Know anyone who’s in school? The Progressive Automotive X Prize (AXP) launched a new website today that targets K-12 students in the U.S. with information about the vehicles and fuels of the future. It’s called, ta-da, Fuel Our Future Now. Divided into three sections – for elementary, middle school and high school students – the website provides videos, puzzles and interactive labs intended to teach students about energy use in vehicles. Teachers will also be able to get curriculum ideas and support for their classroom. While the site is up and running now, more features will be added in the coming months.

This website is the first of three education program components that the AXP will bring to students along with the actual AXP competition. The other two will be a national high school student competition (something like an essay contest) and a series of student challenges that will take place in the AXP host cities when the competition vehicles roll into town..

Just FYI, there is also a Fuel Our Future website, and out of date site run by the Western States Biofuels Association.

PRESS RELEASE:

U.S. Department of Energy, the X PRIZE Foundation and Discovery Education Create Dynamic Online Destination to Excite Students About Energy Efficiency

www.FuelOurFutureNow.com Engages Students in Science and Math Education Through the Student-Friendly Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Competition

WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwire – February 03, 2009) -

Today, the X PRIZE Foundation, The United States Department of Energy and Discovery Education launched the first phase of an online knowledge center to ignite imaginations and fuel student curiosity in the areas of science and math. The website, www.FuelOurFutureNow.com, was inspired by the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, the goal of which is to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles that offer more consumer choices.

www.FuelOurFutureNow.com serves as an interactive online portal offering stimulating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lessons and resources for students, teachers and families as the unique and engaging Progressive Automotive X PRIZE competition unfolds.

This online knowledge center is just one component of a national education program to encourage young people to pursue careers in energy-efficiency-related sciences and technology, made possible through a $3.5 million USD grant from The U.S. Department of Energy.

“The Department’s collaboration with the Automotive X PRIZE and Discovery Education leverages private sector expertise to educate and engage the public about technologies to transform our transportation sector,” DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary David E. Rodgers said. “Together, we can inspire all Americans — including teachers, students, vehicle designers, and drivers — to join us in designing and operating a new generation of vehicles that save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

As additional resources are added, educators will find the website an empowering resource that engages students about the science of alternative fuels and energy-efficient engineering. Featuring targeted curriculum for all grade levels K-12, as well as high-quality video, virtual laboratories, stimulating interactives and additional resources, teachers can use the online knowledge center to achieve their STEM goals.

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE education program will also showcase the 21st century skills students will need to compete in our new global economy, including creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration.

Once the online knowledge center is complete, it will provide an interactive experience that will allow both students and the general public an opportunity to follow the competing vehicles as they perform during the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE competition and, as a result, learn about key science and technology issues.

“The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is a compelling tool to engage students in STEM education, and we are designing the accompanying curriculum modules to help teachers take full advantage of student’s interest in this exciting race,” said William McDonald, Discovery Education Director of Curriculum.

“Our hope is that this online knowledge center and other components of the education program will encourage students to become change agents — helping to persuade their peers, parents and the public to become more aware of fuel-efficiency, both in the short term and in the future,” explained Mark German, Director of Education Programs for the X PRIZE Foundation.

Visit the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE online knowledge center at www.FuelOurFutureNow.com.

ABOUT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Working with a wide array of state, community, industry, and university partners, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invests in a diverse portfolio of energy technologies. Energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy will mean a stronger economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy independence for America.

For more information about the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy please contact the EERE Information Center at 1-877-EERE-INF (1-877-337-3463) or on the web at www.eere.energy.gov.

ABOUT DISCOVERY EDUCATION

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA) (NASDAQ: DISCB) (NASDAQ: DISCK) revolutionized television with Discovery Channel and is now transforming classrooms through Discovery Education. Powered by the number one nonfiction media company in the world, Discovery Education combines scientifically proven, standards-based digital media and a dynamic user community in order to empower teachers to improve student achievement. Already, more than half of all U.S. schools access Discovery Education digital services. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION:

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private vehicle to space to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation is creating prizes in five areas: Exploration (Space and Underwater), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information on the Foundation, please visit www.xprize.org.

Source: http://green.autoblog.com/2009/02/03/auto-x-prize-doe-launch-fuel-our-future-student-website/

The Challenge

Someone once said, “Practice makes perfect“. While that statement might not be completely true, I do believe that practice makes you better. That is why in this blog post, I would like to propose something to every designer: Why not try to design something every day for one year?

Actors rehearse their lines until they learn them perfectly. Musicians practice their songs until every note is just right. Athletes practice their particular sport so they can excel. As designers, why can’t we do the same? Ask any successful designer in the community about how they have succeeded and they will attribute much of their success to practice. I challenge you today to design something daily. Take fifteen to twenty minutes that you would normally use to surf the Web today and devote it to designing something.

Most of you are probably thinking that I am out of my mind for proposing this. How can you, as a designer working either for a company or for yourself, find the time to design something daily? More importantly, how will I come up with design ideas for a whole year’s worth of projects? Well, to answer those questions, here are some practical tips.

Some Practical Advice

15 – 20 Minutes Daily

This challenge is for you to practice your skills. It doesn’t have to be a final, polished project, so you can limit it to a short period of time. Additionally, you can actually schedule this as part of your daily routine, which will make you more likely to follow through on your decision to design something daily.

And don’t worry or get discouraged if you miss a day due to other more important commitments. The key is to jump back into it as soon as possible. Keep doing it, and try your best to stay consistent. If you don’t find it reasonable to design something daily for a whole year, then you could try instead for one month, or another more manageable time period.

Design Ideas

You’re probably wondering how you will be able to come up with a fresh new design daily for 365 days. Actually, it’s quite simple. You can use a theme for your designs. Maybe for one month you can try to design something retro. For another month, you can try your hand at some typographic posters. The possibilities are endless. A good example is Jessica Hische. She started a project called the Daily Drop Cap, where she designs a drop cap every day and makes her Drop Cap designs available for free download.

Daily Drop Cap is Jessica Hische’s personal project: she designs a drop cap every day and makes her designs available for free download.

Another thing you can do is experiment with different ideas that you have. Maybe you’ve been thinking about doing a collage effect, for example. You might have an idea that you’ve been wanting to try, so this might be the perfect time for it. You can also use this “practice time” to try out different tutorials that have caught your attention.

Be Accountable

Some of us will have a hard time staying motivated during such a lengthy commitment. One way to stay motivated is to create a blog specifically for tracking the project’s progress during the year, and post the results daily. People will be expecting to see something from us and this will keep us motivated.

This method of blogging daily for one year has recently been popularized in the mainstream movie Julie and Julia, which follows American author Julie Powell’s year-long attempt to cook every recipe from a famous cookbook by Julia Child, while blogging about the experience each day. In Powell’s experience, her accountability was part of what kept her motivated for the 365 days.

Another way to stay accountable and keep motivated is to get a fellow designer to do the challenge with you. During the year, you can show each other what you’ve designed each day, allowing for some healthy, friendly competition.

It’s Been Done Before

As mentioned, the concept of blogging daily for a full year has been done before in a variety of contexts. It’s also been done successfully by a lot of great designers. Here are some designers that I have asked about designing something daily.

Stefan G. Bucher – The Daily Monster

Daily Monsters Website

How long did you design / have you been designing daily?
I filmed myself drawing Daily Monsters for 100 days straight (including weekends and holidays). I capped it at 100 days since I also started animating the Monsters in more and more elaborate ways as the project grew. Since then I’ve done month-long bursts of Daily Monsters, and also documented the making of the book 100 Days of Monsters as a daily process. These days I usually do Monsters with lots of animation for special events or occasions.

What are some challenges associated with designing daily?
The main challenge for me is integrating a daily practice with the demands of my regular work, and my occasional attempts at having a social life. There are just so many hours in the day, and it becomes a nerdy endurance challenge. The process itself is great, though. The real challenge is to not block out everything else.

Can you give me at least 5 benefits of partaking in this daily project?

1. I got to draw every day again after almost stopping entirely for a few years.
2. I’m getting better at creating characters every day.
3. I’m teaching myself how to animate in the process.
4. When I release the Daily Monsters daily it quickly attracts a great, active, and creative audience of kind, amazing people.
5. Doing something every day short-circuits procrastination and self-doubt. There’s only time for doing, and doing = happiness.

Where do you get ideas for your daily designs?
The Monsters are a process. As long as I sit myself down and do the work, I don’t have to worry about ideas; they simply appear. That’s the best part. You’d think I’d have learned that lesson now, but I still fall out of the habit, and get right back into my head. “What am I going to draw? Is this any good? What’ll I do next?” When you’re committed to putting something out there every day, you just don’t have the luxury of doubt. And if something comes out a little wonky, well… you know you can redeem yourself the next day.

Any advice for anyone who wants to get started doing this?
Don’t think about it. Don’t plan for it. If I had thought about how much work the Daily Monsters would be, I’d have never started. If you get an idea for something, just sit down and start doing it. Also, you might consider not telling anybody about your daily project until you’re a few days or weeks into it. Commit to it, but allow yourself some privacy to work out the early kinks. Most importantly: Make sure you don’t ever skip a day. If you know you’re going out of town, or if you feel a cold coming on, create a few posts in advance. You mustn’t skip a day. As soon as you’ve skipped one day, it becomes so much easier to skip the second. And then you’re screwed. But here’s the thing: You won’t want to skip. Doing the Daily Monsters was completely addictive. I got to be proud of something I’d done every single day.

Matt Lyon

Make Something Cool Everyday Flickr Group

How long did you design / have you been designing daily?
I’ve been designing on a strictly daily basis since January 1st this year… It was one of my New Year’s resolutions.

What are some challenges associated with designing daily?

Most of the challenges centre upon either time or inspiration, but it’s these challenges that form the reason for doing daily work alongside other commitments.

Can you give me at least 5 benefits of partaking in this daily project?
I’ve discovered plenty of benefits over the year, but I think that these have been the most valuable:

1. Keeping the creative juices flowing
2. Working in different ways as a means to overcome potential obstacles (e.g. creating a piece of work with limited materials or within a strict time limit)
3. Daily work inevitably improves your skills / craft, be it in terms of drawing, using creative software, etc.
4. Daily work creates its own momentum in terms of recurring themes, directions and ideas, that will feed into other work.
5. The process instills and supports a sense of discipline to work.
6. Allows for experimentation and unadulterated freedom to try anything out.

Where do you get ideas for your daily designs?

All of my work evolves from drawing, and for a while many of the themes and ideas in what I create have generated over time through the process of just letting things happen. Simply put, I take a line for a walk and see what happens, be it in response to something I’ve read, heard, or am just feeling. There are no rules – this is my time to do what I want.

Any advice for anyone who wants to get started doing this?
I would recommend anyone and everyone with an interest in image-making to take up the challenge of creating something every day. My ‘drawing a day’ project has been so rewarding to me this year that I’ll be continuing it come 2010. Illustrators or character designers should keep a daily sketchbook to keep their ideas fresh… Alternatively, taking a photograph a day can prove just as valuable for others. Perhaps graphic designers or typographers could do a ‘layout a day’ project?! Who knows?! The sky’s the limit!

Joshua Wysocki – Wysocki Weekday

Wysocki Weekday

How long did you design / or have been designing daily?
I started doing those dailies since November 25, 2007 — so over 2 years now.

What are some challenges associated with designing daily?
The biggest is trying to keep at it on a normal pace. You probably noticed how I have missed a lot of days so far. Working a 10+ hour day-job wears me out and my brain can’t handle holding the pencil in my hand.

Can you give me at least 5 benefits of partaking in this daily project?

Benefits? Are there any? Maybe it’s the thought of continuing a project. Training yourself to be expressive and challenge yourself creatively. Making new friends and communicating with fellow artists. And hopefully eventually making some money from selling zines/books.

Any advice for anyone who wants to get started doing this?
Just jump into it and doodle a small event that happened to you that day… from something as small as stepping into a puddle of mud, or watching your favorite TV show.

Brock Davis

Make Something Cool Every Day 2009

How long did you design / have you been designing daily?
In my job I think of ideas every day, but this project for 2009 is the first time I put to task
making a new piece of art every single day for a year.

What are some challenges associated with designing daily?
Coming up with ideas I feel are original. I always strive for originality — it is almost impossible to attain
but the effort often conjures interesting results. Another challenge is simply finding the time to do it.
I have a full-time job in a creative field, so I have to separate my professional ideas from my personal
ideas. I have a family as well, so I tend to work late and think when my children are in bed.

Can you give me at least 5 benefits of partaking in this daily project?

1. Keeps my brain fresh.
2. Helps me identify my strengths, weaknesses and consistencies.
3. Creatively challenging, and I love a challenge.
4. Improves my ability to hone in on an idea and learn to execute it quickly as well as meticulously.
5. Shows me creative sides to myself that i didn’t know I had.
6. An interesting way to visually calendar my year; I can look at a piece and think more clearly about what was going on that day.

Where do you get ideas for your daily designs?
From everything. I try to absorb as much from every day life as i can. Also, memories from childhood, pop culture, observations of how the world is always changing in all aspects (socially, technologically, economically, etc.).

Any advice for anyone who wants to get started doing this?
Have fun and always be a student. No one can know everything, it’s better to absorb and learn all the time. Then apply that to your work and let it influence you to reshape it into something original.

Then I thought there must be a less humiliating way to ring in the new year.

So, instead of a vision board, I decided to simply write a good old fashioned list of New Year’s resolutions.

1. Keep your workspace clean

This should be easy. The definition of a clean workspace is different for everyone. Some people like everything on their desk to be at 90-degree angles. Some people would rather just have “a place for everything.” Regardless of how you like to keep your workspace, there’s no doubt that being organized in some way is beneficial.

So get rid of all the Twinkie wrappers you’ve been hiding in your desk drawers, shake out all the Hot Pockets crumbs in your keyboard, and then take some industrial-strength solvents and wipe down your workspace. You’ll feel refreshed and ready for the next year at work.

But the trick is, you have to keep it clean throughout the year.

2. Get some exercise

This one seems to always slip by me year after year – but it’s important to keep fit. Exercise has been shown to elevate endorphins (which I assume is a good thing) and increase brain function (which is essential for creativity).

If you put those two facts together, you’ll inevitably come to the conclusion that physical exercise is good for creativity.

Besides, sitting in front of a computer or at your desk the whole day is just plain terrible for your health (see: mirror).

Join a gym, find a jogging partner, walk the dog, or play some stickball – whatever keeps you active and away from the computer for an hour or two a day.

For the upcoming year, aim at designing your body into a beautiful and well-chiseled work of art. Wait… what? I can’t believe I just said that. Whatever. Let’s move past it.

3. Live beyond your workspace

Please stand up and examine your work chair. Does the seat cushion have a perfect imprint of your behind?

Don’t answer that. Just get out there. Do something out of the ordinary in this upcoming year. Gain some new experiences. It’s easy to get stuck in front of the computer monitor and forget that there’s a whole world that exists beyond your desk.

You must actively seek out new adventures and new experiences because you will not find them while sitting on your chair (World of Warcraft does not count).

As long as your new chosen activity doesn’t involve traumatic blows to the head or non-stop consumption of alcoholic beverages and hallucinogens, you will surely gain some new tools to put in your creative arsenal. But, such activities did work for Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac, so maybe…

The bottom line is that you have to live beyond your desk and take your experiences into your designs; that’s the only way you’ll grow as a designer.

4. Don’t be scared of the dark side, take more risks

Taking risks is all a part of a designer’s job. Granted, design is a profession with a history and many traditions for many people so it’s understandable that some designers may find it hard to take bigger risks, or even convince clients to take bigger risks when formulating a new design. That’s because great design is design that stays.

However, it must be said that great design is also design that is fresh – and fresh is risky. We can even argue that taking risks is one of the biggest traditions of the design industry. Sure, the rules are comforting because they’ve been shown to work in the past, but that’s exactly where you’ll stay if you always choose the path of “righteousness.”

Don’t be scared of the dark side. Take more risks. If Darth Vader didn’t move to the dark side, we wouldn’t have the original Star Wars!

5. Work on stuff outside your comfort zone

Work on a design that you never thought you’d do. Take on a project that you don’t think would fit your “style” and adapt to the situation. Not only is this good for adding variety to your portfolio, but it’ll also give you a chance to test your limits as a designer and see what you’re truly capable of. Maybe you can even reinvent yourself in the process.

6. Read more

Working in digital media can be really great. It can also make you forget that there is other media out there. Did you know that they still print newspapers? On real paper… even when there are sites like this! Shocking, I know.

Visit your local bookstore and browse the Design section. Or if leaving your computer is too much of stretch at the moment, you can order books off the internet and wait a couple of days (just in time for the new year).

Regardless of how you choose to add to your library, the fact is there’s always something interesting coming out in print and other traditional media that you can definitely take advantage of. Make a resolution to pick up and read more good old fashion books in 2010.

7. Make time for personal design projects

Personal design projects are a great way to boost creativity and get out of a rut. Not only will personal projects enrich your portfolio with new self-initiated work, you’ll also keep the Boring Monster at bay by periodically focusing on your passions and reminding yourself of why you got into this business in the first place.

It’s easy to neglect projects that are for ourselves; the paid jobs always come first because we all have to eat. But personal design projects have many benefits that, in the long run, will result in better quality work (which in turn, equates to higher-paying projects – it’s simple arithmetic).

Commit to at least one personal design project next year, even if it takes the entire year to finish.

8. Network and connect with people (it’s part of the job)

You don’t have to act like a high-priced escort at a company picnic to get paid like one.

However, surely this new year will bring new gallery openings, art exhibits, conferences and other gatherings pertaining to your life as a designer, and you mustn’t let these prime networking opportunities pass you by.

You have to demonstrate your value to prospective clients. So look through your portfolio and think about your work and how to best talk about what you can do.

Networking with prospective clients is not unlike talking to someone you find attractive at a party or a bar. You talk about yourself, you listen to the other person’s needs, you make yourself attractive to them, and then you ask for their phone number or you leave them yours.  Pretty soon you’ll find yourself in meetings with new people you never thought you could get.

9. Get some business cards made

Of course, you can’t network properly if you don’t have the right tools. If you don’t already have business cards tucked in your jacket pocket/back slot of your Moleskine, or if your business cards are out of date, break out some card stock and design and print them yourself before you even step out tonight. It’s not that hard.

Business cards are like grown up trading cards. It has your name on it, your position/title, and a bunch of numbers and information about yourself, not unlike the trading cards you used to collect as kids. They’re also like mini promotional flyers that people actually keep instead of using them for to fold paper airplanes. Although there’s this thing, which, given that last sentence, is very ironic.

10. Work smarter

You know what works for you. And you know what wastes your time when you’re working. Focus on the things that work.

We have to distinguish busy work from important work. Busy work is work just for the sake of working. Important work is the things that we have to accomplish in order to get our work done.

Do you really need that 2-hour conference call with the main agenda being a discussion about whether to use #FFF799 versus #FFF568 on the masthead of a web layout? Do you really need to check your emails and respond to them every hour? Do you really need to calibrate your monitor three times a day?

Being a designer means that your time and energy is a valuable resource. The more time you spend on things that don’t matter, the less time (and energy) you have on doing what you do best: designing and creating creative solutions.

For the New Year, identify busy work, and then do something about them.

11. Use the internet to make your life easier, not harder

Twitter and RSS feeds are great tools for designers to raise their online profile. They’re also crucial in order to stay ahead of the curve and be up to date with events, new techniques, and emerging trends.

However, with so many people to follow and RSS feeds to subscribe to, sometimes it can get a little messy. By the end of the year, I’m almost certain that your RSS feed reader must be working overtime because of the number of feeds that you managed to acquire throughout the year.

Devote some time early in the New Year to trim the fat and organize your internet stuff. Unsubscribe to RSS feeds that you don’t really need or read regularly. Do the same with trivial email newsletters that clutter your inbox every day at 6:30am in the morning (Amazon.com and Newegg, I’m talking to you). Close internet accounts that aren’t essential or are redundant (goodbye Plurk and Hotmail), and reduce your “Web 2.0″ website usage to the bare minimum.

Doing this not only diminishes the amount of things that you have to keep up with, but will also have the effect of you having more time to devote to stuff that matter more to you as a designer.

12. Work with more clients you actually like

In the upcoming year, commit to stop working with clients that only raise your stress levels or waste your valuable time. Waste is a thief. If all you hear from your client is a constant stream of criticism and demands for adjustments, then most likely, it means they don’t trust you to do your job well. And most likely, they won’t be great references in the future, anyway.

Focus on clients that you enjoy working with. If you wake up every morning, fearing to see another email from one of your clients – that’s a sign that you should wrap up the current project, and move on. It may mean a pay cut. It may mean that you got to go out there and network and hunt for jobs harder. But in the long run, it’ll be better for your career (and your blood pressure… you can’t design things when you keel over and die of cardiac arrest).

Some parting words

Do no try to resolve yourself to doing the things on this list. Trying is for those who do things with the intention of allowing failure. And if 2010 really is your year, then failure is not an option, is it? So let’s all follow that old shoe maker’s motto and “just do it.”

Happy New Year to everyone!

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Share them with us in the comment’s section below.