Archive for April, 2010

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April 28th, 2010

The 2 Day Gazette

48 Hour Magazine is, “a raucous experiment in using new tools to erase media’s old limits.” Over two days, a team of experienced designers, editors and publishers will attempt to design, curate and edit a web and print based publication. I’m looking forward to seeing how this idea develops. I might even contribute.

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April 28th, 2010

The Island of Ireland, Dubai

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Ireland’s a great place to live. It would also be a good place to start-up an umbrella manufacturing company. Imagine my delight when I discovered that it going to be possible to enjoy Irish home comforts in the sun. One day!

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April 28th, 2010

“Some people see things as they are and say why…”

Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?

George Bernard Shaw

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April 28th, 2010

The Dubai Fountain

A simply beautiful water and light display from the United Arab Emirates. There is talk that Dubai are hoping to host an Olympic Games in the next decade or two. With this as a marker can you imagine how mind-blowing their opening and closing ceremonies would be?

Via: Chris Armstrong

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April 28th, 2010

The Sign Painter — Damon Styer

Two of the lovely folks at FontShop, namely Stephen Coles and Chris Hamamoto, put together this video profile of Damon Styer and his crew at New Bohemia Signs, just around the corner from both FontShop and us as well (at least here in San Francisco). I’ve always wondered who did many of the amazing signage around this city and was pleased to find out so much of it was done by New Bohemia.

Naz Hammid, Weightshift

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April 27th, 2010

Hard Graft: iPad Cases

Hard Graft iPad Cases

Okay. So, I’ve yet to get my hands on an iPad, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been on the look out for some nice accessories to go along with my future best friend.

Hard Graft, self styled purveyors of fine lifestyle accessories, have announced that they have a plethora of stylish iPad cases on the way. Time to save those pennies.

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April 26th, 2010

The Best Typography Goes Unnoticed

Embracing the Digital Book

Craig Mod has followed on from last month’s “Books in the Age of the iPad” article with a journal entry that looks at “Embracing the digital book”.

Craig takes an in depth look at the shambolic state of current eReaders before outlining steps that their manufacturers (namely Amazon and Apple) could implement to improve readability on their platforms.

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April 26th, 2010

Logopond iPad Solution

Logopond iPhone App

Logopond is a fantastic site for logo design inspiration. It has been in my bookmarks longer than any other showcase site.

Realising that Logopond was in need of a platform that works seamlessly on mobile devices, Sean Farrell and David Blanchet knocked their heads together and came up with these visuals for an app. Great work.

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April 26th, 2010

Failure — Not an option.

Ole Martin Kristiansen, a graphic and interactive designer from Norway recently asked this question:

“What would you attempt to do, if you knew you could not fail?”

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April 26th, 2010

iPhone: The Fourth Generation

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It’s no secret that Apple’s Jon Ive draws a lot of industrial design inspiration from the works of Dieter Rams. Last week, leaked images surfaced on the web depicting what is widely regarded as being the fourth generation model in the iPhone range.

With the device firmly established as the markets number one smart phone, it is safe to assume that Ive is now taking bolder steps in the direction of the Rams aesthetic.

I totally agree with what Todd Heasley wrote on his Posterous blog: “My gut says that, with the iPhone’s success established, we could be seeing an even more confident expression of Ive’s design vision.”

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April 26th, 2010

Linda Grant on Appearance

[Appearance is] not everything, but you cannot have depths without surfaces. [Clothes] communicate with what is within; between the two there is always a great dialogue.

Linda Grant, author of ‘The Thoughtful Dresser’.

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April 26th, 2010

Madison Avenue Men

Don Draper

Fellow Mad Men enthusiasts will be interested to know that its creator Matthew Weiner has said that the show will end after six seasons. While it’s hard to come to terms with that fact that we’ll not be seeing Don and the gang post-1965, it is a sign that the shows writers have a clear vision for where the newly-founded ‘Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’ is headed.

The sixth season of Mad Men, due to air in 2012, will be its last according to the Mayan calendar if creator Matthew Weiner has his way.

If you’re a creative and you’ve yet to get hooked on Mad Men. You really need to sort that out.

Via: Kottke.

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April 26th, 2010

Ten Times Better

I recently stumbled across an interesting entry on Contract’s blog. Eoghan McCabe’s post entitled ‘Ten Times Better’ makes a lot of sense.

We live in a society that doesn’t readily embrace change. We live in fear of falling flat on our face. We embrace what’s comfortable; what we know. Eoghan explains in plain and simple English the importance of building products/services that are at least ten times better than that your closest competitors.

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April 26th, 2010

“Editing is to media as a performance…”

“Editing is to media as a performance is to a composition: It is an act of interpretation, rich with opportunities for personal insight, misguided judgments, or brilliance.”

Liz Danzico, Bobulate

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April 22nd, 2010

If the iPad is “just a big iPhone,” then I’m just a smart monkey.

If the iPad is “just a big iPhone,” then I’m just a smart monkey.

@rstevens

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April 13th, 2010

The Internet is about scale. I was studying this, because I was trying to figure out how big this thing is. Between the dawn of humanity and 2003, roughly 5 Exabytes of information were created. (An Exabyte is roughly a million gigabytes.) We generate that amount in every two days now…. So there is a data explosion. And the data explosion is overwhelming all of us. Of course, this is good business for Google and others who try to sort all this out.

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

Via: Nieman’s Megan Garber

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April 13th, 2010

Alice for the iPad

Alice for the iPad looks like a fun interactive reading experience. I could really do with an iPad to try this out!

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April 13th, 2010

Threads

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Threads make quality, great-looking laptop cases & bags. Yes, I want one.

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April 12th, 2010

Good design speaks. Good design tells your visitors that you care about your product. Good design at the front-end suggests that everything is in order at the back-end, whether or not that is the case. Good design is what separates the best from the “good-enough”.

Dmitry Fadeyev, The Value of Good Design

Via: David Kaneda

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April 12th, 2010

Jonny Campbell

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Jonny Campbell (formerly known as Gonzo Design) has recently designed and launched a new online presence for himself over at jonnycampbell.com. Jonny has wonderfully utilised a unique back-end coding aesthetic that web folk will undoubtedly love. The site also sports a journal that is well worth keeping up with.

Disclaimer: Jonny is studying alongside me on the MA Multidisciplinary Design course at the University of Ulster. He’s also one third of Optic (along with Danny and I).

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