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Walking to work today I thought these two posters almost side by side were worth noting if for no other reason than to show the state of posters on the sidewalk of NYC. Whether you love or hate American Apparel ads and for what they stand for, they’re certainly standing out from everything else out there. On the flip side Diesel has been getting a lot of attention for their tagline of Be Stupid, not so much for their visuals though something tells me that things could change in that category.
Unexpected Narratives and Creating the Right Conditions
Last Thursday I traveled from NYC to Dallas to Arlington to hang with the AIGA Dallas Fort Worth Chapter and present a talk I titled Unexpected Narratives and Creating the Right Conditions. Jimmy Ball and the the Chapter treated me extremely well and made the experience great for me. I’ve attached the deck and made note below of all the posts that were covered in the talk.
1. STORY LINES
Walking to work in 60 Seconds, my 20/20 at #makethink AIGA Design Conference 2009
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Watching the sun interact with design
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New York City Colour Study Before the Crop
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36 days of New York Sky: January 16th 2008 - February 20th 2008
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New York City Colour Study Timeline
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New York City Colour Study – Time when photo was taken graph
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A Couple More New York City Colour Study Experiments – the old school animated .gif and weekly view
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Starting the #walkingtoworktoday photo project
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Experimenting with Fragmented Medias while #walkingtoworktoday
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Unexpected Narratives and Creating the Right Conditions
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My M.O.
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Five reasons why I blog
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Deborah Adler ClearRx Interview
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An interview with John Gargiulo, owner of Swich in NYC
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The Person behind Nooka: an interview with Matthew Waldman
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Alissia Melka-Teichroew (@alissiamt) Interview: designer, founder of byAMT, curator, and maker
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QuadCamera and ToyCamera Interview with Takayuki Fukatsu, creator of iPhone Apps
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A great conversation with Swissmiss (Tina Roth Eisenberg)
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REVIEW COPY: Look Both Ways by Debbie Millman
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REVIEW COPY: I Miss My Pencil by Martin Bone and Kara Johnson
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Banksy at work in NYC: Broadway & Howard St.
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My walking experience with the AIGA NY ALPHABET/CITY: A WALKING TOUR WITH TOBIAS FRERE-JONES
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The Flo in Florent
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My Link Drop Process
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Link Drop Today Release Notes
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2. AGILE
Video on Agile Design from my Creative Mornings talk is up
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Daylife
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Working on Getty Images SmartGalleries by Daylife
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3. HYBRID GRAPHIC DESIGN
What is the logo worth?
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Face pics are the new logo
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Company Deal Announcements
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Branding Issues: Flickr + Yahoo + Microsoft
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Lean Pocket Info Fail
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Confusing MTA Subway Turnstiles
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the Locksmith’s Business Card
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Flexing scale, marks and other consistent things that brands could be
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Branding abstraction in the real world (at least in NoLita)
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Design Sale
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Quotes to remember as a designer
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4. CONTENT IS THE NEW UI
My News Flow on Flight 1549
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Web actions du’jour
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What Graphic Designers need to understand
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How my iPhone evolved how I tell stories
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Sketching out a blog post loop
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Thinking about twitter feeding facebook status
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More buy and vote on demand, and distributing things in digital
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Talking Sticker
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Podcasts are now magazines, magazines are what newspapers used to be, and music files are now…
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24hr music app for the iPhone
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Showing Competitors on a Product Site
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Inside Out with Invader in NYC
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Still photography and video evolution
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Late last week I received this sweet one colour letter pressed print titled Google Before You Tweet is the New Think Before You Speak by Joe Newton. While the text and illustration speak for themselves, I should mention that the texture of the paper and indent of the paper that isn’t really shown on the photo adds a lot of visual punch in person. Davin Kuntze at Woodside Press in Brooklyn printed it while the typeface used Olduvai by Randy Jones.
This week’s Link Drop is smaller than usual because of my late week travels to Dallas for a talk. With that said there were a couple distinctions between technology and the surrounding area of NYC. Leading up to flying out of NYC most of the stuff I was being drawn to had to do with visualization and data. Once I got back yesterday most of the links were somewhat related to the city—go figure.
Love Me the street marking that I’ve seen for year(s) is now a poster. I’ve seen the mark in all sorts of sizes and even mused a while back about a shirt. While there doesn’t seem to be a shirt yet the post is actually a smarter thing to have. The poster also comes in black and costs $60.
CNN Magic Wall Makes Twitter Breakthrough (Maybe?)
While HuffPo makes an attention worthy note about CNN and Twitter, the bigger deal that I didn’t read about in CNN Magic Wall Makes Twitter Breakthrough was how they analyzed all those tweets. CNN broke it up into a number of different sections but didn’t really go much further with the numbers of people that tweeted that feel into each category. Looking at it a bit closer there’s no real break down of how a tweet with the hash tag of #SOTU would fall into any of those categories.
365 Days of Happiness from JAGDA
I found a great iPhone app via Snow Magazine that displays design work from the JAGDA. Lots of nice work to check out. Here’s some more info from the app page (^_^)365(O_O) JAGDA × HEIDELBERG.
A lot of diagrams these days look interesting until they’re looked at closer to reveal that they’re just an illustration. What’s compelling about the diagram posted at Junk Charts about the amount of CO2 emissions by country, both in aggregate and per capita is the relationship in scale. Some countries hold steady while others literally explode. While the minute detail is lost, the shapes make for some fascinating growth images. via Reuters: Felix Salmon
Kathryn Bigelow interviewed on Charlie Rose
This set of interviews from Charlie Rose was pretty good from last year. The people include Kelefa Sanneh, Quincy Jones, L.A. Reid, Roger Cohen and Kathryn Bigelow. While if you have an hour to spare I’d watch the whole thing, I’m pointing to the interview with Kathryn Bigelow whom directed the Hurt Locker. Starting around the 31st minute she def. brought me into the story. I don’t see a lot of films but when the Hurt Locker became available to pay and watch digitally I wanted to see it right away. Her interview stuck in my mind.
Could A Graphic Language For Touch Help Educate Mobile Users?
Mobile Behavior in their post Could A Graphic Language For Touch Help Educate Mobile Users? points to the above icon set as a means for visualize different interactions between information and physical objects or spaces. While trying to make one set of standard icons just like Bluetooth or USB symbols that are recognized, I’m not a huge fan of standardizing other interactions. Things are still evolving and while common patterns are helpful I wonder if the exercise is a bit of a never ending loop. 100% cognition for something that needs to have instructions is going to be difficult to attain.
One Floor Up found a great iPhone app called The Extraordinaries. Essentially it’s a directory of very quick volunteer opportunities that a person can do. The app is easy to navigate with a couple options between popular activities, groups to follow, browsing, and search. Once a person finish’s a quick activity that is noted in the app. While the catalog of items isn’t that large at the moment, I suspect as more organizations find out about this app they will create micro activities that fit the format. It’s a great idea to get people involved in a non committal way. Once a person has started to get involve with a small project there’s a likely chance that they will move on to bigger things.
Scouting NY has created a great post on their observations of building titled Scouting Red Hook II. There’s a ton of contradictory signs surrounding the building which leads them to wonder “what the hell is going on insideâ€.
My crash course in programming
Sometimes process diagrams don’t need to be that complicated as this image from Brendan Dawes shows.
Toward the Virtual City and The Crisis of Place
After reading the review of Toward the Virtual City and The Crisis of Place from Walking Off the Big Apple, I think it will be the next book I read on my goal of reading 52 book in 52 weeks. At the end of the review there’s an interesting take on tech. today in the city.
Location-based mobile applications, computer simulations, geo-tagging programs, Street View maps, and other forms of augmented reality threaten to turn the city into a computer game, replacing our traditional bonds of place with strategic plans to conquer them. Special places that once upon a time may have had some personal meaning become winning check-in points for someone else’s venture capital. Engaging with strangers in simulated reality, walking to meetups while texting or talking or consulting the glowing GPS to locate oneself, may open exciting avenues for sociability and connection, but we may lose the city in the process.
That’s something interesting to consider as I tap away on my iPhone as I walk on my way…
Hey Brooklyn Interview Podcast Site
Considering how cold it is today I’m not going to venture anywhere. If the weather near you isn’t that great either and am looking for something to listen to while doing something else, Hey Brooklyn might be a site to check out. While all the interviews are based on creative people in Brooklyn, the more interesting thing for me is that each of the people being interviewed can carry on a conversation. A couple people that I’ve listened to include a stylist, the guy behind casual cookoffs known as the takedown, and a a photgrapher…
The list dilemma: to do, done, stop doing or none?
January is finished and now that we’re into February its time to get to business. While everyone in January is considering resolutions now is the time to put them into action. With that said there’s a lot of different ways to keep track of things—i.e. the List. In the post The list dilemma: to do, done, stop doing or none? Zaana Howard lists off a couple lists that might give you pause. There’s the Stop Doing List, the Mistakes List and the more traditional Done List and To Do List. Each has a couple thoughts about their effectiveness.
On my way home from JFK this afternoon I noticed the above poster. I was only away for a day and a half yet it feels good to be back.
I don’t use that many hashtags with twitter with the exception of my image posts to #walkingtoworktoday from my iPhone. What’s strange to me is why the setting for the pound key is hidden behind the general number keyboard. To create a simple hashtag it takes three clicks. Considering the popularity of Twitter and hashtags I’m surprised Apple hasn’t bothered to update the keyboard. I doubt that replacing one key is going to cause too much of an issue. Why not switch it with the semicolon—when was the last time you used that key with your iPhone? And while we’re at it, why not have a character count tracking the number of letters in a subject line of an email. That way if I’m tweeting photos to flickr I know where I’m at in terms of words…
This is the second collection of an ongoing series of videos that have seen some air time on Link Drop Today.
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Stowe Boyd arguest that the metaphors of computing user experience are holding us back from new ways of structuring our interaction through computers.
But, he says, “This break with the past is made faster and less difficult if the new system is closed.” |
I think i fell in love with the video installations of Jennifer West at the Calvin Klein Collection + LAND art event tonight… or perhaps, it’s the way people interacted with it. a large open space, multiple spastic video projections pulling you in ~ colorful, intriguing, and apparently the perfect thing to make stunning shadows as people passed in front of them. While i can’t seem to find a website for her, i did find this fun interview on Flash Art Online about these pieces! Turns out she’s a topangan! And the way she works with and physically manipulates real film fascinates me in this digital age… her love of and experimentation with abstraction and representation is beautiful! Beautiful and fun enough it certainly needed a post of its own! So take a peek at some of my favorite pics involving her projections from the night ~ as well as a video! That really gives you a good feel for the experience… i suggest playing it full screen in HD mode!
Of all the images to come out of the iPad announcement, the one struck me the most was less about the device and more about the experience of it:
iPad in Lounging Position
Lying back on the sofa — isn’t that a nice way to be?
And sitting or lying on the sofa with a 9.7 inch screen means we’ll typically hold this about 2 feet (.6 meter) away from our eyes, versus 1 foot with an iPhone, which means you can rest it on your lap. While some may buy the dock, putting the iPad on a surface means having to uncomfortably lean over it. I think lounging will be much more common. We can do this with a laptop, but the separation of output (display) and input (keyboard and trackpad) is disjointed in comparison. And the iPad will be a little awkward and heavy to hold aloft like a phone.
Consequently the mood while interacting with an iPad may be more relaxed. The interaction has the potential to be more passive, though not necessarily. We’ll make bigger gestures and pivot at the elbow and shoulder rather than the wrist. We’ll scroll/size less than on a phone, using more eye movement to scan the screen. And while Apple has had to succumb to menus to make more functions available, we have the potential for powerful new forms of direct manipulation.
As a designer I’m tempted to display more, denser visual content at one time that a person can sit back and absorb, and offer control with fewer, grander gestures.
Given the physical similarity, it’s tempting to look at the iPad and call it a big iPhone. But I think the posture we adopt and interaction with the device will make it an experience unlike a phone or a laptop.
Aside: how long until someone designs a lounge chair specifically for optimal iPad use?!
Listening to a couple helpful comments about what they liked from Link Drop in the past I’ve made some changes. For the time being I’ll be posting each link to http://linkdroptoday.com/ and collecting all the posts on Friday here. I’ve decided to bring back my mind mapping of topics that I came across while collecting sites and posts for the past week. Connecting those dots helps make connections to patterns I might not have seen with out stepping back.
Looking back now there were two distinct periods, the time before the iPad hype and afterwards. A lot of the early week finds were somewhat related to senses whether it be food or wine and technology of devices that only allow for one type of content. While its been fun to speculate whether the iPad will change things or not, it’s really hard to take much of it seriously until they’re distributed in the wild. So while I did mention it quite predimonantly this week, I probably won’t be talking too much about the iPad until one is in my hands (or so that’s my assumption).
A Season in Deleted iPhone Photos
Considering how much time our mobile devices are with us, it’s not much of a surprise that over time the photos taken with it show a visual timeline of experiences. The above film taken by Christine Whuang shows each image from last summer disappearing as they’re deleted. She described it as “a weird catharsis in watching all these photos fly by and disappear into nothing.â€
Process for the World’s ‘most expensive’ ham leg on sale in London
If you’re a vegetarian you might want to skip this post, but if you’re a food lover you might find the process for the World’s ‘most expensive’ ham leg on sale in London interesting. 50 pigs were feed “on a diet of acorns and roots to give the ham a distinctive flavour and and cured for three yearsâ€. Apparently the experience has a “melt-in-the-mouth texture 
Candy Chang’s above photos shows a great implementation of paring food and wine together. The icons are informative, distinctive and have a sense of humour. As Candy noted in her post that the duck icon has holes in it, probably because it’s a game bird.
Streaming Beach House’s New Album
NPR’s First Listen is streaming the new Beach House’s album until its upcoming release on January 26th. It’s def. worth a listen, and a contender to be on my list of top music for 2010. Will that hold out for the whole year, it’s hard to say…
Trade School might be on to something really smart. For thirty days people can take a class, the only fee is a student exchange of basic items and services for the person teaching the class. I expect that this type of model of trade to spread quite quickly.
Souvenir of Breath, Heartbeat and Goodnight
While I’m not entirely sure what the translation of Alice Wang’s post about Souvenir’s is about, I was drawn into the three images she displayed. There’s a great monotone value to them. Thinking about what next to say about the images as I was looking at them, the file names of the jpgs gave some clues as to what they might be about. The bottle was titled Breath, the second image Heartbeat and the lamp is Goodnight.
Mike Laurie of Made by Many has a recorded a good description of a Persuasive signup experience he went through using Facebook Connect and other dialogue boxes. Posts like this are helpful as sites and business become more comfortable exploring social features of connecting people to their services.
The Art & Science of Evidence-Based Design
David Gillis in his post The Art & Science of Evidence-Based Design talks about how Teehan+Lax comes to design decisions. There’s a number of good definitions to check out about how they go back and forth to determine refinement and ultimately the design.
There’s an assortment of these image over at Plunder Corp.
BLDGBLOG’s post on the Right Printhead piqued my interest. It’s about Icon’s latest issue on fiction being used to explore architectural ideas. Thinking about that me considering the broader idea of design fiction. While those idea weren’t covered in Icon maybe someone else should. In any case there’s a good break down of the actual stories written in Icon by China Miéville, Bruce Sterling, and Cory Doctorow to Ned Beauman, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg & Oron Catts, and Will Self among others. It’s been a while since I was compelled to actually buy a magazine, this might be one of those times…
While Brendan Dawes does bring up an obvious point of the online world, it’s not just in the UK. The sometimes unwarranted work that is described as “rocking†or “awesome†happens everywhere and before the web it was happening in most of the western print world. Most people can see for what it is, especially on blog posts now—so at this point I’m not really sure if there was ever an honest time when it came to promoting work. People need to filter for themselves because people can’t really trust what they read nor should they.
13 video player UIs in 24 hours
37signals has a collection of UI video players. Good to keep for reference…
Platform + Apps = News Consumption
There’s a lot of quotable ideas in the HuffPost article In the App Economy, Newspapers are Apps by Maya Baratz. “In Media, If You’re Not a Platform, You’re an App†is a core concept that people might miss because people aren’t apps, but the way one person passes along info is unique to how someone else shares info. Another mental shift is that everyone wants to be the Platform when it’s probably better to be considered an app. Rarely do enterprise goals work out…
Getting Past Viral: Stop Spreading Viruses & Start Giving Gifts
Big Spaceship’s post about Getting Past Viral breaks down a couple reasons people send info out. For me if I find the information valuable I’m pretty sure someone else “out there†will likely benefit from reading it too. Big Spaceship mentions a couple reasons that I hadn’t really considered but can’t fault: Contributing (1-to-Many), Broadcasting (1-to-World), Gifting (1-to-1/Few).
The ability to take away our books is a current reality, not a future prospect.
A post like this is great to read before the actual canvas thing is released tomorrow. It reminded me of how surprised I was that apple tv locked my ability to surf the net from my tv. In my mind they basically distributed a bricked iTunes box. Hopefully this new canvas allows for more freedom but what’s brought up by Matthew Burton in Should we let Apple decide what we read? makes you kind of wonder about a monopoly.
Airport Apps: Mobile Utility for Those Traveling Up In The Air
If you’re about to spend some living time inside an airport you might want to check out MobileBehavior’s post about Airport Apps: Mobile Utility for Those Traveling Up In The Air. There’s a lot of iPhone apps for flying that you might not have been aware of or had the time to search out.
Undecided whether I want to buy one or not, and if I do, would I go with the low fi or 3G enabled one. Until that moment arrives here’s some of the photos of the iPad from Daylife.
Spaces for Ideas: The Beginning
A blog post about designing the perfect sketchbook titled Spaces for Ideas: The Beginning.
If it could cover these points the designer might be able to make it:
1. A sketchbook that highlights the work and not itself
2. Well constructed and affordable
3. No spines getting in the way of cross page sketching
4. Just the right size but with enough space or room to play with
5. “Boundary-less†pages
6. Flexible enough to do what you will
7. Decent quality paper that takes all non-wet mediums like ink, pencil or markers.
8. Appeals to everyone, not just designers
Ever the realist, he built his table for one.
This and other gems of reacting to Dwell photos can be found at [unhappyhipsters.tumblr.com]
How to Frame the Internet II: Entertainment and Culture Post iPad
Interesting post from Tomorrow Museum about how the no multitasking aspect of the iPad could be seen as a benefit as opposed to what a lot of other people are saying.
Canada Finally Gets Something Apple Related Before Everyone Else
When it comes to Apple products (or hulu, or any internet media…) Canada usually gets the short end of the deal. For whatever reason they’re always the last to get new products which is insane considering the proximity to the US. In any case this Incase Maple Leaf Slider that Popwuping mentioned is pretty sweet. Next time I’m in Toronto I’m going to pick one up.
This photo series has been going on for a long time but I only came across it today when it was passed along by a friend. There’s very few weeks that go by that I won’t have a walking related post of some sort. Everything that Maggie Nesciur describes on her walking experience was relatable—even if you don’t walk it’s def. worth hearing and watching. It will at the least make you more aware of your surroundings.
On incredible and unexpected inspiration tonight ~ i ended up at the Calvin Klein + Los Angeles Nomadic Division event. As the invite stated - “CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION AND LOS ANGELES NOMADIC DIVISION (LAND) TO PRESENT FIRST-EVER EVENT IN LOS ANGELES IN CELEBRATION OF L.A. ARTS MONTH AND ART LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY (ALAC) Brands’ Creative Directors Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli to Host Special Evening; Unique Collaborations with Jean Shin, Neville Wakefield, and Special Installation by Jennifer West” Firstly the space across from the Pacific Design Center is absolutely stunning. A beautiful culmination of art and fashion, these collaborations were breath taking ~ Jean Shin created “Pattern Folds” commissioned by Calvin Klein, and first unveiled in Seoul. She’s known for her ability to create installation which transform castoff materials. In this case she created a beautiful installation on the first floor of the event. Upstairs in a specially lit stark white room, Neville Wakefield presents Zuchelli’s Spring 2010 collection… it was quite a trip to wander through the room as the collection is suspended and the lighting constantly shifts from incredibly bright, to dark. See the images of these collaborations as well as the space itself on the next page, and videos and images of Jennifer West’s installation have a post of their own here.
After watching the iPad demo yesterday I was going back and fourth yes/no/maybe about getting one. In the end I’ll probably go with the low end version because I can, and I want something mobile to read pdfs, but as a tool to publish I don’t think it’s there. Their whole book publishing/reading metaphor is disappointing. There’s no reason to simulate paper books on a new tool. And for creating content with an iPad it’s really hard to predict without having one in my hands, but my experience so far with the iPhone is that it’s great for a lot of things but not long posts. The keyboard dock looks painfully old and makes me wonder if Jonathan Ives has ever blogged in his life at a conference? Again I haven’t even tried one of these things yet but it looks like the whole could have come out five years ago. I also understand how product development works, that they need to actually ship something worthy and iterate after that but maybe invest some time in unique metaphors as opposed to giving us a “what we know is best†dumbed down paper page.
Everyone has an opinion about the iPad online and it’s impossible to even try to read them all. However with that said there’s a couple unique points that I haven’t seen a lot of that are worth noting. While I was left disappointed with the NYT demo on the iPad (it didn’t seem to take advantage of being mobile), PSFK’s reaction to how they might change their publishing was interesting. Daring Fireball making a connection with speed as he’s actually held and used one is worth reading too. The fact that Apple controls their chip is a huge advantage. And there’s Nina’s window’s UI metaphor response taking into her account of using the iPhone to read content.
Every so often I’ll upload a new video to Link Drop Today that I think is worth watching. As the collect they’re hosted on my video page. But just like my links it might be worth posting the videos as a collection every so often. For now I’ll call it Link Drop Today Video Festival…
Background
I’ve updated a couple minor visual elements and taken note of how my process for finding, filtering and curating information from websites and posts has evolved with Link Drop Today.
Visual Changes
The bright blue of the header and section moduals has be toned down to a deeper blue. There’s been feedback that the contrast between the headlines of the post and images doesn’t stand out enough. Each day for the next six days will have a different style of headline between size, color and font. After the next week it should become apparent which style works the best. Images have both been used from screen captures of the entire site and just images, along with aggregating text from the post or just using the image. Because there is commentary from me for each post it doesn’t make a lot of sense to aggregate the text from the post at this moment.
Video
The has been the first time I’ve used video as a consistent element for any of my blogs. It’s been a pleasant surprise to search out videos to post to the top right of Link Drop Today. I wish there was a way to auto load the previous videos to its own page. I’m also going to explore Boxee to see if there’s a way to manage videos from their site and this site. I’ll also be posting all the videos together in a post for Design Notes.
Schizophrenic Tweets
Each post has a tweet going out, other tweets are things that fit into the idea of Link Drop Today but might not become a post due to time constraints. Those tweets also act as a test to see what is gaining traction in the day and in turn deserve a post.
Future Releases
Currently the grid is 12 columns though I might extend it to 16 columns. The main posts would get wider and a new thinner column would be added to feature other content. There’s a number of share features to added to posts along with comments too.
Feedback?
As always please pass along any feedback that you think will help improve the design of Link Drop Today.
I don’t take the subway that often. I try to walk most of the time from location A to B in NYC for any number of reasons. There’s tons to look at, it’s a great way to get a feeling for what’s going on and there’s just so much to take note of. The only time I typically take the train is if I’m late for something or visiting friends in Brooklyn. Sunday afternoon was one of those instances when I was headed to Brooklyn to meet up for conversation with a friend. While waiting for L train in Union Square I and a couple others were treated to the perfect Sunday afternoon waiting for the train while it was drizzling outside violin music. It was so good I recorded a couple minutes of it on my iPhone. I’ve never recorded a musician like that before, but I was surprised at how decent it came out. The surrounding sounds of other trains, people walking by and announcements improved the sound experience. While I love all the visual stimulation outside while walking, sometimes a concert of one is all a person needs to get inspired.
Nelly Ben Hayoun's installation/performance attempted to demonstrate the visual equivalent of one of those massive sonic booms that take place inside Super K each time a neutrino meets an electron of extremely pure water. As ultra-pure water doesn't exactly abound in London night clubs, the designer used the water from the nearest fire hydrant and turned the place into a 15 by 5m long swimming pool continue
This week Link Drop came back albeit in a different format as its own site. While I’ll be posting daily on the site I considered some of the feedback from a couple people. One of the benefits of the old format that was posted together is that there was weekly context and just one post. So I’m going to test out aggregating the aggregate of my Link Drop Today’s on Fridays over here. Below is a quick and dirty copy + paste version that I’ll be redesigning in the upcoming weeks, but for now this is a start.
As for what was going on this week it was a combination of ideas from all over the interwebs. There wasn’t one consistent theme though tech, music and design played a part which explains the topic graph above. I think I was just getting warmed up trying out a couple ideas for posting which spread things in all directions. This week was a bit of a sample of things to come—stay tuned…
The 5 Things That Startups Can Learn From Lady Gaga
There’s a lot of buzz these days about startups. It’s a perfect opportunity to create a business around an idea that takes advantage of the economic climate we’re in. Plus who doesn’t like a story of a small group creating something the big guys couldn’t possibly pull off. What sometimes get’s lost in the jargon of the word startup is that it’s purely a tech thing. What if you’re an enterprising designer, maybe an entrepreneur? Surely some of the startup advice out there is relevant too—so with that idea here’s a couple ideas from a perhaps surprising concept—Lady Gaga.
How the NYT should construct its paywall
There’s some interesting ideas behind a metered system discussed in the Reuters Post from Felix Salmon titled How the NYT should construct its paywall In theory the news consumed could be billed to an iTunes account. A more interesting question to be asked is if someone passes on a link, do they get some sort of credit rebate?
Haiti: The Role of Social Networks and Open Data in Crisis Response
This post titled Haiti: The Role of Social Networks and Open Data in Crisis Response from The Foush ties a lot of the rapid response concepts together nicely.While it’s too soon to know, it will be interesting to see how accountability and progress are tied together as the months and years go by as things are rebuilt.
Who doesn’t like designed objects that stop using a resource like electricity and uses natural processes to create an experience, plus the aesthetics elevate it to art. Collision Detection ran a quick Google translation on the designer’s site and found out that “Like a yacht sail (mast) the wind, the natural moisture to dry air liberality, also allows them to subtle and refreshing fragrance of cypress. Its appearance, we thought a yacht floating in the cool water and soft drinks will also give a visual sense.â€
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
Looking for some uptempo chill music to work to? Four Tet – There Is Love In You currently being streamed from nutriot might be what you’re looking for.
Eat, Drink and Write at the Same Time
Dinner with a side of design being held in Vancouver during Icograda Design Week in Vancouver 2010 sounds like a lot of fun. Testing out the idea for such an event, Kara Pecknold who is leading the event describes in this post about what it’s like to Eat, drink and write at the same time.
Sitting There Waiting for the Economy to Get Better
While the post Weeknotes from Archizoo as a sum is about what’s going on with them, there’s a great point to note. They write that “Even great brands are losing ground. Some assume that it is the financial market holding them back, when it may be other, internal conditions that affect their perceptions and confidence, and therefore slow momentum and affect their positionâ€. While some will stay entrenched in models that may have worked in the past, it’s those that are constantly evaluating where things will be that will be able to evolve in a successful way.
Thomas Fuchs illustrates a heart a day, on December 11, 2009 he created Love Machine. If this concept seems familiar it’s because I posted about it at Design Notes a couple months ago… Thought it might look good over here at Link Drop Today.
Michael Rylander points us to a great visualization Charting the Beatles. Designed by Michael Deal. For the Song of Keys diagram above he explains “The differences between each pictograph reflect the different relationships between songs within each album. For example, the pictograph for Abbey Road hints at the tonal architecture of the Abbey Road Medley, as the pictograph’s shape has a more narrow pull towards A-major/minor and the home key of C-majorâ€.
The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures
There’s way more to think about when posting a profile pic as OKTrends points out in their post about the 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures. After reading about this I don’t think I’ll look at anyone’s pic the same way again…
From Penn Station to New York Landmarks: Measuring Walking Distance and Time in Manhattan
If you’re a fan of walking like we are over here, Walking Off the Big Apple is a site to check out. In their latest post they document how long it would take to walk to some of the more popular landmarks in Manhattan with a starting point of Penn Station. We’ve embedded the map that they created, all you need to do is click on one of the bars to see how long their specific route would take.
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