This gorgeous piece of hardware is the Elekit Tube Amplifier, designed by Koichi Futatsumata. I’ve always been obsessed with tube amps but I’ve never seen one look this good. Of course, it would look best if the rest of your furniture is of a similar spec — which is not the case for me — but maybe this is so amazing that it can elevate even the most drab of living spaces with its sexy minimalism. The only problem is that I want to buy it right now and it appears to be impossible. I find way too many concept pieces that look amazing but never find their way into the marketplace. At least this one looks like it might eventually be for sale. (But by then Apple may have released their “newest creation” and I won’t have any money left…)
I saw a commercial for the new Nautilus Mobia today and was pretty impressed. Considering the fact that it comes from an industry not exactly known for aesthetics, the Mobia sports some nice lines and an overall iPod-esque (the designer’s own words) vibe that’s pretty attractive. Designed by famed ID firm Frog Design, the elliptical/treadmill hybrid even scores in the interface department with a clean, no nonsense display.
Unfortunately, the Mobia branding falls flat on it’s face. Perhaps another firm designed the logo and Frog was forced to apply it to their creation, I don’t know. I do know that it just about ruins the entire experience. The logo — which appears to have been designed by a marketing team years before the unit itself and completely independent of any input from the product design team — fails to align stylistically with any of the machine’s physical characteristics. And what’s with the name? Mobia? It sounds like a new VoIP solution or some sort of dolphin harness. It doesn’t sound athletic or sleek at all. Oh well, I would still take one and just scratch off the logo. Then I really wouldn’t have to leave the studio again.
It’s finally time to announce the Grand Prize Winner in the Holiday Giveaway. The Grand Prize includes the following:
· One copy of Adobe CS4 Design Premium Mac (US$1,799 Value)
· One ISO50 Studio Giclee print of Choice in 18″ wide format
· One ISO50 shirt of choice
· Tycho MP3 Collection
I’ve been listening to Matthew Dear since 2001 he has come along way with remixes for Hot Chip, David Bowie, Postal Service etc. but this remix of The xx is one that kind of really resonates as something that sounds like Matthew to me personality, i’m expecting more punctual avant pop from him this year from his LP which i’m geeking over to hear.
A pretty sweet go to song for a dance floor, can’t go wrong with Thom Yorke even though I haven’t put on his CD since the day I bought it, not because i didn’t like it but I have to be in the mood and this version is more of what I want to hear.
One of my favorite labels has to be Smallville out of Hamburg which is run by some great guys one of them being Peter Kersten aka Lawrence, if I ever release/make music it would have to come out on Smallville or i’ll just give it away for free. The patient and passionate ones will probably get the most out of this song by Julius Steinhoff , dreamy 4/4 deep dub.
I love desks by George Nelson, his Swag Leg is a favorite. I came across another great example of Nelson’s work over at Modernity, the Home Office Desk by George Nelson for Herman Miller. Absolutely perfect; I’ve always liked the idea of large desks but seeing this and the Swag Leg make me think it might be nice to have something a little more compact. And I love Modernity’s photographic style, great product shots (sorry for the small pics though, they didn’t have anything bigger). Some more can be found here.
I’m headed to Tokyo again in May and I’m getting all psyched for bouncing around the city with my camera. I’ve been via-linking my way around photography blogs for inspiration and found Color Berlin, a cool photo set by Matthias Heiderich. They feel like paintings to me — probably due to the heavy saturation, and flat compositional style. I’ve only been to Berlin once, but I don’t remember seeing colors like this! Best keep my eyes open next time. More on his Flickr page.
I was inspired to investigate my favorite typefaces of last year by all the “Top Ten Fonts of 2009” lists I’ve seen going around. I tried desperately to make my list longer than seven, but honestly I don’t know if I used more than that. (I only have 50 anyway) Keep in mind, when I say “favorite fonts of the year”, I am referring to the ones I used most, not necessarily ones that were released in 2009. New font releases rarely get me very excited anyway. This list pretty much sums up the only fonts I ever implemented in all of 2009. There is an outlier here or there, but I keep everything pretty regimented.
So here we are, my favorite fonts of 2009:
Knockout – Probably my favorite of last year. I used it everywhere. It’s so versatile, and has so many weights, that I found it really helpful for many projects.
Din – One of my favorites of all time. I found myself using this in just about every infographic I had to create.
Miso – It’s free and comes in handy every once in a while. Found this one popping up in my freelance work a bunch.
Plantin – One of the sole serif representatives. I used this for just about every single time I had body copy. Thanks Monocle!
Futura – Had to include this after my Wes Anderson project. Didn’t use it a whole lot elsewhere, but I always check out how things look in Futura just in case. Especially for logos — Futura comes through in a pinch often.
Trade Gothic – Especially Bold No. 2. If I hear a cool word I don’t know, I will write it down so I can type it out in Trade later just to see how bad ass it looks.
Anyway, nothing too surprising up there I don’t think, but interesting to see it all in one place. List yours if you have them!
