Design and digital culture NEWS // January 2004
He
is the ultimate and consumate '70s mixed with kitsch and total edge designer.
Don't miss his improved site and his new and as always, exquisite work
from Ronnie Koff.
TOP
50+ sites / Year03 in review! Here is the short list of BOTY
03 (Best of the Year) nominees from Netdiver. Enjoy!
BTW these are listed in no particular order.
I
like their pitch: “Antipoda Artcomm was launched in May 2002. We
started just a few artists promoting our work, and like so many others
we realised how vast was the amount of emerging and established talented
artists online and in the streets.
We then continued contacting artists to showcase their work online,
in a place where we could all share our work and visions, we wanted to
inspire and get inspired. We are all messengers.”
It's
time to get a _ ° digital
bath
° with super soap and bubbling brain!
Antonio
Figueredo created Bahamut an
experiment where drawings are associated to different concepts.
Nice
flash site for Brett Webber Architects -
the transitions are automated and then you get to pick a view.
A
complete redesign for the experienced DesignbyFRONT web
design studio from Belfast.
/
ertdfgcvb explorative site is back online
/
300FEETOUT
Heart promotes
talent and is an outstanding illustrators' agency. Check the artists
work! Shown below a boy and girrl picked randomly.
Fascination
for strange creatures amongst them cyclops ... as well as a vast array
of projects to find at Cystudio.
Think x_tra eclectic and talented.
DigitalVision has
changed hands and is now part of the Getty Images family - update your
bookmarks.
Discoball
is the design “book” of Leon Potgieter who specializes in
the tourism market amongst others.
That
is an interesting project: Digitalrecycling.
Upload & download free digital files from the trash can of computers...
Send your outdated digital files and give up your right on them for all
to reuse them.
I
could say a lot and yet it would not be enough to describe Scoutit.
Not only an outstanding flash design site BUT how the visual real estate
is used - the embedded functionalities - the projects - and don't forget
to have a peek at their 'location' search engine.
Incredibly smart!!!
Are
you into learning how to build website without tables (except for data)
and wrestling CSS positioning and accessibility, usability and standards
compliancy???
Paul Scrivens aka
Scrivs has built The CSS Vault which
is fast becoming a proeminent reference in our field. As you will see
sites are broken down in nice jargon that will be music to your ears:
CSS Filters and Hacks - Liquid layouts - the easy way - IE for Windows,
Box Models and More (info) and much much more.
A
big thanks to Camilo Trevino a Coldfusion Applications Developer for
providing the new Cold Fusion resource links.
Art
Beat Street is another Kitty Mead's offsprings brimming with news, interviews
and links to talented illustrators that will lead you to wander the web
for a long-long-long time.
In
search of chaos?!?! Check this experimental site for the Brok
Centre.
I
LUV minimalist design and Republikah has set out to build a solid list
of projects. Promising-promising talent.
You
have gotta see this: Mannella-design visuelle
kommunications. Outstanding print portfolios with a unique site design.
Design
in LOCO :: 
is
a personal webspace for experimentations, brain storming and commercial
propositions from Brasil. Good projects and intriguing site design
from a powagirrrl.
ReadyMade:
Instructions for everyday life. A bi-monthly magazine for people who
like to make stuff.
A
good friend of mine, Ryan
Gantz acted (alongside his roommate, Andrew) in a small movie directed
by a good friend of his, Leonard Lin, a film student. “Fear
to Fear” is a must see!
Pay special attention to soundtrack and final editing mix. (.mov = 23
mb). Something to think about.
Lifestyle
and all that jazz brought to you by The
Fader magazine.
The Keri
Smith is
an xtra talented illustrator who uses mix media technique and simply
line art with detailed backgrounds.
For all things illustrated visit her Wish
Jar Journal too.
Another
excellent minimalist site for Hotel
Miralago /// with smart scripting to view full pictures.
Another
Girl at Play showcases
over 20 women artists who made their creative dreams real.
The Bimbo
Ninos illustrations are really sweet and the 3D site interface,
is awesome and well rendered.
Scanjam
is no more. Welcome to Letterproef. New site on standby.
Liz
Wolfe is powagirrrl knows
the meaning of visual composition! Pink may not be your fav color but
talent should be! Stay tuned for an unprecedented visual experience.
The pictures are crisp and the colors are just bursting out to the viewer.
Wonder how she snaps these? Some have such natural and realistic intensity,
the famous “on the moment” captures abounds here. I can readily
imagine her walking around with her eye glued to a camera.
But the pièce de résistance and attention grabbers
are those funny, weird or dramatic details mixed in day to day objects
or settings. Painstaking time was spent prepping the shots... the results
are dazzling.
When you pause and take a second glance, you realize that what is in
the picture, is NOT always the real thing. Faux and symbolism strike
a balance and the dual montages are brillant.
The mastering of the ART of photography with capital letters is evident
even though it seems that Ms Wolfe would in fact, be very young.
Why so?
Because her work will be part of the next Artlink
2004. “The International Young Art Program is an annual program
developed by ArtLink and run in association with Sotheby's that provides
an international stage for emerging young artists and enables art enthusiasts
to buy original, affordable Artwork”.
What a striking talent to turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Check
her out!
Prep
the account managers because Alan Siegel, chairman of Siegel
& Gale a 35 years old branding / marketing company has these
wise words for 2004:
“Mea Culpa Marketing: Arthur Andersen, Tyco, Putnam Mutual Funds,
Jet Blue, Merrill Lynch, WorldCom, all members in good standing, have
come out with public attempts to atone for their sins and, in the famous
last words of NYSE's Dick Grasso, tried to “Put this behind us.”
Expect this club to continue to grow as more skeletons come forth. Companies
under scrutiny will place ads announcing their moral transformation,
but while it's important to come clean and attempt to move on, the public
is rightly skeptical of such self-serving apologies. It is best to come
clean, and to do so while making tangible sacrifices for the sake of
customers' interest.
Socially Responsible Communications:
Corporations will increasingly trumpet their contributions to society
to show off their sense of social responsibility. This theme will intensify
in corporate advertising, particularly in the energy sector, health and
food companies.
Death of the enabling brand:
Enabling brands have been the high ground of brand strategy for a number
of years. The “It's not what we make but what we make possible”
tactic was a way of escaping the we-offer-more-benefits war among parity
brands, calling out that many products are not ends in themselves but
a means to an end.
Like many good marketing tactics, this one has been overused. In a world
of enabling brands, resorts aren't places you stay, but generators of
memories. Restaurants don't serve food, they nourish life, and fuel careers.
Cobblers don't repair shoes; they make walking possible.
When Rite Aid said, "It's not just a store. It's a solution."
you knew the end was near. People don't want to have "M-life,"
they want a cheap cell phone that works and has neat features. Consumers
will increasingly be looking for demonstrable value.”
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1: Are
we finally seeing the end age of Business as Usual? Intrigued? Read the Cluetrain
Manifesto.
Oh
the joy of this site: unique line art illustrations masterly executed
on. ::::: Ilustris. If you want
a hint, leave the full sequence of the intro run... incredible insights
about our own reaction to waiting for the content. Much LUV is shared.
Powagirrrl Natasha
Lisich has
redesigned her site. Great illustrations!
What
can be more brutal than NYC? To live, to love and to work there, what
do you need?!?! To have of everything in X-large quantities with no dry
spells looming around.
Really, you need to... well have it (almost) all! Lots of gutso (check
the billboards below), luving yellow and mucho biggo accounts... but
mostly LOTS of talent.
Meet Trollbäck & Company.
BTW the nav actionscripting I'm told, is by who else but the
Rock Star. Advice: have a stroll in all areas of the site; and NO,
this is not a troll ;-P
On
facing the unknow and risk to be taken to spark creativity, Jason Kregberg
has this explanation:
“When you look at something that you don't understand, even though
simple to create, it is because you brain can't figure it out, then it
appears larger than life.”
An empowering thought by Robert Kennedy: “Some people
see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and
say, why not?”
Age
of the machines? Disney
set to close animation studio.
“The company also has been cutting back on its hand-animated
films, which are more labor-intensive and cost far more than movies animated
by computer.”
7TWO is
an illustration site with an interesting interactive navigation as well
as cool projects.
Nice
loft you say? Nice view too? Nope this is not an interior design site
although I would not mind living there at all. Now selling lifestyle
everywhere: Volvo S40 The
Inside Story site.
Gheez way to go when you have the creative minds and some budget!
Want
an example of a minimalist yet efficient portfolio? Good play of the
'F' letter as loading animation. Check Frank
McCauley's site.
Completely
unique... somewhat fantastic and a tiny-wheenie-bit weird: KOKAT.
Deemed
the Ultimate
Web Design Reference added to our code + dev toolbox.
Getorganizer.com started
as an experiment learning the new Local sharedObject function in Fash
MX allowing data to be stored in the user's computer.
The obvious benefits in Flash is the multimedia aspect allowing more
flexibilities in sound and design etc...
Minimalist
is Manuel Jular not his paintings...
but his site. Directly put, his work speaks 'over' the site (design)...
which is exactly what a portfolio site should do.
Advice to aspirants. Make sure your site puts your 'work' in perspective
and in its best 'light' sort of speak.
LUV
the pitch of Shahin.ca “PICK ME!”
To the point and direct since graduation is nearing and looking out for
dream job.
Have a look at the portfolio! Promising talent!
Here
are some sites that have redesigned since being posted on netdiver:
/
[T-26] Digital Type Foundry
/
willoughby design group
\ Kinetic
Interactive
/
jiong
/
BIONIC SYSTEMS
Well
the name should be an indication of the what the site is about: POLIGLOTUS is
clean and well organized.
Well
it seems that LEFThandSide gravitates
around true left handers. That's a cool concept.
Marcella says: “The collection intends to bring together talented
left handed artists and designers that are spread around the globe. This
site is our lefty place for showing our pride of being left-handed people
in a right-handed world.”
Tim
Andrews nice redesign of lefthandnav!
He's on the lookout for a new challenge in Cardiff & South Wales,
UK.
To
our collective CSS designers there is a special feature on WPDFD
about drawing with CSS. While there you might want to check the Web
Design Directory that Joe has put up.
Young,
reckless and talented = sulkuS///////
From
the geek side, 2003
web design fashion trends in review by Makiko Itoh.
How
to describe designgraphik? Don't be fooled by the very... generic name...
everything about them is NOT generic. They create out of the box designs
that make sense.
They were part of the 'first' explorative sites to
be displayed on netdiver and quite a few years after... they are still
not generating generic design! Respect!
DesignAddict is
a resource for “modern, post-modern and contemporary design of
the 20th-21st centuries where you'll find information on designers and
producers, on furniture, lighting, dinnerware, accessories, glass, ceramic,
plastic, wood and metalware.”
Added to the Design Toolbox.
Abrasive,
eclectic, tint of '60s and awesome vector layouts for Demo
Design.
Do
you know The Design & Publishing Center? Get a load of their comprehensive
2003 best photoshop
tutorials.
“Design
is a form of conversation. Good work keeps on asking questions. Curiosity
is key. Outcome is an answer to a question. Process defines the solutions.
Finding solutions is hard work. Accept chance as a creative force. Culture
is a collective design activity. Tear apart culture to recreate it. Design
is content, not content packaging. New meets old - synthesis conforms
the now to the future. Culture is code. Code. Decode. Recode.”
This nice moment and supershaping thoughts are brought
to you by Patrick Sundqvist
Exceptional
every day objects and people photography from Mieke
Dalle! Rarely
have I seen such an innate sense of composition where the colors look
like candy because they are smartly saturated.
Welcome a new powagirrrl.
Vector
art requires a consumate and dedicated attention to details, sense of
spatial architecture and colors. Vanillusaft portfolio has got lots of
that.
_ _ _ _ _ _
via k10k
I
have always been a fan of collages or mix media design. Not just any
kind - I have seen so many that are just a visual fatras of disconnected
objects.
Now, Preshaa, would be the
quintessence of merging familiar and recognizable environments with completely
unsuspected and surprising visual treatment and / or illustration.
A
new trend? Selling devices through extremely well-designed offering to
pinpointed lifestyle users.
Have a look at this LG
VX6000 micro-site.
Kevin
Steele catches urban life through his lenses with extreme dexterity.
The light is captured with a dreamy realism. Welcome to his world.
Although Webfolio site
comprises really good illustrators, I think this is an example on how
to miss the objectives of promoting talent in a comprehensive folio compendium.
It is very unfortunate that this site is so poorly constructed
with multiple pop-ups, with non-fitting chrome which doesn't in then
end, give the 'viewing space' to deserving artitsts and potential clients.
An
interactive experiment to try: Word
Perhect!
First
powagirrrl of the year and promising talent. Introducing Olivia Marroquin!
The visual essay to illustrate her fav song (snapshot) using different
treatment truly beholds the meaning and qualities of a great designer!
Discover
a completely new way to present your company. Bascule uses
kitsch illustrations with local flavor with small gif anims that makes
you curious of the underlying connection between graphic and content.
WHOAT???
“The f... over at Cunning Stunts are offering $6.85 an hour for
anyone willing to sell their forehead as billboard space. The UK agency
defines their tactics as guerilla marketing that helps to bring non-traditional
and ambient media forms to the forefront.
Personally, I would define them as the middle-man between your soul
and the devil. Why do we let brands and logos overrun every possible
space? Our culture leaves no room for independence -- no room for our
own identity.
Hit them up with your words at info@cunningstunts.net or post your thoughts
below (on their site).”
Related Articles: Reuters, Ananova
_ _ _ _ _ _
via Are You Generic?
Meet Ingo
Maurer, lamp designer extraordinaire! He is the great designer
and inventor of the YaYaHo system that was copied the world around
(these suspended on wire halogens of different shape and colors)...
A genius who kept on designing through thick and thin.
He is the great designer and inventor behind the YaYaHo system that
was copied the world around (halogen bulbs suspended on wire of different
shape and colors)... A genius who kept on designing through thick and
thin.
For all (industrial) designers this is a must bookmark both from the
viewpoint of creativity and resillience. Proof enough, that a career
is not always easy.
The story starts in 1965.
“Ingo Maurer has to feed his family. Receives a commission to
design his first lamps. With heart in mouth, attends first trade fair...”
Then in 1984:
“Financial reserves ehausted by investment and development costs;
company struggling to survive...”
rebouncing in 1989:
“For the first time, shows non-commercial work... Staff of 36
with ten part-timers...
Since 1999, he and his team have also been experimenting with lead technology
and continually surprising the public with new designs.”
Although his name may not strike first hand acknowledgement some of
his designs like the Mamo Mouche, Yahoodoo and Mano Nouchies lamps are
true innovation.
His work is extremely elegant and the craftmanship is as exquisite.
Attention to details is definitely his forte and truly mind-blowing.
Who would have thought of using bare bulbs with wings; or to steady
the foot of a lamp with alligators or use words on paper or lead lamps
to invent a unique and special lighting device?
He is a sure source of inspiration both with his humility and creativity!
They
Say They Want a Revolution. What marketers need to know as consumers
take control. From the Excepts section:
“Mass markets are largely gone. Now, we expect things to be interesting,
distinctive, compelling, extreme—and not just our sports ... Today,
as firms try to drag us into an uncertain but certainly more digital
future, the big winners will understand that we only remember the moments
in our lives that bring us distinctive, powerful experiences. Innovators
will embrace this new challenge. Leaders will understand that it isn’t
an option, but an expectation...”
Hard
to describe Ty Lettau's work.
Part of it is total immersive visual interactive explorations and lots
of his work crosses all media and is excellent. He really understand
what communication is about... with a twist of personal originality.
His archive comprises over 150 projects, so get a smart drink!
Mix
architecture + interior + industrial design and you get exhibitions and
installations as well as available products. The art and work of Masamichi
Kataya is a quite impressive Wonderwall indeed.
Need
some visibility for a contest or event or have a creative burst? Get
a head start with Blue
Vertigo.
BrokenSequence
are true to their name the opening graphic says so but the site has a
clean and organized feel.
Interesting
article to read on Uk Design Council -> Design
boosts UK business - the proof. Statistics show that design is a
major factor in business success!
Download the PDF and spam it to all your difficult clients!
Rea has
a nice way to present a T-shirt collection.
Morphases is
a unique online face manipulation software with real human faces. You
can make unlimited mixture of faces and face elements. Below my own quick
trial where eyebrows, eye placement, nose, mouth, forehead and hair style
were changed from original and manipulated to an almost seamless result.
Unesco
resource Arts
and Creativity - Developing the proper environment for artistic creativity.
While
on vacation maybe there are some catching up you would like to do? Is
it Flash or Photoshop? Check kirupa.com
Way
too freakin' cool - get your own NS-5,
the “world's first fully automated domestic assistant” that's
“3 laws safe.” When did advertisers get that smart!?!?
_ _ _ _ _ _
via Anthony B
Monuments
of the Future: Designs by El Lissitzky (Getty Research Institute).
For those with some spare time on their hands looking
into understanding design today.
Expect
the unexpected! AMOEBA Corp launches
a new site and steady your mouse for an innovative nav!
The team bios are a must read! Are they having fun or what!
Does
your hardware's software do only what you expect of it? by Peter
Seebach
“Ease-of-use or marketing-driven sabotage?”
One
of my favorite tool to design with is typeface. More and more today surprising
visual results are achieved by mixing fonts. Now maybe this is or not
your type but for Group94, they
affirm it is Ourtype!
Try it online! What a genial idea.
S
T R U K T is a design compilation magazine shipping worldwide!
Have a look.
The
navigation for this site is simply a pile of eclectic graphics play of
game with fonts and links to discover... a wild ride into the mind of Daphne
Bom who
in her own words states that: “as a professional graphic designer
of digital media currently out of work, I've applied my skills and exposed
my personal interpretation of the potential of internet, as a highly
personalised and tactile communication tool.”
Welcome to a new powagirrrl.
I
have been supporting Untold / Recollective events
for the past couple of years and found this interview with founder Jane
Austin on **fierce_flora**. But that's not all!
Rina Cheung contacted me in the days of her 'women in design' project
(btw Rina kick some b... so that it comes back online like you said it
would) and she is telling some too. Now you ask, who's Rina
Cheung?
Hats off girrrls.
Hugh
asked this question: “The January 2004 issue of Wired magazine
includes an article titled "101 Ways to Save the Internet." Items
in this list cover a wide spectrum of ideas, ranging from "Appoint
Larry Lessig to the Supreme Court" to "Link Moviefone and
Fandango"
to "Blanket airports with Wi-Fi." While the list in Wired is
great, it only begins to scratch the surface of necessary improvements.
If you had the power to make major or minor changes with regards to
virtually anything related to the Internet, technology or new media culture,
what would you do?”
Guess what was my reply? I wanted a TREO360.
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1::
So it seems that it was a flop product! “This once promising
device proved beyond (or behind) its time.”
For
those interested photography, B2M is
just the right place for news!
From
Michael Moore correcting some loony-lunatics lies in wackoattacko about
Bowling for Coloumbine facts and how a Bank provided
a gun upon opening a CD account.
It's time to wake up! The US has the highest number of deaths by guns
than ANY other country on earth!
I know it should be the season to be jolly but I would
much prefer an Earth shaking awekening from social coma and denial of
reality.
Nice
and clean portfolio for designer Fergal
Keane. Excellent presentation of projects. It's so important to make
sure the snapshots are of a good size.
Need
creativity between communication? That's the liner that defines CBCnet <JP> portal.
Did
you know that one of the wells of knowledge on usability and information
architecture is staffed (alumni) mostly by powagirrrls?
Heads up to Erin Malone founder of Boxes
& Arrows
Oh-oh!!!
Something's cooking here! I luv the redesign so far ... (Jeffrey)
Zeldman Presents his famous tangy palette. Reinventing himself and
getting better and better.
DigitalKick
designed and sent this beautiful
card for Chrismas. I would like to share it with you.
My best wishes to all.
What
I like about Seraph | Flash Experiments -
is that the experiments are interesting and code is available!
You
have to see the flash intro at PutPut Comunicaciones. There is a story
going on which makes you curious about the agency and isn't what an 'introduction'
should aim to achieve?
Everything
Is Illustrated is an interview with pro illustrator Richard May,
plus a gallery of his recent work. Successful illustrations need strange
perspectives in order to tell a story and, hopefully, strike a viewer
across the mouth.
Brought to you by The Morning News.
_ _ _ _ _ _
via scene 360
This
is a wonderful flash design site for illustrator Jenny Mottar; welcome
to <<<JENNYSREALM>>>
Build
me a robot brought
to you by James Turner. Fun!
Excerpt
from Kate Brigham
thesis.
“We are taught reading comprehension and writing skills throughout
most of our educational experience, but not visual language comprehension.
Yet, if we wish to remain critical viewers of the news media in the midst
of this image-driven, converging media landscape, we must develop equally
sophisticated visual literacy skills.
I believe that bringing together the work of multiple disciplines including
communications, media studies and communication design is key to addressing
this problem. At the intersection of those fields, there is a rich body
of work that seeks to understand and analyze the power, the practices,
and the techniques employed by the news media in presenting visual information.”
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1: You
can download a full copy on her site.
For
people who make websites:
Night of the
Image Map by Stuart Robertson
Something that we don't use (yet) on netdiver but with this tutorial
maybe we could hack in css.
MIKISRAOUL
v. 02 got a brand new site! Same excellent design and illustration skills!
An
interesting interview with Sacha Dean Biyan on Clandestina on
how engineering training applies to photography!
Don't miss the 'Dream' section. Beautiful illustrations.
Jacqueline
Ellse scores with her excellent web design skills!! Have a look at her
Designspace.
DigitalKick claims
to be “the new design frontier”. The design for their own
site is definitely a must see for flash luvers. The blue / cyan palette
gives it a retro old movie feel and the transition animations are brilliant!
Something
every parent should know about before buying some 'game'.
What do video
game ratings mean? by Marshall Brain
When
I grow up this is how I will design - the kid outdid himself again! Check .....dzalifornia new
projects.
In
view of our looking into gathering 101 comments or questions or facts
related to design you wish your clients knew about! Or you would like
to know about! It can be anecdotes of past encouters with demands that
are not of this world ... or it can be your present struggles ... or
questions on how to handle this particular situation ... or your 10 feet
long wishlist.
We want them all. Don't be shy! Through mails exchanged I can confirm
this is a widespread need. Let's empower ourselves.
Bring them on with 101 written in the subject line!
Striking
colors and smart words from id.ology online
mag first issue.
Selon une
experte de la langue de Molière voici un dico
de synonymes à mettre en signet sans faute qui s'occupe
de mettre les accents à la bonne place si vous ne savez le faire.
-> more news
^
