Ian Fitzpatrick writes, collects and shares things here.
Some of these things have to do with brands, some of them have to do with buildings and places or machines or computers (which are, you know, machines, too). Each of them has to do with people, and the ways in which we respond to the stimuli around us.
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Yesterday was a sick day – nasal congestion on par with the iPad-induced streaming lockdown of a week ago. Today, I’m clearing both my inbox and my head to the backdrop of Múm’s Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy…
*****
Brands eager to gain a foothold in the online recruiting space ought to consider eschewing a strong Facebook presence – or so say a handful of Wharton seniors in this fascinating roundtable from Human Resource Executive Online. Says one:
It really takes away from the credibility of the firm, especially because we know Facebook so well — just the connotation that comes with it; it’s not necessarily this professional, reliable tool that you want to use.
Another key point made repeatedly within the article: Young, skilled employees have an innate desire to understand the role that their work plays in the larger objectives of their employer. A point which is, in my own experience, frequently overlooked.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Feb 03.10
Some thoughtful reading from this morning – time spent trying to wash from my mouth the bitter taste of ABC’s two-hour homage to Milton by way of Coppola-in-the-jungle ((I am referring, of course, to last evening’s LOST season premiere))…all to Aloe Blacc’s terrific Shine Through:
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Feb 02.10
Heavyset favorite Helge Tenno posits that we ought to re-examine the notion that more screens bearing more information represents progress, and instead look to methods that allow us to integrate our assembled data into physical objects. As I posted yesterday, there’s a bit of a theme going on here, notably from Ed Cotton and Faris Yakob (whose own conviction to this end is considerably longer-held). Helge posts some interesting examples – the Copenhagen Wheel demo ((As an aside, fans of Copenhagen Wheel project will want to check out this article from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, suggesting a commercial future for electric bicycles.)) was new to me – and integrates some good thinking from Tim Brown of IDEO, as well.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Feb 02.10
Tuesday morning thoughts and readings collected against the backdrop of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s fantastic new album, IRM…I’m feeling rather progressive about my choice, given the relatively mundane musical selections made in Boston ((Seriously, the Beatles??)) these days, in comparison with those in, say, Barcelona.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Feb 01.10
Ed Cotton posits over on Influx Insights that a key theme of 2010 will be the intersection of digital and physical devices, a point I quite intended to make on last week’s BIMA panel on The Digital State ((but, in my glee, forgot)). The crux of his post is a recently announced partnership between personal platform of choice FourSquare and the Bravo Network, aimed at providing real-world promotions for viewers of the network’s programming. I can only imagine that check-ins from Kiehls are about to skyrocket.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Feb 01.10
Some found materials and reading collected while spending the weekend pondering the mind-numbing decline of Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics ((Truly a confounding title, no?)), who placed American Saturday Night by Brad Paisley atop his 2009 ballot for the Pazz and Jop poll. While I’ve little remaining appetite for further infographics, there’s likely an intrepid soul willing to take on the charting of Christgau’s decline in a format as easily-consumed as Paisley’s quasi-country-with-a-slice-of-the-21st-century pop. Until that day when The Village Voice takes a cue from Etsy and opens up its API, the Dean himself has made the data available.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Jan 06.10
In my Rogue Film School, which I just founded, I say–and not even as a provocation–that I prefer people who have worked as bouncers in a sex club, or have been wardens in the lunatic asylum. You must live life in its very elementary forms. The Mexicans have a very nice word for it: pura vida. It doesn’t mean just purity of life, but the raw, stark-naked quality of life.
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Quotations Published Dec 14.09
Greg Smith over at Vague Terrain has a terrific writeup on a new installation at the Mediateca Expandida de LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, entitled PLAYLIST:
The core of PLAYLIST will be the exploration of the “8bit movement”, spread out from the manipulation of obsolete game technologies in order to create new instruments to play music. The show will demonstrate that the retrogaming phenomenon in visual arts can be considered an outfit of a pretty musical phenomenon, that in a bunch of years spread out all over the world through festivals and clubs, occasionally influencing mainstream musicians; and that visual and musical research progressed on parallel paths, in the quest for lo-res sounds and aesthetics, synthetic colors and notes. For the first time, retro-gaming will be explored through the lens of musical production and distribution, displaying not only tracks, but instruments, tools, softwares and hardwares, skins and graphics, but also discographies, platforms and communities.
Looks fascinating. While I doubt very much that I’ll make it to Spain for the exhibit, I offer it up to those who might.
Link: Playlist: Playing Games, Music, Art on Vague Terrain Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Dec 11.09
The good folks at Poke London shut their doors this past week for a day to engage in their first day-long hack around the broad topic of food (this, of course, being an area of particularly English expertise).
It’s a great idea. Color me impressed.
Iain Tait has a rundown of the first hack: The proper cappuccino:
Today’s preliminary investigation and interviews have unearthed a whole bunch of interesting stuff – like more than a few places that basically think a cappuccino is a latte with chocolate on top (and they’ve admitted to that on camera).
As an aside. Poke’s explanation of the idea for Hack Day is catalogued on their website under ‘fun stuff’. I wonder whether Grant McCracken, whose new book Chief Culture Officer is mandatory winter reading (for me, at least) would agree. One might reasonably argue that this program, while certainly fun, is also at the core of a creative enterprise. Best guess: The folks at Poke would agree.
Link: That's a Cappuccino! on CrackUnit Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 12.09
I think that the training from traditional businesses causes people to focus on minimizing the downside instead of single-mindedly focusing on the upside. However, in a venture investment, the MOST you will lose is the money you have invested. Getting 1 million of the 5 million that you invested back from a liquidation is not nearly as important as making sure you’re in the next big hit and that the investments that have potential achieve their potential and find their acquirers and partners.
via Joi Ito’s Weblog
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Oct 11.09
Coneycopia
Video commission by British television network exploring the question of whether Coney Island is nearing the end of life. Lovely.
on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
Read the full post...Categorized as: Ephemera, Notes on Things Seen Published Oct 11.09
Nothing terribly profound here, but a gorgeous photography, art and architecture mashup that’s worth the few moments required to view it.
Link: Juan Lau on Vimeo Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 09.09
A map that measures American financial strain, through an intriguing combination of measures: unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcy and aggregate stressors.
Link: AP Economic Stress Map (August 2009 data) on ChartPorn Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 09.09
Sha Hwang, from Stamen Design, has recently created a series of though-provoking visualizations on the NYC subway ridership over the last decades. Using a spreadsheet with the annual recorded entries at each station in the NYC subway system, Sha Hwang decided to plot them on an interactive map (using modest maps) applying two different methods: scaled dots (centered on each station) and lines (unifying the different stations). Even though there are some pertinent questions, in the original blog post, as to the danger of extrapolating traffic flow from individual station boarding, this initial experiment is notwithstanding very valuable, since it could help explain many urban and sociological changes in the city over time.
Link: NYC Subway Ridership 1905-2006 on Visual Complexity Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 09.09
Gadgetoff 2009 unleashed an intense series of kabooms, zaps, chomps, and kerplurks rattling 400 attendees on the beautiful 83 acre Staten Island grounds September 25th while slinging Lenovo laptops with a trebuchet, cooking hot dogs with Telsa Coil Towers, riding jet fueled 5g merry-go-rounds, writing code drunk for autonomous cars legally, and thrashing a series of incredible lectures and demos throughout the day!
Link: Gadgetoff 2009: Boom! on DesignVerb Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 09.09
A thoughtful look at the history of pictogram development.
Link: The Poor Man's Olympics on Design Assembly Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 08.09
Link: Life Expectancy Map on Flowing Data Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 08.09
Link: The Billion Dollar Gram on Information is Beautiful Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 08.09
Link: Using Your Sign Up Form as a Qualifier on Bokardo Categorized as: Ephemera, Links Published Oct 07.09
“I don’t compromise often. I live in the real world and know what’s possible and what’s not. It’s a dialogue between what you see appearing before your eyes and what you direct, choose, realize. Compromise is a dangerous word because it makes me think of petulance, and I don’t want to be like that. You can’t go kicking-and-screaming to get everything you want; rather, you adapt to get it as close as you can to your vision. It’s about learning and working within the confines of your limitations, be they financial, physical, or temporal.”
–
Choreographer David Dawson via BaseNow
Categorized as: Ephemera, Quotations
A blog from Khoi Vinh, the Design Director of NYTimes.com, and a great source for design and engagement conversation.
A frequently-updated, chaffe-free collection of design goodness.
A blog from the magazine of the same name, devoted to the study of objects – and the relationships of those objects to the people who use and engage them. Always intriguing.
Bobby Solomon’s fantastic blog covers all manner of design-related significa – from gallery shows and events to the latest found creations. Updated with great frequency and dedication.
Angie Waller posts here about both her own completed works and works-in-progress, and similar explorations by others. Gems abound.