Design on the Cross

I complain about religion alot. I would argue it is one of the most destructive forces in our modern society, but thats not what this blog is about. This blog is about the cross. Seriously, what the hell?

Why do christians insist on using one of the most horrible, gruesome and violent actions AGAINST their religion as the very icon they stand under? Okay, I'm Christ, sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. People are praying to me, but wait, their surrounded by the very thing that brought me pain, missery and death. Just a few bad memories tied to that, and I would hope my dad feels the same way (and considering the holy trinity, thats pretty likely).

And its not like theirs a lack of imagery in that religion either. Here's a painting of baby Jesus.

Why not a wheel? Lots of people got tortured and killed on those. Or, heres an idea, how about something with positive conotations? If anyone else tried to make a symbol of pain and dismemberment a publicly used icon they'd be burned at the stake

Hmm, stake ...

Unlock Someone Elses Future

If your not quite sure what your looking at, its a set of lock picks. A set of real, functional lock picks. Its also a business card. Clever? yes, unique? you bet, legal? well honestly, I don't know. Its really hard to buy lock picks if your not a locksmith, which is what makes this little piece interesting. It has 4 metal picks and a tension bar that snap out of its little frame. This little card contains everything, except a working knowledge, needed to get through any standard door lock. Craig said design is a risk, well, here it is.

iWatch 2.0

Taking the minimalist iPod approach to an extreme, we have with us today the i/o Watch.


This is a white plastic watch with the time displayed in red dots on its surface. No interface, no buttons, no exposed anything. There isn't even a place to put the battery. The only problem is actually wearing it would ruin its mystic and presence. Very cool.

Natural Conclusion

I like spiders, they're helpful little arachnids that keep our homes free from pests, stay out of the way, and can be quite cute.

I also like scissors, the wonderful surgical look of a big pair of steel scissors is as classic and iconographic as a fire hydrant, or a toilet.

So logically, I like this


Its a spider, made out of bits of scissors. I don't often put art on here, but this fella, with no prectical application, has such a distinctly menacing verve to him I had to post it. He's sharp, and dangerous, but can be quite helpful if respected. Just like scissors. Just like a spider.

This, however, is Similar to a Musket

Another amusing video for your infotainment. This one was made by no one.

This Isn't a Musket Either

On a design unrelated note, check out these guys.



They're a comedy troupe called "Those Arn't Muskets". There stuff is clever and fresh, and delivers some of the best one-liners I've heard in a long time.

Design is Risk and Swearing

Because Craig can't get enough good publicity for his design is piece, I'm gonna mention it. A month long guerrilla campaign raising awareness for dangerous ideas? BRILLIANT! Worthy of expletive, so here it is, the only occurrence of the word in my entire blog, because Craig is just that good. Fucking brilliant!

The amount of time and effort that went into organizing, and delivering that piece is staggering.

An entire fake report for hand in day? Yes. Numerous co-conspirators to deliver your pieces? Naturally. An alternate project to deflect suspicion? Why not. A POEM?! Well god-damn if he didn't!

Many projects convinced me of the creators "Design is ..." statment, but only Craigs proved it to me. Truley, design IS risk!

Cooking Never Looked so Sexy

Now THIS is a sexy stove


The iZona Cook Surface is the iPod equivalent of a stove. It doesn't have any numbers. Turn the dial and the little red indicator lights up, more red means more hot. The truley universal interface has no characters on it at all. It relies on concept of "a big dial on a stove" being pretty universal in its meaning.

Footcycle

I want one.
It serves no purpose, its awkward and ugly, and thank god theres only 1 in the world. But I still want one.

Macin v. Micro

Hey check this out. It acurately sums up the difference between M$ campaigns and Mac campaigns.

The Living Tetris didn't Work as Well as Expected

BWAHAHAHA ha ha, a-heh heh, aah

AAAAHAHAHAHa ha

But seriously. No, on second thought, there is nothing serious about this.

Life Through 342 UC lenses

Pantone has released a series of sun glasses. The lenses are tinted with Pantone colours. This serves no real purpose, but it lets us designers act like slightly bigger design nerds. WOOO, Pantone 122 un-COATED, YEAH!

Just a Bite

My mother doesn't have a sweet tooth, neither do I particularly. Whenever we have cake, pie, tart, flan, squares or anything else of the type she'll ask for "just a bite". A small slice for the taste, but not a real dessert. Which is why this piece caught my eye.

Its a cake pan with pre-sized slices in a variety of sizes. This is quite a clever design, as different people eat different amounts. Its about time someone got around to figuring that out!

Pity these Fools

To celebrate April Fools day, we're going to look at some of the worst advertising and PR attrocities that cost millions.
1. Killing Napster
In 2001 the RIAA (The Music Industry) killed Napster, and signed their own death warrant. No company, in the history of business, has managed to so blindly over look TRILLIONS in revenue. Napster represented throngs of savvy young music consumers with dispossable income and a desire for music in an exciting new format. No, "represented" is the wrong word. Napster WAS throngs of young consumers. Ignorance made them sue Napster, but thats nothing compared to the level of stupidity required to sue your own gawdamn consumers. "If I sue them for millions over the music they download, surly they'll see the light and start buying our records again".

2. Vista
In an attempt to compete with the user friendly Leopard and Linux OS, two very easy, intuitive OS's, Microsoft released Vista, an OS that requires a computer sciences degree to operate ... late. Vista is a good OS, its just not good for the end user. Out of the box Vista expects people to have an indepth understanding of execution variables, multi-layered interfaces, runtime commands and windows quick keys. Packaged with an interface that rivals Quark. Whats worse, it was released late and imcomplete. How late? Just after Christmas late. Just after biggest buying season of the year late. Man, thats just tiny and flimsy ... wait a minute, micro, soft, hey I just got it!

3. Candidate Wal-Mart
Because I had to get at least 1 actual campaign in here. Candidate Wal-Mart was the single biggest ad campaign Wal-Mart ever embarked on, and the single biggest hit to their sales since ... you know what, any stupid comment I could come up with would just undermine the vast failure of this campaign. For those of us in Canada, who may not know what the CWM campaign was, let me explain. Edelman made for Wal-Mart a series of ads that portrayed their lovable smiley face as a presidential candidate. He espoused the benefits of having a Wal-Mart in your neighborhood. He wore a suit. He was hated by all. Wal-Mart spent millions on this campaign, and lost millions because of it, making it one of the biggest PR screw ups of all time.

Well, that was depressing, maybe the rest of April will go better

My Creativity and My Education

Creatducation

Its a well documented fact that intelligence is the single stupidest thing ever. And there's no question that the vast majority of my education ground the ever-lovin' originality out of me. So how did I turn out to be the sweet, sophisticated doctor we all know and love?

This is a tale that starts in kindergarten.

Way back in the day I was a very quiet, relinquished lad. Content to be brilliant and under spoken. We had this thing at the school called "Friday Friday" during which we would all assemble in the main hall, sing the national anthem, see a few presentations from teachers and students and hand out or receive any giant checks from the week. This was always MC'd by a student, and always with the exact same script. EXACT SAME as in it was typed up, printed out, and held durring the assembly.

More on that later.

I had this teacher, her name was Ms. Malcomson. She was as tall as she was wide, and she was frankly quite abrasive. But she cared deeply about the kids. One day, presumably after I had done something quite sheepish, she said to me "You only go through life once, so have as much fun as you can" or something like that, I don't remember, I was 4. Anyway, the next week I hosted Friday Friday and, for the first time in school history, I used a different script. I did a spoof of "Good morning Vietnam". It was really cool.

That was the start of my interest in the creative side of life. After that I took cartooning classes, took up guitar, took art courses, took acting courses, and eventually went to Humber. What a long strange journey it's been.

Kill a Chicken Before it Kills You

I know we're supposed to put things we like here, and thats what I intended to do. While searching for some clever ads I came across this ad from Peta:Check it out at big size to see my complaints. The reason I'm putting this here is because on their website next to this very ad Peta states this ad was designed by "the award-winning Mudra Communications Limited, one of India's biggest advertising agencies". Sigh.

Okay, I don't like Peta, you may go so far as to say I hate Peta, for reasons I won't hyper-link to in this blog post ... oops. Anyway, the ad itself is the laziest excuse for a Photoshop job I've ever seen released from India's biggest advertising agency. Look at that chicken, did they find it on Google? I'm at least glad to see they didn't waste any money on a copy writer at least.

Design Power

Design is a Six Letter Word

So, we're designers, we have the power to shape public perceptions. Let me start over. So, we're designers, we TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO THINK, LITERALLY. Everyone is influenced by advertising. I'm sure we've all met someone who thinks they're above advertising, maybe they don't watch TV, or maybe they think they're above all them sub-liminals. These people are more effected by advertising than anyone else. Hell, I make adverts and I know I'm affeceted by advertising. So what do we do with this vast psychomological power? Well, I sell education. Now, our current education system isn't perfect. But its a damn sight better than naught. With just a little education we could half the crime rate, improve the economy, bring about more public interest in international affairs, and by association, help end war and poverty.

Found Him

I love commercial art, the kind of stuff Warhol pioneered. Taking a commercially recognized sales element and making it into art has so much potential for commentary. So here we go, Waldo, big.

My Compliments

I am lax to write this, because I know I'll never hear the end of it from his smarmy Mennonite ass, but I think the best designer in our class is hands down, Cornelius "Corn-Dog" Quiring.

No person in the class has submited, with such consistency, stellar work. Just recently this point was driven home when Cornelious presented a less than stellar package piece. He received alot of flack for that one, despite the fact that it was a project any of us would be happy to submit.

Feeding the Internet

Hey, does anyone know what this means?Its the Web Feed icon. And guess what? It's royalty free. Check it out, you can find icon packs of it online, literally you can use this wonderful little icon whenever and however you want. It was originally created by Mozilla, the people who made the browser your currently using, and released, for free, onto the internet. And my god, did it catch on. How many campaigns can you think of that use the imagery of this new cultural icon? Here's a big one.

But our little tale of righteous revelry doesn't end there. Why did Mozilla do this? With the internet being a patchwork cloth of creators nothings been universal since html, and even that's not particularly common. So Mozilla thought, very foresight-fully, that they wouldn't be around for ever, but this nifty little feed technology just might catch on. So they gave it an icon as open as the internet.

My Manifesto

The Manliest of Festo's

So, you wish to peer into the life rules of the Spin Doctor? Very well, I present to you the Spinifesto, in convenient little quotables. Feel free to quote.

1 - The Purpose of Life is Happiness
All life eventually leads to death. This fact negates any benefit from long term actions, as in the longest term your still dead. So, live in the moment to find purpose, find enjoyment in that moment to have made it worth living.

2 - The Universe is Really Very Big
Ever think you meant anything? You don't. At the end of the day (ed. world) complete global genocide doesn't have the slightest effect on 99.9999999999999999% of the known universe, or any of the unknown universe. All our piddling little global crises don't really matter when you think about it.

3 - Stress is the Deadliest Virus of our Time
Being relaxed, and content is the healthiest thing you can do. It lowers blood pressure, fights diabetes, decreases the risk of stroke, cancer, obesity, ulcers and gum infections, and prevents virtually every psychological disorder in the book (and all their associated psychosomatic effects). So make time to relax, everyday. All day whenever possible.

4 - Lose the Cause, Find the Solution
Any problem is a problem regardless of the source. Finding the cause won't remedy it, so focus on finding the solution. And don't ever say "My bad". First off, that's syntactically flawed. Second, if your in a situation where you are compelled to say "My bad" chances are everyone already knows it's your fault, stating that is just a waste of time.

5 - Forethought is God
Did you screw up last time? Expect to screw up again. In fact, plan to. Life is much easier when your prepared for inevitable consequences.

6 - Think, then Speak
Always state a sentence in your mind before you let it slip out. You'll sound more intelligent, shoot yourself in the foot less, and leave fewer holes in your arguments.

7 - Nothing is "just"
Nothing, in the history of things, has been found to simply be the way it is, so it's really unlikely that things are gonna start doing that now. The sky isn't just blue, it refracts light across it separating out the blue colour from the spectrum. The worst offence of this logical misstep is the syntactic suffix "...is just wrong". People love to explain away something they don't approve of as quite simply, in and of itself, not good. Wrong, right, or indifferent, nothing simply is.

8 - Logic, above All Else
I speak very plainly. Many of you may question this, as I use alot of big words, but I choose my words carefully. Using the word I know that most closely fits my intended meaning. So when I say logic above all else, I mean just that. Logic, action/reaction, effects and variables, above all, everything, religion, society, law. If something doesn't make sense, than it doesn't make sense. Never accept something just because your told so.

What Design Work would I Refuse

When to not Make Money

There aren't a heck of alot of jobs I would consider refusing. Embarrassing feminine hygiene product? I live in Toronto, takes alot to embarrass me. Self damaging addiction? Hard to get addicted if you never started. Extreme socio-political ideas? Governments too ineffective to achieve anything.

About the only thing that would cause me to turn down a job is if it would make me look bad. This could happen if the client already knows exactly what they want, if association with the client would be damaging. This, of course, must be decided on a situation by situation basis.

Finally, I'd refuse to work with anyone who really stresses me out, stress kills you know, and being angry and tense is a waste of perfectly good living time.

Writing is Design

Writing is a Four Letter Word


Is writing design? To an extent, certainly. On the design end of the spectrum control over our copy lets us pick letterforms that work particularly well, and we can craft blocks of body copy that have the perfect paragraph to paragraph rhythm, without any rivers or valleys.

From the more literary standpoint, wording in an ad needs to be pointed, poignant, and carfully thought out so as to ensure one clear, unified message, just like any visual ad work. And we are certainly wordsmiths when we present our work. We have to be engaging, unique and compelling.

However, good design also demands good design. It takes a visual mind to choose the right font to make someone stop and read the copy.

To that extent I will say writing is design, but design isn't writing. You'd think it would work both ways but it doesn't.

AICA

So, the graphic design contest has come and gone. What does the Spin Doctor think? It was, for lack of a better adjective, American. Very, very American. From the garish yellow and black colour scheme, to the overly bouncy synth theme song, to the excessivly oily host, American. Everything was such a needless spectacle.

As for the design work of the contestants, I was more impressed the further it went. The first pieces, the logos, where mediocre. The packages showed more ... creativity. But by the time they allowed the contestants to open up fully on the "Vote" campaign we saw some real originality. The aggressive "Except You" campaign showed smart and creative type work.

Are Designers Obliged to do Pro Bono Work?

How to Not Make Money

Short answer, no. As designers we don't owe anything to anyone. We are trading design work for money, that should be the extent of our business. We aren't getting paid to do nothing, there isn't any outstanding debt at the end of the transaction. No remainder means no free work.

However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do pro bono work. Its often practical or useful. And I will certainly not deny that the privileged life we lead generates some "outstanding debt" owed to the poor and needy. This isn't because we're designers, though, thats just the currency we use.

When the Robots Win ...

I have some theoretical technology for you today. Ever heard of nanobots? little tiny robots, literally the size of molecules. They would allow us to make controllable substances. Press a button and the liquid becomes a solid. So what do you do when you can control a machine on the molecular level? If your Nokia you make a phone out of it.


Phone in the loosest terms possible, of course, it's more of a computer than anything. Macintosh no longer has the intuitive control market cornered. This thing (theoretically) goes beyond context sensitive menu to context sensitive machine. It can literally change its physical shape based on its function. When in phone mode it can be collapsed to wrap around your wrist, with an ear piece for the interface. In e-mail mode it can expand into a full keyboard.

Now I know what you're thinking "Thats amazing Doc, but it's just a picture of a green phone" well you're right, or were right. VIDEO!



Just imagine the potential of this technology, its impact on design. Imagine being able to control every aspect of an interface, limitless design.

I Move to the iGroove

Okay, I've made all my required posts on Mac stuff, and enough posts on non-Mac stuff for you to know my opinions on the whole Mac v. PC thing. So when I write this post, you know it's from the heart.

Gawdamn the music in the Mac commercial is catchy.

Which ad? All of them, at least the ones with music. Every song Mac has put in there ads has been catchy as the flu on a subway at rush hour. Whether you like the particular genre or not, you must admit they are funky, original, interesting, well composed indie songs. More importantly, they're all new to me. Where does Mac find these catchy little indie bands? With expertly assembled musical pieces? So often!?

So, kudos to Mac

10 Things that Make me Happy

As many of you are aware, the Doctor is always happy. If you want to always be happy, here's what I prescribe:

1. Cartoons
They're colourful, imaginative, emotive, distinct and wide ranging. Basically, better than real life.

2. Food
We have built an entire culture around food, which is weird cause people look stupid when they eat. If we're willing to look like idiots in front of other people it MUST be big. So eat good food often.

3. Video Games
Video games are the ultimate medium, a fully engaging enviroment controlled by the viewer. Video games are the future, no question.

4. Chemicals
Yay yay yay, shut up. I'm not saying its good, so calm down, I'm just saying its fun and relaxing.

5. Music
Playing or listening, few things are emotionally connected as music.

6. Sleep
There is nothing more refreshing, and satisfying than a good nights rest on a comfy bed.

7. Breaking Stuff
The best way to learn about something is to screw it up it, then try to fix it. And I love learning about stuff, which brings us to the next point

8. Learning about Stuff
Every time I learn something new I become slightly more useful, more preparred.

9. Arguing
Some people throw hands, I throw words. An argument is the pureist form of logic. Two competing ideals clashing on nothing but the merit of their philosophies. Now THATS a fight

10. Mindset
What makes me happy? My mindset. I understand that the only real purpose in life is to derive as much joy as I can from it. Once you accept this, it easier to say to yourself "Don't worry, be happy".

A List of What I've Learned

Thumbnails always make everything better

Illustrator the artist in the family, In Design is the accountant ... Photoshop is the retarded cousin

Bad people do good work, Good people do bad work

There's no such thing as perfect design

I don't know dick-all ... except that I don't know dick-all

Authority figures are just as flawed as me

The earth is well rounded, it's pretty much the only thing

More of a Greeny Black

I'd like to share with you one of the single best ad campaigns in history. Not a Macintosh, Guinness, the beer company. Guinness made St. Patricks Day their ad campaign.

Serious man, silly hat. Guinness has literally monopolized Guinness. Bars of all varieties ship in kegs of Guinness just for the occassion. "Green Beer" means Guinness. Many campaigns have followed, they failed, but the original is still alive. People still demand Guinness on that drinkinest of days. And who can forget the Guinness book of World Records? When Guinness gets it right, they hit house-hold name status, like Kleenex or Q-Tips.

Max is the Rabbit

Every designer should at some point read Sam and Max: Surfin' the Highway by Steve Purcell. Many of you may remember the cartoon show, and some of you may remember the cult Lucas Arts adventure game Sam and Max Hit the Road. Well, this is where it all started. Surfin' is the entire collected comic works, all hand painted by Steve Purcell. The comics are bright, vibrant, carefully weighted and laid out with interesting elements, cartoonish exaggeration, and smack fulla style. Here Are Some Samples.

Steve Purcell is a classically trained illustrator and painter. His works, while light hearted and cartoony, are masterpieces of colour and design. I urge anyone with a passion for cartoons to buy this book.

Now here's a little something from my personal collection

i

The biggest contribution from Macintosh to the design world is simplicity. When those colourful iMacs started tumbling about the screen, a new design movement was born. Nay, a new design rebellion. Tick tock tick tock...

BOOM!

But enough of that. Simplicity, minimalism, ease of use, human interface. Mac gave us a future glossed over with white plastic. The interesting bit is that white plastic is not hip, new evolutions must transpire. Wait and see what comes next.

Blogging with the Devil

The Fender Stratocaster. In my opinion the quintessential guitar. Much like my post on the Charger, this piece appeals to me because it clearly defines a thing. All the intent and potential, the very idea of "Electric Guitar" is summed up in these curvaceous lines.

Form follows function, and Fender follows the rules. The upper arm of the body holds the strap bolt further forward, while still allowing easy access to higher notes. This steadies the guitar better. The cutaway body, a slant cut in where the forearm rests, makes it easy to steady your arm against the body for more precise pick work. The arch in the bottom makes the Stratocaster easy to balance on your leg. Look at the space around where the neck reaches the body. Can't you just see a hand wrapped around there, mashing some insane licks?!

Relax in the Sity

up of slices that extends along several poles to fill the area its in. It features organic curves and lines that make a variety of different seats in the one chair, from a chair, to a fainting couch.

I love open ended design like this. The modular nature, and accommodating design are cool, but the fact that its not predefined is what I really love. Its a series of curves, you decide how and where you're going to sit.

And get this, it's called the Sitscape

Design is so much fun

Foot Ball or Füt Bål?

Question. What's the one thing that costs more than US military spending? Advertising on the Super Bowl. And this year's harvest was a tasty one. So just what are the Super Ads trying to tell us?

Most of the ads feature a protagonist being helped by another figure. Many of the ads show this other figure succeed, many show them fail. In several of the ads the helping figure, the master, is the product being advertised. This shows an awareness in the US of the faltering economy, the failing government, and the falling country. Now they're reaching out for help, or more over waiting for it to arrive and solve their problems. The failing masters show a certain level of pessimism.

For example, the Budweiser Ad features a horse being helped by a dog. Cars.com has a man being helped by a witchdoctor, with unexpected results. Career Builder has a series of ads with people unwilling to leave their undesirable position till a helping figure pushes them in the right direction. Whoa, that last one was really telling!

Really more of a Death Krinkle

Paper is dead, it just hasn't accepted that yet. Print in general has dug its inky claws in a bit deeper, but must accept eventuality as well. Many people will argue that the hardcopy will be around forever because it only takes one power-failure to lose everything. To this I say, guess what the "hard" part of "hard drive" means, it's really rather similar to the "hard" part of "hardcopy". It only takes one fire, just as likely as a power outage, to lose all your hard copies. People believe a hardcopy is more reliable that a digital copy because computers are still new and mysterious. Just because you can't recover it doesn't mean it can't be recovered. For quite some time now they've had a machine that can take the plates directly from a hard drive and recover the data, you don't even need the hard drive!

As for print, we've seen it begin to fall. The rising popularity of Digital Picture Frames, big screen Billboards and electronic magazines shows people are already embracing a paper less society, meaning it's only a matter of time till we get a paper-less society.

Divining the Watcha-ma-jigger Box

As an avid video game player (One of the reasons I prefer PCs) I feel it is my duty to justify video games. So, I have made it my quest to find ...

Sexiest Console Design

Sexiest Console Design again, because I didn't want to muck up my pretty title with hyper-links. So without further ado, though I assure you tireless research went into this decision, The WonderSwan Color!

What?! I hear you cry. Bet you didn't see THAT one coming. The WonderSwan (all one word) Color is a tidy little hand held released in Japan in 2000 to compete with the Gameboy, if anyone's heard of that obscure toy. Now lets run down the list. Sleek, minimalist design, years ahead of its time, unique line work unlike anything to date, balanced asymmetrical elements, and to top it all off, an innovative design element:


It can be used sideways. And, might I add, looks just as sleek and unique while doing it. It can be argued that there are better designed consoles, or that this is a handheld, not a console. However the WonderSwan gets extra points for innovation. It was the first to really innovate the control scheme. And is the only console to date to use original design elements with its curvy lines, layered shapes, and heavy asymmetry.

All this makes the WonderSwan Color Sexiest Console in Design

It's all about Time

So, I know your sitting there, thinking "What does the Spin Doctor do when he's not BLOWING MY MIND?!" and I hear these thoughts. So, in my magnanimity, I've decided to grace you with that information. So here is The Spin Doctors Week-O-Graph!Damn, thats kinda sad.

It's like a big Mini

I don't like cars, don't know anything about motors beyond "Gas is flammable". But there is one car I love, the 1969 Dodge Charger RT

The Dodge Charger is a hot rod. Hot rods don't take corners, they don't stick to the road. They're not comfortable, efficient, or well made. They are big, loud, and fast. And no car conveys that image more than the 1969 Dodge Charger. King of the Quarter Mile, hell on wheels, when I rev the engine it should sound like the World is coming to an end.

The Charger, a hatchback style 2-door 4-seater, is 2 tonnes (the Canadian kind) of square steel, and it doesn't hide the fact that it is. Many hot rods act like sports cars, with curvy lines and engines that purr. Not the Charger, it is whole and unabashed about its purpose (wasting gas) and for this fact is my favourite car. No other vehicle so completely embraces its purpose in its design.

Design means Never Having to say Sorry

For me, and isn't that what really matters, design means finding a way to change someone's mind. You don't need to convince a customer to buy something they really want. Design is all about the psychology of changing peoples minds.

This has lots of fun factors, though. For example, if someone thinks you're trying to change their mind, they'll instinctively resist. Some people will interpret your message completely wrong. An ugly design, that people don't like, may be the most effective design. For this reason, design has nothing to do with making things look good. Like the jingle you hate but can't forget.

Remember, the greatest beauty is always a lie

Rhymes with Leopard

I promised something more intuitive than Mac, and that thing is Linux. If you have passed the stage of computer use bordering on complete ineptitude maybe its time to take off your white plastic training wheels and admit that you know what an executable is, and how many mega's fit in a giga. Step up to GNOME or KDE, pick a flavour.

Many Mac fans will argue that Vista is a clear attempt by Micro$oft to be more like Mac, I won't argue this, it's really obvious. And many PC users argue that Mac is trying to be more PC, and admit it, Pentium? Exchangeable hardware? Kinda smells like a PC in here. But let's take it back a step.


Holy Keokuk, was that Windows? No, I think it may have been Mac OS. Or was it, possibly? GNOME? An old version of GNOME? Hmmm, looks kinda familiar. GNOME, and indeed every major flavour (isn't that trendy? They call them "Flavours" is Mac STILL stuck on "Versions"?) of Linux has a sleek, stream lined user interface, with near limitless customization (Have I got the designers attention yet?) and visual options.

And you want "It just works"? How about the most stable operating system to date. Has your Mac ever crashed? I mean ever, even once? Linux can recover from a crash without restarting, because of its structure it has a kind of super-powered Task Manager. This means the most stable operating system to date can't even be slowed down by anything short of a power outage. Or intense system manipulation by trained programmers, which is what it was originally designed for.

So in both the "Interface made for designers" and the "It just works" fields Linux wins. And guess what, you can install it on the m15x from last post. Now THAT is a good designer's computer.

Like going to a candy store and only buying Jujubes

As one of the only defenders of the forgotten PC in the class I feel it is my duty to post a sleek and sexy PC, something cool enough to compete with Mac. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is my offering. The Alienware Area 51 m15x.


Isn't that pretty? In a smooth gunmetal case with minimal ports and buttons cluttering its appearance the m15x from Alienware is super-modern and leaves a strong impression. Not only that, this beast has more power than any Mac book in the class (I will challenge you on that) crammed into a $2000 box. I won't get into the details but needless to say, this is a gaming laptop.

The system has the coordinated, minimalist look so far the domain of Mac, with the sheer powerhouse components of a PC aficionado. No, it isn't perfect, but come on people, there are options other than Mac, it's not the be all and end all, there's always something better.

And yes, that means there is something out there smoother and more intuitive than a Mac, more on that later.

Floppy Compact Disk and other erectile difficulties

Hey kids, today we have an old invention, a floppy disk, but wait ...

It's actually a CD! Cool!



This excessive waste of technology and resources is exactly why I love design. A few months ago Black was the new Black, I made alot of jokes that day, but now Old is the new Black. And these disks are so very black, with a variety of label colours available.

Sometimes you Wanna Go Where Everybody has Taken a Life

A classic of cinematographic mastery, Oliver Stones controversial opus Natural Born Killers was filmed and cut with the speed and fury of a jet engine hitting a bird. The film has a cuts per minute equal to a Pantera music video. It has revolutionary colour use to identify and foretell story elements. And most importantly of all, Woody God-Damn Herralson.



It was originally supposed to be Michael Madson, but they said he was too crazy. Well, the tame, innocent Woody showed us all that he would wear Madsons face as a strange mask given half a chance. Woody's performance as an unstable psychopath is immaculate, amplified by his childish looks and innocent patina.

A classic of colour and design, the manic tempo never lets up till the end montage. Love it or hate it, there is nothing quite like Natural Born Killers.

Fist Full of Peanuts

While I'm not a big fan of Peanuts, I do love the old fixed panel comics from the newspapers, which where practically invented by Charles Schulz. So today, I present this entry on the fundamental design elements of Snoopy.

And his lil' buddy Woodstock. Snoopy has a fantastically simple and elegant design. His weighted ears and nose help to balance his face, bordered with a smooth curve that brings the eye up over his head and down his nose. The simple cross hatching on his feet create enough noise with the dirt to partially frame the panel without drawing attention. The heavy variation in the line work gives all the shading and depth the image needs.

Woodstock, the small yellow bird, being much smaller has reduced detail to maintain an even weighting. Notice again his foot detail generates background noise to fill in detail without dominating the image.

Plus he sleeps on his dog house, which is funny.

How do you Define Art Deco?

Ever had a conversation with not-artsy person about art? Ever sound like this?

"It's got a strong Art Deco influence" "What's Art Deco?"

Being a big fan of Art Deco I've run into this question alot. And it's an annoying one because how do you define style? Well, luckily 77 years ago someone decided to build a 102 story tall answer to just that question.



The Empire State Building. The coolest building ever. The only building so smooth, Sammy Davis Jr. was once reported to have said "Wow, that's smooth!" about it. And, my favourite example of design.

The empire state building is the very definition of Art Deco. It's vertical lines, geometric elements, triangles and trapezoids all reek of class and 3 piece pin strip suit.

Let's do the Time-Warp Level Again

Well hello plebians. Today I bring you an offering in the shape of Portal, the latest sleeper hit from Valve Software.
Pictured above is the adorable Weighted Companion Cube, unofficial mascot for Portal. Portal features the innovative game mechanic of portals, doorways that allow a player to move from one point to another instantly. The beauty of the game is its simple and elegant design.

You can make two portals with a portal gun, one with the left mouse button, one with the right. One is blue, the other is orange. They stick to white walls, they don't stick to black walls. That's it, that's everything. The elegant and consistent visuals make the game so intuitive and automatic you can focus on understanding the peculiar concept of bending space and time.

Not to mention the gun turrets look like Mac products. Heh heh, iTurret.

The Ways of Dan

Mr. Mitchell is a man who wears his opinions on his head ... literally. The most defining factor of Dan's communication is his trademark toque. The black knit cap emblazoned with the red "Slayer" logo. This toque proudly proclaims Dan as a metal head.

This gets pulled over into his sound. The anthem of the man from Dan is obviously Rock-them but is this really a part of his dialogue? The Dannster has his background music in tow with enough regularity it has become a part of his communication, whether intended or not. I can't actually imagine what Dan sounds like without a bromdignagian git-tar solo in the background.

Which brings us finally to the gesticulation. Danery can't talk without his hands. Though his gestures vague and general, he can't explain without them. I've seen him gesticulate for hours without tiring.

Perfectly unoriginal

Oh my god, guys, oh my god. If you've ever used live-trace, and I know you've used live-trace, then you know it sucks. Artifacting and low resolutions leave little jagged points all over the place.

Not anymore. A research group at Stanford University has created an AI for the purpose of converting images into vector elements. Think of it as an intelligent live-trace.

With more precise settings and alot more processing time this site can spit out fantastic vector conversions. No jagged edges, smooth curves around the dirtiest resolutions.

Tomer Hanuka, and other forign swear words

I recently found the work of a comic artist named Tomer Hanuka in a copy of Juxtapoz (Cover, Jan 08) and was quite struck by it.

His surprising colour choices are always striking. He does all his line work with a brush and ink, you can see the benefits of this in all his work. His simple line work belies the amount of information conveyed by its heavy variation.

He then scans his work and does the colour digitally. The colour is something in and of itself dramatic and unconventional. Cell is one of my favourtie pieces, it uses bright, cotton candy colours to show a zombie rampage. The odd dichotomy is fun.