another side of design
- More of Britain from Above
A couple months ago I came across Britain from Above but was disappointed that I couldn’t see any of the videos b/c I didn’t live in Britain. While I still can’t see them all, the above YouTube clips give a glimpse at some pretty cool things. Via Flowing Data’s 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year.
- My month of Fresh Signals inside Coudal Partners (December 2008)
For the past month I’ve been adding sites (and commentary) to Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals under the name MST. I have to admit that I did feel a bit of pressure to submit as their audience is pretty big and discerning. I tried to keep the same mantra that I use for my own Link Drops which is to present stuff that I find interesting that’s just slightly outside the norm for a design blog. The only difference being for Fresh Signals was that I put out a reason d’etre with each link so it had some context. While posting there I decided to leave those links out of my own Link Drop so I could do this post which collected them all. As always I was curious to see how the links would fit together organically afterwards. And as I mentioned with my final link, thank you Steve and Coudal Partners for the opportunity of dropping some stuff.
Wednesday December 3rd
How hard could it be to recount ballots? Apparently not as easy as it sounds as Minnesota Public radio has shown with examples. Plus you can vote for what you think the voter’s intent was. Via Graphpaper.There’s at least 25 ways to blog, and to think I thought there was only one way.
Thursday December 4th
It’s not the first greatest hits of 2008 list and it definitely won’t be the last, but here’s a review of Last.fm’s ‘Best of 2008′.Friday December 5th
We all know where the Sea Pirates are now, but how about a real time emergency and disaster map?Monday December 8th
From one of the most iconic photos of the Great Depression (Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange), one of the children reminisces about how her Mom felt about having the image taken. Via design:relatedPirates vs. Ninjas: Who would win? Google has figured it out.
This green light is actually a lantern.
Tuesday December 9th
This time lapse video of Antarctica is quite smooth. Via Blake Whitman.A lot of fixed gear goodness.
Wednesday December 10th
The Evolution of Game Controllers in diagram form.Three posts that I think should be required reading if you’re looking for some context about the death of print (or how information is flowing today, and it’s not from paper) 1. The Newspaper Industry and the Arrival of the Glaciers, 2. Content and Its Discontents, and 3. Change Happens.
Thursday December 11th
The humming blog post.Friday December 12th
For the pet that doesn’t know how to float there’s the illuminated inflatable pet collar.Perhaps you’re curious about physical computing - here’s the start of a site from some smart folks
Monday December 15th
If you ever visit Portland and it snows stay off the roads as this video shows real life bumper car action. The sound effects are a nice touch. Via WK30 Ways to Die of Electrocution, the flickr set from bre pettis.
Tuesday December 16th
Is Web Design 95% Typography?Learn how to save Grandpa’s life and more with your iPhone over the holidays with 10 iPhone Apps you might not know about.
Wednesday December 16th
Let’s get meta on 2008 - The List of ListsLearning about Mountain Design
Thursday December 18th
There’s an amazing pdf of people’s design process’ collected by Hugh Dubberly at [Beta] How do you design? Via eightface.comFriday December 19th
Hey look, it’s the Alphabet Truck!Tuesday December 23rd, 2008
One idea a minute for 27 minutes…Nice to see how dogs, band names and gig posters can work hand in hand as Dog Art Today proves. Via FitaCola.
December 30th, 2008
I’ll never look at ppt. in the same way after watching this. Via superlocal.January 2nd, 2009
Sadly this is the last of my quick link drops for Fresh Signals, thanks Steve and Coudal Partners for letting me try some things out. Photo: Untitled. Via Chris Glass.
- Link Drop for the Week Ending in Friday the 2nd (January 2009)
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For the first Link Drop of twothousandnine I thought I’d change the format up. Bigger screen shot of the link, title and text below the image. That update should fix some of the issues pc people have had in the past trying to read Link Drops. If you found this week you were clicking more or less, liking it or hating the different format please let me know. I’m always curious for that kind of feedback.This time of year allows for lots of “best of” lists so you’ll find some of those this week. There’s a couple sites that have to do w/ Starbucks and the CBC has a couple entries. End of year wrap ups also tend to offer advice about the upcoming year, but anytime someone gives a prediction the reader is at best to take it at it’s peril. Following blindly without question has consequences as the last two years has shown.
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The Times Square New Year’s Ball Timeline
Gizmodo wrote “Last year, we published the 100 year timeline of the Times Square New Year’s Ball. Now we’ve updated it with Philips’ and New York’s newest, most dazzling time ball ever. The 2009 New Year’s Ball is 12 feet in diameter…”
Best of 2008: A List of Design Lists
design:related wrote “It’s without a doubt that 2008 was an interesting year. With over 150 lists from more than 20 different categories, our year-end list of lists should keep you busy for a while.”
Music Lists
Is it bedtime wrote “All across the internet looks-back at 2008’s music are giving way to predictions for 2009. Time then for some lists other people have made:”
Hack for free Starbucks wi-fi on your laptop (if you have an iPhone)
an error occurred while processing this directive wrote “If you have an iphone, you get complimentary access to any AT&T wi-fi hotspot. These hotspots are in several chains, including Starbucks.”
Good typography matters.
1934 wrote “Lately, in my work at NPR, I have become more aware than ever how important good typography is. My main project right now is as lead designer on NPR.org’s redesign, which will go live sometime in 2009. Luckily, I have…”
HOW TO 2008: How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media
Mashable wrote “During 2008, we’ve tried to bring you the best how-tos for achieving more with social media tools: everything from Google products to blogging to online video to productivity and beyond. Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Friendfeed, and Delicious all got the How-To treatment.”
Abanico horario
noquedanblogs wrote ““Fan clock” es un reloj que decora el espacio existente entre la hora y los minutos con un abanico. “Fan clock” the colored space between the hour and minute hands suggest a traditional folded hand-fan. Design by Stanislav Katz.”
Book Review: Why Do Architects Wear Black?
A Daily Dose of Architecture wrote “Architects wearing black is a stereotype on par with architects wearing black, plastic-frame spectacles. Most architects don’t abide by these fashion recipes, but if somebody outside the profession comes across…”
“logical or emotional”
i am the weather wrote “Craig Oldham recently published 12 IN 12, an accompaniment to a talk where he gave a listing of 12 things he learned in his first 12 months as a graphic designer. In the talk he touched upon the different cultures of designers…”
outlines
About: “What is 2- and what is 3-dimensional? At first sight the black outlines seem to be the object, but with a change of angle reality shifts. The black lines only form a bench or a chair from one angle, from every other point of view there is no…”
Express Yourself
Visual Culture wrote “en Wilson has designed a chair for children that you can customize by coloring the chair as you see fit. The chair is cut from a flat plywood sheet, and the 2 Dimensional parts are assembled into a chair. If your feeling really inspired…”
HIPSTER RUNOFF Presents 2k8’s Most CMMNTd Posts
Hipster Runoff wrote “HIPSTER RUNOFF is a place for discussion. HIPSTER RUNOFF is a place for commenting. HIPSTER RUNOFF is a for some of the most important social commentary in the world. HIPSTER RUNOFF is a place for progressive ideas…’”
Smart People / Smart Ideas from December 2008
Eyecube wrote “I’ve been thinking a lot about how I interact with social media. What am I giving and what am I taking? How, and what, am I sharing? How am I supporting the efforts of others? To that end, I started doing something on Twitter…”
Full interview: Rahaf Harfoush on government transparency
About: “As transparency and two-way communication become the norm in business, media, and journalism, why has so much of what’s happened in Ottawa recently taken place behind closed doors? Is there something Canada can learn from…”
Grid-A-Licious
About: “Grid-A-Licious™ is a Wordpress Theme made by Suprb. Divs are placed in chronological order with a special grid. Grid-A-Licious uses the jQuery javascript framework which can be downloaded from www.jquery.com. This layout can be seen at…”
Hallie Jones - Artist
About: “Content on this page is from my radio show “Artificial Happiness” on WXBH Low Power FM, Brick Radio. All files are .mp3 format. The show features IDM, cliq-hop, experimental, hip-hop, ambient, leftfield, and downtempo electronic music.”
Will Amateur Booksellers Kill Publishing?
GalleyCat wrote “Over the weekend, NY Times writer David Streitfeld ignited a literary blogosphere controversy by blaming amateur booksellers for publishing’s current state of financial distress. The article’s central point proposed that avid..”
Company woe
Economist wrote “To look ahead, look back to 2002. NO MATTER what happens in 2009, financial markets can surely not be as turbulent as they have been in 2008. The virtual demise of the independent investment bank, the rescue of Fannie Mae…”
The Digital Ramble | For Richer, For Poorer
The Moment Blog wrote “The Digital Ramble explores aesthetic topics through materials found online. Seeing Daniel Arsham’s “Hammock” right now, the metaphor hits me in the gut: everything is in free fall, or so it feels. Poverty is relative, it has…”
20 Predictions for ‘09
Archinect wrote “We at Archinect like to fondly look back as each year comes to a close. This year we’ve decided to take a slightly different approach. Instead of rounding up the greatest hits from 2008, we’re moving ahead and setting…”
25 fantastic design articles from 2008
David Airey wrote “As a little thank you for reading my blog, I asked what your favourite design blog post was from 2008. A fitting way to finish off the year and to bring in the new, here’s what you chose, and why.”
Monocle Launches Monocle Weekly: Small Talk, Big Issues
Design Mind wrote “Yes, we live (again) in the “age of conversations.” There is something reassuring about listening to smart people having cultured conversations. When I was young, I would listen for hours to music-free radio programming…”
10 Religious Holidays Not Yet Exploited by Hallmark
Mental Floss wrote “What’s not to love about holidays? You get to take off work, everyone’s in a great mood, and there’s always plenty of delicious food lying around. Wouldn’t it be great if we could sustain all that fun and excitement throughout the year?”
Seen at Starbucks
Junk Charts wrote “If you happened to be in a Starbucks recently, you might have picked up some charts, which was what happened to one of our regular readers and commentators, ZBicyclist, who then tried his hand at chart critique here…”
Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions
CNBC wrote “As a new year approaches, it is customary for journalists to make predictions about the future. This time around, CNBC.com has a collection of prognostications from CNBC bloggers on a special page: Predictions ‘09.”
The year 2008 in photographs (part 1 of 3)
Boston.com wrote “2008 has been an eventful year to say the least - it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I’ve done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008…”
The Ten Most Popular Web Videos Of 2008
Silicon Alley Insider wrote “2007’s most popular Web videos included amateur-created stuff like Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain” and Chris Cocker’s “Leave Britney Alone.” This year professional content creators produced nine out of the year’s 10 most…”
Jesse Wente’s Top 10 Films of 2008
Blog – Q wrote “Q’s Screenboy Jesse Wente offers his take on the Top Ten Films of 2008. Did he get it right? What did he miss? What would your Top 10 be? JESSE’S TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2008 - I tried to keep it to movies released in Canada in 2008”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- Here’s to Twothousandnine
Today’s the day where you get to make a wish that comes true. Use that responsibility wisely.
- 12 months of condensed DesignNotes in 2008
Wanting to take a look back so I can figure out how to proceed with 2009, I grabbed a bunch of notable posts that I thought were worth spending a bit more time with. Below each image I’ve made a note now that I’ve had some time away from each of the original posts. Here’s to the new year and thanks for visiting, and linking and commenting and…
Do you have an iPod shuffle… and live in New York?
01.16.08
This seemed like a great idea at the time, trade my shuffle with someone else and hear some new music. I ended up trading but due to my own business it took way too long to trade back with her. I learned my lesson – anyone else want to try trading?Copywronged Google Map
01.18.08
I wanted to combine some of my photography with a listing of location. Another idea with good intentions, problem was it took a lot of time to map it out and I had no way of exporting the data offline if I wanted to. So after a while I stopped posting to that map.Living Patterns
01.29.08
This post gave me the first really big pop traffic wise for the year. There were a ton of people that thought the map was pretty cool.Architecture wrapped up as a shoe
01.31.08
I didn’t see as many women wearing these shoes as I hoped (probably b/c they were stupidly expensive). But it’s still true that NYC has the most beautiful people anywhere in the world…Actually seeing those Obama posters outside
02.02.08
This was before things really took off with Obama, I had seen the Hope graphic floating around the web but this was the first image I saw of it actually on the streets. A while after that post someone mailed me a couple of the posters. That was a very good day.Orange Bicycles in New York
02.03.08
There was an interesting discussion after I posted this - unfortunately when I installed Disqus after the fact that comment stayed in the old database of comments. In effect the person was objecting to the commercialization of the idea of the Ghost Bike. At the time I was pretty much on the opposite side thinking that a company shouldn’t have to worry about worry such things. As I’ve walked a lot through the city and seen those white bikes out there, that person may have been correct with their objections.Making something understandable as opposed to just simplifying
02.04.08
I still luv this design, I wish everything I design could be as smart as that tag.Talking Sticker
02.08.08
I was fascinated with how this post happened. Took a photo of a cool sticker, the person that designed it contacted me and this was the diagram that tracked it.36 days of New York Sky: January 16th 2008 - February 20th 2008
2.20.08
This project is still going on for a couple weeks, but the number of people that saw it and contacted me after this post was quite amazing. Not sure where this project will end up but up until now it’s been interesting to watch it grow.Looking at MoMA’s Design and Elastic Mind Exhibition
02.25.08
There was three events that were sort of art, sort of design that I really enjoyed seeing. One was MoMA’s Design and Elastic Mind Exhibition, Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum and Buckminster Fuller at the Whitney. I would have luved to have blogged more about the last two exhibitions but since they don’t allow photography inside I’ll just mention that it’s a stupid policy that will hurt them more than what it will help. Banksy’s installations would be up there too in really good things to have seen now that I think about it.Can you exist without a permalink?
02.26.08
Until people realize this concept they’re toast.Unmarked Shoe
02.28.08
Just like the Frietag instruction booklet I mentioned above, Camper’s shoes are a product that other designers should want to strive for. They are perfect for the weather of NYC and never wear out. There’s only two brands of shoes that I buy, Camper and Giraudon.A Tagger in your midst?
03.03.08
I feel bad for whoever had to make this and deal with the text.Love Me, next come the t-shirts – maybe on Etsy?
03.07.08
Here’s to wishful thinking.Taking a quick look at Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior
03.26.08
Of any of the books I blogged about, this by far had the most hits coming from people wanting more info on it.Multiplatform Complaining
03.26.08
This post was the start of me sketching more fluently for blog posts.Air Bear
03.31.08
Pure genius via Wooster CollectiveFaux Eiffel Tower Extension
04.02.08
haha, sigh.Clay Shirky on Stephen Colbert
04.05.08
There’s a lot of really smart stuff in this book. In my top 3 of things to read, and more interestingly I don’t think this book will date itself as much as some of the others along the same genre that came out this year.Thinking about Mind 08 after the Symposium
04.07.08
I’ll really liked the design I did for this tag cloud, nothing more nothing less to this post.reDesign Haiku
04.12.08find, define, design
then refine the redesign
do it one more timeA friend wrote this for me over im as I talked about work…
I hope the start of next May has some great posters like this year.I Hate Perfume, Ideas I Love
05.10.08
How cool would it be to commision someone to make a scent for you?Today’s Sky Mention
05.14.08
This unexpected use of my sky pics made me smile.Looking at yourself as a Graphic Designer
05.15.08
Very smart diagram…If you care about your stuff, make sure people can duplicate it
06.01.08
This concept was an addendum to Permalink post.My M.O.
06.11.08
This was another post where I got back some unexpected responses. I like going back every once in awhile to read the dialogue.What are you doing today?
06.22.08
While this ad could be just about for anything, there’s some subtle and smart things going on past the surface. Too bad I couldn’t embed it and had to take a screen shot.The Flo in Florent
06.30.08
This is why people need to hire designers.NPR Cancels The ‘BPP’ (Bryant Park Project)?!?
07.14.08
I’m still not happy about this. More surprising (or maybe not), no one has picked up the ball on voice news since. The Daily Beast is starting to pick up the pace but it’s just txt for now.Scrolling Through Photos
07.21.08
I can’t say enough positive things about this startup. There’s a ton of smart things going on with them.People interpreting news events and information
07.30.08
I don’t understand why this hasn’t been fixed or updated. There’s so much potential for Google Hot Trends to be a go to source.Everyone is not just a designer, but also a photoshop expert too
08.14.08
It’s not bad enough that everyone wants to be a designer, now they think they can art direct photos too.Hypothetically Say You Lost your Mac Book Pro
08.18.08
Possibly my best blog post of the year imho.Clean iPhone psd template
08.20.08
I’m surprised that Apple never made a psd themselves so people could sketch out apps.Say what you mean w/ a click
08.25.08
For all the chatter of sites that tagged brands, I think Dear Adobe changed the game more so than any other UGC site. If I was wanting to study site concepts for company’s, this is where I would start. And no, Adobe didn’t design the site.Flow sex
08.27.08![flow_sex [not sure who designed this]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2803057603_e5f8c09b40_m.jpg)
What can I say? A lot of people are interested in sex.Walking around NYC finding the David Byrne Bike Racks
09.02.08
I like to walk and this gave me an excuse to go to some areas that my normal routes wouldn’t take me.Banksy at work in NYC: Broadway & Howard St.
10.01.08
There’s a saying about being lucky to be good, but you have to be good to be lucky. Sometimes it just helps being in the right place at the right time.How I Find Good Stuff on the Web
10.15.08
This post kind of blew up things for me. The number of smart people that checked out my blog after this was pretty amazing. Hopefully I can build on that in the new year.What’s your internet?
10.21.08
The amount of traffic I received after this post kind of made me eat my words about tumblr and ffffound. I just wished tumblr would archive things better…The old and new MetLife Signs above New York
11.02.08
It’s amazing to watch the stats on how many people from MetLife check out this post everyday.Looking at the Nooka Zon
12.08.08
I’m guesstimating that I got an extra 9,000 unique hits b/c of this post. A couple blogs and twitter really sent a lot of extra traffic my way b/c of that watch.What Graphic Designers need to understand
12.09.08
I’ve probably had more face to face conversations about this post than anything else I blogged about this year.
- When waiting in line at the post office, these thoughts came to mind…
Many months ago I spent way too much time in the post office behind MSG with Tamara as I helped her send some packages. I thought it was great timing as I would be able to buy some of those Eames stamps. Sad thing after waiting a stupid amount of time was that there were none available. Ironically, months later, after my wife waited in two other lines she was finally able to get stamps, not at an actual post office but online. Completely ridiculous that a person can’t even buy the stamps they want in person and has to order them online. That’s what she did and gave me the best present for xmas possible. Below are my notes from typing on my iphone while waiting in line back in September.
As I took some pics of the actual stamps I took them out of the frame she put them in. Nice detail that she didn’t mention to me. She cut the mat board left the back info to be read. Nice…
1 MIN: what the hell, that’s the line?
1.5 MIN: contemplate the pros and cons of staying in line or not
2.25 MIN: try to think of the positives - that lasts about 90 seconds.
4 MIN: feels like I’ve been standing for 20 minutes
8 MIN: my head starts looking at the ceiling
10 MIN: I notice that the air is stale and there’s no air conditioning
12 MIN: fits start happening
13 MIN: talking out loud about how slow things are
13.5 MIN: there’s two lines - I better be in the right one
15 MIN: I pretend not to hear someone ask what time the post office closes - relieved that it’s open 24 hours
18 MIN: after watching the number of people trying to talk to Tamara I wonder if anyone has actually been married after trying such a bs thing
20 MIN: I’ve decided the breaking point is when you either start grumbling or start laughing hysterically
- Link Drop for the Week Ending in Friday the 26th (December 2008)
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The last Link Drop of 2008 almost never happened. I completely forgot that today was Friday after all the “hoopla” that comes along with Xmas. After walking Maddie it kind of dawned on me that it might be Friday. In any case I managed to throw something together. Hopefully you enjoyed yourself Xmas (if you do that) as much as I did and by the time you read the next version of this it will 2009 – how crazy is that?– m
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‘welcome back’ bus by miñarro garcía, héctor serrano studio and javier esteban
Designboom wrote “earlier this year the transport for london held a competition asking people to design a new bus for the city. aston martin together with foster + partners were named winners just a few weeks ago but coming…”
Dan McPharlin
The Strange Attractor wrote “Dan McPharlin builds miniature analog synths and audio equipment. All models are meticulously hand-crafted from cardboard. View the full set. For more on the process, and other projects he’s involved in, check out this interview.”
The Death of Photojournalism
The One Train wrote “I’m going to keep this short because I think Vincent Laforet’s recent post sums up my thoughts fairly accurately, but stories like this one make me livid. Time, I don’t care how badly you’re suffering right now, this is nothing short of taking advantage of photographers…”
Flickr in TIME
Heather Powazek Champ wrote “A few weeks ago, Douglas sent Tara and I an email with the news that TIME was interested in publishing a few Flickr photos in their “Person of the Year” issue. Would we be interested in making initial introductions on behalf of their photo editors for a top secret feature…”
Diconcerting things that I read today on my iPhone while sitting in car at an icy 24-hr Walgreen’s parking lot while baby is passed out from flu shot and vaccinations and her damn Rx isn’t ready yet and I am jonesing to finish a work deadline
Gongblog wrote “States prioritize fixing roads over…”
The Making of Manhattanville
About: “Since Columbia announced its plans to build another campus in the Manhattanville section of West Harlem over four years ago, the university has met a great deal of opposition from local residents, business owners, community boards, and members of Columbia’s own faculty…”
“The Mobile City on The Situationists”
I am the weather wrote “What struck me was that locative media practitioners often refer back to the situationists as some kind of ancestors, as if they’re working in the same vein. The situationist love for traipsing about town is shared by locative artists who similarly enjoy taking…”
Emma Hack Takes Body Art To A New Level With Her Latest Collection
If It’s Hip, It’s Here wrote “We’ve seen body painting before. I’ve posted about well-known hand painter, Guido Daniele and the body painting of shoes on feet by Temptu. And how could I forget Veruschka?* But it wasn’t until…”
Showing the difference between a 19″ and 22″ suitcase
37 signals wrote “What size rolling luggage to buy? Shopping at Amazon, it feels like a shot in the dark.Lots of closeups of handles and wheels, but what’s the difference between a 19” or 22” bag? There’s no real guidance. This is the kind of situation where a site that focuses on a specific niche can really shine.”
Sometimes Product Packaging is More Important Than the Actual Product
Hipster Runoff wrote “As yall know, I am an alternative businessman with relevant opinions on how to set up a successful alternative business. If u come to my blog offices for a consulting session, I will teach u how to turn 10 Am Appy…”
Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker’s Library
Wired wrote “Nothing quite prepares you for the culture shock of Jay Walker’s library. You exit the austere parlor of his New England home and pass through a hallway into the bibliographic equivalent of a Disney ride. Stuffed with landmark tomes and eye-grabbing historical objects…”
GateHouseGate
Recovering Journalist wrote “I got a call a few weeks ago from a usually smart print editor who was outraged about aggregation sites linking to his paper’s content. In his view, the aggregators were “stealing” his content and selling ads against it–even though all the aggregator was doing, like most of the breed…”
Bird Tracks in the Snow
Ben Fry wrote “Look at all the footprints in the snow: The previous play began to the right of the white line, where you can see most of the snow was cleared by the players lining up. Just to the left of that is another cleared area, where a group of players began to tackle Sammy Morris…”
The Buzzwords of 2008
NYT wrote “Politics without buzzwords is like sports without clichés, math without numbers or Blago without bleeps. Tough to imagine, in other words, especially in such a game-changer of a campaign year in which buzzwords were flying like shoes. Buzzwords are what political wiseguys…”
Paul Goldberger: Architecture’s Ten Best of 2008
The New Yorker wrote “Architectural history will probably treat 2008 more kindly than it deserves to be treated, only because there was architecture to talk about. Never mind that most of the buildings finished over the last twelve months are relics of a time when we actually thought we could afford to build things…”
“Digilogue” U-City
Cellar Door wrote “I’ve been interested in the relationship between analogue and digital for a while; two years ago I explored stepping back and re-exploring analogue for the ritual side of things. Over time, though, I started noticing that this doesn’t need to be the case anymore…”
Ownership in a Digital World & Blurring the Boundary Between Products and Services
PSFK wrote “A group of auto dealers in Oregon secretly attached GPS tracking units to the cars of customers with poor credit to better track them in the event of repossession. This questionable act has brought up a debate…”
Coffee-Vodka recipe
Drinks Mixer wrote “Boil water and sugar until dissolved. Turn off heat. Slowly add dry instant coffee and continue stirring. Add a chopped vanilla bean to the vodka, then combine the cooled sugar syrup and coffee solution with the vodka. Cover tightly and shake vigorously each day for 3 weeks. Strain and filter.”
spy
About: “spy can listen in on the social media conversations you’re interested in. What do you want to listen for?”
Most Coveted Covers
201 covers from Readerville……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- Xmas over here at DesignNotes HQ and some music for the day
With one day left till Xmas I thought it was a good time to say thanks to all of you that took the time to read one of my posts, made a comment (even the not so nice ones, those keep me on my toes), posted a link from a different site back to DesignNotes or just passed on my site to someone else. I kind of feel I’ve been on a bit of a roll the last couple of months which has made this tough year a lot easier to experience. Hopefully things weren’t too crazy for you and everything that you want in 2009 will happen.
I also thought this song was apt for the day James Brown - Soulful Christmas, and if you liked that, here’s a full playlist of stuff that probably won’t make you want to go postal in the mall: December Mixtape: Merry Christmas Baby.
- This post took 12 months to do; looking back at my two-thousand-and-ate Monthly Posters for 2008
Many months ago, twelve I think, I received a really interesting package of posters from Jennifer Daniel. The twelve posters each represented a month and were illustrated by a diverse set of people. Before I had even opened the tube I knew I was getting something good when the url for the calendar set was http://httpcolonforwardslashforwardslashwwwdotjenniferdanieldotcom.com/calendar Soon after I took pictures of each poster and blogged about it b/c that’s what I do. But I also wanted to take pictures of them in context – I hate seeing design that’s not in their context when photographed… So each month when I changed one of my pin boards I photographed what was around the monthly poster.
Now that I can look back at the last year in calendar posters I can appreciate the genius in the idea a bit more. The concept of changing a poster space each month is kind of cool. In practical terms I don’t think I ever turned my head to see what the date was on paper, but for adding some great visuals it really made my area a bit more fun to work in. It’s such a good idea I might have to steal it next year…
- Hey airport architects, why not design more power outlets in seating areas?
I’m sure there are airports out there that have realized that a majority of business travelers use laptops since they all offer pay as you go wifi services. The thing is, it’s kind of hard to use wifi if your power supply is limited b/c you can’t find a power outlet. That was me this afternoon walking around trying to find a place to plug in my laptop in Toronto. I had to spend a couple hours at the airport and it was not easy to find an outlet that was halfway down a hallway. So on the fluke chance that you’re actually taking an American Airline’s flight in Toronto and you find this post, there’s one decent outlet near the restaurant in B12. But it seriously baffles me that wifi providers don’t realize that they need to power the laptop’s if you want people to use wifi.
- REVIEW COPY: All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem: An Inappropriate Book for Young Ladies* by Laurie Rosenwald
When I started going through Laurie Rosenwald’s book “All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem: An Inappropriate Book for Young Ladies*” I almost immediately thought that it would be a good companion to “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be” by Paul Arden. The only difference being that Rosenwald’s book is not just for creatives.
I obviously don’t fit who the book was written for as I’m not a teenage girl, but as each page reads like a poster with something to ponder it’s pretty hard not to be interested in it. Having no experience with editing what so ever I kind of felt for the editor of this book. How would you even start? The text, ideas and images are so intrinsically put together that any edit of those elements would change the entire page. Right beside the ISBN and Library of Congress info is a mention that “art created with scissors, paper, crayons, a digital camera, Illustrator and Photoshop”. If there’s anything missing in the book, it’s that I would have luved to have seen some scotch tape and glue drips on that pages. It would have added some texture that would have made me forget that I’m looking at a book that’s combined digital and tactile materials.
Another initial reaction was that there should be an audio version of this book. Why? There’s so many bursts of energy that I think it would be fascinating to hear her blurt out everything that’s she’s put on each page. Thinking back about another similarity to Arden’s book, her book is something that you can pull off the shelf, find a page that speaks to you and get something from it. It’s like a reference book that’s not boring.
BOOK DETAILS
Title: All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem: An Inappropriate Book for Young Ladies*
Authors: Laurie Rosenwald
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
- Daylife Select Release
A couple weeks ago I mentioned the release of Daylife Select on the blog. This is an updated post following our latest release. I want to preface this a bit by mentioning that a lot of people at Daylife made the latest version at http://select.daylife.com kicks some serious ass and I’m just one person that had a hand in it. This is coming from my pov and shouldn’t nec. be seen as official commentary in anyway. I’m just happy that it got released and that there’s some really cool stuff I want to mention… I couldn’t help but smile a bit as I watched the PSFK video of Good Ideas in 2009 in Digital as they pretty much talked about what Daylife can do already as an aggregate. So I might recommend listening to that video as you click around our Daylife Select.
There’s a couple significant things that this release accomplished in my eyes, the site now is starting to have a personality (no more all white boxes), we’ve opened a lot more ways to view photos in the news, and we’ve been able to place quotes in context. There’s also a ton of backend improvements, but an engineer is better qualified to talk about that. I’ve used Banksy to illustrate of that Daylife Select can do. There’s the topic page that collects all the data that we can pull in via Headlines and articles, photos, videos, quotes, wikipedia and related topics. The topic page has four main tabs that collects each of those media types and a fifth that is an overview of everything. The photo tab now has a button that will now display all the images in a grid format that allows you to go through a ton of images really quickly. Once you find an image you want to see by itself it will go to a photo detail page, where you can see even more photos underneath.
One of my favourite features about Daylife Select is that it can pull quotes. I can get a glimpse of what a lot of people are saying quite quickly. Up until now you would click on the quote and it would send you off site. Now when you click on a quote it goes to a page that will allow you to read it in context and find more quotes of similar nature. The page needs a bit more design luv, but that will come soon enough.
Of course there’s more stuff coming up for Daylife Select, but until you can actually click to see it you’ll have to wait. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’d encourage you to click around and let me know what you think works and what doesn’t. Did something seem weird – that kind of info. As you can imagine the site is in constant growth and evolution mode.
- Link Drop for the Week Ending in Friday the 19th (December 2008)
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This week’s Link Drop has a number of topic pairs that when I started gathering sites this week would not have been able to predict. There’s two posts talking about toilet paper, there’s a couple things about Intel and there’s two unrelated posts that have “2 or 3” in the title. This is the last Link Drop before I take some serious time to recharge my batteries (will be reading a lot of technical and non tech. books) and start getting ready for the exciting stuff that’s going to happen in the new year. But don’t worry I’ll still have a couple links next week. It’s not like I won’t be on the interwebs.Have a great holiday and see you in a week or so
– m
I had a bit of a jump this week again in terms of new people visiting, so if you’re wondering what this Link Drop is, it’s basically a collection of stuff that I want to spend reading over the weekend. If you’re reading this on a PC or from a rss feed reader, please accept my apologies as I’ve found out it looks like garbage. Hopefully that too will be fixed in the next year.
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Twenty Typefaces of 2008
FontShop News wrote “’Twas a big year with hundreds of new fonts released at FontShop during 2008. It’s time to honor the tradition we began last year and bring you the best of them. There’s one change, though: with so many notable types this time around, we thought we’d double the number of honorees.”
Exclusive: The Street Art Scene is like One Big Block Party
Flavorwire wrote “If you’ve walked the streets of New York, you’re already familiar with the artists now showing in Ad Hoc Art’s Brooklyn Block Party. Outside of the five boroughs, you may have become acquainted with them online through sites like Streetsy or Fecal Face — they’re some of the…”
Climate change: The carbon atlas
Guardian wrote “New figures published today confirm that China has overtaken the US as the largest emitter of CO2. This interactive emissions map shows how the rest of the world compares. Global C02 emissions totalled 29,195m tonnes in 2006 – up 2.4% on 2005”
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes
Overthinking It wrote “So way back in April, I first had the idea of editing together inspirational speeches. Since then, the Dow has dropped 3,000 points and one million jobs have been lost. The people of the United States are now a ragtag bunch of scruffy underdogs, down by three touchdowns at halftime…”
Wearable Toy Piano Shirt
Craziest Gadgets wrote “Musical shirts are all the rage these days. You can make yourself one of these wearable toy piano shirts and then get together with someone who has the Electronic Drum Kit Shirt and start a shirt band. Unfortunately the piano shirt is just a one-off made by a crafty…”
Laying off George
Jeffrey Zeldman wrote “George Oates is responsible for much of what is great about Flickr. George Oates is the last person a sane company would lay off. I don’t know what to think about Yahoo after reading how they laid off George Oates.”
Intel releases social media guidelines
Titanium wrote “Last week Forrester released research that suggests that 84% of corporate blogs suck. Those bloggers should have read this standards guide first. Intel gets it: “Social communication from Intel should help our customers, partners, and co-workers. It should be thought-provoking…”
TAXI CAFÉ
lovely package wrote “Nice work from TAXI for their chain of cafés. Be sure to read the copy on the coffee bags. Fonts used: Akzidenz Grotesk.”
5 Inspiring Web Design Conference Speeches you Shouldn’t Have Missed in 2008
Blog.SpoonGraphics wrote “Web design conferences are fantastic for keeping up to date