Skyrf Machine – Gijs van Bon

technology + type = an ephemeral, beautiful, and simple win. in the words of martin venezky: it's beautiful and then it's gone.



Much more over on Dezeen

all that there is

“I think that a necessary precondition for the appreciation of art is the feeling that the thing you are looking at or reading or listening to is all that there is at that moment and you have to give yourself to it.”

In this episode of the New Yorker's Out Loud podcast, Nicholson Baker offers up kernels of wisdom on writing, creativity, and modern life.

listen over here.

via it's nice that

how to get unstuck

Move. former professor Sandy Wheeler gave me this simple but beautiful piece of advice in her conversation with John Malinoski, and Scout (see my previous post).

Sometimes when you're making something you get stuck in terrible molasses swamps. Somehow, you manage to work yourself into corners from which no escape or forward progess can be made. Most of us have experienced those off-days. Feelings on those days range from mild exasperation to existential despair.

The problem of being stuck has been mulled over and talked about by artists, scientists, teachers, musicians, and probably every human being ever. We refer to it as "writer's block", "hitting a wall", or "the well running dry." 

How do you get the well wet again? What's the solution?

Sandy's answer was so simple it floored me. Move. Engage your body physically. Take a walk, or dance. Body movement takes you out of a mental space and into the physical one. Striking a better balance between physical and mental activity (aka giving your overheated mega brain the occasional rest) could be just what you need to get unstuck.

on wearing rabbit ears

I was lucky to see two of my old professors talk last night about their childhoods, old jobs, families, and design. it was a true gift and i'm going to try and spend a little bit of time reflecting on sharing some of the pearls that were given to me last night. here's one:

John Malinoski spent a little time talking about the small town where he grew up. His father was a coach of all sports, and gave the following advice to his son: don't play the game with rabbit ears. If you think about it, rabbits are always picking up on the slightest vibrations and disturbances around them. While this hyper-attentiveness to one's suroundings has done wonders for the survival of the rabbit species, it does little for atheltes who need focus and resolve in order to play to the best of their abilities.It's amazing how much this advice also applies to people in any sort of creative field. (the parallels between the life of an athlete an the life of a designer are astonishing!) For a creative person looking to flourish and thrive, one has to be able to turn off all the peripheral noise that can surround the work ("What will my colleagues think?", "How will this be received?", or "How does this compare to what has come before?"). Focusing too much on external non-issues is detrimental to quality. Instead one must turn inward, and concentrate on the task at hand. 

Put another way: we need spend less time listening to the commentating and more time in the gym.

we agonize, we endlessly tweak, because

I had the honor of being one of Law Alsobrook's students when I studied at VCUQ in the spring of my sophomore year. Although it's been two or three years since then, there are things I haven't forgotten about him. He was always full of energy - never in one place for too long, quick to draw a diagram or to scribble notes on the whiteboard. The classes he taught with Leland Hill always seemed to hum with anxiety, excitement, and laughter. Law had high expectations for us students. We had to be dedicated to research, iteration, and making things with intentionality. I look back at that semester now, and I see it as a time when I cut my teeth and began to understand what design is and how it works.

I remember one day Law talked me through a moment of self-doubt and despair. I was designing postage stamps and I wanted so badly to make something meaningful, beautiful, and good. At a certain point in the process I got so stuck and twisted up about these tiny stamps that I broke down. I was beginning to seriously doubt if I was capable of being a designer.

Law told me to trust the process and to not be so hard on myself. He reminded me that they were just stamps, and not the Mona Lisa. He also explained to me that there are naturally going to be moments when you doubt your process and capabilities, and that founduation-shaking mega-existential meltdowns happen from time to time. I remember leaving the studio that day feeling humbled, relieved, and at peace.

Law was one of the first to help me understand what design is and how it works. Here he is again, reminding me and everyone of design's power, intensity, and importance.

what a cool video

and the song too.

Grimes -  Oblivion

hero

I was given this book to look at at work today, and it's changing my life a little bit.

Charley Harper was an incredible artist and illustrator that is well known for his birds, bugs, bacteria, and other things. He is responsible for illustrating the Golden Book of Biology and several other advertisements, magazines, and publications in the 50s and 60s. 

The way that Mr. Harper treats form is deceptively simple. I love how everything begins to take on a playful, whimsical tone. It is as if the world as we know it has been transformed into a world of a different rationale, where everything is familiar but never commonplace. Plus the color! Those fire engine reds, the creams, the beautiful blue gray greens... they all make me salivate. There is something in the line work too that reminds me of paintings by Julie Mehretu.

coooool

kim rugg has a lot of patience.  She takes existing materials like newspapers and reconfigures them in ways that are beautiful and irrational.  The new york times loses its meaning as a print publication intended to communicate. Instead the meaning shifts, and it becomes more about a meticulous process and form. very interesting stuff.


Kim Rugg from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.


via coolhunting

cool beans

very cool paintings by maurizio bonglovanni.  i like the way something that is so photographic is strangely abstracted. it gives these birds alternate dimesions, new formal meanings....

via iso50

cool beans

i dig people like this

interesting article

The real issue regarding life and work is the struggle. The struggle to transcend our own limitations. The arrow through the heart of the matter is the desire to achieve higher consciousness, greater power and meaning in life and work. This happens not through the anti-intellectualism, entitlement, sloth and the general existential malaise that pervades our culture. Disaffection, ennui and nihilism are for the weak. The pathetic characters populating Clowes' art school landscape, and those they appeal to, are Thoreau’s great mass of men who “lead lives of quite desperation.” Campbell’s "bliss" is the eternal sunshine piercing the fog of this torpor. Bliss is the pathway that the Sentient struggles to remain on. Bliss, that feeling of being deeply at home in something, denies external pressure. It denies duty and expectation in favor of knowledge of self. It should have been a critical component of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is in fact, the primary mechanism enabling and leading to self actualization. It is akin to the Jesuit notion ofmagis, Latin for “the more.” Bliss enables and engenders magis. [5] In its simplest terms the concerns of everyday life appear to be at odds with Bliss and with self-actualization. [6] Yet this simply reflects a failure of imagination.

read the rest here

soooo tight

maryclaire and her awesome sketchbook scans

cool beans

this is a cool project. eunah kim made these instuments that measure human emotion. via it's nice that.

classics.

thought i'd take time to remind everyone how awesome klimt is, via butdoesitfloat

what a sweet project

a series of scultpures made as if home appliances were inhabited by an advanced civilization

via swissmiss

stumble

not sure who made this but im a fan. i like how this piece feels unfinished and yet so complete and resolved.

via design for mankind

stumble

these have been floating around the blogosphere, but i thought id repost them as well, as they are awesome....the work of michael johansson

happy valentines day

to you and yours! CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME VIDEO MY GIRLFRIEND MADE ME.

i miss this

via rva

coool beans

some incredibly inspiring MSCED projects right here.