I was looking for an affordable and good SLR camera to start learning photography on a higher level and I think I have found it. The D40 comes with a very good 18-55mm lens for nice portraits and landscape shots. I have purchased an additional 70-300mm Tamron lens, which allow me to zoom in a far distance object and create macro shots of bugs and flowers. Very sweet lens for again an affordable price.

Okay, here are some newbie shots I have made in the Shanghai Wild Animal Park from yesterday’s visit:

There are some more photos made with this camera when I was in Xi Tang a few days ago:
http://productdesignforums.com/waikitchung/photos?album=2&gallery=13

If you are interested in the camera, check out some good reviews here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/

This weekend I took a short visit to the 4th Shanghai Design Biennial at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.
It was a big disappointment, because there is not much interesting things to see. There were mainly local companies presenting themselves with not too attractive content in their booths. The covered space was small too.
I just stayed for less than 1 hour and made some quick shots:

I bought this book in 2005 and I still peek into it to learn how his sketches communicate so well. It’s bilingual (English & Chinese). This book is so unique and very enjoyable to read. He writes about his design philosophy and explains a general design process (useful for first year students), but the most interesting part is the collection of his amazing sketch work (ideation sketches,concept sketches, storyboards and exploded views) with additional comments. His visual communication skills are superb.. I have never seen such strong sketch skills before. So i think it’s a must read for designers who want to improve their sketching abilities, cause looking to his work is certainly educational..at least to me. I believe that I have improved my sketching skills after purchasing this book, cause it motivated me to sketch a lot.

Please read a discussion about Carl Liu and his book and order the book if you are interested.

IDSKETCHING.COM

“So here’s the deal - John (jm745) and I (snugja) go way back. We went to the same college took the same classes, and have some of the same passions. We both love sketching, creating and teaching. That’s what IDSKETCHING.COM is all about.

John and I decided that it was about time we share our work and methodology with the general design/art community. We’re no masters by any means, but no such undertaking has been attempted by anyone in any way such as this. We came up with the idea to share and share alike. To have this site as a resource for all to use to better their skillset.

We believe in helping others and providing a resource for all to use absolutely free of charge. We believe that by helping others, you ultimately help yourself in the process.

Alot of time and energy has been put into the site and we hope that you’ll come back weekly for updates and monthly for our longer featured demos. Like I said, this is a massive undertaking. We have a small library to start with, but join us as we make this dream a reality.

Thanks for waiting and being patient! The site will be heavily updated in the next 2 weeks so keep visiting and telling your friends about it! ”

Just go and check it out! It is incredibly sweet and awesome! Something you might have been waiting for a long time.

Set an effort-based goal.
If you’re honest with yourself, you probably already know which tools in your box need sharpening, and setting yourself a specific goal for improvement is the obvious next step. Creative growth can be difficult to measure, so the most effective short-term goals are usually based on effort rather than quality:

-”I will sketch for one hour after work every day until the end of the month.”
-”I will design four album covers for a band that I like by the end of the summer.”
-”I will learn enough animation to make a one minute movie about my last project by September 1.”

The beauty of goals like this is that they lift the heavy burden of performance from your labors; a burden which, paradoxically, can prevent you from doing your best work. Bill Buxton’s recent book recounts the story of a friend teaching a ceramics class, who chose to divide the students into those whose grade would be based on the quality of their best piece, and those graded purely on volume of output. Across the board, the best work came from the latter group: freed of the pressure to perform perfectly, they instead created prolifically, learning and experimenting in the process, with little fear of failure.

Setting a “volumetric” goal like this for yourself can achieve similar results, and has the added benefit of coaxing you into a more flexible mindset regarding skill-building in general.

Some times you might be too busy with work and do not have the time to improve design skills that are not being used in certain design projects for a long period of time. For instance some projects do not require 3D modeling at all, so you might get rusty on that.

I found a similar article that shares the following tips about sharpen your skills:

Set aside time for learning. Whether it’s 30 minutes a day, or an hour a week, it’s important that you set aside a regular block of time to learn about your profession. That might be reading magazines or blogs or books or trade journals, that might be paying attention to the work of others, that might be taking a class, or just working on your skills on your own. Whatever you do, be sure to schedule it, and don’t miss that appointment.

Pay attention. Let’s face it: many of us have been doing what we do for so long that we do much of it without much thought. It’s second nature. But that just allows you to do what you’re doing without change, without improvement. Instead, pay closer attention to what you do, to your skills. Just that act, of paying attention, can make a big difference, because it will make you focus on those skills more, and see what you could be doing better.

Fine tune. Once you start paying attention, see how you can improve. Look closely at each skill you have, each thing you do, and see what can be made better. Things can almost always be made better. Work on each skill, practicing it until you’re perfect, trying new things, getting creative.

Get inspired. It can be hard to motivate yourself to improve, especially when what you’re already doing works for you. But if you look at the work of others, especially others at the top of your field, or past masters, it can be enough to inspire you. Find ways to get inspired by the amazing works of others every day, and you’ll never stop improving.

Learn from the masters. Study closely the work of the masters, read about them, read things they’ve written about your craft. If possible, learn from them directly, by studying under them or working with them. They got where they are today by studying from the masters that came before them.

Get critiqued. Sometimes we can’t see what we’re doing wrong, because we’re biased, too close to the work. So you need to get an outside eye to take a look at it. Ask someone you respect for a critique of your work. Ask them to be honest, and specific. And when they give you that critique, don’t be offended or hurt or angry. You want honesty. Take whatever they said that’s critical and make it a way for you to improve yourself. Make a list of their points and see how you can get better at those points.

Take a class. If there’s a class available for your skills, and it’s taught by someone better than you, it’s worth taking. Sure, you can probably get the same information from books or magazines or the Internet, but there’s nothing like a class for learning, because it forces you to take the time to sit and digest the information, and you can often get personal interactions with the teacher so that you can understand the material even better. And if you turn in work to the teacher, you’ll get a critique from an expert!

Work with those who are good. Instead of taking a class or getting a critique from someone who is at the top of your field, work with them. Collaborate, get on their team, work at their company, or do a joint project. There’s nothing that teaches you better than doing, and working with those who know what they’re doing. Pay close attention to everything that they do, ask questions.

If things get boring, look to improve. Once things get static in your work, you will begin to get bored. That’s because you’ve stopped being challenged, and stopped improving. Instead of looking for something else to do, see this boredom as a sign that you need to improve yourself, and set new challenges for yourself. Take a new look at what you do, and see what new goals you can set for yourself that will challenge you to do better.

I believe you might agree that eveyone of us finds it important that we need to continually sharpen our skills to keeps ourselves challenged, interested and passionate about our job.

Our design team decided to have a 30min work break for every Wednesday. We use that time to sharpen our different design skills, through training and practicing.

So, how do you sharpen your skills during your busy work days?

However, QingDao city is a nice play to for a few days. The seafood and beer is great! Especially at the ‘Beer’ Street, where the atmosphere is outstanding. The beaches are ok, but not a must go. The people are quite friendly compared to those in Shanghai. The best thing is that the weather is very comfortable. Shanghai is currently very hot and humid.

Check out a photo coverage of the exhibtion here:

SINOCES demonstrates the globalization of China’s consumer electronics industry and provides a platform for CE professionals who want to conduct business within China and around the globe. SINOCES is the gateway to the Chinese consumer electronics market, offering opportunities for leading consumer electronics business from China and abroad to view and showcase the latest technologies and cutting-edge products. The show is also a forum for communication between Chinese companies and their international partners. The successful partnership between SINOCES and CES, the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology, has attracted great attention from the global CE industry, international press and foreign governments. SINOCES is the only consumer electronics show in China certified by the US Department of Commerce export trade promotion program.

You are welcome to visit our design studio during June 26 and 27. I will be in the office at the 27th. So come on that day to meet me.

Asentio Design will also be part of the event and one of our manager, David Williams, will discuss about the challenges and benefits of working in the new Chinese economy. Please check the program for more info.

Benyus is the biologist-cum-evangelist who first defined its contours in her 1997 book, Biomimcry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In it, she detailed how companies could study nonpolluting, energy-efficient manufacturing technologies that have evolved in the natural world over billions of years, delivering in the process a lesson on the importance of living in harmony with nature.

In the ensuing decade, with concerns of sustainability coming to the fore for companies and consumers alike, Benyus has proved well placed to continue preaching her philosophy. Named by Time magazine as an environmental hero of 2007, she’s now preparing to take the wraps off the sequel book, Nature’s 100 Best Technologies, and an accompanying Web project that could, if successful, radically increase the reach of her thinking and consolidate biomimetic design as a go-to corporate sustainable strategy.

Read more about Janine Benyus at Business Weekly

Will this ‘biomimetic design‘ movement be the next trend in design? Or is it just a tool for developing solutions? Well, Nature has always been a source of inspiration for design, right? How about Leonardo da Vinci’s creations? Many of them are nature inspired. Did you know that Velcro was inspired by seed pods from a cocklebur (a tall weedy plant)?
Or how about these?