Today we are featured on www.springwise.com . They write: “This is where Generation C(ontent) becomes Generation C(ash), and it’s where crowdsourcing will reach its true potential. Companies benefit from the wisdom of the crowds, the crowds benefit with rewards and better products—and sites like RedesignMe benefit from facilitating it all. One to emulate on a niche or localized basis!” Thanks for the attention guys!

While co-creation & crowdsourcing are the new buzz-words, collective design efforts have been studied longer than many of us might know. While visiting the museum of architecture in Barcelona I stumbled upon an exposition of Peter Smithson, an architect who died a few years ago. He wrote many books about architecture and also wrote about collective design. Here’s an excerpt from one of his books:

Collective design:

“The invention and perfection of collective activities, firstly to placate and subdue reality, and then to invest it with deeper and deeper levels of meaning and satisfactions, comes naturally to man.The temple, for example, was designed by one set of men as a long-lasting embodiment of an idea, capable of being given extension of meaning or tokens of renewal by quite other sets of men long after the initiators were dead. These elaborations were sometimes almost as long-lasting as the main structure itself, sometimes they were only for the day or the hour….each was made in the acknowledgement of the others.For some years now, most buildings have seemed to exclude other people’s specializations; and certainly, in the city-center, motor-cars having occupied the whole of the space between buildings. Motor-cars have themselves become almost the only other participation design specialization in the public arena.In this sad circumstance there has arisen a strange interpretation of the general disquiet of the many, and the active wish of a few to get back into that arena. Some have suggested that people should build their own houses from a kit of crude parts and that this is how they can involve themselves into the design process. But to what level has the architect’s specialization fallen if all we can now suggest is orthogonal Lego?”

- Peter Smithson (1973)

Quite daunting, isn’t it?

This week we are featured in the “Site gespot” area on Frankwatching.com.

An interesting read from EVERYBODY interested or involved in product design. http://www.goodproductmanager.com/ 

Today we’ve put up a new RDM Challenge initiated by our client “DECT forum”. They have introduced a new wireless technology called CAT-iq and are currently in the product concept phase. DECT started a design competition for designers and design students to get new concepts. Through our RDM Challenge they would like to gain insights from non designers as well. Now is your chance to have a say in the product roadmap by sharing your ideas. To start just react to the product concept presented in the RDM Challenge. You can earn 25 RDMs with your input and you can exchange the RDMs in our new RDM-shop. Have fun!! To the challenge.