OpenIDEO is a web platform for facilitating social innovation. It launched this past Monday and was developed by IDEO. It is designed as a collaborative creative space where everyone (designer or not) can come together and participate in the design process, through inspiration, concepting and evaluation. It is based around design challenges which start out as simple questions but tackle significant global challenges. Watch the video above to learn more. To really get a sense for the site, sign up on OpenIDEO and start adding inspirations!
The first challenge is for Jaime Oliver, the winner of this year’s TED prize and flag bearer of the Food Revolution in America. The goal is to find ways to raise awareness about the benefits of healthy and fresh food, especially for children. You can watch Jaime introduce the challenge in the video above.
I’ve been working as an intern at IDEO for the past 2 months and was able to participate in the first OpenIDEO internal challenge: to design the logo for the site. It was a really exciting process and I cannot wait to see these other challenges get put through the same paces. By breaking up the design process into these three easy phases, it ensures that important milestones are accomplished. I found the inspiration phase especially helpful, even for projects unrelated to the logo development.
I’ll be at IDEO through mid-September, when my master’s program begins again.
“The birth of a new color exists”. Well I’m intrigued; I’ve always wanted to see a new color. This video gives you a little behind the scenes look at the Pantone color factory. Be prepared for a number of tasty shots of ink and paper. The video is “to celebrate the release of The Plus Series, the next generation of the classic Pantone Matching System” and was produced by Base.
What would be really cool is if a color was invented that actually *looked* new. Sure they have ‘invented’ lots of new colors, but to the average person, it’s all the same stuffs: green, blue, pink, etc. You show 99/100 people a new Pantone color and they will look puzzled if you tell them it didn’t exist before. What I want to see is a new color that literally doesn’t exist yet. The kind of thing that is so new your mind cannot even comprehend what it would look like because by definition it is impossible. Something outside the spectrum of visible light. Until then, I don’t want to hear about these “new” colors. A little trippy I know, but when the Pantone guy said they invented new colors I got excited.
Witness the unchained creativity of Julien Vallée. I suppose this is a little more whimsical than my average post here, but I can’t get over how awesome his work is. The combination of hand-made elements, motion graphics, and unparalleled ingenuity create some stunning work. He also does a great job documenting his process — his behind the scenes videos are just as entertaining as the actual finished product. The last video above is a “Making of” for Danse Dance. You can view the actual interactive video here.
As he says in his Gestalten interview about his work, “I got bored with the computer technique and a pre-formatted way of working”. Good thing he did — it’s refreshing to see work like this that jumps off the page in more ways than one.
I was hired about three months ago to design a logo and consult on the brand identity for Plancast, a local San Francisco start-up founded by Mark Hendrickson and Jay Marcyes. As you can probably guess from the name, Plancast a way to broadcast your upcoming plans to your friends; or as it’s often described, Foursquare for the future. The site is exceptionally easy and helpful, and I encourage you to check it out.
By the time I joined on Plancast was up and running, but they were without a logo or distinctive visuals. I began work in December and we agreed on the finished logo a few weeks ago. The project was easily the hardest I have ever completed — as well as the most fulfilling. I almost destroyed myself developing this logo and I am really excited to share the process with you here.
I am in the process of moving into a new apartment in San Francisco. Amidst the endless furniture shopping, cleaning, painting, and waiting during absurdly long delivery-time windows, I have been planning the construction of the ultimate apartment-based graphic design studio. As I’ve always set up shop in a room with another purpose (currently my studio also serves as my bedroom and recording area), the prospect of having a dedicated design room is very exciting. I figure this move will be a good opportunity to really take my time and build the perfect work room — from the paint on the walls, to the the table tops and filing cabinets — every detail will be meticulously considered.
The room itself is 11.5′ x 9′, plus a generous closet. The purpose of the room will be a place where I can work, file, cut, store, display, print and create. Basically a little graphic design super room. Unfortunately there will not be space for my music set up, so my guitars are going to have to bunk with me in the bedroom. You’ll notice there is also a small window. Ideally, for consistency reasons, I would prefer to have no window — but I’ve come around on the issue in hopes of the keeping studio morale high…
NOTCOT is having an ISO50 giveaway including a couple Studio Giclee Prints, the new Syv shirt, and the Tycho Coastal Brake 12″. I also wrote a short piece on how we print the posters here at the studio and posted up some pictures of the process.
Spencer Nugent posted an interesting article on the Levels of Sketching over on IDSketching (that’s his image above). I don’t know a lot about industrial design, or the complex role sketching appears to have in the field, but I was really interested to read a little more about it. What came to mind immediately was the sketching process we are constantly encouraged to go through at graphic design school. I am always terrified of this part and try my best to avoid it (which is impossible). Of course, though the role of the sketch is different in this case — as it serves as a rough internal mock up rather than a deliverable for a client — it’s importance remains of a high level (for a number of reasons, many of which Milton Glaser explains in this video that’s been floating around the last couple weeks).
The sketching process for the project I mentioned a while back has been pretty intense. Recently I’ve been working through countless concepts and designs, sketching my hands off. I was lucky to figure out my direction/concept early on, but it’s taken me forever to figure out the right way to render it. This has meant ENDLESS amounts of sketches and crappy little mock ups. I guess I lack the patience to sketch well, and my process book looks like I was drawing blindfolded, drunk, and with my off hand.
Seeing the way industrial designers sketch, I am truly envious. To be able to render something that detailed and precise, without a computer sometimes, I can’t imagine. Of course, I am reacting this way because I grew up designing with the computer. “Process” to me has always meant keyboard and mouse, not pencil and paper. I recognize this as a potential weakness in my workflow, and have been trying really hard to incorporate sketching into this project. Results have been here and there so far, and I wonder if I will ever be able to develop my sketching ability to where it’s consistently worthwhile.
United by House Industries has been my go-to typeface over the last few semesters. It is a massive family — 105 total fonts (three styles, seven weights and five widths). This variety makes it an incredibly versatile collection. I really hate it when I find a typeface that I love, but find it missing a crucial weight or style. (DIN for example — would love to be able to wield more styles). United does not have this problem. I’ve used it on many projects (a few you know; ISO50 EP, Mega Cities book) and in each case the variety allowed it to be implemented in a unique and effective way.
I discovered it a long time ago while searching for the typeface used in a Nike ad (can’t recall which one, but it was amazing). I don’t actually remember if United was employed in the advert, but if you spend any amount of time searching around the typography of the sports world, you are bound to come across United at some point (Fox, I’m pretty sure, uses it for in game football graphics). There is an obvious resemblance of a few of the weights to a very collegiate look, which might be a turn off for some people, but the rest of the styles make up for this ten fold.
The most exciting part for me has always been the fact that each style has five different widths. I love condensed or extended widths and it’s nice to find a worthy competitor to the standards (Univers, Trade Gothic etc). When you need an extra touch of personality, especially if the project skews toward the technical or urban, United does the job nicely.
I don’t know many other designers (at least at school) that use it regularly and I thought I’d spread the word a little. Finding a new typeface is always pretty exciting, so hopefully if you haven’t tried United before, you can give it a shot and experience the sweetness. Anyone else have any hidden gems? I haven’t come across a new super typeface in a while — would love to hear about what people are unexpectedly enjoying these days.
