It’s finally time to announce the Grand Prize Winner in the Holiday Giveaway. The Grand Prize includes the following:
· One copy of Adobe CS4 Design Premium Mac (US$1,799 Value)
· One ISO50 Studio Giclee print of Choice in 18″ wide format
· One ISO50 shirt of choice
· Tycho MP3 Collection
Drum roll please…. And the big winner is: (more…)
I’ve been listening to Matthew Dear since 2001 he has come along way with remixes for Hot Chip, David Bowie, Postal Service etc. but this remix of The xx is one that kind of really resonates as something that sounds like Matthew to me personality, i’m expecting more punctual avant pop from him this year from his LP which i’m geeking over to hear.
A pretty sweet go to song for a dance floor, can’t go wrong with Thom Yorke even though I haven’t put on his CD since the day I bought it, not because i didn’t like it but I have to be in the mood and this version is more of what I want to hear.
One of my favorite labels has to be Smallville out of Hamburg which is run by some great guys one of them being Peter Kersten aka Lawrence, if I ever release/make music it would have to come out on Smallville or i’ll just give it away for free. The patient and passionate ones will probably get the most out of this song by Julius Steinhoff , dreamy 4/4 deep dub.
An older classic from P73.
I love desks by George Nelson, his Swag Leg is a favorite. I came across another great example of Nelson’s work over at Modernity, the Home Office Desk by George Nelson for Herman Miller. Absolutely perfect; I’ve always liked the idea of large desks but seeing this and the Swag Leg make me think it might be nice to have something a little more compact. And I love Modernity’s photographic style, great product shots (sorry for the small pics though, they didn’t have anything bigger). Some more can be found here.
I’m headed to Tokyo again in May and I’m getting all psyched for bouncing around the city with my camera. I’ve been via-linking my way around photography blogs for inspiration and found Color Berlin, a cool photo set by Matthias Heiderich. They feel like paintings to me — probably due to the heavy saturation, and flat compositional style. I’ve only been to Berlin once, but I don’t remember seeing colors like this! Best keep my eyes open next time. More on his Flickr page.
Absolutely loving Jelle Martens’ work. Raw and inspired, I want a print. More work can be found at his flickr.
Via Matthew Lyons’ incredibly excellent Inspiration Tumblr
I was inspired to investigate my favorite typefaces of last year by all the “Top Ten Fonts of 2009” lists I’ve seen going around. I tried desperately to make my list longer than seven, but honestly I don’t know if I used more than that. (I only have 50 anyway) Keep in mind, when I say “favorite fonts of the year”, I am referring to the ones I used most, not necessarily ones that were released in 2009. New font releases rarely get me very excited anyway. This list pretty much sums up the only fonts I ever implemented in all of 2009. There is an outlier here or there, but I keep everything pretty regimented.
So here we are, my favorite fonts of 2009:
Knockout – Probably my favorite of last year. I used it everywhere. It’s so versatile, and has so many weights, that I found it really helpful for many projects.
United – You know I love this.
Din – One of my favorites of all time. I found myself using this in just about every infographic I had to create.
Miso – It’s free and comes in handy every once in a while. Found this one popping up in my freelance work a bunch.
Plantin – One of the sole serif representatives. I used this for just about every single time I had body copy. Thanks Monocle!
Futura – Had to include this after my Wes Anderson project. Didn’t use it a whole lot elsewhere, but I always check out how things look in Futura just in case. Especially for logos — Futura comes through in a pinch often.
Trade Gothic – Especially Bold No. 2. If I hear a cool word I don’t know, I will write it down so I can type it out in Trade later just to see how bad ass it looks.
Anyway, nothing too surprising up there I don’t think, but interesting to see it all in one place. List yours if you have them!
I first heard Shlohmo from that remix he did that I posted earlier this week and I needed more. I really love his breaks in between the massive low end, shows that he has potential. I read somewhere that someone said it sounded too much like Flying Lotus, well if I was 19 years old and dude said that I sounded too much like Flying Lotus I would probably shake that man’s hand. I see a bright future for this guy if he steers clear of Dubstep only work and keeps pushing forward with tracks like Hot Boxing The Cockpit and Spoons and the wonderful details he includes all the way thru those tracks.
I’ve posted on this subject before and its implications are certainly debatable, but last week’s announcement that researchers had discovered the presence of the Golden Ratio in the quantum world had me thinking there might be more to it than anyone has yet realized.
“Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), in cooperation with colleagues from Oxford and Bristol Universities, as well as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, have for the first time observed a nanoscale symmetry hidden in solid state matter. They have measured the signatures of a symmetry showing the same attributes as the golden ratio famous from art and architecture.”
Dr. Radu Coldea — the principal author of the paper — describes how the ratio was observed in magnetically linked chains of atoms: “Here the tension comes from the interaction between spins causing them to magnetically resonate. For these interactions we found a series (scale) of resonant notes: The first two notes show a perfect relationship with each other. Their frequencies (pitch) are in the ratio of 1.618…, which is the golden ratio famous from art and architecture.”
Pretty amazing to think that something we seem to have an innate appreciation for and which occurs on such a comparatively massive scale can also be observed in the smallest components of our world.
Image via Minarai
Less and More is the new book about the work of Dieter Rams. The book itself is massive — 808 pages of images and descriptions of Ram’s ground breaking designs. It’s bound beautifully and comes in a really nice display box. Publisher Gestalten wins again. I just received mine from Vitsoe, but you can preorder it from Amazon if you prefer. If you go the Vitsoe route, I would also suggest this poster displaying Ram’s 10 Principles of Good Design.
Less and More elucidates the design philosophy of Dieter Rams. The book is the ultimate collection of images of all of Rams’s products as well as selected sketches and models – from Braun stereo systems and electric shavers to the chairs and shelving systems that he created for Vitsœ and sdr+. In addition to the complete visual presentation of his designs, the book contains new texts by international design experts that explain how the work was created, describe its timeless quality, and put it into current context.
Absolutely killer illustrations by Matthew Lyons. My first assumption was that these pieces were very old, and the work of a grizzled old artist, who had developed exceptional skill and craft over years and years of animation grunt work. I was incorrect. Matthew is actually a 21 year old student at his final year at the Loughborough University in England. He’s clearly a natural. Not only is his eye for color and composition spot on, he also clearly has a vast imagination. I want to get in my spaceship and explore each of the scenes he has presented.