an orange tinge -- oh, and the keyboard works and it'll charge when plugged in. Check out a break down of the Galaxy Grid's creation in the source link below.

Filed under: , ,

Ideo honors co-founder Bill Moggridge with Galaxy Tab-based Grid laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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William Moggridge, portable computer and human interaction trailblazer, dies at 69

William Moggridge, portable computer and human interaction trailblazer, dies at 69

The next time you hinge open that notebook PC and smile at a feature that makes it easier to use, give a thought to Bill Moggridge, who passed away Saturday from cancer at the age of 69. The pioneering designer invented the modern clamshell design seen in all modern laptops, and is also viewed as the father of human interaction software design.

The Compass Computer he designed for Grid Systems with the screen folded over the keyboard appeared in 1981, flew on the space shuttle, and inspired virtually every notebook design since. Perhaps more importantly, when he tried to use the machine himself, Moggridge was exasperated with the difficulty and decided to take the human factor into account for software design. To that end, he engaged experts from fields like graphics design and psychology, and tried to "build empathy for the consumer into the product," according to former partner, Professor David Kelly. The pair merged their design firms to form Ideo in 1991, and worked with clients like Apple, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, designing products like the first Macintosh mouse and Palm V handheld along the way.

In 2010, Moggridge became the director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, and was a recipient of that institution's lifetime achievement award. He also won the Prince Philip Designer's Prize, the longest running award of its type in the UK, given for "a design career which has upheld the highest standards and broken new ground." See why that's true by going to Cooper-Hewitt's tribute video, right after break.

Continue reading William Moggridge, portable computer and human interaction trailblazer, dies at 69

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William Moggridge, portable computer and human interaction trailblazer, dies at 69 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget takes a ride on the Faraday Porteur e-bike

Engadget takes Faraday Porteur ebike for a spin

We've watched as Faraday Bicycles' first offering, the Porteur electric bike, went from award-winning concept to a fully-fledged consumer product courtesy of Kickstarter. Recently, company founder Adam Vollmer offered us the chance to ride one, and naturally, we couldn't wait see it for ourselves and put feet to pedals.

First impressions are important, a fact of which the folks at Faraday are clearly aware. The Porteur's white frame, wood fenders, and sea foam green trim pieces and rims provide a pleasing visual counterpart to the leatherwork adorning the seat, frame and handlebars. Add in the yesteryear script of the logo and vermilion detailing work, and it's retro done right -- visually arresting without being gaudy. As is often the case, the coolest bits of the bike reveal themselves upon close inspection. We're fans of the leather pouch (for holding smartphones or other sundries) nestled between the parallel top tubes and chain stay guard embossed with the Faraday name. And, the addition of the company slogan claiming it's "the ultimate electric propelled utility bicycle" along with each bike's production number is a nice touch. But enough about its good looks, how's the thing ride?

Continue reading Engadget takes a ride on the Faraday Porteur e-bike

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Engadget takes a ride on the Faraday Porteur e-bike originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Faraday Porteur concept e-bike becomes a reality, launches pre-sale on Kickstarter (video)

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Last time we saw the Faraday electric bike, it had just emerged victorious from the Oregon Manifest design competition. Designed by Ideo and built by Portland's Rock Lobster Cycles, the retro-styled ride was destined to rot in concept hell for all eternity -- that is until lead designer Adam Vollmer quit Ideo to press the bike into production under the Faraday Bicycles name. Now he's perfected the design, the company's launching a pre-sale on Kickstarter to, er, kickstart the first production run.

Don't be fooled by its low-fi looks, parallel top tubes hold a series of lithium-ion batteries which power a front motor, good for between 10 and 15 miles of travel. The two front prongs are the basis of a modular racking system and contain a pair of LED headlamps that activate automatically in bad light. It charges in 45 minutes and weighs around 40 pounds. The bike will set you back $3,500, $300 less than when a second run is produced next year -- significantly cheaper than the current price for the $5,400 Grace One we rode around New York. If you've got some baller-style cash to throw around, you can spend $10,000 on a collectors edition hand-finished by Rock Lobster's Paul Sadoff. After the break we've got video and more details, but be warned -- you might find yourself opening your wallet a little too rapidly.

Continue reading Faraday Porteur concept e-bike becomes a reality, launches pre-sale on Kickstarter (video)

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Faraday Porteur concept e-bike becomes a reality, launches pre-sale on Kickstarter (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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