Dan’s 2019 blog posts
In Game 6 of the World Series last night confusion erupted over Washington Nationals’ Trea Turner being called out on a run to first base and advance to second after the throw to first was dropped. He seemed to be safe and okay to advance. The problem: the rules of Major League Baseball state that...Continue reading
A frequent kitchen complaint concerns the weights of items like frying pans and woks. They are just too heavy. In a quick overview of kitchen biomechanics, here’s an article explaining why it takes 120 pounds lift a wok. 120 pounds to lift a wok
Epicurious posted the third Well Equipped video on YouTube, 5 Peeling Kitchen Gadgets. Like the other two, with gadgets chosen by the Epicurious team, and shot (obviously) without a rehearsal. 5 Peeling Kitchen Gadgets Improved by Design
The final edit of the Epicurious video was posted on YouTube on Monday. By this afternoon (Friday) it had more than 1 million views. Apparently people like kitchen gadgets. Here’s the video: 7 Slicing Kitchen Gadgets Improved by Design Expert | Epicurious. It’s an impromptu 23 minute review of seven kitchen gadgets selected by the Epicurious...Continue reading
Two videos I shot for Epicurious, and a third currently being edited, are kicking off their new series “Well Equipped.” In the videos, posted on their YouTube channel, the Epicurious team chooses gadgets and asks me to try them, critique the design and instantaneously suggest improvements. In the first video I try 7 gadgets the...Continue reading
I met up with Mark Bergin while he was in New York recently. Mark runs the Driven x Design Awards program, held in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, as well as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Berlin, London, Paris and New York. We taped an episode of the podcast Design in the Boardroom, recorded while sitting on a...Continue reading
Here’s a link to an infographic explaining patents, a quick guide.This is the second version – I created the original version for a design journal published in 1995! I found the journal recently (gong through some old boxes in my basement) and thought I would update it and re-publish it here. You can find a...Continue reading
Design students visiting NYC from Aalborg stopped touring the city long enough to attend a mini-workshop on biomechanics that I was asked to conduct. The talk was relevant to their final school project, which looked at physical aspects of design. The workshop covered basics in biomechanics, and a few demonstrations. For example, holding a 5...Continue reading
I spent a day in the Epicurious/Condé Nast studio reviewing a collection of kitchen gadgets selected by the Epicurious team. It was the first time, I believe, that kitchen tools underwent this type of ergonomic analyses at Epicurious. Some performed far better than others. Mainly, it was fun to put them through their paces,...Continue reading
Winners of Ukrainian Design: The Very Best of 2019 will be announced tomorrow. It was great to be one of the judges. The results will be posted on their site. Congratulations to all who received recognition, and all who entered.
Kantar is a global data, insights and consulting company. Kantar Australia has been producing a series of podcasts called Bite Size Insights on various topics, mostly centered around brands. On the theme of diversity the Kantar team invited me to record Episode 8, discussing design and gender, design at the edges,...Continue reading
A discussion on how hackathons can often be exclusionary – and five tips on how to address the lack of gender diversity. Here’s the link to the article in Fast Company.