Design Life Now

I just came back from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston. I went to visit the exhibition Design Life Now. This exhibition, running from September 28, 2007 to January 6, 2008, intends to present a wide spectrum of contemporary American design, including product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science, and fashion.

This is my first major contact (aside from some experiences during three visits to the MOMA in NY) with a big show that covers so many fields of design. Being an AIGA member, I had the opportunity to visit an exhibit that was part of BoNE Show 7, Best of New England Design, but that event, which was organized by AIGA Boston, focused only on graphic design.

Design Life Now showcases the work of individuals and companies like Apple, Pixar, Nike, architect Santiago Calatrava, designers Joshua Davis, Jessica Smith, and David Wiseman, and many others.

These are some of the pieces that caught my eye:

• The Speak Up web site. According to their own description: this site "is a reader-supported community devoted to graphic design open to conversation and dialogue. It stresses and questions the importance of the profession in our culture. Speak Up challenges those who practice inside the field, in hope of more accountability for their actions and in light of the responsibility we all have as communicators. Its mission is to further the graphic design profession from within with the goal of creating a stronger and clearer sense of what our role is as professionals endowed with the duty of creating social, cultural, political and/or economical communications based on our ability and obligation to do so in a visually clear and comprehensible manner."

• The Blik web site. In their own words: "What is blik you ask? blik is an I.D. Magazine award-winning line of surface graphics created by and for people who like to change their mind. These self-adhesive wall decals (think stickers for grown-ups) allow you to easily transform the look of a living or office space in minutes. Affix blik to any smooth, flat surface such as a wall, window, mirror, ceiling, tabletop or floor. Choose your space, plan the design you'd like to make, and literally, just peel and stick. And when you're tired of your design, say after years, a month, maybe a day - the decals are removable."

• Howtoons: This website showcases cartoons that show kids of all ages "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure.

Other great pieces were:

• Book covers by Chip Kidd
• Design examples from Planet Propaganda

I don't know if this exhibition will visit other cities, but I would sure recommend it to designers, students, architects, artists, or anyone interested in learning about contemporary design in the US.

Disappointment Compass

Hagar and I went to see The Golden Compass, and we had a great disappointment. I was very excited about this movie after reading the book. We were also intrigued to see how the director would surpass the whole controversy regarding Philip Pullman’s attacks on religious institutions. I was prepared to understand some level of compromise from the writers and director in order to make the movie commercially successful, but it went too far…in my opinion.

Here are three points to explain my feelings:

First: During the first 5 -15 minutes of the movie the narrator gives away what a reader gets only after reading most of the book, which means that all the suspense and intrigue in the book are lost.

Second: The movie is so sweetened that a very important passage of the book—the death of a child whose dæmon has been cut away— is changed completely, getting rid of an element that makes the reader understand the real horror against which the main character, Lyra Belacqua, and her friends are fighting.

Third: Nicole Kidman…no way she is the best representation of the Mrs. Coulter in the book. I have liked her performances in the past, but this is not one of her best. The character in the book is beautiful and evil. Her portrayal is neither one nor the other.

In general the movie feels like a preview, not the real deal. The creators tried to condense a great story into 113 minutes, but unfortunately someone did not do a great job this time. I hope the upcoming second and third movies of the series are better.

I, personally, would recommend that you read the books before seeing the movies; otherwise you will miss a great story.

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Interesting combination

I woke up this morning and I found my wife's shoes in the living room, in a surprising relationship with the VCR and DVD remotes.
I don't know what to make of it; I just thought that it was an interesting image, maybe good for advertising or poster design. I wanted to share it with you, and if someone comes up with something, I will happily publish the image here, next to my photo.

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Leopard semi-hidden features

This is way too cool! Muy bueno.

This is an article about the features that are usually not mentioned when Apple talks about Leopard (the newest version of Apple Operating System)

I have been a Leopard user for a couple of weeks, and I have to say that I love it! There are so many ways to speed up your work. This article talks about features like:

• Printing and Page Setup integration: No more two separated dialogs.
  
• Use of Spaces to define specific applications to each space: One of my favorites, no more clutter.
  
• The Path Bar Bonus: An easy way to find your way around.
  
• Login Items: Find the locations of everything that is automatically open when you log in.
  
• Autosave for TextEdit: You won't loose that text anymore.
  
• Automator recording: Record what you do once, and to do it again in the future...just press a button.

It's just great!

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Graphic Design Dictionary

Check this Graphic Design Dictionary. It's a very interesting compilation of terms used in our profession.

Perfect bouquet!

Today is Hagar (my wife)'s birthday, and I gave her a fruit bouquet.... yummy!. Check this out: Pineapple, Strawberries, Apples, Melon and Grapes, some of them covered in Dark, Milk and White chocolate... Am I not the perfect husband? ;-)

I didn't want to do advertising for the company that creates them, but they are really delicious.

D

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Google logo designer

If you ever wondered who is behind Google's fun and festive logos, here you can find an article about him. His name is Dennis Hwang, and he lives in Korea.

In general, I think that it works great for Google to have a flexible enough visual identity that allows for so many creative variations. Here you can see some of the logos.

Cool stuff!

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