Salon.com > Design http://www.salon.com Wed, 22 May 2013 16:07:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 What’s the Eiffel Tower doing in China? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/what_are_the_eiffel_tower_the_taj_mahal_and_hallstatt_austria_doing_in_china_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/what_are_the_eiffel_tower_the_taj_mahal_and_hallstatt_austria_doing_in_china_partner/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301827 Pacific StandardHallstatt, Austria, is in China. So is the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer and a soon-to-be-completed Manhattan. There are others, too, and it’s all part of this weird (at least to us Westerners, or this one Westerner who is writing this) proliferation of what are being called “copy towns.” They’re villages and buildings and cities in China that are being constructed as replicas of non-Chinese places from around the world — and people are living in them. Hallstatt, China, has an artificial lake, and they imported doves to make it more Hallstatt-like.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/what_are_the_eiffel_tower_the_taj_mahal_and_hallstatt_austria_doing_in_china_partner/feed/ 3 Fighting for equality, one meme at a time http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/fighting_for_equality_one_meme_at_a_time_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/fighting_for_equality_one_meme_at_a_time_partner/#comments Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13255667 Unless, somehow, you miraculously haven’t accessed your Facebook or Twitter in the last two days, you’ve probably noticed a proliferation of crimson tiles with superimposed pink equal signs popping up in avatars and profile pics. The instantaneously ubiquitous logo, a riff by the Human Rights Campaign on its own original design, was posted in response to the two landmark Marriage Equality cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Indeed, a report by the Chicago Tribune estimated that, within hours of its original posting, the image had been shared over 20,000 times. By Wednesday, the original design had transitioned into a fully-fledged internet meme, altered and hastily reconfigured much like last years pervasive image of Hillary Clinton texting from the belly of military plane cargo hold.
Hyperallergic

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/fighting_for_equality_one_meme_at_a_time_partner/feed/ 3 5 artists who’ve sent their work into outer space http://www.salon.com/2013/03/23/five_artists_whove_sent_mission_patches_into_space_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/23/five_artists_whove_sent_mission_patches_into_space_partner/#comments Sat, 23 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13249614 HyperallergicNow that street artist Shepard Fairey has designed a mission patch that will travel to the International Space Station, will other artists be drawn to this extraterrestrial exhibition opportunity? Fairey created the neon blue and green patch with Fiction, the design firm contracted for the patch for the ARK1 research mission of the nonprofit Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) that will launch into the stars later this year. All space missions have had patches, going back to military traditions, and NASA’s space program in particular is an interesting one to look at. Sometimes the collaborations between an artist and crew resulted in some sweet sci-fi success, and some were just galactic failures.

Apollo 11 Mission Patch (via NASA)

Apollo 11 Mission Patch (via NASA)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/23/five_artists_whove_sent_mission_patches_into_space_partner/feed/ 0 New York pay phones’ new calling http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/say_goodbye_to_new_york_payphones_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/say_goodbye_to_new_york_payphones_partner/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:08:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13228203 Hyperallergic

The winners of a city-sponsored contest to redesign New York’s payphones have been announced, and it looks like the clunky yet iconic — and these days, often broken — booths of decades past will soon be replaced by slim, digital screens offering wifi, summaries of weather conditions, a chance to pay your parking tickets, and much more.

Smart Sidewalks (click to enlarge)

Smart Sidewalks

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/say_goodbye_to_new_york_payphones_partner/feed/ 7 Frank Lloyd Wright’s unrealized skyscraper dreams http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/frank_lloyd_wright%e2%80%99s_unrealized_skyscraper_dreams_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/frank_lloyd_wright%e2%80%99s_unrealized_skyscraper_dreams_partner/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:25:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13201514 Hyperallergic

While he achieved the construction of unusual designs for the spiraling nautilus shape of the Guggenheim Museum and the waterfall-spitting Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright never really got to build the towering spires of his dreams. One of his skyscraper designs would have dominated the lowlands of the East Village: three angular towers designed to cluster around St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in 1930. As Curbed noted earlier this week, the two 14-story and one 18-story designs would have shadowed over the old church that still houses the bones of peg-legged Peter Stuyvesant, a major figure in New York City back in the 17th century and the owner of the lands that turned into the surrounding neighborhood. (It’s not clear in the designs what exactly Frank Lloyd Wright had planned for the preservation of the cemetery that still exists in the churchyard, although he in his architectural drive likely was going to leave such details to someone else.) The design even included a penthouse for Wright up in the tallest of the towers, although unfortunately for his glamorous city views from the pinnacle of the structure, the whole plan was dashed by the Depression.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/frank_lloyd_wright%e2%80%99s_unrealized_skyscraper_dreams_partner/feed/ 1 Dancing with the iPhone 5 http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/dancing_with_the_iphone_5_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/dancing_with_the_iphone_5_partner/#comments Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13181906 Hyperallergic
There’s a post (that I can no longer find, unfortunately) on the hilarious Tumblr Sexpigeon (SFW, I promise) that features a man on the street, slouching over his smartphone, face angled far down, features invisible. The caption, something to the effect of: “What a brave new world for posture we live in.” The advent of portable technology has brought with it a range of new behaviors, both virtual and physical. Two recent projects take on the IRL side of how we interface with our contemporary devices.

The Hip Bump from Curious Rituals (Image via Curious Rituals)

The Hip Bump from Curious Rituals

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/dancing_with_the_iphone_5_partner/feed/ 0 3D design, at the click of a button http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/3d_design_at_the_click_of_a_button_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/3d_design_at_the_click_of_a_button_partner/#comments Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13181881 LOS ANGELES — As 3D printing creeps into more and more projects, making product production more accessible, I’ve always wondered how we can make product design more accessible. How can the average person take advantage of the plethora of resources out there for creating new objects?  While open-source tools like Audacity and Open Office have made music and word processing easier and more affordable to engage with, the resources surrounding 3D printing and design are steadily growing.

Hyperallergic

Enter Tinkercad, which calls itself the world’s first browser-based CAD. (CAD stands for computer-aided design, and is shorthand for the software that engineers use for drafting 3D models.) What does this mean for the user? For just a low subscription rate, anyone with a web browser can embrace the world of 3D product design. Tinkercad comes with a host of interactive shapes and modeling tools. Designs can be ported directly to Tinkercad’s partner 3D printing services that can print and then ship your work to you. Browsers have to be WebGL-enabled, so that means only Chrome or Firefox at this time.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/3d_design_at_the_click_of_a_button_partner/feed/ 2 A calligrapher explains his art http://www.salon.com/2013/01/21/seb_lester_the_man_behind_your_favorite_fonts/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/21/seb_lester_the_man_behind_your_favorite_fonts/#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13169731

One of the big differences between a type designer and a calligrapher is that nobody much wants to watch a type designer at work. Creating and refining a font is painstaking work that requires a fastidious nature, to say the least. Calligraphy is an action sport by comparison – measured in seconds rather than months – and watching a calligrapher at work is oddly thrilling. The stakes aren't exactly high (there's usually another piece of paper available...), but they somehow feel high:

 

 

The artist in this video is Seb Lester, seen improvising a beautiful alphabet in real time, filling the page with swift, effortless strokes. But as the video plays on, we also start to see other of his works – impossibly ornate type illustrations. There is a meticulousness to the mind at work here, and he clearly has more than pen and ink in his arsenal. In fact, Lester is known mainly as a type designer and illustrator, and only recently decided to learn the art of calligraphy. He has been at it for about two years now.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/21/seb_lester_the_man_behind_your_favorite_fonts/feed/ 1 Must-see morning clip http://www.salon.com/2013/01/07/must_see_morning_clip_85/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/07/must_see_morning_clip_85/#comments Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:57:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13163496 On "60 Minutes," IDEO CEO Tim Brown says design can apply to topics as unlikely as education and what NFL players do after their football careers:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/07/must_see_morning_clip_85/feed/ 0 Highway of the future is seriously smart http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/highway_of_the_future_is_seriously_smart/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/highway_of_the_future_is_seriously_smart/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13160695 The Dutch design lab Studio Roosegaarde invents weird things. And now, the brains behind clothing that becomes transparent while the wearer is getting, ahem, intimate and a room that contracts and expands based on how hard you dance in it would like to redesign Europe's entire system of highways and roads.

So they did.

According to Studio Roosegaarde the highways of the future are safer, cleaner and more environmentally sound. The lab has developed solar powered glow-in-the-dark roads that charge during the day to illuminate your evening drive, dynamic asphalt paint that transforms in response to road conditions like ice and sleet, and car lanes that double as electric car chargers by using magnetic fields under the asphalt.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/highway_of_the_future_is_seriously_smart/feed/ 6 Online privacy’s new iconography http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/online_privacys_new_iconography/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/online_privacys_new_iconography/#comments Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:52:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13124296 The online syndicate Disconnect has joined forces with Internet nonprofit Mozilla and a team of designers to demystify web privacy for the masses. Their weapon of choice? A visual rating system that pops up in your browser bar. Since reading the fine print on how your personal information gets used is time-consuming and confusing, which is why you don't do it. As a result, average web surfers (Hi!) has absolutely no idea what information sites are mining for, or how they use it. That's where the icons come in.

There are currently nine symbols representing different degrees of compliance with privacy standards. If a website sells your data to outside parties, it gets a dollar sign inside an orange circle with an upward pointed arrow. If it doesn't, it gets a plain old green circle around a dollar sign. Confused? You're not alone. The new set of icons is complicated, and that's pretty much by design. As Casey Oppenheim of Disconnect explains, Internet privacy is a hard concept to boil down to a visual language. "How do you convey data, intent, all these different things?"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/online_privacys_new_iconography/feed/ 0 Artisanal water filtration is now a thing http://www.salon.com/2012/12/10/artisinal_water_filtration_is_now_a_thing/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/10/artisinal_water_filtration_is_now_a_thing/#comments Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:39:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13120443 The U.S. has some of the safest drinking water on the planet. We also happen to spend a whole lot of money on bottled water and tap filtration systems. Now, two designers are hoping to dip into that market with an über minimalist new purifier they're calling Soma.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/10/artisinal_water_filtration_is_now_a_thing/feed/ 6 Campaign font war: Gotham vs. Mercury http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/gotham_vs_mercury_the_presidential_campaign%e2%80%99s_real_issues_salpart/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/gotham_vs_mercury_the_presidential_campaign%e2%80%99s_real_issues_salpart/#comments Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:03:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12962505 Remember how great the Obama campaign was four years ago? The slogans, the rising sun in the O, the typeface. The strong, confidant and bold letters, which seemed designed specifically for words like HOPE and OBAMA. Well, this year, Romney is trying to bite Obama’s typographic style.

The Weeklings

Campaign typography is crucial in positioning each candidate; the letterforms of a slogan carry as much of a message as the words themselves. It works on a subconscious level, connecting the words we’re reading now with emotions we’ve felt elsewhere at another time. It’s no accident that in 2008 the McCain campaign chose Optima, the same typeface that is used on The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (and a few war memorials since), a subtle reminder of McCain’s military record. Obama’s typeface, Gotham, was macho but less heroic; it was originally designed for GQ magazine. Now, the Romney campaign is using a typeface from another men’s magazine, taking Esquire’s Mercury Display and mixing it with Whitney, originally designed for The Whitney Museum. (Does this mean that Romney has some subtle leftish leanings pro the Arts and is aspiring to be like Jeremy Renner or, for that matter, Sarah Silverman, both of whom are on the cover of the August Esquire?)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/gotham_vs_mercury_the_presidential_campaign%e2%80%99s_real_issues_salpart/feed/ 6 Rebranding Brussels http://www.salon.com/2012/07/20/rebranding_brussels/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/20/rebranding_brussels/#comments Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12960838 ImprintEarlier this year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN—the nonprofit organization that controls the Internet's domain-name system—announced that it was accepting applications for new domain-name extensions. For a mere $185,000 a pop, anyone could suggest alternatives to .org, .com, .biz, and the other URL standbys. Out of the 1,409 applications ICANN received, there were a few amusing ideas (.ketchup, .gripe, .wtf) and plenty of reasonable if slightly depressing commerce-oriented suggestions from corporations (.pfizer), brands (.calvinklein), e-business niches (.spreadbetting), and tourist-hungry cities and regions (.barcelona, .quebec).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/20/rebranding_brussels/feed/ 6 Illustrator fights back against Marvel Comics http://www.salon.com/2012/07/19/illustrator_fights_back_against_marvel_comics/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/19/illustrator_fights_back_against_marvel_comics/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12960093 ImprintNever mind whether Captain America is more powerful than Iron Man or Dr. Strange. The real problem is that Marvel Comics editor and publisher Stan Lee is vastly more powerful than Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others who originally drew those superheroes for the company. And Lee presently enjoys 100 percent ownership of the Marvel Universe, in both the public's perception and the legal arena. And what do the artists own? Zilch, that's what!

And this makes Arlen Schumer pretty pissed off!

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/19/illustrator_fights_back_against_marvel_comics/feed/ 9 Jean-Emmanuel “Valnoir” Simoulin pushes the limits of art http://www.salon.com/2012/07/18/jean_emmanuel_valnoir_simoulin_pushes_the_limits_of_art/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/18/jean_emmanuel_valnoir_simoulin_pushes_the_limits_of_art/#comments Wed, 18 Jul 2012 03:51:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12959538 ImprintJean-Emmanuel "Valnoir" Simoulin, the founder of the Paris-based design firm Metastazis, has just upped the ante on shock and awe. He is known for making a gig poster using blood as ink (read more here and here) and now, he says in an email, "if you're into embroidery, I thought my last project may amuse you."

Those who are weak of stomach, please stop here. Or, if you're like me, and have an appointment with the dentist coming up in the next few hours, attend to that before (not after) reading this.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/18/jean_emmanuel_valnoir_simoulin_pushes_the_limits_of_art/feed/ 6 How designers compress ideas to their essence http://www.salon.com/2012/07/17/how_designers_compress_ideas_to_their_essence/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/17/how_designers_compress_ideas_to_their_essence/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12958618 ImprintI was surprised the other day to find settings in iTunes and the radio-streaming app Stitcher that allow users to play a podcast at up to two times the normal speed. I tested them and discovered that, yes, NPR hosts speak slowly. But do we really not have time to listen to a pause for breath, or a moment’s quiet contemplation of a thoughtful response?

Then again, reduction and compression can also be done in a thoughtful way; certainly, designers constantly rely on reduction to inform our work. Logos and app icons require extreme simplification of an idea. From a perfectly composed tweet to a book cover, there's an undeniable art to brevity. Even when a particular designer's work seems to favor complexity, it's often an aesthetic judgment; the designer is choosing to reveal a select part of the spectrum from simplicity to complexity. Some of the greatest "maximalists" of our time show great restraint of concept.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/17/how_designers_compress_ideas_to_their_essence/feed/ 1 Vernacular signage is a joy http://www.salon.com/2012/07/16/vernacular_signage_is_a_joy/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/16/vernacular_signage_is_a_joy/#comments Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12957674 [caption id="attachment_367731" align="alignnone" width="594" caption="“Big Fish Eats Little Fish”"][/caption]

I’m easy. Okay, not easy like that—you people and your dirty minds. Vernacular signage makes me happy, and so do objects that have been accidentally anthropomorphized. Not long after seeing an upside-down mop in my driveway turn into a smiling woman with gray dreads, I stumbled upon Ner Beck’s small show up at the New York Public Library. It made me happy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/16/vernacular_signage_is_a_joy/feed/ 1 Litho-mania http://www.salon.com/2012/07/11/litho_mania/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/11/litho_mania/#comments Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12954390 ImprintMy last post concerned the photoengraving industry of the pre-Depression period. This week it's pre-WWII lithography!

"Litho Media: A Demonstration of the Selling Power of Lithography," published in 1939 by Roger Stephens and edited by H. Homer Buckelmueller and Colin Campbell, is a 206-page, 12-by-15-inch slipcased bible produced to help publicize the successful and effective results of using the lithography process for marketing purposes. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than a "Toot Your Own Horn" compilation of uses (employing tipped-in examples of the produced work discussed), accompanied by testimonial letters from the various people responsible for utilizing the craft for their products. There are no technical descriptions or images that explain the process.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/07/11/litho_mania/feed/ 2 War swept under and over the rug http://www.salon.com/2012/07/04/war_swept_under_and_over_the_rug/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/04/war_swept_under_and_over_the_rug/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12950404 ImprintAs the U.S. prepares to draw down troops from Afghanistan this summer, what remains is a land of wounds left by Soviet, Taliban, and U.S. forces. Many scars are carved deep into the nation's psyche, and some are woven into their textiles. War Rugs: The Nightmare of Modernism (Skira), by Enrico Mascelloni, chronicles the history of a genre of beautiful yet disturbing objects, which I have found frequently at New York flea markets. Afghan war rugs are produced in different tribal workshops and refugee camps to either commemorate or celebrate the battles that have for so long ravaged the nation. This tension between modernism (represented by mechanized warfare) and craftsmanship is the underpinning for Mascelloni's overview.

[caption id="attachment_356201" align="aligncenter" width="492" caption="Photograph by John Hails. Used with permission www.ucalgary.ca/fyke_war_rugs"][/caption]

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