I’m a twitter stalker and I’m not ashamed of it, actually I’m a little ashamed but that’s beside the point. The point is, I was looking on the magnation twitter feed when some bozo posted about how those magnation people were ‘deluded fools’ because print is dead, apparently.
Amongst this little twitter war I discovered a Guardian article that was relevant to this issue. According to The Digital Content Blog, publishing powerhouses Hearst, Time Inc and Condé Nast are teaming up with iTunes to create online storefronts for their digital publications. Whilst I have already expressed my feelings towards publishers charging for online content, I think this is a brilliant move. Despite the threat it poses to the print medium, iTunes has become a beacon in online usability. Music, film and talkback radio have been ‘saved’ by Apple cause no matter what they produce, consumers will flock in record numbers with iTunes cards in hand to purchase the latest releases.
Take that @print_is_dead, I will no longer be stalking your twitter.
Photo Olivier Zahm, Purple Diary. Felix Gonzales Torres, Untitled 1991
I have mentioned before how much I love Google reader. Apart from it being a great time wasters, it helps me keep up with the wonderfully creative happenings in Melbourne, Berlin, Dubai and New York to name a few.
One of my all time favourite artists is Felix Gonzales Torres. I love him so much that for one of the projects I had to do in art school last year I payed homage to him in the form of a table a chair. Whilst I will be the first to admit that they didn’t work out exactly as planned, actually they were quite shit, it cemented my adoration for the late artist.
Thanks to Google reader I discovered that the new High Line (one of the most amazing new concepts in urban development) in New York City is paying its own version of homage to Felix GT. One if the things he was most well know for was his billboards that were installed in various locations around New York at the height of his career in the 80s and 90s. Gonzales Torress was committed to social issues surrounding gender, politics and sexuality. Documented on the purple journal blog, one of the artists most know billboards has recently been erected behind the Standard hotel in New York City.
Untitled, 1991 appears on a building in 13th street, and anyone unfamiliar with the artist will undoubtedly be wondering what it’s an advertisement for. The image is of an unmade, recently vacated double bead with white, ruffled sheets and the overwhelming presence, or in this case absence, of two lovers.
My apparent aversion to public art (as per my critique of Valhalla) is in no way extended to this billboard. I think we need more of them. In a world where advertisements cloud our vision and find their way into our personal space, it is refreshing to see an image in the public realm which references nothing in particular but which still speaks volumes about life.
This enigmatic artists will continue to be missed!
Ok so I really want an iphone and part of the reason I really want an iphone is I suffer from rampant gadget envy, always have. It started when I was little, first it was Nintendo, then it was super Nintendo then I think I got over the whole video game thing and for a while I was into upgrading my cyber shot cameras. Now it’s about mobile phones, ipods and laptops.
In addition to gadget envy I’m a sucker for packaging and in my opinion, Apple kill it. I still remember the first time I bought myself an ipod. I was in New York walking past the apple store in Soho and I was sick of roaming the city streets listening to nothing but crazies and car horns (although now both of those sounds make me quite nostalgic). I remember taking my new white cube back to the apartment I was staying in and opening it like it was some version of Pandora’s box. Everything was simple, white, clean and neatly packaged and I just loved it. Let us look at how they've evolved.......
photo credit: designarchives.aiga.org
photo credit: arstechnica.com
photo credit: farm4.static.flickr.com
An ipod photo and mac book later, the iphone is the new thing (new is a loose term, actually everyone has one) I covet, but optus won’t give me one cause they are mean and I don’t like them and they keep telling me I have to wait, but I don’t think I can wait. I really REALLY want an iphone!!!
Designer Apps - The changing face of the mobile phone November 2, 2009
With the announcement of the technology that was going to revolutionise the mobile phone, media player and PDA , Apple changed the way we use these technologies by launching their most anticipated product to date. The iphone, according to Apple has simply ‘redefined what a mobile phone can do’.
As of March this year, 30 million iphones had been sold proving that Apple are certainly the leaders in mobile technology. The hype surrounding the initial launch focussed on just how entertaining and convenient this technology was going to be.
In order to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and order calamari, the iphone employs an application system to enhance how users interact with the phone. Not only have iphones become the most popular mobile technology, Apple has also figured out an ingenious way to keep the customer paying. If you don’t actually own an iphone, an application or ‘App’ can be quite the foreign concept. Are they games, are they programs or are they media files, it doesn’t really matter because as of April 2009, 1 billion applications had been downloaded from the official Apple ‘app store’ and that number will only continue to rise. From games such as Crash Bandicoot to Texas Holdem and cooking aids such as Fromage a pocket guide to over 380 types of cheese, the app caters to every interest group imaginable.
The Mac book is a staple for most designers for it’s advanced operating system and the iphone has become a smaller more portable extension of it and with this of course comes the design focused app. Amongst them are; Airdesign Chair that calculates the size and square footage of any room and iBlueSky a brainstorming platform to help organise ideas into an emailable PDF document. No designer however will dispute the importance of the PANTONE colour library, which is now conveniently available as an application. Despite the disclaimer stating ‘colours displayed here may not match PANTONE identified standards’, the application is a very useful tool. Pallets can be created and shared and colours can be extracted from a photo and matched to the closest PANTONE colour.
Whilst the PANTONE application is a useful resource, there are certain apps that are just for fun.Type Drawing is an application that lets you draw with letters to create typographic art works. By selecting a font size, type and opacity, the user can build a picture from a simple concept.
Though most applications are really just a chance to waste time, there are some valuable guides to help navigate around they city you live in or travel to. Dexigner is a website and now application that connects a user to the latest design news, exhibitions, conferences and competitions. One of the more impressive aspects of the app is Near Me an extension of the online version Around Me, which calculates the users location and provides a complete list and distances to design related events or centres near by.
Apple are renowned for usability and this convenience is now portable and small enough to fit in your pocket. With the help of such an array of unique applications, users are encouraged to be more productive, stay entertained and turn their phone into whatever they want it to be.
Greece is for lovers of witty and innovative product design. November 1st, 2009
Gathering inspiration from your surroundings seems to be a common starting point for most creatives. Gathering inspiration from surroundings, cultural stereo types and adding a slightly ironic sense of humour can begin to explain the unique designs emanating from the Athens based studio Greece is for lovers.
The trio of Vasso Damkou, Thanos Karampatsos and Christina Kotsilelou make up the uber cool product design company that is part of the evolving face of the new Athenian creative culture. Their unique designs and indeed their name is a reference to the kitsch and cliché Greece the world has long remembered. From curtains that map out traditional Tsamiko dancing, to the brilliant ‘Tougher then Leather’ skateboard commissioned for 7ply Project Exhibition the company has gone from strength to strength and are the poster children for the citys’ new image. 'Tougher than Leather' - G.I.F.L
Since the 2004 Olympic games, Athens has experienced a cultural boom that is placing the city in contest with its European neighbours. Not only has the New Acropolis Museum provided a symbol for the country’s cultural renaissance, smaller more niche studios and artists have begun to present themselves on the world design stage. Amongst them are; Poor Designers a collective of young graphic designers working out of Athens, Kostas Voyatzis, founder of the design website yatzer.com and of course Greece is for Lovers. Their studio is located just outside the Plaka district which is known as the place where old Athens, new Athens, tourism and culture clash. This particular combination is at the basis of most of their works. Taking elements from Greece’s classical aesthetic, mixing it with the country’s casual culture and adding their own unique brand of humour, Greece is for Lovers have contributed to the vibrancy that seems to be fueling the city.
The name Greece is for Lovers is a play on the slogan ‘Greece is for Greeks’ which, along with the rise of populist leader Andreas Papandreou marked the unofficial beginning to reclaiming the Elgin Marbles an issue that has plagued the cultural identity of Greece for the past few decades. According to Vasso Damkou ‘Greeks don’t like to work; we prefer to chat up tourists in the afternoons, indulge in huge meals afterwards and smash plates.’1
Whilst some may still have this perception of Greece, Damkou, Karampatsos and Kotsilelou have combined the stereotype, added a 'tongue in cheek' comic aesthetic and injected into their products. Mugs with ‘Athens Sucks’ displayed as a parody of the infamous ‘I heart NY’ logo and a set of plates title ‘Greece Vs China’ that look like they have been smashed and reset are proof that despite constant reminders of the glory days of classical Greece or the lazy sun loving image perceived by the rest of the world, Athens has a new love of innovative and witty creative talent.
'Greece Vs Chine' - G.I.F.L 'Opa Curtains' - G.I.F.L
I have an anecdote to share which nicely describes the effects i think the Kindle will have on the public sphere. It is bad enough that everyone in transit either on foot, bikes, trains etc are talking on their phone or listening to their ipod. Reading granted is a similar solitary and unsociable activity but the cover of a book suggests something about the reader/stranger sitting next to you.
This particular anecdote is not my own but my sisters however i'm sure we all have a similar story. She was sitting on an otherwise boring/frustrating/excruciatingly full train in peak hour getting exceedingly impatient until she saw something amazing. Crammed in one of those little single seats near the door was a very large man who could have easily been a basketballer in his spare time, dressed in a business suit, surrounded by people looking at their blackberries, reading a book. What book you ask warrents a blog post? New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight series. If it were a Kindle, this man could have kept this indulgence a secret and my sister would never have survived the train trip. But luckly the Kindle has only just been announced for purchase in Australia. The convenience of this technology is indesputible especially for students who have to battle daily with a million and one text books and for Nick Cave fans whose title The Death of Bunny Monroecomes as an enhanced electronic version complete with original compositions.
However the activity of reading, and the secret pleasure everyone gets from spying on a fellow comuters readings habits will sadly be lost. It is up to the Kindla or Apple to come up with the digital equivilent of a book jacket so we can still spy or pry and have the convinience in one little package!
