UnderConsideration is starting a conference. Focusing on corporate and brand identity, the conference is a direct extension of the popular blog Brand New.

The inaugural conference takes place in New York City as it is undoubtedly one of the most important hubs of identity practice and, presumably, an allure to out-of-towners who might be inclined to attend the conference and make a weekend out of it. The venue for the conference will be the School of Visual Arts Theatre, in the Beatrice auditorium, which holds 266 attendees.

The speaker line-up is nothing short of impressive. I am not surprised. When Armin and Bryony do something, they do it right.

58 billion paper cups are thrown away – and are not recycled – every year. In a contest hosted by Jovoto, and partly sponsored by Starbucks and Core77, the Betacup project has the goal to find the best ideas to eliminate paper cup consumption. What could be a more sustainable alternative? This entry, by Miller Creative, solves this problem, in a realistic, manufacturable, and eco-friendly way. Check it out below.

The Brief:

“Rethink the way we consume coffee and present solutions that strive to reduce paper cup waste. We are not looking for just another reusable cup design. Think beyond just the vessel for carrying coffee, and develop a way to cause behavior change at a massive scale.”

Miller Creative’s Solution:

“The Radial Fin Cup is an attempt to improve the typical coated, rolled and glued coffee cup with a plastic lid, and satisfy coffee shop owners, consumers and the the environment alike. This is a tough call.

Retailers want low cost and happy customers. Customers want ease-of-use, convenience and cleanliness. The environment needs us to come up with sustainable ways to drink our daily coffee.

We felt avoiding reusables was important since consumers at large are not likely to reuse their cups. (Convenience factor.)

A disposable cup that doesn’t cost a lot more than the current model would be ideal. Eliminating extra materials was also key. We came up with a sleeveless cup that is sustainable and 100% biodegradable. Some carefully considered improvements make this idea very attainable in the real world.

The design incorporates fins to allow for insulation from the cup surface without adding an extra sleeve.  A PLA (polylactic acid) lid is improved by making it more recognizable as non-recyclable. (It is 100% biodegradable, and often gets confused with plastic.)”

Vote for Miller Creative’s design here, and check out the other designs here.

A very touching story from Philip Toledano, more at Days with my Father.

Professor Shree Nayar talks about the purpose and development of the Bigshot camera project. What a great scheme, I want one!