optimist prime
we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the starsArchive for August, 2008
The School of Life
This brilliant initiative in London was brought to my attention this evening. I can’t wait to enrol on one of their courses, which cover Love, Politics, Work, Family and Play. they also do holidays to places like the M1. Randomly brilliant. I can see my inspiration levels rising already just thinking about it.
Brilliant signage from Southampton
Something about these just tickled my fancy… From the same complex (with cinema/family restaurants and clubs all rolled into one – but no bowling).
Is this one of the D&AD creatures reborn?
Seen in the window of a charity shop in sunny Clapham…
A wonderful case of billboard kismet…
They just visually and thematically segue so nicely into each other!
LLOYDS TSB: “The journey to 2012 starts now. Come with us”
NOKIA: “Nokia 6220. Never get lost again.”
Fluid data transfer – a physical approach
Just came across James Chambers, a recent LCC grad, from the YCN talent auction site.
An interaction designer, I thought this project in particular was a stroke of genius (and I’d love to test out how it works!)
From his site:
Move It aims to give the user direct physical control of the data on their hard drive. Once the drive is plugged in, the user can move through the files by squeezing it, then copy them to the desktop by tipping the drive towards the computer. Files can be added to the disk using the traditional drag-and-drop system. Move It works using the Arduino Mini micorcontroller in conjunction with an OS X application written in Xcode. The hard drive sends out different signals via USB when it is squeezed and tilted respsectively, then the application interperets this accordingly, copying or changing files. The squeeze action is detected by small rubber pads embedded within a neoprene cover.
Football 24-7 goes live for NGM
Just finished this site for NGM – turning a complicated offering (and old site) into something hopefully much more sticky!
The Institute of Unnecessary Reasearch
A great artists’ collective from Brighton, crossing the boundaries of science and art – everything from data to bacterial cultures are propagated and played with to create fascinating performances and exhibition pieces. It looks to be led by a PhD student, Anna Dumitriu. What a lady! With academic titles such as ‘Head of The Intangible’ and ‘Head of Joy’, they’ve even run a Karaoke Research Workshop… As they say:
Research for the sake of it. Artists are innovators, if a new piece of technology or a new medium, becomes available; artists want to try it, to experiment with it. Some artists take on the role of a scientist and some scientists equally take on the role of artist. By stepping outside the tyranny of the hypothesis we can go off at tangents, to get bogged down in aesthetics and be mavericks, in fact there is very little you can do to control us. As Einstein said “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
You can find them/her on MySpace (where you can download an exclusive IUR ringtone).
They also link to this, a random science paper generator. This kind of thing has been done a million times (this one is from 2005), but the fact that the papers look (to the untrained eye only, I’m guessing) incredibly believable makes it particularly delightful. Also the fact that they actually try to present the random papers in real life, and record the outcomes…
Flickr Philosophy #3 – Commit no Nuicance
Brilliant sign in Southwark, taken by Greenwood100.
