Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Measuring Tape Watch!



Designboom posts about this watch concept, "ORA." I was very sad to see these are only 3D renderings by greek designer alexandros stasinopoulos!





Here are more pictures on his FLCKER!

Monday, September 28, 2009

More strange materials

Designboom posts about "living wall"

A Hungarian artist, Edina Tokodi lives in Brooklyn and creates art work out of mosstika, a kind of moss idea for growing on vertical surfaces.

This once again takes STREET ART to a new level! I checked out her page, and I've totally seen her stuff in Williamsburg!

Design boom focused on her recent project, using a wood board to let the moss seep through, creating a silhouette.


This post reminded me of the crayon portrait artist, seen here in one of my first entries.

This is so great! It reminds me a yarn bombing and LED graffiti. Frikken really interesting, out of the box ways to create street art!!

Friday, September 25, 2009

It's just. SMART.

Core 77 posts about this old NUT BAG design from this design student. It's just SMART. A side for shells. I'd use it!

BRILLIANT!
Also learned that all the black spots on side walks are from GUM! Crazy man.

Bringing addition to the next level!



The Design Blog posts about this potentially HUGE new product, “Mini-Nespresso,” by Hopfgarten Gerda. If this functions properly, I can see it becoming a best selling. Coffee is so huge nowadays, and people pay a lot of money each day to buy it from stores. Being able to make it ANYTIME, ANYWHERE will be very appealing to a lot of people. Bravo!

Responding to an Icon

Designboom posts about an iPhone notebook, NOTEPODS, by Jacky Winter and Inventive Labs.

I think this is a great example of how designers can respond to the current design world. They took an iconic new design product, and made something else useful to go along with it. This is extremely smart. It's used a lot in the designing of apps.. so they are making money from people who will use it to try to make money!

A stencil has also been created. This is the second one put out by Design Commission, with updated icons.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Wow, Legos.


Now, seeing as I just wrote about LEGOs.. you'd think I'd give the subject a break. But, I could not ignore THIS post on Design Boom.

An interactive LEGO SHIRT! And again, it's not trademarked by LEGO, but by a separate vendor, ThinkGeek.com. Once again, a smart company using the power of nostalgia to sell products.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Making a Website.

Seth Godin, marketing guru, writes this entry about starting a website. He claims most people when asking for his advice, ask the wrong questions.

Here are some of the questions he poses (6out of 23):
  • Are we telling a story?
  • Are we earning permission to follow up?
  • Are we hoping that people will watch or learn?
  • Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
  • Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
  • Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?

I found this entry interesting and useful because I'm at the point where I need my own website. I actually wrote my own blog entry about it over the summer.

I think he is a very smart man, because you should know the purpose and goals of your website before you build it.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Nostalgia sells.

Everyone likes remembering the past, their childhood.
For most families, LEGOs we a childhood staple. Designboom posts about LEGOs working with a media company, Blue Digital to make lego inspired products like camera, video camera, clocks, and more.



This was smart of LEGOs because other companies have been making "unofficial" LEGO inspired products for years.

Calculator
USB Drives

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Street art goes VIDEO

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.


This is one of the most amazing pieces of street art I have ever seen in my life.

I found this through another entry where I posted a regular mural done by "BLU"
This video was animated and edited by him. I would love to interview this man about how long, how much money and time was put into this project.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Long Exposure Photography.

Designboom posted this entry about a British "Light Sculptor," Michael Bosanko.

He never photo edits, all the work he does in within the camera, shots being done in one exposure. And he creates beautiful work like this:
This caught my attention because someone did something similar as an ode to the street artist known for his "Dick Chicken" work.

This is an example of "Dick Chicken"

I finally asked a friend who does photography why the person swishing around the lights doesn't show up. And it's because the exposure is too long to pick up the person in the background.

I'd still like to see it for myself!!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Glory of Street Art

Designboom features artist BLU, at the fame festival

Here are some more murals from that event.

And a time lapse video. After working in Williamsburg all summer I've really come to appreciate street art. Sometimes it has a meaning, sometimes it's just to be funny, or to make people remember the artist. This art has a message. I wouldn't say that always makes the art better. But here is does.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Design Process

The Design Process
  • research
  • sketching/brainstorming
  • prototyping
  • execution
  • iteration
  • adductive reasoning

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Cooking made easy!

This excellent cooking device was Italian designer Murizio Maiorana. It's light weight, easy to clean, and flexible for storage. It also heats up and cools down fairly quickly to make cooking fast and easy.

I really like this design for things like camping, college students, the office, and people on a tight budget!

Great Idea.. but will it be used?

Design boom presents a product designed in design booms competition "it's aperitivo time."

This idea is comical, but could potentially be successful! The product will be presented in London on September 30th. I think this is a great place for this product to premiere because in London, people drink in the streets and the pubs are packed right after work!


Sunday, September 6, 2009

Found Object for project


I found this object in an entry on "The Design Blog." It's a lamp with stack-able rings that you can change to fit the mood of the room or occasion!

Shape ideas: curves, rectangle, tripod, humanistic/bug-like (because of the legs)
Word ideas: transform, mood, fit, curves, feelings, modern, morphing, sterile, creative,decor, luminous, light, shining, flow, wave, color, free-stand, swirl

Here are some images from the 3 countries I chose: Korea, Hungary, and Tunisia.

WORD TO TRANSLATE:
SWIRL!

Hungarian
ÖRVÉNY
PRONOUNCED: ER VEIGN (SOUNDS LIKE FOREIGN) ERVIN


TUNISIAN (french)
noun
  1. tourbillon
  2. remous
  3. volute
verb
  1. tourbillonner
  2. tournoyer
  3. faire des remous
KOREAN
doong gool (pronunciation for a korean word basically meaning swirl)
bul kyeoda means light

NEW WORD OPTIONS:
Vingulmous
Vogulin
Vivogul
Gulmous
Vuler
Duvin
Vuin
Voviegn
Vodun
Vindover
Kyinmous
Voda
Inda
Kyvo
Invo
Voeo
Inmous
Deson

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Goofy Idea

The Design Blog posted this entry about a new way to talk on your cell phone AND be stylish at the same time!
As seen above, you wear rings that act as the microphone and headset. I think this is an absurd idea. First of all, it looks ridiculous and there's no way holding your hand like that for a prolonged amount of time could be comfortable.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Strange Materials

Crayons. They seem like an elementary material to most. But artist Christian Faur has pushed the norm with these crayon portraits, posted in design boom. Using them like pixels in a pointillism style drawing.
‘poppies’ by christian faur, 2007
He also uses materials like shredded paper.
"The image is made possible because of the way the text is rendered using different font sizes and “kernings” to appear darker or lighter."

Thursday, September 3, 2009

First Assignment

Get shape ideas / words from product or service choice.
Dozens of images from 3 different countries!
Words from 3 countries, combined to form 1, fake name!