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.