It’s great how the usb stick has become a race to give them personality, style, and fun. There’s the slick metal ones, the sushi ones, the usb ring, the cute mimobots, and now some whimsical ones that hint at the storage capacity. When the function of an object is limited to changes, the creative juices kick in to give plain boring products some jazz and spunk! Pictured above is Michael Leungs ruler usb stick which depicts the capacity of a stick based on the length. On the right is a usb bag that acts like a stomach. The more stored in it, the larger it gets. I wonder if you can squeeze the belly to copy data out of it? fun fun fun!
thoughts
Some wooden structures by The Art Office have been surfing the net lately. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share how similar this project is to a lamp project I created way back in high school and my early years at RISD. I guess when you have a real studio, you stop buying popsicle sticks and use 2 x 4’s. Anyhow, all great stuff!
One of my favorite commercials was the “Ugoff” series for BurgerKing in 2004. Recently some really great VW commercials came out which reminded me of them, and whala…it’s the same freakin firm! If you have not seen either series, your missing out! If your a designer, you’ll have a great appreciation for the “Ugoff” series. Anyhow, they rock!Crispin Porter+Bogusky
Ugoff commercials one, two, web (look into “ugoffliments”)
VW commercials one, two, three
Did you ever wonder how a computer thinks? Well, if so, Martin Wattenberg has created an awesome application that visualizes a computers thinking process. If your into “information visualization”, have a go at his other incredible projects.
If your a fan of Jimmy Kimmel’s TV skit “Unnecessary Censorship“, you’ll get a kick out of these shirts. You know how TV stations blur out logos, profane images, or words… well, Ironic Sans brings that “blur” to reality with your very own censored-ish shirts. It’s funny how people fill in bleeped or blurred images with their own imagination and come up with profane thoughts. Adam Connely is another artists that does pixelated art, though, his images are a bit more obvious from a distance.
Are ya looking for some cool interactive ambient light projects? If so, link yourself over to UnitedVisualArtists. They have a some great project using light and interactive sensors. Some are a bit trippy, but a few are breathtaking. Make sure to watch their project video clips. I’ll list a few of my favorites:Victoria and Albert Museum
Interactive Installation
Massive Attack
Fashion Show
Here’s a slick jacket by IDIOM. Then again, I’m a sucker for products with an “apple affect”. In the design world, the “apple affect” is where the outside is one color, but the insides a burst of another. There are tons of great products with this design element. I’ll list a few:
There are two incredible developments in the interactive tables arena, the muti-touch table by Jef Han and the touch table by >Applied Minds. So, whats next?… A freakin dynamic 3D version of one!!! Yes, like the one in the X-men movie. Xenotran has developed a Dynamic Sand Table (DST) that can produce accurate topographic models in under 3 minutes. It’s basically a table with a bunch of needles that retract or extrude upwards to represent the projected terrain. Watching this table work is awesome!Touch Table (has video clips)
Multi-Touch Table
Xenotran Table w/videos
Touch-Table /3D table demoat EG (a must watch!)
Geocities was bought for 3.6 billion dollars in 1999 by Yahoo. Facebook, one of the newer trendy social networks, is apparently trying to sell themselves for 2 billion now. The founders of Facebook are Harvard undergrad dropouts. The number of American millionaires is at a record high of about 9 million Millionaires. Are all of these social networks worth this much? Myspace, Orkut, Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, etc?
Sure makes me wonder when I’m going to make my million. Check out those links, figure out a better network, and go make a billion.
The 2005 Solar Decathlon competition has an amazing assortment of incredible designs based on sustainable energy-efficient living. The competition introduces a variety of innovative methods to use solar energy and high-tech materials. If you dig deep into some of the submissions, you’ll be blown away by the student concepts. I recently saw a special on TV about this competition and became hooked. They recently announced the roundup of schools invited to compete in 2007.
Sounds been a hot topic in the past few years. Pictured right are “Glas Platz”, glass speakers, an elegant solution to those large ugly looking speakers. This technology also works by using the SoundBug, which is a device you slap onto to any hard surface, and whala, that surface projects sounds. Below are a few more sound based inventions I’ve come across. Enjoy!
SoundBug -surface speaker device
Feonic Tech products– a bunch of sound concepts
Glas Platz -glass speakers
HyperSonicSound(HSS) -directed sound
AudioSpotlight -directed sound
Herman Miller Babble -White noise for your cubicle
I have no idea what this is, but it grabs my curiosity! Each of those bubbles have number displays in them… hmmm.
via mocoloco
Japan Design Net (images)