by: Environmental Leader, 2013-01-18 15:50:03 UTC Mobile network O2 and phone maker HTC found that 82 percent of consumers during a three-month trial opted for the greener option and bought a mobile phone without a charger. The “Charger out of the Box” pilot launched in October to test whether customers wanted a charger included with their mobile phone purchase. Under the [...]
The Filomena wall lamp project started like a synthesis game about lamp concept by the team at nadlab, an Italian design firm started by two friends - Lapo De Vita, a craftsman decorator, and Claudio Mochi, an industrial designer. After careful research of materials and techniques, the duo came up with a really cool idea on how to craft a functional lamp silhouette from a lamp cord.
Using a thin sheet of PMMA (polymethacrylate), the CNC-milled panel works as a frame and as a support for the light, acting as a guide for wire placement. Once assembled, the system can be framed on the wall and connected using a 240V wall socket as easy as a table lamp. The light source is a LED bulb white or RGB with remote control (not included).
You can even change the wire to another color if you’d like (sold separately) and then instantly have a brand new lamp. The Filomena collection is available in three versaions - table, directional, abat-jour with a transparent, white, or black panel frame. The cords are available in a variety of fun colors.
Filomena table is the mother idea of the collection. It plays on stereotyped table lamp icon and on the desire to exceed it.
Filomena abat-jour is the smaller lamp of the collection and it’s perfect for next to the bed.
Filomena directional plays with lines and curves to achieve the aspect of an adjustable table lamp.
Cologne 2013: French brand Ligne Roset has launched a storage box and mirror hanging either end of a leather strap by design collective Outofstock. (more...)
Services already account for 75% of the global economy. Here’s how you can tap into the growing market.
Eking out profits from products alone isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to the Internet and global distribution, consumers have access to lots of choices. That’s good for them but not so good for the folks selling those goods.
Some companies know that products only get you so far, that services are the future--in fact, services already account for 75% of the global economy. The most innovative companies know that even when they’re selling a product, they’re actually selling the function that it provides. But it’s one thing to know that; it’s quite another to transform that understanding into a real service-based business model.
So how do you turn your product-based company into one that provides services? Here are three simple principles you can use to escape the commodity market and turn anything you do into a valuable service:
Reinventing how you charge for what you do can propel your offering into a whole new market category. The goal is simple: Redefine your existing products in ways that shift the financial model away from selling a good to selling a service. Ask yourself: What problem am I really solving? What deeper need am I really addressing?
Provide Access: Convert the financial model from selling a “good” to selling on-demand access.
• Rent the Runway delivers high-end couture fashion--by mail. Rather than selling $5,000 dresses, they rent them for the weekend. They’re not selling dresses but rather providing access to luxury fashion experiences that feel good and impress friends.
Tap Into Time: Shift the financial model away from selling a “good” to selling “time”--uptime, time savings, speed of delivery, or anything else that taps into the value of time to create something new and compelling for your customers.
• Rolls Royce sells more than cars; they also sell airplane engines. When they revised their sales model and started charging service fees based on “uptime” (the actual time the engines are flying in the air), their airline customers were thrilled. Airlines prefer to pay as their own cash comes in from their passengers and cargo instead of buying an engine up-front. Rolls Royce sells “hot air out of the back of the engine,” not the actual engines.
Customers usually buy and use products within a broader context to solve complex problems or meet broader needs. The goal is simple: Create new services that complement what you’re already successfully doing and that extend the value you provide. Ask yourself: What else can I do that reinforces what I’m selling? What can I help my customers do, learn, or experience that ties to what I’m already doing?
Elevate the Experience: Add educational or other interactive experiences that reinforce the core business while further addressing customer needs.
• Cafeotheque isn’t just ranked the #1 coffee spot in Paris out of 35,000 bistros and cafés due to its outstanding coffee. It also offers unique events like coffee tastings (just like wine tastings) and courses on “cafeology” that teach budding baristas to make world-class cappuccinos and start their own businesses.
Meet the Bigger Need: Pull together a more holistic set of products and services using a broader view of the customers’ needs and desires, including how the offering is priced and financed.
• Solar City provides an “all in one service” that allows homeowners to fully outfit their houses with solar at no up-front cost. It’s not pushing panels but rather promoting a single service that integrates and handles all financing, rebates, installation, and ongoing energy management in one fell swoop.
Most companies have already embraced digital channels for marketing. But when it comes to service innovation, it’s still an open playing field. The goal: Transform taken-for-granted manual processes, physical products, or traditional services into mobile or web-based offerings. Ask yourself: How can I digitize products and processes to reinforce what I already provide or create a completely new offering?
Monitor and Aggregate: Use mobile devices to collect and interpret data to provide knowledge, information, and service offerings.
• T-Medical digitally monitors vital signs and other data when patients are on the go. Alerts are sent to family members and health care providers when danger signs arise, and the aggregated data across patients is sold to companies conducting clinical trials.
Leverage the Network: Use the power of the network to automate business processes in ways that make life easier for customers while locking them into new services.
• Coca-Cola recently introduced a new self-serve restaurant soda dispenser with over 100 flavors that’s networked to their central office. Monthly rental fees are combined with flavor concentrates that are refilled when the machines signal they’re getting low. To top it off, every time a customer selects a custom soda, the information is sent to Coke’s market research group to fuel their next big idea.
More and more startups and big companies alike view services as the strategic answer for increasing margins and setting themselves apart from the crowd. Creating competitive differentiation isn’t about what you sell but rather what customer needs you address, how you do it, and how you charge for it. That’s the simple starting point of the service innovation economy.
Designed for Moustache Paris, the lamps are available in hanging and table versions. The patterned shades are made from pleated Tyvek that sit in a metal base.
Paper has long been recycled into items of daily use like furniture, stationary and wallpaper and even jewelry. Discarded paper has even been used to create bricks that can replace wood logs in domestic fireplaces. However, paper hasn’t yet been used to serve in the construction of building though all that could change very soon. Berlin, Germany based architecture firm Dratz&Dratz Architekten has used over 550 bales of recycled paper to create a temporary workspace spanning 2,045 square foot.
The brainchild of design Daniel and Ben Dratz, the space came into being after the designers were commissioned by Zollverein School of Management and Design in Essen to create a new workspace. The $200,000 grant required the designers to construct a building onto a UNESCO World Heritage Site which also happens to be an old mining locale.
This meant that the construction needed to be as green as possible while being as lightweight as the designers could possibly make it. Apart from being eco friendly and uninvasive to construct, the building also needed to be able to withstand high winds and hard rain that the region experiences. Even though bales made of recycled paper appear to be relatively flimsy in comparison to concrete or clay bricks and woods, the designers were convinced that these can provide a sturdy yet lightweight material that can be used in the construction of buildings that can weather stern climatic conditions.
The designers explain that the idea to create a building using recycled paper bales came to them entirely by chance. The inspirations struck the brothers as they were passing by a recycling station and spotted a bunch of recycled paper bales sitting there. Upon closer examination, the designer duo found that the bales could serve as a viable construction material since they were greatly compressed and could even be used in the formation of walls that can potentially even support a roof. To create the structure, the brothers sourced all their unusual material from local grocery stores. The paper was recycled and compressed to create thick and sturdy bales.
When stacked in a monolithic formation, these bales could provide a well insulated wall that was still susceptible to getting wet and absorbing some water during the rains though it dried up surprisingly quickly when the sun came out. At the moment, the designer duo have found that these bales can easily be stacked to create walls that stand as high as 100 feet though further research needs to be conducted before these are used on more challenging and permanent creations. There is also the need to make these bales more photogenic though that problem may be easily addressable by the addition of an ink or dye during the recycling process or even a coat of paint after the structure is finished.
Recycled paper bale used to construct an experimental building
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-31 19:33:31 UTC
Tropical hard wood is often used for its durability and its aesthetics. Deforestation in the tropics is however a problem and increases climate changes. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-29 22:14:03 UTC
*Creation “9707”: Bamboo Chair*
The Bamboo chair was designed to commemorate the ten year anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. The chair ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-29 22:13:22 UTC
KeepIt is a shoebox that can be folded into a shoe rack. It encourages consumers to pay greater attention to what they do with product packaging.
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by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-26 07:12:10 UTC
PIE studio uses only renewable and sustainable natural resources, recycled/recyclable synthetic materials and non-toxic additives in its designs and ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-24 07:02:05 UTC
GreenBottle is made of two parts: a sturdy paper outer shell and an inner liner made of recycled plastic which holds the milk and keeps it fresh.
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by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-22 19:07:06 UTC
To complement the aluminum extrusion "B-table":http://www.design-4-sustainability.com/products/166-aluminum-extrusion-table-up-to-a-length-of-5-meter ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-21 17:30:25 UTC
Konstantin Grcic started the Extrusions collection, designed for Bd Barcelona design, with Table B. Its name is as simple and technical as the design ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-20 17:56:40 UTC
Organic farming isn’t easy in China, but Tony’s Farm is doing its best. Located in the Shanghai area, it delivers organic vegetables to its member’s ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-19 16:40:00 UTC
Henkel's MiraFoil liquid coating is an environmentally responsible and sustainable alternative to foil board laminating and hot foil stamping; that ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-16 16:05:59 UTC
I have been writing on "OLED technology before":http://www.design-4-sustainability.com/materials/62-oled-organic-led-s-power-efficient-light-surfaces ...
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