Welcome to the Liv Design blog, an eclectic mix of great design and quirky finds

Apple have just released it's latest laptop – the MacBook Air, which sits in the range between the MacBook and MacBook Pro. At a tiny 19mm thick at its widest point it's the world's thinnest notebook and weighing less than 1.4kg it's one of the lightest too. The MacBook is available with either a 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (which Intel had to make smaller to fit). With an 80GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth it looks like a great idea until you discover there is no optical drive for CDs or DVDs. Instead it uses something called 'Remote Disc', which lets the Air 'borrow' a drive from any nearby Mac or PC. How that could possibly work I don't know, and I'm sure there would be some form of copyright issue?? You would have to buy a separate SuperDrive. It also gets the multi-touch trackpad from the iPhone and iPod touch allowing the user to zoom, rotate, and scroll with a pinch or swipe of the fingers. It is beautiful for sure. It...

I've heard many arguments about colour. What they mean, what they represent, how they make you feel, how they make you act. All very scientific. All very emotional too. And mostly all very correct. People have a reaction to a colour for many reasons: an emotional connection, a connection to a memory, a connection to something they've seen. And what is the 'colour of the moment'? White. "White!" I hear you cry. Is white not the absence of colour? True, but I would still argue that it is a colour in it's own right. It's popularity could be down to it's cleanliness, it's portrayal of freshness, it's neutral qualities, it's unbiased ability to fit in. 'White-van-men' (and women) have been terrorising roads all over Britain for years. We've had fridges and washing machines in the obligatory white for decades. Apple have now moved on from the hugely successful white ranges of iMacs and iPods. Crown and Dulux paints have whole spre...

The Detroit Motor Show is now under way and it's time for all the manufacturers to pull out all the stops and show how creative they are. There are many nicely crafted concepts on show but what I find personally disappointing is that they never actually see the light of day. It's all very well showing us what might be possible in the future, but what about now? And really, what is the point of showing cars that cannot and will not ever be built? Design is not only about being creative. Surely it's about making the impossible possible. Isn't a key part of designing being able to make something achievable or usable? If I designed a brochure and showed it a customer but then said 'oh but you can't have it, it's not possible to print it and it would be far too expensive' I wouldn't be popular. Don't get me wrong, let the imagination run wild – be creative, but keep it real. Look at the 4x4s that seem to dominate the show (it is the USA afterall...). ...

Great news! Liv Design is off to a flying start for the new year with the news that we have achieved the full emda Quality Assured standard after careful assessment and meeting all the criteria. We have always worked hard to build upon our reputation as one of the most exciting and promising design agencies in Nottingham. This is just one further step to demonstrate to everyone out there how professional and dedicated we our here at Liv We're not focussed on entering design awards every week or getting our name in the design press. It's nice, sure, but we don't design just for ourselves – it's for our clients, pure and simple. As we've always said – we love what we do, and we want you to love it too. This is the real world, with real people, all working really hard.