November 2007
Make My Logo Bigger Cream →
October 2007
Why They Called It the Manhattan Project →
“In Manhattan, the one location that has memorialized its atomic connection had nothing to do with making or witnessing the bomb, but rather with managing to survive its fury.
The spot is on Riverside Drive between 105th and 106th Streets. There, in a residential neighborhood, in front of the New York Buddhist Church, is a tall statue of a Japanese Buddhist monk, Shinran Shonin, who lived in the...
Communist design — Kit·blog — Cristian ·Kit· Paul →
Navigating the Pacific's 'Garbage Patch' →
“A cluster of plastic garbage” twice the size of Texas and in some spots, 100 feet deep “has formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Los Angeles.”
Trade-In & Recycle old electronics at Costco →
Costco has a new trade in, recycle, and in some cases, get credits back for future purchases.
Unfortunately, the two CRT monitors I would like to recycle don’t qualify for credits back. No CRTs do. They will take them though to be recycled. But cameras, computers, and a few other electronic items do qualify. A nice alternative to regular recycling of electronics via a local or regional...
New Acropolis Museum →
Checking for Bad Fonts →
Built into the Mac (even the older OS). Saved me much heartache and it was all because of a bad non Western font I will never use. Font validation fixed it.
Wim Crouwel: Proust Questionnaire →
Apple Leopard System reviewed →
Best new feature:
“… Spaces, which gives you up to 16 full-size virtual monitors. You can park the windows of a different program, activity or project on each one — e-mail and chat on Screen 1, Photoshop on Screen 2 — and switch among all these “external monitors” at will. An ingenious map view lets you drag these virtual screens around in space, and even drag open windows between screens....
Fastest, highest, and some of the biggest identity... →
Miniature Robots Travelling in the Bloodstream to... →
“It has long been discussed that one of the goals of nanotechnology is to create miniscule machines and robots that can function inside our bodies to cure disease. Once this idea was straight from the script of a science fiction movie but now Korean researchers from Chonnam National University have created a microscopic robot that can travel through blood vessels. Although not down to nano size...
Dot Earth - Climate Change and Sustainability -... →
The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks →
Gothamist: Steven Heller interview →
Health Tools - Calorie Calculator for Goal Weight... →
Sleep Deprivation - Health Effects →
Dorothy's Diary: Today →
A diary from 1945. A simpler time.
Paul Rand short by Imaginary Forces →
Good one.
Lisa Strausfeld Interview →
“I’ve always been interested in investigating structure, in architecture, software, information design—and the ways they connect,” Strausfeld says one recent Tuesday as we sit in one of the meeting rooms in Pentagram’s buzzing Manhattan offices. “From my teaching [at Yale and New York University] and work, I’ve observed a transition to a...
Tenure Track Design Teaching Job →
Progressive design faculty engaged in redefining what design is in a top tier public research university invites applications from creative and rigorous-thinking design professionals with expertise in user interface design and/or information architecture. Read more in full text here.
The Powerbook’s on Fire! →
Battery not made by Apple (or Dell or any laptop maker that has these same power cells). Sony perhaps? So Apple will probably go after the battery maker to pay for all the Powerbooks that get fried by these bad batteries.
Sound Investing and Peaceful Sleep - New York... →
Investing insights from Ben Stein. A little off the blog topics but designers need to know about basic money saving and retirement savings advice because they don’t get it in school and; Stein knows what he is talking about in this subject area. (I could do without his politics though which he seems to be avoiding of late… and skip the kittens… and little dogs are fine too.)
“AVOID...
A Move to Let Logos Carry More of the Message -... →
“In the past, corporate identity was about control and consistency,” said Karl Heiselman, chief executive of Wolff Olins, which is part of the Omnicom Group. “With too much control, what happens is that people forget about the content.”
It’s not a new idea (see Dutch design 1980s and 1990s) and this variation of the variability of identity, if you can even call it that, is a bit weak. The Wolf...
Options for household toxic waste disposal
Apparently IKEA takes back dead florescent bulbs containing toxic mercury to recycle them. I’ve heard they also take old cell phones and even alkaline batteries (which, although they no longer contain high levels of mercury as in the past and are the least of our problems, are better off not in land fills). Radio Shack has long taken back lithium batteries and other stores also seem to take...
Majora Carter and environmental justice →
“In an emotionally charged talk, Majora Carter explains her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx. This MacArthur-winning activist shows how minority neighborhoods have suffered most from flawed urban policy, and energetically shares her grassroots efforts to “green the ghetto.” Her talk from the heart drew a spontaneous standing ovation at TED, and has proved equally...
Presidential positions on climate change. →
Some of the Republicans have “drill in the Artctic National Wildlife Refuge” as an answer to climate change issues! Perhaps more shocking is that some Republicans still don’t think climate change is real!
If these positions don’t prove that the party is owned and controlled by the oil companies and big business, I don’t know what would!
Kyoto Treaty of Design →
The goal of the “Kyoto Treaty” of Design is to reduce environmental impact caused by design, and to instantiate a new design philosophy that abandons the notion of planned obsolescence that has characterized consumer culture for the past 25 years.
This Treaty is a call to arms for the creative community around environmental stewardship. Our mission to abate the impact of our...
DVDs of Early Films Show Nothing Was Taboo →
“No social issue was taboo for early American movie screens, and a new collection of long-unseen films, cartoons and newsreels reflects the unrest of the early 1900s. The set — Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film — includes films on atheism, communism, the women’s suffrage movement and experimental marriage. Scott Simmon, who curated the collection, says he thinks viewers will be...
Warren Buffett Slashes PetroChina Holdings →
Japan Struggles to Meet its CO2 Emissions Limits →
The Best Design Schools in the World - Design... →
Article in BusinessWeek plus this slide show on design programs around the world.
We’re all poised to go green; GOP isn’t - Dan... →
“There is a large and growing movement toward green that most Republicans still don’t seem to be picking up on, and many still dismiss, and that point could not have been clearer in the past two weeks.
The GOP’s leader, President George W. Bush, skipped a United Nations summit on global warming Sept. 25, refusing again to get into the fight to improve the Kyoto Protocol and clinging...
When Designers Rule the World with Stefan... →
Another Sagmeister interview. Some good nuggets on branding.
Marian Bantjes interview →
“Whatever the political critics of Al Gore may argue regarding his receipt of the...”
– Carlton Long Quincy, Mass., Oct. 12, 2007 - New York Times letter to editor
BBC - Sleep Profiler →
Answer a few questions to see how you can improve your sleep. Use the conversion feature on the Mac calculator for metric questions.
E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread) →
“This is becoming more apparent with the emergence of social neuroscience, the study of what happens in the brains of people as they interact. New findings have uncovered a design flaw at the interface where the brain encounters a computer screen: there are no online channels for the multiple signals the brain uses to calibrate emotions.
In contrast to a phone call or talking in person, e-mail...
WatchPerceptive observation from John Stewart on Bush and public speaking.
“He’s our first meta president.”
Climate change and brands →
The power of a Hitler mustache →
“The Toothbrush mustache is the most powerful configuration of facial hair the world has ever known. It overpowers whoever touches it. By merely doodling a Toothbrush mustache on a poster, you make a political statement. Actually wearing a Hitler mustache, as I planned to do—well, that is like yelling racial epithets in a crowded subway.” via DO
Picky Eaters? They Get It From You →
Where Is the (Brotherly) Love? AIGA Voice →
“Here follows the lamentable but true story of a pro bono project gone awry. The project, which should have been embraced by the City of Brotherly Love, resonated with followers, supporters and members of the press, only to be squashed in the end by a mid-level bureaucrat in City Hall who had the power to reject it.”
