‘The intertwining of science, art and technology: An animated and interactive installation based on the poster of the same title by Fritz Kahn from 1927.’

Animation by Henning M. Lederer, sound design by David Indge.

More info here. Original poster below.

Der Mensch als Industriepalast, Fritz Kahn, 1927

Found via Gábor Kóthay

The work of Joetta Maue.

Found via sfgirlbybay

Video for Treponem Pal’s Dirty Dance, from the album Weird Machine. Directed by Olivier Lelong.

I had Olivier’s fetish-based video work in the FEEEL New Media exhibition I co-curated back in 2008.

For more, drop by his website here.

‘Nuit Blanche explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection’

A film by Arev Manoukian. Making of video here.

‘The film’s title is an allusion to Tatlin’s Tower. This animated short by Theodore Ushev is like a whirlwind tour of Russian constructivist art and is filled with visual references to artists of the era, including Vertov, Stenberg, Rodchenko, Lissitsky and Popova.’

Brilliantly done! From 2006.

‘Tatlin’s Tower or The Monument to the Third International is a grand monumental building envisioned by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin, but never built.’

Article here.

A trailer (above) for a performance you’ll never see – because it’s already passed.

Some info here. And the trailer was released four months after the event.

So.

Just enjoy.

‘They make girls with no ass-at-all look like they have something back there  . . .  and girls with a little junk in their trunk, look like they have perfect apple bottoms.’

Cute Booty – pants for gals designed by Kelly Nishimoto, sister of musician Meiko.

Website here. Meiko’s writeup (with discount code) here.

Megan Fox, photographed by Craig McDean for Interview Magazine, April 2010. More here.

Found via Ashley Simko

One of the first modern icons of the 20th century, The London Underground’s ‘bullseye’ passed the 100 year mark recently – and to celebrate, 100 artists were brought in to interpret the symbol and its legacy.

Alternate London Underground bugs, before standardization

tube history
The London Underground’s ‘identity’ is considered one of the world’s first cohesive corporate design systems.

‘Identity’ would become big business over the next 100 years – the Underground’s approach is all about finding one’s way. Look for the circle and line, and you’ll know where the train will be.

Throw in Edward Johnston’s railway typeface (he also developed the bullseye) and Henry C. Beck’s map – and it’s a pretty decent system. Enough to be copied by other transit authorities worldwide.

My personal favorite is this Tube interpretation of the US Interstate system.

Poster by McKnight Kauffer

tube art
The Underground has a close tie to the art scene – over the years, artists were brought in to create posters showcasing seasonal trips, schedules, sales or the power of the Underground (above).

Even current tube maps continue this legacy – they showcase cover art by Barbara Kruger, Yinka Shonibare, Liam Gillick (below) and others.

For more info, visit the 100 years site here, selected posters posted below. Going Underground’s article here (Going Underground is a great Tube fan site).

Plus, Tube map cover gallery here and museum site here.

Erik van Blokland’s solution for obsolete iPhones.

‘Every now then, as you stumble through design history, you trip over and fall on your ass.’

Alex Charchar takes a look at the incredible work of Reid Miles. Article here.

(and psst: click on the album covers for MP3 purchasing options.)

Joe Henderson: Jinrikisha

The work of Dilill. Creative blog here, Twitter here.

The work of Alida Rosie Sayer, now on exhibition in London.

Articles here and here. Blog here.

Short video experiment by Erdinç Kalyoncu.

Viewable on Facebook only (login required), click to view/jump.

Found via Reza Abedini

‘2000 people from around the UK were filmed singing The Fear for this promo for Lily Allen which was part of an Xbox Sing it with Lips game campaign.’

Found via exspiro

‘For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong – and how we can fix it.’

Great article in Newsweek. Read it here.

I have my own take, which has to do with how difficult it actually is to be creative. How society does its best to discourage and strip creativity from us so we can be good worker bees. Sit down, shut up and do your job.

what is creativity
As the article mentions: ‘To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).’

Today, divergent thinking is often discouraged – but if it does take place, it can be so divergent, it can’t be implemented as a convergent – or coherent – plan.

And at the college level, I’m at ground zero teaching this stuff.

Sometimes it creates wonders, sometimes it only goes halfway. Other times, it’s so frightening to attempt something new  . . .  creativity finds itself at a standstill. The work veers back into mediocrity. Because that’s safe.

Pictured above: The incredible work of Graham Roumieu, visit his portfolio site here. Twas more creative than the trite crayon flag that came with the Newsweek article. Found via swissmiss. Article found via Adam Helweh.

‘Momento repetido, Intersticio impalpable, Formas sinuosas, Insignias a tus aventuras, Momento contemplativo.’

The work of Alexander Cano.

Flickr here, website here.

Depeche Mode: Precious

Found via beauty comma

Unofficial video by Ori Toor for Animal Collective’s Lion in a Coma.

Found via Zachariah Moreno

‘Tho all the maps of blood and flesh are posted on the door, theres no one who has told us yet what Boogie Street is for.’

Animation by cronogeo, featuring late 1920s woodcuts by ‘image novelist’ Franz Masareel (1889-1972).

Was recently reading about Masareel in David Berona’s beautiful edition, Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels.

Found via Oded Ezer, Belkind Scheps Osnat

Also from Monsieur Bandit, a look at the incredible work of Italian street artists Sten and Lex.

Article here, video above. Flickr page here.

‘I created this site as part of my graduate thesis at Fort Hays State University in an effort to share with others what I have learned on my own.’

Dominic Flask’s Design is History website – featuring highlights from design history.

Found via Grain Edit

‘an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life  . . .  and how it could probably end.’

Direction and animation by BLU, production and distribution by ARTSH. Soundtrack by Andrea Martignoni.

Found via Jessica Hische

‘Indeed, Mr. Wong created a stir in 2001 when he acquired Mr. Starck’s plastic Bubble Chair before it was unveiled in the United States, installed a light bulb inside, and transformed it into a piece he called ‘This Is A Lamp.”

That was one of my favorite stunts. Read that Philippe Starck was furious. And I really loved Tobias Wong’s work.

I was saddened to see this article appear on Twitter (via Retinart).

I loved his take on screwing with the norm. Fucking the establishment while being one step ahead of it.

‘Protect me from what I want,’ Tobias Wong’s tattoo, a Jenny Holzer truism

We all have some form of demons, in many cases it drives incredible work. We also have health problems that often can’t be cured. Some are worse than others.

That’s the theory in this case, sleepwalking, night terrors. One’s dream state can be so real; I follow a theory that dreams are just another part of our awake state. There can be a fine line between the two. His death may have been suicide or something he wasn’t even aware he was doing. No one can ever really know what’s in one’s head before they take their own life.

There is a lot of suicide in the creative field. And I personally I know too many who have done themselves in. I see it as robbing the world of great talent. Self inflicted or something unexplained has taken over.

His subversiveness was incredible.

Money pad

Crystal chandelier dipped in industrial white rubber

Killer Ring

Coke Spoon #2

Business card

Wong in Kevlar ‘Bulletproof Quilted Duvet,’ 2005

See more of his work here.

‘Football and typography may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they’ve been getting along quite well since a while. In 2006 Dalton Maag claimed the team with the best typography won the World Cup.’

Here’s two overviews of World Cup typography: The work of Paul Barnes and the work of Yomar Augusto – over at The FontFeed.

‘a little zine all about coffee’

Hand screen printed. Order it here.

‘A popular rule of thumb among proponents of healthy food is that the fewer ingredients there are in something, better it is for you. With a remarkable 37 or so ingredients, many of which are polysyllabic chemical compounds, Twinkies would seem to embody the antithesis of that rule.’

Photography by Dwight Eschliman. Details about his ‘37 or so Ingredients’ project (and book) here.

Plus, check out Steve Ettlinger’s Twinkie Deconstructed.

I like how the beef fat is now labeled ‘animal shortening.’

Riboflavin, iron

Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup

Vegetable shortening, animal shortening

Monoglyceride, diglyceride

‘John Challen, manager of Blists Hill Victorian Town, explained why Abraham Darby I’s iron cooking pot changed the world’

Click to play/jump.

For more about the Darby Pot’s major contribution to the Industrial Revolution, check out the first episode of GoD. For more about Abraham Darby I, go here.

‘A minimalist homage to the perfect pasta and sauce, The Geometry of Pasta tells you everything you need to know about cooking and eating pasta like an Italian.’

Book review here.

Found via Retinart

The work of Felice Varini.

Found via Aaron Bell

Poem by Todd Alcott, kinetic type by Beth Fulton.

I’ve known Marian Bantjes a few years – mostly thru emails and online notes. I found her work years ago, it blew me away so I put it in an exhibition.

And in watching her recent TED video (above), I’ve noticed some career parallels. Though I’m not looking at a parallel of work (not even close), what I see is a parallel of thinking.

design rut
I’ve been a designer working ‘behind the scenes’ for over two decades.

I was a paste up artist and I have the scars to prove it. My first graphic design courses were part of a drafting program – no computers – and today I’m shocked at how important work habits developed during that time have become. I don’t consider my work innovative or new – simply bulletproof. And I’ve made a lot of money for a lot of other people. And mostly, I’ve never quite fit in with my contemporaries. And the battles that come from this have raged on for a long time.

A few years ago I had to ask myself this tough question:

Why the fuck do I no longer enjoy what I do??

The answer was telling. And not very simple. Part of it involves the temporary nature of my field. Most of what I’ve designed, doesn’t exist anymore.

But most of the problems I saw came from letting too many other people have control over what I do and how I do it. Working within perceptions of how others see my field – graphic design – really took the wind out of my sails. For this simple reason:

Graphic design can be so much more than people who work in our field think it is.

I seem to see this. But not many others do.

turnaround
About two years ago I made the conscious decision that I will only work on jobs that I enjoy.

This is a key decision, in that I’d reached a bottomed out, enough is enough point in my career. I had some serious work and financial setbacks and had to put a stop to the   . . .   bleeding. For lack of a better term.

And the work I have in right now, I love doing.

I love teaching, so I just took on SEVEN classes (all typography, one design history course) and this was one of the most fun quarters/semesters I’ve had. And in my spare time, I draw fonts, design really goofy stuff and post whatever inspires me to this blog. Because I love it.

Will it lead to something else? Who knows? Who cares?

But enough about me. Watch Marian’s talk. She’s figured it out, mostly. And what she does – what all visual artists do – is very important.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

The work of illustrator Matthew Lyons.

Check out krystian ‘junkyard dogs’ kujda’s photostream at Flickr.

Reminds me of things in my garage.

‘Refurnished, remodeled, rebuilt’

Check out Stephen Coles and Chris Hamamoto’s new design for The Mid-Century Modernist blog.

‘An online archive of Australian graphic design: 1960-1980.’

Blog with great finds from Oz. For more, go here.

GoD episode two: Designs for Living

‘This five-part series tells the story of design from the Industrial Revolution through 20s modernism, the swinging 60s, the designer 80s and up to the present day. Features interviews with star designers like Philippe Starck and creatives from Apple and Ford; as well as design fans like Stephen Fry.’

Finally in the US we have a peek at the BBC’s brilliant series on design history, The Genius of Design. Posted above are episodes one and two. With logotype set in Museo, of course.

Update: The BBC blocked the Vimeo postings of these episodes – but – I found the bloody things posted on a server in China. Really. Click on the above images/links to jump/watch. And hey at this point, I’m not posting them myself. Just providing links.

Would love to have the entire series on a US-friendly (Region 1) DVD.

Found via (former student) James Saturnio and (other former student) Ai Buenafe

‘Meet The Kno – a two-touchscreen tablet that folds out like a book’

How it works (above). Article here.

Found via GOOD

We’re closing in on spring finals at the Art Institute. And I just got this note from a student:

School is like being hit by an invisible bus. A bus full of sardines, and being driven by a monkey. After being hit, the monkey flips you off, leaving you speechless and confused. So basically school is stinky and is going bananas.

And I’m thinking the ‘everything is due’ pressure is starting to sink in. And that I’m the monkey. And wow, I get to drive An Invisible Bus.

in perspective
But in all the melee going on right now, I’d like to see something more positive come of this. Usually the positive part hits when standing in a classroom filled with incredible final projects – which I hope happens next week.

This is my spin. It’s what I do these days:

I’m a game show host in a forced labor camp.

But – I was recently talking with web instructor and confidant Bill Mead – and we both agreed that we really love teaching in a creative environment. Because our students really are nuts. In such a great way.

And that’s so cool. It’s fantastic to be around all that creative energy all of the time.

The world needs more creative and fun people. Who work hard. Who can change the world.

more learnt in school
New video (above) from Raina and Brent as part of their totally random What I Learned in School series.

What started as a few photos is now a series. They’ve been making these pretty much on a weekly basis at this point.

‘It’s not meant to squeeze lemons, it is meant to start conversations.’

A look at Philippe Starck’s iconic Juicy Salif lemon squeezer for Alessi.

Article here.