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DM: I wanted to clear one thing up, before I go on. IDFuel is totally continuing :) Two weeks off with no posts is quite a while after 5 posts per week for 1.5 years, but Now I'm back in it. They may not be quite as constant, since I'm studenting it up, but I can't let my baby go yet :)

ML: That was sudden, or was it? Have you been planning this all along?

DM: Well, a little of both, I guess. I've always been interested in higher-level design ideas -- future looking, systems level, society changing -- the kinds of things grad students work on :) I'm also keen on teaching, and I knew that a masters degree would help me to do that. So, a year or so ago, I decided that a higher-degree was the thing for me. Interestingly, that was very soon after I started IDFuel, and I think the site had some major influence on my decision. But really, I didn't find out about being accepted until recently, so it's sort of planned, sort of sudden for me.

ML: What will the new degree help you do?

DM: I said before that I want to teach, and that's a part of why I'm going for the degree. But I also think that the design world is poised for a serious change, especially in North America and Europe. This change will be brought to bear in response to a combination of energy issues, a shift in the world economy, and an increase of traditional design being completed onsite in no-longer-third-world countries. So A major part of my exploration for the next two years is to re-define myself to be valuable in this new design world. Because workin is pretty nice :)

ML: How is this new endeavour tied to what you did with IDFuel?

DM: I think it was definitely inspired by some of the early IDFuel stories -- Peak oil, China's emergence in the world market -- that made me think about what it meant to be a designer, and how outsourcing, which was affecting so many of my tech friends, might affect me. But also, when I actually applied to the UArts grad program, one of the teachers there loved the IDFuel thing, and we actually worked together for a while getting a student blog set up, which I think really helped my acceptance into the program

ML: That's quite an oeuvre you've got there, five essays a week makes for a lot of writing. Where did you get the inspiration to write all that?

DM: I'm actually a mechanical engineer, by undergrad training, but for a guy who's supposed to crunch numbers, I'm not very good at it. What I did find I was good at in engineering, was pulling together rules, data, and solutions to other problems, and seeing the connections between them. That helped me in engineering to solve problems with no real set solution scheme, and it's why I like design so much. The whole world is your inspiration. Basically, everything you can find -- plant, animal, architecture, car wreck on the side of the road -- has a kernel of design understanding in it. The writing itself takes huge amounts of time (In fact, I've been purposely sleeping since I moved, because I was down to about 4 hours per night in the last few months). But the idea of being inspired by everything is what I strive for, and what I wanted the site to be about.

ML: What have been the highlights of IDFuel for you?

DM: It's been really amazing to meet other bloggers and become connected to an entire online world. I never really imagined that that would happen before I started this, and it's been really fun and exciting. When I went to Milan this past Spring, I met people from Italy, Sweden, and Germany who had all read the site. That blew my mind.

ML: And the low points (if any)?

DM: Well, there are nitpicky things like dealing with comment spam and stuff. And one of our contests completely bombed: I think that the only entry was by one of my friends, and was written on a napkin. But I can't complain. It's all been more than worth it, just knowing that it's being read and thought about. We've had comments from people at Big design firms, small design firms, and even people in government.

ML: What are your three favorite posting/essays and why?

DM: Hmmm. I think the posts I love the most are the ones that really teach me something I had no intention of learning when I sat down at the computer. Lots were like that, but I'd say these are the best:

Oh Rulers Of The World
I was having a conversation with a friend who said she felt so helpless against the government, etc. That made me think, geez, we're totally not helpless. In fact, I'm probably one of the most influential 10% of the entire world. And I'm not alone. The more I read and researched, the more it seemed to me that in our capitalist system, we, the designers, and people reading online, and people making decisions about how things get made and built and spent. We rule. Not like kings or anything, but it's really us pulling most of the strings. That was pretty amazing to think of.

Diatoms and Modernism
I love biology. I don't think I could have been a research scientist, because they don't build enough (my dad is, and the summer jobs I spent plating out petri dishes of mutant onions killed the buzz). But I do love all the little adaptations that animals have come up with over the millions of years. That a diatom smaller than you can see builds such a perfect home out of glass. And does it, not by melting, but by coaxing the silica molecules into place with proteins on it's skin... How could you not want to just look at those for the rest of your life?

The Beginnings are always Small
I think I had just come back from toy fair, or some other toy show, and I was feeling kind of dumpy because of the general junkyness and obvious foisting going on to kids all over the world. But I found this story though the blog of a friend and it really got me re-excited. I like the idea of having that much purpose: to single-handedly re-forest a county. I hope I can be that passionate someday.

ML: What has IDFuel allowed you to do, that you would not have done, had it not existed?

DM: The talking with people I mentioned before has been great, and I've been able to get press passes to some pretty cool events, which is also neat. But I really love the interviewing, which I've fallen out of for a while, but plan to get back into. I love being able to call somebody up, or E-Mail them, and say "Tell me how you've been so successful. Tell me your secrets." And they do it! And unlike industrial espionage, you don't have to worry about your job afterwards :)

ML: Has the world of design changed perceptibly in the time since you began IDFuel?

DM: It's pretty hard for me to separate what the design world was really like, and what I thought it was like, now that I'm so much more connected, and attentive to it, specifically. But I do think that sustainability issues, at least in Europe and Japan, have risen to the top more. I read a survey of European (or British?) schoolchildren recently, and when asked that was the most dangerous thing in the world, they answered "global warming" and "energy shortages" before "terrorism". Not that any of those are good things to have children living in fear of, but I think it reflects a trend toward greater understanding of a new global playing field for designers. We are going to have to start considering more influences like energy cost and type, production methods and countries of origin, and waste stream usage as designers put together our visions of future products.

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