World Graphics Day
Image: Icograda
After all the mama, papa, wife, girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, friendship, fiendship days. So glad its World Graphics Day on 27 April 2008, celebrated since 1995. A little history from about .com.
In 1995, April 27th was declared “World Graphics Day.” The date came from the anniversary of The International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), and has become a day to celebrate design around the world.
Message from ICOGRADA, that started it all,
On this occasion, designers reflect and hope that our international network can contribute to a greater understanding between people and can help to build bridges where divides and inequities exist.
They got some event lined up around that world, in India its in Kotayyam, if you’re around. If you’re like me sit back in your computer and spread the news, you can download some cool poster of the events.
Boxes of Bloxes
Photo: Scott Robbin @ Flickr
From the people who bought you ENSO. Though not officially announced, another Humanized product, BLOXES. It’s more of a low-tech geek toy rather than any serious ‘building blocks’. But true to it’s name, from computer software to cardboard b(l)oxes, they sure live up to its name.
From their blog,
Bloxes are essentially 3D cardboard Legos that ship flat, and fold up in modular building blocks that are strong enough to stand on. While they aren’t tech per se, we use them for building tables, walls, cubicles, and desks at the Humanized office. Google and Mint.com have already ordered some, and Mozilla has expressed interest in using them in their offices too.
Catch some ways to use Bloxes in this Flickr group - Flickr: Bloxes!
In another context, looking at some of their works and their philosophy. I won’t be surprised if it goes the JotSpot way. Yep! get acquired by some bigwig firm like Google.
Apple from Braun
About a week back, I came across this post at Gizmodo, 1960s Braun Products Hold the Secrets to Apple’s Future. Now, if you search the net, the comparison goes beyond Braun & Apple and it boils down to two designers.
- Dieter Rams, wiki calls him - one of the most influential industrial designers in the 20th century &
- Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. BBC calls him Armani of Apple.
While INSPIRATION is a complex word, it would be wrong to draw parallel. Myself a self confessed dreamer, would like to believe that these two geniuses separated by time & technology are in some way communicating. Don’t blame for drawing parallel to the movie “The Lake House“. But I won’t blame Jon Ive for chrome lining in the latest iPhone/iPOD touch and giving that retro touch in today’s technology.
Talk about Dieter Rams and his 10 Commandments on Design, which equals to usability in all aspect; now that the world web world is waking up to.
Dieter Rams: 10 Commandments on Design
- Good design is innovative.
- Good design makes a product useful.
- Good design is aesthetic.
- Good design helps us to understand a product.
- Good design is unobtrusive.
- Good design is honest.
- Good design is durable.
- Good design is consequent to the last detail.
- Good design is concerned with the environment.
- Good design is as little design as possible.
Devoid of a celebrity designer, Samsung’s product design are a group to be reckon with. Their new range of power pack NV Series cameras with the cool retro touch are simple awesome. I won’t be surprise if someone draws similarity with some 60’s Leica. Well than, Hasselbland following its tradition of quality & design, I bet they’ll be a tough one to crack.
I’ve seen my uncle, an Industrial Designer from NID, work on projects and how he focus on just one purpose - How will it effects the end user. Once I’d interacted on phone with Jhumkee Iyengar, Head, Usability Engineering, Persistent Systems, Pune. Sad that I miss the opportunity to meet her in person when I was in Persistent Pune for a day. But I was pleasantly surprise when I found out after sometime that she use to design products for Phillips, USA.
Now going to person who I’d met & interacted personally was my good friend & ex-colleague Param from Onward Research, who came across as a intense & honest person in following the users need.
Now time to draw the parallel. Drawing attention to Dieter Rams’s commandment. I believe - GOOD DESIGN IS HONEST.
The Lull
For the current lull period in posting, please bear with me for a while as I’m at present working on fixing this new layout. Well, thanks a lot to all the new visitors, my stats show the new percentage of new visitors have increased many fold. And Thank ArtsWonderland for linking my post.
Of course, many many thanks to everyone at Website Design Awards for the support in hosting this site. Respect!
Lounge72: Thank You
After six great years, Lounge 72 is closed.
Thank you for those inspiring years. I still have 2 yrs of the calendars, all 24 hi-res PDF calendars. And I was looking forward for the 2008 edition. I was a a loyal follower of the site. From the line arts to its minimalist design.
Thank you for inspiring me. I’ll miss you.
São Paulo: City That Said No To Advertising
A city stripped of advertising. I’m not sure, how to react to this article - São Paulo: The City That Said No To Advertising.
The “Clean City” law passed last year by the populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, stripped the Brazilian city of all advertising. So how’s it looking now?
In a lot of places, Piqueira says, this has led to the removal of posters but not the structures on which they were displayed. “It’s a kind of ‘billboard cemetery’.”
Photographer and typographer, Tony de Marco, has been documenting the new, ad-free world of São Paulo, publishing a sequence of images on Flickr.
At a time when outdoor advertising has become part of the urban landscape. With the amount of visual pollution, or rather an overkill of marketing blitz. Could you imagine New York Times Square without its ads. Or back in Bangalore, it’ll be quite a strange feeling to walk down Brigade Road devoid of its neon lights & ad hoardings.
Brand & Branding
A couple of days back I read this article on The Hindu, that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be spending USD 10 million on brand building. Backed by mother brand TATA, a household name in India from FMCG, automotive, energy, engineering, hospitality etc.
“It (brand building exercise) is a major step ahead for TCS for making its brand name visible across the world…” - Keith Sharp, TCS Director Marketing (UK)
And I don’t think people will need to search for news that Hutch is now Vodafone. And if news are to be believed, Vodafone is spending Rs 100 crores (approx $25 million) for the transition campaign. To avoid alienation for existing customers, the pug & the cartoon characters might be around for a while.
Beyond the color palettes that I use for each different clients. I believe branding is of giving that personality/image into the consciousness of the customer. The greater sense of purpose or emulating that attitude (as in Nike).
In the case of Apple, sometime in mid 90s, John Scully marketing executive from Pepsi marketed Apple, boosting its ad budget from $15 million to $100 million.
“Apple’s brand is the key to its survival. It’s got nothing to do with innovative products like the iMac or the iPod.” - Marc Gobe, author of Emotional Branding & Principal of d/g worldwide
So, on a closing note,
“You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.” - David Ogilvy
You can take a short Brand Assessment Questionnaire.
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Yawn… I’m busy or lazy… oh thats rhyme. Well it seems like the way of the internet is going full motion, I mean video. All new request has been to stream or embed video in online web sites. And let me tell, Sorenson kicks ass ;)
MS Photosynth
Seems like Mr Gates cooking up some interesting stuff for all those Microsoft bashers. After Surface, check out Photosynth.
Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space. So who knows my Opera House Sydney photos on Flickr might be the next ;)
Its quite an experience when I tried it. But a higher system configuration recommended.
Jaw dropping demo by Blaise Aquera, architect Seadragon MS Live Labs,
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
Experience Photosynth online
http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
Surface
Last August 2006, Jeff Han unveiled multi-touch interface.
I’m not sure if Bill Gates bought the same technology, but the future is definitely NOW :))
Microsoft Surface
Now the best part is, if I’m going out for a drink with a bunch of friends on a weekend. It’ll be lot more easier to split the bill (check video in “Possibilities”).
