Norman Bel Geddes’ models have added an extra dimension to pictorial reporting. By recreating large or small parts of the sea and the earth’s surface in miniature they have made it possible for the camera to take positions which would normally be highly unusual or impossible. By the use of these models, the lens may [...]
Category Archives: art & design
Living Bridges
Along the banks of the region’s many rivers, rubber fig trees grow shallow root systems that cling to the tops of rocks and other surfaces. Residents figured out that , using the trunks of other trees, they could guide these roots to grow straight and long – across to the opposite bank. On the other [...]
Ben Tolman: “Cognitive transformation”
I found this illustration on Mind Hacks first. It reminded me of Fritz Kahn’s artwork for a moment. That was before I explored Ben Tolman’s gallery, featuring ink drawings which can be viewed with great detail through zoomify. Ben Tolman invites us to a great experience consisting of various wanderings on his website. Mouse scrolls [...]
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Designing Complexity
The point is that there is no ‘easy energy future’. We’ve got to stop trying to sell people the idea that there are obvious ways to deal with the kinds of complex systems that govern both our social and environmental lives. It is often expressed that it is the task of designers to “make things [...]
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Uncanny Valley
Last Saturday, I was reading an article from Le Devoir about a reconstructed carthaginian man who died 2600 about years ago. Journalist Pauline Gravel’s description of dermoplasty was the most interesting thing about it: Une fois la tête posée sur le corps, Élisabeth Daynès a entrepris le moulage de l’ensemble de la sculpture de terre. [...]
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“It’s all language”
I prefer my title to the one the video uploaded was with: “Graphic Design can change your life”. On his blog, Erik Spiekermann comments it with a simple “their words, not mine”. A blog really worth exploring, by the way. This excerpt is taken from an interview with Gestalten.tv (which I’ve just discovered as well). [...]
Fract – “Indie Adventure Game”
FRACT – Indie Adventure Game from Richard Flanagan on Vimeo. “FRACT is an atmospheric adventure game set in an abstract forgotten world of analog sounds, samples and glitches. Myst + Rez with a heavy dose of Tron.” The game, designed by Richard Flanagan, “has been selected as one of the 2011 Independent Games Festival student [...]
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Runxt Life
Runxt Life – Introduction from Firma 103 on Vimeo. From Runxt: « Runxt Life is a generative music application created for the iOS® platform based on the cellular automaton theory “Conway’s Game of Life” by John Horton Conway. The ‘game’ is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring [...]
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Dynamics and technology
By the early 1990s, remarkable advancements in two commercial 3–D modeling software packages, Alias/Wavefront and Softimage, offered revolutionary possibilities for architectural design. Alias, the forerunner of todays Maya, was developed for the automobile industry to model complex car parts, and it got architects talking when filmmakers used it to create the 3–D special effects in [...]
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“Lost,”
When I found this on Phil Jone’s Blog, Benjamin’s description of a work of art’s aura came back to mind: What, then, is the aura ? A strange tissue of space and time: the unique apparition of a distance, however near it may be. To follow with the eye – while resting on a summer afternoon [...]
