I found this great site this morning about a social experiment that happened in New York. Kacie Kinzer from Tisch ITP came up with these amazing little robots, aiming to get from the north to the south of the hazardous NYC. The Tweenbots can only move in one direction though, so are directly reliant on the public to put them on the right path.
I can’t help but wonder how long something like this would last in one of our cities here.
Yup spring has sprung and the sun is shining. For our lunch break we decided to hit the nearby beer garden down at the Pear Tree for some beer and chillin in the sun.
Sam and I head up the Crags to work off the eggcess Easter eating! 5 Points for spotting the 20/20 office.
Microsoft aren’t that smart as they think. Their new campaign to hit back at Apple’s successful adverts seem to have taken a fall (or a Fail). On opening the latest issue of .net magazine, out falls a promotional Microsoft Windows Vista mini-mag on the topic of how Vista can “Boost your Business”…. Yup, these guys are definitely PC’s, no question…
Well done Microsoft! A magnificent marketing FAIL!
I don’t usually read comic books, however I made the exception and read Art Spiegelman’s “The Complete Maus”. This biography follows the story of his father, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife and their survival through the 2nd World War, their survival in the concentration camps and their life after the war.
What is interesting and original about this book is the people are depicted as animals, which I think makes the difficult and gut wrenching subject much more accessible to the reader. This is an excellent idea and brilliant portrayal and perception of people as animals, the cats (Nazis) attack the mice (Jews) and the dogs (Americans) go after the cats. Other animals also represent different countries; the Brits are represented as fish and the Polish as pigs.
The story jumps between the present day and Vladek telling his story to Art, the present day added some relief and humour to the rest of the horrific story. I particularly enjoyed the ‘voice’ of Vladek, which is very Eastern European, with a reversal of words within sentences.
This is a brilliant book and I recommend reading it, even if, like me you are not actually interested in comic books.
Came across a cool photography website ‘Abandoned Britain’ which shows some amazing pics of old abandoned industrial buildings. Among the photographs there are some great atmospheric images of old schools, swimming baths. My favorite are the images from the asylums and hospitals. The natural lighting produces surreal and rather frightening images of these places.
The site is well worth a look, here is what the intro page says.
Britain is a country dotted with the decaying ruins from its past. The face of the country has seen great changes moving away form its industrial past, towards a new and less certain future. The buildings and institutions that belong to another era have been left to rot, alone and forgotten.
From mental hospitals to massive mills I have been visiting some of Britain’s most Inspiring (and in some cases uninspiring) modern ruins. This website creates a record of places before their destruction, Creating a permanent archive of images.
We are proud to announce our sponsorship of a troupe of rare white lions through the Preserve All White Lions iniative (PAWL).
As part of the sponsorship programme our two senior designers Stuart and Mark went over to visit the lions in their natural habitat. On his return Stuart said “It was incredible, they really made us feel part of the group, it’s almost as if they knew that we were responsible for their wellbeing!” Mark was equally excited by the experience, “Wonderful! The alpha male of the group, Geoff , came straight over to me and gently grasped my hand in his mouth and dragged me over to the pride and introduced me to them all. It’s something I’ll never forget!”
If you want to find out more about this fantastic initiative click here.
Not into the whole motorbike scene myself, however I came across this article on coolhunters blog and fell in love with the whole Art Nouveau design of the bike. And after reading the article it made me wonder what other beautiful pieces of design classics are sitting wasting away in a box somewhere, I feel a revival coming on, maybe comic sans needs a revival…
Think back 70 or 75 years to a time when design began to break away from the traditional and elaborate rationalism that ensued for hundreds of years. As the styles of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline and Zigzag Moderne emerged after the Industrial Revolution, designers as well as consumers fully embraced the Age of the Machine. Shiny chrome surfaces lay across curving forms or over expansive horizontal planes and glorified a dynamic new world on the move.
And suddenly, design was muted as World War II approached. Inspiration was buried away, along with some innovative and visually stunning design work. Skip ahead to 2005 when some curious members of BMW Classic opened a box and found the R7 bike 75 assembled - although not in shining condition. The engine was corroded, the metalwork was in dire shape, the battery was unusable, but the opportunity for restoration could not be ignored.
Various specialists at the BMW workshop discovered the original design drawings in the archive collections and conjured up the ghosts from Streamline Moderne’s past. Missing parts were sourced, others were rebuilt, the chrome was polished and the frame was painted black. And the final test, retuning the 1934 BMW motorcycle to the street, proved to be worth the wait nearly three quarters of a century later.
