“Great design does not come from great processes; it comes from great designers.” – Fred Brooks
Read the Wired Article
(via @bb_mke)
Great Design
♥ / iHolder – iPad Stand
A thank you to Pyramid Distribution for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed. They are the distributor of the snazzy looking iHolder-iPad Stand: The iHolder by Green Figure is an iPad Stand like no other. It’s designed with sleek, modern lines and versatility in mind. So, whether you want a safe and interesting place to store your iPad when it’s not in use or whether you want the ability to just sit down and use it like an iMac, the iHolder can help.
The adjustable iHolder iPad Stand will make any iPad look and feel like an iMac, while holding it safe and secure. It can be set to several different viewing angles and it allows iPads to be viewed horizontally or vertically, too.
So, if you own an iPad or you know someone who does, you should look into getting an iHolder by Green Figure for home or office use. You can find them at Pyramid Distribution for $49.99. They would make a great gift for yourself or a friend.
(Interested in sponsoring a week on swissmiss? learn more)
WASARA Disposable Tableware
Single-use, biodegradable, compostable and simply beautiful looking Disposable Tableware by Japanese company, WASARA.
(via pitch design union)
Legacy of Letters
Fraktur writing for the Legacy of Letters italian tour, organize by Paul Shaw, NYC.
(via bmdesign)
The beauty of data visualization
David McCandless shows how design can make sense out of the overwhelming amount of information in today’s world. He turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world.
CreativeMornings with Rachel Sussman
After having hijacked CreativeMornings to Zurich last month, I am happy to announce our august talk, and yes, taking place in NYC again.:
CreativeMornings, August 27th 2010, 8.30am – 10am
SPEAKER
I am thrilled to have Rachel Sussman, who just gave a talk at TED Global, as our next CreativeMornings speaker. Rachel is on a mission to identify, find and photograph the oldest living things in the world. For the past 5 years she has been researching, working with biologists, and traveling all over the world to find continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older.
This month’s event will be hosted by the generous folks over at the amazing Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO. If you are not familiar with the space, get ready for a real treat.
R.S.V.P will open at noon monday august 23, 2010 over at creativemornings.eventbrite.com!
Please let us know if you r.s.v.p’d but can no longer make it. Our events fill up quickly and we usually keep a waiting list. Thank you! And at the morning of the event, make sure to put on your chatty networking hats!
Breakfast will be generously sponsored by our main sponsor MailChimp and this month’s co-sponsor Edition29.
MailChimp is a fantastic service that makes it easy to send email newsletters to your customers, manage your subscriber lists, and track campaign performance. A big yay-hooray to the team over at MailChimp!
Edition29 ARCHITECTURE is a visually stunning collectable iPad magazine App that focuses on showcasing the new generation of modernist architects and their creations through cinematic photographic storytelling. Watch the Video.
ABOUT CREATIVEMORNINGS
CreativeMornings is a monthly morning gathering of creative types. Each event includes a 20 minute lecture, followed by a 20 minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30am with the topic presentation starting at 9:00am and everyone taking off for work at 10am. CreativeMornings are free of charge!
Be the first to know when r.s.v.p’s open up, follow CreativeMornings on twitter!
Check out pictures of previous CreativeMornings over at Flickr.
View all the taped CreativeMorning talks we’ve put up on the web so far over at Vimeo.
Vintage Metal Skates
These Vintage Metal Skates put a huge smile on my face. Oh, childhood memories.
Advice to Graphic Design Students
In this post Frank Chimero shares every little piece of advice he can think of he would give current Graphic Design Students.
Some of my favorite nuggets of Chimero-wisdom are:
Design does not equal client work.
Keep two books on your nightstand at all times: one fiction, one non-fiction.
Develop a point of view. Think about what experiences you have that many others do not. Then, think of what experiences you have that almost everyone else has. Then, mix those two things and try to make someone cry or laugh or feel understood.
Adobe software never stops being frustrating.
If you meet a person who cares about the same obscure things you do, hold on to them for dear life. Sympathy is medicine.
Start brave and brash: you can always make things more conservative, but it’s hard to make things more radical.
Everyone is just making it up as they go along.
I am wondering about this one:
If you see a ladder in a piece of design or illustration, it means the deadline was short.
Frank, Can you explain?
Things Organized Neatly
I agree with Frank Chimero, Things Organized Neatly is fueling my fussy neurosis in just the right way.
(via @fchimero)
5moms.ch
As I always say, I love when people get together and ‘do things’. The 5 swiss ladies behind 5moms.ch get my thumbs up. They sell all kinds of adorable hand-made stuff on their site. A few of my favorites are:
The “Pharmacy pouch” to keep bandaids, arnica creme and bo-boo-juice handy in your purse. The stuff we moms carry around, right?
A bicycle bag for your little one.
Reversible Beach Bags that come in all sorts of fun designs. Cellphone pouch to protect your phone and which also that let’s you hang it off your charger, when plugged in. Nifty. An adorable shopping bag for our little ones.
(They obviously need help with a more professional site, but they get my two thumbs up no matter what. It’s all about putting yourself out there, following through with an idea. Hope they’ll be successful. )
Puzzle Board
Love (!) the Puzzle Board by Ooms Dutch Design Studio. Minimal, beautiful, functional. $26
(via apartmentthereapy)
Become our StudioNeighbor
Are you in need of an office space? Become our studio neighbor and hang out with the lovely folks in Studio612a and Suite606. There are two spaces currently for rent on our floor at 10 Jay Street in DUMBO. Think creative community, nice views on Manhattan and the East River and a daily workout due to not so reliable elevator. Email me if interested and I’ll put you in touch with our landlord.
Manual Curation vs Crowdsourced
“A good example of manual curation vs. crowdsourced curation is the competing app markets on the Apple iPhone and Google Android phone operating systems. Apple fans complain that the Android marketplace has too many low-quality apps for any given task. They complain that it’s hard to find an “official” or “sanctioned” app. On the other hand, Android fans criticise Apple for limiting their choices. They don’t want to be beholden to the whims of a select few. Apple is a monarchy, albeit with a wise and benevolent king. Android is burgeoning democracy, inefficient and messy, but free. Apple is the last, best example of the Industrial Age and its top-down, mass market/mass production paradigm. They deal with the big head of the curve, and eschew the long tail. They manufacture cool. They rely on “consumers”, and they protect those consumers from too many choices by selecting what is worthy, and what is not. Google Android is building itself as a platform for bottom-up innovation. Their marketplace publishes first, filters second, utilizing little more than the rankings of the community.”
— P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » Crowdsourced curation, reputation systems, and the social graph
(via bmdesign)
Awkward Moment Cards
Finally, a greeting card to get you through your most uncomfortable situations. This simple design helps you start the awkward conversations you want to avoid, but really shouldn’t. Get them for apologizing, for asking a favor, or for breaking the ice. Sold as a set of 5 cards, with envelopes. Hat tip to the DesignGlut Ladies!
Jet Blue All You Can Jet
Jet Blue is doing it again: Enjoy unlimited travel from September 7 to October 6, 2010 with our All You Can Jet Pass, now with two great options! Use your AYCJ Pass for business, for pleasure, to visit your favorite cities or to meet with a client. You might as well just do it all. With more than 60 cities to choose from, and for just $699* for the AYCJ-7 and $499* for the AYCJ-5, it’s a deal you can’t pass up.
If I didn’t have little kiddos, I’d be saying hi to my friends all over the US. Yep.
Cameron Moll at LessConf3010
I just watched and thoroughly enjoyed this talk by Cameron Moll. (Who’ll I’ll be finally meeting in person this october for Brooklyn Beta.)
stripes
It isn’t enough to choose the best angle from which to take a photograph, it’s also essential to know how to capture a precise moment. In that, Cartier-Bresson had a point.
the right moment to photograph
Thanks to Ursula Held (comment below) in pointing me to the original photographer: René Maltête.
Imesha Doll
These unique dolls were made in collaboration with Selyn, an organization in Sri Lanka. Designer Alexa Lixfeld worked with children in Sri Lanke and the dolls are based on drawings that they made that were then transferrred to hand woven, 100% cotton fabrics, and printed with non-toxic dyes using fair trade standards.
They just make me giggle.
Round Serving Tray
Does this round polka dot serving tray have swissmiss written all over it? I think so! #wishlisted
Pictos
Pictos are Drew Wilson’s hand crafted, infinitely scalable and royalty-free icons for user interface designers.
The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.
Matt Might, Assistant Professor at the School of Computing University in Utah, explains to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is.
It’s hard to describe it in words, so he uses pictures.
The illustrated guide to a Ph.D. (also as a PDF)
(via @sandbox_network)
Every Time Zone
A handy little tool for checking timezones around the world. Excellent for meeting planning. EveryTimeZone.com
(via @aaron)