The end of vacation cometh :D Let's see how I did on my list of things to do:

• beer
• finishing (ok, starting) my paper for IDSA
• finishing (yeah, right) the new course content for 215
• editing a few thesis papers
• installing another ceiling fan
• more beer

Additionally, I managed to:

• Write and edit two papers to submit to DUX, one with Jordan and one with Riaz
• Revamp my courses for the new curriculum coming in the Fall
• Get more of the never-ending tattoo
• Drive Jess, the cat, and myself, entirely crazy

Pretty good summer, so far :)

Here's the abstract for my paper for IDSA:

The profession of industrial design faces unprecedented challenges in the next decade, including a dramatic increase in off shoring and outsourcing of manufacturing, a continual drive for lower consumer pricing in the United States, and an increase in complexity of design specifications as products become smaller and embedded with more and more technology. Design education struggles to adapt, often teaching the same skills associated with Bauhaus education: model making, rendering and other “form giving” techniques. While many undergraduate programs in the United States have evolved to address issues of manufacturing technology, assembly and human factors, very few educational programs aggressively address issues of English literacy; it is usually assumed that students will have gained a solid understanding of spelling, grammar, writing and sentence structure in their K-12 education. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case; lower levels of education are systematically failing with regard to written communication, and thus industrial designers are ill-prepared for the demands of a profession that increasingly requires written communication to supplement and explain visual communication.

This paper will present a case for the increased presence of “traditional communication” techniques in industrial design education: specifically, writing and the ability to structure a sound textual argument for a specific product design. As more design work is done on different continents, the ability to communicate in a physically disconnected fashion gains importance. As the threat of commoditization of industrial design grows more and more real, the ability to write a structured and well thought out design rationale becomes a key distinguishing factor that will remain valuable to Industrial Design firms located in the United States and help identify them from their overseas counterparts.

Blair Street in full bloom :) Clickity click for a bigger image; pay close attention to the lovely gourd plant that is now growing up our entire house. And my arm.