Lessons Learned the Hard Way

I discovered the most beautiful and insightful book today; an art piece by Aleksandra Mir - The How Not to Cookbook, Lessons Learned the hard way.

Her synopsis states:
"Recipes are designed to facilitate immediate success, they rarely document the ways in which it can fail. Based on Aleksandra's personal history of cooking disasters, the project invited 1000 people from all around the world to offer advice of how NOT to cook. "

I like this projects as the artist engaged with a range of people in order to learn from them and subsequently there are examples of 'what not to do' from all around the world including entries from: Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and the US. The book is also split up into a range of unconventional cookbook chapters, from dating to drugs and everything in between!

The Age of the Digital Book

I noticed this link on a twitter feed from a friend (Lukas Golyszny) (Users need better education about loss of ownership about "their" data in cloud services? http://tr.im/t1TD; amazon http://bit.ly/7fL8v 2:07 PM Jul 19th from Seesmic )

The link is to an article in the New York Times that was posted on the 17th July: Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others.

The article discusses the case of the Amazon Kindle users who found that ebooks they had purchased had been deleted from their digital readers & what made a rather interesting twist to the tail was that some of the books were by the Author George Orwell. I think this article highlights many issues relating to digital user ownership. It created a stir due to the named texts that were removed and also due to the issue that the book texts had been bought and paid for by the users, who wrongly assumed they then had full rights of ownership of the books. However, ownership is a tricky word in the age of web 2.0, as we begin to 'own' many items in different ways.

more books

*In a quick addition to previous post, it seems the online world of books is just getting better and better also! Google books updates

I Love Libraries

I have just visited my local library and it reminded me how much I love libraries: these amazing houses for books. I love that there is a whole building dedicated to people that want to read, to learn and to think. Yes, the internet is a hive of information, but a library is so much more. It is a place where you don't always manage to find exactly the book that you were looking for, but you have the opportunity to look, to flick and to discover.

Image: The house of books has no windows by canadian art duo Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

GSA Degree Show 2009

I recently attended the 2009 Degree show at the Art School in Glasgow and it was enjoyable as I was able to take a step back to reflect on the work on display, (as this year I was not in it!)

There were a few pieces of work that struck a cord with me in some way and I will discuss most of these after the jump. However, here is one to start:

Visual Communication is always impressive and unfortunately I did not have the time to give it true credit this year. However, I was impressed by the piece of work titled Hoedown from Rodeo from Eleanor Stewart . This delightful little animation is a joy to watch. The idea that the music has inspired not only the theme of the animation, but also the method of the production is just beautiful.

This Happened in Edinburgh #2

This happened Edinburgh #2
Originally uploaded by MK I attended the second This Happened event in Edinburgh on the 4th May. A great event that displays that there are a multitude of exciting things going on in the world of interaction design and art.

The free event gathers a collection of speakers to present work that they are currently working on/ have recently completed and then opens up for discussion. When booking the ticket the event was sold out within 2 hours of opening... which is quite incredible for such something like this. I managed to get on the waiting list and later was pleased to receive an email stating that I had a ticket.

There was a good range of speakers which included:

•  Possibly my favourite of the night, Jen Southern and Running Stitch. This project is an incredible mixture of gps technology that captures information and physical artistry that translates this into a real world piece of art. There are many applications that currently use gps technology to track user movements and create interesting mappings. However, this is the first piece of work I have seen that effectively translates this into the physical world. Her installation works with a beamer that traces participants movements in real time on a large canvas, whilst behind the canvas somebody works away at stitching this trace into the canvas. Creating a truly original and beautiful piece of art.

a place to explore on a rainy day

I have just discovered the somewhat unassuming website titled the gallery of graphic design, which behind its simple interface, is host to a feast of advertising gems (some not so shining) from the period between 1930 and 1969. There is the possibility to search by magazine, year, advertiser, product, keyword or issue.

And with copy lines such as "Men Love Women, Who can make pie like this" and stories such as "False teeth and true love...(Or) how gertrude got her man".

It is certainly a great snapshot back into the history of advertising

This Happened... in edinburgh

I attended the event "This happened.... in Edinburgh." Picture above - Jamie Allen

(Unfortunately I missed the first two speakers. As I was organising an event for work that was happening the next day and I didn't manage to leave work in Perth until 5:45pm and this was starting in Edinburgh at 6.00pm! I did actually manage to get to Edinburgh by about 6:30, although I then took about 30 mins to cross town and find a parking space, alas I arrived and I was glad I made the effort)

However, There were talks by a diverse group of people:

• Zoe Irvine - Henrik Ekeus - Jamie Allen - Jon Rogers - Yann Seznec
  

I must admit that it was the talk from Yann Seznec, aka "the amazing rolo" that really caught my imagination...his energy was infectious! The development of his software is through a great story, which he told with a true passion and enthusiasm. As a musician he saw a possibility with the current technology on the the market (the wii remote) and set about designing a software to allow him to mix using though movement.



It just begins to show the endless amount of possibilities there are by cultivating existing technology and transferring its use into an akternative business area. I think the great thing about this Yann's product, as it allows the Dj's, to mix great music, whilst enjoying their environment through dancing and movement... a real innovation.

Viral interaction take 2

Another inspirational interactive and viral piece of design that I discovered tonight.

"Appeel is a virus spreading through interacting individuals. Surfaces are covered by thousands of coloured stickers laid out in a grid."

"Appeel inherits basic principles of interactivity and generativity applied to purely analogous means. Its immanent potential of penetrating regulated public and private space counterpoints its apparent plainness. The dot spreads with the promise to ironically mark its carrier as a symbol of sale and possession."

This is the work of the greeneyl + segewald. Simply a group of guys whom like to explore unconventional interactions.

This discovery has just made my evening, or rather morning,as it is now 00:21

A new facebook phenomenom!

So I have fallen victim to one of the latest facebook viral games. It is titled, make your own album cover. I was introduced to this idea by a friend. So then the following steps were taken:

1. I was tagged in a picture...although I was not actually in it. (This caused me to look at it and find out about the game)
2. I was intrigued by the rules, so decided to take part
3. I completed the instructions - which included;
- Hit “random" on wikipedia - to get the band name
- Go to "Random quotations" choose last four words of the very last quote for the album title
- Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days" Third picture is album cover.
4. Post it to FB and TAG the friends you want to join in.

So there we go, I normally ignore these things....but I was so intrigued with this one, which made me buck the trend....and wham, 30 mins later I have an reasonable attempt at an album cover! I think that result, was partly due to the quote and image that I received coincidentally matching rather well. I don't know what the odds of are for getting such results that match up. However, I found this to be rather exciting.

So a succesful viral game, I think so yes. It not only got me to take part, simply by sparking my imagination...it also got me to use to website/ features that I have not before. Therefore, not a bad viral marketing tool if it were to be used in the correct manner! Particularly if you happened to make the links relevant to your website.

Pictograms

The video I posted previously, Credit crunch, makes extensive use of pictograms. I was impressed with the simplification of both the problem and the subsquent simplification of the visualisations.
Therefore, I started to think about the way in which pictograms are often used to convey basic messages and almost always without any sense of expression. However, having the opportunity to add a sense of life, to basic black shapes, can result in a wonderful thing. As is shown by the pictograms at the Lighthouse design gallery in Glasgow, which add a sense of humour to their message.

Following on from this, I happened to look up the flickr group - Stick Figures in Peril. As I was interested to see what else was out there. This group has an incredible selection of pictograms, not all effective in conveying their message, which is essentially the aim of all pictograms.















This example which is titled,

Baby Jane and Blanche have become stickfigures in peril

was uploaded by sfrikken on 20 Feb 09, 12.03AM GMT.

I find it to be one of the more bizarre examples. However, perhaps this is because it has been posted completely out of context. As if I knew what the person on the chair was representing in real life, it could almost make more sense. As it is, I am struggling...and it looks like some poor person is being strapped to a chair then pushed down some stairs...not so unlike some indoor sledging we did once! Although, the more that I examine the image, the more I can understand and decipher from it.

Ultimately, I find pictograms somewhat fascinating....as I completed a graphics module once. Where one of the topics was pictograms and I was given the task of making a pictogram for an "ornothologist", "barmaid" and a "showgirl"...not a particularly easy task. Ultimately, I was happy with the results, (see below). Although they almost look more cartoonish, than picto's. But what the most important lesson was the process of elimination and simplification, to have the least amount of details and person to be instantly recogniseable to its viewer.
I guess this principle can be used throughout the design in process and not only in graphics, and perhaps that is why this class was so valuable.

the crisis of credit visualised

An impressive visualisation of the credit crisis. Nice graphics, good simplification, great work by a student on the Media Design Program, at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

I just watched this video by Muto

which is The new short film by Blu an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.
Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)

it is also wonderfully ambitious, playful and gets your head going... trying to work out how they did it in 3d space! stunning

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

They actually have done many graffiti type art installations on walls, buidlings arounf the world. Always in this simple, yet beautiful style.

analogue visualizations

I like to listen to words, to hear people talk about the world. However, sometimes it is nice simply to see a visualization and allow your mind to interpret the images.


I find the work of Janice Caswell to be particularly exciting, due to the fact that it combines an analogue expression to a complex visualization. something that is often not done as often in this digital age.

Janice states that;

"In attempting to create a system for representing experience, the pieces become dynamic records of memory itself in the act of recreating what would otherwise be lost."
via visual complexity

" we need to radically rethink our ideas of intelligence"

" intelligence is dynamic, it is wonderfully interactive"

Ken Robinson - TED Talks

Favourites

There are so many good photographers in the world. Particularly with the increase in digital, there seem to be a growing number appearing every minute. When I look on flickr, I get lost in a sea of photography..the good, the bad and the ugly.

However, when I see something that hits me and constantly makes me think about it. I know I have found a keeper.

I first saw the work of Dennis Darzacq when I was living in Paris. I went down a little street, into a little buidling, and down some small stairs and founf myself in a delightful gallery space, with some fantastic images...the series of fotos - La Chute were displayed. and I was won over.

How did he capture these people in these seemingly impossible positions? do they not create the most incredible portrait of the young people living in the Banlieus of Paris...
full of so much skill, yet somehow floating....
just a reminder that good photography is about the an interaction between the photographer and the subject..which then captures an the heart and imagination of its viewers.

So what does it all mean?

So what does it all mean, is the question they ask at the end of this video.
It is a good question. as it it could all mean so much or so little.
It depends how you analyse statistics and whether who you are and where you are...!

As one friend stated...it means

"process, method, persuasion, love, truth, media, sharing, caring, daring, subdivided, we will survive, strive, live"

It means connecting trains of thought, allowing transparency of information and being able to have an open mind to what the current state of the world is and what the future holds...

It means that some graphic designer, did a good job and created a topical, subjective video.

but I like it.

so I share it...

Forsman & Bodenfors

I just linked to the the new Forsman & Bodenfors website through Adverblog and I am an instant fan.

the click click noise as you scroll over the different pictures is quite delightful. But more so the interaction invites you to explore their numerous pieces of intelligent and exciting work.

User lead design

Generic work Process

a site so full of "Tools", certainly worth bookmarking.

Although it references work to look up, it would be great if it could link to real life examples.

Favorite things

Tonight I was just thinking about favorite things. I have often been one to say that I can have so many favorites that it is difficult to choose. The problem, is that is easy to be inspired by things in life, that it can be difficult to choose. However, I think I define something becomes a favorite, as opposed to an inspiration is when it continues to inspire me in a long term. That every time I revisit the work of a specific artist or designer or musician, that it gives me a renewed sense of pleasure, that it makes me want to find out more, to learn about who inspires them and who they inspire.

Tonight I was looking back through my personal library of designers and artists. And was able to remind myself of Erwin Wurm.

I simply love his work. I discovered him a few years ago, when I came across his book The artist who Swallowed the world in the school library and since then I have been hooked. I love the simplicity of the idea in alot of his work, yet I find so much of it to be extremely compelling. And it often makes me smile. which is the most important of all.

I love the series - 1 minute sculptures, which are based on a simple interactions between the model and their surroundings. They are interactions which are unusual, that cause you to stop and take a second look, then often to have a chuckle, as it is if for a single moment the person has been caught in the act of doing something that is normally "not done". It is almost like a photographic diary of catching people in these strange positions, in a multitude of locations...in the street, in a house...in a gallery...anywhere. and yet although these pieces seem so quick, so brief in their creation, they also seem to have many deeper messages that can be read within them.
















I also like, is that you can notice traces of his work in others. So it is noticeable that his work not only creates an impact, it inspires people. I see it as a possible inspiration to design work, mostly in the sense of the idea of not taking products and spaces at face value...and searching for all possible ways that something may be used or interpreted.

A group that took inspiration from his work is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, also an old favorite of mine in their video Can't stop, as seen below.

social media marketing

as a small snippet - been doing a little research on marketing and strategic plans for business. I came accross this site, titled the 22 step social media marketing plan which offers up a range of examples of how different businesses are using social media to promote and develop thier companies online. This is worth a post even on its own, simply as a personal bookmark.

The Year 2009

A short message to mark the New Year, which is already in full force.

Flew in From Italy on monday morning at, arriving at 8am and started work at 12:30pm. so go go go!