- Graphic artist wanted for high-profile comic novel
- Logo needed for environmental research course
- French Web site looking for student artists
Nov 152010
Writing in the Atlantic, Dylan Tweney claims that online publishing is challenging designers to give up the control they were used to in print publications and even in the first decade of the Web. According to Tweney, software like Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript and platforms like the iPad are enabling the separation of form and content like never before.
At the same time, designers are increasingly in demand to find efficient ways to convey people and information, as some recent remarkable examples of design make clear. So who’s right?
Turns out the placebo effect isn’t just for drugs. It apparently works for elevators, thermostats, and walk buttons at intersections–most of which don’t work and aren’t even intended to! Oh, and turns out in addition to his other firsts, John Cage may have created the first placebo music.
Oct 152010
William Gibson’s last three novels (starting with Pattern Recognition back in 2003) are essential reading, in my opinion, for anybody who’s into New Media these days. They’re all set in the modern day, though the characters are decidedly sci-fi– hackers, marketing execs (hackers of a sort), graphic designers, fashion designers, filmmakers, and so on–generally controllers and creators of information.
So, on one level these books (and I sincerely recommend you start with Pattern Recognition) serve as commentary on our jacked-in, post 9/11, etc., society, but on quite another, more immediate–and I think gratifying–level Gibson just uses these themes as an occasion to produce some incredibly focused, almost morbidly precise writing. The density of his prose can be a little daunting at first, but once you get into the swing of things it’s quite good. A little vacuous at times, definitely show-offish at others, but on the whole simply delightful.
A bit like wine-tasting perhaps–the kind where you have to spit out the wine after a few seconds. It’s ridiculously good sometimes–the prose seems almost calibrated to induce a kind of lyrical hypersensitivity in the reader–but on the whole it lacks heart, and leaves one feeling not a little empty.
Reviews:
P.S. If you’re into fashion, Gibson’s descriptions are basically candy. Finely textured, gunmetal-black candy.
350.org has launched a glocal event–locally engaged, globally networked–to send a message to our political leaders that we want to work for positive life-affirming goals for our communities and families.
You can see two local Orono events as well as nearby events on the map
Still Water Permaculture Guild launched their own event described below:
EVENT
9 October 2010 – 10:00am – 2:00pm
Learn sheet mulching techniques for both Apple Orchard guilds, and raised beds.
Oct 132010
Hey all,
I’m writing from San Francisco, my home these days. San Francisco is at the forefront of an amazing urban gardening movement, and it is very exciting! I’ve been working very closely with one urban farm in particular, called Hayes Valley Farm. It’s a 2.3 acre food forest rising from a freeway that collapsed during the ’89 earthquake. I hold the title of Lead Researcher on the Biodiversity Team. Most recently for 350.org’s 10-10-10 global day of action to prevent climate change, we began an effort to research and steward what edible and medicinal plants do well in the multiple microclimates within the city. We gave away 150 permaculture kits to initiate healthy ecosystems in folks’ backyards, front yards, planter pots, or vertical wall gardens (we get creative in the city). Our ultimate question is “how many people can you feed on how little urban land?” I like to think it is possible to have sustainable cities, but I wonder too if they stay cities or become something new…. This teeters on an artistic and pedagogical piece I recently did for Mary Walling Blackburn’s Radical Citizenship: the Tutorials, called Root, City, Thorn.
Anyway, I’m also very involved in thinking about the human organizational models that encourage healthy ecosystems and healthy people. We are facing some very juicy challenges on the farm and are seeking answers from lots of different sources. To this end, and in the spirit of exchanging insight, I’ve just launched an email list called Chapter Fourteen. I hope all you UMaine alumns involved in permaculture and/or participatory models of communication will join this list and share what you’ve learned from your own communities, as well as stories about where you’re stuck.
Please join! http://lists.beforebefore.net/listinfo.cgi/chapter_fourteen-beforebefore.net Beginning on the new moon November 5th we’ll have roughly 2 week discussions around the topic a moderator initiates. Please let me know if you’re interested in facilitating a discussion, and I’ll sign you up!
Thanks Jon for getting NMDnet going!
xoxo
Sep 042010
I’m all for designing with simplicity in mind. But when I was shown this sign by a Bangor ER triage nurse after breaking a crown off my molar, I couldn’t help noticing that the picture had a couple of names in the “credits.”
Which left me with two questions: 1) Did both scientists get tenure as a result of creating this innovative “pain scale”? And 2) did this clever pair go on to create the US government’s color-coded Terror Threat Levels?
Get ready for a whole new wave of goth tattoo graffiti art, thanks to DeviantArt and HTML 5.
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/lCzqjGTbMYY/ via Byline DeviantArt debuts a new browser-based drawing tool created entirely with web standards. Muro works in all modern browsers, and you can dive in and start drawing on a blank canvas, all without Flash or any other plug-in.
Fred Brooks: design starts with scarcity.
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/zBtNIiLINAU/ via Byline Computer scientist Fred Brooks told the world how to design software in The Mythical Man-Month. Now, 35 years later, he’s back with The Design of Design, which extends his ideas into fields such as architecture and leadership….
“The critical thing about the design process is to identify your scarcest resource. Despite what you may think, that very often is not money. For example, in a NASA moon shot, money is abundant but lightness is scarce; every ounce of weight requires tons of material below. On the design of a beach vacation home, the limitation may be your ocean-front footage. You have to make sure your whole team understands what scarce resource you’re optimizing.”
From the XKCD school of Web design. [Link]
Discouraging smoking by creating an irritating package is a great idea, but the problem is that good designers just can’t bring themselves to make something look uncool.
Now, if you only had a Microsoft design team take over…
May 172010
I’m a big fan of the John Cage | Fluxus Happening | guerilla urban architecture mashup Frozen Grand Central. I’m also a fan of public transportation. So you can imagine my delight when I stepped off the metro at UCLA’s Westwood & La Conte and stumbled upon this:
Continue reading »
GM introduced its Electric Networked Vehicle prototypes, one third the size of a typical car, as a way to reduce big urban auto emissions and traffic congestion. The EN-V relies on dynamic stabilization technology similar to that of the one-person Segway scooter to keep its balance, and can be operated autonomously or under manual control. In autonomous mode the EN-V is designed to use high-speed wireless connectivity and GPS navigation to automatically select the fastest route, based on real-time traffic conditions gleaned from the Web or some other networked source of traffic information.”
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/yGpOe8knI9I/GM-Unveils-Networked-Electric-Mini-Cars
GM introduced its Electric Networked Vehicle prototypes, one third the size of a typical car, as a way to reduce big urban auto emissions and traffic congestion. The EN-V relies on dynamic stabilization technology similar to that of the one-person Segway scooter to keep its balance, and can be operated autonomously or under manual control. In autonomous mode the EN-V is designed to use high-speed wireless connectivity and GPS navigation to automatically select the fastest route, based on real-time traffic conditions gleaned from the Web or some other networked source of traffic information.”
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/yGpOe8knI9I/GM-Unveils-Networked-Electric-Mini-Cars
For those that golf at Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course in Silicon Valley this is old news, but an interesting discovery for the rest of us: in the middle of the course are runway approach lights for the adjacent Moffett Field. Continue reading »
I’m emailing you from the the Safety and Environmental Management Department. Our department is interested in designing an ergonomic poster that we can be given out to departments on campus. The reason I’m emailing you is because we were wondering if the New Media department would be interested in working with us in developing this poster. We believe by working with the New Media department, we can design something that is pleasing to the eyes, as well as something that can ensure the health and safety of the employees in our departments here on campus.
If this is something the New Media department would be interested in doing, please let me know, and we can arange a meeting.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Seth Warren Ecology and Environmental Science Major Treasurer of Kappa Delta Phi Fraternity
I’m emailing you from the the Safety and Environmental Management Department. Our department is interested in designing an ergonomic poster that we can be given out to departments on campus. The reason I’m emailing you is because we were wondering if the New Media department would be interested in working with us in developing this poster. We believe by working with the New Media department, we can design something that is pleasing to the eyes, as well as something that can ensure the health and safety of the employees in our departments here on campus.If this is something the New Media department would be interested in doing, please let me know, and we can arange a meeting.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Seth Warren Ecology and Environmental Science Major Treasurer of Kappa Delta Phi Fraternity
“Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon’s Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year’s SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JWO3sJUIK2A/Skinput-Turns-Your-Body-Into-Your-IO
Compare the extraordinary electric body installations of Italian artist Sonia Cillari, who proves that you don’t have to move to perform.
“Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon’s Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year’s SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JWO3sJUIK2A/Skinput-Turns-Your-Body-Into-Your-IO
Compare the extraordinary electric body installations of Italian artist Sonia Cillari, who proves that you don’t have to move to perform.
:excerptstart:Edinburgh interaction design competition–deadline in March.excerptend
Create10 :: the conference for innovative interaction design
30th June – 2nd July 2010
Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh UK
http://www.create-conference.org/
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The Create10 conference is seeking submissions in the form of full papers, workshops, short presentations, demonstrations and exhibits.
THEME : : Transitions
Analogue <> Digital
Academic <>Practice
Place <> Time
Real <> Virtual
We invite case studies of innovative design from the commercial, academic, public, government and research sectors. Cases can come from any paradigm – the web, mobile and hand held, products or consumer electronics. We would particularly like to encourage submissions from students. They will be given the opportunity to showcase and discuss both finished work and work-in-progress in a supportive environment.
The Create conference centres on the discipline of interaction design, a young disciple with roots in human-computer interaction, ergonomics, product and graphic design, multi-media and art. An interaction designer is a difficult person to pigeon hole and can be found in mobile phone companies, consumer product manufacturers, design consultancies, as a single practitioner, or within academic computing and design departments.
We are seeking original, unpublished work under the following categories:
Full Papers (2 stage submission)
: : High quality academic papers for peer review (max 6 pages)
Other Submissions (single stage)
: : Practical half-day workshops
: : Short papers and/or case studies from practitioners within the field
: : Short presentations and/or posters from students to be presented in informal student sessions
: : Demonstrations and/or videos of installation-based exhibits or creative work in progress
Please note that all successful authors will be expected to pay to register for the event.
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IMPORTANT DATES
Submissions of :
max 1 page abstracts for papers : 15th March 2010
max 2 page proposals for all other submissions : 31st March 2010
Notification of acceptance : Early April 2010
Full paper submission : End of April 2010
http://www.create-conference.org/calls-for-participation/
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Student Design Competition
In addition to the above call Create10 is organising a unique competition for students.
Today=92s art, design and technology students are the people who will be defining what the interdisciplinary field of interaction design will become in the near future. Create10 is a conference that celebrates innovative interaction design, whether digital products, services, environments or new interaction paradigms.
This competition is aimed at students from a wide range of disciplines, for example: interaction design, product design, industrial design, communications design, architecture, fashion, multimedia, HCI, and related fields. Students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, can enter for up to a year after completing their studies.
Entries will be assessed by a jury of leading creative design practitioners and academics: Dr Shaleph O=92Neill, Mark Daniels, Anab Jain, Crispin Jones, Di Mainstone, Christopher Pearson
All selected submissions will be exhibited at the Create10 conference exhibition in June/July 2010 in Edinburgh, at New Media Scotland’s Inspace. There will be one free conference place available for each successful entry, as well as access to assistance with travel.
Further details here: http://www.create-conference.org/student-competition/=
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http://www.create-conference.org/
On 25 February 2009, the University launched its new name, Edinburgh Napier=
University. For more information please visit our website.
Edinburgh Napier University is one of the top 10 universities in the UK for=
graduate employability (HESA 2009)