Sunday, 13 July 2014

OUR WORLD CUP KIT DESIGN WINNERS AND LOSERS!

At the kick-off of the 2014 World Cup, 32 hopeful teams were kited out in an expertly designed home kit, an away kit, and not forgetting the home and away kits for the Goal Keepers as well. That adds-up to around 128 shirt designs gracing the Brazilian pitches during this years World Cup competition. Our design team share their views on the many triumphs and own goals of the kit designs.



Holland - Winner!

'I quite like Holland, lucky for holland, their country colour is so strong, Orange! I like the simplicity of design, single white colour lion logo and the typography of number on the back :)'

'Ok, maybe not very surprising. But I obviously love the Orange Dutch kit!!'


England - Loser!



'Why did we have a green goalie? Why!? This is so bad it probably helped us lose.'

'The mostly white kit is a bit bland in terms of colour - a bit like the player's style on the pitch! The detail in the tailoring of the slightly raised collar is a nice combination of classic and contemporary.'

'Where's is the red?'


Mexico - WInner!


'The Mexico shirt has the emblem at the centre with the design flowing from it - which is quite unique compared to most of the other 2014 shirt designs as they mostly have nike tick or puma cat on the left and country emblem on the right. The lightening bolt style graphic on the Mexico shirt reminds me of the Mexican wrestler mask designs, which is a nice link to Mexico's visual culture.'


Argentina - Loser!


'Their kit is fine. But it reminds me of banana's in pyjamas.' 

'Argentina looks like the stripes have faded in the wash'


Cameroon - Winner!

'I love the design but probably for the wrong reasons! It reminds me of Christmas wrapping paper!'


Italy - Winner!

'The nation (after the Dutch boys) who wears their shirt with style are the Italians!!'

Sunday, 6 July 2014

3D PRINTING - FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

There are hundreds of things being commercially launched via the genius of the 3D printer – not just guns, as the naysayers would have us believe! There are 3D printed houses, bras, bottles, cars, shoes, furniture, food, fashion accessories, organs for transplant and so many more. Future possibilities are limited only by our own imaginations, and with the Christmas count-down looming, the race is on to see who will corner this market and deliver affordable 3D printing to the masses.

BetAdbram 3D Printed House
With its sights set on opportunities in the medical, automotive and fashion industries, 3D printing is destined to be a lucrative business for whoever becomes the major suppliers, but for us creative types, it's so much more than a commercial venture. My 2 favourites examples of 3D printing are more about the human spirit than the cold hard cash. I'm blown away by the seriously stunning and sexy prosthetic limbs from industrial designers such a Scott Summit http://www.bespokeinnovations.com, and also the tiny little fluro shells created to save an endangered species of Hermit Crab by Markerbot's Project Shellter https://www.facebook.com/ProjectShellter. Stuff like this really warms the cockles of the heart. 

Bespoke Innovations 3D Printed Prosthetic Limb

Marker Bot's Project Shellter - 3D Printed Shell For Endangered Hermit Crabs

On an industrial level, we should all be very excited by the prospect of a design production method that shakes-up the current status quo of waste, which we inherited from a past generation of designers who had little concern for sustainability. 3D printing reduces carbon emissions and the need for long distance transportation, as well as the wasteful prototype process. As a new forward-thinking innovation, the final outputs of 3D printing have been developed to involve sustainable materials which are better for the long term health of our lovely little green planet.

This is all awesome stuff. In addition to the environmental benefits, the other thing about 3D printing that really gets the heart pumping is the potential for creative expression, and not just for us designers. Like Lego, Play-Dough, and Etch-a-Sketch before it, 3D printing is the conduit for imaginative play and creative learning. A company in the US called Mission Street Manufacturing are crowd sourcing on kick-starter for an affordable 3D printer called Printeer coupled with a child friendly app through which a child can design bespoke creations. With any luck, Printeer is on track to be available in time for Christmas. At the time of this blog there's 3 days left to get involved here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2001363001/printeer-a-3d-printer-for-kids-and-schools
There are already easy-to-use apps available that are designed to work with 3D printers. My favourite is Monstermatic which helps you to create kooky monster figurines http://www.monstermaticapp.com…there goes my weekend!
Monstermatic - A Mobile App For Designing Your Own 3D Printed Monster