Social Design

I found this ace bench somewhere- it's this guy Rogier Martens what made it. I like how it's conceptually interesting and also has a practical application (check his website for pics of it being used in a sort of amateur football club context). It links nicely to this guy that I've been meaning to blog for a bit.

On the right is an empty Nutella pot which when depleted leaves a glass and a rubber lid thing: which in my quest to discover things that will fit tins as lids I have found works a treat on an old can. This is the fucking bomb, a product where everything gets either consumed or reused- not only that it turns another, otherwise waste, object into a functional useful container again. Forget your hemp weaved nappies or whatever the hell is considered 'eco' these days. I think this kind of design (accidental or not) is the way forward for sustainable consumption (even if those two words sit uncomfortably next to each other).

The Tipping Point

Was handed this book by Matt Wade of Kin after a short conversation on the 80- 20 split of time at work (eighty per cent doing 'real' work and the other twenty on self initiated or side projects.) The book talks about that stuff but goes more into epidemics and trends and why things may or not happen. I found two sections of particular interest: the chapters about context and the environments effects on us. The example given was graffiti covered train carriages being a breading ground for crime but that a nice one isn't so much. And went on to talk about how a person might be said to be gentle or generous, but that this was not true in all situations and that everyone's attributes are entirely contextual and that human character isn't quite what we perceive it to be- i.e. not stable or as polar as we think. The other cool but was one of the main concerns f the book as to the types of people involved in an epidemic- connectors, mavens (people who collect and distribute information) and salesmen- I thought it was interesting to analyse why trends and particularly messages get communicated effectively (or not) and to what extent the sort of science behind these things can be applied to help a communication of one sort or another get across. I think it's a valuable resource book and super quick to read (it's written that way- lots of repetition etc.) but worth a read if you're stuck for lit. I think it's one of those books that is well researched so they feel they've got to get it all down (and the repetition does grate a little after a bit) but that maybe a sort of bullet point version would be a more useful thing. A super quick glance would refresh you and you can remember all the examples that were given. Oh hang on- link: wikipedia someone kinda did that. give that a read then. yeah?.

-Is that how you treat your friends? -He wouldn't have cared.

(amazing title sequence by MK12 for Quantum of Solace)

Maharajah Tin Can Label

Non-Format

I love these guys and they've updated a few times and it's slipped under my radar. Just thought I'd share how insanely beautiful and stylish non-formats work is. Soon to be UK based no more- one half in Minneapolis and the other in Oslo- makes me a little sad somehow- still they keep making amazing work and I just hope one day I can create something with a fraction of the craft and awesomeness that they do. Link: Non-Format

Hans. Are we the baddies?

Maus part 2

Just brilliant- seriously, look click here, just get it.

Significant Objects

It all seems to be about tale telling and stories tonight- this was a project featured on Design Observer, which caught my attention as it reminded me of one of my fav projects of late- that collaboration between Onkar Kular, Noam Toran, and Keith Jones: The MacGuffin Library. The idea of creating fake stories around real objects and therefore increasing their value is (too me) interesting-design-tastic. Link: here, oh god it feels good.