Another year has started here at Designit, and everywhere else really, and we are already welcoming new faces to our studios. Let’s get started.

In Aarhus, we welcome Kasper Hornbæk Nielsen as our new Graphic Designer. Kasper studied Graphic Design in Aarhus, and is currently taking a 2 year education in photography, one of his big passions. Kasper has been with Scanad Reklamebureau in Aarhus for 10 years, as a trainee, image editor, and graphic designer, but most recently at Recommended in Aarhus, as a graphic designer. He’s a fan of travelling, and also cooking (and baking, lucky Aarhus).

Also in Aarhus is Christie Lyngfeldt as the new Operations and Finance Trainee. Christie holds a degree in Sales and Buying from Danske Supermarked, and also studied International Concept Marketing in European Retail. For the past four years she’s been working in Salling department store, where she has been involved with sales, buying and advertising. She comes to Designit to flex her muscles and make the most of her qualifications. Christie is into running and sports (which makes some of us look bad), including skiing, so hopes to join us on the ski trip in March (again, to make some of us look bad).

Kasper Baarup Holmboe joins Christie and the other Kasper in Aarhus as a Model Maker. Kasper is studying an MA in Design and Architecture, focusing on Industrial Design at the Aarhus School of Architecture, and hopes to push his skills to the limit at Designit. When not making models, he helps out doing restoration at the Harley Davidson family workshop near Aarhus, and enjoys a good surf when the weather permits.

Also in Aarhus is Anders Kjærgaard Jensen, who will be joining Kasper as a Model Maker. Anders is studying at the Aarhus School of Architecture, and is on his 5th semester there. He’s been working as a freelance model maker at Aart Architects, and hopes to get some real-life insight at Designit. Anders loves anything with a bit of soul, from music to cities, and brings curiosity and some awesome skills.

Over in Copenhagen we say hello to Stine Dahl Mikkelsen as our new Design Researcher. Stine holds an MA in Anthropology from the University of Copenhagen. She has also studied at la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain and conducted a four-month long fieldwork on a Base of the Pyramid project in Argentina, as well as taking courses in sociology and public health at the University of Copenhagen. Stine has worked as a qualitative researcher in Research International, TNS Gallup, Synovate, and most recently in Væksthus Hovestadsregionen (Business Link Capital) where she was affiliated with projects within the field of public-private innovation. When not at work, Stine can be found training for her third (third!) marathon, and looking forward to Roskilde Festival.

In Munich we welcome Gianni Ciotola, as our new Product Designer. Giannie has a Diploma in Industrial Design from Munich University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Why he studied, he completed an internship at Phoenix Design in Stuttgart and was a student helper at Fujitsu Computers.Prior to Designit, Gianni worked for two and half years at Kiska Design in Salzburg/Austria as a Product Designer, handling a wide range of products like Hilti, Siteco, Kettler, Zeiss and Adidas. Before that, he spent a year working in an animation studio called Aixsponza in Munich, working as a CG Animation Artist. Gianni says that he’s never lost his inner child, so he should fit right in…

Still in Munich we welcome Kaveh Shirdel as our new Senior Interaction Designer. Kaveh holds an MA in Interactive Media from the London College of Communication, and a BA in Mechanical Engineering from Brunel University specialising in Automotive Design. After graduating, his interest turned to emerging internet and imaging technologies. He took a photography apprenticeship whilst learning internet technologies and went on to work as a web developer for 5 years after which he moved into digital content production. For the last 7 years Kaveh has been working as a Producer & Designer in London producing interactive installations and working on digital and mobile design strategy. Kaveh loves mountains, photography and the water – provided he’s under it.

Joining them in Munich we say hello to Yi-Ling Lin, our new Business Designer.  Yi-Ling holds a BA in Mathematics from Baruch College in NYC and two MAs (!) – one in Mathematics in Biology from the Technical University of Munich and one in Design Management from IED Barcelona. Yi-Ling worked as an operations analyst at Frog for one year and as an investment portfolio analyst at PIMCO for three years. Prior to PIMCO, she did a 10-month internship at VCM private equity firm as a junior analyst. Yi-Ling brings an analytical mind, but with a desire to become a creative strategic thinker, and can be found salsa dancing when not balancing paper on her head.

And so we move to Oslo, where we open our arms to Emilie Strømmen Olsen as our new Service Design Intern. Emilie has a BA in Product Design from Akershus University College and is currently taking her MA at Oslo School of Architecture and Design. She’s looking forward to getting fully immersed in Service Design at Designit, and hopes to be able to apply her values in the field of design. Emilie loves dancing and sewing – but not at the same time.

Also in Oslo, we say hello to Nilas Pleje, our new Product Design Intern. Nilas has a BA in Industrial Design from Umeå Institute of Design (UID) in Sweden and he has just finished his third semester in the MA program Advanced Product Design at the same school. During his BA Nilas had an internship at I Design in Stockholm as an Industrial Designer. Before that, he worked as a model technician for company in Norrtälje Sweden, where he made prototypes and models for the casting industry. He also has his own company where he does small design jobs for local companies in Umeå when he has time. When not working, Nilas loves being in the great outdoors, whether it’s fishing or mountain biking, he’s there.

Staying in Oslo, we welcome Annie Feddersen as our new Service Designer. Annie holds a degree from the Aarhus School of Architecture, where she have specialised in service design and research. Since graduating in 2011, Annie has been working as an Experience designer at the Danish audio company, Libratone. Annie has previously been with as at Designit as an intern in Denmark, and couldn’t wait to get back into the fold, albeit in another country. She’s adapting to her new Norwegian lifestyle by skiing, hiking and of course, wearing knitted jumpers.

To Sweden! Allen Smith joins the team as the new Interaction Design Manager in Gothenburg. Allen holds a BA in Telecommunications with Philosophy minor at Indiana University, and an M.Sc. in Interaction Design from Chalmers University of Technology. Before Design, Allen was a Senior Product Manager for UX at Qualcomm, where he helped lead the commercialisation of R&D projects around mobile TV, social media, and automotive infotainment. He has also worked as Creative Director for a mobile software startup, Product Manager for Information Visualisation at a sensor network startup, as the co-founder of a web design company, and survived the dotcom boom at a web startup. Most recently I’ve been on sabbatical exploring ubiquitous computing environments at the Tabletop Interaction Lab and developing a point-of-purchase social media service. Having toured and recorded with several indie bands, music is a massive part of Allen’s life, and he also loves Baja Mexico (that gets our vote for our next Inspiration Trip), surfing, and enjoying a cold beer.

Our latest Briefing is in the house and ready for order! If you’d like a copy, just write to socialmedia@designit.com with your address, and we’ll pop one in the post. Alternatively, you can keep up-to-date on all our publications on our Issuu page.

This Briefing looks at Mobile Services. How can you leverage the thousands of opportunities mobiles present for maximum effect? Is data really all that important? What can you do with it? And where do Apple, Google and Microsoft stand, exactly?

Here are some shots to whet your appetite…

It’s all yours if you want it!

Ho ho ho! Not quite yet, but very soon. The holidays are just around the corner, and this will be the last post before the new year. 2012. What will it bring? No doubt things we quite literally can’t imagine right now, but instead of looking at the next 365 days, let’s look at the last 14 and give you something to watch and read while this Friday afternoon passes by.

Ah, the fundamental elements of design – how graphics become brands. A super little short.

We love this booklet by Yang Liu, a graphic artist from China who spent a lot of time in the West. Here she demonstrates the differences between East and West using simple graphics. You can see the rest of the booklet here – Yang Liu – East Meets West.

We could all use this at this time of year. Just how drunk can you get at your office Christmas party?

Although things changed a lot over the last 10 years – a lot a lot – we’ve seen nothing yet. Just think of what will happen in the next 10, and what could happen.

As you may know, in Denmark we love to ride our bicycles everywhere. We’re a cycle-mad-city. Why? Why not, we say?! It’s healthy, it’s easy, it doesn’t pollute, it’s fun, it’s free, and who needs to drive when you live close to work?! This infographic via Fast Company Design sums it up nicely.

Finally, a super 15 minutes with two great people; Chris Anderson, editor of Wired US, and David Rowan, editor of Wired UK. Talking apps, tablets and the death of the web, it’s definitely worth watching. You’ll have to click through though, as we can’t embed :(

There you have it. The last post of 2011. We hope you’ve enjoyed the fortnightly posts and that they’ve given you something to think about, watch, read or just waste time with. After all, life isn’t always serious.

Happy holidays everyone – see you in the new year! :)

Yes, it’s time for more welcomes as we, er, welcome some new faces to the flock.

First up, in Copenhagen, we welcome Nora Køster Hansen as the other new part-time Office Assistant. Nora comes to us eager to be inspired by the creative juices that pump through the studio, and to lend her helping hand to keeping the zoo under control. Nora is a fan of football, and has played for a number of years. Maybe she can show us some tricks on the foosball table at the Christmas party that’s coming up…

Copenhagen also welcomes Puk Sjeldan as the new Operations Manager. Puk has been working at the design agency 1508 for the last 7 years, where she handled just about every aspect of the business, from administration to marketing and human resources. She loves being part of a team, and saw Designit as a chance to continue being part of a team in a highly creative, passionate and international atmosphere. She’s motivated, loves gadgets, has a zero bullshit attitude, and one heck of a grin. She’s just our cup of tea.

Be nice to them if you meet them. We’re looking forward to making the most of them!

Wow. Is it really already time for this? I mean, it’s gone so quickly that we actually haven’t posted anything since the last titbits! We apologise. Sorry. OK, enough apologising and on to the good stuff!

Deadlines. Love to hate them. But do they kill creativity? It’s always been a tough yet delicate matter when it comes to clients/designers, so maybe this will convince clients to give designers just that little bit more time…

From something quite effective and worthwhile to something, well, less….meaningful. A colleague was in the US recently and brought back a present. It wasn’t quite what we had hoped for. One guy tried it. Once.

And back to the totally awesome. Thomas Suarez is a 6th grade student who creates and sells his own apps. He very wisely points that out that their are clubs for learning guitar or football or any other sports of music, but where can you go to learn to code? It’s a gap that schools need to fill for other savvy little dudes and dudettes – they’re the future!

Next is a blog post, so I’m not going to put it all in here. Instead, you can follow the link and go and read it. It’s about the future. Or, interfaces in the future, and is entitled ‘A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design‘. Bret Victor, the author, takes a look at the popular ‘visions’ floating about right now (see below) and rants claims that they are definitely not ‘visionary’. Simply put, while they all use our hands to operate, they make our fingers into nothing more than a stylus. They deny all the capabilities of our hands and fingers. Isn’t that daft? Read it. It’s really rather good.

Finally, a very cool app from a couple of girls in Denmark. Tine Kej and Katrine Granholm have created the Concept Maker, an app for capturing those creative moments when they arrive, which let’s face it, mostly happen at really, really inconvenient times.

It can;

• Spark new ideas and concepts with more than 70 creative starters
• Challenge yourself to get a lot of different ideas with an idea clock session
• Create folders to store and share all your ideas and references
• Get inspiration from thousands of random images
• Search for specific themes on Flickr
• And then some

So go be creative. It’s the shizzle, and now you can capture all those amazing ideas you have, whether you’re on the train, on the loo, or just walking out to buy some toothpaste.

Lats but by no means least, is Zacharia in Kenya. Mone, an ex-Designit, was out there working at Motherly Care Childrens Home and one of the children, Zach, needed a new jumper. Mone gave him her jumper, and by the looks of it, made him a happy chappy. We really hope it lasts and keeps him warm. Love this.

See you in 14 days, folks!

Need I say it? Two weeks? My my. Time flies when you’re having fun, which we most certainly are. Are you? We hope so, but if you’re not, we hope that this post puts at the very least just the beginning of a glimmer of a smile on your face. Go on, it is, after all, Friday!

This video showing how Persol hand-crafted sunglasses are made blew us away. It’s so good you can almost taste it. Fullscreen it – it’s totally worth it.

Our own blog about our current briefing got a lot of attention this week. So did our Thursday Briefing (our monthly after-work meeting open to anyone) about service innovation. It looks like people are really getting into service design, which we think is a very, very good thing. If you missed it, check out the post, and feel free to contact us for a hard copy (alternatively you can check out our Issuu page which has all our publications listed).

People seemed to love this photo we saw on Design Milk’s Facebook page. They’re a brilliant idea, but knowing us, we’d probably notice it first when we went to bed. Maybe if they integrated an alarm….

We loved this infographic from Fast Company; what do people really want from a tablet?

Finally, because it’s Friday, because it’s the internet, and because they’re just so damn cute – here are some kittens covering classic album covers.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Wait, what? You at the back! What’s that? What do kittens have to do with design? Everything!

Yup! Briefing number four is in the house! It’s shiny, it’s new, it’s smooth, it’s beautiful, and most of all – it’s packed with great stories, ideas, truths, and ways through which your company, business or brand can really differentiate from competitors.

Check out some lovely photos here, and if you’d like a copy, just drop us a line at socialmedia@designit.com, on our Facebook page, or tweet us at @SocialDesignit. You can have the PDF or a hard copy, and it won’t cost you a dime. Go on – what have you got to lose?

See? Lovely. Get in touch now and grab a copy while it’s hot!

Another two weeks have flown by. The weather (here in Denmark) is getting colder by the minute, the trees are virtually bare, the sky deceptively blue, and pretty soon we won’t be able to feel our faces outside. It happens. You dribble, it’s not pretty but everyone’s doing it. Anyway, the interweb has provided some good stuff over past couple of weeks. Coffee ready? Here it all is…

First up, the cookie QR code. Yup, a company in Germany (QKies) has combined the two to create, well a cookie with a QR code on top. We don’t quite understand how you get to decide where the QR takes you once scanned, but hopefully someone German will read this and tell us. Please.

Omitouch is a very, very impressive bit of tech that enables graphical, interactive, multitouch input on arbitrary, everyday surfaces. The system will only get smaller (probably quite quickly) so we reckon it’s only a matter of time before this gets a lot more viable. Read more about it on Chris Harrison’s blog.

The world’s craziest wallpaper was something we came across recently. Called RGB, it’s a multi-layered wallpaper by the Milan designers Carnovsky. Three overlapping and primary-colored patterns are placed on the wallpaper panels, and depending on what colour light you’re viewing it in (normal, red, green or blue) different patters reveal themselves.

Designit is originally a Danish company, so when we something amazing made out of LEGO, it’s our duty to our country to post it. Or our heads will be chopped off. Not really, but LEGO is really, really cool, and it doesn’t get that much cooler than this.

Although it would be cooler if it was levitating! If you want to know more about this, you can head over to Quantum Levitation. We tried to read it but our brains melted and our eyes fell out. Don’t ask how we’re typing this post. It’s all guess work.

Although it’s not even November, we had to post something Christmassy. Check out these tree decorations from Mstetson Design. The ultimate designer decoration? We think so.

So there you have it. Another bunch of stuff gathered from all over the big ol’ internet. It’s a pretty crazy place out there, and the only way to cope is to, as a recently departed and wonderfully gifted man once said, stay hungry, stay foolish.

Yes, it’s a big Designit hello to some new faces. Are you sitting comfortable? Then allow us to introduce…

Susanne Stenhøj Laursen who will be joining the team in Aarhus as an Instructional Designer. Susanne will be here as maternity cover for Mette Bak. Susanne has an MA in International Business Communication and a BA in English and Communication from Aarhus School of Business. Susanne joins us from the healthcare industry (she’s coming from being a Research Assistant at the Centre for Psychiatric Research at Aarhus University Hospital), where she’s been working with copy writing, documentation and organisation. She’s joined us to help develop her skills in a creative and innovative environment, and brings competence, in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry, a lot of laughter and an open mind.

Over in Copenhagen, we welcome (back) Peter Okholm, who will be the new Digital Strategist. Peter has been working at the Munich studio, so he’s no stranger to Designit. He holds an MA in Information Science from Aarhus University, where he focused on subjects such as design methodologies, user oriented innovation and organisational learning. Prior to Designit, Peter worked for two years at the web agency Spring Company as a Strategy Consultant, doing concept development, information architecture and sales. During his studies he took an internship in Berlin-based Iconmobile GmbH, creating concepts for mobile products and services. Peter believes in making the world a better place, which is why he applied to Designit – and even moved to Munich for it! When he’s not working hard, Peter can be found cooking, eating what’s he’s cooked, and redecorating his new flat (which will never be finished).

Also in Copenhagen, we welcome Julie Dalseth as the new Graphic Designer. Julie hails from Norway, but now has her home in, er, sunny Copenhagen. Julie has been working as an Industrial Designer at Seidenfaden Design Copenhagen, had my own company for a while and worked as a Graphic Designer at SlideShop. Julie enjoys running (sane distances), and being from the beautiful fjords of Norway, loves to get back to nature as much as possible.

Still in Copenhagen, we welcome Rosalia Dominguez Navas as one of our new Office Assistants. She’ll be helping out 2/3 times a week to provide much needed help with practical matters in the office, and chose to apply as she saw the position as more interesting and challenging than other jobs young people at her age usually are able to get. She’s right about that! She enjoys photography, hanging with her friends, and have a good laugh.

Yes, just as with Aarhus and Munich, our Oslo studio has grown and grown and ultimately, has had to move.

The studio is now located between the central station and Grünerløkka, which is one of the most vibrant areas of the city, which suits the team right down to the Norwegian ground.

To get the new era off to a good start, and to show off the beautiful new studio to our collaborators, clients and friends, a housewarming party was arranged. Start as you mean to go on, right?!

It took place Thursday October 13th, and even had a theme for the first hour; Designit! Food and drink were served which came from all the other studios around the world, from Denmark to Spain!

Around 100 people showed up over the course of the whole evening, and Designit Aarhus even let their IT guy, Morten Thomsen head over to DJ (we should point out that he is actually a DJ).

There was even a competition where first prize was a three course dinner for two. All you had to do was guess the amount of sweets in the jar – or at least come close to it! The lucky winner was Andreas Kjensli Knudsen. Enjoy, Andreas!

All in all the new studio was definitely warmed, new friends were made, food was eaten, drinks were drunk, and everyone had a very merry time. We hope that you’ll make it over to Grünerløkka one day, and pop in to say hello. To tempt you, here is a little video featuring the crew and their crazy antics. Those funny Norwegians…whatever next?

For more pictures, check out the album on Facebook or Flickr.