Futurism meet Post-Typography. Post-Typography meet Futurism

You have a lot in common...

Service Innovation? The One Day a Week Restaurant

Came across this article in Good. Thought it was an intriguing way to envision service delivery. Basically, one restaurant rents the space of another restaurant when they're closed on Mondays. So simple it's genius.

Dott 07: Revealing the Invisible

It's been a few years since I worked on this installation in the UK but I was thinking a bit about space and place since being holed up back in Pittsburgh during the winter months. A couple of years back I headed over to England to work with DOTT (Design of the Times) which is a federally supported 10 year project exploring what life in a sustainable world could look like. I was on a team with a handful of artists and designers and our gig was to see what it would take to support sustainable tourism based on the industrial heritage of NE England. What transpired was a 14 day discovery > design charette resulting in Revealing the Invisible--a series of light-based installations which illuminated the missing elements of Allendale's industrial past. Once you're on the page, hit the link about half way down that is called "Revealing the Invisible" to learn more. You can also take a look at some images I have here.

Everyday Objects with Jonathan Callan

In this installation at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory, Jonathan Callan uses books to replicate, what at first glance, looks like a cross-section of a felled tree. Viewers find Callan has erected his entire installation out of coverless books that are drilled together to create an organic structure which beings to approach a painting or drawing. There's talk of how the work encourages viewers to consider how we now address traditional modes of relaying knowledge such as through the use of textbooks, encyclopedias and atlases but I can't help think about the way he's taken the book off its pedestal and has us focus on its essential materiality. He moves us away from the cerebral to the sensual, from spirit to soul. He is literally shaping the way we define, use, and think about everyday objects. Tasty stuff.

Several Circles

"the most modest form, but asserts itself unconditionally...simultaneously stable and unstable...loud and soft...a single tension that carries countless tensions within it.” -Vasily Kandinsky, on the circle

Inforgraphics Resource

Good Magazine Fantastic resource for inspiration and information (visualization).

Service Design and End of Life Care

Given the fact that none of us wants to die alone, in pain, or be forced to accept whatever we can get, combined with the potential for healthcare reform to aid in new ways of thinking and delivering services, the topic of "end of life" care is both a critical and challenging project for designers who are committed to improving quality of life and the health of our society. This article, Forget the Euthanasia Talk -- End-of-Life Care is Needed, by Rafael Sciullo, president and CEO of Family Hospice and Palliative Care, which serves 11 counties in Western Pennsylvania, had me pausing to ask myself, "as a designer who is committed to clearing pathways and enabling access to resources, what can and am I doing to develop services that address this need?" In an age where business is focused on the next big thing, generically and eloquently termed "innovation", who says there isn't ample opportunity to address an essential social issue such as the end of our lives? On a cooler, more cerebral level, designers who are prone to finding the most difficult problem or tangle of concerns to tease apart, why wouldn't we take on this challenge of dealing with the delicate taboo of dying? Everyone goes through it. The stress and logistics of preparing for and moving through the process is enormous. By and large we have nothing in place to help us offset the concerns and help us make informed decisions. It is one of the ultimate problems to solve--a combination of emotional, economic, and logistical needs between an individual and all the people that surround and care for them. Why are we racing to to make a better dog food bag when the simple act of dying is so desperately in need of help? More importantly, what am I going to do about it?

How to write a design brief

Not sure anyone will find this helpful but this article was written by Peter L. Philips and submitted to the Design Council UK. Could be helpful if you're getting out of the gate.

Who doesn't love Man Ray?

Another example of Tejo Remy

After the rag chair, I sniffed a little further to find another piece by Tejo Remy. This time part of NYC's "Reclaiming Design" project from 2007. What I love about this is as much the playfulness as the provocation about fencing ourselves in or out. The tri-fecta of function, critique and pleasure.