'round design

Würste und Gesetze

2009-12-08T23:54:00.000+13:00

"To sleep well at night, one should never see how laws and sausages are made." - Otto von Bismark

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

ciao

Oberflächlich

2009-12-07T23:58:00.005+13:00

Well, I just received a YouTube contact invitation from Oliver Kray, a young designer from Berlin. I watched a couple of his videos, and I have to say that he's doing an interesting job, a little bit 50's retro for my taste, but quite interesting in terms of the finished result.

Another German wall and façade-designer with extraordinary talent is Philip Gaedke. My first impression was: "Gosh, I'll have to use something like that on my next multisensory room". You know, I've never been a fan of superficial textures or any kind of ornament because most of my teachers were influenced by Loos's point of view: "ornament is a crime". For me, texture should be achieved by the own nature of the materials... but I must admit that good graphic design can do wonders and I really admire those results.

ciao

Ecotoys

2009-11-09T01:24:00.004+13:00

Now that our lives are centered around the offspring, I guess it makes sense to blog about some good and bad baby-product design. Let's start with a nice idea, although I don't have the privilege to have any of these "eco-toys":

Fact: there are 900 million batteries used each year in the UK alone and many are in toys.
Fact: Only 2% of batteries are currently recycled - the rest end up in landfill sites and are poisoning our planet!
Fact: Kids love electronic toys!
The problem: How do we give children what they desire but without poisoning our planet?
The solution: - ecotronic toys - batteryless electronic toys! The face of the toy world is about to change forever!

The designs are too "retro" style for my taste, but the idea of electronic toys that can be charged with a dynamo by shaking, twisting or squeezing is brilliant!

ciao

Dr. Strangelove

2009-10-28T23:07:00.004+13:00

Regardless of more than 10 million unique visitors on it's last month of life, Dr. Evil's new partner "mini-me" decided to just kill geocities. I had my Geocities property before those Yahoos took control. Some of my former students may remember the pages with their drawings. I must admit that I stopped updating those pages about 4 or 5 years ago, but they were still getting at least 30 visitors each month. It's now over.

Quite interesting questions:

"MySpace isn't exactly at the peak of its popularity, but there are still tons of people who use it. What if they just pulled everything? What if Google bought Facebook and decided to kill it? What if your Tweets vanished? Sure these things seem unlikely now because these services are still fresh. Well, GeoCities was once the "it" thing too."

Wetpaint's bailout plan (via) to "save" some of the lost properties seems like a good option... if only they were not partners with the Evil Empire too.

It's all in their "terms of service"... all those free e-mail, social networks, webhosting, blogs, picture hosting, services have a clause that they can simply just "terminate" the service. It's just that nobody takes that seriously. However, it's even worse to think that the new doomsday "big red button on a briefcase" is not to launch nuclear weapons... but a new executive order from the US president, which allows him to just shut down the internet in case of "emergency". Better start looking for some webhosting, e-mail and other internet services that are based in Switzerland or something.

ciao

Impaaaactooo !

2009-10-22T00:33:00.003+13:00

The Architecture Student Association of Monterrey Tec (SAARQ) must have been quite busy. They sure did a great job getting all those guest speakers for their XIV Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura "Arquitectura de Impacto" which will be held on October 28- 30 at Campus Monterrey. More info at 1:100.

Daniel Bonilla
Colombia
http://www.daniel-bonilla.com/

BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group)
Denmark
http://www.big.dk/

OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture)
Holand
http://www.oma.nl/

Toshiko Mori
USA
http://www.tmarch.com/

Sean Godsell
Australia
http://www.seangodsell.com/

BAK Arquitectos (besonias almeida kruk)
Argentina
http://www.bakarquitectos.com.ar/

Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Chile
http://www.pezo.cl/

Tezuka Architects
Japan
http://www.tezuka-arch.com/

Dominique Perrault
France
http://www.perraultarchitecte.com/

Isaac Broid
México
http://www.isaacbroid.com/

ciao

Another reason to visit Guadalajara in October

2009-09-30T00:19:00.005+13:00

I just received information about this International Congress on Urbanism: "Reinventar la Metropoli" (Reinventing the Metropolis) organized by Colegio de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico Oct 14-16. Entry is free (yes again! free as in free-beer). You just have to register before it is all booked... and bring your own beer, because that one is not actually free.

Some of the speakers are:

Dra. Judith Rysen (UK), Fundacion Metropoli

Dr. Jordi Borja (Esp), Universida de Oberta de Cataluña

Dr. Thomas K. Wright (USA) Regional Plan Association

Dr. David Amborski (Can) Ryerson University, Toronto

Dr. Alejandro Echeverri (Col) Medellin

Dr. Alfonso Vegara (Esp) Fundacion Metropoli

ciao

Choutaim

2009-09-28T23:04:00.003+13:00

This a great opportunity to showcase your designs for free (Yes, for free!) at the largest design event in Mexico: designfest 09 ... which is like Oktoberfest, I mean, because it will be held next 15-17th October... not because of the beer. Or, you can have the beer or maybe a tequila, while you walk through Expo-Guadalajara. It's up to you.

Anyway, you can send images of your work to: israel@design-fest.com . The organizing committee will decide which projects will be displayed for free (Yes, for free!) on any of the 3 pavilions: furniture, fashion and eco-design. Be quick!

ciao

Cocoon wins Electrolux Design Lab09

2009-09-27T23:48:00.002+13:00

Meat and fish maker Cocoon wins Electrolux Design Lab09

Posted using ShareThis

Die Wettbewerbsteilnahmebedingungen

2009-09-25T22:57:00.013+12:00

Originally the title for this post was: "Die Welthabitat-tanz-lessen-ausdrücken-kunst-musik-produktinnovation-entwicklung-wettbewerbteilnahmenbedingungen" but it messed up the CSS formatting... Well, that's not a true German word... it's not even grammatically correct, but sure it got your attention or you wouldn't be reading this. This time I have several announcements to share, let's start in the same order as the title. First, a photo competition:

In support of the University of Auckland’s new partnership with UN-HABITAT (www.unhabitat.org), the University will be celebrating World Habitat Day on Monday 5^th of October. World Habitat Day provides us with an opportunity to think about the state of urban settlements at home and around the world. The day aims to increase collective awareness of the human habitat and encourage greater responsibility for its sustainable future. This year’s theme highlights the forces which currently influence the development of the world’s urban settlements, in both developed and developing countries. As the world’s population living in urban areas steadily increases, issues of climate change, poverty, resource depletion, social exclusion, food insecurity and economic instability become more pressing and have the potential to significantly impact on our urban settlements well into the future.In an effort to encourage public participation on this day, the University, with the support of Engineers Without Borders and Architecture for Humanity, is launching a photo competition around this year’s theme, ‘Planning Our Urban Future’. Participants of this competition will generate a creative photographic response to the following question:

‘What are the challenges to creating a sustainable Auckland?’

Contestants are invited to submit a photo with a relevant caption or title highlighting the challenges to creating a sustainable Auckland and suggesting a potential solution to make the city and/or region sustainable for our future generations. Some examples might include, but are not limited to, challenges such as – sustainability, waste, poverty, housing shortage, overcrowding, public transport, accessibility, ecology, renewable energy… and so on. Info and submittions : worldhabitatday@auckland.ac.nz . (download guidelines)

Then, more or less on the same style, there's a logo competition for an UNESCO initiative called DREAM Centers. (DREAM stands for Dance, Read, Express, Art, Music.)

This competition calls for a logo that represents the DREAM Center program of the UNESCO/Tribute 21 Fund. The logo is intended to be used on the program's stationery, brochures, and collateral materials including possibly in video clips, on signage and on the web. UNESCO/Tribute 21 DREAM Centers is an arts education program for children – DREAM stands for Dance, Read, Express, Art, Music. The project was inaugurated in 2003 with the goal of providing underprivileged children, especially in post-conflict regions, the opportunities and tools to express themselves creatively. Submissions until Nov. 17 via the Design 21-Social Design Network only.

Then, last but not least, there's a PDMA workshop at TEC milenio on new products development, innovation, competitiveness, etc... October 8th, Monterrey, N.L. contact: 01 (81) 10520001, 03, 04 y 05 educacioncontinua@tecmilenio.edu.mx Lic. Concepción Olivo; Email: colivo@tecmilenio.edu.mx

ciao

DesignFest 2009

2009-09-19T22:36:00.003+12:00

Only 4 weeks until DesignFest 2009, the largest design event in Mexico, 15-17 October 2009 at Expo Guadalajara.

Conferences:

1. Alejandro Rodriguez, Diseño Publicitario (México)
2. Jorge y Mario de Anima Estudio, Diseño Animado (México)
3. Anabel, Jorge y Mario de Triveroquio, Diseño e ilustración (México)
4. Beatriz Nieto, Ediciones Digitales Interactivas (México)
5. Luis Eslava, Objetos Extraordinarios (España)
6. Boke Bazan, La ilustración en Valencia (España)
7. Hector Esrawe, Diseño Industrial e Interiorismo (México)
8. Sol Sender, Diseño Ganador (EUA)
9. Ximo Roca, Tendencias en Diseño (España)
10. Manolo Baño, Diseño para el Mundo Real (España)
11. Modesto Granados, Diseño Grafico en la ADCV (España)

Workshops:

1. Hector Esrawe, Nuevas Rutas
2. Anima Estudios, Diseño de Personajes
3. Boke Bazan y Modesto Granados, Tu Alma es mi Portada
4. Luis Eslava, Me la paso el día Ahorrando
5. Mario, Jorge y Anabel, Ilustración: Historias Desplegadas
6. Ximo Roca, Sentados sobre Patas
7. Manolo Baño, Diseño para el Mundo Real

For more information, contact:
(33) 1204-0262 y 3124-0379
01800-822-0288
alejandra@design-fest.com
http://www.design-fest.com

ciao

Todos tenemos una historia con Jumex

2009-09-18T23:46:00.005+12:00

A (very) long time ago, I wrote about Unilever's Lynx (axe in some countries) deodorants. They may have very good odd-vertising campaigns, but the smell of their fragrances, the graphic design, and the usability of the "trigger" thingy are terrible! I don't know if it works because it's almost a world wide monopoly and people don't have a choice, or because, well, not everyone has good taste.

I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier... this has been in my "to do list" for quite a while. I just didn't had the excuse (or the time) to do it, but the story of the hijacking of a plane with just a couple of Jumex fruit juice cans is just surreal. Of course, being Mexico, the jokes and conspiracy theories if it was just a publicity stunt were immediate. I must admit, that even I did some jokes about that on my facebook status: "it was probably a Broccoli juice he used to threat the pilot".

Anyway, can you imagine what would have happened if instead of broccoli juice cans, he would have used these deodorant cans? Not even Jack Bauer, Samuel Jackson, Harrison Ford, Steven Segal or even all of them together could have handled that! I'm glad to have here PZ Cussons' graphite deodorants, they are just great... not only they smell very nice, the "trigger" thingy is totally ergonomic (shaped so it can be used in any direction with not much effort), and the graphic design is absolutely fantastic! That's exactly how (good) product development should be made. Interesting that "graphite deodorant" has an 8.6% market share in New Zealand, with little or no advertising, compared with the constant bombardment of unilever's ads. This also shows that brands from so called "developing countries" can offer better products than the much larger "first world" corporations, when they put their minds into it. Good on ya' mates! Now, I don't have to worry about women biting my bums when I ride on a bus, bookworms attacking me at the library, a herd of crazy girls chasing me down mission bay, or transvesti raping me on an elevator! What a relief!

ciao

The Evil Empire got IKEA's soul

2009-09-01T21:57:00.009+12:00

Just a few weeks ago, SAAB was recovered from the hands of the amis. Just look at the "all new" 9-5 and how GM turned it into an abomination! It looks like a "pimped" impala. No wonder things were going really bad for GM (and SAAB). Now IKEA has slipped into the hands of the Evil Empire (I'm talking about Microsoft, although King Henry VI would say : "what a coincidence!").

IKEA changed the typeface of their catalogue and advertisements to Microsoft's Verdana from their long time trusted customized Futura font, which has been part of their strong branding for more than 50 years. This change has generated a global outcry... a lot more tweets for Verdana/IKEA than Ted Kenneddy! I don't think they researched the public's reaction, and this could become like the infamous "coca cola classic" story.

I may be wrong, but I remember that the whole issue with the Verdana and Arial typefonts was about copyright. Microsoft had to pay royalties if they wanted to include them in windows. So they asked for something similar for which they could have all proprietary rights. MS argues that their modified typefaces are more legible on computer screens... it may be true, but it's like comparing pepsi with coca-cola (with all due respect to all albañiles). Verdana would be even worse than a pepsi... probably like "home brand" or RC cola! Can you imagine what would happen to McDonald's if they suddenly decided to change to RC cola just to save a few bucks... they would probably go bankrupt in a week! The IKEA Catalog is the 3rd most printed publication in the world after the Bible and Harry Potter, so it is a similar problem with proprietary rights for IKEA, as it was for Microsoft.

“I think it’s safe to say we were surprised by the response,” says IKEA spokeswoman Monika Gocic. In order to avoid expensive licensing costs, in 2001 IKEA abandoned New Century Schoolbook and Futura (which had been in use since 1970) in favor of IKEA Sans, IKEA Serif and IKEA Script which they had had developed for their exclusive use. However, these fonts are not available across all marketing, advertising and information channels, so IKEA was left with inconsistent branding at best.

IKEA states 3 reasons Verdana is the solution:
Functional - Verdana is legible in all media.
Simple - Verdana is available in all languages.
Cost-Efficient - Free of charge, Verdana will help IKEA keep costs under control.

I'm sorry Mrs. Gocic, but replacing something with a cheaper version, will give "cheaper looking" results most of the time. Just pay the extra bucks, and send copies of the necessary fonts along with the graphic identity manual to your advertising agencies around the globe. It's not like the company owned by the 3rd richest man on earth can't afford it... or does he?

Using the reverse rationale of Microsoft: if they substituded Furura/Helvetica with Verdana/Arial so they could look OK on the old CRT computer screens... it means they are not made for printed media! In fact, they look awful!

And for the love of God, get someone who actually speaks spanish to translate (and correctly accentuate) the spanish catalogue in the US! Or is it that IKEA can't afford that too?

ciao

Hyperreality

2009-08-29T22:13:00.008+12:00

The eight finalists of this year's Electrolux Design Lab are finally announced. They will compete for the first place in the finals, which will take place in London on September 24, 2009, at 100% Design London. Once again, the jury includes a wide selection of experts like: Nipa Doshi, furniture designer and co-founder of Doshi Levien design studio, David Fisher, Design Director of internationally renowned product design consultancy Seymourpowell, Marisol Manso Cortina, Manager of the Color Design Group at Nissan Design Europe, and Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design at Electrolux.

Now. There are several things worth noting. First, we have to remember the brief for this year's competition: Designs for the next 90 years. Having that in mind, I think the students did a great job, despite the controversy when the final 25 were announced. All final projects have that touch of futuristic appliances, some may seem like science-fiction, but of course the discussion is not whether they could be manufactured in the coming years or not. This kind of design exercise, is like any other design brief... the twist is that the technological or social system constraints of today's life are not there. The point is to see how far off (or out of the box) the designers can get when they don't have that kind of restrictions. Some are quite timid to step out into the unknown, some were quite brave and literally went out of this world (See all 25 finalists on flikr).

However, strictly on the aesthetic side of the experiment... I don't expect that future appliances would look like "2009 retro style". I mean, they all look contemporary and stylish to today's standards... or probably by Stanley Kubrik's 2001 standards... but I would like to see how the younger generations imagine the styles of the future. For example, the streamlined style was a response in a time when railroads, and automobiles influenced the perception of modern times being too fast. We now consider a trip on a locomotive to be terribly slow, and yet, we still love streamline designs. So, how do we translate the internet, videoconferencing, mobile phones, "speed dating", text message language, fast food... etc. into an aesthetic style? i.e. how do give a specific shape to hyperreality or whatever "future reality" that comes next?

Do you remember the times of the "multi grain" food in the 80's? Every food was made with whole grains... it was everywhere! I remember it was also the time when the first "recycled paper" came out, and some people said "This is too much! Now even the paper is multigrain!". Well, with all this "environmental revolution", I believe that a new "hippie-environmentally friendly" aesthetic style will emerge with materials that will clearly show traces of being recycled, more ceramics and less plastic surfaces, of course more terracotta and natural colours instead of plain whites. I don't think that future products will carry on the legacy of styles that were used during these times of mass production... I think that probably the shapes will probably look more like artisan hand crafted objects... I don't know, but our vision on the aesthetics of the future, is like the legendary vision of Georges Méliès for the flight to the moon was back then, I guess.

So, anyway. Here are the eight finalists in no particular order. You can watch the video for each entry and remember to vote for your favourite for the "people's choice award":

1. Cocoon by Rickard Hederstierna, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden

Watch video: Cocoon

Intelligent food to save the planet
“Cocoon” is a sustainable response to the world’s growing population and its desire to consume meat and fish. Similar to heating popcorn in a microwave, Cocoon prepares genetically engineered and prepackaged meat and fish dishes by heating muscle cells identified by radio frequency identification (RFID) signals. The signals detect the specific dish and then suggest the required cooking time. This process uses science to create food, lifting a burden on the planet by reducing the need for further intensive farming and fishing. The negative effects of this process, including the mass transportation of food around the world, clearing of land and distortion of ecosystems, are then negated.

2. Le Petit Prince by Martin Miklica, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic

Watch video: Le Petit Prince

One small step for robots, one giant leap for humankind
“Le Petit Prince” is a robotic greenhouse designed to facilitate the future exploration and population of Mars. Le Petit Prince takes care of a plant it carries inside its glass case, which is mounted on top of its four-legged pod. In search of nutrients to care for the plant, the robot is programmed to intuitively learn the optimal method for this process. It also reports its movements and progress to its fellow greenhouse robots via wireless communication so that they can learn from each other.

3. Moléculaire by Nico Kläber, Köln International School of Design, Germany

Watch video: Moléculaire

Print and eat your food
Nico Kläber takes the marriage of science and cooking to a new level with “Moléculaire”, the 3D molecular food printer. Moléculaire is influenced by chefs that scientifically and painstakingly experiment with food and food states to surprise and provoke fresh ideas in cooking. Kläber recognizes that this approach, as it currently exists, requires great skill, time and knowledge. The Moléculaire simplifies the process and acts as a computer numerical control (CNC) food printer for both professional and domestic kitchens. It autonomously prepares basic and otherwise difficult to create two and three dimensional parts of meals. It works with a layer by layer printing process using small particles from diverse ingredients. This provides simplicity, accuracy, repeatability and, of course, great tasting food!

4. Naturewash by Zhenpeng Li, Zhejiang University, China

Watch video: Naturewash

Washing in the great outdoors
“Naturewash” is a waterless washing machine that uses negative ions to wash nano-coated fabrics. Horizontal in shape, the washing machine has three touch screen settings: clean clothes, grass scent and flower scent. A user can lie or sit on Naturewash to clean or refresh the clothes they are wearing. For a more thorough clean, clothes can be placed flat on the washer.

5. Renew by Louis Filosa, Purdue University, USA

Watch video: Renew

Steam cleaning coming to a wall near you
“Renew” is a smart steamer that refreshes and cleans clothes. With two steam blades, Renew “blasts” garments clean. An infrared scanner and radio frequency identification (RFID) gather information about a garment from specifically designed clothing tags. Renew is safe to use and disables the steamer if an unidentified object is detected, such as a hand. An OLED touch screen allows the user to interact with Renew and learn about their clothing. At 25% the size of a current washing machine, Renew conserves space and is made of recycled aluminum and glass.

6. Teleport Fridge by Dulyawat Wongnawa, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Watch video: Teleport Fridge

Beam me up… Scottish ham
Dulyawat Wongnawa envisions a time when the technologies found in science fiction become reality, specifically teleportation. His concept, “Teleport Fridge”, teleports food, eliminating the time and distance a person has to travel to buy fresh groceries or products from a store or farm. Using touch-screen technology as the interface for the teleportation process, the Teleport Fridge simply teleports food to compartments in its refrigeration and freezer units.

7. Water Catcher by Penghao Shan, Zhejiang Sci-tech University, China

Watch video: Water Catcher

Flying in the rain
Penghao Shan has created a product that addresses water shortage. His solution is “Water Catcher”, a flying rain catcher and water purifier. This automated device dispatches small flying balls in the air to catch raindrops. After the raindrops are collected, the balls return to a homing tray that purifies the water for drinking. Once purified, the balls take the drinking water directly to a person to be drunk. The homing tray also reads fingerprints to determine what additives should be added to the water to ensure the drinker optimizes their health.

8. Bifoliate by Toma Brundzaite, Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuania

Watch video: Bifoliate

Washing dishes is double the fun
Putting away clean dishes from the dishwasher is often a tedious job. That’s why Toma Brundzaite has designed “Bifoliate”, a space-saving, wall-mounted double dishwasher that allows the user to put dirty dishes in one compartment and use the other as a shelf for clean dishes. The dishwasher uses ultrasonic wave technology to clean making it more efficient and eco-friendly than today’s dishwashers.

ciao

Tapatirojin

2009-08-27T00:52:00.004+12:00

Still in time, and really glad to invite you to the 4th international design forum in Guadalajara. The event also commemorates the recent launching of Centro Promotor del Diseño Jalisco (DICEN Jalisco). On this fourth edition, the guest country is Japan... and a dearest friend and colleague will be one of the speakers: Naoko Takeda.

Venue: ITESM Campus Guadalajara, Mexico.
Dates: 10-11 september 2009
Contact: silviakuan@cedigraf.com
Speakers: Keita Shimuzu, Modo, Naoko Takeda, Eos Mexico, Shiho Masahito
Cost: $ 450 pesos

ciao

Spookhuis

2009-08-03T21:43:00.007+12:00

Not only the grammys or the oscars get worse every year, not because of the event itself, but because the entries get worse and worse year by year. The Home Magazine's annual Home of the Year, and the Registered Master Builder's Home of the Year awards have the same problem. It may be the recession, but in my opinion is the lack of understanding of what should be the role of architecture in the design of private dwellings. I mean, a shed painted in black is not good architecture... it is just a shed painted in black! Expensive fittings are not good architecture, they are expensive fittings, just like wearing expensive jewelery with sandals.

Don't get me wrong, I love it here... but there are two things that urgently need some improvement: one is the food, the other is architecture and building methods. Maybe both are co-related, places with good cooking usually have nice buildings too. Maybe you need good food in order to think clearly.

Anyway, I can't even start to compare any of those houses with the "residencia z" designed by one of my former architecture students Ivan Esqueda and his brother Francisco. See my point? Well, maybe entry B, the Glendowie House by Pete Bossley Architects is not that bad. However, their alteration to the maritime museum as a Tribute to Sir Peter Blake is probably not that successful.

My latest frustration with kiwi architecture is in my own backyard... well, to be precise, with our new neighbors! They are living proof that "nacos" exist anywhere. The unit next to us was sold a few months ago, but the girl who was renting the unit stayed until a couple of weeks ago when she moved to London. They soon started with renovations on the interiors... even during weekends until late, to the displeasure of our other neighbor the ex-consul. For me, it was OK, until they started painting the exterior walls with a horrible gray paint. It's not their choice of colour... it's the fact that there are at least two reasons why they shouldn't paint the exterior. First, because it seems they didn't get the consent from the other 3 owners of the building; and second, because it's a terrible thing to do, to paint on a wall finish that shouldn't be painted on.

OK, the building is most certainly not an architectural masterpiece, nor a listed building of any kind. But, it is (or was) a good honest example of state housing architecture of the 60's - 70's. Regardless, one cannot or should not compromise the honesty of a building just like that. If they wanted a 90's apartment, they should have bought a 90's apartment. It's like buying a t-shirt to make alterations, and dye tint that shirt to make it look like an Armani suit! It won't be an Armani suit... it will remain a t-shirt altered to look like an Armani. That's it! My frustration, is that many will consider this renovation to be fantastic... just like the same "nacos" out there, who think that the idea of a flying "cupula" is great! (picture by a friend of one of my former students)

At least the old look was honest... now the building has become a freak of nature. And to make things worse (for me) that "rejilla" thingy is crooked! It is at least 5 or 7 cm out of vertical axis. For those who know me, it is really a pain in my retinas (and other body parts) to watch something like that. I just keep my fingers crossed to be out of this building by the end of the month.

ciao

Braunpreis

2009-07-07T01:17:00.004+12:00

Sorry I didn't post early enough about this... the opening ceremony was just a few days ago, but the exhibition of the selected projects for the Braun Prize 2009 Mexico will be open to the public until July 26th at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City.

Av. Hidalgo No.45
Centro Histórico
Ciudad de México
Tel. 5518 22 66
info@premiobraun-mexico.com
www.premiobraun-mexico.com

ciao

Luminocity

2009-07-05T00:12:00.004+12:00

By popular demand, after his success on last year's summer courses, an invitation from Scuola Politecnica di Design to enroll in a short workshop with one of the most influential and visionary desginers nowadays: Ross Lovegrove.

LUMINOCITY : lighting devices and bright installations for street furniture, with the aim to emphasize various and unusual places of the city. This will be a unique design experience and it will allow participants from all over the world to project and work in strict contact with one of the most innovative designers of the current scene. Beside the workshop there will be the possibility to visit exhibitions and design show-rooms to make the stay in Milan even more exciting.

Selections are now open.

If you are interested and want to apply please send your CV and your portfolio to info@scuoladesign.com.

ciao

"Nuculear" power is now eco-friendly, yeah right!

2009-06-28T22:46:00.005+12:00

Now that everyone (including me) is becoming more and more eco-conscious, P.R. is still just a bunch of fallacies to convince people they are doing "the right thing for the environment", when in fact in some cases it might be just the opposite. Such is the case of the "infamous" Chevy Volt. The Volt is not just ugly! (the only good looking Holden is Amanda Holden), but it's probably even worse in terms of "eco-friendliness" than the good 'ol petrol powered cars. Here's why:

According to the small paragraph on it's wikipedia entry, regarding "battery charging emissions", the chevy volt will still cause some greenhouse emissions. For starters, after the 40 mile/battery charge, the car will switch to normal gasoline power. Regardless if it's more efficient in that area than other hybrid cars, let's not forget the emissions caused for generating the necessary electricity to charge the batteries overnight. Unless you live in an are where 100% of the electricity comes from hydroelectric power, the electricity will be generated from a mix of "dirty coal", nuclear power, and other pollutant sources. The most generous figure of a reduction of 15% CO2 emissions, is based on the USA's power grid which uses a lot, a lot of nuclear power! So, they will be reducing a bit of greenhouse gases, but still generating a lot of nuclear waste! The calculations for Australia show that GM's Volt emissions will be in fact more or less the same as any other hybrid car! So, there's no real advantage at all in my view.

Public relations, and propaganda about this "revolutionary" idea, are just an example of brain-washing techniques used by large corporations by bombarding the media with their particular views. I just watched a variation of a recent Holden advert showing a pregnant woman buying some Holden baby apparel, and the voice off saying something about Holden (and thus the new GM) saving the planet for future generations... Yeah right!

ciao

Ecology.Design.Synergy

2009-06-11T22:16:00.005+12:00

IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V.) and the Architecture Gallery Aedes are presenting a touring exhibition of collaborative projects by the German architecture firm Behnisch Architekten and Transsolar Climate Engineering. There are 5 main themes: light, sound, temperature, air and materials; all integrated into a human scale. Their intention is to highlight that "sustainability" is not a linear quantitative value, but it comprises many dimensions. The exhibition will be touring various cities in Mexico :

Monterrey, from 12.06.2009 to 15.08.2009

Today... yes! Today is the opening ceremony at 5:30pm at ITESM "Centro Estudiantil"

Mexico City, from 01.09.2009 to 15.10.2009 at UNAM

Guadalajara, next year from 15.01.2010 - 15.03.2010 (let me know if someone knows where)

ciao

Perez Hilton

2009-06-10T22:02:00.008+12:00

I had no idea my grandma was a fashion designer... that was a long, long time ago. Of course, like any other design field, there are many categories and levels for fashion. Just like there are cars for different budgets and needs, some are just stylish, some are useful, some are neither. If it was for me, there will only be black or plain colours, and minimal decor... and of course no seasonal styles. But I do understand that would be just me.

We have watched some of the "cycles" of ANTM. Maybe because there's nothing better to watch on a friday evening, maybe because we like the show. I'm guessing that followers of the show watch with different eyes. My father (as a commercial/advertising photographer) hated to take pictures of models, but sometimes he had to do it. I met some top mexican celebrities, and also unknown models that came to my father's studio... and he was right, it is a very superficial milieu. Anyway, for me, it is fun and interesting to see the photoshoot challenges, hear what the art director is telling the girls, etc. Probably because I've been there, it's actually educational to watch how the model wannabes have to learn about their dream job. Stop! Did I say "learn"?

Yes, they have to learn the sometimes sutile, sometimes bold difference between commercial, editorial, men's magazine, high-fashion, etc. Those are totally different markets, so the "design brief" for each one has to be specific for that market. Let's put it in simple words... although the design process of a can-opener and a car, may have similar phases: brief, analysis, drawings, selection, prototyping, etc... they are quite different in how they are actually carried out, for starters: they are quite different products! It's the same story with fashion: there's a design brief determining the target market, the trends and material analysis, etc, etc. So the models should be able to understand and adjust to what the art director wants, they are just (literally) part of the whole picture. They have to be versatile enough to fit into many looks, but they must understand that sometimes their look does not work for a certain job. Anyway, despite any controversy about ANTM, it is quite clear that during the contest, the girls get a lot of preparation to learn at least some basics.

Last friday was the final episode of New Zealand's Next Top Model. We only watched the first, and the last episode in full, and no more than 5 minutes of some episodes in between. I was so disappointed after the first episode... because the selection was terrible. Racist may sound a bit too hard, and they probably put a black girl to avoid remarks like that (however, that's not at all representative of the NZ ethnic mix) They failed to have girls with Chinese, Indian or even Maori ethnicity. I hate "ethnic quotas" in politics, scholarships, or job opportunities, but the casting selection seemed to me like it was done by only one person, and all girls looked the same (even after their makeover)... as if it was to suit a very specific kind of look. They had octuplets, plus the sisters, plus the black girl. I was obvious that one of the octuplets would win.

I mentioned that it is interesting to co-learn on ANTM, but there was nothing, nothing to learn on NZNTM. The photographers were terrible, just (look at these examples: glamour (I probably take better pictures of Sandra), boxing (the photographer forgot to hide the fog machine), face paint (looks to me like those you get at a city fair or a children's party and not high fashion at all), bachellor of the year (the art director was probably somewhere else taking a leak during that photoshoot), aviation (I'm telling you, they all look exactly the same... ) To be fair, there are two decent photoshoots : emotions, and beach. The co-host was like they said in a movie: "almost too queer to function", they had no practical advise for the girls... the main host, Sara Tetro, dressed like a "governess" out of Sound of Music (institutriz) and not like a top model, the camera and editing of the program was like the PC movie editing: Horrible! and many, many details that made the programe unwatchable.

Sara's words when the judges deliberated about the winner: "Fashion is a subjective industry". Well, excuse me, but if she really thinks like that, she shouldn't be hosting and judging... that's a quite ignorant comment. There's nothing subjective about fashion, or about aesthetics, or about art, or about design. People who beleive that, probably heard it throughout their lives, and they just repeat that idea, because they don't know any better. It's like when we refer to something as "is not rocket science" implying that rocket science may be too difficult for any normal mortal to understand. Like I said previously, as any other industry, fashion has many levels, markets, styles, cultures, materials, and elements. It would be difficult to standarize any idea to fit all... in other words, there are sports cars, utility cars, family cars, economic cars, eco cars, SUV's, collection cars... and each went through unique design brief descriptions, different aesthetic choices, different production techniques, different styles. That's why we cannot describe the aesthetic or the functionality of a car with just one example to fit everyone. The same in the fashion industry. So, just because it is complex, or there are many different options, it doesn't mean it is subjective... subjective is a close synonim to arbitrary, and there's nothing arbitrary about any industry when it comes to making money.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that the Top Model's Mansion was previously owned by a Drug Lord and bought later by one of his friends. I'm guessing the "Next Mexican Top Model" could be in the so called "Narco Zoologico". Some final thoughts about the world of modelling: read (or watch) about Sara Ziff's exposee "Picture Me", a documentary about the real world of teenage models and "fashion" predators.

Next week: The Simpson's HD season, not just "worst episode ever" but "worst season ever".

ciao

Una nueva mirada

2009-05-25T21:58:00.004+12:00

The Mexican Embassy in NZ (Level 2, AMP Chambers 187 Featherston St, Wellington) is hosting a photographic exhibition by Tina Modotti until June 25th. Modotti is considered a quite important figure in post-revolutionary Mexico: a master photographer, member of the comunist party, and part of the bohemian and avantgarde scene. She was also a Hollywood actress, and one of the many nude models (and lovers) of Diego Rivera.

ciao

50 diseñadores

2009-05-24T13:10:00.003+12:00

Next Wednesday will be the presentation of the book "50 diseñadores de Jalisco" at the Chamber of Commerce of Guadalajara.

ciao

It's time again

2009-05-23T00:50:00.003+12:00

Entries for Electrolux's designlab 09 are still open (until may 31st). This year's brief is "design for the next 90 years": Electrolux Design Lab 2009 invites undergraduate and graduate industrial design students around the world to create home appliances that will shape how people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes over the next nine decades. The design ideas should address key consumer insights such as being adaptive to time and space, provide learning and allow for individualization.

Be quick

ciao

FL(ego)W

2009-05-22T00:01:00.006+12:00

I'm still trying to save some mulah to buy the Fawcett house: $2.4m for the house and 80 acres is a real bargain! There are houses here in the neighborhood that are more expensive than that... and they are horrible! Anyway, today I was surprised to learn about the "Architecture" LEGO sets (Thanks Mr. H.) So I did a quick search on that. The LEGO Architecture sets are a collaboration between The LEGO Group and Architectural Artist Adam Reed Tucker of Brickstructures, Inc. It's a pity that currently there are not any (non-american) buildings on the "architecture" series. A selection from Pritzker laureates' works would be nice... or we can send our suggestions of the most iconic modern buildings around the globe to LEGO. I definitely want all 6 for Christmas anyway!

ciao

X|Media|Lab

2009-05-14T22:38:00.002+12:00

X|Media|Lab is an intensive two-day creative ideas and business matching environment for selected participants who get to work directly on their own project ideas with a range of the world's best digital media experts, and a one-day Keynote Conference that showcases all the Mentors as Speakers. Saturday May 23rd - Sunday 24th, 2009 and keynote day : Friday 22nd May, 2009 9.00am – 5.00pm followed by Networking Reception at the Hilton Auckland.

Opposites attract... or not

2009-05-02T23:59:00.003+12:00

I can't say much about these events... I'm not attending any. But, from what I saw on the telli about the Auckland Art Fair vernissage, most of the works are worthy of a place at the MOBA museum and they still charge you to see that?! At least when you visit the MOBA you also get a car wash! The Creative Week in NYC will start next monday. Check their events schedule... and don't bring your car, take the subway.

ciao

anti- Earth Hour !

2009-03-28T23:57:00.004+13:00

There has been so much talk about the infamous "earth hour" that I can't help to comment. First of all, the planet and the fight against "global warming" do not need our pity... (or shall I say stupidity)... they require real actions. Attending a concert by candlelight in the city centre, and have some hot dogs on a stick and a couple of drinks does not solve the problem. Switching off the lights for an hour makes little or no difference... that's just self complacence to just "feel" like we're doing something, when we're not. As an awareness campaign... it's just terrible! Let me explain:

I don't recall which TV program it was, but we saw a political-satire about one of those "save Darfur" concerts (or maybe it was "save the earth" or "Live8" ). The guy interviewed some of the people there, and none had any idea about where was Darfur... or what happened there... they were just drunk beyond their physical limit and chanting U2 songs or whatever it was. The point is, the only ones that actually get some benefit from that concert are the ticket re-sellers. After the concert, all that was left were piles of empty containers, bottles, napkins... all that garbage to "save the planet" (?). Go to the live8 website, browse to the media centre, click on "Background information", then click again on "What has been delivered, what is left to do". It will take you to a page that automatically redirects... into nothing! (404 The requested URL /ushttp://www.one.org/international/ was not found on this server.) What makes us think that a concert by candlelight in the city centre will actually stop global warming??!

Now, let's talk about that "switching off the lights" thingy. Well... it's just stupid! pseudo-eco-friendly bulbs are not the answer... nor turning off our lights. C'mon! It's the 21st century... not "back to the middle ages"! Until they find another way of powering up our technology, we're stuck with electricity. Or maybe they want us to go back to steam railways and horse trolleys? Do I have to get a hamster to run on a wheel to generate power for my computer? The problem is not about consumption of electricity, as much as it is actually about how is that energy generated. If you are on a nuclear or fossil fuel network... well... maybe it makes sense to "protest" with an "energy boycott" to ask authorities to change to a greener power source. If you are on aeolic or hydroelectric power network, it doesn't make any sense at all to turn off the lights. Still, the point is that we should be asking our governments and power suppliers to update their networks to less (or no) pollutant power sources. We should not give up our right to use electricity...

...but don't get me wrong, I am not endorsing any kind of energy waste. In fact, if we have to switch off something for earth hour, it should be the items on which we are just wasting resources and are "unsustainable". For example: air conditioning. Do you have any idea how much energy is wasted on air conditioning on the malls, cinemas, offices, etc... so cold that people have to wear a jacket to be warm! Isn't that just silly and a waste of energy? I would have loved if instead of turning off the lights of the skytower and casino, they would have switched off the air-conditioning (not the ventilation, just the freezing cold A-C). So... lights are necessary, air conditioning not only consumes a lot of energy (more than the couple of eco-bulbs you just replaced in your house) and it's just superfluous. It's just self complacence, not a real need. If we have to sacrifice something for the planet, then sacrifice something that is not a need. By the way, same story if you have air conditioning in your car... when you switch it on, you're consuming more fuel... polluting a lot... and probably on the way to get asthma or pneumonia.

My alternative to the "earth hour": well, it should raise awareness of the thing that are "actually" causing global warming, or at least polluting the planet. So, earth hour or day, should not focus on turning off lights only... it should have been a comprehensive campaign of real actions to fight pollution. For example:

Use of public transport (only) instead of ANY usage of private vehicles on that day.
No use of air conditioning on any mall, cinema, store, office building, car or home on that day (or hour).
No use of any other "high draining" devices like HDTV, wind blowers, etc.
No consumption of beverages or food that comes in PET or tetrapack containers
Consume only food that was produced in a 100km radius
No consumption of "yellow press", "women's magazines" or any other sort of junk magazines (get your gossip from the internet and save a few trees).
Absolutely no plastic bags handed out for free in any store!
Ask people to use the spare time they don't spend on that day watching their HDTV sets, or going to the mall (because they actually like to freeze their a..es off), installing a compost thingy in their gardens.
Last but not least... "save hot water: take a shower with someone else".

Those are just a few thing that pop into my mind. Those actions would really raise some kind of awareness on things we should do everyday. I must admit that I'm not a very "green" person, there are many things I could or should be doing, but I am too lazy to give up the car, and too far away from home to row on boat instead of taking a plane. But from my perspective putting the blame of the global carbon emissions on the general public and our light bulbs is just propaganda to turn our attention away from the real pollutants: the industry. Making people feel guilty about their electricity usage... and telling them that they will rott in "eco-hell" for not using eco-bulbs is just silly as limbo. Then, they "sell" us the eco-church indulgence that we can "save our souls/ clear our eco-sins" if we turn off the ligths for one hour a year! That's nonsense.

ciao

So little (time)

2009-03-25T22:39:00.006+13:00

Hey, after a few weeks off, I hope to have time to blog once again. So much to say, and so little time. Speaking of little... just a few days ago was the official launch of the long awaited Tata - Nano on a very nice ceremony. There have been many negative comments about it on the western press... but in my view, it's just western propaganda to put a bad reputation on a quite good idea.

We all know that the american car industry is already shaking... and many experts expect that one of the three piglets will become roasted ham before the end of this year. And that's all because they didn't adjust their products to the expectations of their customers... or to the environmental concerns in the last years. They expected to be rulers and dictators of what the people should have... but we all know that story. The point is, that just like any other tyrann, I guess they are manipulating the western media (and probably governments too) to suit their interest. That's perfectly understandable. If they want to keep the status quo, they don't want any new alternative ideas to be on the minds of the customers.

There are a couple of adverts from the NZ government urging people to buy only cars with side-airbags and electronic stability control. Of course, they are rating and endorsing cars from certain manufacturers, and brain washing people instead of letting them think and make a decision by themselves... not even when you take a shower... that's what we call now "the NZ nanny state". But anyway, if a whole government is shooting propaganda to suit certain manufacturers (usually the expensive models) because it brings revenue when importing those vehicles... can you imagine the amount of pressure on the western media which basically depends on advertising from the big companies. So, don't trust everything you hear or read.

Strictly from the design and design brief point of view, I think that the nano is just as it should be. Forget your preconceptions about other cars, you have to start from scratch when you intend to be innovative. You must be ready to dare, and make the difficult questions on a design brief... and put literally every bolt, every screw under scrutiny:

Does it really need airbags? no
Does it have to run from 0 to 100km in 0.5 milliseconds? no
Do you really need a V6 or V4 engine? no
Do you really have to use hundreds of screws on parts that are not going to be removed? no
Can you just glue or clip on those parts? yes
Will the car work the same if you put manual (mechanic) window cranks instead of electric windows? yes
Is it more environmentally friendly if you put 1'000,000 nanos on the roads than if you put 1'000,000 american style SUV's on this planet? yes

I will respond to the air-conditioning matter with 2 arguments: first, in this case is not about if you actually need air-conditioning in a car or not... the fact is that when the air conditioning is on, the engine has to compensate that energy and thus contaminates a lot more. So that's the green fact for the design brief. And second, the cost of installing a luxury item... will only make the car expensive.

So, in summary, the tata-nano may not be what we would expect from a western car... it just proves that cars as we know them, may not be the perfect solution for everyone. People around the world are (luckily) not part of the (same) american melting pot, and it is time that we start thinking about localized solutions that are feasible, and well suited to the local needs. One size fits all, does not fit everyone! It's such a basic ergonomic principle, and we forget about that. Good that someone dares to stick to the point when it comes to making design that is appropriate.

ciao

REDiseño

2009-02-05T00:21:00.004+13:00

I know, I have no excuse... well, actually I have 384! It's already february, and I still have 384 emilianos in my inbox. If you haven't heard from me in a while, well, maybe your message is still on the queue. One of the messages I received recently (actually yesterday) is from REDiseño to announce their new revamped site. The splash window takes ages and ages to load, but the new feel and navigation within the magazine is much, much better. They are also making a survey, asking for nominations for the best mexican designers in all areas: industrial, interior, landscape, illustration, web, fashion, furniture, eco, automotive, etc.

ciao

Drei D

2009-01-13T23:57:00.006+13:00

Hi again! Happy new year, etc. As you can see, I'm slowly starting to catch up... or get back to normal again. (if normal is an accurate description) Anyway, just a short post... I'm still unfit from all that food... have to exercise slowly first.

You know I've been experimenting with 3D anaglyphs lately. From simple fractals to fractals with special effects, depth map images, to 3D "cha-cha" pictures. It's fascinating. Today I did a depth map anaglyph using a picture of the moon that I took yesterday... and I was thinking: why there isn't a CAD program with a direct anaglyph option to create 3D renders? In fact, it would be nice to have the option to turn the 3D on and off while working with objects. It's trully amazing to move stereographic 3D fractals in real time using fractalworks, so I don't see why should it it be complicated to have something like that on CAD software.

There's even a webcam which automatically generates the 3D anaglyph image to have a chat! (via)

Meet Minoru, meaning ‘Reality’ in Japanese, the World's first 3D webcam. Connect Minoru to your PC and he will come alive, his eyes will light up and he will be looking at you in 3D. Your friends and family can now see you in 3D over your favourite messaging program. Minoru connects easily to your PC’s USB port just like any other webcam but that’s where the similarities end. The Minoru software has stereoscopic anaglyphic processing that lets you be seen in three dimensions. The red and cyan anaglyph image produced by Minoru can be viewed by anybody who is wearing commonly available red and cyan 3D glasses (five pairs included free with Minoru). Minoru can also be used as a standard 2D webcam for anyone who doesn’t have the 3D glasses at hand.

ciao

Plain old gazeebo

2008-12-31T00:49:00.004+13:00

I was searching for information about the "Casa Zuno"... when I found this picture of the Kiosk at Plaza de Armas in Guadalajara, and I was left speechless by the comment. If this is just a plain old gazeebo, then the statue of liberty should be called "just a big plain lighthouse". Other works from Fonderies d'Art du Val d'Osne are being auctioned for big bucks, like this neptune statue... so I guess a more appropriate title could be "a very expensive old gazeebo".

Gabriel told me a quite interesting story about the four season's godesses... The spring is my absolute favourite.

ciao

PS(to the architects): do you have information about casa Zuno? like: who was the architect? when it was built? which exact style is it? etc. I have someone insisting that it is spanish colonial, and I say it is french rococo.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-21T23:54:00.002+13:00

Merry christmas and a happy new year.
Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch.
Feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo.

Mother of all mice

2008-12-09T23:34:00.008+13:00

It's been 40 years since "the mother of all demos", Douglas Engelbart's presentation of augmentative computer technologies : The demo featured the first computer mouse the public had ever seen, as well as introducing interactive text, video conferencing, teleconferencing, email and hypertext. The MouseSite is full of quite interesting resources about those devices, including a complete video of the demo presentation, incredible pictures, interviews, and some papers published by Engelbart and his team.

Sure that technology (and design by implication) have come a long way since then. It may seem that we're just catching up with old innovations or dreams, and we're just using the modern technology to make those dreams come true. Well... it may be true in part, but it takes a lot of people and a series of small steps to get to a point when it is possible to make that dream come true. Englebart was disappointed that it took so long for some of this ideas to "catch on". The next frontier would be the holographic interaction or maybe bionic gadget implants, I guess. So it's not that there are not enough dreams, it's just that it is not as simple as it may look like to make them come true.

We sure think that we have videoconferencing under control, just look how organized was Englebart's presentation 40 years ago. Well... just a few weeks ago I received an invitation to watch "Mission Critical Design: The role of user-centered design in developing technologies for public safety" a live podcast by Bruce Claxton, senior director of design integration at Motorola. When I got the info to watch the podcast and it was based on windows media, I knew there were going to be problems to watch it on my mac. And I was right, I only heard a little bit of the introduction, then it was a technology dead end. Fortunately, the (quite helpful) PR liaison contact from Fleishman-Hillard sent me an "off line" file... and I am really glad they did, because Bruce's presentation was quite interesting to miss out.

It's always nice to have an insight into the design process of others, specially when it is a multi-award winning design team like Motorola. Of course he started with some information about the design team, how they share their ideas around the globe using rapid prototyping so the design process literally goes on 24/7 as it goes around the world. But that is not the only highlight of the story. I guess the main point is all that is involved to create what they called "design that is second nature" i.e. products that works exactly as you expect it to work. Imagine a "normal" communication device... and think about the "small" usability errors like: "ooops, I dialed the wrong number" or "I tried to transfer the call, but turned it off by mistake", etc. etc. On an emergency response system, you can't allow for those mistakes to happen, specially not when those mistakes are caused by a bad design. "After all, in the world of the consumer, poor usability simply creates frustration. But in the public safety world, bad design is hazardous and can often be deadly."

So, how to make a product that is "second nature"... and the answer is: by a serious implementation of a user centered design process. Members of the design team went even to the extreme of doing firefighter practices, so they could have a first hand experience of how the equipments are used in real life. Bruce explained with a lot of detail how they submerged themselfs into the user centered design process, to the point when Moin Rahman, one of the ergonomists of the team, developed a whole new area of research called High Velocity Human Factors because the human reactions and cognitive behavior during stress situations are different than the reactions under non-stress situations. Wow! That shows how serious they are about the implementation of good ergonomics.

My question was about universal design (I was a bit frustrated with the fact that the podcast platform was "windows oriented") and it was quite interesting to learn how important is the center of gravity of the product, because it can affect the accessibility of the buttons. Think for example your TV remote... and how you sometimes have to move your hand in order to reach some basic buttons. In this case, second nature and good ergonomics means that no matter how quick, you just grab the object, and your fingers will reach perfectly the main buttons... thanks to a good center of gravity! So, it's not just how nice the buttons are placed on the surface... they have to consider the balance of weight of the components on the inside.

ciao

Give one, get one

2008-12-02T00:36:00.006+13:00

One of the most anticipated gadgets of all times, was the "$ 100 dollar laptop"... now called "One Laptop Per Child". The road to get to the final product took quite some turns. I'm not going into details of those stories, but the final laptop is a good example when all pieces of research and development work as they should, to get even better results than anticipated. ...OK! the price is not as they expected it, but it's still quite low and affordable for the real target users. I mean, the price of $400 for 2 laptops, means each laptop is just $200... and I'm guessing they must have a lower price for bulk orders if you're from a school in a developing country. So, it's not that far off.

Quite amazing is the fact that it consumes as little as 2 Watts during normal use, far less than the 10 W to 45 W of conventional laptops. The development of the display was another stunning story... but the marketing strategy was certainly genius! To get things started, they offered for a limited time after the first launch, the "give one, get one" programme. The OLPC XO-1 is not available for regular gadget "consumers"... however, the give one, get one initiative provided the necessary funds to allow OLPC to give away thousands of laptops to places like Ethiopia, Mongolia and Rwanda. Now this amazing opportunity to get an already "design classic", a piece of history... a collector's item, and a very nice laptop is back for this holiday season. Give one, and get one at amazon: One Laptop per Child XO Laptop (Give a Laptop, Get a Laptop). Even better: give one, and donate the other one to me.

ciao

Game is on!

2008-11-29T00:15:00.002+13:00

It's a complete lack of respect! We're on the TV mid-season... and there's literally nothing to see on the telli. A couple of weeks ago, it caught us off guard, and we had to watch (about one hour of) "highschool musical". To be honest, I was curious about what is all the fuzz about it... and it was exactly as expected: garbage. Today's movie on the telli was Hanna Montana... so I immediately popped "chicken run" into the DVD player before it could cause some permanent damage to our neurons. I think that kind of disney movies are more damaging than letting kids watch Barney, violence or old disney docos on the tube. They are literally brain washing kid's minds into zombies with empty laundried heads. Those movies should have some kind of advisory, like : "this movie may cause permanent loss of neurons and/or turn them into froot-loops".

Anyway, game is on to develop a fully functional exoskeleton. My favourite at this stage has to be the ReWalk by Argo Medical Tecnologies and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks. It still looks terrible, and there's something to be done about that horrible battery pack... but ASIMO also looked horrible on his early days. So, there's still some hope to see the ReWalk evolving into something more refined. It's already amazing to watch how it works on a patient with SCI T8 which is usually a severe injury.

Honda's exolegs were also unveilled recently. They are like some kind od device out of an anime movie. They are designed for people who can walk on their own, but who can benefit from additional leg and body support while performing tasks, like the example of the guy lifting some heavy objects on a factory line. I have my concerns about spinal chord injuries if the legs have a mechanic boost, and the torso is left on its own... but surely the guy is not going to lift a piano.

It was just a matter of time until kitsch could finally reach the medical gadgets. Kitsch is omnipresent, is inevitable... Milan Kundera was right, it's metaphysical! Kayhan Haj-Ali-Ahmadi and Joanna Hawley developed this "Eames inspired prothesis"... later on we'll have the "Venturi arm", the "Giovannoni limbs" or the "Stark's breast prothesis". Bring it on! That's something that Victor Papanek would be proud of.

ciao

Sugar chicken soup

2008-11-25T00:11:00.005+13:00

I found the lost cousin of Jessica Simpson! Bullets and Butterflies traces the journey of a handicapped street child and a biking enthusiast from the bustling cityscape of Delhi to the serene hills of Himachal Pradesh. Rajesh is also allergic to pork meat... or sugar meat... or is it chicken sugar...? OK. Just watch the film and you'll see.

Also at the culture unplugged film festival is this nice documentary about Tibetans in exile. Watch around minute 3:30... there's a nice cosmological explanation to the origin of people in Tibet: "The most famous of them all is that a male monkey manifestation of a Bodhisattva, married a manifestation of Tara ("star" bzw. "mother earth" or "the mother of the Buddhas"). With this marriage, they had 6 hybrids from which it is believed that the Tibetan race was originated." Now, that's certainly an hybrid of Darwin and some intelligent design!

4 years ago, KidsCan charitable trust, started a campaign to give shoes to many kiwi kids who stop attending school during winter, just because they don't have shoes or coats. It's terrible that kiwis came to such realization during a Labour government, but it's nice that some one finally recognized that there are underprivileged kiwis, specially kids who need a hand to be able to get to their full potential. During this last 4 years, KidsCan has grown into many campaigns... the most recent is the "Designer Jandals". One of the iconic kiwi items are the so called "jandals" (japanese sandals). There's even a "national jandal day" in NZ.

"The KidsCan StandTall Charitable Trust is super styling this essential summer footwear collaborating with seven top New Zealand designers to bring you the KidsCan “designer jandals” range. The range is available exclusively through Number 1 Shoes with $5 from every pair sold going towards KidsCans programmes which support financially disadvantaged Kiwi kids! Jandals are in store nationwide from the 24th of November."

ciao

Return of Draculin

2008-11-21T00:06:00.005+13:00

It's not the first time I have to deal with spammers, hackers and all sorts of "social engineering" ... even from ACC! A long time ago one of my own students sent me deliberately several viruses from a disguised e-mail. Our SpecialKiwis websites have been attacked by spammers and spam-bots before, but this time was a nasty one! They hacked into a system file, causing all visitors coming from a search engine like google, yahoo, live, etc... to be redirected to a malware site. That's very bad, considering that most of our visitors are first time visitors coming from health related directories or web searches... and that the hacked file is ironically the one that is supposed to secure the site from attackers. This is part of the notification I got from google:

Dear site owner or webmaster,

We recently discovered that some of your pages can cause users to be infected with malicious software. We have begun showing a warning page to users who visit these pages by clicking a search result on Google.com
We strongly encourage you to investigate this immediately to protect your visitors. Although some sites intentionally distribute malicious software, in many cases the webmaster is unaware because:

1) the site was compromised
2) the site doesn't monitor for malicious user-contributed content
3) the site displays content from an ad network that has a malicious
advertiser

If your site was compromised, it's important to not only remove the
malicious (and usually hidden) content from your pages, but to also
identify and fix the vulnerability.

The problem is now fixed, but I'm concerned how bad is it going to be the next time.

ciao

C.A.N.A.C.A.

2008-11-15T00:26:00.010+13:00

I had absolutely no idea who's Dulce Sarahi Villareal or "el hijo del papá", ... but now, I've been enlightened about the irony of life. That's one of the few things I've learned through Facebook. I just signed up last week, and I already have 104 contacts among family, friends and former students. It's nice to hear how well they're doing, some of them already parents, or getting married, or doing incredible jobs around the world.

Speaking of Design students, this week was the exhibition of projects by last year Massey University students graduating in Transport Design, Industrial Design and Visual Communication Design, Design exposure '08. One of the girls contacted me to ask for some advice on her project, and I must say that hers is in deed a very clever idea: "One significant area that is problematic for autistic children is Sensory Dysfunction, which is linked to development delays in communication, behavioural and social issues. The proposed design provides input to the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems using calming therapeutic methods for both home and school environments."

This year, the exhibition was at the old shed of the Allinghy team, which is much better than the Britomart shed (at least you get the view of the wharfs on the way there). As usual, the exhibition was presented in a very professional way. Most of the students left printed booklets and business cards on their space... and what can I say? The exhibition was impecable. Of course there are better projects than others, some were missing some details, or are still a bit raw, but all of them were carried out with the quality expected for a final year project. The projects I liked the most: the ones that are "neutral" because they have to explore the whole set of issues necessary on a project. The projects I liked the least: the ones that are inspired or based on "kiwi ingenuity" because they hide behind a sense of national sympathy, so they are not judged objectively as a pure design exercise. Congratulations to all the graduating students and good luck at the final evaluations!

ciao

The Mayor wants feedback

2008-11-11T13:00:00.005+13:00

The past administration of the Auckland City Council started a multi-million renovation of the city center. It was a waste of money, because it was merely superficial... but they has to close major roads for several months just to put some new tiles and benches. Anyway, I won't go much into the local politics, but one of the main concerns lately, has been how our politicians take unilateral decisions with no support from the community. After the "stadium-gate" costed the reelection to the "cereal-mayor", the old Mayor returned to office, and now he's more careful to ask about the urban development of the city. So, now we have been asked to give feedback about the development in the Orakei Peninsula.

3 of the 4 proposed master plans are open to pubic feedback. There are no huge differences among them. Basically, just the ammount of residential units, and a building (or not) on the eastern side... and of course the cost for the council, ranging from "break-even" to 30 million. The style of the buildings is very conservative, most of them are typical "eastern Europe communist multi-family blocks of the 60's" but that's the main style of most of the buildings in Auckland anyway.

Auckland City Council and Redwood Group Ltd are preparing a masterplan for the area. There is potential for an integrated, mixed-use, residential development including a transport hub and more accessible public open spaces. Redwood Group exhibited initial plans at public open days in March and June, 2008. Opinion was divided on the height of buildings up to 15 levels. Discussions with interested groups led to a Mayoral workshop, convened by Mayor John Banks, to review options including one suggested by the residents' society. The council has agreed that the 15 level towers are "off the table". Three options, to a maximum of six or eight storeys, are being offered for community feedback prior to agreeing a final master plan. This will be the basis of a public plan change notified for consultation in the New Year. A review of the three options will be delivered to households in affected areas of the Hobson and Eastern Bays wards on 2 November.

The Orakei peninsula is a 7ha block of land edged by Hobson Bay and Orakei Basin. It has a number of owners including Redwood Group, the council and Ngati Whatua. It is currently used for a range of business and industrial uses while the central portion was quarried for the Hobson Bay rail embankment. The local community raised the need for a comprehensive masterplan for the whole area in preference to piecemeal development. To ensure a better-integrated design the council asked officers to open discussions with Redwood Group, as main landowner, to develop a masterplan for the area. Following discussions, the council entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Redwood Group to create a master plan featuring integrated public transport, significant residential development and modest amounts of commercial and retail development.

A number of goals were agreed including:

a high quality design creating a sense of place relevant to the setting
integration with public transport as an exemplar transit-oriented development (TOD)
high quality public space with access to the water's edge and continuous access
around the foreshore around Hobson Bay and Orakei Basin
Redwood Group was also required to consult with landowners on the peninsula, the Auckland Regional Council, ARTA, Department of Conservation and the local community.

ciao

Fried green apples

2008-11-06T00:24:00.001+13:00

Well, finally... after years and years of waiting, almost since Jobs called Ellen Hancock a "bozo" then closed the Apple Research Labs and stopped listening to the customers... because, he said at some point, "I don't have to listen to crazy mac fans, when I know what's best" (that's my lose interpretation, not his actual words)... Anyway, after all this time, they are finally presenting a notebook that is exactly what people have been asking for in the forums: the glorious return of the best mac ever: the 12" PowerBook. Of course, the new MacBook is actually 13.3" and it's duo-devil inside... but it's all what a laptop should be : 2.4Ghz, 2 to 4GB memory, 250GB disc... and of course a DVD superdrive, and finally almost all the environmental features they have been neglegting ... unlike the anorexic thin-air-book with no optical drive, alzheimer's memory, and bulimic storage space. What were they thinking?!!!

Yeah sure, he knew best. Until a report came out some months back, that mac notebooks were practically not selling at all. Why would they? when mac laptops have been basically the same since almost 10 years! That's like 59 in bunny years, and 200 in laptop years. Ezra Gottheil's comments last month, aknowledge that the company is now divided in 3: mac, iPod and iPhone. Jobs was not happy with that whole "computer creatin' thing"... he was interested in "meaningful partners" and to sell, sell, sell gizmos and gadgets. That all went (very) well for a while, but after eight years of not listening to anyone's boos (including those annoying stockholders), now he had to explain himself to the stockholders, after the "makin' computer thing" started to lose inertia.

ciao

Stuff happens

2008-11-01T00:15:00.002+13:00

My cousin Marcos posted about this movie by Annie Leonard on his "eco-blog". He's absolutely right to say that her explanation is very clear. The problem with a linear system is that it is unsustainable. It's just terrible to think that we designers are part of that "conspiracy".

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

I've been saying for quite a while the same thing other systems we're gladly adopting without further thoughts, like "democracy", etc. but that's another debate. Of course, as designers we're part of that linear system... we know that every design decision translates into an effect: remember the infamous "form follows function". However, we don't take full responsibility of our acts as designers. Who cares about wasting materials and energy during production? when at the end we get a nice product. Who cares about poisonous substances? when at the end you get a nice product like the iPhone for example. Whe cares about neurotoxins? when you get a nice and soft, flame retardant pillow. Like I said before, it's terrible when design awards go to the most successful sellers, and not to the most successful in thoughtfully considering the holistic impact of the product.

It's all about the numbers. Just like these amazing pictures (via) by Chris Jordan show us:

ciao

Fahrzeuge Inszenierung

2008-10-31T00:45:00.000+13:00

This amazing kinetic sculpture was made by Art+Com for the BMW Museum. More than 700 metal balls hanging on wires are controlled by a computer to generate surfaces... in this case classic BMW cars. (via)

The original 1973 building was designed by the Viennese architect Karl Schwanzer and nicknamed “the bowl”. It has been expanded to five times its original size. Media installations literally set the museum’s seven themed buildings, 25 exhibition rooms and 125 exhibits in motion. Highlights include the “Mediatecture”, a 700-square-metre glass facade used as a media screen around “BMW Square” and the “Kinetic Sculpture” in the House of Design. The mechatronic installation, made up of 714 metal balls, is a spatial translation of a design process. Seemingly weightless and guided solely by the power of the mind, the sculpture moves through a cycle of free abstractions and typical BMW vehicle forms.

ciao

Innovar 2008

2008-10-29T22:16:00.004+13:00

One of the winners of this year's innovation awards (Concurso Innovar 2008) in the category Industrial Design are the assistive technology devices by Alt: altPulse, altBoard and altMouse. for kids and adults. Mercedes Ceciaga from ZUM disegno and a team who developed the products were recognized for developing this computer peripheral devices to allow easy access to a computer for people with disabilities. Big sized buttons, clear and simple configuration and interface, were the key issues considered for the award.

Special Kiwis is proud to be a distributor of Alt products in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand. On behalf of the Special Kiwis team, I send my congratulations to the designers and people behind Alt Products.

Felicidades!

Woven Together

2008-10-22T22:20:00.003+13:00

Our friend Dzeni has been selected as one of three Auckland finalists for the "Yellow Pages Group" Art Awards. The winner for the Auckland region, who will have their art displayed on the next Auckland White pages® phone book, will be decided by online public voting. The finalists have been asked to support one of three charities - and Jenni is supporting Project K. If she wins, Project K will benefit by $10,000. Public voting is now open and we're asking for your vote! So please click here or go to ypgartawards.co.nz and vote for Jenni.

ciao

4D travel

2008-10-19T00:49:00.002+13:00

A terrible way to find yourself at the 4th dimension... "hallucii" a funny short film by Goo Shun Wang.

Don't drink and dream, or you might find yourself on an Escher nightmare.

ciao

Swedish Style

2008-10-15T23:17:00.007+13:00

And the winner of this year's Electrolux's design lab was the "flatshare" fridge. A clever idea to have separate compartments for those flatmates who always take your last slice of bread or your precious red-beer... that's much better than the big-brother approach which would be to install a tiny webcam inside the fridge. That way you could search the security video and tell your mate: "I saw you taking my cheese!".

- Flatshare fridge, with separate, portable modules powered by a single base station has won first prize in the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition. Conceived by Stefan Buchberger of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Flatshare also won the media award and the people’s choice award. “I got the idea to create the Flatshare fridge because in many shared flats there is a problem with the refrigerator, says Buchberger. “It gets filthy because no one person feels responsible for cleaning it.” College students, grad students and young professionals, for examlple, often share living spaces…and kitchens. With Flatshare, never again will they have to endure another person’s moldy cheese or old leftovers. -

From October 18 to 25, 2008, Swedish Style New Zealand will take place in Auckland as an initiative of the Embassy of Sweden to showcase contemporary Sweden in the fields of design, art, music, gastronomy, travel and sustainability. Design: The Value Connection, a three hour symposium will look at how New Zealand companies can translate Sweden’s acclaimed ability to add value through design. The symposium presenters are experienced and inspiring designers including Anders Breitholtz, industrial designer and entrepreneur; Bjorn Rietz, design advertising “guru” and entrepreneur; and Brian Richards, Brand Strategist, BRR. The session will be moderated by commentator and financial journalist Rod Oram. (via)

Date: Monday 20 October 2008
Time: 12.30pm to 4pm
Venue: AUT University, Conference Centre, Wellesley Street
Tickets: Free of charge.
Registration: Go to the Swedish style page or click here.

ciao

400

2008-10-14T00:33:00.002+13:00

WOW! 400 posts... and all those despite being sometimes a bit lazy to blog. Au contraire, Kaylee McKenzie is a very busy OZ girl. At just 16, she's finishing fashion design at one of Australia's top schools... but that's not the surprising part of the story. Kaylee has to deal with 3 disabilities: Cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and Asperger's syndrome. Watch the full story from disabilitytv.com. That's a designer with attitude!

ciao

escorpeniformes

2008-10-07T02:19:00.007+13:00

Today, I have some music to share. First, Madredeus - O Sonho, Fabulous song! I just don't understand why "the sea" on the live performance video seems to be "waterboarding" that girl. Is that supposed to be understood as their version of "Alfonsina y el mar" ? (yet another great song btw) That's my problem with Esther Píscore: I just don't get it. I'm not used to decipher meaning in dance just like I am used to analyse visual arts, maybe that's why it is so difficult for me to distinguish when a dance is implying something and when is "just because".

Another great album, not as fun as BPA's "Toe Jam" but worth listening, is Brian Eno and David Byrne's Everything that happens will happen today. Speaking of Byrne, his score for Big Love is great, but my favourite song of the show must be the intro by the Beach Boys.

And finally, something I should write on my christmas list (if it's ready by then): el diluvio by Jaramar Soto. That title sounds like a prophecy about the recent floodings in Veracruz and Tabasco.

ciao

Herne Bay Petanque Fund Raiser

2008-10-04T15:05:00.006+13:00

One again we've been invited by David Ciano to participate in the petanque tournament fund raiser for the Auckland Down Syndrome Association. Last year we donated a couple of mezcal bottles (including the traditional worm inside). This time Special Kiwis will be giving a couple of mp3 shuffle players for the raffle.

HERNE BAY PETANQUE WINE DOUBLES 2008

All income from entry fees & raffle to the Auckland Down Syndrome Association inc.

Sunday 16th November 2008 at Herne Bay PC, Salisbury Road, Auckland City

Prizes: Top four teams in the main all get engraved trophies plus winning team gets 36 bottles of wine, runners-up 24 bottles, losing semi-finalists get 12 bottles per team. Plate prizes are similar with all teams getting engraved trophies and winning team getting 24 bottles of wine, second gets 12 bottles, losing semi-finalists 6 bottles each. The numbers of bottles quoted here are the MINUMUM and it is hoped there will be more!

Raffle: each team is asked to bring one raffle prize and in addition there are amazing prizes that have been donated by New Zealand companies and individuals.

The competition is being run by Dave Ciano (UK and Cockle Bay) with the support of the Herne Bay Petanque Club. Info and Contact : voyk @ orcon.net.nz

ciao

Creative my gaiters!

2008-10-02T00:46:00.001+13:00

Finally! Adobe's CS4 is here, and to be fair, it looks better than ever. My only complaint is that the combination of products in the creative suite families are as always arranged kind of arbitrarily or are just inadequate for me. Why would I want to pay for 3 or 4 applications I want, and get 6 I don't need. Wouldn't it be more useful to have a selection system like: you can choose any 4, 5, 7 ,9 or 13 applications for a fixed price? That way, everyone would get what they really want. The way it is now, I bet that many people are forced to get a weird suite and then buy something separately... and not many have the money to get the "master's suite". I don't.

There's another complaint actually. The price of those things! Yes, it may be adequate for large corporations, but small businesses like small design studios can't afford to buy 3 or 4 licenses, that's like their full income for the whole year! No wonder that many studios use hacked software. My approach: I don't have any hacked software on my computer. I'm surviving with freeware like gimp and open office. The old software I bought doesn't work anymore or works partially on OSX10.5 like my old Photoshop elements doesn't even start. When software applications have a reasonable price, well, there's no excuse for pirates... but when prices are like that, one wonders who's the real pirate.

And well, there's a third complaint: despite having a reasonable affordable price, the new photoshop elements 6.0 for mac seems to be horrible. So much, that most of the comments on the apple store are people who asked for their money back... Now, I'm totally scared by those comments, and seems that I was waiting in vain all this time. Almost a year ago I said that I was concerned that the new PSE looked like it was going to be made for "stupid users"... and it seems I was right. So, I have no other option but to win the lottery or get me a guardian angel sponsor so I can buy me one of those creative suites, just to have the full "real" photoshop, and update my old marcomedia studio MX. That's sadly the thing with computers, is the never ending story of money being sucked in.

Speaking of software, I received Yesterdei this newsletter from pinnacle... well, it's not too late for "Hoi ultimo dia".

ciao

Designical irony

2008-09-29T01:36:00.006+13:00

There's something incongruous or maybe ironic about so called "good design". I mean, one would think that someone who buys an object that has been praised for its good design, would probably (or generally) have good aesthetic taste. Am I right? Well, just to follow up on friday's post about good design awards, specifically IDSA's IDEA awards... where practically all the range of apple products won an award (specifically for aesthetic reasons)... one would think that the people buying those millions of iPods and iPhones would have at least some degree of appreciation for minimalism. I would certainly think so. Then, how you explain kitschig accessories like :

"The iCarta is a toilet paper dispenser and iPod player in one. You’ll be relieved to know that the dock comes with two USB ports and also works as a recharger, letting charge your iPod and listen to music while you download."(podcastingnews' top Ten Worst iPod-Related Christmas Presents Ever) ...if you prefer something to substitute the sports illustrated swimsuit edition in your loo have a look at the iPod bra too.

"Meet Hasbro's I-DOG -- the little dog with BIG sound! Just plug him in to your music player and I-DOG plays your music through his built-in speaker or your headphones -- and rocks out! Wanna dance with I-DOG? Try placing him near a speaker and dance along as he grooves to the beat. I-DOG even changes his mood to suit your music."

"Think Apple fans are, um, passionate? Then you don't know enough Lego aficionados. Combine the two obsessions and you get sites like PodBrix , where the designer known as Tomi modifies and assembles Lego pieces to create Apple-centric figures and dioramas. In 2005 he created the BrixPod Classic, a case for the first iPod Shuffle that looks like a cross between an original iPod and a Lego brick." (found on Mac World's 5 wacky iPod cases)

The lego bricks dock for iPods. "Would you have ever guessed that your old toys would one day be playing all of your fave tunes?! Fun speaker runs off of iPod’s energy and no batteries are required! Plus signs are your speakers with volume buttons in between!" (product page via blog.wired)

"If you’re planning on sticking with your iPhone Classic, you love silicone chocolate, and you want to have an even more deformed pocket silhouette than you already do, then you can pick up this case for $29.99 from gizfever. You get the nifty box with a screen protector and brown silicone iPhone case." Chocolate Style Silicone case for iPhone 2G (technabob.com via swissmiss) the only concern is that this chocolate bar may not be "melamine free".

If you think the new apple aluminium keyboards are too thin... or you would like your desktop computer to combine with your chocolate iPhone, here's a chocolate keyboard. If you still have the geek munchies, this Freshly Baked USB Drives memory sticks from Vavolo are not only for macs... but they would help fight mac book air's anorexia. (chicageek)

A Kawai overdose : "From Japan, of course, comes this Hello Kitty speaker that connects to your iPod or any other audio device, and then allows you and the Kitty DJ to dig the music together. Hello Kitty in a DJ booth with a speaker in the base is a pretty cool juxtaposition of dance music and Kitty. She even bops her head back and forth with the music. Hello Kitty Speaker features a DJ style Hello Kitty who bops her head back and forth."

Got iMilk? Got iBeer? got the iMunchies? Hottrix has them all for your iPhone: "Brew and drink beer on your iPhone and iPod touch. This hilarious sight-gag is fully interactive and behaves like a real glass of beer thanks to the iPhone sensors and our spare time. Tilt to sip, shake for foam, even pour iBeer from iPhone to iPhone. iMilk is a portable dairy farm for your iPhone and iPod touch. Drink milk and whip cream from the comfort of your pocket... and now... there's even iMunchies: From Hottrix, infamous creators of iBeer, comes the answer to snack attacks. Your iPhone becomes a popcorn machine. The all-you-can-eat sensation!"

And this one directly from the apple store itself: the knockoff of the free iSock (or iSuck?) "Dress your iPod up in any one of six vibrant color socks (green, purple, grey, blue, orange, and pink). This set of knit socks provides a stylish, fun, and practical way to protect your iPod. Forgive us if we're stating the obvious, but here's how it works: Just slide your iPod into the sock to keep it safe and warm. Slide it out to dock or change playlists. It's as easy as... putting on a pair of socks."

OK. I'll post some other non mac geek-kitsch later. I'll just close with this "mac book touch"... the mac that will never be... and should have been made 5 years ago.

ciao

Master's courses at SPD

2008-09-27T00:46:00.001+12:00

Enrolments to Master’s courses at Scuola Politecnica di Design SPD are open:
	Master Interior Design
	Master Industrial Design
	Master Car Design in collaboration with Alfa Romeo
	Master Visual Design
	Master Web & Multimedia
	Mid – University Master Course in Interior Design in collaboration with the Design Faculty-Politecnico of Milan
SPD is the first design school established in Italy. Since 1954 the school has been training designers and professionals of visual communication coming from more than seventy countries all around the world. Master’s Courses at SPD are professional advanced courses carried out with companies and design professionals. For information: SCUOLA POLITECNICA DI DESIGN - SPD Via Ventura 15 — 20134 Milano. T. 0226413083 www.scuoladesign.com info@scuoladesign.com

za za za mesa que mas aplauda

2008-09-26T01:20:00.007+12:00

The countdown is on for the final of Electrolux's Design Lab 2008. This year's jury will be: fuseproject founder Yves Béhar, Axis FormLAB Design Director Jiao Mo, Senior Design Manager for Nokia Younghee Jung, and Sr VP of Global Design at Electrolux, Henrik Otto. I'm certainly looking forward to see their presentations! All finalists are ready with their prototypes, and the excitement is rising, as october 9 approaches. You can see pictures of the prototypes on flickr, watch the video presentations on YouTube, or visit their blog for the latest news about design lab 08.

Although the scan-toast is quite similar to Sasha Tseng's toast messenger concept, it incorporates some new ideas and it's creator, Sung Bae Chang, developed a mechanism with a network of toasting "modules" (hot wires that rotate within a 30 degree radius) that burn the image or text you have selected onto the delicious slice of your choice.

A while ago, Raul sent me a link to "the best global design of 2008". I think that "the best" sounds a bit pretentious, and "global" may be a bit misleading, since most of the winners are still american, and I said "still", because IDSA has been trying to "globalize" their awards lately. Some years ago, they focused on american designers and american companies because their audience was moslty local. In fact, I believe it was closed to any international entries until just recently. But nowadays they are expanding and trying to get international entries just like other design awards, in order to get international credibility. It's a similar credibility issue just like the oscars or grammys or even the C. Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field Of Excellence, the selection may not be biased, but the public's perception that judging is inclined towards "giving the award to the economically successful and not necessarily the best candidate" is quite strong.

Another interesting award is the da Vinci Awards: "The annual da Vinci Awards® recognize the most innovative adaptive and assistive technologies that enable equal access and opportunity for all people, regardless of ability. These innovations play an important role in helping people overcome physical limitations." I just love how this year's award went to a small, simple but yet forgotten need. This is the "universal design" award... maybe it could be our goal to get one of those awards someday.

ciao

PS: what about today's post title??? Well, the singer/writer of that song was kidnapped today but somehow managed to escape. He was lucky not to be stomped by a runaway elephant when he was escaping.

Victoria's freebies

2008-09-21T23:42:00.008+12:00

A friend asked me for a list of 3D modeling and animation freeware, so I was searching for the PC versions, when I found DAZ3D... which is the free version of poser:

DAZ Studio is a feature rich 3D figure posing and animation tool that enables users of any skill level to easily create stunning digital imagery. Whether you're a 3D newbie or an avid 3D artist, you'll find DAZ Studio is the perfect tool for designing unique digital art and animation with virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, backgrounds and more. DAZ Productions originated as the Poser-production division of Zygote Media Group, Inc., in Provo, Utah where the content included within Poser 3 and 4 was born. After creating the default content for MetaCreations, Daz developed the "Millennium Woman" Victoria and the "Millennium Man" Michael figures. In December of 2000, DAZ branched off from Zygote, and became a freestanding corporation.

One of my favourite freeware suggestions for Roberto was Scratch. It's an interactive content creator for children that uses "script blocks" instead of worrying about writing the scripts. This allows them to create their own games and movies, by creating new content or by "remixing" other people's projects... although not just kids can use it to create games or animations.

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design. Scratch is available free of charge, go to Download. Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, in collaboration with the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, with financial support from the National Science Foundation, Intel Foundation, and MIT Media Lab research consortia.

ciao

Diplomado de Ecodiseño

2008-09-19T13:12:00.001+12:00

Diplomado de Ecodiseño – UDES Puebla

UDES Universidad de Ciencias y Desarrollo, con sede en la ciudad de Puebla, convoca al Diplomado de Ecodiseño.

Objetivo: Propiciar el interés de los estudiantes y profesionistas de los diferentes campos del diseño por los problemas ambientales y sociales que en la actualidad estamos enfrentando, así como explorar alternativas dentro de su ámbito profesional y académico utilizando herramientas que permitan realizar un diseño ecológico y socialmente comprometido.

Contenido temático:
1. Problemática ambiental, ecología social. Experiencias y alternativas ecológicas.
2. Métodos de análisis de materiales y ciclo de vida de los diseños.
3. Sensibilización y estimulación a la creatividad. El consumo, lo social y lo cultural.
4. Aplicación y prácticas hacia un diseño ecológico.

Dirigido a: Estudiantes y profesionistas del diseño
Duración: 100 hrs. / 13 semanas
Cupo Mínimo: 15 alumnos.
Impartido por: Lic. Haydeé Girón Rivas, Mtra. María Laura Goñi, Mtro. Ricardo A. Pino Hidalgo y Lic. Nora Souza Baamonde; con la participación de la Mtra. María Laura Peña como invitada.

Fechas: Del 24 de octubre 2008 al 21 de febrero 2009

Horario: Viernes de 16 a 20 hrs. y sábados de 10 a 14 hrs.

Costos: Inscripción $ 2000.00 y 4 pagos de $ 1000.00

Informes:
L.D.I Jabin Mora Espinosa
Cordinación Diseño Industrial
www.udes.edu.mx
Tel : (222) 576 14 26 ext. 107
33 Poniente 1306-A, Col .Volcanes
Puebla, Pue.

No dewd left behind (bars)

2008-09-18T00:19:00.005+12:00

Today was Sandra's graduation from her postgraduate diploma. I won't go into much gossip about the speeches, but one of them opened with a comment about a team wining a rugby match last weekend... didn't he realize it was a graduation ceremony, not a pub conversation amongst kiwi blokes? Anyway, he mentioned a video on YouTube regarding new paradigms in education. You know I'm very skeptic about recent education policies. My reason? Well, despite growing numbers of graduates around the world, and so many praise about using new technologies in education, and student centered learning, etc... the reality is, that many of those students are not well prepared.

The new generation may be (somehow) technologically literate. They can send text messages faster than meets the eye, and they spend thousands of hours on the internet... but that does not mean they can spell or write using correct grammar. Policies like "no child left behind" only mean what Varela used to say: "if they don't die, they'll graduate". Those policies when implemented, only serve to push up "the numbers" but deteriorate the quality of the education, and that's a mathematical rule called "minimum common denominator". We can't cheat the minimum common denominator rule, and the only ones affected are average to top students, who will now get an education to the level of the lowest common denominator.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against using technology or computers in the classroom (if they are for working and studying, not for gaming and watching funny videos). I asked my students to put a portfolio of their work on html and burn it into a CD more than 10 years ago! But we shouldn't fool ourselves, a lot of students from younger generations are not learning the appropriate skills and knowledge, they are just "having fun" by (pseudo)-learning, and we are responsible for letting them get away like that.

Again, don't get me wrong: Yes, learning is not about being boring, but it's not about learning how to type SMS text messages faster either! or researching a school paper solely on information found on google (google's algorithm will show the most popular results first, not necessarily the most relevant or the most trustful data). Having 200 people "collaborating" on a wiki discussion about education is not education... is just a discussion! Let's not fool ourselves... those kind of demands are not about raising the standards in education, they're about bringing "so much entertainment" to the classroom (they're saying that). And what does "schools nowadays have so many restrictions" mean???! Those kids have absolutely no idea about restrictions and discipline... Excuse me, but those are the 2 basic items which many students are not learning nowadays! Again, we are letting them get away with it.

In old analog times, people would meet on a coffee shop, restaurant or "music cafe" to discuss about art, politics, gossip, and many other subjects. It's the equivalent of today's myspace, discussion groups, social networking, etc. I don't recall that our old schools included "coffee shop" skills in their curricula. Although, in Monterrey I used to take my students to the cafeteria and have some of our design discussions there. The reason was that the traditional classrooms with big heavy drawing tables are ment for individual work, and it was quite difficult to get students involved in a group discussion (not to mention how difficult it was to move 50kg tables around the classroom) we moved those heavy tables a couple of times to make a big circle, but it was much easier to sit on the cafeteria on a big table. I asked the dean for classrooms with meeting tables, I even designed some modular tables for that, but I had no luck convincing the director to get appropriate furniture. So one day I decided to just take my students to the cafeteria and our furniture problem was solved. However, cafeterias are not an appropriate learning environment. What I mean, is that web 2.0 social networking may be a tool for some kind of collaborative work in schools, but let's not move our students from a classroom to a coffee shop all day where they get distracted by shinny objects and the smell of coffee and brownies! Although some starbucks addicts may be happier that way.

I don't think that students will actually learn better by getting their lectures on a Blackberry 3G phone. I don't think they will actually watch a full 50 min video of a lecture on advanced calculus... If there's not someone hit in the groin during the first 20 seconds of the "advanced calculus lecture" video, they will probably get bored and start searching on youtube for the video of Galilea Montijo naked, and girls would probably search for Fernando del Solar or something. It's just funny how this ITESM promotional is responding to the "shift happens" video "we are prepared for problems that we haven't imagined, for technology that hasn't been invented yet, and solving problems that we don't know are problems yet" You see my point? We are falling for that kind of nonsense!

Let's put it in a simple way using a similar rationale as "shift happens". Back in the age when people was amazed with brand new TV sets in their homes, telecommunication was changing our world. From doing whatever they were doing before having a TV (probably listening to the radio), people sarted to spend more and more time watching the tube. If "people watching the telly" were a country, it would be the largest country on earth... even larger than fakebook! Back then, there were millions of "RSS like" subscribers to radio and TV programs like Cri-cri or La Tremenda Corte de Trespatines... but it didn't mean that TV entertainment should be brought to the classrooms. Yes, TV and video media have been a helpful tool in education, but let's not use the "millions of views record" as rationale to implement that technology in education. It would be as silly as saying: "millions of people around the globe watched the olympic games, the super bowl and the futball world cup on TV, let's bring TV's into our classrooms bacause of that".

My parent's house phone number used to have 5 digits not so many years ago, now it's 8 digits! Residential phone lines grew exponentially since the 50's... it is still an indicator of "developed countries". Millions of "normal" phone calls are made every day... probably more than the 2.7 billion google searches each month. But that doesn't mean we have to provide a phone line to every school-desk... not even every classroom. To elevate Google to a divine level using "B.G" (before Google) is a bit frightening. Making virtual divine idols of technology gods doesn't seem like a good idea, sounds to me more like idolatry of false ideals.

There are 5 times more words and phrases in the english language than in times of Shakespeare: Dewd/Dudette, gigabucks, Frack!, Gr7, iPhoney, etc... and those are used more than 27/4! WT@!

ciao

LHC

2008-09-10T23:56:00.008+12:00

I've been looking forward for today's start of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

“The LHC is a discovery machine,” said CERN Director General Robert Aymar, “its research programme has the potential to change our view of the Universe profoundly, continuing a tradition of human curiosity that’s as old as mankind itself.”

I have my own theories... and lots of questions and doubts about the current particle models... and I guess that scientists have even more questions and doubts. One thing is for sure: there will be no black hole devouring the earth! (at least that's what the renowned M.C. Hawking says by endorsing the informative LHC rap) If that were the case, we all would have miniature black holes like freckles, from exposure to cosmic rays! Anyway, I prepared a kaleidoscopic tribute to this milestone: Leptons, Quarks, Strings (unfinished) and even a Feynman "penguin" diagram. Enjoy.

ciao

Design Innovation Forum

2008-09-09T15:56:00.000+12:00

Time: 4:30pm Date: Thursday 25th September Place: AuCom Conference Centre, 116 Wrights Rd, Christchurch.

Please RSVP to Sara Wells s.wells@aucom.com by the 15th September.

Evil Twins and Quadruplets

2008-09-06T00:46:00.002+12:00

Raul sent me this "riddle". To be honest, I didn't knew what he was talking about, until he explained to me the joke. This "testimonial" was found on Fester's website. Fester is a trademark of Henkel, they sell paint, additives, and other chemicals for the construction industry. 12 hours after banging my head against the walls... I thought I had it and I sent him an e-mail : "I got it! that dude looks like "uncle Fester" from the Addams Family!". Raul replied, that in deed many people think that the guy from the picture looks like Uncle Fester, I just confirmed the resemblance...

Then, he explained to me that "Miguel, a constructor from Merida" is in fact this year's Pritzker Prize Laureate! WOW! And I thought Telecom was deceiving customers using a fake testimonial from "McCallum and Partners"... Fester (b.z.w. Henkel) surely went a giant step further faking a testimonial with a Pritzker Laureate. I wonder if they asked for JN's (Miguel's) permission to print his picture and testimonial. Anyway, I did a quick google search to mend my terrible ignorance, and disipate any doubt if J. N. may have an evil strange twin living in Yucatan called Miguel... to my surprise... Not only he has an evil twin, they are three-and-a-half-plets. Oh, wait... it's quadru-and-a-half-plets if we include Miguel! However, seems that Jean Nouvel is not the only famous architect separated at birth from his evil twin(s): Koolhaas, Liebeskind, Hadid, Gehry, Piano, Tschumi, Calatrava, etc... they all have evil twins! Just like neutrons and anti-neutrons, matter and anti-matter... I guess it's for the sake of balance in this universe.

ciao

The Colour of Beauty & Passion

2008-09-05T00:20:00.000+12:00

Actually... there are colours of many other concepts, emotions and objects at Cymbolism. (found via) A project by Suffolk Software where people are asked to select the colour they best associate with a word. Then, you may look up the results for words like:

amusing, authentic, average beauty, blissful, bold, calming, cheerful, creative, classy, contemporary, decadent, elegant, imagination, knowledge, magic, mystical, mean, medicine, mellow, melancholy, modern, music, new, passion, pleasing, profit, progress, pure, radical, relaxed, retro, romantic, sad, secure, sensual, sex, simple, stylish, wise, etc.

"Semantics can sometimes be a problem, because they don’t always accurately describe what we need to say. Conversely, emotions are difficult to convey in words. For a long time, there was a school of thought surrounding what was called “color emotion.” Now that term has changed because it’s been found to be inaccurate. The emotions that colors convey are not the same thing as semantics. The relationship between color and the psychological response of the person seeing it has been studied for a long time, though, and people are always trying to come up with new and better ways to describe what they see and what they feel. To that end, color-emotion exercises have been created that are designed to work with both semantics and emotion. These ask people to rate how they feel when they look at a particular color and give insight into what a lot of colors mean and how individuals can expect to feel when they are presented with certain colors, along with why that occurs. ... In short, color emotion deals with words like happiness, anxiety, and excitement, and color semantics is involved with term such as heavy, light, warm, cool, passive, and active. The distinction, though, is not always an easy one to make, and most people will say that color gives them a certain emotion because of the way it feels. This ties emotions and semantics together very tightly, and it looks like this will always be the way where color is concerned. For some people it has deep meaning and for others it simply provides comfort or a smile, but it generally always evokes some type of feeling."

This would make a great M.Sc. research paper on semiotics.

ciao

Form follows Gesture

2008-09-04T00:49:00.004+12:00

Who comes up with words like "Wahrnehmbarkeit" ? That's why I admire the Germans. Their language is so "genau" that when it's time for a philosophical/semantic discussion, there's little to argue about the meaning (Bedeutung), so it jumps to "the next level". It's just like the discourse of method, if you have small particles that are "genau" what they say they are, it's easier to discover their relationships, patterns, etc... compared to when you have "ungenaue" concepts on which you can't agree what they are or what they mean on the first place. In other words, if you use words like "whateva" or "embiggen"... (as seen on the menu of flickr slideshows) you're like doomed dewd... or you may as well be the reincarnation of Jebediah Sprongfeld!

All that came to my mind when I saw the BMW concept car "GINA" on BMW-web.tv . It's just extraordinary! You know I have a conflict with cars: as design objects, I must admit there are some beautiful pieces like Gina, and countless horrible cars like the mustang, hummer, aztec, pt cruiser, etc. Then, there's the argument that cars for personal use might be practical and convenient for the individual but unsustainable for society and the environment. Then, there's the issue of the death tolls... so much discussions about antrax scare, meningoccocal vaccination, high safety procedures on airports, anti-smoking laws... when more people die or get injured from car accidents each year!

Anyway, the whole "Oberflächigkeit" discourse takes a new level... or a "flat" level. in GINA. Interpreting surfaces as "skin" in such literal way, it creates an object that is more like a living organism. Therefore, it is capable of mimicking human gestures, like winking. Maybe one day (if cars still exist in the future) we'll see cars that are smiling, angry looking, cursing at other cars, or just looking stupid not knowing where to go (I'm guessing that in that future, all cars will be GPS controlled, not human controlled). Then, cars could actually look like their owners or maybe they'll be some kind of avatars. Cool!

ciao

Back to school

2008-09-03T00:33:00.002+12:00

You know I'm not a great fan of autodesk, not even after winning a free t-shirt and a free seminar on one of their events. They dominated for a while as the (only) industry's standard, but they had to share that position with Alias, Rhinos or Solidworks. My opinion is that their dominance made them lose the innovative edge for a while, specially 10 to 5 years ago. A similar story happened with Windows vista: the expectations on innovations for new releases were so high, that many did not even acknowledge the changes, or were frustrated by old and/or new limitations. They also started to diversify into 10 or more specialized suites (just like windows went from 2 versions to 4) in an effort to meet the specific demands of several design fields like architecture, civil engineering, topology, industrial design, mechanical electrical plumbing, etc. instead of putting that effort into renewing the "main engine", they just gave away some aesthetic minor candies for those users. For me, the greatest disadvantage so far is that their apps are not cross-platform i.e. PC-Mac-Linux except for the ones they inherited from Alias.

When Autodesk bought Alias, reminded me when Bill Gates "bought" CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet... my concern was (and still is) that with fewer competitors, it would bring them back to the times when they ruled as "the standard" and they will soon again forget about innovation. There was a rumour of a soon to be released version of Alias studio tools for mac shortly before any news about the takeover. I predicted that if there was in fact a remote posibility of a Studiotools for macs, it got lost on that takeover. That lost hope was probably the worse loss... but (to my surprise) Autodesk has improved on innovation since the Alias takeover.

The AutodeskUniversity Annual User Conference and Exhibition wil take place on December 2 - 5, 2008 at The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas.

Autodesk University offers the world’s broadest curriculum of technical content designed specifically for Autodesk product users. Enroll early to make sure you get the classes and labs you want: Many offerings—nearly all of which are AU exclusives—fill up quickly. With more than 640 multi-level classes and labs organized in 20 discipline-specific tracks, you can easily customize your learning experience by choosing classes that are just right for you and your organization. Plus, class handouts and website downloads from AU Online make it easy to share the knowledge with your team. The AU 2008 curriculum offers 65 more classes than last year—and the number of hands-on labs has swelled to 80, a 20-percent increase from AU 2007.

The Industrial Design curriculum offers a full scope of classes covering software techniques, design methodology, and creative inspiration. We are interested in providing design insight for product engineers and strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration within product teams.

Some podcasts are freely available at the Autodesk University Blog (BLAUG).

ciao

CATiq

2008-09-02T00:49:00.003+12:00

The DECT Forum invites design students from all over the world to participate in the first international CAT-iq Design Competition and investigate in the future of broadband home communication.
This is an opportunity for design students from various disciplines to showcase their creativity and exciting ideas to an international jury of industry leading companies: The following experts will judge the submissions:

Vincent Buet (Director Consumer Marketing, Philips)
Pieter Hermans (Chairman of the Jury, CEO Jakajima).
Erich Kamperschroer (Chairman and President DECT Forum)
Nicholas Rhodes (Director of St. Martins College London)
Lesley Taylor (Head of Design, SGW Europe)
C.H. Tong (President, VTech)

More information about the jury at: www.catiqdesigncompetition.org/jury.html

The DECT Forum would like to encourage students’ creative thinking to conceive the future of home communication. There is almost no limit on the creative and innovative opportunities of the CAT-iq technology. The home communication industry is challenging participants in the competition in two basic areas:

Products – stylish non-computing hardware devices
Innovative and new services that can be offered by telecom network operators

“DECT Forum grants that inventors will stay owner of their own ideas. We will promote and market the best entries but will not claim intellectual property rights. This means that design students can not only win excellent cash prizes but additionally, the companies, who are sponsoring the competition will be interested to identify talented students for opportunities in their own organizations, says Erich Kamperschroer, Chairman of the DECT Forum.

For the winners of the CAT-iq Design Competition these prizes are available:

First prize: 10,000 €
Second prize: 5,000 €
Third runner-up prize: 1,000 €

The registration closes on September 19, 2008. The deadline for the submission of entries is October 10, 2008. Winners will be announced on November 14, 2008. Interested design students find all details and contacts at www.catiqdesigncompetition.org and www.cat-iq.org (via)

ciao

Britney in the 4th dimension

2008-08-31T23:55:00.007+12:00

Today's vigil in Mexico was impressive and massive (unlike the few dewds at Tibet's vigil last month)... I can't help but to think about the darker side: how many cars of people attending that vigil may have been vandalized or stolen? I've always said that Andre Breton was absolutely right: "Mexico is the most surrealist country in the world". But I must be honest, you need a certain degree of surrealism to understand the 4th dimension.

If Britney Spears can understand semiconductor physics, I don't see why it could be so difficult for me to imagine a 4th dimension in space. I'll have to find some time to read Edwin Abbott's "flatland" since it is the main reference to understanding a 4th dimension, and Britney only helps in understanding and visualizing curved surfaces... or just "visualize" some videos about that. In fact, it all started when I was looking at Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray) and found this amazing movie:

Dimensions: A two hour movie made in POV-Ray!
Jos Leys, working with Etienne Ghys and Aurélien Alvarez (both mathematicians from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France) produced a two hour movie in POV-Ray which explores in beautiful visuals the concepts of dimensions and mathematics.

View the trailer, then head over to the Dimensions website where you can download all 9 chapters or purchase it on DVD for the very reasonable price of 10 Euros (which, as a non-profit project, covers the cost of production and includes worldwide shipping!). The project is released under a Creative Commons license (see site for details).

A spoken commentary is available in French, English, Spanish and Arabic on both the DVD and the downloads, with subtitles provided in Arabic, Dutch, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. Instructions on how to use the subtitles are available on the website, which also includes pages with more detailed explanations on the topics in the different chapters of the project.

Check out and support this fantastic project and send in some feedback and comments!

Maybe because I'm already a bit familiar with Adrien Douady's rabbit and fractals... that I got more interested on Ludwig Schläfli's 4th dimensional polytopes. They are stunning! I've seen the hypercube (tesseract) before, but never actually put much attention into that... or even tried to draw my own hypercube! I was living my life as a simple flatlander, now I'm becoming like Escher's lizards. See you in the 4th dimension, dewds!

ciao

Scam

2008-08-29T00:05:00.002+12:00

I realized why I don't like personality quizzes: I always get weird results. Where's all that money then???

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex.

You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral.

You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories.

Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you.

You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists.

You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

ciao

Captcha

2008-08-24T00:55:00.003+12:00

Seems like the reign of terror of the spam-bots attacking Special Kiwis are over! After trying out several captcha systems, I finally found one that actually works, was very easy to install, and best of all... it is free!!! ProtectWebForm has a free protection service for online forms and e-mail addresses too. Yes, this post is just some sort of advertising for protectwebform.com, but it's the least I can do to thank those guys for their free captcha service.

ciao

Waste management

2008-08-17T00:50:00.003+12:00

So, what's with those recycling numbers on plastic items? There's always confusion about what they mean and specially about their use... specially because there are also other symbols. For example, the "green dot" (Der Grüne Punkt) does not mean that a packaging can be recycled at all! It's just a fee that some German companies pay to put that label on each packaging, so that the "Duales System Deutschland GmbH" collects the empty containers on their behalf, regardless if they are going to be recycled afterwards or not. Such is the case of tetrapak for example (which is a product with horrible environmental credentials by the way).

A couple of weeks ago, we saw a TV program about food packaging, and it's just terrible that a spokesperson of either the health department or the plastics industry, made a terrible mistake saying that those numbers can be used as guideline on how safe it is to use plastic containers on a microwave. Wrong! That's one of the categorical "dont's" on the SPI information video! The number codes are only for recycling (sorting out) purposes. They can't be a guideline for consumers about health risks, simply because many resins are not used in its pure form. Many plastics are engineered to meet specific needs, they are combined with other chemicals to produce the desired qualities i.e. they contain additives, stabilizers, colorants, etc. in different amounts which are not described or stated on that ID number code. The code only serves to identify the "main" resin used in a product for sorting purposes, and nothing else. "That is all they tell us. The numbers found on bottles or containers ... do not indicate the safe or intended use for a product, and they should NOT be used for that purpose. This is false, and potentially harmful misinformation". Let's have a closer look at what they really are:

The plastics recycling number code system or "SPI resin identification code" was introduced in the United States by the Society of the Plastics Industry in 1988 "at the urging of recyclers around the country. A growing number of communities were implementing recycling programs in an effort to decrease the volume of waste subject to rising tipping fees at landfills." Almost 90% of all packaging and "throw away" plastics products are made out of only 6 kinds of resins. An arbitrary ID code numbering system would make it quite easy to identify those 6 resins and a 7th code was introduced as a "catch all category" for other kinds of plastics (the remaining 10%). To date, not every state in the US nor all countries have recycling strategies for all 6 kinds of resins, but it still makes it easier to separate which one is which, facilitating the eventual recycling: "If there is a readily identifiable supply of a given material in the waste stream, it may drive recycling entrepreneurs to explore means of recovering that material in a cost-effective manner." Categories 1 and 2 (PET and HDPE) represent 96% of all bottle containers consumed in the USA!

Table of resin codes (from wikipedia)

Recycling No.	Abbreviation	Polymer Name
	PETE or PET	Polyethylene terephthalate
	HDPE	High density polyethylene
	PVC or V	Polyvinyl chloride
	LDPE	Low density polyethylene
	PP	Polypropylene
	PS	Polystyrene
	OTHER	Other plastics, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene acrylic, polycarbonate, polylactic acid, nylon and fiberglass.

Due to an increased interest in recycling in the last years, the code system has been already expanded to other materials and it will be probably be updated very soon to meet the recent developments in packaging and new materials like bioplastics. (Hemp products will probably be labeled with # 69 TEX dudes!) ABS was formerly labeled as #7 (other) and now it has a category of its own #9 or #ABS although some sources say that some manufacturers are using a "zero" code for ABS causing confusion with the proposed "zero code" for polylactic acid (PTA). Because the 7th group includes thousands of plastics and many of those already have potential for recycling (like PTA), many companies are labeling them with no group number, just the name abbreviation below the arrows, until a new ID numbering code is developed to include a wider variety of resins and materials.

ciao

Hello, I'm bored tonight

2008-08-16T00:08:00.002+12:00

A malicious spam-bot has been attacking our feedback forms for the last couple of days, sending a new spam message every half an hour... how annoying is that! Alex Dragulescu found a way of making something useful out of junk e-mail. Using a special computer program and (I imagine) some complicated algorithms, the program translates patterns, keywords and rhythms found in the text of those junk e-mails into three-dimensional modeling gestures. So there you go, this is how messages like: Cheap Viagra and Cialis, repl1ca w4tch3s Rolex, cheap canadian medications, nude pics of Vanessa Hudgens, next month's playboy cover features Chelsea Clinton, Get Obama's tools, homeric superficial rangoon instalment bliss, Rapper 50 Cent To Be John Mccains Choice For V.P., or 25% discount on your flute... may look like when put to better use.

ciao

Update: Thanks to protectwebform.com, I finally managed to install a free captcha protection service on our contact forms. If you have a similar problem, I recommend you their service.

I ain't freakin', I ain't faking this...

2008-08-12T22:52:00.007+12:00

It's like totally un-hot! How "they" expect to stop piracy, when big corporations, law enforcement, multinational advertising agencies and even countries are "friggin' fakin' it"? Of course the recent news about the olympic mass deceptions: the olympic torch supposedly reaching the fake top of the Everest, the CGI faked firework footprints, and the lip-syncing because the original singer was too ugly (something like the story of milly-vanilly) are just examples of how vulnerable is mass media to fake information. Seems that we are still just as naive as those people who thought Orson Welles' war of the worlds was a real event. At least the fake Steve Jobs (eventually) had the decency to say he was an impostor, unlike this totally original chinese Duck seen alongside the Fuwa.

Anyway, the winner of the fake cannes lion award is... ta da... you've guessed right! My neighbors at the New Zealand branch of Bitchy and Scratchy: A recent campaign for NZ Telecom features a fake company (McCallum & Partners) as if it was in fact a real client using telecom's business services.

It's not the first time in the history of advertising that the endorsers or presenters of a given product are in fact actors. Take for example Land Transport NZ's curtain side air-bags advertising which features an actress instead of a real injured person... but saatchi&saatchi went a bit too far when they used the name of a fake company. In comparison, the courtain airbag lady remains anonymous. But that's not the worse part... telecom's advert is just a rip-off of a viral video made in England! It's just dishonest to charge a client thousands of dollars for something they just copied from someone else. That's blatant piracy!

The video the Telecom campaign was based on (watch it below) was originally made by Connected Venture staff, who are responsible for video sites like Vimeo and CollegeHumor . In the original they lip-synch along to Harvey Danger’s song “Flagpole Sitta”. Seamlessly shot in one take (...the first take), it features a large number of employees mouthing the words and grooving in their office. It worked because they used real staff who did it for their own amusement with their own skills. (notes added)

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

Next thing you know, Prada or Louis Vuitton will be copying cheap Chinese bags from Costco and selling them as their own! It is unacceptable to charge a client for a creative work, and then copy the main idea from someone else. It's like shame on those Saatchi & Saatchi dudes, they're not hot!

Namasté

PS. For those looking for the Ting Tings' song, visit their official website or their youtube channel.

Kiwis do fly!

2008-08-03T23:08:00.004+12:00

The Martin Jetpack was (finally) presented to the EAA 2008 Airventure audience in Winsconsin. I took almost 30 years and lots of kiwi ingenuity to make it come true, from Glenn Martin's early ideas to prototype 9 which achieved sustained flight times, laying the foundation for a viable and successful pre-production.

The Jetpack is such a powerful idea that several people have tried to develop them. The first serious attempts were instigated by the US military in the 1950s. The idea was to build an ultimate 'all terrain vehicle' to move military commanders around a battlefield. The Bell Rocket Belt was the most successful and first flew in 1961. Unfortunately it only flew for 26 seconds, leading Mark Jannot of Popular Science Magazine to say in March 2006… “ I myself was most disappointed to discover that a Jetpack that will burn for longer than 30 seconds is out of reach.”

ciao

Delay Lama

2008-07-29T00:38:00.003+12:00

A very cool way to show your support to the Tibetan cause, now that the Olympic games are just a sigh away is Audionerdz's Delay-Lama. This gizmo-widget is actually a VSTi plug-in for audio synthesizers. Unfortunately, I haven't found a way to use it using GarageBand, but you can play with it using other (serious) MIDI hosts like HostX (UB) or "The Ugly VSTi Interfase", however, you'll need a real midi controller/editor to be able to manipulate the pitch... or you can do it by hand just for fun. I've trying to get my Delay Lama to sing Monteverdi's Orfeo Ouverture but he still sounds more like a drunken Japanese singing karaoke than a Tibetan Monk. You can watch some of Delay Lama's performances on youTube, they're hillarious!

ciao

Semifinalists

2008-07-28T14:15:00.003+12:00

Electrolux Design Lab announced this year’s Semi-finalists. More than 600 iGeneration-design entries have been sent in from students in 49 countries. An Electrolux jury selected 9 entries to take to the finals in Zurich, Switzerland, on October 9, 2008.

For Design Lab’s sixth edition, Electrolux invited undergraduate and graduate industrial design students to create tomorrow’s home appliances for the Internet generation. Submissions should be looking 2-3 years into the future and address food storage, cooking, and/or washing.

The nine finalists are:

• Sook: the social networking recipe generator with electronic tongue, by
Adam Brodowski, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA.
• Coox: the rollaway cooking table, by Antoine Lebrun, L'Ecole de Design
Nantes Atlantique, France.
• E-bag: the kinetic energy-powered cooler bag, by Apore Püspöki, Moholy-
Nagy University of Arts and Design, Budapest, Hungary.
• Stratosphere: the sanitizing clothes rack/valet, by Atilla Sáfráni, Moholy-
Nagy University of Arts and Design, Budapest, Hungary.
• iBasket: the Wi-Fi-connected clothes hamper and washing machine, by
Guopeng Liang, Tongji University, China.
• Vesta: the foldaway cooktop with RFID scanner, by Matthias Pinkert, HTW
Dresden (FH) University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
• Drawer Kitchen: the desk-drawer hotplate and fridge, by Nojae Park, Chiba
University, Japan.
• Flatshare: the modular fridge solution for shared living spaces, by Stefan
Buchberger, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria.
• Scan Toaster: the USB toaster that prints news, weather and snapshots
onto slices of toast, by Sung Bae Chang, Sejong University, South Korea

The main criteria are the originality of the concept, loyalty to Electrolux brand values, the creativeness of the design, consumer insight, and the degree to which the concept reflects such iGeneration core interests and concerns as mobility, convenience, time, materials, personalization, entertainment, technology, and sustainability.

The competition targets the upper-age segment of the Internet generation (25-35) comprising brand-conscious, busy young professionals who are independent, concerned about the environment, and whose lives are intertwined with technology and online social networks. “We received daring ideas and solutions,” says Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design at Electrolux.

The nine finalists have been invited to participate in the final event October 9 in Zurich, Switzerland, where an international jury of designers and experts will review the finalist entries and select a winner. The Design Lab 2008 has a First Prize of 5,000 Euro and a six-month internship at one of the Electrolux global design centers. The second prize is 3,000 Euro and third prize 2,000 Euro.

ciao

y tu paleta de que la quieres?

2008-07-22T01:02:00.006+12:00

I've been posting about some web-widgets I've found lately. It just occurred to me that last year I wrote about bad design... this year, I'll probably should start a series on widgets. On a recent article by MsBehaviour, she wrote about colour (with that purple hair #660099, MsBehaviour must look like Manijeh!).

The Philosopher Goethe believed that colours were 'Deeds of Light' and classified colour into three categories, of 'powerful', 'gentle' and radient. Fast forward to the Digital Age and we are dealing with pixels to mix colours, not paint. Wikipedia explains that Colour is 'the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Colour derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors.' The online colour system called the hexadecimal system works in a similar way, with a series of six digits or letters denoting the proportion of Red, Blue and Green in each shade. Starting with 00000 for black (for the absence of colour) and finishing with FFFFF for white (all colours on full). Red is FF0000 (with red on full, but no green or blue), and following this logic you can see that Green would be 00FF00 and Blue 0000FF. (via)

Anyway, there are some interesting tools... and some are just for fun: COLORS TOOLBOX: 20+ Tools For Working With Colors. The colour palette generator is a good idea if you hate the default choice of colours on your powerpoints. I already wrote about the asciifier... in colour! But the weirdest widget must be the comics cartoon maker... I couldn't resist to try as you can see.

ciao

Logo contest

2008-07-18T00:11:00.001+12:00

Your chance to participate in a logo contest for mozilla.org! They are looking for a logo for their Mexico microsite, and they want something creative and inclusive of cultural diversity. Check out their guidelines and gallery, and submit your idea(s) to the forum before October 31st. Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird and Seamonkey have a great corporate presence, it will be a great showcase for your work.

ciao

Fractal Robot

2008-07-17T00:47:00.007+12:00

This robot is not my favourite design, but it's quite nice how the robot "paints" itself ad infinitum. I wonder if there's a fractal palindrome... or a fractal answer to the question "what was first: the chicken or the egg?" I am not an eggspert, but I believe the reason why we don't have an answer resides in the question itself. Shouldn't it be "hen" instead of "chicken"? In that case, "egg" would come before "hen" in the Webster's dictionary.

ciao

Pic 2 txt

2008-07-13T01:04:00.003+12:00

This is very cool! Another picture to ASCII TXT converter:

U21 Design Forum

2008-07-08T22:51:00.003+12:00

An invitation for anyone from U21 member institutions with a practical interest in learning space design and/or a professional role in this field – including property and real estate leaders, audio-visual and information technology staff, educational and curriculum designers, professional/faculty developers and academics to participate in the second U21 Design Forum hosted by the University of Hong Kong on November 10-14 2008.

The design forum is intended to engage participants in discussion and design activity aimed at creating new generation learning environments in higher education. An important aspect of the forum is its aim to promote inter-disciplinary approaches to the design and development of improved learning environments. The 2008 Design Forum will focus on the challenge of creating more effective on-campus learning environments beyond the regular classroom. In particular, it will address the design and development of:
a ‘learning commons’
external settings to enliven the campus and create a more engaging environment for staff and students
the challenge and opportunities presented by campus heritage buildings.

Like the previous design forum, this event is designed to engage participants in small, inter-disciplinary teams in real-life design activity based on actual campus settings drawn from the HKU context. However, the intention is to build the participant’s knowledge and skills in ways that can be applied in their own professional role at their respective institution.

For more information and contact details, visit the U21 Event release.

U21 Member Institutions are:

ciao

Change the way you see disAbility

2008-07-03T22:51:00.008+12:00

All new Leonard Cheshire Disability's Creature Discomforts characters are now online at www.CreatureDiscomforts.org, ahead of a six week campaign to change attitudes to disability. Here's the press release:

Disabled people have the same desires and aspirations as non-disabled people, in work, education and relationships. The new animations will challenge people's low expectations about what disabled people can do.

The new characters are based on the unscripted voices of young disabled people talking about the issues that affect their lives. The first animation available on the website challenges public perceptions of disabled people, relationships and sex.

Leonard Cheshire Disability's new report on perceptions of disability and relationships, Up Close and Personal, challenges long-held assumptions that disabled people don't - or can't - have a relationship. Key findings include:

Disabled people have exactly the same hopes and anxieties about relationships as non-disabled people.
Two thirds (68 per cent) of disabled respondents have relationships with non-disabled people.
Both disabled and non-disabled people have low expectations of disabled people's relationships.

The Aardman team has created another four characters for the charity's campaign including a blind chameleon, an owl and a shrimp in wheelchairs, and a hearing impaired Cheshire cat.

From next Wednesday and throughout the summer the characters will appear in adverts on ITV, online and at bus stops in the UK. The adverts will be gradually revealed online over the next two weeks. So, to see them first, keep checking back at www.CreatureDiscomforts.org.

Maths in a nutshell

2008-07-02T00:05:00.009+12:00

Wolfram Research's Mathematica celebrated it's 20th birthday last week. I haven't used it in a while, but it was a very nice tool to do mechanical simulations. I'm glad to learn that they now have a free viewer which plays thousands of free demonstrations and notebooks on many areas like: architecture, fractals, 3D Graphics, art, patterns, chaos, mechanics, and more.

Mathematica Player is an innovative new take on viewer applications. Rather than just a reader, like Acrobat Reader, or a thin runtime, like Flash Player, Mathematica Player has the full Mathematica engine embedded right there --ready to make documents come alive or to power applets. (Of course, don't forget it can read notebooks too!) Because Player-interactive documents are so easy to make using Mathematica 6 technology, thousands of these are already freely available at The Wolfram Demonstrations Project--with more supplied each day by researchers, educators, students, and professionals. Yet there's one aspect that's just like other players: it's free. Download it now.

If you need an "oranges and apples" approach... here's a bit nutty way of exercising pattern sequences. (via: Not Quite Perfect) It might look... well, oranges and apples... but it's actually a squirrel! Seriously, I had to scratch my head several times with some sequences... actually not with the sequence itself, but trying to figure out the formula. Usually we just discover the pattern intuitively, we never actually think about the mathematical formula behind that. For example, a sequence as simple as: 5, 4, 3, 2... you may know that the next number is 1, and then 0, etc... but what about the 20th number in the sequence? You may need to think of a formula to calculate that ( 6-n=x ). After shaking some rust out of my brain, I managed to get 1404 points... I have no idea if that's good or bad, but it left me with a headache.

ciao

Advertising is a monkey business

2008-06-30T22:45:00.003+12:00

So called "experts" have been saying that the advertisement trend is to go "viral" i.e. make it look as if a commercial was recorded on a cellphone and edited by an amateur YouTuber. However, the latest trend is what I call "performance advertising" (if that term becomes famous, I'd like some credit). Since Honda's cog advert, there has been a trend (at least amongst Japanese corporations) to do commercials that are more like an artistic performance caught on tape, rather than any of the old fashioned styles.

Sony has been successful before with the Bravia adverts: the bouncing balls, the paint explosions, the homping bunnies, and now... they lost their inspiration, so they flooded Miami with foam more or less just like Homer Simpson already flooded Springfield. Now they're trying to get the same success for their other lines of products: handicams, walkman and maybe later we'll see something for Vaio. But the production of these latest adverts feels just like a copycat in a hurry, and they lack the freshness of their successors. The orchestra video for walkman is just lame... It seems like a copy of "Les Luthiers" with some "informal instruments" but without any of the fun. Sony are not the only ones obsessed with music themed performance advertising, Hewlett Packard did this office orchestra:

And Honda used a choir to simulate the sound of a car:

A long time ago, Sony used a monkey that enjoys cheesy music to advertise the walkman... (or "walkape"?) ... Now, Cadbury went ape with what it seems to be an audition for american idol... and they're not monkeying around!

Advertising is sometimes like the donkey which played the flute.

ciao

Dyson Product Design Award

2008-06-27T00:14:00.000+12:00

The Dyson Product Design Award is run in association with British Council New Zealand, DINZ (Designers Institute of New Zealand), farry.co and IPONZ (the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand) and is open to final year tertiary students studying in the areas of design, technology or engineering, and to graduates in these areas who are in their first five years of work. Only 19 entries entered this year. The judging panel revealed the 4 finalists: a massage table, a harness to carry hunted carcasses, a beer cooler and a sheep testing station. Last year's winner was Stephen Smith with a vest that stores water for drinking, like a Camel Pack (no comments).

ciao

Uh Oh Spaghettios

2008-06-26T00:03:00.009+12:00

Just for the sake of letting out my frustration with yet another kiwi advertising. This time is "Watties' show us your spaghetti face". I don't know about you reader, but when I was a kid, we were not allowed to cut off the bread's crusts... or leave the pizza crusts. Some of my friends were allowed to do that at their homes, and I didn't understand that... until now.

You've probably heard about this year's food crisis. I mentioned earlier on this blog that it was caused by a higher than expected demand of biofuel. The allocated land for biofuel crops were not enough to cover the raising demand, and manufacturers of biofuel offered a higher price than normal, just to grab a few extra tonnes of some types of grains to make ethanol, causing a hike on the price of some staple food. Prices have gone in some cases to more than 60% higher than last year.

The problem is not you or me... if you are reading this on a computer (at home or work) you have at least middle class income. The problem is that an estimated one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition and about 10'000,000 people die from hunger every year. The current increase on the price of basic staple food in some countries has already caused some unrest... the raise on food prices will only make things worse, and people in risk of starvation will almost double. It just hurts when you see and hear that some people actually not only "skip meals" but they have to eat dirt and mud to fill their tummies.

Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people. UNICEF

My problem with that watties advert, is that they are telling the children : "Remove the crusts from the Nature’s Fresh Multigrain Bread" and "Using a large pastry cutter or a large glass, cut one circle out of each slice of Nature’s Fresh White Bread". If you look at the snapshots... it's perfectly good food going to waste. About 40% of each loaf is going directly to the garbage bin, when there's a world shortage of grains (including wheat that is used to make those breads). I think that it is irresponsible to teach kiwi children to waste perfectly good food, when children in other countries are eating dirt cookies. At least they could suggest to eat the crusts and not to waste any food, while the children are waiting for the spaghetti faces to be baked. Shame on you Heinz-Watties! Uh Oh Spaghetti O's!

ciao

--
addendum:

This from the times about food waste in the UK.

Paranoland

2008-06-21T00:04:00.002+12:00

The silhouette drawings for this movie reminded me of Sandra's Uncle, Hartmut's "Scherenschnitte" (scissor cuts). It may look simple, but it's quite hard to visually communicate with just two tonalities. High contrast is a very rare art, but it's quite powerful.

ciao

Pillowfight of the future

2008-06-19T00:42:00.007+12:00

You probably have heard about some robot challenges like soccer games, mazes, and robot demolition derbies... but we're rapidly approaching the era of fembot's pillowfights and mud-wrestling. Sega Toys just released an info pack (2008年06月12日) about their "new" Eternal Maiden Actualization (E.M.A.) which is in fact just an updated or localized version of WowWee's Femisapien, a fembot that can blow kisses.

FT (FemaleType) on the other hand, is a very sexy "top model" robot developed by RoboGarage at Kyoto University. "FT is the result of Tomotaka Takahashi’s desire to create a female type robot. I took over a year of development by Takahashi, who believes that half of all robots will be “female” in the near future. FT’s parts were designed specially to express a lean, feminine body line. Twenty-three motors, controlled by an onboard computer allow FT to move gracefully; SHIN-Walk enable her to walk like a woman. In addition, Takahashi consulted with professional fashion models to make FT’s movements even more lifelike." Watch the video of FT on a fashion catwalk... amazing!

ciao

The Showerhead

2008-06-16T01:09:00.007+12:00

My cousin Marcos Algara started his blog a few days ago. I'd like to quote (from his blog) a quote from Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead" and this image of Madrid's Barajas Airport T4 by Sir Richard Rogers. (sick)

“-What is it that I like so much about the house you’re building for me, Howard?

-A house can have integrity, just like a person,” said Roark, “and just as seldom.

-In what way?

-Well, look at it. Every piece of it is there because the house needs it – and for no other reason. You see it from here as it is inside. The rooms in which you’ll live made the shape. The relation of masses was determined by the distribution of space within. The ornament was determined by the method of construction, an emphasis of the principle that makes it stand. You can see each stress, each support that meets it. Your own eyes go through a structural process when you look at the house, you can follow each step, you see it rise, you know what made it and why it stands. But you’ve seen buildings with columns that support nothing, with purposeless cornices, with pilasters, moldings, false arches, false windows. You’ve seen buildings that look as if they contained a single large hall, they have solid columns and single, solid windows six floors high. But you enter and find six stories inside. Or buildings that contain a single hall, but with a façade cut up into floor lines, band courses, tiers of windows. Do you understand the difference? Your house is made by its own needs. Those others are made by need to impress. The determining motive of your house is in the house. The determining motive of the others is in the audience.”

ciao

silver & gold

2008-06-11T23:17:00.004+12:00

This is the first time that one of my fractals/kaleidoscopes wins a flickr challenge. The funny story is that I was completely unaware of the challenge. This silver plate was inspired by one of the early entries, and I just loved the silver finish. So I decided to make a "silverish" kaleidoscope myself without knowing about the challenge. I was later invited to submit my image to the challenge pool... I was surprised that so many people voted for my entry, There were so many amazing images.

A real silver challenge, is this silver jewelery competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the jewelery school. INBA and Escuela de Artesanías e Industrias Peñoles are inviting submitions to the National Jewelery Competition "Plata del Siglo XXI". (via) There are 2 categories: professional and amateur. Up to 3 pieces at least 80% silver may be entered until August 29th. The prizes are amazing: 5 kg , 3 kg and 2 kg of pure silver .9999 for the professionals, and 3 kg, 2 kg and 1 kg of pure silver .9999 to the amateur winners. The winning pieces along with other selected submitions will be exhibited at the Franz Meyer Museum. By the way: visit their 3D virtual museum. A java applet lets you view some of the collection pieces in various 3D modes (parallel eyed, cross eyed, red-cyan, red-green, anaglyph, 3d LCD, etc.)

ciao

BBB

2008-06-09T23:17:00.011+12:00

Big Buck Bunny is a stunning cgi animated film that was made to show the capabilities of blender, which is a 3D animation freeware (that's right: GPL freeware and it's also available for macs). The Blender Foundation and Blender community initiated the Peach Open Movie Project. They invited a small team (7) of the best 3D artists and developers in the Blender community (Sacha Goedebure, Andreas Goralczyk, Enrico Valenza, Nathan Vegdahl, William Reynish, Campell Barton and Brecht van Lommel) to work in Amsterdam from October 2007 until April 2008 on completing a short 3D animation movie. They had as main targets:

Developing tools in Blender for editing and rendering hair, fur or grass
Improve character animation tools for cartoonish motion and deformation
Test Blender with giant outdoor environments, with large grassy fields and many trees with leaves
Further validate Blender as a professional animation creation suite

And secondary:

Create a great and good looking animation short, licensed freely as open content
Provide content for other artists to learn from or to re-use, including documentation and tutorials

The movie "Big Buck Bunny" produced by Ton Roosendaal was released last month. So far, it has been downloaded / streamed 917,000 times in just a couple of weeks. You can download BBB on several formats. I recommend the H.264 Quicktime 1280x720 or larger to appreciate in full detail the grass and fur of the characters... the big furry bunny it's totally worth it and/or equivalent to the big size file... or you can buy the DVDs which include not just the movie in various formats, but also the character's .blend files, textures, models, documentation and video tutorials by the team members about all technical aspects the movie; like how to re-use assets, animate characters, or add new shots, etc. BBB is also available on youTube. But there's more:

"After Orange and Peach, Blender Institute continues with a new open project: Apricot. This time it isn’t a movie but a 3D game! Starting february 1st 2008, a small team of again the best 3D artist and developers will develop a game jointly with the on-line community. The main characters in the game are based on the short 3D animation open movie Peach "Big Buck Bunny". At the end of July 2008 the game will be launched."

ciao

Midsummer Glau's dream

2008-06-06T21:56:00.006+12:00

The company AI ROBOTICS was founded 2 years ago by Etienne Fresse and Yoichi Yamato, both robotics specialists working on developing cutting-edge technologies. During the last 3 years they have dedicated all their time and energy to their project “robot woman LISA” aka "the perfect woman" thanks to the (very) generous support of foreign investors. Lisa will be presented to the public on June 11 2008, if you can't wait until next week, you can make a pre-order already.

Lisa is an anthropomorphic robot. She never gets a headache (at least that's what they guarantee) and she uses “Recognition Krax System” RKS technology , which allows for vocal, tactile and visual recognition. RKS technology is based on 3 main senses: the sense of touch, the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. Through RKS the robot becomes highly autonomous and requires hardly any human intervention, except for training purposes.

The sense of touch: Lisa's surface is covered by thousands of micro-sensors. Each of these sensors has a special function. Some measure temperature, others register proximity and touch. The data of each sensor alone is not very helpful, but combined all the gathered bits of information provide valuable results. By analysing the temperate and touch sensors' data Lisa can for example distinguish her proprietor from other people.

The sense of hearing: RKS technology is based on technologies for the interpretation of collected data (ICD). The hearing sense is mostly created through vocal recognition. Sound sensors are located near the ears and send the arriving signals to the on-board computer which then analyses the data. These sensors register the tonality and the amplitude. They also split the signals into syllables just like vocal recognition programmes do. Like for the sense of touch it is the combination of these pieces of information that allows for augmented use. By associating tonality, amplitude and syllable recognition Lisa is for example able to distinguish between different tones of voice (question, excitement, sorrow…)

The sense of sight: Lisa possesses 2 micro cameras that are directly connected to her internal computer. Through these 2 cameras she can register large amounts of information simultaneously and for example follow the movements of objects or recognize certain people. This works like this: first the "scene" is divided into several levels – foreground, background etc. Each level is then again segmented into zones and finally every object is detached from its background and analysed.

Lisa's intelligence is not fixed. She can connect to the internet wirelessly whenever she encounters an unknown situation, object or piece of news... or thinks she's going to get a headache and needs to download a virtual aspirin. A male version will be available in the near future... However, Summer Glau's Otaku fans will be disappointed, 'cause it will be a while until they develop a robot like Cameron Phillips. Did I mention that Lisa never gets a headache?

ciao

More songs about buildings and food

2008-06-05T01:49:00.002+12:00

This is David Byrne's new creation... he transformed the Battery Maritime Building in NYC into a music instrument. The building itself became a giant organ... watch the video:

ciao

Diddley and the City

2008-06-03T23:27:00.005+12:00

A couple of days ago, I found a school paper written by Sietze Meijer about emotional architecture. It's just a school paper, not a serious article or a Ph.D disertation, but there are quite interesting things about it. First: the graphic layout, presentation and rationale about how text and images are organized to optimize "absorption". It made me think about portfolios, sketches and papers from my students that are printed behind old photocopies...

The Clovis Heimsath fallacies are brilliant!

Each of these fallacies describes a common misperception of designing by designers. Because of this the issue of designing, the creation of the built environment according to needs and perception by users, becomes obscured. There is need to break through these fallacies and to take a sociological approach to design problems.
Designer fallacy: It describes the fallacy of architectural determinism which operates as though architecture directly determines behavior through design. The designer assumes that, by designing in such a way as to stimulate certain behavior, his design will assure the occurrence of this behavior.
Genius fallacy: When an extraordinary concept is devised by a designer, the so-called genius, it may be copied by others. If wrongly copied and applied, the concept may lose it function or even fail.
Common man fallacy: This fallacy denies that architecture has any effect at all on human behavior. It disconnects building programs from social programs.
The open society fallacy: It states that the physical location of people does not influence social status and development possibilities. It supports urban structures of cities.
The manipulation fallacy states that over-planning may lead to a too sterile urban environment and eventually to a totalitarian state.
The know-nothing fallacy: Designing with vision is overruled by practicalities and the visions and ideals are abandoned.

Then of course Sietze describes Mead's theory about gestures and social objects, and how Chris Abel transformed Mead's theories into the idea of "rational design".

"In architecture, rational design should therefore be based upon common meaning. In that way, the meaning that a built form arouses in the designer, will arouse the same response in the users. If common meaning is not the basis, then the designer has no control over the effect his built design will have over users. The designer, through taking the attitudes of others involved in the building process, adjusts his or her own behavior as a designer in the light of critical awareness of the meaning a design may have for other persons. The products of rational design will be significant symbols in built form."

His analysis of perception focuses only on the primary senses and some psychological responses to Gestalt and composition. Despite being this quite simple and obvious, it is sometimes (or most of the time) forgotten by many design practitioners. Critics always write about famous architects (or designers). Because those critiques are the only source of information for many students, they are led to believe that some basic principles that famous designers use, are part of the "unreachable" package. Thing that only the great designers or architects do, but no one is expected to do the same in "real life". I mean, students dream about designing the next Guggenheim museum or maybe an international airport... but when they are given the task of designing something like a 3 bdrm house, they soon forget about having the passion of innovation, creation... and following any of those basic principles. Same story with Industrial Design: if it's a car, they dream about being the next Pininfarina and try to get into their design all the tools and design principles they've learned. But if it's just a foldable chair, they don't get the motivation to think about composition, style, ergonomics, or any other basic design principle in the book. Anyway, we may all agree on the importance and effect of principles like proximity, similarity, closure, emergence, reification, multistability, invariance, experience/ emotion, psychology of colour, etc... but those are seldom used on "everyday" projects... (and are BTW totally absent on kiwi houses).

However, I was expecting this essay to be about emotional architecture just like "emotional design" i.e. how the perceived branding or style are making some architects "fashionable" or "desirable" For example the Icon apartment buildings have the same "emotional design" effect as a toilet seat designed by Philippe Stark... people just want to buy them because they are "designer branded" regardless of any other consideration. The same happens with Gehry, and many other divas. I guess we are experiencing the same emotional design manipulation in architecture, where buying and development impulses are becoming more and more driven by branding, famous names, and not necessarily by quality of the design itself.

ciao

Cusp Conference 2008

2008-05-30T11:05:00.005+12:00

Cusp Conference 2008 - sponsored by Graphis - a conference about vision, passion, imagination, energy, innovation, and the "design of everything." Taking place at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art Theater on September 10 and 11, 2008, Cusp will offer two days of remarkable ideas, inspiring stories, and mind-expanding conversations with an eclectic group of thinkers, innovators, skeptics, believers, visionaries and explorers from the arts, sciences, technology, business, design and government.

17+ presenters will share their passions and stories - and help you create new ones.

Presenters to date include architect/artist Adam Kalkin, digital pioneer/filmmaker Douglas Gayeton, poverty fighter Paul Polak, eco-scientist Dr. Carl Hodges, musician/digital artist Kirsty Hawkshaw, and environmental attorney Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Seating is extremely limited, so I encourage you to take advantage of what promises to be a stimulating and rewarding experience. Conference details and online registration information can be found at www.cuspconference.com.

Cusp Conference 2008 is for anyone who believes that design is a good idea.

ciao