A Source Of Inspiration

Interactive design is no longer geek talk, with a MoMa exhibit there to prove it. Yugop (aka Yugo Nakamura), a long time interactive visionary, produced the Elastic Mind website, where you can find interactive inspiration for the next decade, by innovators from the past decade. That simple.

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/

From maps to origamis, mashups or sensory design, it’s like the living encyclopedia of interactive design.
The website features even more works than the gallery exhibit, with photos, videos and description on each project. Ben Fry, Philips Research Labs, GRL and, of course, Jonathan Harries, are all there. There’s a search feature if you can’t find them.
If only NY wasn’t across the ocean …

Support No!Spec. Or at least, think about it.

We, the undersigned, are against speculative work and presentations for the following reasons:

Spec work does not guarantee compensation for the designer or an appropriate solution for the client. It is an unprofessional practice because it takes away from a designer’s time and billable projects.

The very nature of spec work virtually ensures that clients will not get well-researched or executed solutions.

Spec work does not contribute to the overall image or branding of a client because it is often sought out for one-off pieces - it actually serves to dilute the brand, which can be extremely harmful to the client.

In addition, spec work devalues the communication design profession. It reduces communication design to a commodity, rather than to a specialized service.

Now the circle is complete: http://www.offf.ws/.

It’s a no-brainer to have their next edition at Lisbon, with so many Portuguese new media designers traveling to Barcelona since OFFF’s 1st edition, an obvious choice after Mexico and New York.

OFFF is the Post-Digital Creation Culture Festival, “exploring software aesthetics and new languages for interactive and visual expression” since 2001.

Past participants in OFFF include legends of graphic design and visual communication like Neville Brody,  Tomato, Kyle Cooper  or Stefan Sagmeister; acknowledged software artistssuch as Jared Tarbell, Lia, Casey Reas y Ben Fry, or Daniel Brown; innovators of the moving image like We work for Them, Tronic Studio, D-Fuse or Renascent; explorers of advanced interaction like Soda, James Paterson, Amit Pitaru or Craig Swann; and the most important names that have defined the aesthetics of the experimental and creative side of the Web: Joshua Davis, Yugo Nakamura, Hi-Res!, Josh Ulm, or Erik Natzke. The festival has also a special spot for the main names in the Spanish scene (Area3, Vasava, Innothna, Cocoe, Dani Granatta, La Mosca…) and for creators of surprising new kinds of sonic landscapes: Tujiko Noriko, The Vegetable Orchestra, Sutekh, Taylor Deupree, System, Daedelus, Stephan Mathieu, Kenneth Kirschner…

A tip to organizers: how about changing the url to http://www.offf.ws/lx
So this year, instead of going to Barcelona, i’m staying home.

Update - PRESS RELEASE (November 26th 2007)
(Courtesy of Rui Vieira , roughly translated by me)

OFFF MOVES TO LISBON

Because the geography of post-digital art is based on continuous motion.

Because frontiers are just lines on a map.

Because OFFF is not about where. It is about when, what, who and how.

Because OFFF is a dynamic event.

Because the time is right for a change

And change means evolution

Because all of that, OFFF MOVES TO LISBON!

OFFF’08
8, 9, 10 May 2008
LISBON, PORTUGAL

LX FACTORY

See you there !

OFFF is a a groundbreaking festival, exploring the latest trends in the disciplines of digital aesthetics and programming. OFFF features artists that defined new paths and design patterns on new media, an essential celebration in the world of digital creation. A one of the kind event.

OFFF LISBON 2008 is organized by Inofffensive (Barcelona) in partnership with 50DONE (Lisbon).

LINKS

About OFFF video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9t5NuRYGK0

OFFF Websites
http://www.offf.ws/
http://www.offf.ws/bcn/
http://www.offf.ws/nyc/

The web has just lost one of his most inspiring members: Pixelsurgeon.
The webzine and design publication, that was there for me in the beginning of my web days, has just closed after 7 years of fresh design content.

To editors, authors and collaborators, my sincere admiration and respect, with the best of luck to future projects.
Let’s hope that DesignIsKinky and Kaliber10000 manage to stay afloat, or else i’ll feel like i’m getting really old.

At racheldiamondphotography.com you will not only find great photography, but also some fresh new work by old time interactive and design master Eric Jordan of 2advanced.

What a great set of wallpapers these illustrations would give.

Having just read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda, it was a strange coincidence that he’s announcing the Reebok TimeTanium Limited Edition, available at RbkCustom.

The design on the shoe surface was generated by his code, also printed on the outsole. A colorful product design made for those who feel that a shoe is a personal item.

In his book, Maeda makes a point on the role of emotion, that often surpasses our efforts to simplify things. It’s our natural instinct to look for products that we feel emotionally connected, are unique or have character.

Product personalization is now ordinary, with examples spanning from popular shows like Pimp My Ride or the recently launched Zune Originals.

The mass customization trend is stronger in online marketing, with widgets for social network profiles, facebook apps, and personal aggregators. Similarly, sites like Etsy allow users to pick unique items that relate to their personality.

With the recent launch of Google’s Android, the open mobile platform, developers and users can now create their own applications, and apply the same web principles to their cell phones. Again, pimping their product.

Interesting article at Colour Lovers, with an historical perspective on the use of color and education degrees.

They start by referring the portuguese University Of Coimbra as the first record of connecting academic practices to color. This was a topic that always confused me when i was a student, as sometimes i met colleagues from other universities that had different colors but were studying for the same degree.

Help me out (and Colour Lovers) to find out the right color degree.

International:

(w/ Sergio edit @ 22:05, 2007/11/11)

Portugal

Last weekend my sister invited me to be part of an informal panel at Fatima, a portuguese catholic Sanctuary, on a short talk about the way someone from advertising looks at images and, to a further extent, to reality.

An image is worth a thousand words

Most of the times, this is quite true. Images are easily recognizable and a lot more easy to understand than words. Pick any blog, and even if the writing is good, we all know that rich imagery is more effective in creating interest and sharing knowledge.
In advertising, images are used to a larger extent, increasing the frequency of visual messages so consumers could easily recall what a brand is trying to communicate.

Simplicity

But not all images are equally important or relevant. For instance, they shouldn’t be too complex, as this would made them harder to understand. This is particularly crucial when designing something, as we should strive to explain a concept or message in the simplest way we can.
The design principle of “form follows function” is one of the main advocates of simplicity, focusing on the purity of function and the real usefulness of objects, instead of the decoration of the form. In a more spiritual sense, we all find beauty in the simple things of life, as they are shown to us with not too much information to interpret, just “being”.

When we design something, if we add some irrelevant information, we’re hurting the message quality and it will become less useful. On a practical scenario, when a sales person is pitching their Powerpoint quoting word-by-word what’s on the slide, they should be aware that their clients are seconds away from getting another cup of cofee.

Rules of thumb

Sometimes it’s easier to communicate visually, if we have some shortcuts available. Art, design and visual imagery in general, all share interesting patterns that we all can use to help people understand messages:

• Archetypes:

  
  These common traits are shared between most cultures, and found in myths such as death and rebirth, or the heroes stories (from Gigalmesh to Superman). Advertising often uses brand-ambassadors as a representation of heroes or highlights the healing features of cosmetics as a reminiscence of rebirth.

• Mathematical patterns
  
  The Fibonacci series, the golden section or the rule of thirds have been successfully used in art, so you should try it sometimes and see if it helps to better explain your message.
• Face-ism
  Humans tend to prefer faces that are more average, more healthy and have rounder shapes. No wonder kids are a regular presence in ads.

Emotion carrier

Usually advertising has a more materialistic take on visual imagery, using them to represent the brand or company values, announcing that a product is fresh or a service is secure.
But sometimes, through their simplicity or using established patterns, visual messages have the power to awaken feelings, and cause a solid emotional reaction.

These are the times when images have the power to open up our hearts.