PBS has done it again. An intriguing look at intelligent people doing interesting things. Nothing blows up. There are no scantily clad women. No murders. No esp flashbacks at the scene of a horrific crime. And, there will be no commercials – hallelujah! If you are not used to television of this quality you’ll be delighted to know you have until Summer to work up to it. Start by checking out the trailer at citizenarchitectfilm.com.
Frontline On Our Digital Nation
PBS (which is arguably the only reason to own a television) hosts a plethora of quality programing including a fantastic, in depth, news program called Frontline. On Tuesday, February 2nd at 9:00 p.m. (In the Twin Cities) Frontline is airing “Digital Nation”. If you are reading this blog there is a good chance you work in a digital design field. But, whatever you do you are deeply immersed in the changes interactive media is having on our culture. Changes with far reaching consequences for everything from socialization to attention span, entertainment to warfare. Spending an hour pondering these consequences will likely be tremendously informing (and empowering if it is your job to create whatever comes next). You can see a preview on the pbs.org website.
Frontline has also been running a digital nation website about these issues where you can learn more, share your own story and take a quiz – while you email, txt, instant message and listen to music….
In a related vein NPR recently ran an interesting story about research that suggests many who think they are great at multitasking… aren’t.
If you’ve been paying any attention to the internet today then you probably already know that the amazing design and infographic goodness that is the Feltron Annual Report came out today.
If not, now you do.
ps. Viewing will probably be slow as it seems like the entire internet is intent on viewing Mr. Felton’s intimate life details for 2009 right this second thank you very much please.
One of the hardest things about a long career in design is thinking about all the of interesting people I’ve encountered and enjoyed working with who then for one reason or another have disappeared over the horizon. I’ve moved around a fair bit so despite the best efforts of a cadre of social media that list is getting pretty long.
What fun it is then to suddenly rediscover someone and find that they are thriving and as interesting as ever. So it is with Rachel (Dunagan) Wiles who after briefly sharing a little Colle+McVoy with me has hung her own shingle intriguingly entitled Benign Objects. Rachel has been creating stationary and invitations like the two above “birdies” and “squirrels” and chronicling interesting design discoveries on her blog. Check ‘em out and drop her a line of encouragement or better yet give her a call and hire her for an assignment. That way you’ll get to enjoy her southern accent.
As you are no-doubt well aware the internet currently resembles the imagined offspring of a mad love affair between your attic and your garage. We all know whatever we are looking for is in there somewhere we’re just not sure where. Hence the current explosion of sites like notcot.org and materialicious.com that simply aggregate cool stuff. They don’t editorialize much – if at all. They don’t even provide much context beyond the central organizational theme. As such they are like a dresser – simultaneously no big deal and amazingly useful.
For those of us in creative fields there are many excellent portfolio sites like behance.net and design:related.com that provide lots of organization along with tools, community, rating systems and the works. However, there has been an open niche for a super simple mechanism for simply finding cool stuff when “cool stuff” equals portfolios and “finding” means in a specific city. In another stroke of minimalistic brilliance 37Signals has come to the rescue by launching a new tool called sortfolio.com.
Here you can browse for web designers and companies by city and budget range. There are larger, paid modules followed by smaller, free modules. I am digging the way new modules automatically load as you scroll down the page. Check it out and get yourself listed so the wide world can find you without having to go through all that stuff they’re saving for when Antiques Roadshow comes to town.
The photographs in this series by French photographer Denis Darzacq are arresting enough on their own—untouched images of Parisian hip hop and contemporary dancers frozen mid-jump, mid-spin, and mid-flip in postures that often convey a sense of indifference towards the approaching earth.
And then you find out how the series came about: From French Culture: “It was a carefully crafted response of Darzacq and a group of young French people to the alienation of youths on suburban housing estates after the riots that shook France in 2005 … A depiction of an entire generation in France in free fall, ignored by society, their energy untapped and unused.”
See the entire series and a video of a photoshoot.
lucky find: arsenal wallpapers
i know it’s totally obvious that rbb loves bikes. but it is also worth noting that at least half of us (me, bill and zara) also love soccer. a lot.
so i have to mention that arsenal fc posts some excellent wallpapers in their fanzone at the beginning of the season and after every victory. there are some fantastic action shots and just some gorgeous photography, like the one above.