aesthetics of joy

http://aestheticsofjoy.com/


This isn't what I was going to post, but Ingrid Fetell's "Aesthetics of Joy" is a charming blog of the genus "I wish I'd written that". Packed full of really interesting posts and links - marvel at the cubist art of the Dutch tulip growers, and discover what noises children in different countries think animals make! Brilliant. And that multicoloured cake looks just too good not to copy...

Colours In Cultures

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/
This is one of the best things I've seen on the internet in ages. I'm sure it's terribly simplistic and generalizes wildly, but what a fantastic thing! I love it and will refer to it in every technical report I do from now on, ever.

70+ of the Best Free Fonts for Graphic Designers.- unstage

http://www.unstage.com/2010/02/70-of-the-best-free-fonts-for-graphic-designers/
Again, just really bookmarking this for my own use, but some of you may find it interesting.

via core77, my source of all design-y goodness

And now for something completely different - RUGBY

http://www.arcrugby.co.nz/
It's commentary, Jim, but not as we know it. What I especially like about the ARC, though, is the imagination that goes into soe of the animated sequences.

garfield minus garfield

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/
This has been doing the rounds recently - somebody tell me if it's already been posted by someone.

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb"



Genius.

Nanohazard Symbol Competition

http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/
Because it's important, people!

Or at least, fun.

Whatever little competition this is seems to be run by some sort of ecological group... but whoever they are, I don't think much of their graphic design nouse. Their selected finalists are, frankly, rubbish. With the possible exception of the buckyball, although it looks kind of fiddly for putting on small stuff, and is also not very scary.

In a fit of extended, finger-twitching boredom, I trawled through the entire archive (coz that's the sort of sad person I am), and thought these were much better: too bad you can't vote for them any more...





(this one in particular looks to me like something it would be unwise to gargle with)

(yeah, maybe a little too friendly, I dunno).

via Bruce Sterling.

A couple of interesting links about colour and presentation

Thee have been sitting in my inbox for ages, so it's high time they were posted.

The first, livelgrey.com, is the work of a certain Igor Asselbergs, who as well as working as an illustrator and CEO of a company making digital colour design tools (whatever the heck they are), lectures and writes about colour. It's not that frequently updated, but what he says about the use of colour in design is interesting.

The other one is a bit more fun: infosthetics looks at how information is presented, and the aesthetics at work. 'S good.

It also has, I notice, a post about gapminder, which has to be one of the most fascinated and brilliantly presented look at international economic and social trends ever.

A Soviet Poster A Day

http://sovietposter.blogspot.com/
I have a weakness for Soviet design, of almost all varieties, and this site of Alexander Zakharov's is awesome. The space posters are great, but the early constructivist stuff - like this work of genius - are my favourite.

Black is the new Green (according to Google)

http://www.blackle.com/


It sounds like a wind-up - probably because the logic of it is so beguilingly simply and obvious. Some bright spark (or possibly some much more eco-friendly, less energy-consuming dim spark) at Google has pointed out that powering all those white pixels on Google's front end is more energy-intensive than leaving them all black. Hence, Blackle - Google's search, but in black. Individually, each screen won't save much... but there's an awful lot of people using Google. Cute.

Infomatics Hysteria + Royksopp = just amazingly cool

via core77, via Bruce Sterling.

WhatTheFont : MyFonts

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/


If you've ever come across a particular bit of writing and wondered what font it was in, then this is the tool for you. Upload a picture of the text (gif, jpeg, etc., etc.) and after a bit of jiggery pokery it'll suggest a list of possible fonts.

I tried it a while back and it worked brilliantly - but I was idly wondering about some text on the side of a drinks carton this afternoon, and I remembered what a brilliant tool this was.

Science Fiction and the City: Film Fest Update (just pretty pictures really)

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/science-fiction-and-city-film-fest.html
Of course I'm on the wrong side of the world to actually go to the event, but I just like looking at the pictures. These sketches of science fiction architecture from James Clyne, Ryan Church, Ben Proctor and Mark Goerner are simply fabulous.





I just didn't want it to stop.

via BLDGBLOG.

Official Seal Generator

http://www.says-it.com/seal/index.php
Here's one we haven't done (I don't think).

Generate your own, personal seal for use when you get knighted (if you're British - otherwise, just pretend you're about to become a registered charity or something, I don't know).

None of you will understand mine - it's a family in-joke, sorry.

So, what does your personal seal look like?

Graphs

http://hyperculture.org/graphs/
Silly silly.



Still not as good as these, either:

IWOOT: Joint-the-dots calendar

Christmas is coming - yeah, I know, I know, it's ages away really. In fact, it's maybe a little premature to be even talking about the beginning of December, but since that's the time of Advent calendars, this is maybe a timely product*: a join-the-dots calendar! Scribble little notes on it, and as the month goes on you can join the dots to create a little friend for the month! NB joining the dots in order is necessary - no creatives please.


* how about that for a link?! Yes, my career as a jurnalist is assured.

I reach a new low in geekiness

YES! I AM KING OF GEEKS! BOW BEFORE MY INCREDIBLY ARCANE POINTLESSNESS!
Honest, it looks a lot better in real life. Almost attractive, even. But still, probably one of those things I shouldn't really do if I'm ever to have any pretensions of having a life. I'm too ashamed to actually tell you what the barcode says.

Subfo bubble, heeheehee

..."Subfo" being a word I just made up, along the lines of 'subvertising' but not as good.

Just not far enough ahead of the mob

Aw heck. Do you ever get the feeling that you're just not quite far enough ahead of the herd? Seems like every so often, I'll find some gorgeous thing mere months before it turns up on the mass market. First example: a poster of two cherubs which I saw and had to have when on holiday in Santiago da Compostela (that's in Spain). A year later, Past Times (that's a twee little chain store in the UK) had it plastered on everything from mouse-mats to tea trays. Instantly, my poster goes from cool to kitsch. Curses.

Second example - For Christmas, I bought my brother a print which I found in one of Edinburgh's coolest, clique-iest shops, a cunning Japanese woodblock-style print of some cherry blossom, with each blossom cunningly replaced by a little pink bunny!
 

Look at that! Cool or what? Next to it was Hokusai's famous tsunami print with bunnies replacing all the tumbling foam. I didn't buy him that one because I lusted after it myself... and now I find some clown laser-etching it onto PowerBooks!

Blast. Blast and damnation. The thrill is gone. Guess I'm just not that far ahead of the game.

So anyway. This time I've gone to extreme measures. Admittedly, I found it on a pretty mainstream blog so it's not exactly a secret, (and they sell the stuff in the MOMA shop in New York, so it's only a matter of time before it turns up in B&Q) but I've ordered some wall vinyls from a small designer's collective in Paris.

Bit of an impulse purchase, and I must admit if I'd known how awkward the whole thing was going to prove I'd never have embarked on it: I had to pay by bank transfer (I don't know why - because they're completely clueless possibly?), which involved many many delays and jumping through hoops and actually having to go into a bank... so I'm hoping that the sheer cussed awkwardness of getting anything out of these people should ensure that I have something cool that nobody else can get. At least for a bit...

Automating the design process

Just when you think your job will be the last to go, someone scares you with a bit of software like this...

IWOOT(x): Design without losing your soul

It's a book: