Design anywhere and digital culture NEWS // January 2005
Visual
pitch? Word pitch? Mike Fretto -
new talent on the block for hire who's design forte leans on the print
side! Marvelous!
“I love design and can't stop doing it. I love to
make things look good, and see business swell when there's good design
or creative pushing it. If you're working hard, feeling passionate about
what you're doing, selling, performing, manufacturing, or what not --
you deserve to have the best professional creative tactics to present
or sell those things to the people you want to reach. In other words,
you deserve good design. There's so much bad design out there. So, I
feel passionate about that.”
Realities:united has
an immediate opening and is seeking for an apprentice / student in media
/ architecture /design / informatic for research on topics in the area
of media architecture. For 4-6 months at their Berlin office.
Skills and interest in 3D realtime/ animation applications inclusive
scripting and programming are very welcome. Contact Tim and Jan Edler.
Here
is the Netdiver short list of the BOTY
04 (Best of the Year) nominees.
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1:
SOTY (Site of the year): MadeinMTL
Based
on a true story - a filmaker embarks on a risky and painful travail to
produce Svetlana's Journey.
Endorsed by Face to Face (Bulgaria)
who works mainly in the prevention and actively amongst the potential
victims of child and forced prostitution.
Victims are usually involved by being deceived, kidnapped of physically
abused. Support!
How
do you see light / lighting in 2025? Visit the FFWD>> for
more information. Brought to you by Pantopicon, the Antwerp (B)-based
office for future exploration and envisioning.
Newly
updated projects and portfolios sites:
/
Amnesty May Pop
/
The ABC Game
/
fivedays.tpu.fi
FWA Site
of the year award and People Choice award goes to... Vodafone Mobile
Future!!!
Talented
illustrator portfolio of Andy
Smith who uses mostly line art likened to children doodles.
Nope
this is not a musician site. Get ready for a surprising travel into the
mind of multi-talented Toshiaki Saiki. Definitely the stamp of a great
artist in the making - most work is original, can be quirky. But the
vision is really personal.
The
Well Vetted Special Edition Sites Of The Year 2004 is up, presented through
the WV2 sneak preview interface! Check who is Netdiver choice!
Already
in its second print a couple of weeks after being released, The
Cult of Mac by Leander Kahney published by No Starch Press, is a
must read and have reference book.
Read the complete review.
Newly
updated portfolios sites:
/
Bubble
\ Momorobo
How
about running for a good cause? Steve Marks will in Run
for Alzheimers 2005 - The diary of a first time marathon runner.
Support!
Get SWOOped
off your feet! Cool flash intro and original interface.
Ductype a
brand-new type foundry focussing on the devolpment of fresh pixel-fonts.
Try the fonts in the font editor (use the dropdown menus).
Coverbank is
developing a db driven site on cover artwork of CD and vinyl music releases.
For the sake of art. Never finished and therefore interested in any serious
contribution to the imagebank. Visuals only, no audio.
Must
read article!!! The
Credibility Gap - Part 1 by Peter Giffen.
“That kind of attitude drives me crazy, says Warburton.
There's this prevailing belief that designers are starving artists who
should just give their work away. We don't expect to get paid for it
but if we do, geez, we're lucky. That's not the way I look at my business
of selling design. And I'm not giving it away for free.”
Leading
pundits have called this the decade of design in recognizing
that design is now a leading source of product differentiation and a
key revenue driver at all price points. Excerpts from Design Trends for
2005, and Beyond by Kenneth Hirst:
“Quality is on the Rise. Product quality will continue
to improve across the board, especially in the luxury goods category,
a result of ever rising consumer expectations. With quality, but a brand's
price of admission, we expect to see the move toward product customization
and the bespoke tradition to continue to gain ground as more brands recognize
it as an effective strategy to escape the commodization trap, where parity
products lose their reason for being and profit margins.
Tech is Getting Real Personal. Technology products,
from colored iPods to the platinum Virgin cell phone are becoming key
personal branding tools. Who you are and what group you aspire to is
a direct reflection of the color of one's earbuds, the functionality
of one's cell phone or Blackberry, the brand of one's portable game and
DVD player. We expect personal tech to flower as the quintessential fashion
accessory in the year ahead.”
“The
key to good design is staying invigorated, taking what you know and applying
it to new areas...” according to Jakob
Tröllback. Ready to hear more? Save the date: January 27 (due
to uncontrollable circumstances - event has been cancelled.)
Recently
updated portfolios sites:
/
Universal DS
/
popsicleriot - don't miss their new 'art' section.
/
prototype :: experimental foundry
/
Brantt
The
Graffiti Analysis project digitally captures the motions used to
make a tag. Once recorded, the data is analyzed and used to create
visualizations based on the speed and direction of the original movements.
Active writers wanted.
When
will M$ ever learn? Microsoft
browser bugs 'extremely critical' by Will Knight.
It's time to switch
to Firefox.
This
is an incredible pearl for anyone interested in urban architecture and
development: MOMA
/ Tall Buildings exhibit.
The
title for the site and domain I am always hungry (IAAH) was
intriguing from onset. Since listed sometimes in 03, whew a lot is going
on in the career of Nessim Higsom who is (was?) Associate Creative Director
at Genex, an internet solution company that has been listed on Netdiver
in the wee early-early days.
The sheer variety and scope of the different projects shown in his portfolio
of new and past works does sum up to this: ALL invariably show signs
of creative renewal. This alone, states amply what are the skills of
this designer.
From a visual point of view - there are telltale signature details that
return - but all do successfully without too much redundancy.
I particularly can appreciate the flux between toned down to vibrant
palettes with corporate feel mix with urban design without becoming a
cliché
of what is to be expected.
Avoiding to be cliché is a great challenge and Nassim does it
without putting eye candy on a strict and debilating diet.
Be it identity to corporate stationery to packaging and illustration
or interactive design... unmistakengly quality abounds.
I suppose what he meant being always hungry for new challenges and self
surpassment.
SWIKIRI is
a gathering of African creativity through design. It is a platform for
collaboration, discussion, inspiration and exposure of visual design,
art, music, writing and all forms of creative innovation. SWIKIRI endorses
the African experience.
TechVector?
Imagine 3D illustrations so realistic that they look real! Some with
'mouseovers' so you can see the line art behind.
CCO?
The awekening? Getting
Schooled in Innovation by Bruce Nussbaum
“Back to class. Yet innovation by its very nature
requires leaps of faith, attempts to do what hasn't been tried before,
and perhaps most important of all, an understanding of consumer culture.”
Creativity
on Credit! TAXI very
own Editor's Picks Hall of Fame top web sites issue 2003/2004.
The
next new big thing??? Agregating RSS feeds. Check Plasticpilots example
which is just launched. So what do you think?
Here is another example Feedexpress.
And then, how about all readers enabled to read a single RSS feed? Check FeedBurner.
Or a Project Management Software using RSS? Check Basecamp by
37 Signals. Steps forward to all devices to the network which
is something that I've been predicting and supporting since RSS could
well fit better on mobile and handheld devices.
Meltingpop is
back! Proud to present WE LOVE HOLGA! Online *popular* gallery. The *shots*
are online!
IdN
new release! Vinyl
will Kill. An Inside Look At The Designer Toy Phenomenon by Jeremy
A necessary reference book and compendium.
Update
for Actadivina accounts -> For your information!
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1:
It turns out that the hacking of AC was an hoax! In fact, turned
unsolvable, they just decided to close it down. After all the hype around
being the new player to contend with in the host providing pool,
some shady activities later and a huge let down in all the trust that
many gave them... and NEVER surrendering the boxes for tentative information
retrieval... which for some has had huge consequences. This is a major
fallout.
Lesson learned? Don't trust the hype!
_ _ _ _ _ _
Something awful happened to Actadivina and as a lot of you may know
already. Worst, way too many valuable projects have been affected by
it, I know first hand, since two clients were still hosted there.
Although the boxes were hacked and severely and maliciously
compromised, whoever did this, discounted the sheer ultra power of our
community to band together and recoup. Help is on the way! Stay tune
for more updates. If I can be of assistance - let me know.
MyNews link
sharing community from Greece with Luv!
AIGA|AQUENT Survey
of Design Salaries. Interesting data for US based companies.
What
What??? Eclectic and extravagant line art illos to explore. Explosion
of humoristic imagination and goodies to discover!
Take
care of your walls?!?! An ingenious concept “born from the place
where photography meets interior design, your 2Canvas frames
will be of a distinguishing and eye-blinding quality. You can also have
your own pictures printed on durable Kodak photo Canvas and stretched
over a thick solid wooden frame.” Pop Art revived!
What
is the most cost-effective approach for getting new clients?
Networking (e.g. joining professional associations, attending conferences,
social events, etc.) -> 58%
Advertising campaigns (e.g. print and Internet-based advertising) ->
11%
Hiring a sales/marketing individual or company -> 34%
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1:
via Icograda
The
book metaphor to display one's portfolio has defnitely been very popular
this year and Mattisimo is one
of the best example I have seen so far. There are some pretty neat works
in there.
Don't
let the pared down and incredibly simplistic interface of .:
l a m o s c a :. site trick you into thinking that not much is...
available. Gosh - the dropdown menus are like an Alibaba cave full of
incredible projects and some pretty neat-o flash scripts. To be visited
from top to bottom.
How
about making an image version in rich text and word? The recipe is offered
by Artext!
Do
you think 'frames' should be brought back? Aiiiiiii... these were the
most maddening html to use although there were some benefits before dynamic
html and css design. Anyway, Un.pez.vivo uses
the same kind of panel pulling (all in flash) that you can resize at
any time. Careful the navigation in the 'frame' can be tricky.
As
you probably know, creativity is one of my favorite topic and
area of thought and research. As the New Year nears, here is a pearl
of wisdom “How
to be creative” which is a collection of incredible insights
that are sure to open new paths of discovery, wonder and healthy critical
thinking.
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1:
Thanks to Hugh MacLeod for this invaluable contribution.
“The
fine things are always hand made” intriguing statement from a designer
online portfolio. But hey, that mouse that is doing zillions of movements
and commands, is the extension of my hand.
Nice visual metaphor for Bence Toth in The Suitcase!
To
take with a grain of salt, Mena came up with Canada
2.0 as a post November comment. Meant as a somewhat flip of the coin
reaction to recent
post.
Citing
Tufte “Good design is clear thinking made visible” our new
powagirrrl and design boutique site - 180Red 
walks
the talk!
Newly
updated portfolios sites:
/
-----Syrup Helsinki
/
TEST PILOT COLLECTIVE
/
tYPOTHERAPY v.2
/
Otterball
Tsunami
toll rises above 138,000!!! Thousands still missing as search for
survivors continues... My friends, Yoel and Muid are safe and sound.
But so many are still missing. Let's help - find an organization that
will funnel the money directly since the best way to help in the economic
reconstruction is to make sure that goods are bought locally instead
of being shipped from overseas.
Once
lost and found again, an animation fil jewel - My
Beautiful Girl, Mari.
Mimmo
Manes is rebirthed as Canefantasma and
the site is as eclectic as the one before with explosive colors this
time.
After
all these years, still clean and lean and best with corporate clients,
YEAHYEAH... now has become Fulton Street Design.
This
is an extraordinary portfolio for Ives
Brechbuehl who is a consumate designer. To be visited from top to
bottom. I LUV the site design - everything is sparingly slick.
Like
you have never seen something like this before!?!? The
New Deal is not only the incredible project about... well go there
and find out. This is THE new deal! The future of animations and man,
the lighting is so realistic, brillant! I was thrown off my chair. Character
design, illustrations and 3D modelling taken to the n step! Kudos to
the team (BaBa, 123Klan, Junior Market and
Olivier Janin and many others) behind this marvel!
Try
the musical box from Popular Front! (IE only)
For
people who make websites:
Want to wrap text around images using CSS and XHTML? Cross-Column
Pull-Outs by Daniel M. Frommelt
Not
exactly the best way to introduce to your mama, a new friend. Nonetheless Bwanavista is
an agency that cultivates a humoristic twist pushed to the hilt with
their pitch - calling themselves - the other agency!!! The animations
are really weird... but the 3D rendering is splendid.
The client one... is ouch! But then, sometimes who and what we do with...does
seem a little... alien...ating! What is great - the concept is consistent
and innovative!
A
thesis site (MA) on interface and playfulness. WOW! Functional Play!
Now this an incredible achievement! Will someone hire this guy!
Nostagia? Netdiver
Best Sites of the Year 2003. It was a very good year! Now imagine
what 2004 had in reserve? You will find out by mid-January.
Syrup
is looking for a senior designer and a designer to add to their creative
team this upcoming new year. Interested?
Trafik!
Stunning studio who has amazing skills. The proliferation of their imagination
in all the projects makes this agency a true leader in all things design.
The edge is there as a constant. Staff is composed of multidisciplinarians
and collaborative creativity is at the heart of their processes... and
it shows.
The scope of their projects is really impressive.
Small
way too small navigation and typo for STEUH but
excellent overall portfolio. Presentation is important when promoting
your talent - the cool factor should be reserved to exploratory projects.
Firewheel
Design gets a tangy makeover! They are absolute pros at designing
pixel icons!
PPAINT is
simply a collective of imagemakers who work individually or together.
Interesting to see the different styles mostly for streetsmart, urban
modern illos.
Type-O-Tones is
an eclectic almost chaotic site that offers fonts in a variety of explosive
colors and mini-animations. Worth seeing.
David
Nakamoto has updated Multifresh which
has been displayed on netdiver for many years. This excellent designer
is sooo imaginative and creative and just keeps on improving through
the years. Hats off.
Fork.de is
looking for some fresh talents!
-> more news
^
