Designs On– for IDEO

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Message Designs On– Designs On— is an award-winning design innovation platform that advances global discussion in the creative community by presenting forward-thinking provocations around themes such as Food, Global Warming, and Packaging. Each edition combines individual perspectives at the leading edge of design to form a collective point of view. The fifth edition, Designs On— Packaging Concepts, received a 2012 Industrial Design Excellence Award from the IDSA in the Packaging and Graphics category. This edition engages 18 unexpected packaging ideas for products, tools, containers, scents, interactions, and environments. Ideas include sustainable cup manufacture through synthetic biology, banana decay-inspired medicine bottle expiration date signals, and behavior-change-promoting cigarette packages that draw inspiration from Rubik’s cubes. The challenge in the 5th edition was to push the boundaries of experimental design and innovative thinking on the topic of packaging, providing an inspiring and meaningful take on a crowded and arguably over-designed space. Contributors were asked to consider three interdependent elements (object, verb, and emotion) when generating provocations. Designs On— concepts challenge preconceived ideas with a diverse approach based on different branches of knowledge: product design, interaction design, service design, human factors, and communication design. Their tone ranges from scientific to playful, from serious to emotional. Concepts from the 5th edition include: Expired: Medication packaging is confusing. Why not take inspiration from bananas and their obvious signs of decay? When brown spots emerge, consumers get an intuitive message that their medicine is no longer safe. Synthetic biology: Synthetic organisms produce materials that function as both product and packaging. Imagine a product, such as a cup, that is made by light. Exposure to a specific wavelength causes an organism to morph into a rigid, waterproof material. Cigg Seeds: Cigarettes with biodegradable filters that contain wildflower seeds. They sprout when flicked. 4G Tapes: Mixtapes have become obsolete, and as a result music sharing has lost its intimacy. The solution? A cardboard cassette with a QR code that links to an iTunes playlist when scanned. Hit play and reclaim that lost element of physicality. Light My Ire: What if gaining access to a cigarette was as hard as solving a Rubik’s cube? Would that help cut the smoking rate? Rice: The cornerstone of the Asian diet, rice feeds rich and poor alike, but its packaging is bland and industrial. To elevate its status and bring it into modernity, rice needs to be easier to recognize and carry in urban settings. Chopsticks: Housing wooden chopsticks inside a twig is a visceral reminder of their environmental cost. Vita Flower: Imagine a month of birth control pills arranged in a 3-D flower sculpture worthy of display. CO (me): Send care packages in a protective vessel filled with a breath of home. Leftovers: Containers that encourage consumption of leftovers by connecting users to memories of the meal – caloric information, photos of the original dish, its cost, details on the chef or line cook that prepared it, and the server’s name. Provocations such as these are part personal point-of-view, part collective manifesto to inspire people. Previous editions have explored design concepts speaking to themes of birth, behavior, and climate change. Two of the global warming concepts, “Preserve” and “Getting Personal With Global Warming” (by Thomas Brisebras and Jennifer Leonard, respectively) received honors from I.D. Magazine’s Annual Design Review. Additionally, two other concepts, “Light Generator” and “The Protons,” were selected as 2008 International Design Excellence Awards finalists. See the latest concepts at designs-on.com. http://www.ideo.com/work/designs-on

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Message Designs On— http://www.ideo.com/work/designs-on

Designs On— is an award-winning design innovation platform that advances global discussion in the creative community by presenting forward-thinking provocations around themes such as Food, Global Warming, and Packaging. Each edition combines individual perspectives at the leading edge of design to form a collective point of view. The fifth edition, Designs On— Packaging Concepts, received a 2012 Industrial Design Excellence Award from the IDSA in the Packaging and Graphics category. This edition engages 18 unexpected packaging ideas for products, tools, containers, scents, interactions, and environments. Ideas include sustainable cup manufacture through synthetic biology, banana decay-inspired medicine bottle expiration date signals, and behavior-change-promoting cigarette packages that draw inspiration from Rubik’s cubes.

The challenge in the 5th edition was to push the boundaries of experimental design and innovative thinking on the topic of packaging, providing an inspiring and meaningful take on a crowded and arguably over-designed space. Contributors were asked to consider three interdependent elements (object, verb, and emotion) when generating provocations.

Designs On— concepts challenge preconceived ideas with a diverse approach based on different branches of knowledge: product design, interaction design, service design, human factors, and communication design. Their tone ranges from scientific to playful, from serious to emotional. Concepts from the 5th edition include:

Expired: Medication packaging is confusing. Why not take inspiration from bananas and their obvious signs of decay? When brown spots emerge, consumers get an intuitive message that their medicine is no longer safe.

Synthetic biology: Synthetic organisms produce materials that function as both product and packaging. Imagine a product, such as a cup, that is made by light. Exposure to a specific wavelength causes an organism to morph into a rigid, waterproof material.

Cigg Seeds: Cigarettes with biodegradable filters that contain wildflower seeds. They sprout when flicked.

4G Tapes: Mixtapes have become obsolete, and as a result music sharing has lost its intimacy. The solution? A cardboard cassette with a QR code that links to an iTunes playlist when scanned. Hit play and reclaim that lost element of physicality.

Light My Ire: What if gaining access to a cigarette was as hard as solving a Rubik’s cube? Would that help cut the smoking rate?

Rice: The cornerstone of the Asian diet, rice feeds rich and poor alike, but its packaging is bland and industrial. To elevate its status and bring it into modernity, rice needs to be easier to recognize and carry in urban settings.

Chopsticks: Housing wooden chopsticks inside a twig is a visceral reminder of their environmental cost.

Vita Flower: Imagine a month of birth control pills arranged in a 3-D flower sculpture worthy of display.

CO (me): Send care packages in a protective vessel filled with a breath of home.

Leftovers: Containers that encourage consumption of leftovers by connecting users to memories of the meal – caloric information, photos of the original dish, its cost, details on the chef or line cook that prepared it, and the server’s name.

Provocations such as these are part personal point-of-view, part collective manifesto to inspire people.

Previous editions have explored design concepts speaking to themes of birth, behavior, and climate change. Two of the global warming concepts, “Preserve” and “Getting Personal With Global Warming” (by Thomas Brisebras and Jennifer Leonard, respectively) received honors from I.D. Magazine’s Annual Design Review. Additionally, two other concepts, “Light Generator” and “The Protons,” were selected as 2008 International Design Excellence Awards finalists.

See the latest concepts at designs-on.com.

A design innovation platform that advances creative discussion through provocations around themes

Designs On— is an award-winning design innovation platform that advances global discussion in the creative community by presenting forward-thinking provocations around themes such as Food, Global Warming, and Packaging. Each edition combines individual perspectives at the leading edge of design to form a collective point of view. The fifth edition, Designs On— Packaging Concepts, explores 18 unexpected packaging ideas for products, tools, containers, scents, interactions, and environments. Ideas include sustainable cup manufacture through synthetic biology, banana decay-inspired medicine bottle expiration date signals, and behavior-change-promoting cigarette packages that draw inspiration from Rubik’s cubes.

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Project date: 2013