Asia Pacific Design Library

Getting Stuff Done in the APDL

Posted on 16 Jun 2013| by cpettrup |

On his recent talk at the Edge, Brooks Atwood introduced the idea of the GSD* day to us here at the APDL. GSD has been our new mantra for every day this week, with each day being jam packed, including a visit the CATC campus, the last of our UQ Architecture Lecture series and more new books than you can poke a stick at.

First up, I was super excited this week to be able to visit the CATC orientation day, where I introduced the Design Lounge to the incoming students. A broad mix of communication design, interior design and photography students were in attendance and I had a lot of fun meeting them and letting them know about what the Design Collection has to offer. I remember how helpful the Design Library was to me when I was a student so I hope that I was able to give them some good direction on a great resource for inspiration in their studies. Looking forward to seeing some new faces in the Design Lounge soon!

Then we moved straight into our last lecture in the UQ Architecture lecture series. We’ve had 10 weeks filled to the brim with interesting topics and thought on architecture. This week’s lecture by Sandra Kaji-O’Grady was no exception. Her talk, Science City: Architecture and the Expression of Experimental Science. was a fantastic note to end the series on. Be sure to look out for Eden’s Design Online article about it early next week. The past 10 weeks of the lecture series have been insightful, interesting and inspiring. It was always good to see the new faces and returning faces coming the series every week so I’m a little sad time that they’ve wrapped up for another year. Luckily, they’ll be back next year so I’ll be looking forward to that.

Lastly, I arrived at the library this morning to find a giant stack of books waiting to be tagged in the catalogue and put on display. This time around, we were lucky to have some recommended books from previous UQ architecture lectures arrive after a slight back order delay. If you liked the lecture series then, keep your eyes peeled for some of these titles in the lounge:

Surface Architecture & Architecture Oriented Otherwise—written by guest lecturer David Leatherbarrow)

World House Now: Contemporary Architectural Directions—featuring the work of Anupama Kundoo

Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape & Mr. Palomar— as recommended by Owen and Vokes and Peters.

We also have a bunch of new titles on communication design, architecture, fashionand design thinking for you to check out next time you stop by!

Until next time!

*Getting Stuff Done, being the PG translation of this phrase

Activating Space Workshop—Part Two, Workshop Outcomes

Posted on 10 Jun 2013| by cpettrup |

In yesterday’s blog post, we highlighted the findings of our recent Activating Spaces Workshop. Today we’ll be looking at the outcomes that resulted from these findings. Here are the changes you can look forward to seeing in the coming months:

Short Term Projects
Better way finding. This includes larger, clearer signage, colour-coding of book categories, and visual explanation of the design of the lounge. Better connection to the full design collection, available on level 3
Fine-tuning the collection. Further develop the collection as a curated space. Audit the collection and refine its arrangement within categories to ensure that it remains innovative, relevant and clear

Medium Term Projects
Visitor participation and collaboration. Start collecting social graph information, expand recommendation system
More visitor engagement and establish more connections. Host an event, design challenge, or book club meeting run for and by our visitors.

Long-Term Projects
Social graph project. Together with the Discovery Content Officer, develop an avenue through which to explore more information about the design collection:

Investigate ways of demonstrating how many people have read/ recommended/ referenced/ connected with a book.
Create a means of tracking and representing this?
Create connections between the people who use APDL and this data.
Also. investigate ways of connecting people with each other through the generated data.

A big thank you goes out to all of the participants that contributed to this workshop. We value the input of our community and your contributions help to determine our future direction.

If you have any exciting ideas about what you would like to see happen in the lounge, get in touch with us! Reach out via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram by email(asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au or in the comments.

Activating Spaces—Part One, Workshop findings

Posted on 09 Jun 2013| by cpettrup |

At Asia Pacific Design Library we love to experiment. We are a team that likes to play with design and invent dynamic ways of presenting content. For our most recent experiment, we asked for help from our wider community and the response was incredible.

This past Wednesday, academics, industry professionals and design fanatics alike came together as a part of our Activating Spaces Workshop. Initially, we aimed to answer the question ‘How might we make content more discoverable and meaningful within the Asia Pacific Design Lounge?’. The answers we received were surprising, innovative and provided us with exciting new opportunities to continue to enhance the experience within the Design Library.

Our first session was a bodystorming experiment aimed to explore the typical experience of an APDL visitor. Each participant was provided with a book and asked to find it within the design library. A few things became evident within this session:

Experience is the focus. Serendipitous encounters of knowledge are the predominant benefit of the APDL. That is, finding information that you wouldn’t necessarily know to look for or expect that can still be interesting and inspiring.
Collective knowledge of individuals. Most found that it was easiest to find books when teaming up with each other and helping each other to find information.
More information about the collection is needed. It was made clear that the book finding system that is currently being employed by the Design Lounge is not commonly known about or easy to find out about.
Lack of clarity. Categorisation of books is not clear. Signage is hard to find and information about each section is not obvious.

In our idea generation and rapid prototyping sessions, an interesting pattern emerged. It became pretty clear to us that perhaps we weren’t asking the right question for our audience. The focus shifted from how to make content more discoverable to how to enrich the content that we already have. In particular, participants highlighted the need to increase the connections between visitors through the content of the design library. In what ways can we learn from each other and assist each other to learn? Are there ways of making connections between design professionals and new designers, design experts and design enthusiasts, as well as interdisciplinary connections? A few potential ideas from this session include:

Creating physical connections book clubs, book readings, designer in residence, formation of a community
Project collaboration. Building a space where people can collaborate on design problems
Content mapping. Creating a social graph, how many people have read/ recommended/ referenced/ connected with a book. How do we track and represent this? How do we create connections between the people who generate this data?

At the end of the session, we identified the short-term, medium-term and long-term courses of action for the APDL. Tomorrow, we’ll post the second part of this blog post where we’ll look at these actions in a little more detail. In the meantime, do you have some thoughts about your experiences in the design lounge you’d like to share? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, by email (asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au) or in the comments.

2013 Brisbane Regional Architecture Awards Project Entry Exhibition

Posted on 30 Apr 2013| by apdl |

Love architecture? Project entries from the 2013 Brisbane Regional Architecture Awards will be on show here at the library from Monday.

The exhibition precedes the Awards night which will be held on Friday 10 May, 2013 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Creative Directors Owen and Vokes and Peters are responsible for the theme of Garden Variety… a celebration of the familiar, habitual, prevalent and homespun architecture of a place, Brisbane.

The exhibition will take place from Monday 6 May until Saturday 11 May 2013 at the Studio, Ground Floor, State Library of Queensland, Stanley Place, South Brisbane.

The 2013 Brisbane Regional Architecture Awards Exhibition is a partnership between the Australian Institute of Architects and State Library of Queensland’s Asia Pacific Design Library in support of Design Online.

Technology & Collection Challenge

Posted on 25 Apr 2013| by apdl |

** Applications must be received via email to asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au by 5pm, Monday 29 April, 2013. **

The brief:

Today, information is everywhere and sometimes it’s hard to make sense of it all. Do you love making complex information understandable and meaningful? Are you passionate about applying the latest technology into new areas and in new ways? You might be a programmer, an interaction designer, a data visualiser, a hacker or even a new-age librarian. If this sounds like you and you dig libraries, we should talk.

We would like to invite you to join APDL and The Edge for three months to develop a technology idea that makes the APDL’s Design Collection more discoverable and meaningful.

The details:

You will commence your work with the teams at APDL and The Edge on 1 June, 2013 and continue for three months until 30 August 2013
You will be engaged as a contractor working within a $5000 budget which includes all materials, labour and expenses associated with delivery of the project. Outcomes and deliverables from the contract will be agreed within this budget.
We will provide access to the facilities at both The Edge and areas of the State Library South Bank building, with a focus on APDL
We will allocate you a workspace on Level 3 of SLQ and will also be provided access to a workspace at The Edge if required
You will be required to research, design and implement a technology idea to enhance the qualitative browsing experience of APDL’s Design Collection, improving the discoverability of content within the Design Collection and encouraging an increase in overall engagement with the Design Collection and online content
You will need to involve the APDL and Edge community in researching, designing, testing and implementing your technology idea. This could be in the form of consultations, creative workshops or online documentation of your progress.
An emphasis will be placed on the use of ubiquitous technology and open source culture and in the demonstration and documentation of this process for other libraries and organisations to replicate
You will be supported by staff from APDL and The Edge where required to make your technology idea a reality

Background:

The Asia Pacific Design Library (APDL) is a shared space for industry, academia and the general public to come together in the exchange of ideas and generation of new knowledge around design in the Asia Pacific. The APDL is an experimental model for 21st century libraries that focuses on experience rather than simply providing accessing to information.

The APDL Design Collection hosted in the Design Lounge, level 2 State Library of Queensland, is a bespoke collection of books, journals and magazines. It is an experiment in new ways of presenting a collection beyond the traditional ‘Dewey decimal’ arrangement.

Interested?

To submit your expression of interest for this work please email asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au the following information to by 5pm, Monday 29 April:

Cover letter or email confirming your acceptance of the terms of this brief
Your full contact details including your ABN (or a completed hobby form)
A 2 page (maximum) CV
Links or summary of some relevant past projects

If you have any questions email asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au.

Design Offline

Posted on 08 Apr 2013| by apdl |

The Design Offline Journal is designed to help you experience design lectures and events in new and more meaningful ways.

We have designed six different lecture prompts that will challenge you to engage in lectures in diffferent ways, and hopefully learn something new. Although we’ve made it easy to continue to take notes like you always have, why not be open and curious to doing things a little differently? You’ll find the different prompts arranged by a number on the right of the page. Work from start to finish or pick a random number. Choose your own adventure!

Design Offline can be purchased at The Library Shop or via Eventbrite with tickets to the UQ Architecture Lecture Series.

We would love to hear your feedback, so drop us a line at asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au and let us know what you think!

Weekly Wrap Up / Making Marks

Posted on 28 Mar 2013| by cpettrup |

I’m about to wrap up my first couple of weeks at the APDL. What a crazy/busy/amazing time it has been. I’ve been buried under a mountain of new books (new to me, anyway), welcoming faces and exciting projects and there is nowhere else I would rather be. It’s been so good to start seeing some regular faces down in the lounge too!

One of my other favourite things to see in the lounge at the moment is the paper markers left behind in books, remnants of thoughts from the day before. I like to try and connect the patterns of thoughts and try and imagine what kind of projects the reader would have been working on. It’s a nice little visual reminder that this space is not just a reflection of contemporary design but also of the people that use it too.

To that end, there is another way for you to leave your mark on the design collection – by sending me recommendations of books and magazines that you want to see in the library. We’ll even give you props, in the form of a bright white sticker with your name on the cover. Just like John Challenor here. It’s our little way of immortalizing your name in the design collection forever* and your chance to claim all of the fame and glory of having such amazing taste in books (well done, you good thing!). Email them to me at asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au or even let me know next time you pop your head in to the lounge.

This week we also had the first team outing to the AGDA screening of The Start Up Kids. I have such admiration for people with the determination, dedication & belief in their projects that they continue to ideate and iterate in spite of any roadblocks or challenges that could stand in their way.

If, like me, you were feeling pretty inspired by the event and were looking for some more direction, check out The Lean Start Up, The Art of Innovation or Change by Design, all located in our Design Thinking Section. Personally, I was really inspired by Vimeo founder Zach Klein’s decision to put up stumps in the woods, so I’ve been trawling through Spacecraft 2 for a few ideas on designing my new forest retreat.

Until next week!**
- Chenoa

*Disclaimer: Forever not guaranteed.

** That is, of course, unless I get this tree house built and functional within a week. The statistical likelihood of which is about 1 in 1,215,865.

Introducing the Design Lounge Coordinator

Posted on 20 Mar 2013| by cpettrup |

Even from a very young age, I have had an over-active imagination. I loved telling stories to people and trying to convince them they were true. At the age of 6, I first tried my hand at making pictures to go with the stories. It was my first foray into design and in many ways these initial projects were indicative of what was to come in my early design career.

In the four years that I have worked in the visual communication industry, I have been involved in many roles that use graphic design to tell stories. Working with the likes of 826 Valencia & Bluewolf, I was using design to tell stories; stories about communities, brands and shifts in technologies and business.

However, it was during my time at 826 Valencia (see this TED talk for more about 826) that I realised that there was an opportunity for design to have much further implications than pure aesthetic. With this in mind, I completed the Master of Design (Futures) at QCA and participated in and contributed to events like the Design, Action, Leadership & the Future Brisbane Hot House and the Brisbane Sustainability Jam. Getting involved in this program really accentuated the value of interdisciplinary design and education based design initiatives. It also piqued my interest in the intertwined relationship between humans and design and how they both affect and effect each other.

That leads me to right here, right now at the APDL —as the new Design Lounge Coordinator. This is such an exciting new adventure for me & is a culmination of everything I have learned up until now. But the truth is—I’m still learning. Every day that I’m here I am finding out more about design and its evolving role in our lives through the ever-expanding design collection.

More than this though, for me the Design Lounge is about you—the educators and the students, the seasoned design professionals and the uninitiated design dabblers. You all have the capacity to teach me so much, whether it’s through book suggestions or new ideas on how the better improve the services of the design lounge (send them to me here or better yet, come see me at the library). In my time here, I would like to be able to help you to shape the design lounge in a way that is most valuable to you. I have so much to learn from you, the visitors & I hope that I am able to return the favour and teach you something as well.

APDL is looking for an Online Content Officer

Posted on 12 Mar 2013| by apdl |

APDL is looking for an Online Content Officer!

Applications close 5pm, Monday the 18 March, 2013. Read on for more details.

We’re looking for someone to join us on a short-term contract basis to support the ongoing curation and creation of content for APDL online platforms Design Online & Design Minds.

Background

Delivering on the strategic objectives of the APDL, the two websites Design Online and Design Minds were developed and launched on the 28 June 2012.

We’re passionate about creating an environment where the design community can come together in the progression of new knowledge around design. We do this through critical writing (via Design Online) and design education (via Design Minds). We promote these platforms with regular content updates via social media and our email database.

We’ve learnt that high-quality, relevent and regularly-updated content resonates with our audience and sparks curiosity and discussion around design. We received this piece of feedback from one of our Design Online readers, Tee Kay, based in Tokyo, late last year:

“I am really excited to be able to read upcoming articles from Design Online! I believe my friend found Design Online on a Tumblr, that curates minimal designs. My friend and I regularly look for minimal designs for inspiration, and we were lucky to find Design Online! We really like the content on the site, very well formatted and we learn a lot !”

While Design Online has benefited from audience growth as a result of regularly-updated content, Design Minds still has a long way to go in terms of meeting its objectives for reach and engagement across Queensland schools.

We want to continue the positive momentum of Design Online and address the gaps in content and engagement currently evident through Design Minds but with our humble little team there’s only so much we can do!

That’s why we need an Online Content Officer to help us kick goals!

Details of the Contract

You will be engaged for up to three days a week at $40/hour (ex. GST) up until the 30 June 2012
You will have experience in online content curation as well as a body of online, published work
You will be super-confident using the Adobe Creative Suite as well as WordPress and Microsoft Office
Your passion for critical design discussion (Design Online) will be equally matched by your enthusiasm for the promotion of design education (Design Minds)
You’ll need to have an ABN or be willing to complete an ATO hobby form (speak to your accountant)
You will have exceptional written, visual and inter-personal communication skills, be well-connected in the design community and have the ability to develop future relationships in support of the objectives of the APDL

Interested?

Download the full brief here: 13-03-08 APDL Online Content Officer EOI

Send your expression of interest to us via email at asiapacificdesignlibrary@slq.qld.gov.au by 5pm, Monday the 18 March, 2013 and get in touch if you have any questions.

The APDL Roadshow!

Posted on 05 Mar 2013| by Christian Duell |

Before he jumped on a plane and shipped his life off to Berlin, one of our fantastic rockstar volunteers Michael ‘Fletch’ Fletcher took the initiative to make contact with many of the South-East Queensland design colleges and universities to introduce the APDL. Given that our APDL team has been very small for most of it’s life, getting out and about to spread the word that we not only exist but that we exist for the design community (“all yours”) has been a distant but aspiring intention of ours for some time.

Thanks to the time that Fletch has invested in organising, since the start of semester I’ve been lucky enough to go out and visit a few of the local design colleges and uni’s and share a little bit about the APDL and the value of the design process to society.

CATC College, Fortitude Valley

On Wednesday 13 February I presented to three seperate groups (Graphic Design, Interior Design and Photography) at CATC Design School in Fortitude Valley. The visit was coordinated by the Think Education Group’s sole librarian Wendy Batho who’s been a passionate advocate for the APDL to all of the campus staff and students. It was great to witness the passion and enthusiasm of Wendy and the CATC teaching staff and students and we look forward to supporting them further.

Griffith University, QCA

The following Wednesday 20 February I was off to Griffith University at Southbank to present to the Queensland College of Art, Design Futures Students. Peter Hall, who is head of design at QCA has worked very closely with us over the last couple of months to develop resources for Design Minds and it was a privelege for me to visit Peter in his world this time. QCA have taken the bold initiative to ‘re-design’ their courses around the ‘design futures’ philosophy which is all about using design as a process for enacting positive cultural change. This was something I spoke about in my presentation also and so I’m very I’m very excited to see what will come out of this new approach from QCA.

QUT Design & Sustainability students

Yesterday, I had my biggest gig yet, presenting to a few hundred first-year QUT School of Design students as part of the Design and Sustainability subject. This is my third year in a row guest-lecturing in this subject and I’m really encouraged by the approach QUT has taken to embed design thinking with sustainability as a primary focus from first year. The subject combines first-year industrial design, architecture, landscape architecture and interior design students and is lead by the wonderful Dr Jeannie Sim.

This was a full forty-minute lecture from me, so the main part of my talk was around the role that designers can play in improving their standing within wider society and helping to facilitate positive change. My presentation was adapted from a paper I wrote last year for Consult Australia and an article I wrote for Design Online entitled ‘Bottom Up, Top Down‘. Jeannie passed on some really encouraging feedback from the presentation:

“Strongest takeaway message for me was that designers can make real contributions to the future and society beyond the traditional pathways of yesteryear. You reinforced our challenge to the students to get involved now and in the future.”

The roadshow continues this Friday when I’ll present to first year UQ Architecture students and then again in a few weeks to QUT Fashion students.

The main takeaway message from us to all of the uni’s and colleges is that the APDL is all yours. It belongs to you and we are here to support you in your learning. So, if you would like us to come and present at your uni or college or if you have any suggestions for how we can tailor what we provide to better suit your needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.