Monocle – great example of a magazine that gets the web. I wish Flaunt would get around to getting the web too, because their magazine is so damn good, I can only imagine them having an awesome website.
Monocle was brought to my attention by my co-worker Paula during our weekly design meeting. We all bring in and talk about something that has inspired us recently.
One thing that was pointed out about the current version of Monocle that I think is brilliant is the Rolex ad at the top right of the site, you might not even realize it’s an ad:

If only all advertising was as seamlessly integrated as that ad (On another note, Rolex has recently relaunched their site and its very nice, but I still don’t dig it as much as Movado).

Palm hires ex-Apple designer, puts iPhone in its sights (via Daring Fireball)

Even though Palm’s Ed Colligan may not like it, Apple did go and “just walk in” to the mobile phone space when it announced the iPhone last month

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Apple has been working on the iPhone for over 2 years. It seems to me that Palm has “just walked into” the iPhone market. Palm has hired a brilliant ex-Apple employee to help them.
Palm – this won’t work, trust me.
This whole thing Palm is doing reminds me of the kid who gets his dad to do his 3-month science project for him the weekend before it’s due. Palm can buy innovative people, but they can’t buy innovation. As my friend Jory said, innovation has to be woven into the whole methodology of the company you’re working for.
This was also written about on the NY Times.

eon at Lindbergh
Awesome grid. By who else? G94.

Updates to this site have slowed a bit since I’ve start working at Schematic as an art director. It’s a good feeling to be busy with creative work!
Each day I’m meeting more and more talented people. I’ve already found out our Senior Software Developer, Roger Braunstein, wrote the new Introduction to Flex 2 book. Along with that another one of our head developers writes the Flash ‘Bible’ series.
I’m sure there’s many more Schematic achievements that I’ll discover the longer I’m here…

from The Many Faces of AIGA by Andy Rutledge:

I don’t write many “posts,” but rather try instead to write substantive articles. With the redesign of AIGA’s website, however, I’m compelled to say something so that students of design don’t once again swallow AIGA’s tripe for sweet cream. This design is an abomination.

I comely agree with Andy. What happened AIGA?! Looking at the new AIGA.org is like chewing on paper, just no flavor, nothing. Yes, I know its wonderful that they’re using these amazing little “divs” instead of tables, but I’ll tell, they should have spent more time on making a design with some clarity than they probably spent obsessing on CSS.
Jeffrey Zeldman (founder and creative director of Happy Cog who redesigned AIGA.org) always has struck me as someone like Hillman Curtis – a person whom I appreciate more for his non-design related work than I do for his design accomplishments. There’s no doubt both of these men know how to design, but that’s not where they shine. Both of these guys have produced great books and know how to write, how to articulate their thoughts and that’s very important.
I’ll remember Zeldman for his blog, his book Designing With Web Standards, his publication A List Apart and his conference, An Event Apart.
Will I remember him for his redesign of AIGA.org …unfortunately, I think I will.

Resign. It’s the best way to show people you mean business.
If people constantly reject your ideas or what you have to offer, resign.
You can’t keep fighting and losing, that makes you the problem.
If you are good and right for the job, your resignation will not be accepted.
You’ll be re-signed, on your terms.
If they accept your resignation, you were in the wrong job and it is better for you to move on.
It takes courage, but it is the right move.

• from Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden

AdCritic.com: 2007 Creatives Roundtable (via Gawker.com)

Last month, Creativity invited 11 highly talented and highly opinionated creative honchos from a diverse range of idea shops to deliberate on what they need to do, and who they need to be in order to get a brand message across in today’s unpredictable advertising climate.

I found the six interview video clips mildly informative. I think this might be due the fact that we’re watching the creative directors talk, opposed to seeing what they create, so it’s not their fault.
With that said, one statement did stand out for me from William Gelner, Group Creative Director at BBH. He said, “The best clients are looking for partners, not vendors.” This is great way of working with clients and it can only make better, more integrated work that elevates the client’s brand and message.
While a vendor does their job and then shoots out an invoice, a partner gets inside their client’s head, always there to guide the messaging as it evolves and changes. If you’re serious about the creative field, there’s really no reason you wouldn’t naturally become a partner with your client. Your enthusiasm, determination and creative vision should come through to your client and when they see it, they’ll have no choice but to jump on it.

I the other morning before I left the apartment for work I had MTV on the television, and amazingly, I actually saw a video. Yes, a whole video. Last time I saw a video on MTV was high school.
Anyway, this is the video I saw, and I really dig the song and the video:

Meetings make us dumber, study shows (via Slashdot.org)
from the article:

The researchers speculate that when a group of people receives information, the inclination is to discuss it. The more times one option is said aloud, the harder it is for individuals to recall other options, explained Krishnan, associate professor of marketing at Indiana University.

This is interesting because it confirms something a creative director I know recently told me regarding brainstorming sessions she holds for project kick-offs. She said 2 things normally happen in every brainstorm:
a) A few solid ideas come from the same few people every time
OR
b) She goes into the meeting knowing what ideas she wants to use already
This is an unfortunate situation. The MSNBC article suggests , “Alone, they came up with significantly more products than when they were grouped with two others.” This reminds me of Google’s famous “twenty percent” policy (via Google Jobs):

Google engineers all have “20 percent time” in which they’re free to pursue projects they’re passionate about. This freedom has already produced Google News, Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut – products which might otherwise have taken an entire start-up to launch.

I still think it’s important to involve a variety of people on projects because great ideas can truly come from anywhere and anyone – maybe the key is not putting everyone in a room together.

I watch the Oscars last night and I was mildly amused by the the opening montage of nominee snippets. I can’t objectively say that my amusement wasn’t caused by the realization that it was very similar to the “Get a Mac” ads from a few years ago.
As I said, it’s an observation, not a complaint. As my last entry on The Art of the Mashup explains, no one exists in a vacuum – everyone is influenced by someone.
I’m sure the Get a Mac ads were inspired by something else as well.
screenshot from the Oscars Nominee Montage:

View clip on YouTube
…and an Apple “Get a Mac” ad cerca 2005 (featuring the the cult favorite Ellen Feiss):

View clip on YouTube

Bryan just shot me this link over IM earlier today and it’s friggin’ great. It’s a typographic translation of the “What does Marsellus Wallace look like?!” scene from Pulp Fiction created by Jarratt Moody.I think it’s example of the form of art for the 21st century – the mashup. It’s not merely a copy of a scene from a movie – it’s an interpretation Mr. Moody has done of that clip to make it his own, something completely new.
Another great mashup from the last few years was the mashup ‘trailer’ for Shining – using footage from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining coupled with Peter Gabriel’s song Solsbury Hill to produce something that feels totally different than the actual movie:

When I see mashups on the Internet or listen to mashup albums (like DJ Danger Mouse’s Grey Album), I think of the long tradition of copying and mixing that art has in its history. Although you can find examples that go much further back, a good modern starting point would be Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain:

Why is this art? Because Duchamp said it is.

I also think of of Andy Warhol and his Campbell’s Soup Cans:

Amazing what’s possible with silk screening.

and Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon:

Pablo mashed up his art with African masks. Just like Paul Simon did on his album Graceland.

The Onion recently published an article titled, Apple Hard At Work Making iPhone Obsolete (via Daring Fireball). It’s dead-on and reflects something I hear a lot regarding Apple products. When people talk about their new iPod or computer, “I know Apple is going to release a new version next week…” seems to be the first thing they mention and then they’ll say “I knew it! I knew I should have waited…” again in 3 months when Apple dropped the new version of their device.
All I have to say to these people is WAHHHHH. We live in a disposable society and capitalism (consumerism) relies on selling more stuff, new stuff. People need to check themselves more often and ask themselves, “I like this new product, but do I need it? Is the product I’m using doing the job fine already?”
Apple is not the source of the problem with technology, their priorities as a company are different than those of a consumer, at least a smart consumer. Just because they release a new product does not mean you need to buy it.
Case in point:
I have the same dual processor G4 with 768MB of RAM since 2002. I’ve used it consistently for the last 4 years and it’s loaded with the standard creative programs which all run perfectly – Adobe CS2, Flash 8, etc. Whenever a new version of OS X comes out, I back up my computer, wipe the hard drive and install a new system. I find this fresh install gives the sytem a performance boost, almost like getting a new machine again.
Now I’ve definitely wanted to get a new machine over the years, but I’ve never needed to. The same reasoning held true for my Palm Treo 600 – new models have come out since I bought it, but it’s always had and done exactly what I needed – QWERTY keyboard for texting, Palm OS to sync with contacts (since my Palm V days), speakerphone, and mobile internet & email (I actually grew tired of email & internet).
I will be there to get one of the first iPhones in June with the other iPhone fans, but when October rolls around and these iPhone users around me get angry because the 20 gig iPhone launches, remember, these people are making themselves obsolete, not Steve Jobs.
Take some responsibility for yourselves people and stop pointing the Finger of Obsolescence at others.
note – I checked and “obsoleteness” is the correct usage. 🙂
update – someone with solid lexicon pointed me in the direction of the word obsolescence instead of obsoleteness, even though both are correct obsolescence rolls off the tongue better I think.