Browsing: design

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Wooly brilliance: early entries for the 2019 Wool-ovation to kick start your creativity
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Idealog is teaming up with New Zealand Merino Company to celebrate both the opening of its Studio ZQ innovation space in Christchurch and our design community’s talents by holding a nation-wide search for a wool product that harnesses the protentional of this natural fibre. To get the inspiration flowing, here are some of the entries that have already been submitted to the Shuttlerock page, including woollen speakers, shower puffs, oven mitts and bean bags. PLUS: we have extended this competition until next week, Thursday 11 July at 5pm, to give people more time to enter. Read on to see some of the entries, and if you have an idea that hasn’t been submitted yet, head here to submit it. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite, too.

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New Zealand’s mental health and creative industries, part two
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When the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction report was released in December last year, it painted a grim picture. “New Zealand is experiencing a rising tide of mental distress and addiction,” it said. “The cost of poor mental wellbeing and addiction is high. It is a high cost to individuals, families and whānau, businesses and organisations, communities, government and the country as a whole.” While the spotlight has been shone on specific demographics, one sector that is also toiling under pressure is our creative industries. We all know the squeeze of creative work well: late nights, long hours, client demands, unrealistic deadlines, impostor syndrome, self-criticism. This, coupled with the sensitive disposition creative people tend to have, often creates an environment where mental health issues can flourish. However, these people also have a talent for communicating ideas at a time when New Zealand has a base-level awareness of the problem, but not a deeper understanding or the tools to fix it. In part two, Elly Strang talks to the new wave of creators who are coming up with inspiring solutions to confront our mental health problem head on.

News
New Zealand’s mental health and creative industries, part one
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When the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction report was released in December last year, it painted a grim picture. “New Zealand is experiencing a rising tide of mental distress and addiction,” it said. “The cost of poor mental wellbeing and addiction is high. It is a high cost to individuals, families and whānau, businesses and organisations, communities, government and the country as a whole.” While the spotlight has been shone on specific demographics, one sector that is also toiling under pressure is our creative industries. We all know the squeeze of creative work well: late nights, long hours, client demands, unrealistic deadlines, impostor syndrome, self-criticism. This, coupled with the sensitive disposition creative people tend to have, often creates an environment where mental health issues can flourish. In part one of a series, Elly Strang looks at the scale of the mental health problem in New Zealand’s creative industries.

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Introducing Design Work, a podcast by designer Kate Darby on global designers embracing new ways of working
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Design Work is a new podcast hosted by New Zealand designer Kate Darby that interviews trailblazing creatives from all over the globe about how they design and how they embrace new modes of working, which will be hosted on Idealog over the coming weeks. The Idealog team sat down with Darby to chat about what inspired her to start the podcast, the gig economy and what it means for designers, and the key lessons she’s learnt along the way while conducting the interviews.

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An eye for detail: 25 years of Dow Design
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Boasting 25 years in business is a significant milestone for any company – let alone one in the ever-changing world of design. Dow Goodfolk, previously Dow Design, celebrated its silver anniversary at the end of 2018, and Caitlin Salter sat down with founder and managing director Annie Dow to find out what the last two and a half decades have been like.

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Drive VR: The ‘world’s first’ virtual reality drivers test has parked up in New Zealand
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The ‘world’s first’ virtual reality drivers test is here thanks to a collaboration between Government agencies ACC and the NZ Transport Agency – and external partners Strategy Creative, Mixt Studio, and Flying Saucer – which aims to help young people become confident capable drivers. The project launched in July last year, and has since sparked a 30 percent increase in people signing up on the Drive platform, with more than 30,000 sign ups and almost half a million total users who’ve completed 52,000 online road code chapter tests between them. So, could it see the end of traditional drivers tests?

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Nike’s shoe designer Tinker Hatfield talks fame after Abstract: The Art of Design, how not all designers should be disruptors and more
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As part of Idealog’s coverage of Vivid Sydney, editor Elly Strang headed along to Semi-Permanent Sydney to soak in some creative inspiration from heavyweights in the creative fields. One of those was none other than Nike’s vice president of creative concepts, Tinker Hatfield. Here’s some key takeaways on design from the man himself.

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The Blunt + Idealog + Generator Umbrella Experiment unveils its winner: Bonnie Brown’s Blooming ‘Brella
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To showcase the talents of its design community, Idealog magazine teamed up with Blunt and Generator to launch the Blunt + Idealog + Generator Umbrella Experiment. I asked Kiwis to submit an umbrella design and winner Bonnie Brown of Studio Bon will now see her design turned into a limited edition Blunt umbrella. Watch this space for details on how to buy one in the near future, or get your pre-order in now. In the meantime, we chat with Brown and have a closer look at her winning design.

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Listening to customers: Ecoware talks about the uptake of compostable packaging
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When Ecoware begun selling its compostable food packaging in 2011, it was a bit of an uphill slog. Words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘the circular economy’ were concepts that hadn’t quite made it into the mainstream vernacular yet, while companies were under no real pressure to change their practices to become more environmentally friendly – but times have changed in 2018. Co-founder James Calver talks the change in attitudes, as well as the changes that still need to happen.

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‘Perfect for global warming’: Kiwi entrepreneurs debut Trump ice-head trays
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It’s unlikely any boardroom has brought up the issue of climate change and decided on the solution of melting more ice. But in an ironic turn of events, two New Zealand entrepreneurs have launched an ingenious product: Trump ice-head trays. Encouraging consumers to “Cool down while the planet warms up,” the ice trays are moulded in the shape of a golf-ball size, 360° replica of US President Donald Trump’s head, with all profits going to the Environmental Justice Foundation.

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Art for the concrete jungle
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For most of us city dwelling folk, Phantom Billstickers’ much-lauded Poetry Project—the poster company’s ongoing mission to have verbal inspiration dotted around unassuming urban settings—has become a familiar and welcome sight. Now, with the Phantom Art Project, the company’s looking to extend the initiative’s ethos to showcase the best of local visual talent.

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Local artist Andrew J Steel fuses art with Nike shoes
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Last week, international shoe brand Nike celebrated 30-years of its Air Max shoes by teaming up with a group of young New Zealand creatives who it picked to push the envelope of design and showcase what they do best. One of those selected was illustrator Andrew J Steel, who picked up his pen and created some magic for the brand. Elly Strang talks to him about what it’s like to work with a global brand like Nike, and what’s next on the horizon.

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‘We’re more a house of brands than a branded house’ – Garage Project co-founder Jos Ruffell
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Tearing up the marketing rulebook since the very beginning, Garage Project has paved its own unique path to success. Now entering a new phase of growth with the opening of its Hawkes Bay brewery, Garage Project co-founder Jos Ruffell explains both the benefits and challenges of foregoing an overarching brand, how it works directly with artists in lieu of agencies, and its relentless commitment to remaining an independent brewer.

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Resn and HP team up to visualise sound
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Synesthesia, or the stimulation of one sense triggering another sense, is a rare and fascinating condition for most people. But thanks to HP’s latest campaign with Wellington-based digital agency Resn, sight and sound have finally become one.

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