Design Life Now

I just came back from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston. I went to visit the exhibition Design Life Now. This exhibition, running from September 28, 2007 to January 6, 2008, intends to present a wide spectrum of contemporary American design, including product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science, and fashion.

This is my first major contact (aside from some experiences during three visits to the MOMA in NY) with a big show that covers so many fields of design. Being an AIGA member, I had the opportunity to visit an exhibit that was part of BoNE Show 7, Best of New England Design, but that event, which was organized by AIGA Boston, focused only on graphic design.

Design Life Now showcases the work of individuals and companies like Apple, Pixar, Nike, architect Santiago Calatrava, designers Joshua Davis, Jessica Smith, and David Wiseman, and many others.

These are some of the pieces that caught my eye:

• The Speak Up web site. According to their own description: this site "is a reader-supported community devoted to graphic design open to conversation and dialogue. It stresses and questions the importance of the profession in our culture. Speak Up challenges those who practice inside the field, in hope of more accountability for their actions and in light of the responsibility we all have as communicators. Its mission is to further the graphic design profession from within with the goal of creating a stronger and clearer sense of what our role is as professionals endowed with the duty of creating social, cultural, political and/or economical communications based on our ability and obligation to do so in a visually clear and comprehensible manner."

• The Blik web site. In their own words: "What is blik you ask? blik is an I.D. Magazine award-winning line of surface graphics created by and for people who like to change their mind. These self-adhesive wall decals (think stickers for grown-ups) allow you to easily transform the look of a living or office space in minutes. Affix blik to any smooth, flat surface such as a wall, window, mirror, ceiling, tabletop or floor. Choose your space, plan the design you'd like to make, and literally, just peel and stick. And when you're tired of your design, say after years, a month, maybe a day - the decals are removable."

• Howtoons: This website showcases cartoons that show kids of all ages "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure.

Other great pieces were:

• Book covers by Chip Kidd
• Design examples from Planet Propaganda

I don't know if this exhibition will visit other cities, but I would sure recommend it to designers, students, architects, artists, or anyone interested in learning about contemporary design in the US.

Disappointment Compass

Hagar and I went to see The Golden Compass, and we had a great disappointment. I was very excited about this movie after reading the book. We were also intrigued to see how the director would surpass the whole controversy regarding Philip Pullman’s attacks on religious institutions. I was prepared to understand some level of compromise from the writers and director in order to make the movie commercially successful, but it went too far…in my opinion.

Here are three points to explain my feelings:

First: During the first 5 -15 minutes of the movie the narrator gives away what a reader gets only after reading most of the book, which means that all the suspense and intrigue in the book are lost.

Second: The movie is so sweetened that a very important passage of the book—the death of a child whose dæmon has been cut away— is changed completely, getting rid of an element that makes the reader understand the real horror against which the main character, Lyra Belacqua, and her friends are fighting.

Third: Nicole Kidman…no way she is the best representation of the Mrs. Coulter in the book. I have liked her performances in the past, but this is not one of her best. The character in the book is beautiful and evil. Her portrayal is neither one nor the other.

In general the movie feels like a preview, not the real deal. The creators tried to condense a great story into 113 minutes, but unfortunately someone did not do a great job this time. I hope the upcoming second and third movies of the series are better.

I, personally, would recommend that you read the books before seeing the movies; otherwise you will miss a great story.

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Leopard semi-hidden features

This is way too cool! Muy bueno.

This is an article about the features that are usually not mentioned when Apple talks about Leopard (the newest version of Apple Operating System)

I have been a Leopard user for a couple of weeks, and I have to say that I love it! There are so many ways to speed up your work. This article talks about features like:

• Printing and Page Setup integration: No more two separated dialogs.
  
• Use of Spaces to define specific applications to each space: One of my favorites, no more clutter.
  
• The Path Bar Bonus: An easy way to find your way around.
  
• Login Items: Find the locations of everything that is automatically open when you log in.
  
• Autosave for TextEdit: You won't loose that text anymore.
  
• Automator recording: Record what you do once, and to do it again in the future...just press a button.

It's just great!

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Perfect bouquet!

Today is Hagar (my wife)'s birthday, and I gave her a fruit bouquet.... yummy!. Check this out: Pineapple, Strawberries, Apples, Melon and Grapes, some of them covered in Dark, Milk and White chocolate... Am I not the perfect husband? ;-)

I didn't want to do advertising for the company that creates them, but they are really delicious.

D

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New drafting table

I just bought a drafting table. It does not seem like a big deal, but when you think of the many hours that designers spend working with a computer, a table to sit and sketch, just by hand, without a fancy Wacom tablet, or an Apple super mouse, just ideas flowing in a natural fashion...
I am very happy with this new acquisition; I just hope that it will help me to get new inspirations.

Very cool type animation

A friend sent me the link to a very cool type animation based on the audio track from ‘Pulp Fiction’. Thanks to Michael Lok from Urbane-Dog.com

So, I have started reading some graphic novels

It's a very interesting form of art, and unfortunately I didn't have much access to it until I moved to the US in 2003.

I am currently reading "Palestine" by Joe Sacco, and "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

In the meantime, I just got this very cool link where you can see comic book covers.

Enjoy it, and if you have any good recommendations for graphic novels, I would love to read them.

Very interesting portrait of humankind

I just found this very interesting website named 6 Billion Others. It shows videos of people from all over the world, talking about basic themes that are important and part of the life of every human individual: Joy, Family, Dreams, Fears, Tears, and many others.

I watched every video, and felt many of the testimonies as very close to my own experience in life until now.

Great idea! Many congratulations to the creator, Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Respect designers and yourself: say no to spec work

I recently received an email from one of the forums that I read, where someone requested that the designers in the forum submit logo ideas to this company, so they could choose which logo they liked, and would then pay the selected designer for his work.

Even more interestingly, the person making this request was a doctor, and the company in question is a private clinic.

It's incredible how often proposals like this appear on the web. The worst part is that both sides, designers answering these requests and the clients posting them, are playing a terrible role.

I wonder what would be the answer from the medical community if a patient goes and says: "I want to have appointments with as many doctors as possible, have all of them give me their best knowledge and treatment, and at the end of the day, I will pay only the one whose treatment I enjoyed the most..." Note: This example is mentioning doctors; however, it would apply to anybody who finds it fair to make designers work for free.

When someone makes this type of request, their idea may be: "There are tons of students and beginning designers who would be more than happy to have their work selected and used by us, so, why not have them work hard, and we just select and pay for WHAT WE LIKE at the end".

The emphasis in the last paragraph is to remark that you are not getting WHAT IS BEST for your company, you are just selecting what looks the best among the available options.

As a client, the practice of spec work damages your company, because the designs that you receive will not be based on any professional research. In another of my posts I tried to explain that a logo is an investment, and this extends to any product of design. A designer or firm that creates a successful design for you (meaning more sales, more client recognition and loyalty) will need to thoroughly know your company's mission, goals and projections, among other things.

Although the option of requesting spec work from the design community may seems cheaper, at the end of the day you may be paying double or more, or having worse consequences, similar to choosing a bad clinic to treat your illness only because it is cheaper.

For more information about spec work visit this website.

Greetings in other countries

If you are interested in learning international greeting protocols, check out this site.

Coming as I do from a different culture, I have had to learn (and I am still learning) the American customs and behaviours in social interactions and in professional environments.

I was very surprise, for example, when I learned how much personal space is valued in this culture. In Cuba we don't keep so much personal space, perhaps due to the fact that our island is so tiny that we all have learn to be closer to each other.