"I once overheard two botanists arguing over a Damned Thing that had blasphemously sprouted in a college yard. One claimed that the Damned Thing was a tree and the other claimed that it was a shrub. They each had good scholary arguments, and they were still debating when I left them. The world is forever spawning Damned Things- things that are neither tree nor shrub, fish nor fowl, black nor white- and the categorical thinker can only regard the spiky and buzzing world of sensory fact as a profound insult to his card-index system of classifications." -Hagbard Celine, "Never Whistle While You're Pissing"
I stole this pic from Sang's Facebook page. Sorry about the presumption, Sang.
I know this interactive creative director person. No really. I know a good many people what might fit that description actually. But this one person I’m thinking of is named Sang Han. None of the others I know are named that. I’ve never had the pleasure of working with him, but we’ve had some few interactions here and there, and I’ve seen a lot of his work. It’s really a lot beautiful stuff I think. Well, I mean, go look at it. He has that certain something, yes?
I recently wrote a post that discusses the way in which the specialists that meet at the intersection of creativity and technology are often carping about how others “don’t get it,” and how the different specialists mean different things when they say it. Yesterday, my friend Skye sent me a link to a post on the St. Louis Egotist featuring Sang’s work. In the comments, this “you don’t get it” theme presented itself. (To be honest, some of the commentary is merely inside baseball soap opera stuff which is not a lot germane to my post, but it’s there to read if you’re into that kind of stuff.) The point is that this kind of intellectual siloing is rather a lot a common thing and you don’t have to go looking very far to find it. (more…)
Attention User Experience Designers: Apply your knowledge, if you would, to the design of this public lighting solution. Does it do what it should? What should it be doing anyway?
‘Flow’ is a bamboo-made, self maintaining public lighting.
I found this piece about “Flow – public lighting” at Industrial Design Served. Go check out the whole thing because it’s clever and interesting and beautiful. I’m especially interested that my user experience designer friends see it.
When I first saw it, I was first struck by its elegance and beauty. The whole green angle is clever as well. But right after that, I immediately wondered, “do these things put out enough light?” And that got me to wondering about the whole project. Did the green aims of the designer distract them from other more pragmatic concerns? Is there some visceral value to be derived from the aesthetic that makes up for its lack of usable light? Was significant illumination necessarily a part of the project requirements? Should it have been? (more…)
Just what can be gotten and how does one get it? In both the creative and technology world, people are often saying that others “get it,” or more likely don’t. What the hell are they talking about?
Okay, so I thought this pic was apropos. I lifted it from
BustedTees with absolutely no permission. So click that link and buy a tee shirt so they don't sue me.
It’s just one of those things that people will say. You’ve probably heard it. I know I’ve heard it in various contexts. It usually goes something like this:
“He doesn’t get it. You can tell; he just doesn’t get it.”
It seems to me that there are basically two worldviews from which this kind of thing emanates. One is what Robert Pirsig would call the “classical” worldview. This view looks at how things work—what you might call underlying form—and the people that tend to hold it seem to have an intuitive understanding of systems, their workings, and their inputs and outputs. The other worldview is what Pirsig would call the “romantic” worldview. This view looks at experience—the esoteric—and the people that tend to hold it seem to have an intuitive understanding of people, relationships, and other organic structures. (more…)
What makes "good" design? There are many definitions or ways in which we can categorize good design. However, I think great design generally needs to live up to 2 things...project x must be gorgeous and valuable.
the mapenvelop
Pasta&Vinegar, a blog by Nicolas Nova, introduces us to a project by beste miray dogan called mapenvelop. The mapenvelop seems like an ordinary envelope, but the inside is lined with an image of Google Maps that highlights the location of the sender. The receiver not only sees the address, but sees the surrounding area with the help of Google Earth. Pretty awesome I’d say. Our visually demanding imaginations are fed with a view of the world from the sender, in a far off land or right down the street. We love to see paths connecting and the mapenvelop allows us to do just that.
Useful mailing + enticing imagery + connections + whydidntithinkofthisbefore = golden
"Dad, we need more biota cartridges for the food printer!"
Printing food.
I don’t have much today, but I wanted to point to a post over at dornob. It’s about “food printers”. I suppose I could leave you to ponder that while the link loads, but here’s a quick excerpt:
Is computerized food production the final frontier for futuristic home design? Mass production has transformed virtually every modern domicile-related industry, from house building to furniture construction – and now, innovative technologies are promising use the finest gourmet culinary delights straight from a household machine we can keep right in our kitchens.
Read more: Try a Byte: 3 Futuristic Food Printers to Produce Fine Cuisine | Designs & Ideas on Dornob
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