I’m pretty sure ICSID dropped WIDD on the 29th because it’s falls right after our Founder’s Day, makes complete sense! Okay, so really they chose the 29th to align with their 50th anniversary a few years back, but whatever.
This year WIDD officially enters the terrible threes stage (and yea, I just made that up); will it become what Teague’s Mr. Martin Adams refers to as a “toddler tornado?” I sure the heck hope so!
What are you doin to celebrate?
By definition I am in fact an Apple-ista, but I’d like to formally request here and now that all writers/bloggers/etc. chill out on adding the –ista onto everything. It’s lazy labeling, and even lazier writing. This weekend I peeled back the pages of Fast Company magazine, the one with Boom Jobs on the cover, and was immediately greeted with the term, which I immediately began to hate on, and continue to hate on now, 36 hours later. If everything is ista-ized, then the ista isn’t really necessary. And I actually don’t even think –ista is legit, I’m pretty sure we’re talking about –ist here, and for the record, that’s not cool either. Cut it out. Or better yet, think different.
What do all you design-istas think?
Just when you think you’ve won all the awards you could possible win, and schazammie—you win five more!
Fast Company dropped the IDEA winners list at last, and of course, we’re on it!
This year we’re sittin comfortably in the top five, scooping up awards in multiple categories for some of our very favorite recent designs:
Big thanks and many congratulations to all of our amazing designers and staff!
Learn more about all the 2010 IDEA award winning designs on Fast Company’s new Co Design website.
On each visit to Doha, Qatar I am drawn to one piece of architecture.
Dominated by new wealth, Doha is quickly changing and rebuilding the entire city. I.M. Pei must have sensed the superficial growth of this city when he designed the Museum of Islamic Art. For me his building (or large sculpture) is an anchor for Doha. Even though it sits on a manmade island it avoids the naïve, theme park inspirations of other new buildings and developments in the area. It is a bold structure that uses placement, materials and scale to demand your attention wherever you are in the city. Instead of fighting the sun, like most of the new skyline created of glass and metal, his building uses the sun as a design element. The dynamic play of light and shadow on the exterior continues inside with almost every surface designed to play with the sunlight.
My experience with transit has been largely effected by acclimating to various living environments: growing up in the Midwest and owning a muscle car, being fascinated by anything with an engine and four wheels; ten years of living in large European cities, not wanting a car at all, and realizing I liked it; and more recently, coming back to the U.S. and trying to reproduce my car-less lifestyle here (so far, with decent success).
When I moved back to Seattle and started using public transit again, I noticed the little things that weren’t really working. Things, such as not knowing if the bus was late, or having a decent schedule of when the bus would arrive. I realized that the biggest obstacle to using transit here wasn’t the transit offer itself, but simply that the system was uncomfortable to use and largely because of poor communication design.
Working with young people is a good thing.
And, I’ve noticed that our profession is generally full of younger types. Be they young spirited or just plain young.
In fact, when I was a student myself, doing endless rounds of job hunting and portfolio reviews post college, I remember remarking to Bill Moggridge once that he was the most mature person I had met in a design consultancy and asking him naively where designers go when they grow old.
Our teams’ recent visit to The University of Washington took me right back to my college days.
I love working with young designers and be in the learning environment. The special atmosphere of design school, of safe exploration, philosophical challenge, encouraged experimentation and commercial freedom still inspires me, even having worked for 20 years in the ‘real’ industry.