legendary

Here is the legendary Avus.

birdcage

Mohan was telling me about this show on HDnet. It sounded like a great reality/design show covering the entire design process for the Maserati Birdcage. The resulting car is getting all kinds of praise but it reminds me of the Audi Avus from about 12 years ago.
http://www.pininfarina.com/index/storiaModelli/ultimi/bird

CCAD fund raising

CCAD is running a fund raising gallery show (ccad.org) in which a portion of the gallery share and some of the artist share of the sale price are going towards campus expansion and development. Artwork must be submitted and approved for the show and it is open to alumni and students, I think. This is one of the ones I am submitting.

Competitions

These are great examples of the kinds of interesting ideas that can be generated by hosting a focused competition.

form

Cool example of form variation.

Agave bottle

Agave? I think the form is inspired by the less memorably named torch cactus but either way I think that the concept of the very grip-able form is appealing. The indented scoops may be unnecessary and take a bit away from the overall simplicity of the inspiration. Still, pretty cool.

water bottle

Good example of how color finish and pattern can work together to reposition a common item for a new distribution strategy.

The "original"

I believe that my Pop's was kind of a medium brown leather but it looked kind of like this. I think it was a little cooler and simpler. The biggest difference is probably best seen by opening the unit up...or lifting it.

Aperion Audio

I was thinking about Aperion last night. The speakers are really amazing sounding and the finish on the cases is incredible. I am not even sure how they achieve that totally seem-less look. It must be a ton of hand finishing. Amazing. It is also amazing how little proportions and details have changed in the audio category in general even though the technology has evolved considerably. This picture, for example, is of a Tivoli radio and I think that my father had a very similar radio in the 60's. I know some of that is intentional but I suspect some is not and this category seems to be the best example of the inverse relationship between technological innovation and aesthetic innovation. It works for Aperion (aperionaudio.com) but not so well for the item pictured. In fact, after almost a year, the only criticism I have of Aperion is that they promised me a free Tshirt and hat and both have yet to arrive.

Hulk

It is painful to type this because I know a couple of people that worked really hard on the movie, sorry Andrew, but the new Hulk movie is almost as lame as the last one. Ed Norton is great in his scenes but the rest of it is horrible. The animation of the Hulk is beyond cartoonish and is so overly muscular it is unbelievable. The scenes with Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee are so heavy handed that they flow into the movie about as fluidly as a commercial break. Liv Tyler is way too emotional and intellectually vacant to ever be DR Ross. The only thing that works in the movie is Ed Norton's acting as Dr Banner and the Cinematography of Brazil. The Tony Stark Cameo is also good but poorly integrated. What a total disappointment.

Spam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUeTFnTxaWo
I like spam (but not spam-burgers) although not enough to write a haiku about it.
I love the line in the where he says "I do not consider myself to be a loser, more of a non-winner".

It's about coal

It really is just about coal. The history of coal from Newcastle to China and how it has been an essential ingredient in every cultures transformation from agriculture to industry. The organization of the book is a little confusing because it walks along a timeline from coal being discovered, used decoratively, used for fuel, used to make steel, used to spur on invention to modern use as the globe's primary energy source, and then it skips back to coals early history in China. In between those chapters the author slanders the republicans, George W Bush, and most of the elected officials in West Virginia. Still, it is excellent and fun to read.

Monday Lunch

I am thinking that we should each get one of these for our Evo Monday lunch. We are just throwing away too many food storage vessels every week. I wonder if it could hold a hoagie?

office status symbol

I know this is old news but we have been looking at chairs around here I thought it would be worth mentioning this classic. They claim "It adapts naturally and adjusts precisely to fit people of all sizes and postures doing all kinds of activities, all day long". I have sat in it several times and there is no doubt that it is comfortable but I think it is also a little like the wave radio or the BMW 3 series in that we have all been told so many times how fantastic it is that we have stopped evaluating it for ourselves on the actual merits of the design. In the case of the Aeron, it is a little too Dyson/Sci Fi contraption like for me and what is with the $1200 price tag?

timing

A couple of cool Bell & Ross images.

Kindergarten celebration

I think that the key to this event is to not call it graduation. It was more like a play. Ian read a very short story about his favorite book and although he was a little nervous he did a great job. My favorite part was when the kids got their certificates and they were able to leave the stage and come sit with their parents. It really makes me feel fortunate to be in a position where I could be there. Seeing the looks on the kids faces whose parents could not make you can tell it is a bummer.

Yamato

A good example of how form and detail can communicate a message...and how the thought process/discipline can applied to almost anything.

Segway

I am not sure what to say here.

Pope-design.net

Check out the off-highway work on this site. Very cool design and rendering. Nice, straightforward and easy to navigate website too.

Juicer

Lots of talk about Juicers lately, made me think of this Alessi electric. I think it sells for about $150. I like the form a lot, especially the material break without a form break and because it seems like the kind of transitional design that would work in almost any style kitchen. I think that they should have been more subtle with the branding though.

Imara Keeva?

Who is Imara Keeva and what is the normally great Nike design department thinking with the feature list. Seriously, these are the features they list: symmetrical silhouette with a pre-curved polyurethane strap, mineral glass crystal, Battery hatch and One-touch backlighting. Anyone that has designed a watch knows those are meaningless and wouldn't you think they would be extra meaningless to the team that created the ground breaking Triax? Hard to explain.

BenQ

Formerly known as Acer, BenQ seems to be on the right track with this look. BenQ stand for Bringing enjoyment and Quality to Life. I believe that this is coming out of the group that was bought from Siemens. Anyway, this sort of shows a more refined example of the use of circles and squares in the user interface.

Fortress

Cool watch with an interesting brand message, check out the website. They do a good job trying interesting things with their color and graphics.