streamer design & communication

21/12/2011

One of the most moving film title sequences I've ever seen is the 1962 prelude to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It takes you straight to the heart of the narrative and into the emotional space of the main character through an intimate and beautifully choreographed sequence of personal belongings.

17/12/2011

It's been a great year as I realize the word great means different things to different people in business. Measurement is the word that has been the most emphasized across my meetings and briefings. Are there some experiences that can't ever be measured?

16/12/2011

Have you ever wondered how many power point presentations there are floating around on memory sticks across the world? Imagine how many great ideas end up lost and forgotten about because after the third slide the audience had left the building. Edward Tufte is a power point activist who believes that the slide deck can lead to confusion rather than clarity and cut-through. Good slide shows really stand out.

08/12/2011

Playing music through playlists takes decision making out of the day but I've been missing the physical process which involves selecting an actual CD and then putting it on to reveal a string of songs that finish within the hour. My most recent purchase came with an entire hard bound booklet with an engaging history about music from Florence, Alabama. It reminds me that video didn't kill the radio star.

26/11/2011

Today the rain has given me time to explore the bookshelf. The Rosetta stone was a page from long ago that caught three languages in one publishing moment, enabling historians to compare Greek and Egyptian with hieroglyphs. I love the idea that one medium can talk to three different audiences. The Rosetta Stone of today is a brochure or website that breaks down barriers. I wish museums could do more than describe the object.

A History of the World - Object : Ancient Egyptian stela with text in Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic, which allowed modern scholars to read hieroglyphs

25/11/2011

We are doing some research into 'Asia literacy' today and it has given me a whole new reason to google. Sally Hirst from Hirst Projects was in Japan recently and taught me about Wabi-Sabi. It's not the green paste on your Sushi - it's the way the Japanese describe beauty in things that are imperfect. Aged wood. Rust. Wonky pottery. Worn leather.

21/11/2011

If you google: Peter Arkle News you will find the eponymously titled USA based illustrator who publishes his own newspaper 'wheneverly' as opposed to weekly, monthly or quarterly. His drawings are 'from my everyday life' and all done by hand for over a decade.

18/11/2011

What has three walls and must be disconnected from the ground but be positioned under the sky? The structure I’m describing is a Sukkah and during the week-long Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, temporary huts made with organic materials appear around the world in ordinary spaces that are transformed into symbolic wilderness shelters where people eat, sleep and study to reflect on the ‘frailty and transience of life’ through a ceremonial homelessness. This slide show is beautiful and presents modern day architectural interpretations of the Sukkah.
http://nymag.com/arts/architecture/features/68057/

17/11/2011

I thought I should post an image of the actual cork tray as well (see info below about cork).

17/11/2011

Today I bought a small cork tray to house the bits that never seem to have a home like my keys and my USB sticks. Cork for me has been associated with that pop sound that comes just before a sip of wine but today it's a sustainable material that can be removed from trees without harming them and then turned into beautiful objects. It also stores C02.

04/11/2011

Does anyone need a suite of beautifully designed matchboxes with public health and safety messages? In the former Soviet bloc the matchbox was a way to deliver health, safety and lifestyle messages. Perhaps today we could turn this idea into matchboxes and lighters with bushfire safety messages. This article paints the history well and is called 'propaganda for the pocket.'
http://eye-magazine.co.uk/feature.php?id=38&fid=349

03/11/2011

I've often wondered why the modern fridge has not changed much since the birth of white goods. The removal of CFC's seems to be the biggest non cosmetic shift. I did read about a student fridge invention once in Wallpaper magazine. It had 4 separate doors leading to individual compartments with a lock and key – the selfish fridge. But this idea on the Philips design probes site is truly innovative. Why does a fridge have to be an electric bulky cupboard full of dead stuff?