Ice Cube gives us a tour of LA and the Eames house.
I know that this is old-ish by internet standards, but this is so full of win.
Tagged with Design …
Malcom Gladwell Illustrated
The people behind the Malcolm Gladwell illustrated collection set talk about the process of coming up with ideas on a Design Matters episode.
*My birthday is on May 18.
via Curiosity Counts
The Undesigned Web
The Undesigned Web – Dylan Tweney – Technology – The Atlantic
How web design is in a “third wave” of design were the user has much more control of how things look, with tools like Instapaper and Readability leading the way.
Design reigned supreme in the 20th century, when it was an integral part of the way artists, publishers, governments and political parties communicated to the first mass audiences.
Message and presentation were inextricably intertwined, with the latter lending power, impact and even meaning to the former. Not for nothing was Marshall McLuhan able to say, with gnomic brevity but not a little insight, “the medium is the message.”
(via @timcarmody)
Calendar Pr0n
This is hell sexy. By Oscar Diaz.
The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are “printed” daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.
The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the whether on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.
via Clusterflock
Daydreaming Outside the Box
Searching for Value in Ludicrous Ideas
NYT article by Allison Arieff that features wonderful and, indeed, ludicrous concept illustrations by inventor, author, cartoonist, and former urban planner Steven M. Johnson. From the article:
In discussing his often fantastical, sometimes silly, sometimes visionary concepts, he has said, “If I could use two words to describe what it is that I enjoy it is that I love to be sneakily outrageous . . . [It may be that] I have decided an idea has no practical worth and would never be likely to be adopted seriously (like most of my ideas), but I like it anyway.”
After seeing sleep-in cubicles for seniors you’ll know what he means by sneakily outrageous.
User Interface and why Mac OS is King
When you use Microsoft Windows all your life, this list post from Smashing Magazine will not seem so convincing because good UI design in the Windows/PC users minds means “power to the user”. This comes from the geekish nature to have a sense of control when using a computer, but after using a Mac for 7 to 8 months, I understand that I don’t need to click next 20 times to install an application. The users’ input should be asked for, but not every process a computer runs needs the users input.
There are 10 “usability highs”. My personal favorite is #6:
6. Fitts’ Law
Essentially, the famous Fitts’ Law says that users are more productive with the mouse when they have less distance to travel and a larger target to click on to do their tasks. Mac’s design engineers have incorporated this rule in their design: almost all application menus are attached to the top of the screen, rather than to the applications’ windows. It improves the usability and reduces screen clutter. Compared to other user interfaces, regarding Fitts’ Law Mac performs better.
