April 19, 2013
Katherine Kuchenbecker: The technology of touch
Katherine Kuchenbecker works on incorporating the sense of touch directly into virtual objects. Imagine being able to feel textures on your digital screens.
(via ted)
April 12, 2013
Site of the day: Serendipitous poetry from the New York Times
New York Times launched 'Times Haiku' Tumblr that makes poetry out of front page articles. Haikus are generated from sentences on the NYT's homepage by matching words up against a dictionary that helpfully includes syllable count. Then, selections published to the blog are curated by humans.
www.haiku.nytimes.com
April 9, 2013
April 6, 2013
Alpha Beauties
Alpha Beauties, by Nazareno Crea, is a series of 45 retouched paintings from the history of western art, which in their period represented the female beauty canons, each artwork has been retouched and “updated” according to nowadays beauty standards.
View here.
March 27, 2013
March 26, 2013
March 21, 2013
Fatescapes: Iconic photographs without the human element
Czech photographer Pavel Maria Smejkal uses iconic photographs through the human history without the human element, leaving but empty landscape behind. Visit his website here.
March 1, 2013
7 Of The Biggest Lies In Graphic Design
"Popular Lies About Graphic Design" is a pocket-sized book by Craig Ward where Ward's famous designer friends respond to the question: What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever been told about design?
1. LONGER DEADLINES WILL LEAD TO BETTER WORK.
--Craig Ward
My experience may be unique. But for my money, you rarely need more than a few weeks for most still image projects. Obviously, if you’re attempting something more ambitious, or time related, then you may need longer, but, really, three or four rounds of amends over the course of a couple of weeks is usually ample. Much more and you can end up wasting your time chasing unworkable ideas or losing focus, much less and you may feel under too much pressure to deliver and that, in itself can be equally stifling.
2. THERE’S NO BUDGET, BUT IT’S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.
--Craig Ward
And that would be an opportunity for what exactly?
If you go your entire career without receiving this kind of a proposition, you’re doing either extremely well or extremely badly depending on your mindset. The idea that it’s okay for you to spend days of your time creating work for world-renowned clients who aren’t paying you a decent wage is pretty shameful--yet often unavoidable. Unless you set your stall out very early on and stick to your guns.
3. YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.
--David Carson
If the designer has done their job, you should absolutely be able to do this.
4. THE COMPUTER IS JUST A TOOL.
--Stefan Sagmeister
It is not. You are the tool.
5. STAY SMALL.
--Willy Wong
“Stay small” was a piece of advice I heard quite often when I began my career. Smaller studios and a small circle of clients--I was told--meant more control and thus (work of a) higher quality. In fact, go solo if you could.
Nowadays, I find that nothing happens in a silo and that everything is connected. If you’ve got sharp kerning skills, good intentions, and the ingenuity to spin gold out of thin air, why not add solid management skills to your belt and be able to kill it at scale? The world seems to need designers more than ever. What’s wrong with being part of a group, playing in a team, forming a league, building a community. Not everyone has the capacity to manage process, budgets, expectations, or personalities, but if you got ‘em, why not go for it? Balls out!
6. “WE DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.”
--Craig Redman
It’s that whole tiresome act of the client pleading poor and screwing you down to the dollar. Then you find out later they paid a million bucks for some other component of the project.
7. PEOPLE WILL WANT TO BUY YOUR PIN, BADGES, AND T-SHIRT.
--Craig Ward
They probably won’t. Sorry.
Remember that even these so-called lies should be taken with a grain of salt; design is subjective, and you’re entitled to your own bloody opinions. As Ward writes in his introduction, "This is not a book full of facts. Nor is it a book full of advice. It’s a book full of opinions, and confusion between those three is how a lot of these problems begin." In other words, don’t feel you need to take other people’s espoused opinions as facts.
February 26, 2013
The me bird
A free interpretation of the homonym poem by Pablo Neruda in the strata stencil technique by Brazilian multidisciplinary studio 18bis.
February 16, 2013
February 11, 2013
February 7, 2013
January 31, 2013
R Stevie Moore: I am a genius (and there's nothing I can do about it)
Watch a full length film about R Stevie Moore, filmed in Nashville, and with a specially composed score.
French artist and film maker Arnaud Maguet (along with French group Hifiklub) has filmed a documentary on prolific lo-fi legend R Stevie Moore. The film, titled I Am A Genius (And There's Nothing I Can Do About It), he describes as "a movie about some situations with R Stevie Moore".
I Am A Genius (And There's Nothing I Can Do About It) is released on DVD this month, along with a 7" EP containing four tracks, pressed in an edition of 300.
(via the wire)
January 25, 2013
January 21, 2013
Papercraft Stop-Motion Music Video for Shugo Tokumaru
The lastest stop motion music video from animation duo Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski.
(via pitchfork.tv)
January 19, 2013
Interactive Documentary: Bear 71
>> http://bear71.nfb.ca/#/bear71
Bear 71 is a 20 minute interactive National Film Board of Canada (NFB) web documentary by Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes about a grizzly bear in Banff National Park, who was collared at the age of three and was watched her whole life via trail cameras in the park.
January 15, 2013
Site of the day: The Big Internet Museum
The Big Internet Museum, created by ad agency TBWA\NEBOKO and developed by digital production agency MediaMonks documents key innovations and trends online since the 1970s.
January 3, 2013
Site of the day: Google's small arms and ammunition interactive visualization
Data visualization produced by Google as part of the Google Ideas INFO. It includes >1 million individual import and export data points from annual custom reports and maps the transfer of small arms, light weapons and ammunition across 250 nation states and territories around the world between 1992 and 2010.
December 21, 2012
Connecting: A documentary on interactive design
"The 18 minute "Connecting" documentary is an exploration of the future of Interaction Design and User Experience from some of the industry's thought leaders. As the role of software is catapulting forward, Interaction Design is seen to be not only increasing in importance dramatically, but also expected to play a leading role in shaping the coming "Internet of things." Ultimately, when the digital and physical worlds become one, humans along with technology are potentially on the path to becoming a "super organism" capable of influencing and enabling a broad spectrum of new behaviors in the world."
December 16, 2012
Anthony Kiedis and Ed Ruscha on Creativity and Los Angeles
Art and music intersect as Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis and artist Ed Ruscha talk language, creativity and the magic of Los Angeles.
(via good)
December 14, 2012
Interactive video: Maurice Lévy's Digital Wishes for 2013
Each year since 2010 Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Lévy has created an end of year greeting clip to send to staff and clients. But this year it’s different, they created an interactive YouTube Channel for the clip.
When you skip forward / back, change the volume, quality, pause the clip, or even switch to full screen there’s a surprise!
Interact with a similar You Tube "hack" by Tipp-Ex.
(thx aki)
December 11, 2012
Luminaris by Juan Pablo Zaramella
"Luminaris" by argentinian director Juan Pablo Zaramella is a “live action” stop-motion, in which real actors are animated frame by frame; a form of animation called pixilation.
It is the story of a man living in a world controlled by light. Each morning, the inhabitants of that world are woken up and pulled to their jobs by the sunlight, as if by a magnetic force. Our protagonist works in a factory making electric light bulbs, but has larger ambitions of his own.
(thx milio)
December 7, 2012
Site of the day: Google Poetics
 |
Google writes poetry on subjects that people are truly interested in!
View more on googlepoetics.com.
November 21, 2012
"Tependris Rising" animated short by Konstantin Kakanias
The animated short film TEPENDRIS RISING catches up with artist Konstantin Kakanias' iconic, fashion-obsessed character Mrs. Tependris. Created and illustrated by Kakanias, the film was brought to life by Co Films and the directing duo The Pain.
The short finds Mrs. Tependris on one of her famous retreats - cryogenically frozen for chic posterity - when inspiration comes calling: it's time for a fashion comeback. With her assistant Pearl, her dog Pepe, and her sly sense of humor, Mrs. Tependris must face 20-foot spiders and catwalk catastrophe on her fabulous journey from ice-cube to icon.
(via we heart)
November 17, 2012
Cambodian Trees: Digital projection work Clement Briend
Cambodian Trees is a digital projection work by French artist Clement Briend who traveled to Cambodia to photograph these sculptural representations of deities and spirits from Cambodian culture overlaid on trees in several urban areas. Of the series Briend says:
It’s a beautiful surprise when the projected spirits awaken and reveal themselves at night as though they are made of the towering trees themselves. The photographic light installations echo the spirituality of the few sprouts of nature in the predominantly urban landscapes. It is a visual imagining of the divine figures that inhabit the world, as seen through an environmentally aware spiritual eye.
(via colossal)
November 12, 2012
November 7, 2012
How the cover of New York Magazine after Sandy was shot
“It was the only way to show that New York was two cities, almost,” Iwan Baan said on the phone Sunday evening from Haiti. “One was almost like a third world country where everything was becoming scarce. Everything was complicated. And then another was a completely vibrant, alive New York.”
Baan made the image Wednesday night after the storm, using the new Canon 1D X with the new 24-70mm lens on full open aperture. The camera was set at 25,000 ISO, with a 1/40th of a second shutter speed.
[...]
“[It was] the kind of shot which was impossible to take before this camera was there,” Baan said.
“[It was] the kind of shot which was impossible to take before this camera was there,” Baan said.
It was more difficult to rent a car than a helicopter in New York the day after Sandy, Baan said. And because there was such limited air traffic so soon after the storm, air traffic control allowed Baan and the helicopter to hover very high above the city, a powerful advantage for the photo.
[...]
“With these aerials you shoot a lot, bursts of images, to finally pick one out there which is sharp,” Baan said. “It’s difficult if it’s freezing outside, you don’t have a door, helicopter is moving and vibrating, etc., but you really work towards an idea, visualization of that image which you have in mind.”
Read the whole article on Poynter.
[...]
“With these aerials you shoot a lot, bursts of images, to finally pick one out there which is sharp,” Baan said. “It’s difficult if it’s freezing outside, you don’t have a door, helicopter is moving and vibrating, etc., but you really work towards an idea, visualization of that image which you have in mind.”
Read the whole article on Poynter.
November 2, 2012
Francesco Franchi: On Visual Storytelling and New Languages in Journalism
Francesco Franchi is the art director for IL-Intelligence in Lifestyle, the monthly magazine of Il Sole 24 ORE, Italy’s leading financial daily. Franchi is a master of combining representation and interpretation, creating a visual form that is as graphic as it is narrative, as entertaining as it is informative.
(via gestalten.tv)
October 29, 2012
Massimo Vignelli Interview on Eye Magazine
‘We are systematic, logical and objective – not trendy. Trends kill the soul of design. Modernism took out all the junk, and postmodernism put it all back in.’
‘Quality is when you solve all of the problems that you have to solve in a way that is beyond the expected. So it is the sum of many things, and the answer to many searches. Quality is a by-product of passion, curiosity, intensity and professionalism.’
‘I say all the time, particularly to young designers who seem to be always affected by things they have seen: when you have a design to do, don’t look outside. Learn to look inside the problem, because you will find the solution is right there waiting for you to get it out. Your style comes by refining your way of looking inside, not by importing it.’
Massimo Vignelli has worked in a wide variety of areas, including interior design, environmental design, package design, graphic design, furniture design, and product design. His clients at Vignelli Associates have included high-profile companies such as IBM, Knoll, Bloomingdale's and American Airlines.
You can read his whole interview here.
October 24, 2012
Jeff Frost: Flawed Symmetry of Prediction
"As the shadow of night falls across the American West a lone man begins his work. Far from the confines, calamity, and culture of society, multimedia artist and storyteller Jeff Frost sifts through the visual dregs of places and people who once were.
Combining still and time-lapse photography with motion, music, and art, Frost reveals a world rarely seen. Rooted in science and the exploration of space, Frost’s work explodes with light, fire, and sound, utilizing 2D and 3D perspective, leading the viewer on a unique visual journey through worlds both real and imagined."
Daniel Milnor
October 17, 2012
Site of the day: Conflict History
 |
Conflict History, developed by TecToys,
summarizes all major human conflicts onto a single world map - from the
historical wars way before the birth of Christ, until the drone attacks
in Pakistan that are still happening today. The whole interactive map
is build upon data retrieved from Google and Freebase open data
services.
(via infosthetics)
October 15, 2012
October 8, 2012
Stop/Watch: another perspective
Dutch illustrator Tineke Meirink provides a different perspective of daily images via her blog Stop : Watch. View more images after the jump.
October 5, 2012
CLOUD: An interactive cloud made of lightbulbs
CLOUD is an interactive installation by artist Caitlind r.c. Brown. The piece is comprised of 1,000 working lightbulbs on pullchains and an additional 5,000 burnt out lights donated by the public. Visitors to the installation could pull the chains causing the cloud to sort of shimmer and flicker.
September 28, 2012
September 21, 2012
Emmy nominations for title sequence design
The 2012 Emmy nominations for Outstanding Main Title Design have just been announced. Have a look here.
September 18, 2012
September 12, 2012
September 8, 2012
The mosaic man
For over thirty years, Jim Power a.k.a. Mosaic Man (mosaicmannyc.etsy.com) has been transforming the Lower East Side of Manhattan with mosaics, one lamppost at a time. Read the full Etsy blog post: etsy.me/mosaicmanetsy.
September 5, 2012
September 3, 2012
Wikipedia Rebranding
Wikipedia Redefined is the project of creative agency New!. In their own words:
Wikipedia is one of our favorite sources of accumulated knowledge, hats off to Jimmy Wales. But from the user's and designer's point of view it still has room to improve. That's why we decided to spend two spring months on this project, looking for the ways how to make it better, reader or editor friendlier, clearer and aesthetically satisfying.Click below for more images or visit their website for a detailed presentation.
July 30, 2012
July 26, 2012
Site of the Day: BBC Dimensions
www.howbigreally.com
BBC Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.
Type in your postcode or a place name to get started.
BBC Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.
Type in your postcode or a place name to get started.
July 23, 2012
MoMA’s design curator Paola Antonelli on the evolution of design
MoMA Senior Curator of Architecture and Design Paola Antonelli's talk from the 2012 EyeO Festival offering a look at the evolution of design over the past few decades. Particularly insightful is this slide by Anthony Dunne, chair of the Interaction Design program at London’s Royal College of Art, and his partner, Fiona Raby, depicting the directional evolution of design from past to present.
(via brainpickings)
July 19, 2012
A Life in B Tween: teen girls discussing the nature of reality
"A Life in B Tween" is an animation by artist Charile White to accompany his exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), "The Sun and Other Stars: Katy Grannan and Charlie White." The exhibition runs from July 22 through October 14, 2012.
July 11, 2012
The Wrinkles of the City / La Havana by JR
In May 2012, JR collaborates with Cuban-American artist José Parlá on the latest iteration of The Wrinkles of the City: a huge mural installation in Havana, undertaken for the Havana Biennale, for which JR and Parlá photographed and recorded 25 senior citizens who had lived through the Cuban revolution, creating portraits which Parlá, who is of Cuban descent, interlaced with palimpsestic calligraphic writings and paintings.
View more images after the jump.