rotoscoper

Mini-golf

2010-02-27T12:48:00.002Z

Design collective La Bolleur have produced this beautiful minigolf course. Mocoloco report it is on its way to Milan next. Great work.

Tactile

2010-02-20T13:27:00.001Z

Just found these extraordinary tactile maps by Inuit travellers. The wood carvings are representations of the East Greenland coastline, designed to be used at night or in low visibility.

(via)

Liz

2010-01-27T21:48:00.003Z

Usually revisiting the music of my youth is not at all appealing. But a Spotify subscription has proved too tempting when it is so easy to search for half-forgotten sounds. In the case of The Cocteau Twins I have had their albums on the iPod - but not all of them, and not the EPs. So it was a joy to hear Those Eyes, That Mouth again, and listen to her newer collaborations with Yann Tiersen.

Liz Fraser still has the most extraordinary voice, and a visit to elizabethfraser.com reveals she is recording again - great news.

Hitchcock

2010-01-05T19:04:00.002Z

This clever imagining of Hitchcock film posters is by Matt Needle. Bold and memorable work, (almost) to rival Saul Bass.

Clones

2009-12-15T23:11:00.006Z

Brilliantly inventive work by artist Peter Funch. At first it's difficult to work out what he has done, but fairly quickly we can tell that there is some clever image manipulation. It offers a perceptive critique of city life by aggregating common themes, through which a typology of urban activity emerges.

Cartooning

2009-12-02T09:06:00.004Z

Although he became famous (to me at least) through the LOLcats cartoons - his alleged 'discovery' of a 1920s source for the internet meme - Adam Koford has provided a constant stream of surreal, self-deprecating, sideways humour on Twitter. Always a joy. But here he is in illustrating action, mesmerising with penstrokes on a series of YouTube videos. Takes me back to the days of Vision On...

And find him on Twitter here.

Plans

2009-11-28T17:18:00.004Z

For a long time it has seemed poor to feature interesting architecture in the media whilst assuming that the public would be 'confused' by floorplans.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find that Wallpaper has been publishing interactive drawings for some time, allowing you to alternate between an orthogonal drawing and photographs of the building concerned. It makes for an easier understanding of the project, whether you're an architect or not. Well done everyone.

Layering

2009-11-06T16:55:00.003Z

Manhattan Transformations provides a visualisation of urban development on Manhattan Island. The highlight is the layered map, with the original settlements and farm patterns. It is limited in scale and scope, which is a shame as there is some interesting research within.

Games

2009-10-26T10:35:00.003Z

Think of street games, and images of hopscotch and kerb-ball spring to mind. Using large-scale light projections and interactive techniques, KMA are bringing a new type of street game to cities across Europe.

My reservation is that it seems simply to project onto a plain surface. More innovative would be to use augmented reality techniques. In this version, real elements of the streetscape would be activated by interacting with sensors and projectors. In so doing, it would supplement the function of, say, a parkbench so that it became part of a winning move in a game, or a handrail as a defence.

Link here to UK events, but see earlier post on building projections.

Crutch

2009-10-25T15:41:00.007Z

It seems a shame that a tabletop has two sides, but only one ever gets used. The ability to use both sides of a tabletop opens up many possibilities: the sides could have differing laminates, one could be wipeable, one could be 'Sunday best', and so on. A clever concept, called 'Crutch' uses a standard 'leg' and staps to create a stable surface. It should also be possible to use non-regular shapes, I guess.

Design by NicolaFromBern.

Update: Another variation on the theme here.

Wes

2009-10-20T13:27:00.003+01:00

Just spotted this graphic project for Wes Anderson's Film Festival this year. Some of it is a little self-consciously whimsical (much like his films, actually), but there are some really fun ideas in there. Find it referred to at Behance, here.

GUI

2009-10-15T21:44:00.007+01:00

A breathtaking yet gimmick-free re-imagining of the computer user interface by R Clayton Miller, all lovingly explained in this video. It's long, but worth watching in full for a glimpse of what we can hope is our mouseless future. Fingers at the ready - all of them.

(via)

Projection

2009-10-07T18:14:00.003+01:00

OM Ungers remixed in a simply jawdropping architectural projection. It's surely what pixellated cubic postmodernism was invented for.

(via)

Bump

2009-10-03T13:34:00.003+01:00

Our bodies don't change shape quickly - usually. So a dress that accommodates the relatively rapid change in body shape driven by pregnancy seems like an interesting design challenge. Marisol Rodriguez has designed a range of dresses called 'Skin' which allow the wearer to expand by having slits and pleats. Colour is revealed as the outer skin opens.

(via)

Post-war

2009-09-19T14:13:00.004+01:00

As a former resident of a GKC building (albeit for just under a week, aged 0), I was sad to learn this Civic Trust Award winning building had been demolished. Add to this that I spent four years living in an Edinburgh towerblock has led to an affection for post-war Scottish architecture. Nice to see ILike provide a link to Historic Scotland's PDF guide to the genre.

The image here is of Langlee Housing Estate, Galashiels by Wheeler and Sproson from 1967 - crisp primary forms with asymmetric facade compositions which could be mistaken for something more recent.

Emptiness

2009-09-18T09:31:00.005+01:00

Architectural representations of a particularly spare kind in the work of Khedoori, quoted in butdoesitfloat. Like Rossi's work, there is latent the invitation to populate the space, as though people will begin to give purpose to their chilly emptiness.

Sketch

2009-09-17T10:20:00.005+01:00

Sketching has always seemed to me as much about slowing down my thinking as representing an idea. The question posed by a new computer interface posted here is whether it helps us think slowly and creatively in the same way as a pencil and paper. The demonstration of 'ILoveSketch' is obviously designed to show off its NURBS capabilities, featuring an excessively curvy building. Impressive, as long as it can do square things just as well.

(via)

Chairs

2009-09-07T20:23:00.003+01:00

So many chairs, so little money. My favourite of many, the Lola, is featured in the beautiful joint detail shown here.

(via)

The Auteurs

2009-08-26T21:02:00.006+01:00

Lovefilm is my rental service of choice, having supplied me with nearly 400 films over the last 5 years. New to the scene (to me at least) is The Auteurs, which focuses on the obscure and the cult, streamed online. Each is £3.00, though there seems to be only a limited selection of about 20 movies at any given time. It certainly seems worth a try - if only for those moments when there is nothing on TV, but there is an urgent need for some quality viewing.

It can be found here.

Inside

2009-08-26T20:16:00.002+01:00

A gripping five minutes from the mind of Trevor Sands, directing a short film called 'Inside'. Recommended.

Objects

2009-08-25T16:27:00.003+01:00

Why? Why not.

Daft fun as Dylan Chandler scrolls through the contents of his home at high speed (which weirdly seems to make a bleepy electronic noise in my head), like some crazy one-armed bandit.

Via on twitter.

Day

2009-08-16T14:24:00.003+01:00

One of the best examples of interactive data presentation, as published by the New York Times. It compresses a vast array of data on how people use their day into a visually rich graph, which clicking allows you isolate and explore. Take a look at the comparison between black and white eating through the day, for example - and how having one child means you work more, it seems. Fascinating stuff.

Hands

2009-07-16T21:42:00.003+01:00

An absolutely stunning clock design by SanderMulder. It reorganises the three hands (seconds, minutes, hours) so that they do not share a common axis. The video is well worth a look, to appreciate its sculptural effect. Only 20 will be made, it seems. (via)

Plates

2009-07-16T18:21:00.004+01:00

What a nice idea. (via)

Power

2009-07-05T12:35:00.005+01:00

How many times have we gazed admiringly at a great piece of mains-powered industrial design, only to find the ubiquitous and ugly UK plug on the end of it? US and continental consumers take for granted their compact and elegant version, avoiding unsightly bulges in their laptop bags.

Min-Kyu Choi has designed a three-pin plug which can be folded flat for travel. Thank you - about time. (via)

Superimposition

2009-06-29T09:39:00.006+01:00

And so to the work of Bas Princen, a Dutch photographer attracted to abandoned urban settings with strong geometric character and their capacity for creating striking abstract images. Many photos deal with the collision of cartesian grids and natural forms, as idealised human form-making meets the real world. No surprise then to find an explicit reference to Superstudio in one of the captions - a micro-tiled concrete skeleton that could be the work of these 60s/70s visionary architects.

Tools

2009-06-15T20:57:00.005+01:00

Some fetishistic shots of the specially made tools for the Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble telescope.

"The EVA mini-workstation mounts to the front chest of an astronaut’s spacesuit and holds equipment needed during spacewalks." So, a toolbelt, then. The square hole on the left holds a carton of 'Um Bongo'.

Infill

2009-05-29T08:50:00.004+01:00

Jan Vormann has injected humour into the idea of urban infill in Berlin. The artist, colleagues and friends set about filling the shelled and pock-marked facades of the city using multicoloured Lego pieces. The result is mildly provocative, but mostly just fun, as far as I can see.

Long

2009-05-23T10:37:00.006+01:00

From days visiting the Tate on Millbank in London come memories of the work of Richard Long. Enigmatic strings of words in Gill Sans, perhaps a photograph - all that remained of artworks that consisted of using his feet, and walking. Later work became more tangible, geometric and gallery-friendly.

Over at the Guardian is a fine introduction to Long's peripatetic work, recognised as being at once conceptual and unpretentious. This can be ascribed to (literally) grounding his work. However, it is more than this - it is his respectful uncovering of the Englishman's primitive connection to the land and the marks made on it, whether through labour or ritual.

An architectural inspiration.

Things

2009-05-16T10:28:00.005+01:00

Increasingly enjoying the sliced opinion and snapshots of Things magazine, and their regular posts. I might call it 'a sideways look at web presences' if it didn't sound cliched.

It's over here.

Kropilak

2009-05-15T17:27:00.006+01:00

Branislav Kropilak's stunning large format photographs are now available at what an email confirms as 'affordable' prices. Last time direct contact with him was the only way to check prices, but they are well worth pursuing.

The photographs of everyday modernity have a distinctive graphic quality, taking in subjects as diverse as car parks, planes, trains and billboards. Explore the full set here.

Dialect

2009-05-09T12:20:00.003+01:00

Assembled and published by the British Library a record of England's regional dialects makes fascinating listening. A Google map allows easy connection to the range of sounds and vocabulary of our people. The north has a noticeably denser concentration of flags, perhaps indicating the persistent, distinctive and subtly different intonations of our northern industrial towns, it seems.

Covers

2009-05-08T09:57:00.004+01:00

Over at Flickr is a really well produced set of CD artwork by Littlepixel reimagined as 'Pelican' book covers. Proof that good graphic design, like a great piece of songwriting, can be reinterpreted and retain the key qualities that make it great.

A favourite? Probably Unknown Pleasures.

Short

2009-05-05T22:12:00.003+01:00

Simple feelgood filmmaking. Signs by Patrick Hughes.

Thanks to SwissMiss.

Cinema

2009-04-22T10:01:00.004+01:00

The Rio by 1:2:3 and Kristoffer Sundin consists of simple well-chosen materials assembled to create an intimate, distinctive space. Cleverly, the way they are put together - and in particular, the lighting - still seem to say 'cinema' without resorting to cliche. I loved this shot of the entrance in the rain.

Data

2009-04-21T22:12:00.003+01:00

From Flowing Data comes an innovative and beautiful way of representing complex data. Like all graphs, it works because it converts the information from the numbers into visual form. The difference in the ribbon diagrams is in the ability to present multi-dimensional numeric values clearly. The example of hair colour preference is a good example, and all is clearly explained. Very clever.

Zumthor

2009-04-20T21:18:00.005+01:00

One of my heroes, Peter Zumthor was announced as this year's Pritzker Prize winner. His work is formally ascetic, but materially rich, born of extended gestation periods completely unfeasible for the everyday architect. As a result, he produces subtle, deep architecture that is anything but everyday, yet whose textural properties resonate with human contact.

His sensual work is summarised by Dezeen here, and my favourite building - his mountainside chapel at Chur - is shown left.

Whitworth

2009-03-29T18:03:00.006+01:00

I recently went to the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, and caught the 'Subversive Spaces' exhibition. It draws together disparate fields of artistic enquiry, including situationism, feminist art and psycho-geography to create stimulating reflections. All fall into the category of art from the margins. Artists such as Sarah Lucas, Dali, Lucy Gunning and Guy De Bord are featured.

Magnets

2009-03-27T20:10:00.002Z

A little old now, but just stumbled upon this again. It is a magnetic curtain, which allows for some striking sculptural possibilities, due to the way the grid of magnets engages when it is scrunched.

(via 3Rings)

Retro

2009-03-24T20:56:00.005Z

The redesigned Architectural Review is available for pre-publication inspection over at Dezeen. I was immediately transported back by its masthead to the RIBA Library and browsing through mid-seventies (I think it was) editions of the magazine - probably looking for a brick housing scheme, or something by Peter Eisenman.

I have a worry that clean well-composed pictures will be disturbed by overlapping tabs and text blocks, though its generally retro feel paradoxically lent the spreads previewed a freshness.

Still Life

2009-03-20T20:23:00.006Z

The Art School at MMU currently has some large format photos of scenes from its history on display. Amongst them is this photo of a still life class with a slightly surreal air. In the centre are (presumably) the objects set for them to work on, yet they are carefully posed facing away from the study. Furthermore, they are drawing childish outlines in chalk on their boards, which a colleague identified correctly as looking uncannily like the work of Michael Craig-Martin.

All in all, the scene has the signs of a dapper, very civilised protest perhaps against art - or the people teaching it.

Tumbler

2009-03-12T12:48:00.003Z

Following Zaha Hadid's (empty) Chanel Pavilion last year, OMA have stepped up to create something equally frivolous for Prada. The Transformer is a pavilion that can be 'tumbled' onto each of its faces to create different layouts. It's like the recession isn't really happening.

However, the website explaining how it works it quite good. Check out the timelapse photography.

Trade

2009-03-12T09:00:00.002Z

Learning a huge amount about trade associations and specialist magazines thanks to the good work of this blog.

Sample sentences capturing the wry tone of the observations:

"There's something kind of comforting about the idea that there's a whole industry dedicated to making sure that most of the time, most people find things easy to use, comfortable to use. It's like someone's taking care of us. And they're doing it with some numbers and a graph."

"Anyway, despite all this, and even only looking at the confectionery guide, I like learning all the specialist phrases used in industries like this. The 'hunger' 'needstate'. 'Multi-facings'. 'Impulse sub-section'. 'Pouch format'. 'Large-block'."

Tickets II

2009-03-08T17:30:00.007Z

So here it is. After complaining about the incredibly poor ticket design which UK train travellers (and staff) have to put up with, here is a re-imagining of it. Taking the original orange-and-white format as a starting point, there are a number of key features which should improve the ticket in use.

Importantly, the destination is the most prominent information, enabling people to see at a glance where the ticket is valid for. Underneath is the permitted route. In this case, the ticket is a return for two adults, one full-price child, and one concession child, and incorporates a seat reservation (coach and seat numbers). Using the inspiration of the timeless British Rail logo, the ticket is reversible depending on whether it is to be used for the outbound or return journey. The orange bands remain the location for the punchhole check by the guard.

The departure time and date are also shown, with an analogue clock to help make the time more memorable. In this way, all of the information on the current ticket design is preserved, reorganised into a user-friendly format, and anything distracting discarded or diminished.

Clicks

2009-03-07T19:07:00.004Z

An interesting piece of research recently posted over at blog Music Machinery, looking at evidence for the use of click tracks by drummers. They are the background electronic beats used as a guide (or perhaps, straitjacket) over which the drummer plays. Shown right is Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' - the higher the line, the slower the beat - and clear evidence of a creative human at work. Not a machine in sight.

Storage

2009-03-07T18:37:00.006Z

The origins of Jonathan Ive's great product design for Apple lie in the work of Joe Colombo, Brionvega, and especially Dieter Rams. All were at their creative peak as the sixties turned into the seventies, and there can be little doubt where the iPhone calculator began. Alongside the Braun calculator, one of Rams' most famous innovations was the 606 shelving system he designed for Vitsoe, and now celebrating its 50th anniversary.

In a testament to its timelessness, anyone who bought the product in 1959 can still buy compatible components to extend their storage array in 2009. See how it works on Vitsoe's revamped website (by Airside).

Augmentation

2009-03-06T17:15:00.005Z

Experiments in augmented reality have interested me for a while, and I remember a 'pop-up' picture book demonstrated a year or so ago. This demo from GE popped up today, and I had to share it with you. The possibility of sending a client a 2D plan which comes to life like this would be amazing - if only for short-term novelty value.

Polemic

2009-02-25T13:02:00.006Z

It seems like a very long time since I've seen an architectural project with any degree of political content or a committed polemical position. Via BldgBlog comes information about a project by Viktor Ramos of Rice University consisting of a provocative architectural solution to the Palestinian-Israel impasse - a bypass.

His scheme proposes a series of spaces which weave under- and overground to form what he terms 'The Continuous Enclave'. The scheme reminds me of Lebbeus Woods' work from the 80's, but with a technocratic machine aesthetic in place of the steampunk feel of Woods. Great to see architecture used in this way again.

More hi-res images are available on Ramos' flickerset.

Rubbing

2009-02-25T09:04:00.002Z

Rub-down Letraset people are now in the 'vintage' section of eBay, and I remember just how precious each person was on that thin sheet of plastic.

Taking a biro and laying the sheet over the drawing, we would rub over the image, then tentatively lift the sheet hoping that we did not amputate, de-hat or otherwise emasculate the individual concerned. By the time we were porting the last person into drafting immortality, we had a shrivelled and curled mess, from which it was frankly unlikely the character would transfer unscathed.

Happy days.

Cards II

2009-02-22T20:51:00.003Z

The business card is to graphic design what the chair is to the product designer, or the house extension is to the architect: a testbed for new ideas. This site neatly condenses innovations as they arise and publishes them in a simple unfussy manner. Worth a detour if you are considering ways to catch someone's eye within the restriction of an 85x55mm rectangle.

Optimism

2009-02-20T06:52:00.005Z

From an abandoned property in Wood Street, Liverpool, a strangely satisfying graph, complete with X- and Y-axis subdivisions.

The person who was given the job of boarding up the windows it seems couldn't be bothered to cut the timbers to the right length, especially as they were so close to being right. The job they are doing is simple - to make bill-posting too awkward to be worthwhile. Graffiti is erased in white to the extent of the highest batten.

Anyhow, the good news is that the graph appears to be based on an optimistic dataset, despite economic, empirical and visual evidence to the contrary. I guess that's Liverpool.

Fun

2009-02-19T21:39:00.005Z

The usual misgivings about whether kitsch is an acceptable way for a seaside town to ply its trade on a trip to Southport today. In half-term week, it was bustling and lively, despite a February chill. The Ocean Terminal development seems to be a sad case of regeneration opportunism - a retail park flown in from somewhere, with wavy canopies applied to make the dull portal sheds appear 'contextual'.

However the fine Victorian iron canopies and the boulevard of Lord Street provide a memorable backbone for the town, and the recent public realm works show a commendable commitment to quality. With geography also in its favour when compared to Morecambe or Fleetwood, it is one of those seaside towns which with a fair wind (and on a clear day) we should see making a full recovery. I'll be back.

Conveyor

2009-02-17T23:03:00.005Z

"A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." (Orson Welles)

I liked the everyday simplicity of this video - a couple of bored diners send their camera round a sushi carousel with a wistful song laid over the top.

Craft

2009-02-15T16:02:00.004Z

Apparently, the key to knitting is knotting. Alternatively, it is finding the holes and tying wool around them.

This is a transformational process of taking beautiful 2d textural planes, folding and stitching them around a 3d form (me, if I'm lucky), using only 1d dyed filament. Magical.

Storytelling

2009-02-14T22:20:00.005Z

I liked these relics of bygone technology spotted at MMU yesterday. The tape reel reminds me of the kind my dad had for some reason (can't remember what), and the object it is sitting on is an overhead projector.

That last device of course is still in use, though usually injection-moulded and with a webcam attached, rather than hammerited steel with glass optics. Architect Ted Cullinan is a master of the medium, enchanting audiences with freehand pen sketches to illustrate anecdotes from 50 years of practice. I last saw him at a sustainability seminar at Bluecoat in Liverpool last year.

As a technique it seems to have a closer relation to speech than powerpoint which often seems like a publication of some kind, and therefore more fixed. As a result, it leads to a sense of storytelling rather than a show - which is sometimes just what an audience needs. I will to give it another try at the first opportunity.

Cup face

2009-02-14T22:11:00.006Z

Who would have guessed that this would happen when you put glasses on a cup? Those of you who know me know that I like puns. Visual ones are not necessarily better, just different. And especially fun when they happen spontaneously after an evening meal, with two everyday objects.

536 examples of the same thing here.

Caro

2009-02-14T10:03:00.005Z

The Chapel of Light in Bourbourg received little attention from the architectural press a few months back, and I've just been reminded of it after a talk for LICC in Manchester on the Theology of Architecture. Anthony Caro's work lies at the cusp of architecture and sculpture, and I remember a fine retrospective of his work in the fields of Yorkshire Sculpture Park a few years' ago.

In the neglected shell of a bombed French neo-gothic church he has inserted beautifully-crafted expressions of biblical themes. The three interventions use three materials - metal bas-reliefs in the niches of the apse, oak 'towers' like pulpits in the nave, and a stunning spiral of stone as a baptismal font in the chancel.

Micro-knitting

2009-02-10T23:31:00.005Z

I've been following news of the new movie of Coraline, not least via twitter and Neil Gaiman's account of the relentless press junket itinerary for him and Director Henry Selick. It looks amazing.

On something of a tangent, but a fascinating one, is the work of Athea Crome for the film. Her extraordinary skill is micro-knitting, and a short film of her talking about it is featured here.

Cheesegrater

2009-02-10T14:43:00.003Z

Good to see Allies and Morrison's new Charles Street car park in Sheffield city centre. Despite being a dull day, the simple idea of rotating a single standard trapezoidal anodised panel still looked lively and intriguing. I've admired their urbane work for a long time, and they've brought their usual distinctive but unassuming approach to a prosaic building form. Oh, and the people have already given it a nickname - did you guess?

95 years on

2009-02-09T16:13:00.004Z

Years ago I had a book containing milestones from the history of photography. Included in it was Henri Lartigue's 1913 image of a racing car, speeding past the camera. The shutter action moved vertically from top to bottom, and as it did so transferred the light
onto the plate. With the pace of the car, the time which the shutter slit took to scan the lens became significant, such that circular
wheels were captured as ovals. So, I believe, the inspiration for Roadrunner's leg action was born.

Now idly snapping from the train to Sheffield, I find that by turning my iPhone to landscape format I can reproduce the same effect. We've clearly come a long way in 95 years.

The International

2009-02-09T07:38:00.004Z

'The movie also looks at the role of architecture in our lives and how much it influences emotions. Expensive modern architecture has changed the landscape of so many big cities. It's fascinating architecture: it seems driven by a desire to exude clarity with its lines, yet at the same time it is hard to read.' (from Sight & Sound)

A visual artist's observation on international modernism, as Tom Tykwer describes the key role of architecture in his new film 'The
International'. Looking forward to it - and seeing the always watchable Clive Owen in action.

Biscuits

2009-02-08T15:27:00.006Z

On Friday, some of my students arrived with parts of a model they are making of Platt Hall in Manchester. They were cut by laser from a sheet of MDF, and as you can see were surprisingly detailed. Platt Hall was built in 1746 in the Palladian style to designs by John Carr of York.

I thought they looked a bit like biscuits.

Mykonos

2009-02-07T09:44:00.006Z

The great Fleet Foxes were an enchanting diversion last year while the economy careened down a slippery slope. I remember listening to Mykonos first while walking across Birmingham's city centre on a sunny April day, and the song has retained its charm through 50 or more plays (according to my iTunes).

A video of the song has been released by Grandchildren, and having just watched it I can't help feeling a little disappointed. The character of the two halves of the song doesn't seem to have been accurately captured. To me, the first half has a soaring, aerial quality, bathed in a Greek sun - blue, white and olive green. The second half is earth-bound, acappella changing to an assertive, insistent 4/4 rhythm, before a loping reggae conclusion. As it concludes in this half, the words and music seem to begin on a hilltop, before running and skipping downhill across a pastoral landscape.

Apart from the crafted Oliver Postgate quality there seemed to be little to connect the images to the music or the band, despite the worthy efforts of tackling a stop motion process.

Stalker

2009-02-07T08:26:00.003Z

As one of the most impressive pieces of cinema I've ever seen, it was great to see reflections on Stalker by critic Geoff Dyer. The Guardian article touches on what provides its enduring quality, concluding that enigma and ambiguity reward re-viewing. For me, the Tarkovsky's themes of yearning and redemption are palpable, played out as a journey into a forbidden zone, prompting parallels with the Christian worldview.

Time for another viewing, I think.

Tickets

2009-02-06T08:12:00.001Z

UK train tickets seem logical from the viewpoint of an engineer or the ticket machine. A consistent watermarked, orange-bordered strip is printed in black ink of three font sizes.

As a traveller however, you have to identify the correct ticket as you walk towards the inspector, or they walk towards you. This is impossible to do quickly and efficiently since they are nearly indistinguishable.

Applying a simple hatch to, say, every 'outward portion' or using a supersize font and generally better hierarchy of information would solve this very easily. Of course the engineer might protest that it will use more ink...

Perhaps I'll give it a go.

Strange maps

2009-02-04T10:33:00.004Z

The strangeness of this site, coupled with its articulate writers has made it essential RSS reading.

One day a map of voting patterns in Poland (see earlier post), another a map of North & South America in strawberry jam (left).

Seaside

2009-01-31T19:38:00.007Z

I'm pleased to say Dezeen has picked up on Arca's Silver Cafe in Morecambe, with, I think, the full set of Tim Soar's great picture-set. Tim has captured the two sides to the scheme: a shiny piece of silver flotsam washed-up on the seafront, and a bold space that is happy to hold kitsch seaside paraphernalia.

Motorways

2009-01-26T21:22:00.003Z

Here is a nice Beck-inspired representation of the UK Mainland motorway network. Very neat and tidy.

Lane

2009-01-18T13:38:00.004Z

Lateral thinking in connection with city infrastructure will always be worth considering. Building roads, underpasses, bridges, and barriers is often expensive, awkward and time-consuming. On top of this, there is the aesthetic price we pay for the uninvited eye-level clutter which attaches itself to our highways, as the authorities try to protect us from ourselves. This innovation from a US company called Altitude inc. is a bike lane you take with you on the dark journey home. Cyclists can now carry their version of the white line/logo combo. (via Good)

M+T

2009-01-10T20:54:00.004Z

The work of Mantilla + Tunon has caught my eye before, notably their Auditorium in Leon, Spain. Its asymmetric window bays were a strikingly original take on the urban facade, avoiding cliches such as the 'barcode' facade and modish colour. All in all, it had a pleasing solidity. Now their show in San Silvestro has popped up on Designboom, with some new projects. The house shown here looks intriguing, with its undulating wall defining interior and exterior rooms as it winds across a site in Nanjing, China.

Depression

2009-01-05T13:30:00.003Z

Some say design could do with losing some of its frivolous extravagance, born of too much time and money, and indulgent clients out to make a name for themselves. This article in the New York Times makes a good case for our fresh economic woes being A Good Thing, prompting designers to plunder cheap materials and work to innovate. With recollections of Charles and Ray Eames working wonders in wartime and post-war austerity conditions, it is a compelling argument. Let's see what we can do.

Gallup

2009-01-01T13:38:00.004Z

I've just come across gallup.com. I didn't realise they had a daily publication of all of their polls, which despite its US leaning provides a kind of FTSE index of our collective mood. It also covers 'hot topics', providing the digested data direct, with less media mediation...

Packaging

2008-12-30T10:42:00.004Z

And then neatly following on from the last post is ideem.it which has vector (ie scalable) PDFs of various kinds of packaging - including the milk carton in the picture. If you need a template for making a box of almost any description, head here.

Bottle

2008-12-29T08:44:00.004Z

Via The Dieline comes a paper bottle developed by BrandImage called 360. Despite looking as though it takes up more space than a Tetrapak - the now ubiquitous plasticised card box used for milk and fruit juice cartons - it uses less plastic and is totally recyclable.

Cards

2008-12-28T18:06:00.004Z

Just in time for (next) Christmas, this creative approach to card sending - a universal card for all occasions. The card consists of microdots which can be removed to form a dotmatrix message appropriate to the great day. Nice to see a card design that makes you want to send it in preference to something easier. Like an email.

Nolli

2008-12-25T22:11:00.003Z

The Nolli Plan of Rome was produced in 1748, and its author revolutionised the way cities were represented by showing buildings in plan form (rather than bird's eye view), and with unprecedented surveying accuracy. Indeed public buildings had their interiors recorded too, helpfully emphasising the continuity of the city into its most prominent structures. The University of Oregon has digitally mastered the map, and added interpretative overlays, including satellite images, which can be viewed via a map engine.

Reykjavik

2008-12-22T10:02:00.006Z

Is there anyone who doesn't think about just cutting all ties and heading off for a while? Paul Carr - a 'technomad' in the newly-minted term - has written an interesting article (series?) which describes his step into the unknown, prompted by the sky-high cost of living in contemporary cities. Find the first article here.

(Pictured is the wonderful Reykjavik Town Hall, by the largely-unsung Studio Granda)

Big Knitting

2008-12-22T09:38:00.005Z

So, my wife Sally likes knitting - chunky knitting. How about some knitted furniture then, love? (via Bauke Knotterus)

Edible Mies

2008-12-16T19:55:00.005Z

Via Materialicious comes the gingerbread Farnsworth House. Only $4,320. Enjoy!

Rotoscoping

2008-12-16T19:42:00.005Z

There are some examples of rotoscoping, so perhaps this will be my first of many that I post. I like the concept of rotoscoping - taking something which looks real (film) and interpreting it, which is similar to what happens when we refer to an experience and pass it on to someone else. It therefore seems a useful metaphor for blogging, and perhaps for life in general.

Poland

2008-12-16T13:16:00.004Z

Follow this to a startling piece of research, demonstrating the persistence of prejudice and national characteristics.

Welcome to Greendale

2008-12-02T04:49:00.003Z

Not quite sure yet of the significance of this, but Neil Young's Greendale has a website of its own. Roll over the map, and on the coast just east of the harbour 'John Lee's Bar' can be found. And is there any connection with the Fairport Convention album 'John Babbacombe Lee'? Both albums featuring my namesake seem to be folk-rock concept albums - a rare breed indeed. I think I'm honoured.

Renny Tait

2008-12-01T22:54:00.004Z

See the work of one of my school friends Renny Tait at the website of FlowersEast in London. He was at the British School in Rome, and the influence of the primary forms of Palladio are obvious, though filtered through a smooth ray-traced 20th century industrial aesthetic.

Teatro Olimpico

2008-12-01T22:34:00.004Z

And a short video of the magnificent Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza by Palladio and Scamozzi, and completed in 1585. The bleached wood of the backdrop contrasts with the rich dark wood of the street tableau behind, using false perspective to exaggerate the depth of the scenes. Despite 8-hour performances of Greek theatre continuing well into the night, children were deployed at the far ends of the set to further reinforce the illusion of distance, if necessary being woken for their small walk-on parts.

Palladian tubs

2008-12-01T22:20:00.005Z

After watching for the date so carefully, I then forgot all about this man on the occasion of his 500th birthday on 30 November. Spotted at the exhibition transferring to the Royal Academy in London from Vicenza are bins of Palladian components - so that the kids can create great architecture effortlessly, and in jaunty primary colours. Fortunately the work of the master elsewhere in the show is treated with an appropriate gravitas and intellectual insight. Fantastic models - look out for it in 2009.

Great Modern Buildings

2008-12-01T13:31:00.003Z

Great Modern Buildings is a feature on the Guardian website, and though it has a pretty limited number of buildings, its combination of slideshow, video and graphics is quite effective. The graphics reminded me of the still brilliant website of the 2004 MOMA exhibition on 'Tall Buildings'. Have another look at it here.

Complexity, drawn

2008-11-29T19:27:00.002Z

Visual Complexity is a collection of maps and graphical representations of complex statistical data and systems. Look out for the transportation section, which includes a map of the US composed of every single road represented by a line. Utterly brilliant.