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By Sara Hart

Kaplan describes their efforts as “focusing on things that make something possible that was not possible before. The intent is to find things that provide stimulus and jumping-off points for fresh ideas.” An important editorial policy is that DesignAid does not feature incremental improvements, nor does it publish materials in research and development. “We focus on materials and technologies that are available for production. If we identify something in the research labs, we wait until it’s ready before featuring it.” Kaplan declines to divulge the exact number of subscribers, but he claims there are hundreds, which is promising, considering Material ConneXion has more than 400.

 

The aluminum sunshades are off-the-shelf products. The details show an airspace for water vapor.

Whereas DesignAid is aimed primarily at industrial designers, New York–based Princeton Architectural Press, a publisher of architecture and design books, is developing a materials sampler, Materials Monthly, specifically for architects. The publisher has hired Jennifer Siegal, an architect and principal of MobileDesign in Los Angeles, to be the series editor. Her interest in innovation can be traced to her investigation into smart materials as a Loeb Fellow at Harvard and MIT, and now she teaches a seminar about smart materials at Woodbury University in Los Angeles.