Design Partners have a long-standing, strategic relationship with Logitech, who just launched the ‘Ultrathin Keyboard & Cover’ that we conceived and designed to fit your tablet lifestyle. It’s compatible with the iPad 2 & 3 and features a low travel scissor bluetooth keyboard.

The idea for this product was driven by the fact that while the iPad is fine for typing quick mails, it is not ideal if you have to type for any extended periods. At the same time, nobody wants to carry around additional clunky accessories. Our solution was to create one of the thinnest keyboards Logitech has ever created. By integrating a magnetic hinge, the product becomes a fully integrated solution that also provides protection for your device. The magnets also automatically wake your iPad when you open the cover—and send it to sleep when you close it.

This product is part of an updated portfolio of innovative products for the Logitech tablet range so stay tuned for some more updates soon!

We are extremely excited to announce Wallpaper* Handmade III at Brioni will unveil the History Chair at Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan, this Tuesday evening (17th April 2012).

The History Chair is a collaboration between Cathal Loughnane (Creative Director of Design Partners), Peter Sheehan, and W/Workshop. A combination of the best in Irish design and craftsmanship.

Extensive story to follow. Watch this space…

Related Links:
Behind the scenes: Wallpaper’s Handmade 2012 invitation

Design Partners welcomed musician and composer Fiachra Trench into the design studio for a Friday Gallery to speak with us about his career, influences and his creative process. Friday Galleries are where we come together to share creative projects or experiences and where we invite guests to speak about their own creative experiences.

Fiachra has scored and composed music for films that include Pearl Harbor, The Boxer, The Tailor of Panama and The Ring and is credited as having written the string arrangement for “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues,  “Love is All Around” by Wet Wet Wet and “Old Town” by Phil Lynott.

On a personal level it was great to hear Fiachra speak about his music and his experiences over the years as well as to hear anecdotes of those he has had the pleasure of working with. Truly inspiring.

- Ronan Caroll

Battle – This is Uncomfortable

This short is part of our regular digital media Battle. A new theme is chosen for each Battle and a limited time is assigned over a couple of days to create a 10 to 15 second short animation including sound effects and score. The Battles often inspire techniques used for commercial work as they are an opportunity for the team to learn and try something new. The exercise is a cathartic, creative release aimed at inspiring conversation and sharing laughs.

This Battle’s theme was ‘...this is uncomfortable’.

The previous Battle (below) was ‘Friday 13th versus Valentines 14th.

“Embrace the fact that you can design anything…rocket science? Yeah, that’s my speciality!”

This was just one inspiring statement taken from a weekend full of entertainment and insight. An impressive line up of creatives from all over the world gathered in Dublin at this year’s OFFSET 2012 Creative Festival. Seasoned speakers such as Micheal Beirut, Stefan Sagmeister and Erik Kessels took to the stage as did uber talented artists and illustrators such as Conor Harrington, Von and Jessica Hische. They all shared their individual stories and experiences but their collective voices echoed passion, determination and commitment to a vision.

The weekend was also an opportunity to engage with fellow and like minded creatives from all disciplines. Although OFFSET’s speakers were primarily in the realm of visual communication in the traditional sense, there was enough diversity to fuel any creative mind. Perhaps next year we can add industrial design to the mix!

Thank you to the organisers, three young Dublin creatives Bren Byrne, Peter O’Dwyer and Richard Seabrooke, for a phenomenal weekend.

Attended by DP’s Cormac, John and Carleen.

We’re delighted to announce that Red Dot has just awarded Design Partners with two prestigious 2012 Red Dot Design Awards for the following products: 

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750
Logitech Cube

This is a clear recognition of our continuous, innovative approach to design. We believe in a future where products are completely self powering and we are always reimagining new ways to interact with our digital content. Innovation is core to our approach and essential to any business looking to stay relevant and connect with their end consumers.

See also:
GOOD DESIGN Awards
CES Innovation Awards

Smart Phones and tablets have helped transform our digital world from what used to be a tool for productivity to a portal of discovery. For the Logitech Touch Mouse M600, our designers set out to create a product that motivates people’s desires for optimistic experiences that augment this digital lifestyle. How can we create an experience that captures people’s imagination and makes them smile?

We crafted the idea of Digital Glamour for Logitech’s M600. Creating a story of personality, intrigue and vibrancy. We sought to push the boundaries of surface decoration by challenging the standards of manufacture. This meant spending a lot of time on the factory floor tuning and developing a new material process to create a surface that plays with light and form. This sub-surface decoration was inspired by the confluence of natural and digital evolution; a Fibonacci inspired spiral which is phase-shifted with digital repetition. The decoration was embedded within a new model of ergonomic comfort that reflected the intuitive nature of our touch and gesture interactions.

The Logitech Touch Mouse M600 has been named an International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree.

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Featured in Mashable’s Top 10 Tech List.
Awarded four Stars on PCMAG.com .

On Monday February 20th LIGHTBOX arrived in the RTE studios to record a session for Dan Hegarty’s show on 2FM. LIGHTBOX is a touring collective of musicians who perform using visual based music hardware such as Monomes, Kaoss Pads, APCs and iPads. The tour was partly crowdfunded via fundit.ie.

Of the collective Tenaka (Design Partners’ Ronan Carroll), Bantum (Ruairi Lynch), Monto (Ross O Sullivan) and Simon Bird recorded exclusive tracks for the show.

You can catch the LIGHTBOX tour on the following dates:

Saturday 25th February – The Twisted Pepper, Dublin
Sunday 26th February – The Wicked Chicken, Limerick
Tuesday 28th February – Love & death Inc, Belfast
Thursday 1st March – The Roisin Dubh, Galway

Press Links:
AU Magazine Coverage
Noise

You only need a laptop these days to be able to have a fully functional ‘home studio’. The software nowadays is so advanced that excelling in packages like Ableton Live or Reason is like mastering a musical instrument - you need a certain amount of intuition, practice and talent to produce something beautiful.

Most musicians and producers I know use acoustic instruments as their primary creative instrument and jump between the complex software and clunky control or input surfaces when drafting a demo. Many of the control surfaces are bulky, have after-thought add-ons and open ended features. I would love to own a digital product that captures the sense of escape, reward and bliss I get when creating music with acoustic instruments like a guitar or drum kit. A digital instrument that empowers you to stay in the creative flow.

Stay tuned…

- Cormac Ó Conaire

On a recent trip to New York we spotted the classic Screwpull Corkscrew and Foilcutter set on sale in the Moma Store. While we designed these a number of years ago, I feel this is a celebration of quiet design. When we talk about our work with the Screwpull brand, emphasis is lauded onto the Activ-Ball Corkscrew. However, this Classic set was a calm project that was created almost in the background.

It is a simple product in the greatest sense of the word. The brief was to update the 1979 Herbert Allen classic corkscrew. We carefully honed the surfaces of a single plastic main body to create a comfortable, functional and elegant design that was sympathetic to the brand, cost effective to manufacture and able to sell at a reasonable price.

We are delighted that MoMa have recognised the beauty in what we have achieved.