Re:Construction

Lower Manhattan is filled with all sorts of ongoing construction work. Re:Construction is a project aimed at turning unsightly construction sites into works of art and architectural. They have 3 pilot projects including Concrete Jungle (shown above). The project is sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown NY and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Little Dead Things

Ha! How super cute are these cat toys? If they weren't sold out I would buy them for my cat immediately. The toys, entitled Little Dead Things (that's my favorite part), are made out of recycled leather and stuffed with organic catnip. The set includes; one dead mouse, one dead bird, one human brain, one zombie. Seriously, what more could a cat ask for? Available (hopefully again soon) on the Prairiebird's Etsy shop. (Found though Modern Cat).

Brian Jungen

Brian Jungen's work appeals to both my industrial design side, and my new found west coast side. Brian is a Canadian artist who makes art out of everyday objects. His series Prototype for New Understanding creates aboriginal style masks out of Air Jordans. The red, white and black of the Air Jordans amplifies the aboriginal feel, while making the material instantly recognizable as that of the pop culture shoes. It's a nice juxtaposition that starts the gears of the mind turning. Some of his other works include large whale skeletons made out of plastic lawn chairs and golf bag totem poles. Very cool artwork. (Thanks Mike!)

Sound of Color

The Sound of Color challenged 5 musicians (Dntel, Marie Digby, Swizz Beatz, The Blakes, and The Raveonettes) to write a song composed around a color. Then they passed on the tracks to 5 directors to turn into music videos. The result is not exactly what I would have expected, but that unpredictability is part of what makes this project interesting. You can watch the music videos, download the songs, and get some insight into the thinking behind each color interpretation at soundofcolor.com.

TaskWatch

TaskWatch isn't a new concept. In fact it's almost 4 years old. But I saw it on Apartment Therapy today and it gave me some inspiration to a scheduling issue I've been brainstorming around - so I thought I would share it. The idea is pretty simple. It's a clock in the middle of a white board. Users can write notes or titles associated with times of the day. It lends itself to slightly altered scheduling solutions than a linear time line.

Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far

I'm kind of intrigued by the site Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far. It invites users to contribute maxims that they have learned about life. The site asks "What have you learned in your life so far? What is it that you are fairly sure about? What is it that you believe in by now?". What I like about this site is that they have put an artistic spin on things. Contributions are made in the form of digital artwork. They are sketches, or photos, or movies created to illustrate or include the advice. This one hit home for me... Take a moment, locate yourself. (Found through Josh Spear).

Free Rice

I love the thinking behind Free Rice. The idea is very simple, they use advertising profits generated by visitors to donate money to the UN World Food Program in an effort to help end hunger. People are invited to come to the site and play a multiple choice word game. For each correct answer, 20 grains of rice are donated. The game strengthens your vocabulary and keeps your attention long enough to make the advertising money needed to pay for the rice donations. It's super simple, super smart, and by the look of the stats, super effective. (Found through notcot.org).

New York Talk Exchange

NYTE (New York Talk Exchange) is part of MIT's Senseable City Lab projects that look at how we describe and understand cities as technologies change. NYTE is a series of real time visualizations showing internet and telephone traffic flowing into and out of New York City. I particularly liked the World Inside New York visual showing what parts of the world New Yorkers were calling. It gives some interesting insight into the inhabitants of different neighbourhoods. The communications patterns draw attention to the relationship New York has with the rest of the world. It would be interesting to see these stats tracked over time.

Walk Score

If you are moving and looking for a place to buy or rent, you should check out the website Walk Score. It scores neighbourhoods based on how walker friendly they are. Walkable neighbourhoods are determined based on proximity of restaurants, shops, schools, parks, etc. The site admits some shortcomings in their calculations, but overall it's an excellent approximation of walkability. The Walk Score website has a great list of reasons why it's important to live somewhere walkable. The reasons range from the predictable eco-friendly sort to some you many not have though of, such as increased social capital. Very cool site. I'm going to be looking up the walk score of every neighbourhood I consider living in from now on. (Thanks Karon and fam).

Phil Collins + Gorillas = Happiness

I was really exhausted tonight and noncommittally thumbing through old bookmarks when I came across something that made me feel much better. It's a link to an brilliant British Cadbury commercial from last year. If you are reading this from England you are probably rolling your eyes at me (I apologize). If you haven't seen it, take a couple minutes to watch. Phil Collins plus a Gorilla... how can it not be awesome?

The Bureau of Communication

Magnetism's Bureau for Communication has a hilarious collection of Mad Libs style forms to fill out and email to your friends. Forms include Unsolicited Feedback, Declaration of Romantic Intent and Statement of Gratitude, amongst others. They have also recently added an archive of sent forms if you are interested in what everyone else has to say. They state that 'attempts at humor are highly discouraged'. Ha!

The Heart

The Wellcome Collection is an interesting mix of galleries, exhibits and events that examine what it means to be human. They combine the ideas of medicine, life and art into each exhibit. One of their current online exhibits is called The Heart. It's a grouping of images and readings about the heart. It looks at the anatomical heart, the symbolic heart, and the sacred heart. The range of meanings and perspectives of the heart make it a refreshingly interesting collection. The Heart is a nice little online outing on this lovely Valentine's Day.

Life Cycle Analysis Calculator

IDC in England has created this simple Life Cycle Analysis Calculator. This free online tool was developed in response to a need. IDC surveyed a number of design and engineering firms that all agreed - paying attention to a product's environmental impact throughout its life is becoming increasingly more important, but that many firms don't currently do the calculations. The Life Cycle Analysis Calculator helps estimate the carbon footprint and embodied energy of any product and its packaging. This is a great resource for designers. Its quick and easy. I will definitely use it in the future. (Found through Core77).

Overheard in New York

I'm moving away from New York this week :( I'm really going to miss the character of the city and all its inhabitants. This reminded me of the site Overheard in New York. It's part of a series of websites where people submit pieces of overheard conversations. Too funny! Overheard in New York is my favorite of the Overheard websites. You just have to read a few posts to appreciate the awesomeness of New Yorkers.

Aitor Throup

I was very inspired looking through the portfolio of fashion designer Aitor Throup. I'm not sure that fashion designer is a very good title for him. He seems like more of an artist/illustrator/storyteller who just applies his talents to the world of fashion. The end result is captivating. You can see the background story and characters oozing out of every piece of clothing. Aitor's stunning sketches add the extra wow factor.

Virtually Mine

Virtually Mine is an interesting exhibit created by CITIZEN:citizen for the Peel Gallery. The exhibit examines the value of objects. By value, they don't mean how much it would sell for at an auction, but what kind of value the object has to its owner. The general public is invited to bring objects into the museum to be cataloged for the collection. When someone submits an item they describe themselves, the object they are submitting and the explanation for its inclusion. One of my favorites is the Armani Handbag included in the image above. The owner explained its value by saying "It's my favorite bag. I think it's extremely classy and I got it on sale in SoHo for nearly nothing. I feel sexy when I use it."

The 15 Below Jacket

On its 15 year anniversary, the Canadian design company Taxi created The 15 Below Project. The aim of the project was to give back to the community by designing and producing a jacket for the homeless. With the help of Lida Baday, Taxi created a very well thought out jacket that addresses the needs of homeless people. The 15 Bellow Jacket is made of black waterproof, breathable, lightweight fabric. It has 9 pockets that can be stuffed with newspaper to transform the rain jacket into a warm insulated snow jacket. The jacket also folds down to be worn as a backpack or used as a pillow. Taxi is donating 3000 15 Below Jackets to homeless people in Canada and the US. You can read more about this inspiring project at The 15 Below Project's website.

How Much Does it Buy?

If you are someone who measures distances in football fields, height in Statues of Liberty, or is just plain all about opportunity costs, then you should definitely check out the How Much Does it Buy website. It allows you to calculate how many A380s, iPhones, Beers, Kidneys, etc you could buy with a set amount of money.

Frozen Smiles

Ha! If someone served me a drink with denture shaped ice cubes in it... it would totally make my day! I can understand how people would find these ice cubes a little disturbing, but personally I think they are brilliantly hilarious. The Frozen Smiles ice tray is one of Jason Amendolara's witty designs for Fred. (Found through Pan-Dan).

The Shape of Family

I stumbled across the stunning information graphics of Christina Van Vleck today. I was particularly drawn to her Shape of Family project (shown above). It's a series of 5 graphics that depicts the family lines of herself and her 4 sets of grandparents. This is a nice, clean way of depicting a family tree. The circular shape takes lends itself to the expanding shape of the generations. Very nice.

HEMA Online Advertising

I enjoyed this little animation advertising HEMA stores. It adds some personality to the world of online shopping. It takes a minute to start, so be patient and restrain your hyperactive mouse finger.

River Glow

An important step in environmental change is to raise awareness. River Glow's raises awareness about water pollution by using a simple visual indicator to communicate water quality. Designed by The Living, River Glow is a floating system that monitors a river's pH level and gives off red or green light to indicate pollution levels. The system is energy self-sufficient, with energy supplied by one of a few experimental energy generating devices. The suspended light of River Glow has a certain artistic quality to it that reflects the beauty of the water it's trying to protect.

Current State Concept

Check out this Current State concept that I worked on for Kaleidoscope's The Greener Grass project. Current State is a conceptual mobile application used to monitor and control energy usage in your home. The concept was inspired by our discussions about energy consumption and how to teach people to take responsibility and control over their energy usage. The conceptual application allows users to set energy goals for themselves and then monitor how well they are meeting those goals. Current State also gives users remote control over powered devices within their home. Users can turn devices on or off, as well as setting up automatic timers to maximize their energy efficiency.

My Oats

My Oats is a crazy little online drawing application that allows you to create multi-sided kaleidoscopeing patterns. Patterns can be made with anywhere from 2 to 16 repeating areas. You have a range of drawing tools to work with and control over opacity, line weight, background color and glow. Users have created some amazing results. Check out their gallery and play around with it for yourself.

Vacant Lot

What If is a series of projects, by British Architects Gareth Morris and Ulrike Steven, that asks what if statements about architectural spaces. For example 'What if this vacant car park became a place used by the young people?' or 'What if you woke up with a heard of cows outside your door?'. One of their most interesting projects is called Vacant Lot. It looks at the idea of using a vacant lot for something useful, like growing vegetables and flowers. They opened up a vacant lot in London and filled it with 70 large grow bags of soil and a water tower. The residents of the community took over from there, planting seeds and tending to their makeshift allotments. I think this is a really cool idea. What I like about it is that using the grow bags gives it the possibility of being temporary and mobile. You could essentially just use a lot while it's free and then move onto another lot when someone starts building.