Visionaire is almost like a style magazine, and yet not quite. Published 3 times a year, each issue follows a central theme like “Smell”, “Toys”, Uncensored”, “Taste” etc., and each issue is unique. Unique because the physical look/feel of each issue is different according to the theme. For example, the issue shown above is “Light”. In order to capture the feel of the theme, it is made of 24 large format transparencies contained in the sleek black light-box, lit by paper thin filament. See the issues in their website – even though it’s just selected pages off each issue, I think you’d like it!
Of course, such indulgent luxury and pursue of detail comes at a price – annual subscription comes to the tune of $675 (yes, for 3 issues), though you’d get the assurance that you’d get your individually numbered edition (as they only publish a few thousand for each). Someone actually paid $32,000 to collect issues 1-49.
I think Visionaire is not so much “published” as it is curated. Established artists, designers, photographers and art directors have all propped in, and from the website, it really does impress as a collection of extremely high quality images and experiences.
I’d really like to get my hands on them – so bluff/wring your design managers into this worthy subscription, and let me know! Meanwhile, I guess I’d just have to stick to Colors.
I’ve always been partial towards Audi cars – for me, they symbolize a fusion of well-thought engineering and refined design. Here’s a print ad campaign for the Audi RS4 – I think the execution for this series of ads simply crystallized that Audi spirit, expressing it in a clear and yet artful manner.
A toast to those who can see the art and beauty of engineering! And here’s the video for the campaign:
Woo! Cellphones with antennas. The old-school phones needed antenna for better voice signal reception; in this new LG SB6100 though, it is for wireless digital TV broadcasting signals – you can even record the TV shows to watch later. I totally dig the retractable, telescopic antenna.
It has a 1.3m camera, MP3 player, 2″ display – and packing all these into a very slim 10.95mm (3mm thinner than the Razr). The best part of it – it comes well-integrated with a leather wallet – if there’s just an elastic band on it, I could see myself storing some essential cards/cash with it – voila, an integrated “bring-it-all”.
This is a Daewoo microwave model that hit the stores in 2007. While the design itself does not fascinate me, the innovative feature of having double-doors are great – especially as home kitchens become more d-emphasized in the the future. Cabinets that encircle the kitchen space are slowly giving way to space-saving kitchen islands – some homes even forgo the concept of having a kitchen as a room, in favor of a flexible space surrounding a bar top.
Anticipating that, Daewoo would be launching this microwave oven. I suspect that in the future, as food preparation becomes more straightforward and simpler, the relative importance of the stove diminishes, while this microwave could just be the cornerstone feature of a kitchen island.
Office supplies get creative! Viking and 3M, suppliers of office stationery, has come up with an interesting website campaign. Using various office supplies like papers, staplers, scissors, post-it notes etc, they have composed cryptic images like the one above that represents a movie. Unfortunately, it seems the web site is now offline.
Anders Sandberg conceived of possible warning signs from the future, and explains the rationale for it in his blog. Scarily though, some of these symbols are actually rather conceivable in the near future.
When Rick Hoyt was born, he was strangled by his umbilical cord. As a result, he had brain damage and was unable to control his limbs. Doctors said he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life, and advised to put his parents, Dick and Judy, to put Rick in an institution.
But the Hoyts refused. They noticed that Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. They brought Rick to Tufts University, asking if there’s anything to help him communicate, but was told that ‘there’s nothing going on in his brains’. Dick didn’t buy that, and challenged them to tell a joke. They did, and Rick laughed.
And so, they hooked Rick up to a computer that allowed him to control a switch with the side of his head. Rick was finally able to communicate. When a high school classmate became paralyze through an accident, the school organized a charity run for him, and Rick typed, “Dad, I want to do that.”
So Dick, a self-described “porker” who’ve never ran more than a mile, tried, and pushed his son for five miles. “Then it was me who was handicapped. I was sore for two weeks!”
After the race, Rick typed, “Dad, when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!” That sentenced change their lives. Dick was compelled to give Rick that feeling as much as he could. He trained up and became in such fit shape that they were ready to try for the Boston Marathon.
The officials were not keen on letting them participate and compete. They couldn’t fit into the categories: the father-and-son team was not a single runner, but they don’t quite fit into the wheelchair category either. For a few years, they just joined and ran anyway. Finally in 1983, they ran fast enough to qualify for Boston the following year.
And somebody said, “why not a triathlon?”. Dick had never learned to swim, and had never rode a bike since he was six. He’d have to lug 110-pound Rick through the swim, cycle and run segments of the race. Still, they tried.
Now, at 65 and 43 respectively, Dick and Rick had ran their 24th Boston marathon. Their best time was 2hour 40minutes, just 35 minutes away from the world record – a record held by someone who didn’t need to push another man in a wheelchair. They’ve done more than 200 triathlons, and grueling 15-hour Iron-man competitions in Hawaii. Some have asked Dick to try and see how well he’d do if he was on his own, but he refused. He does it purely for the awesome energy and feeling that he gets with Rick.
Dick and Rick continue to give motivational speeches around the country, and take to competing in races every weekend. “No question about it, my father is the Father of the Century,” Rick says.
“The thing I’d most like, is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once”.
The videos are below:
A truly inspirational example of great love and self-belief. Wow.
This is the Centre Georges Pompidou, a museum for the modern art in Paris. Its architecture was bold and controversial: in the midst of classical Parisian buildings, it proclaimed its presence with big exposed service elements outside the main columns – red elevators, escalators in clear plastic tunnels, and various color-coded tubes: green for water, yellow for electricity, and blue for air. The “inside-out” approach let it stand out from its neighbourhood, and gave it an uncluttered inner space for artworks and displays, though it also also drawn fierce critics labelling it an oil refinery.
This is the Nike Air Max I. It is the first of the Air Max series, launched almost 20years back in 1987. It was a pioneer in utilising Nike’s air-cushioning unit in the shoe’s sole, and was a popular item for both runners and casual wearers. The series draw a somewhat cult-following over the years, where fans anticipate and collect each year’s models.
Question: Why are these two disparate items appearing in the same post?
Answer: Tinker Hatfield was originally hired by Nike as its corporate architect, in charge designing its offices, showrooms, and retail spaces etc. He was requested to design a shoe – the first Air Max. Being an architect, he naturally brought his architectural background and perspectives in his shoe design process. In the video, he shares he was inspired by the Pompidou in the Max design, most conspicuously the exposed air cushion, which does indeed draw reminiscence of the Pompidou’s ventilation shafts.
As with the case of the Pompidou, Nike’s Head of Marketing was not in favor of the shoe with a hole in the side, and there were concerns about perceptions of leakage and vulnerability. Nike went ahead with it anyway, and as with the case of the Pompidou, it turned out to be a major hit.
Nestled in a peaceful corner of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University sets the stage for what I think might be the funniest feedback surveys for a professor. You just must watch it and enjoy the creative and funny responses that his past students wrote to him, obviously admiring his baldness and his mustache.
Just one example out of the many:
“Is your mustache the source of your wisdom? If so, please don’t’ set such difficult questions, because most of us don’t have mustache.”
Man, wish I was there! And the professor is really cool too, winning numerous “Best Teaching” awards.
If you are *gasp* a clueless adult trying to figure out what’s going on in the world of teens and technology in the US, and have an hour or so to spare, be sure to check out this video.
Guy Kawasaki, a famous venture capitalist, moderated a session that hosted a few youths from 15-24 years old, where he threw questions in an attempt to discover what makes youths in US click.
As much as it sounds like one of those efforts to connect with the youth *ahem*, the interaction is actually pretty lively and interesting, leaving little nuggets or sneak peeks into a typical US youth’s perspective.
