24th of Jun ‘10
Thu 18:25
industrial
24th of Mar ‘10
Wed 11:30
graphic
Coralie Bickford-Smith’s covers
Coralie Bickford-Smith is a senior cover designer at Penguin Books, where she has created several series designs. She studied typography at Reading university and has recently been sharing her experience with students at London College of Communication encouraging a sense of play in the process of design.
Among the other benefits of having a permanent residence, being able to build a personal library is high on the list. I’ve always liked the way hardcovers look when you remove the glossy protective layer. This set is just perfect. Oh, and to be a cover designer at a publishing house is my dream job.
03rd of Feb ‘10
Wed 15:46
photography
Vincent Fournier’s Space Project
nasa must say good night moon, but at least we have this beautiful project to carry on the sentiment.
01st of Jan ‘10
Fri 03:08
resources
Design vs. Innovation
Twenty years ago a seminal article appeared in ID magazine that contrasted two approaches to design and design education: the methods-driven and scientific approach described by Chuck Owen of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the experimental and semantic approach advocated by Mike McCoy of Cranbrook.
WTF♯?
Chopin writes “enforced” listening moments into the piece–strangely arresting moments, like that F♯ held, alone, then heard against an astringent dissonance, then heard alone again, then heard against the “correct” dissonance…
It’s becoming harder to find time to check my ever growing list of bookmarks, but Bobulate is one of the blogs I actually set aside time for. Each post is thoughtful, well written, and never feels as though it’s longer than it should be. One of the recent posts I’ve found interesting links back to the blog of a concert pianist, who goes on to describe the music of Chopin. I found the quote above relevant for a few different reasons, but I thought Liz Danico brought up an interesting consideration regarding design.
As designers, for all the simplicity we intend in our work, for all the intentional moments we craft, what enforced listening moments are we creating? What rhythms are we designing? Where’s the F♯?
19th of Nov ‘09
Thu 23:19
industrial
Bertelli: Biciclette Assemblate
Two things. First, these bicycles are beautiful. Coming from an Italian shop, I’m not surprised that the craftsmanship and integrity to materials is so respectful to the aesthetic and function of the final product. I’m still not sold on having no brakes, but Bertelli manages to include them in some of his projects without hurting the minimalism. Leather, wood, recycled vintage parts—awesome.
Secondly, where the hell are these shops in Italy? So many famous Italian designers, artists, architects, etc. but none in plain sight. Stupid!
16th of Nov ‘09
Mon 22:43
neat
16th of Nov ‘09
Mon 19:18
fashion
Sonic Fabric Ties
I grew up racing small sailboats, and on sailboats you need indicators to tell the wind direction. These “tell-tails” can be made from feathers or small pieces of string or yarn. On my father’s boat (a 19’ Lightning class sailboat) his tell-tail of choice was made from a small strand of cassette tape because it’s a light, wind-sensitive, and durable material. When I was a kid I used to imagine that I could hear Cat Stevens or Beethoven’s 6th or whatever had been recorded onto the tape wafting out into the air if the wind hit the tell-tail just the right way.
Ties made from 50% audio cassette tape and 50% thread. Apparently if you run a cassette head over the fabric, it’ll play. The creator has a great source of inspiration behind the idea of “sonic fabric” as well.
16th of Nov ‘09
Mon 18:53
graphic
Spaceman
One of dominant themes in my most recent sketchbook have been astronauts. I’ve been using them as a device to explore the space on the page, and try to achieve a sense of depth, sometimes with only a figure. I stumbled on this guy’s oil paintings and was blown away by how his work visualizes what my sketches merely suggest. I really love it all, and his non-spaceman work is great too. Look at more by visiting the link.
05th of Nov ‘09
Thu 20:25
writing
A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families
Every family, it seems, has its own set of words for describing particular Lego pieces. No one uses the official names. “Dad, please could you pass me that Brick 2x2?” No. In our house, it’ll always be: “Dad, please could you pass me that four-er?”
Giles Turnbull writes about his survey conducted to find out what different families call Lego™ pieces. I love the little chart that goes along with it and displays the results of his research. It definetely brings back memories of trying to craft the perfect Lego™ gun. And afterwards, dueling my grandmother and having her fake die. Man, I was horrible.
Bank Notes
Ken Habarta has just written a book about the notes that people use to rob banks. He has been posting daily examples of the notes on the blog Bank Notes. Each note is accompanied by a picture of the robber and an icon indicating if the robbery was successful or not. The website is searchable, in case you are only interested in robberies involving polite notes (search for the word “thanks” and “please”).
The thing that makes this interesting for me is the icon which shows the success or failure of the heist. It seems like the most straightforward notes (with death threat) have a better rate of success. Then again, who knows what the actual circumstances were? (Not me)
03rd of Nov ‘09
Tue 03:15
photography
web
neat
Andrew Zuckerman: Bird
He does it again. Creature, Wisdom, and now Bird. I like his work because it reminds me of this giant illustrated book set I used to have as a kid. It went from Volume i—xxiii and each volume was about something interesting. I remember Volume iii was called “The Animal Kingdom” and I would spend hours just studying the illustrations. Zuckerman’s work brings back that childlike curiosity and intense interest. I’m glad he’s doing this work, because it reassures me that future generations will have a beautiful resource for their nature fix too.
Also, the bird above is a Secretary Bird. Looking at these photos reminded me that it was my favorite, growing up. The reason is that it was illustrated in my books in a battle with a snake. I still remember that the reason this bird can kill a snake is because of its tough, crane-like legs which protect it from the snake’s bite. How cool is that? It just looks so bad-ass. God I wish I was a Secretary Bird.
02nd of Nov ‘09
Mon 11:23
graphic
Cercle et suite d’éclats
...in Cercle et suite d’éclats, Varini has taken on the challenge of working at the scale of the village, superimposing perfect circles on the town of Vercorin in the Swiss Alps. From inside the village, the graphic is fragmented and impossible to read, but from a nearby vantage point, the lines come together to form a series of rings.
Felice Varini has taken a town in the Swiss Alps and somehow convinced them to let him paint a giant optical illusion. I love this because everyone has played along. I love this because it is executed so well. I love it for its simplicity. What a great opportunity for everyone to share in a moment together.
View the link below for the full panoramic photo.
29th of Oct ‘09
Thu 14:58
graphic
Stenciled Buildings
EVOL is an artist who takes his love of stencil art to the streets of Germany and creates the illusion of buildings on electricity boxes and concrete structures dotted around local cities. He has since taken it abroad. The stencilwork is quite something.
This guy doesn’t just stencil, he does paste-ups too; different, but still good. I’m not as big on ‘street art’ anymore, but if there’s even a little thought behind it, I still get excited. He has some really good photos of some work on an abandoned soap factory.
If I saw one of these in the wild, I would do a really big tag on a nearby wall, then a little mini-tag on one of these.
1,001 Rules for my Unborn Son
319. Don’t let the pictures become the event.
Life lessons for a boy delivered in a numbered list format by Walker Lamond. He has an ongoing blog (currently at rule #401), as well as a recently released book on the same subject. One of my favorites is #319.
If my dad wrote this, it would basically be an abridged Bible.
28th of Oct ‘09
Wed 04:37
industrial
f,l,o,w,e,r,s
Norihiko Terayama made a ruler. It’s nice. The ruler itself is made of acrylic, and each flower is handpicked and embedded at 1cm intervals. This means that each ruler is unique, which helps to (kind of) justify the price tag of US$189.00.