iPhone Finger Painting Makes The New Yorker Cover

Posted by Dylan Tran on June 10, 2009 10:27 AM

A couple of weeks ago, The New Yorker debuted its first iPhone cover – a digital finger painting done on Brushes app by Jorge Colombo, an artist whose drawings have been featured in the magazine since 1994. It was a breakthrough of sorts because never before had a virtual artwork done on such a small mobile device hit the cover of a major publication, one that’s renowed for their creative illustrations. It was truly inspiring.

Watch this video on the making of The New Yorker cover:

Columbo just got his iPhone a few months ago, and like me, immediately obsessed and marveled about all the wonderful things the little device could do. As an artist, he found that it opened up new possibilities. Using Brushes, a cool iPhone application that allows one to draw and paint on the fly, he was able to express himself anywhere and without being noticed. Brushes Viewer records the step-by-step process, and as you can see from the above video, Columbo relied on the Undo feature to get the look just right.

Imagine creating your own masterpiece while waiting for the bus, or your next appointment, or even while walking down the street. I hope this technology motivates more people to get creative and free their artistic inhibitions. As for Columbo, he’s so inspired that he’s now posting a new finger painting every week on The New Yorker blog. No word yet on when his first iPhone gallery exhibition will be, but you can see what others have come up with on Flickr here.

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Modifying Mecca – An Elegant Plan Revealed

Posted by Robert Weitz on June 8, 2009 11:40 AM

One of the five sacred duties (Five Pillars) for an “able-bodied” Muslim who can afford the trip is to perform the ritual pilgrimage known as the Hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Combine the fact that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide and the availability of relatively inexpensive easy transportation and you have a big 21st century problem – about 1.7 million pilgrims converge on Mecca every year.

Sadly, the infrastructure has been overburdened for many years and has resulted in deaths due to trampling and overcrowding. Fast Company magazine recently featured a short article revealing the existence of a YouTube video that is a fly-through of the master plan to modify Mecca. It caught our eye because it is an amazing scheme, a melding of ancient and contemporary ideas along with a state of the art digital presentation.

The video clearly demonstrates an elegant employment of the radial “parti” and a 21st century feel, echoing the shapes of Utzon’s Sidney Opera House, Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall and the structural rationalism of Nervi and Calatrava, while acting like an ancient amphitheater affording pilgrims view and access to the sacred Kaaba, which is the focal center of the plan.

In keeping with the Islamic love of mathematics, as reflected in the magnificent pattern language of Islamic architecture, this redo promises to be one of world’s wonders. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

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A Wonderful Day In The Neighborhood – Reflections On Steel and Glass

Posted by Robert Weitz on May 20, 2009 9:48 AM

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A Sign of Change – SunAmerica Wipes the AIG From Its Face!

Posted by Robert Weitz on May 5, 2009 10:48 AM

More changes in our neighborhood! The AIG SunAmerica sign that looked so very temporary to brand designers like ourselves has come down! The change has come, and now the tacky temporary sign that represented billions and billions of dollars is down. So, what’s next?

AIG SunAmerica

As we watch old established structures crumble, we inevitably wonder: What’s going to fill the void? The jokes have been flying around our studio—what three letters should take its place? IOU? PIG?

If you have any ideas, let us know and we’ll use our digital magic to add our favorite to a future post!

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The Annenberg Space for Photography – Not a Museum!

Posted by Robert Weitz on April 24, 2009 10:28 AM

We have a new neighborhood community center! It’s not what you are imagining—it doesn’t have basketball hoops or a pool. And while the councilman who brokered the deal, the developer and the Annenberg Foundation would probably like you to imagine that The Annenberg Space for Photography serves a wide range of citizens, it is smack dab in the middle of “the land of lawyers, CPAs and bankers” called Century City.

The Annenberg Space for Photography

That complaint out of the way, I really love the fact that I can walk over to this incredible exhibition space for photography, take in a show, snap a few pictures and be back in time for tea! I think the building is beautiful. It is sited in horizontal juxtaposition to the now almost stately twin Century Plaza Towers. (The towers are short stubby cousins of the World Trade Center designed by Minoru Yamasaki.)

Designed by AECOM Design (formerly DMJM Design) the building is, in my opinion, a “rare bird.” It is a singularly-conceived modernist building in the style of Mies at IIT, but detailed and built in a way that could only be done in the 21st century. I was stunned by the building’s grace and presence, and was really taken with its architectural integrity and brilliant siting.

Somehow the internal space is a little less successful, although I applaud the spirit of the thing. The obvious metaphor for the interior is wrapped up in the workings of the camera optics, but I think the interior team forced the issue. The point of the “parti,” I would assume, is to provide many opportunities to live with and spend time with photographic images.

The problem for many photography exhibitions and galleries is that collections most often exceed the size of available wall space. Using various digital playback devices, the “space” (not a museum) offers some wonderfully rich opportunities to see lot of digital images. The “rotunda” of the space features super high-res 14’ x 7’ 4k screens that offer an engaging way to see photography.

Beyond the amazing digital presentation in the rotunda, there are some real misses. There is precious little space for looking at actual photographs, and the entry has a west facing window wall that is cooking and bleaching out the photos during the midday. They have attempted to use a solar shade, but the result is hot and glary to say the least.

Also, we all had a good laugh over the Microsoft Surface 30-inch table monitors. It’s great for seeing how collection works in ensemble, but the resolution is awful, and what’s worse is that it is bleached out by the sun problem.

The Annenberg Space for Photography, which opened on March 27, is the brainchild of a real photography lover, Wallis Annenberg, and IMO a great idea. Maybe they will fix some of the shortcomings, and even if they don’t, it’s still a wonderful place to visit often.

I love the fact that they have created a bridge between the analog and digital worlds. Unfortunately, the analog got short-changed, which is a shame since no matter what, you can’t capture the full nature of a print digitally and there in lies the value of displaying the analog photos in a more careful and thought-out way.

Check out the inaugural exhibit “L8S ANG3LES,” featuring 11 top-notch LA photographers, through June 28, 2009. Admission is free.

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AIG SunAmerica – The brand identity tells the story

Posted by Robert Weitz on March 12, 2009 1:28 PM

I have learned all of my best lessons on the meaning and importance of “brand” from my clients. One of our earliest clients, Mike Katz, CEO of ICE Inc., and I were cruising around the Santa Monica Promenade one day looking for something “unusual” to snack on.

The two of us have spent hundreds of hours cruising around looking for snacks since the time we met traveling in Europe. Mike is particularly great at this pursuit since his early career included having opened, managed and cooked in some of San Francisco’s finest restaurants.

Snacking with Mike usually starts with the hunt and rarely ends in disappointment. The reason is that, between the two of us, we have a great sense of what is good, and how that manifests itself in the look and feel, the smell and the general vibe of the restaurant.

As we started winding down a few of the hidden little side streets that flow into the more touristy Promenade, we noticed an Egyptian restaurant. Our immediate reaction was “Wow, Egyptian food!” Within seconds, however, Mike was shaking his head. “Look at the sign,” he said sadly, “it’s crooked and dirty… I can only imagine how filthy the kitchen is if that’s how they keep their sign.”

AIG SunAmerica

When SunAmerica merged with AIG in 1998, somebody scabbed a lightbox-style sign (think laundry, fast food and used cars) onto the SunAmerica building in Century City, which is visible from my studio. The original SunAmerica logo and sign is well-crafted and suited to the modern tower they are bolted to. I always thought that the AIG part was a temporary fix, since the sign is dull, oftentimes looks dirty, is in a different style, and not even attached on the same plane.

Without any due diligence or knowing anything about the company, I could tell you that something was not right. Here is a sign that tops off a tower that can be seen for miles around, and it screams impermanence, shoddy branding and lack of interest in public perception.

The sign speaks eons about a corporate culture more interested in opulent internal incentive programs, exotic investments and executive payouts than a long-term relationship with their customers and shareholders. Why spend a couple of thousand dollars on a sign that tells everyone that our company plans to be around for a while and is proud to be an established business with long-term objectives?

If the brand is a herald that represents the attitude and standing of a company, AIG SunAmerica’s tacky, ill-conceived sign teaches us a lot about their attitude, culture and how much they care about what the public thinks.

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The Large Hadron Collider is…beautiful!

Posted by Robert Weitz on March 3, 2009 10:08 AM

One of our favorite blogs, Boing Boing, has been following the amazing work of photographer Peter McCready. McCready’s QTVR panoramas of the biggest, most intricate machines known to man are simply put—overwhelming. Both the expression, via simple but very high-res single node VR, and the objects McCready photographs evoke the kind of heart-thumping that occurs when one first sees St. Peter’s or the Grand Canyon.

Large Hadron Collider

McCready simulates immersion using very detailed QTVR photography, accompanied by the sounds of the actual environment. The environments he is documenting like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Compact Muon Spectrometer, and A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) are all machines that are designed and created to challenge and explore the outer most sanctums of our understanding of the universe. While not designed with beauty in mind, they are nevertheless sublimely beautiful.

Spend some time clicking through McCready’s site and remember to use the best audio and visual set up you have. I’ll be discussing this more in a future post.

This is the QTVR of the LHC.

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MUJI Invades America

Posted by Dylan Tran on February 9, 2009 2:16 PM

It’s ironic that in brand-obsessed Japan, one of the most popular brands is MUJI (short for Mujirushi Ryohin). What began in Tokyo over 25 years ago as a simple concept to create “no-brand quality products,” has now transformed into a global empire with over hundreds of stores in Asia and Europe.

Up until now, MUJI products, which include stationery, housewares, clothing, and toiletries, were only available in the U.S. through select museum stores such as the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. But in the last year, MUJI has finally invaded America, opening three retail stores in NY (SoHo, Times Square, Chelsea) with plans for many more locations nationwide.

I’m excited about this because MUJI products have long epitomized modern simplicity and functionality. MUJI pays attention to the smallest of details for the most basic of necessities. Take this aluminum card case, for example, which is elegant and minimalist in its design. The lines are sleek and clean; the materials are beautiful and lightweight. And it works amazingly well.

MUJI card case

Notice there’s no MUJI logo on the product? You won’t find it on any of their 7,000 items. That’s because the genius of MUJI is that the design is the brand. The aesthetic is so unique you won’t have trouble identifying any of their products.

MUJI has also set themselves apart by simplifying the packaging. Most items come in a plain plastic wrap to let you see what you get. There’s no printing, just the price sticker. And they’ve streamlined the manufacturing process in other ways as well, reducing waste and improving efficiency. They use earth-friendly natural and recycled materials in their products. Check out these foldable cardboard speakers, for instance.

MUJI speakers

All of these smart strategies have helped to keep MUJI’s prices low and affordable, and to garner them a devoted legion of fans worldwide. By emphasizing innovative design and high quality as the standard for their “no-brand,” they’ve managed to distinguish their products in a crowded marketplace. And that’s something we can all learn from.

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Modeling – The Shape of Finance, the World and Everything

Posted by Robert Weitz on February 2, 2009 1:25 PM

anfischer_indizes

Product designers/artists are very reliant on physical realities, whereas poets and mathematicians can be more abstract and ephemeral. The designer is often charged with fulfilling a specific need, like “paint that ceiling and tell a religious story” in the case of the Sistine Chapel, or “let’s try and fly” in the case of the Wright Brothers.

Typically, the artist/designer does some inquiry, prepares sketches and then executes the design, and in some cases, produces the final product. This method, probably invented in the craft guilds and later extended into the industrial revolution, relies on a carefully executed dialectic that begins with a cause, is interpreted by a creative mind and then produced often according to cultural precepts and traditions.

The resulting form, whether a religious building or an Apple iPhone, is the result of cultural narratives, artistic nuance and creative imagination.

iphone_stpeter

While great theoretical strides were made by radicals like the Dadaists, Fluxists, and say, John Cage, the simple structure of need, creative imagination and production remained fairly well intact until recently.

The work of German artist Andreas Nicolas Fischer exemplifies a fairly bold departure from the typical design process. It offers a glimpse of a future where the designer/artist envisions and creates with no natural object as a cause, and where the designer/artist designs the process, not the final object.

Fischer “concerns himself with the visualization of data, which normally lies beyond human perception.” His role is to set up a generative process that relies on data sources that have their own “shape” and evolve over time.

anfischer_fundament

His drawings, sculptures and installations are the result of a process he sets up so that the data generates a form. Of course the artist enters the mix as the one who sets the thing up, but the resulting forms are neither random nor planned. They are formal demonstrations of natural phenomena, and the resulting form demonstrates data points collected from nature.

I found that his forms tell stories, are emotional and in some cases, are profound. I’m sure that people more familiar with the data points he is describing, say his modeling of financial markets to a financial analyst, would be able to recount specific narratives not unlike the faithful gazing at the chapel ceiling.

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