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  • Archive for the Design Category


    Who wants to design the NEA’s new logo?

    Published February 2nd, 2010

    In an inspired act of crowdsourcing, showmanship, and democratic participation, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman has turned to us to refashion the NEA’s visual identity. Yesterday Landesman announced that his modest but mighty federal agency was accepting submissions to redesign the logo for the NEA’s “Art Works” initiative. As the NEA blog [...]

    5 goodies from The Times

    Published January 7th, 2010

    Stuck on an airplane this morning, I had a chance to read today’s New York Times almost from cover to cover. (Ink on paper is a pretty good technology, no? — Ed.) Five stories, most of them small and easily overlooked, made me think, smile, or wince. 1. Person of the day. When retailer H&M [...]

    Is this the future of magazines?

    Published December 7th, 2009

    Apple Insider points to a demo of the soon-to-be-launched digital edition Sports Illustrated. If this is the future — and Wired and others are also working on their own digital editions — then maybe the magazine business isn’t doomed. (HT: Doug Flather)

    This one goes to eleven

    Published November 28th, 2009

    In honor of last week’s Ohio State  - Michigan game (You can take the boy out of the midwest, but you can’t take the midwest out of the boy. — Ed.), here’s one of my favorite examples of negative space. The backstory: In the early years of last century, when football helmets were like gloves [...]

    Where are the dang outlets?

    Published October 22nd, 2009

    That’s the question that power-mad (in the electrical sense) travelers ask when they arrive at an airport with their phones and laptops screaming “battery low.”The search can quickly lead an upstanding citizen down the low road. I’ll cop to: scouring every baseboard in a terminal in a mouse-like quest for a power hole; pinching the [...]

    Logo con leche

    Published October 19th, 2009

    On a visit to Bogota last week, I saw all kinds of cool things — including some negative space. From Alqueria, a Colombian dairy company run by the innovative Carlos Enrique Cavalier, comes this logo, which simultaneously depicts Alqueria’s main product and the source of that product.

    How do you motivate healthy, green behavior?

    Published October 11th, 2009

    The traditional approach is to offer economic incentives, which can be effective in some circumstances but often fall short.So here’s a small but intriguing alternative from Sweden: Motivation through engagement. (HT: Scott Underwood)

    The positive impact of negative space

    Published September 10th, 2009

    All of your negative space fans out there — and you know who you are — might like this collection of 25 logos with hidden messages from the graphicdesignblog.org. Two of my favorites are below, but the other 23 are also worth your time.

    Idea of the day: Eco-friendly pizza box

    Published June 19th, 2009

    Watch this 45-second video. Then smack yourself on the forehead for not thinking of it first. (HT: Doug Flather)

    Dome of the day

    Published June 17th, 2009

    Here’s a 24-foot Buckminster Fuller dome in the lobby of NeoCon 09.  This is the first time I’ve seen one of Bucky’s domes in person. It’s pretty cool and a bit wacky — much like the man himself.

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