Sundance Channel

Green tech finds: Got some organic matter lying around?

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:01:04 +0000

Dead leaves? Grass clippings? Fruit and vegetable peels? Sure, you could compost them, or you could turn them into robot fuel or solar cells. Plus, a gadget for harvesting the power you generate while walking, and an app for showing off your gas and carbon savings from driving a plug-in vehicle.

Green tech finds: from solar power to the Super Bowl

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:51:54 +0000

Super Bowl Sunday is coming up, and while I don't pay enough attention to say whether it'll be a good game, it will definitely be a green(er) game. That, plus cooler roofs for more efficient solar power, and a very quick look at over a century of global warming: your green tech finds for the week. Buy renewable energy for your Volt: While the arguments about the energy sources for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are generally really overblown and oversimplified, many EV drivers do want the cleanest power they can get for their vehicles. So, GM is developing a system for its OnStar platform that would notify Volt drivers when there's renewable energy available on the grid so they could plug in at the right time. (via Earth 911) What does global warming look like? If you're thinking big picture in response to that question, the folks at NASA have released a video that shows 131 years of global temperature fluctuations in 26 seconds. (via Climate Central and @NRDC)

Green tech finds: Earthships and solar get affordable

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:17:11 +0000

Think "green tech" automatically means "expensive?" Nope: costs are dropping on everything from Earthships to solar power. An affordable Earthship: I've been in love with the Earthship building concept for years, but no way I'd ever be able to afford one. That may be changing, though: the "Simple Survival" model Earthship is designed to provide the amenities of these self-sufficient structures without the "mortgage bondage." Check it out above.

Design Dish: Pantone for Visa & the biggest dining table ever

Blair Pfander — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:45:34 +0000

The Liyuan Library: I'm a sucker for unusual library spaces, and this new construction in Huairou, China hits all the sweet spots. Tucked away in a small mountain village, the long, narrow structure blends into its surroundings with a reed-like outer layer that still allows for sunlight to trickle inside.

Collection of Occupy movement posters

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:46:57 +0000

If you plan on heading to an Occupy protest in your local hometown and want to wave a message that's a step up from the crude signs made from pizza boxes and random flattened bits of cardboard (or like the one that Anne Hathaway was spotted carrying recently) then head on over to Occuprint. It's a well produced online resource that "showcases posters from the worldwide Occupy movement" and "is meant to connect people with this work, and provide a base of support for print-related media within the Occupy movement."

Design Dish: Moleskine logo winners & Prague’s floating bathtub

Blair Pfander — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:30:19 +0000

Moleskinerie Logo Competition: This week, Moleskine and Designboom unveiled a shortlist of 117 designs that were submitted for the notebook company's logo competition. The winning design by French artist Sylvain Bouyer offered a poetic definition for a "Moleskinerie," the name of the company's new blog: "A small graphic digression illustrating the idea that the greatest dreams often arise from just small things."

First covers of famous magazines

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:49:34 +0000

From The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 to Wired in 1993, here's a fascinating look at the covers of the first issue s of famous magazines, including, I'm sure, at least one of your favorites. It's kind of amazing to see how these magazines have evolved over the years. Some are radically different in terms of design, focus and content, while others - most notably The New Yorker, whose first issue stars Eustace Tilley, or New York Magazine, with its breathtaking photo of the most beautiful skyline in the world - look as timeless and instantly familiar then as they do today...

Design Dish: Miami gets the rainbow effect & McLaren’s new yin-yang factory

Blair Pfander — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:00:05 +0000

Coming Up Rainbow s: After his first installation was removed in 2002 due to tightened 9/11 security measures, multimedia artist Christopher Janney is installing his colorful glass tiles in an overpass at Miami International Airport just in time for Art Basel...

Art Buzz: Buy art on your iPhone & real bullet holes from Iraq

Blair Pfander — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:06:42 +0000

Geert Goiris: For his latest photo series, "Resonance," Belgium-born photographer Geert Goiris offers up seemingly benign snapshots which, upon closer inspection, reveal uncanny, or off-putting elements. Most peculiar of all is an image of plastic office chairs arranged AA-style around an unremarkable wood table (which, you soon realize, has no legs)...

Best of Kickstarter, 11/21

Blair Pfander — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:35:01 +0000

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week’s best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup. TECH Desktop 3-D Printer: The 3-D craze continues with the first personal three-dimensional desktop printer. As it turns out, a 3-D printer is not something that makes weird images you can look at with 3-D glasses, but it actually prints out three-dimensional objects. Capta: I'm a major dropper/smasher of iPhones, so this weird octopus-like contraption, the "Capta," seems like an excellent solution for clumsy folks like me. Rigged with a magnet at the back, you can mount the suction cups to different surfaces to keep your phone out of the way but still accessible...

The world’s slowest roller coaster in Duisburg, Germany

Blair Pfander — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:02:14 +0000

Not to sound like a pageant contestant or anything, but I really like roller coasters. Big loops, crazy heights, upside down swirls—you name it, I'm into it. This isn't true, however, of most of the friends and family members I find myself with at amusement parks, many of whom prefer to calmly eat their sugar-dusted funnel cakes and then maybe take a ride on the Ferris wheel, if they're feeling saucy...

Design Dish: Winemaking at home & chairs that flip

Blair Pfander — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:03:14 +0000

Flip Chairs: Each of Daisuke Motogi's candy-colored chairs can be flipped upside down or sideways to create new seating options. A high-backed chair becomes a low seat, or a lounger becomes a rocking chair. Come to think of it, it's about time the rocking chair had a design makeover...

Design Dish: Why every home needs a fuzzy accessory & LA Auto Show’s coolest cars

Blair Pfander — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:32:30 +0000

LA Auto Show: The Batmobile is so passé. Each year, top automotive design teams compete at the LA Auto Show to create "Hollywood's Next Movie Car," submitting outlandish designs accompanied by concepts for their feature films. I think somebody should consider pumping funding into the "341 Parkour," a short, chubby vehicle that would help the star of ANNIE GET THE GRANNIES! solve the mystery of the missing granny robots. Who doesn't want to see that movie?

Best of Kickstarter, 11/7

Blair Pfander — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:40:36 +0000

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week’s best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup. FILM SEFF Student Experimental Film Festival: Help rising student filmmakers work out their freaky inner psyches at an Experimental Film Festival in upstate New York. Granted, half the submissions will probably make you want to poke out your eyeballs (or will be about poking out eyeballs), but hey, it's creative expression, okay? ABACUS at Sundance: A team of 12 artists collaborating on a large-scale multimedia installation called ABACUS was recently invited to perform at our very own Sundance Film Festival. From what we can tell by their preview video, the presentation involves a lot of lights, loud sounds, flashing screens and possibly someone in a panda suit. What's not to like?

Design Dish: A city made of bubbles & a toxic underground village

Blair Pfander — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:05:07 +0000

Pritzker Prize to be Given in Beijing: With its explosive recent development, Beijing has become an appealing spot for the world's most influential architects and designers. It's no surprise then that the prestigious Pritzker Prize - sometimes referred to as the "Nobel Prize" of architecture - will be awarded in Beijing next year...

IMDB’s Captcha is less annoying and actually kind of cool

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:12:39 +0000

Little Big Details is a slightly esoteric website but one I think would be very interesting and useful for my designer friends and really anyone who lives and breathes in the digital space. It posts user submitted examples of how the tiniest detail in a website, software or user flow can have a disproportionately huge impact on the user experience. A lot of the submissions are from the Apple ecosystem and can be traced back to Steve Jobs, whose obsession over the smallest details resulted in a superior overall user experience...

Design Dish: Performance architecture & design solutions for the 99%

Blair Pfander — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:15:02 +0000

Alex Schweder's "Performance" Architecture: Architect Alex Schweder is credited with the invention of "performance architecture," which broadly refers to small, occupied spaces that challenge our preconceived notions of shelter. Many of Schweder's works are built within existing spaces, appealing to my childhood obsession with forts. Among my favorites are the inflatable plastic creations, including "sac of rooms all day long," which looks like a big, warped playhouse.

Design with the Other 99%: C ities: Now on view at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, "Design with the Other 99%" showcases the most promising design and technological innovations coming out of the world's cities and over-crowded slums...

Best of Kickstarter, 10/24

Blair Pfander — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:00:02 +0000

Archive of classic video game title screens

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:30:32 +0000

Interactive designer Cameron Askin created this impressive online archive of the title screens of video games from the pixelated 8- and 16-bit era, preserved as .gif images. Looking at the animation back then, which used to blow my mind as a kid, it's wild to see how far computing power and video games have come over the past couple of decades....

The “Low-Line,” an underground park for NYC

Blair Pfander — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:42:24 +0000

Okay, I'll admit it. Whenever someone from out of town starts asking me about the Highline and whether or not it's really as cool as it looks, I feel very proud to live in New York. Because yes, it's exactly as cool as it looks (actually, it's cooler, because they sell gourmet popsicles now, and I love me some popsicles), and it's pretty neat to live in a place that would invest millions of dollars in a beautifully designed piece of urban revitalization. I mean, just look at it: it's a park suspended over New York City. The future is now!

Design Dish: Moleskine launches a logo competition, Frank Gehry’s latest for Louis Vuitton

Blair Pfander — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:14:00 +0000

Frank Gehry's LVMH Sail Boat: After a few legal setbacks and delays, Frank Gehry's design for the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (a fancy name for the building that will house CEO Bernard Arnaut's giant personal art collection) is scheduled for completion next year. At 130,000 square feet, the structure is designed to look like a white sailing ship standing alone in a forest. To create the unique curvature of the massive white panels (or "sails"), Gehry and his team worked with Moulage Sous Vide technology, a new technique that allows the designer to create concrete molds from computer-generated 3D models...

Building the perfect urban beehive

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:42:20 +0000

Man-made beehives haven't really changed much for centuries, mostly because beekeeping was always something that happened in rural areas. But beekeeping, like produce farming and even livestock keeping, is moving into cities - and urban apiculturists are struggling with the best ways to adapt beekeeping to the city...

Design Dish: See-thru airplanes, Archtober and Mexico’s inverted skyscraper

Blair Pfander — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:30:49 +0000

From the coolest new products to dramatic feats of engineering, here's what has us excited in the design world this week. The Boeing Dreamliner: Airplanes have looked more or less the same since the 1960s, but this week Airbus revealed plans for a super slick new generation of planes with a transparent "skeleton" structures, allowing for unobstructed views of the surrounding sky. Think of it as the flying version of those glass-bottom submarines at Disneyworld. The planes won't roll out until 2050, which means I'll have to stay all excited about this until I'm in a nursing home.

Quirky answers: where do today’s inventors live and what are they inventing?

Perrin Drumm — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:08:24 +0000

We wanted to share this brilliant infographic from the Quirky site that maps out where today's inventors hail from and answers the question: "Does innovation flow from cities?" "Obviously, most of the ideas seem to be flowing from the big cities around the country: New York, L.A., San Francisco, Washington, etc. But adding up those figures, over half of Quirky's submissions come from states with mega-cities (NY, CA, IL, TX, PA, AZ, TX, GA, VA, MA). Doing a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, about half of America's 300 million people live in those same states. In other words, the innovations seem to be flowing at a steady per capita rate; cities are not over-represented...

EARonic cases turn your iPhone into an awesome gag

Blair Pfander — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:26:07 +0000

In my opinion, the mobile tech market could really use a few more gag accessories. Forget all that "elegant design" stuff - we use these things all day long, so surely there's an opportunity for a little humor. Isn't that, like, the whole premise of "Seinfeld?" Finding comedy in the mundane? Which is why I so appreciate these fairly ridiculous new iPhone cases by Daniela Gilsanz. Printed with images of various ears - some studded with piercings, others sprouting long gray hairs or growing into beards - the "EARonic" cases blend into a user's face to create the illusion of phone-lessness. According to her website, Gilsanz came up with the concept while working on her art school portfolio. The initial EARonic product mock-up came into being while sketching ears - a prompt specified in one of the applications.

Best of Kickstarter, 9/19

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:06:02 +0000

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week's best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup. TECH Teagueduino: Don't know how to solder to embed code? Meet Teagueduino, "an open source electronic board and interface" that shows you "the ropes of programming and embedded development (like arduino). Teagueduino is designed to help you discover your inner techno-geek and embrace the awesomeness of making things in realtime - even if you've only ever programmed your VCR."

Deck of cards honoring NYC creative royalty

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:45:08 +0000

Class up your next poker game and pay homage to some of the artists, writers, thinkers and provocateurs who injected New York City's DNA, either directly or indirectly with their creative genius with these casino quality playing cards from Shipley & Halmos. Who said gambling can't also be both inspiring and educational?

Joe Zee’s Fashion-Rescue Series Returns to Sundance Channel with New Labels and New Buyers!

Sundance Channel — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:17:16 +0000

JOE ZEE’S FASHION-RESCUE SERIES RETURNS TO SUNDANCE CHANNEL WITH NEW LABELS AND NEW BUYERS Nicole Miller Among the Designers Seeking Zee’s Help in Season Two of “All On The Line with Joe Zee” Premiering November 25th Guest Stars This Season Include; American Fashion Designer, Rachel Roy, Socialite and Fashion Trendsetter, Olivia Palermo, Rock Musician Adam Lambert, Mark Badgley and James Mischka of Badgley Mischka and Model, Veronica Webb New York, September 23, 2011 – Sundance Channel is putting a new group of designers through fashion rehab in season two of the critically-acclaimed series, ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE. Starting Friday, November 25th at 9:30pm et/pt, Creative Director of ELLE Joe Zee, who The New York Times deems, ‘Fashion’s approachable ambassador,’ will come to the rescue of designers in need of a makeover on their business, design or both in what The Huffington Post called a “must-see” show. Among the designers featured in the upcoming season, is modern-day fashion legend, Nicole Miller, who will work with Zee to launch her newest line at New York Fashion Week 2011. Returning slightly altered, this season Zee will enlist the help of some of his industry friends including American fashion designer, Rachel Roy, socialite and fashion trendsetter, Olivia Palermo, rock musician Adam Lambert, Mark Badgley and James Mischka of Badgley Mischka and model and actress Veronica Webb, to help judge the designer’s ability. Each label will be put to the challenge when Zee asks the team to design quickly and outside of their comfort zones for one of these celebrities, who may or may not be typical of the label’s core clientele.

Best of Kickstarter, 9/12: THE HAPPY FILM

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:23:03 +0000

We’re starting off the week with a new Kickstarter projects so good we’re not including any others. What am I talking about, you ask? What’s this Best of Kickstarter thing we’ve been blogging about every Monday? Well, it seems like everyone is pitching their idea to Kickstarter. We think that’s great, but with great power comes great responsibility, and while the 23-person Kickstarter team does their best to filter out the winning projects from the thousands and thousands of proposals they receive, there are still hundreds of thousands of new projects that launch each week. That’s a lot of ways to spend your hard-earned five bucks. Too many ways, actually. How can one person sort through it all? Relax, we’ll do it all for you.

Okay, so remember when I told you about Stefan Sagmeister's latest project, THE HAPPY FILM? Of course you do (just nod politely to validate me)! And remember when I said you should contribute, so you went to the website and looked around all confused because you couldn't find the 'donate now' button? Well, live in confusion no longer, my friend. The happy dudes behind THE HAPPY FILM have now made it really easy for us to help them fund their movie by making it an official Kickstarter project.

Political rock-paper-scissors

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:29:08 +0000

Our design crush Christoph Niemann's latest illustration for his Abstract Sunday art column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine takes the hand gesture game of "rock, paper, scissors" and updates it for the modern political era. If kids can use this classic game to settle disputes such as who gets the last piece of pie (I will fight you to the death if it's strawberry rhubarb) or as a tie breaker in the game of shotgun aka who-gets-the-front-seat, then perhaps it can work for the gridlocked politicians in Washington by following some of these new additional gestures invented by Niemann. I feel like President Obama has been using a lot of "pretty please with a cherry on top." Not permitted: the middle finger.

Best of Kickstarter: foldable, electric bike, 9/5/11

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:24:54 +0000

We’re starting off the week with a new Kickstarter projects so good we're not including any others. What am I talking about, you ask? What’s this Best of Kickstarter thing we’ve been blogging about every Monday? Well, it seems like everyone is pitching their idea to Kickstarter. We think that’s great, but with great power comes great responsibility, and while the 23-person Kickstarter team does their best to filter out the winning projects from the thousands and thousands of proposals they receive, there are still literally tens of thousands of new projects that launch each week. That’s a lot of ways to spend your hard-earned five bucks. Too many ways, actually. How can one person sort through it all? Relax, we’ll do it all for you.

Sundance in the news: everyone’s talking ’bout Quirky

Perrin Drumm — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:00:57 +0000

The first episode of Quirky hasn't even aired yet (that all changes tonight at 9P), and already the Tweeters and bloggers of the Inter-webs have united, and for once it seems like everyone online has only good things to say - about Quirky, at least. Though really, I'm not surprised. I've already seen the first two episodes (yeah, I gotta hook-up) and not only is it about one of my dearest loves - design - but it's one of those shows that you aren't going to mess around on during the commercial break lest you miss any of the excitement Ben Kaufman and his team of pros is cooking up at the Quirky lab. Seriously, in the first five minutes we see someone send in an idea they had for a product they probably thought up while they were just hanging out on their couch at home and Bam! It gets selected by the Quirky kids and at the end of the episode it's a real, live and extremely good-looking product you can actually go into a store and buy. And yeah, I'm willing to risk sound like a dork here, but that's pretty cool, right? The Associated Press thought so, too. Check it:

313 patents of Steve Jobs

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:23:32 +0000

I was stunned when news of Steve Jobs resignation as head of Apple reverberated across the news and social wires last Wednesday. The deterioration of his health was one of the worst kept secrets over the past few years, in contrast to the notoriously tight-lipped Apple culture, and I hope that relinquishing the controls will allow him to focus on his health. As someone who grew up in a Mac-only household, the genius of Steve Jobs had a daily impact on my life. This New York Times infographic of the 313 patents that Steve Jobs was involved with gives an insight into just the influence he's had "...ranging from from the company’s iconic computer cases to the glass staircases that are featured in many Apple stores."

Designer Q&A: Laptop Sticks by Dice Yamaguchi

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:00:18 +0000

Ben Kaufman's company Quirky is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products. Throughout the Quirky series, we'll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who've either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process - and all without the help of a company like Ben's, like Diceke Yamaguchi and his Laptop Sticks.

40th anniversary of the Swoosh

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:00:59 +0000

In 1971, Phil Knight, the owner of Blue Ribbon Sports (I know, the first thing I thought of was beer, too), wanted to launch its own brand of running shoes distinct from others that it imported. Knight approached Carolyn Davidson, a freelance graphic designer he hired couple years prior at the princely hourly rate of [...]

Dot drawing of Mona Lisa

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:30:14 +0000

Melbourne-based graphic designer Thomas Pavitte created an ongoing bucket list of creative endeavors he wants to accomplish, including setting a Guinness world record. Not finding a record for the most complex dot-to-dot drawing, Pavitte created this drawing of Mona Lisa from 6,239 dots, which is a slightly more advanced version of the dot drawing activity pages in the Highlights magazines that I used to read as a child. It took Pavitte nine hours to link together all the dots (see a time lapse video of him in action here). The completed drawing looks abstract up close but becomes clearer the further away you stand.

The Art of the Menu

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:53:52 +0000

The Art of the Menu is a new blog from the people at one of my favorite design websites, Under Consideration. Collecting and highlighting interesting and unique menus from restaurants around the country with a succinct review on the sidebar, it's like "MenuPages.com" for foodies and design snobs. Now, if restaurants could only fix their obsession with Flash and PDF menus on their horrible websites (hat tip @MichaelSurtees for this observation).

Artist Amy Twigger Holroyd made an entire BMW engine out of yarn

Blair Pfander — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:34:13 +0000

Amy Twigger Holroyd is nothing if not a knit wit. No, seriously - she's getting her PhD in knitting, specifically "Enabling Fashion Ownership through Material Intervention in Knitted Garments." But if her degree doesn't persuade you of her wits and knits, I'm betting this will: at this summer's Lichfield Festival, Holroyd used her knitting know-how to create an entire BMW engine with the help of a few crafty kids.

Automotive cross-stitch embroidery

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:46:06 +0000

Lithuanian artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene incorporates delicate, cross-stitched floral patterns into common household objects like plates, lamps and (unexpectedly) car doors, which are particularly impressive. The effect is especially awe-mazing in the close-up photos.

Dieter Rams on good design at Soho Phaidon

Perrin Drumm — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:45:46 +0000

This isn't the first time I've written about Dieter Rams and it won't be the last. His Ten Commandments of Good Design have been the guiding light for designers since the mid 1950s. But his ideas apply to non-designers as well. His call for innovation, honesty, attention to detail and aesthetics as well as an awareness of and responsibility to the environment are ideals to live by, not just design by. His design ethos is sexy, his designs, clearly, are sexy too, and Rams is pretty bangin' himself - the close-cropped blonde (now white) 'do, black turtlenecks and little tortoise shell glasses has had this German girl in something of a tizzy for years.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s gas station in Minnesota

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:08:20 +0000

I have a feeling that many residents in the small city of Cloquet, Minnesota routinely drive by the R.W. Lindholm gas station, which opened in 1958, without having any idea that it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It wasn't just any old gas station, but a one-of-a-kind structure that the great American architect envisioned would be central to his vision of the hypothetical Broadacre City, "a decentralized urban landscape that many have interpreted as a sort of super-suburbia," with the gas station expanding beyond its traditional utility and taking on a larger social role in the city. While this vision thankfully never came to pass, certain elements of the design were adopted: "...it helped popularize the now ubiquitous overhang, and other elements (including an angled plan that afforded sight lines, and generous, slanted windows) were appropriated for Phillips 66 stations across the country." Okay, class is over, but before you go someone needs to update Cloquet's Wikipedia page to highlight this piece of architectural and design history. It's worth bragging and boasting about!

Helix, a card game based on your DNA

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:30:56 +0000

Among the many ooh and ahh-inducing technological wonders on display in MoMA's current "Talk to Me" exhibition is the card game, Helix, or rather its prototype. Why does a card game need a prototype, you ask? Because Helix is unlike any other game you've ever seen - seriously. For starters, it requires your DNA. Yep, before you can begin the game players send a swab of their saliva to a lab to be analyzed. From that data, the game's designers create a customized 50-card deck based on the traits and tendencies revealed by your DNA. One card might be for obesity, another for depression and another for curly hair. The game begins when each player lays their cards on the table and engage in duels that "reward strategy and decision making but are limited by genetic reality."

THE HAPPY FILM, support the new doc by Stefan Sagmeister

Perrin Drumm — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:20:18 +0000

Watch the smile-inducing trailer.

What does it mean to be happy? How do we measure it? Is happiness like a muscle we can flex at will, and if so, "is it possible to train our mind in the same way we train our bodies?" A short while ago, artist and designer Stefan Sagmeister decided to put these questions to the test with a three-part practice involving meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy and prescription drugs - and make a documentary about his experience called THE HAPPY FILM. Through experiments and explorations ("from the sublime to the ridiculous") loosely based on his pivotal book "Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far," Stefan will test "once and for all if it's possible for a person to have a meaningful impact on their own happiness."

Redesigning Venice works in theory only

Perrin Drumm — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:48:19 +0000

The 2011 Venice CityVision Competition is like lots of other city-based urban redesign contests in that it challenges architects, engineers and designers to come up with innovative ideas that make use of new and sustainable materials and building methods in a way that's visually arresting and ultra modern while also making reference to the city's history. It's a lot to ask, especially when you consider that the winning proposals are hardly ever implemented.

Paul Rand on design

Perrin Drumm — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:03:02 +0000

Want more design? Stay tuned for QUIRKY, premiering in August on Sundance Channel

If you don't know the eminent graphic designer Paul Rand by name you definitely know his work. He created the logos for IBM, UPS, ABC and Enron, to name just a few. He's also one of the originators of the International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style (though he's a Brooklyn native), which was created in the 1950s to emphasize minimalism, sans-serif typefaces and gridded, asymmetrical layouts.

Ji Lee lecture

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:13:16 +0000

2011/03 Ji Lee from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

One of my first posts here on SUNfiltered back in the spring of 2009 (insert aphorism here about how time flies and holy father I'm getting old) was a spotlight on my design crush Ji Lee, then creative director at Google Labs until his recent move to Facebook as their first creative director. Ever since I first learned of him and his work years ago, his ability to channel his creativity into both personal projects and his soaring career has long been a source of inspiration for me. In the video above, Ji Lee gave a recent talk at Creative Mornings (a monthly series of short lectures) discussing how the pursuit of personal passions and interests can have a positive, unintentional consequence on one's career. If you're in a rut this is a must-watch video.

Billboard swing set

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:00:20 +0000

This billboard converted into a swing has been circulating around the blogosphere but I think its particular blend of imaginative urban design, architecture, and playfulness would appeal and resonate with our classy readers here. Conceptualized and created by Didier Faustino for Bureau des Mésarchitectures, “Double Happiness” was presented at the 2008 Shenzhen & Hong Kong [...]

Low resolution versions of famous book covers

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:55:40 +0000

"Low Res Books" is a series created by RISD MFA graduate Benjamin Shaykin (and former art director of Mother Jones, one of my favorite news magazines ever) where he distills the familiar covers of popular editions of novels into their most basic pixelated form, whereby "they become abstract, mere suggestions of books" and "...while seemingly abstract, they act as a kind of semaphore, signaling a shared cultural connection between anyone who can decipher them."

Consumer brand badges

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:00:12 +0000

Hope Chu adapted the military’s ribbons and decorations and created these “consumer badges” for her MFA thesis at RISD. Display your brand loyalties proudly!

Coffee cup design a day

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:38:01 +0000

Bernat Cuni took the basic coffee mug and designed thirty different concepts for his One Coffee Cup a Day project. Most of the designs remind me of the flawed function product project that I previously blogged about here.