Local Color - The Movie, Coming Summer 2009

The movie - Local Color - looks beautiful!
It supposed to come out sometime this summer.

World Garbage Dump Tour - Joy Revolution

I love what Benjamin and Stephanie Dunn of Joy Revolution are doing! Keep rockin' it with all your funky, free, spontaneous LOVE! Great music, great video and great JOY you're igniting! :)

Reuben Margolin - Beautiful Moving Sculptures

Reuben Margolin does some amazing work - combining wood, metal, geometry and precise mechanics to make beautiful kinetic artwork! Check out his other projects too. They're amazing! Thanks for the inspiration Reuben! You reminded me how beautiful geometry and shapes can be ... especially when combining woodwork, string and gears! (It has a similar spirit to the artwork of Alexander Calder too.) Beautiful. Fun. Simple. Playful. Mechanical. Mathematical. Artistic. Inventive. Creativity at it's best.


Here's another fun example of Reuben's collaborative inventions - a PARKcycle. PARK(ing) Day seems like a cool event too. Maybe I could do another sand castle? :)

Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics

I thought this was a cool video of Scott McCloud sharing a story about comics as a visual form of story-telling, and where it could go when translated onto the web (keeping the spacial relations intact/using the web window as a page-viewer rather than a movie screen). I think this is interesting from a design standpoint too.

Check out his comic Zot! Online: "Hearts and Minds" or some of his other web comics to see his explorations of sharing comics online. They're really fun!

Spirit Soldiers On

"The hazard avoidance camera on the front of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this image after a drive on the 1,806th Martian day, or sol, (Jan. 31, 2009) of Spirit's mission on the surface of Mars." - Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wow! I found this image on the NASA Image of the Day Gallery. Amazing to think that we ACTUALLY are exploring the face of Mars! ... This American spirit to pioneer and explore the unknown - it's something else! ... The photo also reminds me of alien landscapes & deserts - what you feel like you're exploring your own thing. It's hard & lonely at times. It's strange & foreign/alien. ... It's where fear & courage meet, and you have to make a choice to keep on exploring. You have to look at the adventurous side of things and not let the fear of being alone & alien consume you. You've got to keep going & looking forward.

Wow! Look where we are! :)

bloxes

bloxes
Originally uploaded by linoleum jet

beautiful bloxes!
:)

White Winter Hymnal

White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes. Simply beautiful!

Jen Stark's Paper Art

Yeah! Jen Stark, who does some amazing Paper Art, is getting recognized. Ever since I first saw her work - I think on Wired - I've enjoyed her work and kept up with her. It's fun to see what Jen's up to. I like paper craft as an art-form, and she does some beautiful work. I love the new work too!



Jen now has a fun shop to buy some of her art too.
Keep up the awesome work Jen!

finding Inner Sanctum

I recently wanted to explore graphic novels - to see if I might find any illustrators and writers who I might connect with. (I had just finished reading The Picture Bible, illustrated by André Le Blanc, and surprisingly enjoyed it!) ... So I went to the library to explore other graphic novels and see if I might find anything interesting. ...

I happened to pick up Flight, v2 - which is a compilation of various short-stories in graphic form, from different illustrators/writers. I was amazed when the first story I read was Inner Sanctum by Michel Gagné!! Wow!! I was amazed. The whole short story is available online. You should check it out. It's amazing!

I also really enjoyed:
• "Destiny Express" by Jen Wang
• "The Orange Grove" by Kazu Kibuishi (who also organizes the Flight books)
• "The Ride" by Rodolphe Guenoden
• "Ghost Trolley" by Rad Sechrist
• "Impossible" by Herval
• "A Test for Centri" by Amy Kim Ganter.

Now I'm onto Flight, v3. So far, so good!!

Thanks Kazu and Michel!
I'm really getting into graphic novels because of Inner Sanctum and the Flight books!

The Octopus Project - Music is Happiness

Great video (directed by Nick Smith)! Check out The Octopus Project and their other videos. Surprise, surprise - they're from Austin too! You can also download Music is Happiness and some other great songs from their site. :)


Hamsters are cute, but now they're got missions too! (They also seem to be close relatives to friendly squirrels.) :)

Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds

I read this article - Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds - today on the New York Times website about Steampunk & its subculture - wow! Amazing! ...

It's an aesthetic of the industrial age - brass, gears, burlap, time travel, adventure, creativity, etc. ... It reminds me of Waterworld, The City of Lost Children, Matrix, Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the video game Myst. ... I found Abney Park - a band that promotes themselves at "steampunk", Tom Sepe - who built a steampunk motorcycle(with lots of other cool inventions!), Gypsy Moon, a steampunk fashion site, and even SalonCon, a victorian/steampunk ball.

I really enjoyed looking through all of it ... I was even seeing the world through a sort of steampunk vision - pretty cool to think about! :)

The Reverse Graffiti Project

The Reverse Graffiti Project - a beautiful art project in San Francisco - a reverse graffiti mural of indigenous plants in an urban space.

The artist - Moose - has some other great design projects/creative ideas of communication in the city. Check 'em out! :)

My friend Matthieu Brajot also helped out on this cool project.

Davey Dance Blog - fun stuff

Check this guy Davey Dance Blog. I really like how he just picks a public place – showcasing a city or something – and dances to the music. I love it when the music plays off the city surroundings ... kinda like dialoging with the city about how it makes you feel. Great idea Davey!

Danielson Famile - Did I step on your trumpet?

A cool video for "Did I step on your trumpet?" from The Danielson Famile.

Also check out the documentary movie on them.
Here's a preview of the movie that came out in 2006.

Imagine! France sings for USA

Wow! Check this out ... France sings to the USA - "land of the free" is the part that really struck me ... France is the nation who gave us the Statue of Liberty. They know what freedom is all about, and we need its fullness! :) ... Bravo! beautiful!

(There's also a longer version.)

A great idea by Johannes Leonardo for Pangea Day, a global event bringing the world together through film. I love the other films they made about countries singing other countries' national anthems too, especially these two - USA sings for Mexico, and UK sings for Argentina since I'm more familiar with those countries.

Imagine! USA sings for Mexico

Imagine! UK sings for Argentina

Keep it up Johannes! I'd love to see more!

tiny bubbles

tiny bubbles
Originally uploaded by themexican

where is the child
who loves to sing & dance,
who plays with beans & blocks,
who builds sand into castles,
and loves to fly from any height?

let hope & joy break through, I say!
come forth. it's safe to play.

"Falling Slowly" Wins Academy Award

I'm so glad that Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová won an Oscar for their music in the movie Once! They sing of HOPE ... looking past the suffering & despair, focusing on the beauty of what IS and the hope of what CAN BE. It's beautiful to see the Irish & Czech hearts singing together to bring hope to the struggling artists all over the world, to keep looking up and believe. Once is a beautiful movie and their story is amazing as well ... just ordinary people passionate to share their hearts of love, of beauty of hope.

I hope you are honored tonight.
Thank you for sharing your voice!

The Masculinity of Sacrificial Love

I think both of these videos do a great job of visually capturing the essence of self-sacrificial love ... love that perseveres, that won't give up, that will do to all lengths to extend the love of the heart. I think it's the masculine heart in full ... willing to lay down it's life for another, willing to face evil hordes in battle, willing to endure pain & suffering for another. I think some of it has to do with the battle that many men long for. It gives them life inside - even when they're facing death. There is also honor in dying for another, in fighting to protect life, freedom and what is beautiful. ... It's a beautiful wonder to see men giving their lives for another.

These videos have very different flavors of that love, but I think there's a common thread between them - especially visually. I find beauty in the depth of their love - the passion of a man's heart fully alive, serving another when it's painful, willing to face their own death so that another may find LIFE.

Aqualung - Pressure Suit

Foo Fighters - The Pretender

Rock on!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I've been reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis for the first time, and I'm really enjoying them. I haven't enjoyed reading that much since jr. high - when we had to stop at every chapter and evaluate every little detail. It's been a long time since I've read for pleasure ... and now I've been getting back into it with "The Monument" by Gary Paulsen and "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis. I love how imaginative the Chronicles of Narnia are. They're richly creative and I can sit reading for hours without noticing the time fly by.

I look forward to seeing Prince Caspian as a movie too. I think they did a great job with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." I do enjoy the books - since I have to use my imagination to see the fantastic worlds - but the movies are awesome too!

mural mosaic: hundreds of paintings, one masterpiece mural

This is a great collaboration project for fine artists - a mural mosaic - a beautiful idea by illustrators Lewis Lavoie & Phil Alain. I like their idea for the Wildlife Ark Mural-in-a-Book idea ... it makes buying a piece much more affordable, fun for the buyer to put together and goes well with content – seeing the beauty of each piece individually and then seeing how they synergize to form a different beauty when they're all-together.

Paul Rand: form + content

"don't try to be original, just try to be good"

a great video designed by Imaginary Forces

Attitude + Power --> Performance

Attitude + Power --> Performance
Originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics

Wow! A beautiful article about the pioneer of the automotive design - Harley Earl.

I love how much information is packed into this beautiful illustration - it holds analogies for so many things. Make sure to check out the other illustrations and this article as well.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Originally uploaded by MumbleyJoe

Beautiful photo of a lighthouse, right when they're switching from one light source - modern (probably electric) to an old kerosene lamp & lens.

Fun with Camper

Fun with Camper
Originally uploaded by raondo

I was reading this nice article in Metropolis Magazine describing the Camper brand & design-thinking. It was cool to hear about they're trying to keep it a family business - even globally - and how they taylored the design of each store to reflect & enhance the area it's in (not some cookie-cutter franchise).

I was amazed when I saw the Camper website!! ... I was laughing & wanting to dance (as much as you can in an office chair). Their site has so much fun energy – a celebration of life & personality – playfulness with color & objects. I can really feel the Spanish culture influencing this design, which I love about it! Their animations are well done & playful/entertaining. It reflects their thinking that design can be fun & not-so-serious. The objects they chose to include are fun combinations and the animations with the shoes do a great job of reflecting each shoe's personalities.

I enjoyed looking at the different Camper store designs that are uniquely suited for the area it's in. I think that's an awesome idea, and they've done a great job at the environmental design of each store. I like their randomness too. I think it's cool how they taylored the London store to have random stories of Majorcan donkeys ... since the British seem to like to read a lot, why not give them something fun to read about? In Germany they encourage visitors to write on the wall, which I would think would be really fun. In Madrid they came up with this idea of a "info-shop" where the decoration would be random images & information - that would be a cool store to visit. Their Camper for Kids section is also a playful way to communicate why kids might like campers & all their different uses.

I really love this site. I'm amazed at how much joyful life it carries in the design, the art & the ideas. I think their could be some minor improvements, like the transitions between different sections. It did take me a little bit to discover the useful parts of some sections ... but I think it goes perfectly with the idea that everything doesn't have to have a point, a meaning ... sometimes we just need to take in life & enjoy the moment!

It also reminded me of the beautiful, joyful illustrations of Spanish artist Catalina Estrada, which I admire also.

[For those people in Austin, I have seen Camper shoes & that same fun/playful design-sense at Creatures Boutique on South Congress.]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop

Way cool video. :)
"can't stop the spirits when they need you.
this life is more than just a read-thru."

[inspired by the "one-minute sculptures" of erwin wurm]

{a prelude to the coming season??}

"garden in transit" art project

Garden in Transit is a beautiful art project I read about in the NY Times earlier this week. I am inspired & in awe of what they're doing - inviting children to help make colorful art that covers all the taxi cabs in New York city. What a way to brighten a city & bring joy to people!

[Check out the other projects Portraits of Hope have done too - airplanes, blimps, towers, boats and buildings. Very cool! Keep up the great work!]

Biola University prospective undergrad site*

Biola University prospective undergrad site*
Originally uploaded by raondo

Wow. Beuatiful design - integration of hand-drawn illustrations of birds, water, beaches and people enjoying life - combined with a great CSS grid layout. Exciting, unique, personal, creative, expressive, imagination-making, fun, hi-tech, story-book, professional - college experience.
*(A site for my design inspiration collection. Not my work.)
www.biola.edu/undergrad/

spinnin'

spinnin'
Originally uploaded by _kate_

I really liked this photo this morning - green, childlike joy, playful boy with his dad(?), laughter ... I don't feel quite like this right now, but I yearn for the day when I can be more playful, joyful, full of life & laughter. I'm working towards that ...

beautiful font freebie - faceplate

Font Shop is offering a pretty cool font for free (with registration), designed by PSY/OPS Type Foundry. I think it's a beautiful font - clean, industrial, tall, legible, solid but unique with a few personal features, not too loud, but noticeably solid in a thin/open way ... I like the baseline curve on the Z, the 2, the G & g, the J, and the a. It reminds me somewhat of technology-driven, clean European style mixed with a forward-thinking, confident creative strength - sort of like a high-tech guy from London who travels to New York frequently on creative projects. Beautiful font ... and it's free. :)
Nice work PSY/OPS.

kuler - beautiful color themes

Adobe just launched their new CS3 suite yesterday. ... lots of improvements. They bought Macromedia awhile ago with ownerships over Flash, Dreamweaver, etc. Now Photoshop & Illustrator will be able to communicate with Dreamweaver & Flash more seamlessly ... which means more great designs on the web & seamless flow between print, web & video. I'm pretty excited about the new changes. ... To watch their webcast of yesterday's launch, go here.

One really cool thing I found during the launch was Kuler - technology for picking color themes & palette. (Try creating a color scheme.) You can save color schemes, share them with friends, have their RGB, CMYK & Hex/Web codes ... really cool. They have a mac widget that you can download too. I like the RSS feeds for the most popular & highest rated color schemes.

They also annouced a spry widget to easily put ajax/javascript tools into a website.

Here's an article on what "Web2.0" is about ... a term I was introduced to when I went to SXSW ... interesting article.

sxsw07 interactive notes

I finally compiled my list of notes from the South by Southwest 2007 Interactive conference. There were so many great ideas, people & inspiration that it would've taken too long to type out all my ideas/processing. I ended up scanning my notes and just putting in hyperlinks to the various websites & articles. (I hope you can see the green underlines. If not just try clicking on something you find of interest ... The titles are all linked to the SXSW panel pages, for example, among the 346 links within it.)

Hopefully this PDF can serve as a useful reference for the various topics in design, typography, web development, business and the next generation. (I plan on using it that way.) :)

sxsw brain-spinning

I'm back from SXSW ... wow! what an experience - great people, ideas, discussions, etc. It was over-whelming at times - too much information & people, but really good. I got to see a few friends/alumni who had moved away, hang out with my co-workers and listen to some of the most forward-thinking people in creative technology. I took notes on the panels & will try to share them soon ... there was lots of information. I'm trying to bring as much inspiration & ideas back into my workplace, and hopefully make things even more productive & enjoyable. My brain is kinda fried right now. I'll come back later with more. (I think I have enough ideas to keep me busy for the next year at least.)

One thing, yesterday I saw the world premiere of the movie Helvetica ... which was a great documentary film about how helvetica came to be out of the swiss design school and how it has (positively & negatively) shaped our society from different people's perspectives. There was a Q&A at the end with the director Gary Hustwit & designer David Carson. Whether or not you're a designer, I think you'll like it a lot.

german type foundry

I ran across this cool type foundry based in Essen, Germany today - Cape Arcona Type Foundry. I like their work - folky, funky, foreign, some industrial & experimental. (For experimental/degraded fonts, I also like Misprinted Type.) ... a few good free fonts to download too. :)