'Showrooms' app launched for New York

If you are heading off to New York then Designer Pages has the app for you. They have launched an app called Showrooms that helps you to quickly locate architecture and interior design products and materials across the city. Find that showroom you’re looking for and map it, create itineraries for your visits, curate lists of showrooms to share with friends, and even check in using Foursquare. They plan on expanding to other cities in the future. They have even added a scavenger hunt at Architectural Digest Home Show in New York next week. Can't wait for the London version.

Download the 'Showrooms' app here

Cutting Edge Design comes to Scunthorpe

The pavilion in the Central Park, Scunthorpe has been christened “The Nutshell Café” and consists of a kiosk and disable WC / baby change. This structure by  S&P Architects forms part of the regeneration of Central Park and the Sports Academy building, which is currently under construction.

See more of this interesting structure on Arch Daily.

Salary Checker app reviewed as 'Brilliant' in Stylist Magazine

The Salary Checker iPhone app, recently developed by The Think Tank for Robert Walters Associates, has been featured in Stylist Magazine today and has been reviewed by a lawyer who comments that it is 'Brilliant'.

See the full piece below.

RWA Salary Checker Article.pdf (219 kb)

The iPad 2: More to it, less of it

'There's even more to it. And even less of it' appears to be the tagline for the new iPad2.

This new version is faster, 33 per cent thinner, and “up to” 15 per cent lighter than the original iPad, while boasting the same 9.7-inch LCD screen. Steve Jobs believes Apple to be ore on top of their game than ever before claiming 'While others have been scrambling to copy the first generation iPad, we’re launching iPad 2, which moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again.” Will this bold statement be proved correct in sale numbers? Let's watch this space.

If you haven't yet had a look at Apple's latest venture then click here to formulate your own first opinion.

 

TOWERchair

The TOWERchair is an innovative highchair for children that can be adjusted as the child grows.

It is the ultimate cradle to the grave in seating as it is suitable for adults too, perhaps making the £286 price tag seem far better value for money.

For more information on this interesting take on the highchair click here

Images © DESIGNSPOTTER

Dinosaurs Unleashed launch a great success

The launch of Dinosaurs Unleashed at The O2 on February 19th was a great success, with more than 400 press and their children attending the launch event and coverage across broadcast and national press.

The Think Tank has provided a completely integrated marketing service to the organisers, including strategic direction, media planning, outdoor advertising, media relations, direct marketing, event support and digital services, resulting in an amazing first week for this landmark attraction.

With coverage achieved on Day Break, This Morning, the Vanessa Show and many other radio, national and local media outlets the launch of Dinosaurs Unleashed has exceeded all expectations.

On throughout 2011 and into 2012, The Think Tank will be continuing to provide a range of marketing and PR services to help continue the success of Dinosaurs Unleashed.

For more information about Dinosaurs Unleased at The O2 click here or view the video below.

Clerkenwell Design Week

For those of you who appreciate innovative and creative design as much as we do, especially when it is around the corner from the Think Tank Office, we wish to share that the dates for Clerkenwell Design Week have now been officially set for 24-26 May 2011.

Look forward to the return to The Farmiloe Building on St John Street in 2011. This year the exhibition will be even bigger with the elegant building, once the home of Victorian lead and glass merchants, set  to house some of the most exciting names in design! Exhibitions include the House of Detention, a Victorian prison, hosting an international design exhibition for the diverse and most innocative contemporary talent. The nature of both spaces will ensure the product is presented in new and creative ways and will act as a canvas for site specific installations.

For an exciting overview of those exhibiting and what to expect, please click here.

Robert Walters Associates App hits top 10 downloads in first week

The Think Tank has recently developed a multinational Salary Survey App for global recruitment consultants, Robert Walters Associates which has reached the top spot in the Top 10 iPhone Free Business Apps chart for Singapore - the first region to launch.

A complex app, the Robert Walter Associates Salary Survey provides an interactive salary checker for a wide range of professional roles, including accountancy and finance, banking, human resources, IT, legal and compliance, sales and marketing, secretarial, engineering and supply chain & procurement, across many countries and regions.

After several months of development the app has been a great success across the globe, with many great reviews and has reached 16th in the overall Business App Chart.

The Robert Walters Associates Salary Checker app is now being marketed to professionals worldwide. To check out whether you are being paid the right salary download the app here.

Category Winners for the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2011

The votes are in and a winner for each category of the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2011 has been officially announced today.

The winners for each category are:

Brit Insurance Architecture Award 2011: Open Air Library by KARO Architekten, Germany

Brit Insurance Fashion Award 2011: Uniqlo +J, Japan

Brit Insurance Furniture Award 2011: Branca, Industrial Facility, Italy

Brit Insurance Graphics Award 2011: Homemade is Best, Forsman & Bodenfors for Ikea

Brit Insurance Product Award 2011: Plumen 001, Hulger & Samuel Wilkinson, UK

Brit Insurance Transport Award 2011: Barclays Cycle Hire

Click here to learn more about each of these winners and for your chance to speculate who will eventually reign supreme.

Apple of my Eye: The many apps of an iphone

It won't be the first time we at The Think Tank have found ourselves rather giddy about the many new i-phone apps that currently available for download. It goes without saying that phones are set to be the new computers by 2015; to this fact, we have all resigned. What is so exciting however is the speed and diverse nature to which these applications are being created.

Take for example the creation of the Nike Training Club app (a get fit customizable training regime), the Nash Ramblas app (a guide to the London festival of architecture) or even the Rob Walters Salary Checker (a guide to find out how much you are really worth), it's anybody's guess as to what the next app creation will be. So, let's get guessing!

A Canopy of Colour

Arguably the most colourful food market experience in Europe, Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona has a restored roof made of 300,000 wave like multicoloured ceramic hexagons. These hexagons are be seen as representations of fruits and vegetables in an unique and innovative way; a classic in post modern architecture.

The architect of the market explains, “The first mistake is to talk about old and new. Whatever has managed to survive into the present is current, useful, and contemporary. And it permits us to move back in time in order to continue forward.”

To read more on the inspiration for the design click here

A novel poster: The writing is on the wall

Whether you are a lover of descriptive classical literature, or prefer the shortcomings of a 160 character tweet - we at the Think Tank cannot deny our love of text and the influence these variations can have on our day.

Novel Poster have set up a project to celebrate this diverse mix and evolution of writing with a collection of ten unique poster designs highlighting five classic novels of literary acclaim and five of the most well-known twitter users. The novel poster prints are entirely composed of only the book's complete text, from beginning to end, and are fully legible. The celebrity ones are composed of only the twitter feeds, and are also fully legible.

The interest and popularity surrounding this project has resulted in Novel Poster setting up on Kickstarter to allow people to pre-order the posters via pledges.

Our initial thoughts are, with his extensive twitter feed and many a published book, essay and script, what WOULD the size of Stephen Fry's poster need to be??

Delicious Design from Penguin

You may remember the Penguin on Design or Penguin by Ilustrators series, produced by er Penguin. Well, whether you do or don't, Penguin have an entirely new themed collection for you to chew over: 'Great Food'

This exciting new collection is set to be released in April and the 20 books that make this series are, according to Penguin, 'the sharpest, funniest, most delicious writing about food from the past 400 years.' The covers available for viewing have been designed by Penguin's senior cover designer Coralie Bickford-Smith. Each one draws on a decorative ceramic style relevant to the period of the writing concerned.

Cover for Love in a Dish (picture insert right) and other pieces by MFK Fisher is based on a pattern from a Century side plate by Eva Zeisel for Hallcraft, 1957. All the covers feature embossed lettering and spot varnishes to pick out the of details of the illustrations. Bickford-Smith worked closely with picture editor Samantha Johnson and lettering artist Stephen Raw on the series. Personally, my favourite design aspect is the Penguin logo itself featuring the Penguin armed with both knife and fork ready to devour the content within the pages.

To check out the series available for purchase at £6.99 each from the 7th April 2011 click here.

When Good Design Tastes Good

So you want to eat out in a place where the design looks as good as the food tastes? Look no further than Grüner, a restaurant that 'draws on the affinity between the geographies of the Pacific Northwest and the alpine regions of northern Europe.' It's owner, award-winning restaurateur and chef Christopher Israel, has created this cozy alpine cuisine having been inspired by a lifetime of wanderlust and epicurean curiosity.

Grüner, meaning 'Greener' in German, dishes up sensational signature dishes such as German Apple Pancake, Beef Short Rib Goulash with Potato Dumplings, Pickled Beets with Horseradish, and Buckwheat Spätzle with Rabbit and Chanterelles. On the bar menu is an exemplary burger, artisanal cured meats, a myriad of regional cheeses, and house-made pickles. To view the delectable menu click here.

Tantalise your sight too by clicking here to view the gallery that will no doubt leave you yearning to visit this restaurant.

Brit Insurance Design Awards exhibition now open!

Dubbed the 'Oscars of the Design World' The Brit Insurance Design Awards  is now open at The Design Museum. The event showcases the most innovative and forward thinking designs from around the world, spanning seven categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport.

Min-Kyu Choi was last years' lucky winner with her Folding Plug, a device that revolutionised a humble, but essential, piece of everyday equipment.

Click here to book exhibition tickets and to see the nominations for the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2011.

Twitter: The bird still sings along to his own tune

It has been some years now since tweeting became as much part of our daily routine as cleaning one's teeth or eating one's dinner; it is therefore hardly surprising that this social media power house currently has175 million tweeters who produce 95 million tweets every single day.

Yet despite these impressive statistics, the company is not really making any money as it attempts to keep up with the demand for micro-blogging site. So what is the attraction of larger companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple seeking to acquire Twitter? Potential advertising target of course. For further details and breakdown of the estimated advertising value of Twitter click here.

Fortunately the $3.7m it is valued at is till significant enough to prevent larger companies from buying it outright. The little birdy therefore will, for now, live to tweet another day his own way.  

Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images  

Good design that transcends time

When good design is good design, it transcends time. For a stunning example of this look no further than the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium in Munich. 

For more images, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, along with additional detail, visit arch daily

The Dinosaurs are Unleashed at the O2

Reminiscent of the classic film 'One of our Dinosaurs is Missing' the dinosaurs arrive at The O2 for the opening of the UK's latest family attraction, Dinosuaurs Unleashed 2011.

The Think Tank has been working hard in preparing all the marketing activity around this event, set to kick off with a celebrity and press Preview event on Saturday 19th February.

With more than 20 lifesize animatronic dinosaurs and loads of interactive experiences, Dinosaurs Unleashed at The O2 is going to the event of 2011.

See the dinosaurs arrive below or click here to visit the Dinosaurs Unleashed web site.

Bone Collection: Dino Drives, Card Cases and Wonderful Wraps

As Design Director of Bone Collection Reads Lin puts it, 'don't just think different, be different,' a comment in direct response to Steve Jobs' (Chief Executive of Apple) motto of 'think different.'

We at the Think Tank are rather big fans of all things 'different' and Lin and his team have created some seriously cool, yet practical, 'things different.' What better way to protect your pad/pod/phone than with a unique and seriously cool case? What better device to entrust with the storing of all your most vital information than a dino usb drive?

Cool Hunting have also cottoned on to just how cool these are and clever in their ability to set themselves apart from the $1b+ industry for apple accessories too. Click here to find out where to buy your quirky added extras from and set yourself apart from everyone else now.

Et Voila - vola!

So you want practical space, dry towels and good bathroom design? You want this all in one purchase without compromise? Et Voila - Vola.

The Vola towel warmer is a built-in unit where all the technical units are hidden behind the wall, leaving only adjustable bars to be positioned where you personally choose. This very tidy, state of the art equipment won the Good Design Award 2009 and is also nominated for the German Designpreis 2011. Oh and it caters to any aesthetic preference, coming in high polished chrome, brushed chrome and brushed stainless steel. 

Visit Vola to order yours now!