Designing Health
“Train commuters, take the stairs instead the escalators” – Singapore’s call to 40% of Singaporeans who were found not exercising enough and not meeting the minimum physical activity guidelines for good health in a National Healthy Survey in 2011. Health benefits of regular physical activity include a 20 – 50% reduced risk of premature death, incidence of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, stroke, high blood pressure, colon cancer and breast cancer, to name just a few. In addition to health benefits, a nation...
read moreThe Creative ‘Kitchen’ Workshop for the second year
A universal key that tracks how many times the door was accessed and let you know of the exact timing when you have intruders. A wearable key for joggers so they keep their hands-free while exercising. Or a keys in a compact form like a Swiss knife where you no longer have keys poking your thighs. These are some of the designs 5th year Master students from L’Ecole de Nantes Atlantique presented during The Creative ‘Kitchen’ Workshop 2011 after 9 hours of creativity training. RÉNNOVATE U conducted The Creative ‘Kitchen’...
read moreGlobally 10 Best Media Research Projects in Magazine Media Industry
In 2009 and 2010, we worked closely together with POEM (Psychology of Evolving Media and Technology) on a research focusing on the magazine reader and multi-media behavior. The work became a real success and it was shortlisted by FIPP* among the globally 10 best media research projects in its field. Click here for a short synopses of the entry. And here for the 10 best media research project listing. * FIPP is the worldwide magazine media association. The association has more than 700 member companies, which include 56 national magazine...
read moreMakeshift Magazine
Makeshift is a quarterly magazine focused on grassroots creativity and invention around the world. In the RE-CULTURE issue, Lynnette chronicles the contrasting attitudes towards reuse in China’s evolving economy. RE-GENERATION “You can catapult your old belongings, and a big bag of money lands on your hand. How easy that is.” This is the latest advertisement from the website Baixing running on Shanghai subway screens. Baixing is an online barter platform owned by eBay. In Chinese, baixing means “commoners”. As a designer, I strive to...
read moreRÉNNOVATE at Sunhoo First Industrial Design Forum
Lynnette Chan, founder of RÉNNOVATE was invited to speak about Design In China. There were in total 35 designers from 18 countries gathered in Hangzhou, sharing their works, experiences and achievements.
read moreCollapsible Freezer?
When we transport frozen food, we often think of freezer truck (lorry fitted with air-conditioner) or at least Coleman coolers. This guy was transporting ice for a restaurant using a motorbike and a blanket. Ice-cream sellers in Shanghai also use blankets to cover the ice-cream box. Because summer is pretty hot and they are worried about utilizing additional energy to keep the yummy popsicles from melting. Chotukool, the world’s cheapest refrigerator stays cool for hours without power and consumes half the energy used by regular...
read moreDesign Thinking?
Asked by a Japanese designer during a presentation at Aalto Design Factory – what’s next after Design Thinking? Design Thinking… honestly speaking, its a big buzz word to use and I don’t know what it is about. On the other hand, I do know what is thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness is knowing what someone else may face issues with AND doing something about it. Thoughtfulness is about life itself. Everyone can do it (and I really mean everyone, not solely limited to designers by profession). In our projects, we always try to...
read moreAs Good as Old
“5,000 miles away, there is a company call iittala, … promotes the idea of against throwawayism…. “objects should always be appropriate, durable & functional.” To achieve these, one important aspect is the color. How might our object age gracefully? Bad plastic wrinkles and turns yellow. One question that I have been pondering is why are medical equipments still very “beige”? Beige reminds me of my computer chassis back in the 80s. Warm shades are cozy but at the same time, we are avoiding nostalgia,...
read moreBetter Streets, Better Lives
Shanghai Expo 2010′s theme: Better City, Better Lives. Learned from Aalto University, “Better Streets, Better Lives” is also a nice idea. =) There are many people who work day in and out on repetitive actions. How might we as innovators refresh their mundane tasks a little more challenging and brain racking? It wasn’t planned but we did made many seamstress scratched their heads. =) Last weekend we decided to explore the neighborhood for a “absolutely localised resource” to help us with...
read moreRetail store experience
This is not Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. This is Nike store in Beijing. Young man posing with mannequin. The number 11 belongs to Yi Jianlian 易建联, a Chinese basketball player who is with the NBA. It is interesting to observe how successful Nike created this retail store experience so well that shoppers will like to collect a memento with the plastic Yi Jianlian. Working on a retail store experience for an American outdoor sporting brand lately. It is interesting to learn that in each store, there should be an altar. An altar that draws...
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