A long time ago I had the idea that every interest I wanted to share, or create a 'filter' for, should have it's own blog. I don't know where that silly idea came from as none of my projects really had much of an audience, nor was it all that fun. Perhaps I was caught up in all that niche blogging hype. Hype which creates lots and lots of blogs for Google but very little that humans actually want to read. Not that kelake is a pleasure to read.

I would still like to record the imagery I find but Moveabletype is not the easiest tool for publishing media other than text. Perhaps if I find another tool I will give it a try - for my own brand of fun.

kelake.org

most digital artists use sophisticated software to create works which would otherwise not be possible. while artist danielle aubert does create one-of-a-kind artworks, the software he use is rather low-tech. aubert produces some of his drawings with none other than microsoft excel, the software more typically used for spread sheets. aubert manipulates the program in ways that clearly show the software’s traits but from a new perspective.[design boom]

Danielle Aubert

I like this. film_080531_CENTURIA400_1120-01.jpg on Flickr

Multiple Drafts Model

I feel the same. From Grandburo Online Store

New revision of Franklin Gothic, by David Berlow. ITC Franklin

Poor kids, I can see it all now. In ten years we will be labeling children who cannot successfully and efficiently program in at least two machine languages "computing disabled.' With the current emphasis on computer literacy, many educators are pushing the fact that children should know as much about computers as possible, at the earliest possible age. A recent educational report speculated that 25 years from now children would need the equivalent of a Master's degree in computer science before they graduated high school.

My five year old knows Basic.

70 Amazing Business Cards - Fubiz™

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

This area of repulsive response aroused by a robot with appearance and motion between a "barely-human" and "fully human" entity is called the uncanny valley. The name captures the idea that a robot which is "almost human" will seem overly "strange" to a human being and thus will fail to evoke the empathetic response required for productive human-robot interaction.

Uncanny valley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Via 37signals and quoted from 'A Pattern Language'.

For many people working in the creative industries, the bedrock of Mac believers, Ive is a hero, a creative genius: the man who transformed computers from grey boxes to objects of desire, design statements.

That's what D&AD has recognised and rewarded. But you don't have to be a creative purist to appreciate what Ive does. For everyone who loves Macs and iPods and iPhones for their intuition, for their clean aesthetics, for their leading edge, elegant functionality, Ive is the man who made technology both beautiful and accessible.

Luc Melanson Illustration

Typeface connection visualization tool by So, Won-young

Link. Via FFF.

Via BoingBoing and Monoscope.

Collection of vintage logos from a mid-70's edition of the book World of Logotypes

Vintage Logos - a set on Flickr

More great work at his site

With its clean, crisp lines, the Karbon articulating faucet introduces a new geometry of versatile functionality to the kitchen. Intelligently engineered to hold any pose for hands-free operation, Karbon allows you to streamline your work surfaces and workflow. You can extend the faucet fully to fill large pots, lower it into the sink for food preparation and cleanup, fold it compactly out of the way when not in use, or position it anywhere in between.

cityofsound: Monocle: design notes

I enjoy making people laugh, but more than ever I like making people think too. I hope this piece evokes some kind of humorous and yet thoughtful feeling about breakfast in bed. My work is sometimes playful, and by playful I mean I play on the edge of what may start to produce mixed feelings. However, I never intend on offending the viewer, my aim is to go beyond the image creating a story and a thoughtful atmosphere.

Found @ FFFFOUND!

I'm a sucker for this kind of type treatment. Found @ FFFFOUND!

It predicts fundamental changes in the field of so-called Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

By 2020 humans will increasingly interrogate machines, the report said.

In turn computers will be able to anticipate what we want from them, which will require new rules about our relationship with machines.

Computers to merge with humans. Via Swissmiss.

Luca Chittaro: EXERTION INTERFACES. An interview with Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller and Stefan Agamanolis

“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact.Everything I designed was unnecessary. I will definitely give up in two years’ time. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself …design is a dreadful form of expression…. In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant.”

Starck: Design Is Dead, Sorry on PSFK. Via Swissmiss.

Movable Type Docs

Here’s what a number of successful bloggers with successful nonblogging careers say are the ways to think about getting into the business of blogging.

New York Times

Layers Magazine

Hero Design.

From here.

As Beijing gears up for the architectural show of the year – this summer's Olympic Games – one of its centrepiece buildings opened for business this week. The Water Cube aquatic centre, designed by Australian-based PTW Architects with Arup, is next door to Herzog & de Meuron's "nest" stadium. Here's a photo essay by Beijing-based photographer Ben McMillan who has been documenting the construction of the building, which consists of a steel frame clad in ETFE pouches.

Water Cube aquatic centre, Beijing

Zacks is rare hybrid of gritty artist-illustrator and astute designer, she’s logged a decade in the creative corporate world, as both design director and freelancer. Living in New York – drawing inspiration from the surrounds – and working for a vast array of clients – she herself is her toughest critic – she can reposition and invigorate the urban drone around her into vibrant campaigns for Target, Verizon, eBay, and many of the editorial venues she also enjoys reading. Her work has been recognized by design websites around the globe from Australia to Iceland to Colombia to Russia. Her one of a kind style has also been seen in various exhibitions worldwide.

LINDA ZACKS IS EXTRA-OOMPH: illustration | design | art

“I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems© that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.”

Six Principles for Making New Things. 37s.

This is the first of a series of articles I will post here on The MAD Blog about my theories, methods and processes concerning how to draw caricatures. A lot of this information is part of what I teach my theme park artists, so it is derived partly from the approach of doing live, quick-draw caricatures. However all of that can be applied to more studio orientated caricature work and I have also added points and concepts directly from the less time-constrained world of caricature illustration. Therefore this is not instruction for just the live caricaturist but for any artist interested in caricature for any purpose.

How to Draw Caricatures: The 5 Shapes

iPhone and iPod Touch wallpapers from a selection of designers and illustrators from around the world.

Poolga

Manager's Toolkit: How to Set Project Guidelines

Following a process is a critical factor in successfully designing and developing information. By following one, you have, at the least, a check list of sorts that helps you make sure that you complete every task and, at the most, a guide to make sure that you address issues in the most logical sequence.

By following a well-defined process and applying creative design and development techniques, you can design communication products in the most effective and efficient manner, and publish material that will dazzle clients (internal to your organization or external) and users alike.

Resources for Information Designers: To Master the Information Design Process

As such, I’d like to pose a simple question to those front end developers out there: What do you think the future of UI technology will look like? Link

Haven't read it yet but I do like the cover. Rosenfeld Media - Mental Models.

Based in Georgia and born in Malaysia. Beautiful work. Chia Chong Photography

Cannibal. Acrylic on Paper.More great work here and at his beautiful weblog.

Actually haven't read it but I like some of the illustration I have seen from various sources. From Issue_29

This is an LP recorded by the eclectic Mexican Theater Director Juan José Gurrola in the early Seventies with various friends (Victor Fosado: Percussion, Roberto Bustamante: electric Guitar, Eduardo Guzman: Trumpet). It is an unknown record, only a few copies were made. It is a rare example of Mexican experimental music, free jazz, alternative music, at that time. I consider Gurrola a pioneer of sound art in Mexico, along with Alejandro Jodorowsky who was a good friend of his back in the sixties.

On 2007, the curator Mauricio Marcin did an exhibition of Gurrola's artistic works and he asked me if we could make a CD of this forgotten LP, but inviting electronic composers to do remixes, sound interventions or works inspired in the different tracks of Gurrola's LP. I had already suggested this to Gurrola, and so he agreed and I invited 20 Mexican people to participate. It became sort of homage to this grate interdisciplinary artist, that sadly died recently, just after the CD was published. I present also here the works of these composers.

Sample: Nay Happiness

Juan José Gurrola | En busca del silencio Escorpión en ascendente

Ivan Naranjo is a sound arranger and composer from Morelia, Mexico. A fan of composers from Kevin Drumm to John Cage, Naranjo creates experimental compositions with a predilection for original sound textures.

Via The Hippodrome.

Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound. Curated by Universal Everything and Freeform, this is an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, animators and architects. The first release will be a collection of Audio-Visual Sound Sculptures, on High Definition DVD and 5:1 Surround Sound.

For waiting rooms. An attempt towards distraction. Upon sitting down, a sound system is activated in the headrest of the chair. Each chair has its own recording. One falls in love with you, begging you to never leave it. One teaches you an effective Spanish lesson. One sings gently into your ears. One hates you for sitting down without first asking for permission, and lets its anger pour over you for as long as you stay seated.

Originally designed for solo exhibition titled ‘Waiting Rooms’.

Studio/Louise Campbell

Stripped down to it’s bare functions, this mini USB Digital Camera combines the feeling of not knowing how your shots turned out ala analog film with the ease of USB transfer. No cables are necessary. Just plug it straight away in your computer and always be surprised. Yanko Design

As the story went, the professor's assistant had followed this famous professor all the way up from being a junior professor to later becoming a high ranking person in the professor's field. My friend joked about how people all over the world claimed to not know who the professor was, but everyone sure knew his administrative assistant because she was the one that made things happen logistics-wise for this famed professor. He was loved, not just for his expertise, but the good company he had closest to him as support.

Towards the end of her life in the hospital this professor visited her every day without fail. He canceled all his travel to be with her. And since he was so respected in Japan, he moved his assistant to the highest ranking doctor and service above all other VIPs at the hospital ... yet it did not result in her getting better.

The lesson I took away from this is one that I know by heart. That great people know how to take care of their people. For a great person does not become great by themselves

I shall loosely be following P.B. Megg's book "The History of Graphic Design", which is the seminal work of this area. Given that the internet presents me with this possibility I shall be providing far more visual examples to the material covered than the book itself provides. Thus the following pages are full of clickable thumbnails which will lead you to large sized images clarifiying the subjects at hand. The in-class presentations which give plenty of additional images and information - especially where the contextualisation of subject matter is concerned, are all to be found at the "downloads" link. Additionally there will soon be a downloadable walkable 3D VRML environment that covers highlights of the course for quick recapture and also, hopefully, for fun.

The History of Visual Communication

Live on rare frequency performing "going blind" (2aug07): mp3
Live @ swieta krowa in krakow, poland: mp3
Live @ sQuareone studio: mp3
Live @ diapason (nyc) 01aug04 ( mp3 39.4mb
Live @ new works studio (toronto) 10jun05 ( mp3 26.2mb

Marc McNulty - digital visual and sound artist

A wonderful look into the places, things, and people that surround her life. I love work that allows me to see ephemeral bits of life that I would not be able to see otherwise.
Her photoblog (in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) and her Flickr stream.

This collection stands in stark contrast to the flimsy structures with garish metal siding seen in Hsinchu. See more: The architecture of car parks

Sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm.

When Martha Stewart Living asked us to develop a new typeface for the magazine, it seemed that a slab serif could answer much of the brief. A slab could be personable, straightforward, and credible, though it would take special effort to also make it pretty, hard-working, and frank. Archer would have to answer some formidable typographic demands, since Living is an almanac of lists, recipes, charts, diagrams, tables, calendars, and glossaries. To make the typeface frank — direct, but not brusque — we introduced subtle cues from the world of typewriter faces, which combine the ordinariness of Antiques with the modern practicality of Geometrics. We restored the vanished ‘ball terminals’ to the lowercase, and uncharacteristically applied these gestures to the capitals as well, in order to yield a font that’s friendly without being silly, and attractive without being flashy. The result is a typeface that’s well-mannered, easy to work with, and inviting to read.

My son would love this so much. See it here.

A whimsical rendering of a Yellow Labrador Retriever. This image is part of a series of dog breeds ...

Would be great for a house full of kids like ours. Much of his work is full of fun. View his Etsy shop, portfolio, and blog.

A flexible bentwood shell in the seat and back replaces the upholstery and provides the necessary comfort. As if made in a single casting, Hob seems to float gently above the ground.

hob

Under its solid design representing the archetype of a tradition armchair, Slim Club hides a new comfort deriving from its composition of vertical units assembled at their base. By sitting on it, the 144 elements take the shape of your body. The upper parts of the Slim Club'’s lines change, open and become more personal just with the movement of your body.

By Michael Bihain.

Portfolio and Blog.

From an old thread on Typophile entitled Favorite magazine masthead (logo-type) Battle Royal. A couple more after the jump.

Beautiful Chinese calligraphy, even on a pawn ticket for a pocket watch. In the 1950s most small Hong Kong shopkeepers still used an abacus for calculations, and a brush rather than a pen for their accounts and receipts.

This large volume includes 1650 typefaces from 18 foundries, with many typesetting examples and detailed technical notes. A must for designers, editors and publishers.

Japanese Typeface Collection

I like this self-indulgent bit of flash on the Mao Mao Website. My quick attempt to capture it doesn't do it justice. See it here

This course is an introduction to problems about creativity as it pervades human experience and behavior. Questions about imagination and innovation are studied in relation to the history of philosophy as well as more recent work in philosophy, affective psychology, cognitive studies, and art theory. Readings and guidance are aligned with the student's focus of interest.

The Nature of Creativity

From the Emigre Essay of the same name.

Though she no longer updates, Vancouver based Leslie Chamber's Cameraeye has a wonderful collection of photography from her long sojourn through China and her stay in Taiwan. Worth a visit.

Camereye

The venerable Heather Champ needs no introduction. I missed the redesign of her site and have been following her work via flickr.

As great as flickr and other social sites are there is something lost when one expresses themselves through an interface meant for wide usage. You lose part of your voice and personality. Maybe it is my age but I miss the quirkiness of handcrafted sites, the mistakes, and the toil. Today everything is so easy, repetitive, and somewhat bland.

heather powazek champ

A long time favourite of mine, Davin Risk's excellent photoblog.

Typography is an artform that stretches back thousands of years—from stone-carved letterforms in the second century, to Gutenberg’s creation of movable, letterpress type in 1448. Typesetting was born a tedious trade where hours were spent laying out a book’s pages one letter at a time. For the last 150 years designers have wielded type as visual weaponry, to point directly at the masses and fire at will. Now we’re assaulted with type, most of which is awful; and that’s where you come in.

Link

Stefan Hattenbach’s Anziano™ deserves a spot on the Best of ’07 list as one of the few new designs that hearkens back to classic book typography. Thanks to our friends at Fountain, you can try the Small Caps for free, and when you fall in love with the typeface, come back for the rest.

Free! Via monoscope.Download Anziano

Space conserving, energy efficient, and award winning, this two-bar lamp has 66 LEDs (included) that brightly illuminate but create minimal heat. Adjustable joints extend up to 46", allowing for easily directed light. Includes a desk clamp. Made of aluminum and plastic. Simple assembly required.

Z-Bar LED Desk Lamp by Peter Ng.

Peter Ng, spent a year perfecting the design of the Z-Bar, which is manufactured in Hong Kong. "I always wanted to create a lamp that had just the essentials," Ng said. "At the same time I wanted the lamp to be functional and look good." A featherweight crop of LEDs enabled the designer to fulfill both profiles: Sixty-six bulbs put out more than 100 lumens focused in a 50-degree viewing angle, and the lamp's aluminum supports have been thinned to just ½ by ¾ inches. The piece extends with birdlike grace 47 inches from a weighted base that can tuck under external hard drives or act as a makeshift coaster. Once Ng had prototyped the bendy body, he said, "I handed out samples to co-workers and friends. I went back and spent days and nights figuring out how to make the joints as adjustable as my testers wanted." There are three joints in the neck alone, including a hinge, a rotational joint, and the light bar's plug-in spot. (The company has since extended the LED line with four other variants, including mini Zs with 40 LEDs and I-shaped lamps with 38 LEDs.)

Continued here.

Beautiful fixture to surround yourself in a (1/4) halo of light. The glow looks warm and inviting. Made from aluminum and many many LED's. Created by Munich based hansandfranz.

Accentuating the negative and making it beautiful. Created by demacker_design.

Still producing visual treats?

A selection of vintage Japan travel posters from a Classic Posters collection found on flickr. More after the jump.

View Classic Posters - a photoset on Flickr. Via Coudal.

It seems I was in the midst of a meme and I didn't even know it. Yesterday's question is repeated again and again.

Via manystuff.org

Walking through SOHO in Hong Kong this past Friday I came across a small area replete with neat visual treasures. Some I captured and a few of which I share here. More after the jump.

Tekkon Kinkreet is an nime film, directed by Michael Arias, adapted from a manga series "Black and White" by Taiyō Matsumoto. These images were scanned by Audrey Kawasaki and can be viewed full size here on her Livejournal site. Beautiful nostalgic look and amazing attention to detail. A couple more after the jump.

Audrey Kawasaki (i_seldom_do)

Why do so many designers display their poster work in this manner? Poster by baettle research and found on FFFFound. FFFFound is a genius site but without any annotations it loses much of it's usefulness. A close up of the poster follows after the jump.

Baettle Research

In support of local art development, Sino group initiated the project "Art in Hong Kong" whereby they present art exhibitions through out selected Sino Group properties. This is the website that helps track and promote the various events.

The site may well be a couple years old but it still strikes me as a well executed effort. I'm always a sucker for adhoc illustration. But while spatial interfaces have their uses I can't help but think that this website is entirely ineffective. I thought we left the room metaphor with early cd-rm development. The website looks more like an attempt by the design team to impress themselves and their peers versus actually as a resource to promote the project itself.

Art in Hong Kong 香港藝術

DJ Stout has redesigned the magazine Dairy Today that is launching this month. In addition to a bold new logotype, the magazine will feature a stylized “portrait” of a dairy cow on the cover of each issue in an effort to differentiate it from its competitors. This is the second dairy magazine and the sixth agricultural trade publication Pentagram’s Austin office has redesigned. Stout and his team previously reworked three magazines for the American Quarter Horse Association, Dairy Herd Management magazine and Drovers magazine (about the beef industry).

“I wanted to show portraits of dairy cows on the cover that showed their individual personalities—so that they were more than just commodities the way beef cows are,” says Stout. “That’s easier said than done because those damn cows don’t have much personality.”

How does one art direct a cow?

Beautiful, thoughtful, and elegant design. He deserves all the accolades he is receiving for this fine piece of work.

New York graphic designer Nicholas Feltron has once again posted his personal annual report online. The report covers the year that was, including feltron's favourite albums, restaurants and bars. This year's edition is full of crisp info-graphics as always, and also available in a printed format. DB.

Link

Beautiful work by phobia (Katsuta Mako).

Monograph is a monthly publication from Creative Review which was launched in September 2007. Each Monograph is published as a 20-page A5 booklet, tipped on to a page in the magazine and featuring a personal project or collection of creative work. Our December Monograph (above) featured a selection of pieces from Daniel Mason’s archive of design materials and print processes, shot by Will Thom. This archive is used by Mason to demonstrate the possibilities inherent in various materials and processes to clients in his work as a print consultant. The idea behind Monograph is to provide subscribers with an additional, exclusive benefit that only they receive – Monograph is not included in news-stand copies of Creative Review. Other issues have featured posters from the collection of Spin’s Tony Brook, Tim Flach’s Equus project and a beautiful collection of modernist stamps from Iain Follett. The next issue features Tim Simmons’ photographs.

Link. Via monoscope.

Simon Wild produces the kind of illustrations that force you to wake up in the morning. Bold, wild, bright colors with distorted characters. Dig it.

Link.

An interesting commentary on technology by an artist who doesn't own a cell phone. Conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has created the world's first silent ringtone - an homage to Cage's 4'33", performed live before an audience in 1952.

A remastering, "My Cage" is also a remix, introducing serendipity into the equation, delivering performances unpredictably, whenever calls come unexpectedly. The silence may take place without the listener being aware of it. Or the listener may hear a call - phantom silence - when there's no one on the line. "My Cage" all-encompassing: Even those who don't use it as a ringtone have the potential to experience it, in the silence of an unanswered call. Note: To fully enjoy this work, and to give callers the opportunity to enjoy the complete silence as well, it is recommended that you turn off your voicemail.

While noting that Mr. Keats doesn't have a cellphone of his own, and may be less-than-qualified to make global pronouncements about them, Start Mobile CEO John Doffing believes that "My Cage" may be a platinum hit. "People want a respite," he says, "and not everybody has the time or money to go to a spa. The virtues of silence are unsung.

My Cage. Via Wired. Repost.

ECONOMIZE COMPARTMENTALIZE
Mixed media on paper

A series of drawings about city housing. Created using spray paint, carbon transfer, pencil, and gouache.

Company Standard

Today I feel like the illustration above. Catia Chien is an avid painter who works from her studio in Southern California. She describes her work as rich with whimsy, colors, and energy. She is currently producing work for the children's book market, film/animation, comic book anthologies, and galleries.

Inspiring portfolio and wonderful pieces for sale in her shop. Via BBlinks.

What is music? First, a definition of terms. What is it we're talking about here? What exactly is being bought and sold? In the past, music was something you heard and experienced — it was as much a social event as a purely musical one. Before recording technology existed, you could not separate music from its social context. Epic songs and ballads, troubadours, courtly entertainments, church music, shamanic chants, pub sing-alongs, ceremonial music, military music, dance music — it was pretty much all tied to specific social functions. It was communal and often utilitarian. You couldn't take it home, copy it, sell it as a commodity (except as sheet music, but that's not music), or even hear it again. Music was an experience, intimately married to your life. You could pay to hear music, but after you did, it was over, gone — a memory.

Technology changed all that in the 20th century. Music — or its recorded artifact, at least — became a product, a thing that could be bought, sold, traded, and replayed endlessly in any context. This upended the economics of music, but our human instincts remained intact. I spend plenty of time with buds in my ears listening to recorded music, but I still get out to stand in a crowd with an audience. I sing to myself, and, yes, I play an instrument (not always well).

We'll always want to use music as part of our social fabric: to congregate at concerts and in bars, even if the sound sucks; to pass music from hand to hand (or via the Internet) as a form of social currency; to build temples where only "our kind of people" can hear music (opera houses and symphony halls); to want to know more about our favorite bards — their love lives, their clothes, their political beliefs. This betrays an eternal urge to have a larger context beyond a piece of plastic. One might say this urge is part of our genetic makeup.

Criterion DVD packaging, personal project, from Mia&Jem in San Francisco

Noise DJ and sound artist Joe Banks interviewed for BBC Scotland music programme "The Beat Room" in 1998. The content of the interview relates to recordings of (usually VLF band) radio noise produced by electric storms, the sun, live mains electricity, VLF "whistlers", domestic appliances, IT technology and industrial hardware, railway and metro systems etc, produced by Disinformation (and released by the record company Ash International) on CD and LP between 1996 and 1999... "the musical signature of the urban environment". See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B13-09K-Ubc... (video and text) for more details.

Maeda's SIMPLICITY: Why Being Creative Is Good

From the 2007 TED conference in Monterrey.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate -- the talents of many brilliant people. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

Beautiful site from French firm Panoplie production

The personal photo diary of Rachel James, an American photographer living in the Netherlands. I have been following her work for years - always interesting.

Aan de dijk, photographs by Rachel James

Annie Collinge Photography

March Castle is a freelance Illustrator working with a variety of media from pen and ink to embroidery, woodcuts and paper constructions.

Portfolio

We think of design as a way of improving the quality of life. Not until we judge design from the point of view of the user is it possible to fully grasp its power.

Read the whole presentation by Nick Bell Design given on Pecha Kucha Night D&AD President's Lecture in Manchester, November 2006.

Scrap from Ideas magazine “Revista mensual de labores” (from Barcelona, Spain) 1936. View the whole photoset.

By the Boards of Canada, also known as BoC, a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Their music is reminiscent of the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s television and contains recurring themes of childhood and nostalgia. Michael and Marcus admit to being inspired by the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group's name is derived. [source]

Plusminus Zero's Coffee & Tea MakerHeater. Via Mocoloco.

The shower head at the end of the shower curtain rail: simple and ingenious.

By Matteo Thun & Partners

Kate O'Connor is a designer, artist, and illustrator based in Halifax Nova Scotia. The above was found in her flickr stream.

Kate O'Connor
Co and Co

Born 1967 in Shimane. Majored in architecture at a science and technology department. This original video camera designer was inspired by a play of Ishinha, a contemporary performance group and decided to be an artist.

Link

kawaii_noir: Of sakura and nihilism

Beautifull clear information graphics from Flight Thru Instruments, a US Navy pilot-training manual from the 40s. Created by Harley Earl and the Graphic Engineering Staff at General Motors. Link.

Flight thru Instruments (Flickr photoset)

In her 2006 book, “Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine — and What Smart Companies Are Doing About It,” Cynthia Barton Rabe proposes bringing in outsiders whom she calls zero-gravity thinkers to keep creativity and innovation on track.

Link. Via SwissMiss.

Link

Wonderful work from Canadian Darren Booth. I especially love his hand-lettering work a selection of which is pictured above.

Pancake (王 建智) is a colleague and former classmate of mine based in Taipei. I've had the good fortune of using his art on a number of projects including taiwanease magazine where the above art appeared in issues 10 and 11. He doesn't have an online portfolio that I know of but you can see more of his work on his flickr stream.

Great work from Los Angeles based Artist Katherine Chiu. The above was available as a print from her online store (as well as all kinds of other interesting things).

If you talk to people who do great work, they will tell you that there is dedication based on the inner need to craft something wonderful. It isn’t money or external rewards that drive the best people ...

Link.

From The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp.

Amabile and her team are still combing through the results. But this groundbreaking study is already overturning some long-held beliefs about innovation in the workplace. In an interview with Fast Company , she busted six cherished myths about creativity. (If you want to quash creativity in your organization, just continue to embrace them.) Here they are, in her own words.

Link.

The resulting feedback loop delayed and distorted the sounds through the iterative process of being digitised, transmitted, output and re-digitised, creating echoes of the room and nearby people that sounded much like chirping birds."

It's complex and a bit rough around the edges but I bet it was great. This might be something to try again in the near future.

Japanese Whispers is the work of Haque Design + Research, who specialize in the design and research of interactive architecture systems.

I'm back in Taiwan from Bangkok and traveling to beautiful center of the island to install a series of sound art installations in Puli, Nantou County. A very unlikely location for somewhat strange sounding work.

This series of work is something that I have been playing with for years. It brings together a number of different interests of mine including mobile networks, sound as art ( I was a musician way way back which is part of my underlining love of the 'road'), and autonomous creation.

I described traffic 2 (the second in a series of 3) as, a sound art installation that attempts to create spontaneous real time auditory compositions or improvisations using data gained from network traffic. A secondary aim is to test our understanding of the usage of network data in the public and private sphere. We treat the network as an unseen life form - a body in constant change - born from the usage patterns of the users of the system. By using network traffic as a tool for creating music we in effect illustrate this unseen form.

Unlike traditional musical performances, Traffic 2 does not exist over a set period of time. It is in effect never ending and never the same at any given point in time.

Some sound examples can be found here.

Xu Bing was born in Chongqing, China in 1955, but grew up in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution, he was relocated to the countryside for two years starting in 1974 and later enrolled at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 1977, earning an MFA in 1987. In 1990, he moved to the United States, where he still lives today, making his home in Brooklyn, New York.

His work can be installed on your Nokia mobile by visiting his page on Nokia's Connect to Art site.

Hulger.com and Zircote One Off.

Written about in numerous webblogs and nominated by Time as one of the Best Inventions of 2006, CuteCircuit's Hug Shirt is embedded with sensors and electronics that allow you to feel a sense of touch, skin warmth and heart rate of the sender - a simulation of physical closeness - bringing the sensation of a hug from a distant loved one.

The Hug Shirt is a Bluetooth accessory for Java enabled mobile phones. Hug shirts don’t have any assigned phone number, all the data goes from the sensors Bluetooth to your mobile phone and your mobile phone delivers the hug data to your friend’s phone and it is seamlessly transmitted Bluetooth to his or her shirt!

Sending hugs is as easy as sending an SMS and you will be able to send hugs while you are on the move, in the same way and to the same places you are able to make phone calls (Rome to Tokyo, New York to Paris).

More on their site. Via Craftzine.

According to career coach Meg Montford, director of Abilities Enhanced in Kansas City, "People come to me to find a better way to juggle their jobs and families and still have time for themselves. More and more, people are deciding to 'chuck it all,' to slow down the merry-go-round of life, to leave high-paying jobs to follow their passions." "
Working it Out

Regular investing accounts. When you open up an account at ETrade or whatever, you're generally opening up a regular investing account, which is also called a taxable account. This means that when you sell your stocks, you'll pay taxes on your gains--and if you sell your stocks in less than a year, you'll pay a huge amount (regular income-tax rates, like 15% or 30%)."
The World's Easiest Guide To Understanding Retirement Accounts

Someone must be getting married down the alley. Firecrackers and a steady stream of people with gifts abound.

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.
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