Archives

All posts for the month October, 2009

Intro to PopTech from PopTech on Vimeo.

I’m off to Poptech 2009: America Reimagined for the rest of the week. Follow their PopTech hub for live updates and I’m hoping like in previous years the live broadcast of all the speakers. It’ll be a chilly one this year, but I’ll be back with some updates, posts, and goodies like before.

update: Ah, yes, they are streaming it as usual here.

itouch.dupont

Dupont sent designverb an iPod Touch to test out their new MySurface app which has a catalog of  Corian and Zodiaq materials.   It’s a pretty simple app with a library of images to flip through and a gallery of environments. Though I personally find materials like Corian and Zodiaq very tangible, a quick glance at colors and texture visually with this app can be quick filter in selections before grabbing real samples to feel their weight, temperature, light refraction, and vibe.

And yup, I’m giving away a brand new iPod Touch (thanks dupont) to a reader that sends me the best improvement  for this app or any other general cool design must have app that does not exist. Send ideas to designverb (at) gmail.com . I’ll pick a winner in a few weeks.

I’ve got a few suggestions for this particular app:
1. For iPhone users, let them use the camera, and augment the materials in their real space.
2. Let the materials be custom adjustable to augment onto their cameras view like a table.
3. A details page about the material like hardness, texture, cost, colors, uses, weather, etc.
4. Options in sorting, not just by color, but by hardness, texture, weight, grain, cost, etc.
5. Have a gallery of images for each material, not just a separate gallery.
6.  I know Corian has some translucency . Maybe show what the material looks like when thin and back lighted.
7. Add an adjustable bar to have light go across the material. See how it reflects, moves, changes.
8. Maybe add some filter options… dark, marble like, textured…search.

A few pics of the app after the jump of the app.
Continue Reading

C&Pimage2
If your in NYC  October 16th, go to the first-ever Cut&Paste Global Championship which I’ve attended a few times, the non global ones that is! It’s basically a live freestyle wacom design battle, with beats and treats, while raving at some mad skills in 2d, 3d, and motion!


“2009 GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

This year’s Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament has made its way through 16 cities and 256 competitors from February – June 2009.

It now culminates in a battle of the best, champions vs. champions, with the final 2009 tournament event: the first-ever Cut&Paste Global Championship.

Showcasing the talents of 48 competition winners in 2D, 3D, and motion design, from the North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific regions , the championship event will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday, October 16, 2009.

The Global Championship will present the same three competition formats that Digital Design Tournament 2009 has featured throughout the cities on its global tour: 2D, 3D, and motion design. The Global Championship will be putting sixteen competitors onstage for all three competitions. These competitors, forty-eight in all, represent the winning designers from every city on the 2009 Cut&Paste tour. Arriving with at least one successful competition under their belts, the city champions will take the stage again to quickly create designs against the ticking pressure of the clock and under the watchful eyes of the crowd. And this time, the pride of their countries and hometowns, along with their personal reputations, will be on the line.

When:
Friday, October 16th, 2009
Doors open: 7:00pm EST
Show starts: 8:00pm EST

Where:
Hammerstein Ballroom @ Manhattan Center Studios
311 W. 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

Who:
48 Competitors from 3 Competitions and 16 cities. To take a look at their portfolios and winning work from each city, check out the following links:
2D, 3D, and motion design .”

showcase_evolver_main

“Evolver is an architectural artefact intervening on the panorama surrounding Zermatt. It was designed and executed by a team of 2nd year students from the ALICE Studio at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. In an effort to take full advantage of the site’s extensive and astounding views, the project sits strategically next to the lake Stelli at an altitude of 2,536 m (8,320 feet).”

very cool project, and the site helps out quite a bit =)
via archinet

tons more pics mirrored after the jump.

Continue Reading


“The Obama presidential campaign was innovative. For the first time in American politics, a candidate used art and design to bring together the American people—capturing their voices in a visual way.

The Design Director of the Obama campaign, Scott Thomas, has collaborated with artists and designers to create Designing Obama, a chronicle of the art from the historic campaign. Get the inside story on how design was used by the campaign, and scope out the pieces, created unofficially, by grassroots supporters.”

This book will only happen enough donations are received by November 4th. They are 2/3rds they way there, so if you you’d like to buy the book ($50) or donate a smaller amount for a pdf of it ($10) visit their site now.

designing-obama.com
(thanks paul)


Transform an  existing staircase in a subway staircase next to an escalator into a step-a-thon playing piano, and people will walk.  Add fun changes common behavior!

Reminds me of Bruno Taylors Playful Spaces Bus Stop Swing Set.

If your liking these video posts, go join the Designverb Facebook Fan page, where I’m posting lots of  cool videos not on designverb, including my tweets, Last.fm favorites, yelps, and much more.

gadgetoff.2009_deka.arm2

gadgetoff.2009_mondo.spider2

Gadgetoff 2009 unleashed an intense series of kabooms,  zaps, chomps, and kerplurks rattling 400 attendees on the beautiful 83 acre Staten Island grounds September 25th while slinging Lenovo laptops with a trebuchet,  cooking hot dogs with Telsa Coil Towers, riding jet fueled 5g merry-go-rounds, writing code drunk for autonomous cars legally, and thrashing a series of incredible lectures and demos throughout the day! Welcome to the Gadgetoff 2009 Experience: Boom!

Robots rumbled in every corner ranging from dancing tai chi robots to tiny micro toy hex bugs that jittered their way into everyone’s pockets. The gigantic mechanical Mondo Spider chomped it’s way through the lunch gardens while on lookers enjoyed delicious alcohol infused sorbetDean Kamen of DEKA brought his breathtaking and ingeniously engineered “luke” arm (video) and toy inventor Brian Walker tinkered with large crossbows and rockets made to launch humans 20 miles across the air! Invisible inks, toys, gadgets, art, fire, illusions, magic, and disruptive ideas scorched the island while participants roamed in excitement and curiosity!

Just as I experienced last time, Gadgetoff invited the coolest hand’s on creatives to celebrate the Smart and Useless for an unforgetful day in disruptive goodness!

My adventure brief after the jump! (lots of pictures and videos)

Continue Reading