My very own monster

Doctor Frankenstein wanted it all, right?  He wanted to do the impossible, to create life, and he did. It just sucks that it became the death of him in the process. I want the same thing. I want to create something that grows beyond my control.  I want to make a thing that humbles me with its power, annoys me with its unwillingness to obey, and frightens me with its potential.  Why?  Because there are boundaries that need pushing, of course, conventions that need offending, and traditions that need to be violated. Frankenstein wasn’t a bad person; he only wanted to push boundaries.  Sure he may have been foolhardy in that he could not have possibly imagined the outcome of his work, but that’s how we learn, how we grow. Through his experience, we grow. Through his life and death, we learn.

Read More…

We’ve never had it so good, yet something is missing

The ‘M’ word is unavoidable. It has crept into politics, art, literature, journalism, architecture and of course, design.

Yes, you guessed it—–I’m referring to meaning.

Meaning can mean a million things to a million different people. Yet, the passion that this adjective often evokes unites a plethora of different interpretation. It’s replaced authenticity as the ad men’s preferred choice of killer convincer when it comes to the creative pitch.

So, why is it that we all seem to seek greater meaning from our products, services, brands, conversations and transactions? Read More…

When a negative is a positive

Lets hear it for being empty. Lets celebrate nothing. The Void.  A space. Pure emptiness.

All designers need it. Architects dissect it. Poets create rhythm with it. Car designers can’t get enough of it. Musicians use it with dramatic effect to manipulate mood.

I am of course, talking about negative spaces. The volumes created in between the ‘built’ or ‘intended’ design elements that are so often the focus of our creative energies.

Read More…

Mind the overspray…

A few weeks ago, I started in a new position at Teague. Transferring from a corporate admin position, I had little interaction with the actual deliverable product that Teague designs and develops in the Aviation Studio. My new position however, has me out in the trenches weekly to assist in documenting the awesomeness that Teague produces.

As this past Monday was my first day sans “training wheels” (the nice little nickname I gave the lovely individual who trained me), I exuberantly decided to conquer every task that came my way. Atop the growing pile in my inbox was a little post-it reminder of one special task that needed to be completed outside of the office: video record the operation of a bidet in action.

Read More…

Handheld paradigm shift

Today is the release date for Apple’s new iPad. While many pooh-poohed the iPad upon it’s announcement, Apple Stores are today mobbed with people lined-up to buy one.

For all of the punditry stating that it is “nothing more than an overgrown iPhone” or iPod Touch, a surprising number of people have decided to cough-up the dollars -and whatever other currency you can imagine- to be one of the first to own what I believe will start a landslide of change in mobile computing.

What Microsoft was unable to do with the release of their Tablet PC initiative 10 years ago, Apple will accomplish, partly because the market has changed (thanks, iPhone!) and partly because they’ve managed to get most of the equation right. You average person does NOT want a desktop version of an operating system to drag around outside their home or office. They don’t want viruses and trojans tagging along for the ride, they don’t want (or need) full office computer functionality on the run.

Read More…