Brilliant t-shirts by Thorsten Van Elten.
£24.50, Medium or Large.
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Viewing entries in
Design
On September 12, John Maeda will be newly inaugurated as the 16th president of RISD, one of the most elite art and design colleges in the country, as well as a sister school of my alma mater Brown University. President Maeda's curriculum vitae is extraordinarily impressive, unsurprisingly for someone being asked to helm such a prestigious institution or as he called it "RISD is MIT for the right brain." For not only designers ("...he is the first designer to be appointed president of RISD, to say nothing of any college) but for Asian Americans, as Maeda is Japanese American, this is a nice moment. If this was Dave Chappelle's "Racial Draft" skit, which parodies the NBA teams' draft of college players, any "race" would be lucky to have this guy on their team!
In addition to designing sneakers where his first effort 'the Timetanium" sold out in 14 hours, and being named by Esquire as one of the "21 most important people in the 21st century," Maeda has been:
...a professor at MIT since 1996, and more recently managed research relationships between the MIT Media Lab and more than 70 industrial organizations. His work in digital media design is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. But Mr. Maeda also attended the "anti-computer" University of Tsukuba in Japan, studying graphic design and sculpture.
Congratulations Pres. Maeda!
Read more here.
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This piece (obviously) titled "Chernobyl" by Jaime Pitarch is amazing to me, especially because my parents' house is filled with matryoshka dolls (or "nesting dolls" for the uncultured--I'm kidding) and other Russian bric-a-brac thanks to my mother, whom as a teacher hosted many exchange programs with schools in mainly Siberia, Russia. The one I had purchased when I was over there years ago was one that depicted all the various rulers and tsars of Russia with the last tiny one being...a skeleton! OOOH. Apparently all the tourists bought this particular matryoshka doll. Whatever. USA! USA! USA! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!
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William Drenttel (rightfully) criticizes a recent flag design competition hosted by Adbusters on the topic, ironically, of global citizenship.
The jury consists of 7 judges, 4 of whom are contributors to Design Observer, and all of whom are capable critics, respected in the field.
The seven person jury, however, consists entirely of white men.
Nearly a decade into a new century, I believe it is unacceptable for a design organization, foundation, board of directors, magazine or other enterprise, to mount an initiative with an all male panel of judges — or, put another way, "white, native English-speaking men from the U.S., British Isles or Australia." Such behavior is no longer acceptable and should not be tolerated by a community of designers (or any other community).
Designers around the world should just say no.
Read more here.
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The next time I'm in Philadelphia I need to swing by this sculpture by Claes Oldenburg.
Clothespin, 1976 Cor-Ten and stainless steels 45 ft. x 12 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 6 in. (13.7 x 3.7 x 1.4 m) Centre Square Plaza, Fifteenth and Market streets, Philadelphia
Fabricated by Lippincott, Inc., North Haven, Connecticut. Engineer: J. Robert Jennings Commissioned May 1974 by Jack Wolgin, through the Redevelopment Authority's Fine Arts Program Installed June 25, 1976 Inaugurated July 1, 1976
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This is a neat linear and rotating clock for Mac, PC, and iPhone from Simon Heys. Download it here.
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I know the first day back at work or in the classroom is tough after a vacation or holiday. So to help your post-Labor Day work week be slightly more manageable I'm posting the following affirmation. Go ahead, print it and post it in your cubicle.
And if you're STILL having a really tough time then print this one below:
Saul Bass explains in this video interview the development and evolution of his iconic title sequences in films. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UU132IUU_o]
In this urban hack, Bruno Taylor installed a swing at a London bus stop. Although it may not be the most efficient use of space, I'm of the firm believe that all bus stops should have at least one swing. I don't care how old or tough you are, swings are forever fun and never get old. And if you disagree with me on this then you are either a terrorist or a racist. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDqbb0eHVXA]
This t-shirt from Threadless cracks me up for some reason.
[Thanks Mun]
Designer Lucy Merchant brings to life the tables and chairs (Titled "Mommy's Chair") of the sort that are drawn by young children and matches their shaky lines and perspective.
It doesn't look like the most comfortable furniture but I really like the idea. If these were placed in front of children, and they were then asked to draw them I wonder what would be produced.
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I wouldn't recommend this conceptual bloody table by John Nouanesing for the kids room, but it's disturbingly cool.
Ashley has more information on this luminous hotel room at the Grammercy Park Hotel. I want to stay there!
Bomomo, a spiro-inspired drawing program is a fun diversion that I don't recommend for people with control issues. The various drawing and brush tools move in various patterns that may not exactly conform to what you want it to do but the result is always very cool looking. Here's my creation inspired by my closest friend and worst enemy, the New York City subway system:
