Design

Mister Cartoon eyeballed a blank spot on the giant graffiti mural and rattled his can of spray paint. An aerosol hiss filled the air. With a few fluid swipes of his beefy arm, an image began to take shape: a cluster of storm clouds massing above a Windex blue hot rod. "If I knew the cops were coming to bust me, I could probably finish this whole thing in an hour," the street artist joked.

When the next-generation Toyota Prius hits dealer showrooms in late May, it will come with a bigger engine, better fuel economy and solar-powered cabin cooling. What it won't have is the innovative "fuel bladder" that has served as the Prius' gas tank since the Japanese-built hybrid first landed on these shores almost nine years ago.

What will new homes look like after this recession, which has brought construction nearly to a halt? Consumers who have learned the bitter lessons about declining home values, burdensome debt and ephemeral retirement savings values may well demand houses different from the ones that dot our recently built neighborhoods. History hints that this downturn could change our tastes.

From the earliest stages of the design process, architects for a new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown have been torn between two very different goals: giving the building a meaningful civic presence and keeping it safe from potential attack. Architects Paul Danna and Jose Palacios have been determined all along to make a case that the LAPD -- dramatically enlarged and haltingly reformed by its outgoing chief, William J. Bratton -- belongs literally and symbolically in the heart of the civic center.

What distinguishes truly innovative businesses? Over the years, we have been told that innovative companies master the art of knowledge management; focus on their core competencies; get close to and listen to customers; have a long-term strategy for innovation and invest in the future; or are superior in identifying disruptive technologies. Now, in "The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage" comes a new idea, or what purports to be one. Roger L. Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, argues that the key to success is design, or what he calls "design thinking."

Richard Whitcomb, a mechanical engineer who changed the way we fly today with three design innovations that made airplanes fly farther and faster using less fuel, has died. He was 88. Whitcomb died of pneumonia Tuesday in Newport News, Va. His contributions, for which he won the most prestigious prize in aviation, focused on a plane's efficiency cutting through air at speeds approaching the sound barrier, or the "transonic region." As airplanes approach the speed of sound, they encounter a significant increase in drag, or force that resists the plane's movement through the air. Whitcomb made improvements to wings and how they attach to the fuselage to lessen the amount of drag on an airplane.

It has been nearly impossible for anyone traveling L.A. streets or reading this newspaper to avoid seeing ads for this Sunday's season premiere of Showtime's "Dexter." Many of the ads show Michael C. Hall, the actor who plays Dexter Morgan, sporting his trademark demonic grin, while holding a cherubic baby. Both baby and serial killer are spattered with red liquid, the "joke" being that it isn't clear whether the liquid is juice or blood. For fans of such "humor," Jeff Lindsay's new novel "Dexter by Design" will surely be an enjoyable cup of congealed and gory tea. For others, this book is about pleasant as a sewer swim, and just about as socially rewarding.

Barbra Streisand, a well-educated student of antiques and vintage decorative arts, has finally declared a major: "Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love," she says. Think of it as a stylistic downsizing. Because her current three-house compound in Malibu is devoted to these particular genres, Streisand is auctioning nearly 500 items from other periods and styles -- Louis XV and XVI, Georgian, Art Nouveau, Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright and Art Deco -- that once furnished homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Manhattan but have long been in storage.

Though he is still crawling, 9-month-old Thurston Conder takes about 10 seconds to have the run of the house. It's not that he's exceptionally fast; he just doesn't have that far to roam. Thurston shares 380 square feet with his mom and dad, Kelly Breslin and Ryan Conder, and a medium-sized mutt named Charlie. Lots of young families start out in small houses, just not this small. These parents say it's their preference, and that the small space hasn't cramped their style. It's arranged for maximum efficiency, but it still looks comfortable and fashionably decorated.

Nostalgic for cassette tapes but love the convenience of iPods? Now you can have them both in one product. A pair of Canadian designers are recycling cassette tapes into iPod cases. Called the 45nano, it appears to be a normal, unrecorded cassette on one side. But flip it over and you'll find a hollowed-out area that fits the latest iPod Nano. The designers -- Nathan Lee and Trevor Coghill of Contexture Design -- also put in some cushioning foam and a plastic sleeve to protect the Nano, while still making it possible to work the touch-wheel.