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Looking For Love Again
Public installation artist Candy Chang is back (see this post and this post) with "Looking For Love Again", an interactive public art project that collects everyone’s stories and ideas about the Polaris Building.
"With the help of many new friends, I covered the building with a giant sign that says 'Looking for Love Again' to turn this vacant high-rise into an emotional beacon pleading for love and inviting people to do a double-take and come in for a closer look. Two chalkboards at the street level invite people to share their memories of the building and hopes for its future. These responses will be documented and entered on the project site lookingforloveagain.org, where you can also contribute directly online."
MINI Getaway
Agency: Jung von Matt
Guest Post: Josh Copeland
Guest Post: Josh Copeland // @jbcopeland
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It's just one month's catalog - April 2011. It's just one photo in almost 100 pages of photos. It's just one casual moment captured in a mom's day. And yet, it has become this lightening rod of contention about the broad subject of gender roles & heteronormativity -- a big fancy word for boys playing with trucks and girls playing with dolls.
The "mom" in the catalog photo above happens to be JCrew's President & Creative Director Jenna Lyons. And the boy in the photo happens to be her son...wearing pink nail polish.
- Fox News equates this picture with JCrew encouraging humanity to abandon all trappings of gender identity.
- The Media Research Center decries it as blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.
One photo in one catalog from a clothing maker.
I consider it a happy moment between a mom and her kid. A random Saturday-morning-hanging-out moment. Why does it have to boil up and over to JCrew leading the extinction of the human race? It's moments like these that surprise me that society actually does notice what's done in marketing. Occasionally one creative decision made by one person (or a small team) really does lead to having all kinds of conversations about touchy subjects. Even if that's not at all what was intended.
JCrew's photo of Jenna and her son is a nice fuck-you to anyone who freaks out at the notion of anything outside the "norms" of what's expected. JCrew's catalog photo inspires me to think twice about using "typical" situations for product photography. It inspires me to be more authentic, casual and take life less seriously.
Who decided what was right for boys anyway? In the 1920s, ads for department stores depicted boys wearing pink (not blue) and a few hundred years ago, men wore wigs, tights and powdered their faces.
One man, 100,000 toothpicks, and 35 years
Thirty five years ago Scott Weaver had begun work on this insanely complex kinetic sculpture, Rolling through the Bay, that he continues to modify and expand even today. The elaborate sculpture is comprised of multiple “tours” that move pingpong balls through neighborhoods, historical locations, and iconic symbols of San Francisco, all recreated with a little glue, some toothpicks, and an incredible amount of ingenuity. He admits in the video that there are several toothpick sculptures even larger than his, but none has the unique kinetic components he’s constructed. Via his website Weaver estimates he’s spent over 3,000 hours on the project, and the toothpicks have been sourced from around the world:
I have used different brands of toothpicks depending on what I am building. I also have many friends and family members that collect toothpicks in their travels for me. For example, some of the trees in Golden Gate Park are made from toothpicks from Kenya, Morocco, Spain, West Germany and Italy. The heart inside the Palace of Fine Arts is made out of toothpicks people threw at our wedding.
(h/t @jessebrightman)
Guest Post: Madonna Arsan
Guest Post: Madonna Arsan // @madonnaarsan
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It's inspiring because it's motivating. When people say 'you can't do', show them you can. It's a great feeling when you prove them wrong, and hopefully they will shut up next time.
Hyper Island: The Notes
Roughly a month ago, I was fortunate enough to attend Hyper Island's Master Class with 25 or so others from Publicis. Monica Escobar, co-worker and amazing doodler, took her notes in visual form, and those are the ones you see above. Since we returned from our three-day session last month, Monica has been sharing her notes sporadically on purpose so we'd continue to get inspired as the days and weeks went on.
I wanted to share some of her notes, for those who have yet to attend Hyper Island, but also for those who have and need another refresher of inspiration. I like that some of the notes are vague, and don't get into too much of the learning, but share enough that you start to think, and hopefully get inspired.
Guest Post: Jamey Erickson
Guest Post: Jamey Erickson // @JameyErickson
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Being a kid, growing up in rural Minnesota, I spent many nights staring up into the skies wondering that its really like out there, envying astronauts at their exclusive view of the world(s) above. Today, I'm a 30 year man living in one of the greatest ages of discovery we've ever known, and I get to literally witness it happening right in front of me. Volumes of astronauts have joined Twitter as of late, and thanks to the magic of technology, they have internet access from the ISS (International Space Station). To see Tweets like this bring a bit of a tear to my eye, as not only is it a deeply profound feeling to somewhat share a beautiful moment like this with someone literally in space, but to take a step back from all the garbage and spin we're constantly bombarded with in our day to day lives and say "Holy shit, look at what we've done as a race." That's pretty damned inspiring if you ask me!
SOS Fauna: Elevator
Agency: Media Contacts / Havas Digital - Brazil
Reactions are priceless.
Guest Post: Snorre Martinsen
Guest Post: Snorre Martinsen // @snorrem
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A place I always come back to is the 'Space Collective' [ http://spacecollective.org/ ]
First off, for the simple fact that a whole world of 'Forward Thinking Terrestrials' has come together 'Exchanging ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and universe, living the life of science fiction today.' Or as they also put it : SpaceCollective.org is a cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials.
It's positively overflowing with amazing ideas and concepts. From life and exercise in zero gravity, to renewable energy sources and sustainability-projects ex; hydro-farming. Great galleries of research and visual inspiration. Not to mention architectural worm holes, and gravity-ignoring structural insanity.
There's something to be said about people imagining the impossible. Not to mention the awesomeness of them all coming together to plan for a future where all their ideas can co-exist.
Come to think of it, Richard Branson should (and most likely will soon) be funding several of these projects for a series of Virgin Orbit Hotels.
I guess it's ok for sporting goods brands to broadcast 'Impossible is nothing'. But really. Eat your protein pills and put your helmets on.
Designing Curious Employees
I'm looking for somebody who has a positive attitude and is confident enough to express their ideas. They're confident enough to disagree with me, confident enough to say what they think and paint a picture of the future as they see it. But at the same time, they're questioning whether there is some better solution and whether they're right or not. It's this balance between confidence and questioning. This represents a kind of curiosity, an open, child-like mind of being enthusiastic enough to talk about their ideas--and questioning them enough to build on that idea rather than think it's all done.
- David Kelly, on designing curious employees
(h/t @inakiescudero)
