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Saying Goodbye to Google

Google's first visual designer Douglas Bowman explains his reasons for leaving and critiques the company's over reliance on data and reductive philosophy which he argues handicaps Google, "paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions."

I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.

It seems to be the classic tension or dichotomy between the quantitative and the qualitative. Anyway, it's an interesting read that pulls back the curtains a bit.

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Cactus Couch

This looks mightily uncomfortable, but I guess it would get the job done for getting rid of unwanted or annoying  guests quickly: "Have a seat."

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Nerd Alert: Engaging Capt Kirk's Chair

Design and furniture aficionados may desire say, an Eames lounger (WANT) or the Wassily chair (WANT), but Trekkies covet a chair from another universe, that is Captain Kirk's chair from the original Star Trek series. Many are fulfilling their dream by either building or purchasing replicas of the chair and "making them the centerpiece of their homes, thus conquering what is for them a final frontier of domestic décor."

So they make or buy a ready-made chair. Then what?

Some watch TV in theirs, or simply loll, and some seem to find the chair an empowering place from which to deal with others. “When we have a little family powwow — I have four children — I sit in it to lay down the law,” said Mr. Boyd, the auto parts manager.

And most, of course, indulge their fantasies, imagining doing battle with Klingons and otherwise cruising the cosmos. “Sitting in it,” said Mr. Bradshaw, the graphic designer, “I find myself striking an action pose quite unconsciously.”

I don't care who you are, Trekkie or not, but it'd be impossible to not strike a power pose of all power poses while sitting in that chair.

The original chair from the show was auctioned for $305,000 in 2002. It is currently on display at Seattle's Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame of Geeks.

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Fun Socks

A friend of mine likes mocking me because I once wore slightly offbeat socks. She called them creepy, which is an odd choice of words for someone who claims to work in the fashion industry, because those socks are Japanese ergo fashionable. Relatedly, AshiDashi, meaning "stick out your feet" in Japanese (Moye, please confirm. Kthnxbi), is a sock company started by a Japanese American (Moye, Asian high five!) that aims to bring a a bit of color and whimsy to the dull lives of people like my aforementioned friend.

I especially like these two designs, "meat" and "kick the habit" cigarette socks.

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Periodic Table of Typefaces

Utilizing the familiar layout of the periodic table, this "particular table lists 100 of the most popular, influential and notorious typefaces today."

As with traditional periodic tables, this table presents the subject matter grouped categorically. The Table of Typefaces groups by families and classes of typefaces: sans-serif, serif, script, blackletter, glyphic, display, grotesque, realist, didone, garalde, geometric, humanist, slab-serif and mixed.

Each cell of the table lists the typeface and a one or two character "symbol" (made up by me simply based on logic), the designer, year designed and a ranking of 1 through 100.

More information on the ranking methodology here and larger image here.

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Samurai Cats and Mice

Artist Jeff De Boer created samurai armor for cats and mice.

Q&A with the artist:

Q. How long does it take to make a suit of armour for a cat or a mouse?

A. Someone once asked a famous painter how long it took to complete a painting. His response was "25 years." It is not just the amount of time it takes to actually build a piece, it is also the years of work needed to attain the necessary skills and tools. I have always been able to work quickly and with few mistakes. Still, it does take time to make a mouse or a cat. Some silver mice can take up to 20 hours to build and another 10 hours to polish, and we haven't even made a base for it yet. Some mice are less complicated or have different finishes, thus taking less time to build. With this in mind, I would say that a mouse will take from 10 to 40 hours to make. As for cats, the same thing applies, but as you go bigger, things simply take longer. A cat will take from 50 to 200 hours.

And a photo tutorial on how to make a samurai cat suit.

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Urban Camouflage

Move on, there's nothing to see here folks.  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH2XsAkjYw0&fmt=18]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NCBrT5bgmE&fmt=18]

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Universe Ring

This ring is shaped based on the theory that our universe is shaped like a donut--that tiny speck on the ring, upon magnification reveals a model of the actual known universe.

[Thanks Paul!]

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