Tracks and Fields
New York's High Line––once an elevated railway, now a popular park––has inspired other cities to reclaim old train trestles. Click the numbers below to read about other parks.
The Crowd Takes Over
2009 is the year everyone becomes a designer. That isn't by accident.
Designers gained unprecedented means of realizing their ideas in three 2009 startups: Kickstarter enables crowdfunding, MakerBot has popularized 3–D printing, and Quirky manufactures popular products and gives creators a cut. What led to this sudden boomlet? Quirky founder Ben Kaufman explains:
I had the idea for Quirky in 2005, put the infrastructure in place, and tested it out at Macworld 2007. It didn't take hold; people weren't ready to to share their ideas online. But from 2005 to 2009, a number of things happened to make people comfortable with the concept. Twitter and Facebook and all that stuff came around, and then the recession hit. All of a sudden, I was in this beautiful place where people loved sharing ideas online and at the same time needed a way to make money. They realized that sharing ideas isn't scary; it's the way of the future.
MakerBot, Kickstarter, and Quirky rose to serve totally different people. MakerBot helps you go from zero to one. Then you're basically left with a choice: 'Do I want to start a business?' If so, raise money; you have Kickstarter. Or if your choice is, "No, I like what I do for a living, I don't want to have to figure out all this crap," then go to Quirky.
I think if you talked to [MakerBot's and Kickstarter's founders], they'd say the same thing we do: We started the company because we wanted to make sure that every great idea in the world is actually in the world and not stuck in people's heads. From the moment we launched, people understood our reason for existence and believed in it. I credit a lot of that not to any work I did or any amazing positioning––because it wasn't. I credit the market. It was finally the right time.
Don Draper Hits the Mall
Mad Men becomes a hit outside the TV––fostering a very modern merging of entertainment, fashion, and retail.
Mad Men premiered on AMC in 2007 and quickly grew into a phenomenon, especially when it came to the sleek, sophisticated clothes. In 2009, the show's costume designer, Janie Bryant, collaborated with Banana Republic to create a collection based on the show's skinny ties, trim suits, and elegant dresses. Bryant explains how aspects of the show's '60s look directly inspired the line.
It's possible to be too authentic. "It's not like consumers today are going to be buying true vintage. We wanted the collection to be inspired by the '60s but be made from modern fabric and have a modern cut. If you look at menswear in the early– to–mid–'50s, you can really see the influence of the 1940s: wider lapels, wider ties, looser–fit trousers. The late '50s to early '60s was a time that was moving on: the skinnier lapel, the skinnier trousers, and the skinny tie."
Slim isn't just for menswear. "One of the main silhouettes for the collection was that classic, iconic sheath of the early 1960s, and Joan was really an inspiration for that dress."
Think inspiration, not imitation. "Simon [Kneen, Banana Republic's creative director and EVP of design] and I talked a lot about the accessories that we were going to do. Tie bars were a very important part of the period then, but we wanted to create a tie bar that would translate into a modern collection. It's not like our intention was to copy the costume design of the show. It was more about, let's be inspired by the show and create a collection that's tight, concise, and relevant to the modern consumer."
Style is personality. "The dress that we designed with the fuller skirt, that was really something that Betty would wear. Joan is all about the hourglass, and Betty––I always call her my little cupcake. We really wanted to represent both of those silhouettes in the collection."
Timeline: 2009
January
LEED's third–generation rating scale goes into effect, featuring its now–familiar 100–point Green Building Certification system.
Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama Hope poster is acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.
Cellular carrier T–Mobile airs a commercial featuring a flash mob at a Liverpool train station.
February
Apple bans emoji apps, first created for Japanese iPhones, from its U.S. App Store. (The company would later reconsider, including the cute icons on U.S. iPhones with iOS 5.)
March
Influential home–decor magazine Domino ceases publication.
Foursquare launches at SXSW, earning praise for its utility and look.
April
Trendy U.K. retailer Topshop opens its first U.S. store, in New York's SoHo.
May
New York closes off several streets in the heart of Times Square, creating a new pedestrian plaza. A dreadful area of the city becomes slightly less dreadful.
June
The New Acropolis Museum opens in Athens, featuring dedicated spaces for the missing Elgin Marbles.
August
Cooper Union school of art and architecture reopens in a building designed by Thom Mayne. It's "tough and sexy at the same time," says a New York Times review.
The Vogue documentary The September Issue offers a revealing look at how the country's leading fashion magazine comes together.
September
Pantone launches a color–finding app called myPantone.
November
Rotman School of Management dean Roger Martin publishes The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage.
December
Avatar shows off the visual possibilities of 3–D technology––and goes on to set box–office records. Other studios immediately scramble to add 3–D movies to their schedules.
Angry Birds proves that clever design can be dangerously addictive.
2009 Highlights
COLOR OF THE YEAR*:
PANTONE 14–0848
*According to expert color forecasters at Pantone.
HOT ITEM:
The Dyson Bladeless Fan is a futuristic ring that blows air and minds alike.
FAIL:
Peter Arnell's package redesign of Tropicana gives consumers acid reflux, costs PepsiCo $35 million.
CAR OF THE YEAR:
Nissan Leaf: First mass–produced electric car.
LIGHTBULB OF THE YEAR:
Philips: This LED costs $40 and is supposed to last 25 times longer than a standard bulb.
SHOE OF THE YEAR:
Sketcher's Shake–Ups: Establishes "toning" as a footwear category.
THE YEAR IN SPACE:
Herschel Space Observatory: European Space Agency's telescope is largest to fly.
Read more about A Decade in Design
2004: Ambitions Rise in the East, Project Runway vs. The Industry
2005: Rethink Dinner, A Better Drug Bottle, Inside a Designers Mind
2006: PG&G Best–Kept Secret, Man with the Golden Touch
2007: Know your Type, The iPhone... Stinks?, The iTunes Effect, Can Design Change the World?
2008: All Politics is Visual, Nature as a Teacher, The Rise of Designer Founders
2009: Track and Fields, The Crowd Takes Over, Don Draper Hits the Mall
2010: Hands Off that Logo!, Innovation's Perfect Storm, Close your Eyes, See Everything
2011: Why People Love an Infographic, A Long–Awaited Vision, Reviewed by All, When Design is Also Art
2012: London Plays for Keeps, Instagram, Pinterest, and the Next Big Thing
2013: Talent War, Young Guns, The Future of Transit? ––>
[Illustration by Vasava; photo by Tobias Hutzler (Quirky); illustration by Sammy Slabbinck (Mad Men); Doug Hyun, Carin Baer/AMC (Mad Men); Diane Bondareff/Invision/AP Images (Wintour)]