'the project' by knol 'FUJITSU design award 2011' competition shortlisted entry

‘the project’ networking concept by knol (celine de waal malefijt, jorien kemerink, and sylvie meuffels)

‘the project’ concept networking service provides a virtual workspace for modern creatives and freelancers who collaborate outside of the traditional office structure. designed by netherlands-based studio knol (dutch designers celine de waal malefijt, jorien kemerink, and sylvie meuffels), the concept was shortlisted from over 1000 designs in our recent designboom competition ‘a life with future computing‘, organized in collaboration with FUJITSU.

the networking service allows users to upload a personal profile to search for collaborators. they may also upload, apply for, or be invited to a particular project. when working on a project in a public space, users can access a location-based portal that allows him to connect to others in the same area, ‘lower[ing] the barrier to get in contact in the physical world.‘

each user’s working interface offers functional spaces like a day planner, agenda, project overview, and file manager. team members can rate one another’s input and offer feedback, in a cycle that the designers suggest provides a relatively objective means of determining financial reward for each person’s contribution.

video detailing the concept

the designers explain: ‘[consisting] of an environment where projects are shared, the service provides freelancers with ‘colleagues’, letting them be part of a worldwide working sphere. ‘the project’ is a platform that every ambitious individual can get connected to, housing an enormous and growing number of people and projects.‘

detail view of concept diagram of the networking component

detail view of concept diagram of the workspace environment

concept illustration

— those wishing to republish an excerpt of this article, please have the courtesy to link back to this original article, and to mention that the project was designed for the ‘FUJITSU design award: a life with future computing’ competition, organized by designboom in collaboration with FUJITSU. thank you.