Pre-Ramble:  Every K. blog post can’t be as lofty as that last piece on the trebuchet … sometimes they’re just going to be down and dirty …

Well, so, on October 30th, Brian McGuinn accidently threw his wife Anne’s 1.5 carat, custom-designed ring, valued at $10,000, into the trash.  The ring eventually made its way to the landfill and was presumed lost.

Huge bummer.

Mr. McGuinn, however, was determined to find the “irreplaceable” memento and donned a haz-mat suit to wade through an estimated nine tons of seriously disgusting garbage to find it.

Astoundingly, 90 minutes later, he surfaced with the sludge-covered treasure and rushed it over to a nearby jeweler to be cleaned. (Heck yeah!?!)

“Once I found it, I actually let out a manly scream!,” says McGuinn, who describes the moment of finding his wife’s bling amongst the garbage as winning the lottery.

The Take-Away:  Wow.

Post-Note:  If you’re calling it “a manly scream,” that automatically means it isn’t.

In an oddly related story, the rings shown below are made by the up-cycle artists at Metal And Thread out of “actual trash picked up off the ground.” A description of the rings …

“A sustainable and artistic approach was used to make these pop art jewelry pieces. The lighters were found on the street and were carved, sanded, shaped and finally filled at the top with acrylic to finish the look. Colors vary depending on what Nate happens to find in the street.”

… a real find at $17.50 each.

Pre-Ramble:  It’s a bird, … it’s a plane, … no … it’s a German satellite, potentially headed for a backyard near you!

The satellite, known as ROSAT, was launched in 1990 by the German Aerospace Agency, DLR. The agency estimates that ROSY (far less menacing with a cute nickname), packing a combined mass of 1.7 tons, is likely to fall from space at speeds of up to 450 kilometers per hour somewhere between Oct. 21 and 24.

Apparently, there are currently more than 22,000 pieces of space debris orbiting the Earth (map shown at right), with bits and pieces entering the Earth’s atmosphere on a weekly basis — !?  DLR scientists put the risk of being hit by a stray piece of ROSAT at 1-in-2,000 (i.e., the probability of someone on Earth getting injured is one for every 2,000 “de-orbit events” … ).

The Take-Away:  Well, one thing’s for sure – if big hunk of burnin’ German love ”de-orbits” into in my yard, I’m going to keep it and make it into a coffee table.

Post-Note:  If you want to keep tabs on ROSAT’s orbit in real-time, go to n2yo.com.

Another Post-Note:  If you’re into space junk, you’re bound to be bowled over by the curiously striking beauty of the Binary Low Table (shown below). According to its creator, BRC Designs, the table was “inspired by pallets of obsolete computers and electronics that were collecting dust in a local warehouse … The surface is completely covered with a collage of motherboards, computer chips, led screens and hard drive discs … “ (… And, there’s a matching chair!)

Pre-Ramble:  I’ve been torn this last week or so between blogging about brand-identity/innovation/strategy-related topics and gushing over the upcoming royal wedding (T- minus 2 days!!!).  Well, thanks to one of my London readers (right there with a front row seat on all the action), I can do both! 

Mug shot – In my last post (April 24th), I told you all about the awesome royal mug I had ordered in commemoration of the Big Day (not it at right).  As you will recall, the piece (referred to on its website by the clunky term ”tankard”), sports a very elaborate design involving swoopy looping fonts and elegant botanically inspired patterns in dusty powder blue and gold leaf. Very formal and traditional, and perfectly reflecting the very formal and traditional vibe of the royal British monarchy.

Then, ZING!  This morning in my inbox is a note from the London reader along with a link to the website of Dhub, a design agency (based in London) which has taken a new tack on royal wedding commemorative collections design.  As detailed on their site, the Dhub designers wanted to create something more “significant and modern,” … presenting “designs that take into consideration the Facebook generation, popular culture and modern design … a brand that identifies with and is relevant to the 20th century … ”

“The Royal family has changed shape and form over the years and in 2011 they appear as a totally different force from the previous years of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. The Royal family are now a global phenomenon, the press allow the public to see them in a more down to earth and human light, no longer will the Royal family be regarded as elite, they are representative of traditional British culture, but there lies the failing of the current design approach to the celebration of the Royal Wedding this year. The British culture is now about opportunity, energy, creativity, youth, style and perfection.”

One look at their crisp, engaging solutions (example shown above and on website) demonstrates that they have succeeded in a big way!  Each of the designs incorporates the royal couple’s initials (Kate’s is, of course, team favorite, a “K”!) and simple, iconic crown images rendered in combinations of Union Jack red, white and blue.  The results are just the right mix of traditional cues and “creative, youthful and vibrant” elements. 

Well done, chaps … and a timely find in light of growing sentiment that the youthful and vibrant young Prince William is potentially “in danger of over-shadowing his far less popular father, Prince Charles,” the next in line for the throne.  Anthony Faiola at the Washington Post describes the challenges ahead for the “idiosyncratic Prince Charles,” citing recent public opinion polls that reveal a popularity gap between father and son … 46% percent of respondents believe that Prince Charles should step aside. 

The Take-Away:  At this point, matters around succession to the crown are protected by law; nonetheless, the dichotomy represents an interesting dilemma for the royal “brand” and highlights the value of relevance in a constantly evolving world and marketplace.  “Brand William” would be nothing without the foundational heritage established by the kings and queens who have worn the crown before him, however, it is the British monarchy that will be irreparably diminished if they fail to embrace, in some meaningful way, this free pass into ”creative, youthful and vibrant” royal relevance for the 21st century.

Post-Note:  Thanks for the tip, London reader! (And if you happen to score a snappy photo of the royal K & W, feel free to send that over as well!!)

Pre-Ramble: As an ex-graphic designer, I always have my eye out for stuff I would put in my “wish-I-had-designed-that” pile. 

The IBM Smarter Planet campaign is all that …  It’s engaging, concise, bold, versatile yet cohesive, playful yet meaningful, colorful and memorable. 

Centered in the clean white space of a full-page ad, the circular shape of the main image attracts the eye, while five uniform cartoon lines (resembling the hair of “Wilson,” the soccer ball in the movie “Castaway”) bring an element of excitement and energy.  

The award-winning series was developed in 2009 by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather to showcase the IBM business platform of products and services. 

“The ‘smart planet’ thought came out of a speech by the CEO of IBM, which is always a good place to start! At the agency we began noodling around with ideas based on this, and one day one of our junior art directors came up with this beautiful graphic icon of a planet with little “think rays” popping out of the top. It looked like the planet just got smart.

Not only was it a great idea, but it also opened up a completely new visual language for IBM—one based on graphic design. As the campaign developed, we started collaborating with some amazing new contemporary graphic artists, like IBM used to
do with people like Paul Rand, Eliot Noyes, and Charles and Ray Eames.”

Always room for a “new visual language” — especially one that gives graphic artists room to show their stuff.

The Take-Away: I love this campaign!  I love encountering it while leafing through the newspaper — BAM!!  Good design — In your face! … And, it doesn’t hurt that today’s version (shown above) looks like a giant sparkling jewel (… smiley face icon with “think rays” here … ).

Pre-Ramble:  So, while the snow is still piling up outside and college students are dreaming of their Spring Break trips to sunny and warm places … giant pink and red rose blossoms are springing up along Park Avenue in NYC.

“The Roses” is a whimsical installation by artist Will Ryman featuring 38 “over-sized pink and red rose blossoms”  (shown at right) that cover ten blocks of the Park Avenue Mall between 57th and 67th Streets.

The cartoonish clusters of fiberglass and stainless steel buds are 5 to 10 feet in diameter and have stems that rise up to 25 feet above the street. Several oversize petals are also scattered on the ground up the block; some of which double as lawn chairs. Beetles, ladybugs, aphids and a bee teeter on the stems and peek out from behind the petals, … playfully menacing thorns stick out from the curving stems.

 In their exaggerated scale “The Roses” evokes the Pop sculptures of Claes Oldenburg [the most personally memorable of which is the “Spoonbridge and Cherry” which resides in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center ... shown below in the snow]  The rose petal surfaces, which are individually painted, [are] bumpy and irregular and underscore Mr. Ryman’s reaction against the slicker works of artists like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.  … “For me, unless the hand is present, humanity is absent from the piece,” says Ryman.

The fanciful flora popped up over night on January 25^th and will remain on site until May 31^st  … Hopefully some actual flowers will be blooming at that point.

The Take-Away:  I’m headed out to the Big Apple in mid-March — Can’t wait to see ”The (Big) Roses”!!

Pre-Ramble:  My very eclectic artist, teacher, traveler Uncle Richard sent over a comment on my last blog post, Faux-cumentary, ( … watch that pronunciation) 5/6/10 along with the photo of street art shown below. 

I’ve been meaning to see that movie ["Exit Through the Gift Shop"] for several weeks now… Since I used to teach art in a juvenile detention facility, and a number of schools on the wrong side of D.C., I became very interested in the “wild style.” The best graffiti I’ve seen is in Barcelona. Here’s a piece I caught in Athens last month. The 420 refers to drugs – there’s a lot of drug reference in street art.”

The Take-Away:  Regardless of the potentially objectionable subject matter or the element of vandalism inherent in graffiti, there is something so spontaneous, expressive, powerful and free about it.

Post-Note:  Next time you’re in Athens, keep your eye out for this piece (hopefully, it hasn’t been removed), and if you happen upon some other interesting street art, do take a pic and send it over!

Pre-Ramble: Hi, it’s me Daisy – I pitched this great story idea at our weekly editorial meeting and Mom said if I was really inspired, I should go for it (writing up the story, not digging a giant hole in the family room). 

This goes in the “I could totally do that” category … an art installation (shown right) created in 2007 by Swiss artist, Urs Fischer, for Gavin Brown’s New Museum space in New York City’s West Village. The piece is a 38-foot-by-30-foot hole, eight feet deep, that extends almost to the walls of the gallery, surrounded by a fourteen-inch ledge of jagged concrete flooring that serves as a viewing platform. The pit/art, titled You, took ten days to build and cost around $250,000  (talk about throwing your money down a hole). 

New York Magazine’s Jerry Saltz gives a pretty accurate characterization of the effort:

A gallerist has got to have a lot of faith in an artist to let him rip through the concrete, upend pipes, and fill the space with a huge open trench of dirt and debris.”

Open trench? … Dirt and debris? … (and I’m pretty sure I saw some bits of rawhide in there too) … This is my kind of art!  

Minimalist yet surreal – I thought it might be useful to consider other interpretations of Fischer’s work. Here is more of what Jerry Saltz had to say about it:

Fischer’s extraordinary installation touches on the tradition of indoor earthworks that includes pieces from the sixties and seventies by Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Smithson, … and others, while also bringing together many of his ongoing themes of transparency, transformation, disruption, and destruction.”

‘You’ simultaneously attacks and fetishizes the attributes of galleries, the qualities that the critic Brian O’Doherty has described as ‘something of the sacredness of churches, the austerity of courtrooms, the mysteriousness of research laboratories, something that, together with stylish designs, makes them unique cultic places of the aesthetic.’”

In a very minimalist yet surreal and expressionistic way, ‘You’ makes space palpable. Initially the chasm dominates your vision and takes over the room …” (duh) …

Experientially rich, buzzing with energy and entropy, crammed with chaos and contradiction, and topped off with the saga of subversion that is central both to the history of the empty-gallery-as-a-work-of-art, but also to the Gavin Brown experience itself, this work is brimming with meaning and mojo… a Herculean project.”

‘You’ is less a Deconstructivist avant-garde gesture or a parodic work of anti-art than it is an inversion machine. To be in it is to be above and below at the same time. You are indoors and outdoors; there are the perfect white walls of the gallery and this red-brown New York earth.”

This is an amazing sight that warps psychic space. It’s a bold act that brings on claustrophobia and agoraphobia at the same time, makes you look at galleries in a new way, and serves as a bracing palate cleanser.”

Here, here! … I know I’ll never look at a gallery the same way again! And, I’m sure I’ve braced my palate with the likes of the gritty fare on display here.

A brief chat with Urs – In closing, I thought it would be super interesting to get a better sense of Mr. Fischer as an artist.  The following is a clip from a recent conversation between Urs and New Museum gallery owner, Gavin Brown for Interview Magazine:

GAVIN BROWN: In our day-to-day activities there are a lot of things I don’t ask you.

URS FISCHER: Likewise.

GB: Like, I didn’t know until recently that you hadn’t gone to art school. That’s getting rarer these days. It actually makes me think that to be an artist, maybe you shouldn’t go to art school anymore.

UF: I think it’s about different generations. Many artists who don’t go off to art school come to New York. It’s about what you learn when you’re here.

GB: So where did you learn about art?

UF: I don’t know. Everywhere.

GB: Did you learn more, say, when you were 16 than you did when you were 26? Does what you learned apply better now?

UF: You basically only discover a new thing once. Actually, I’m only starting to learn about art art now.

GB: What’s art art?

UF: Art, like in the historical sense.

GB: Are you learning about that from books?

UF: Yeah. Sculpture from 2,000 or 3,000 years ago or more has similar concerns as it does now.

GB: Like what?

UF: Maybe an artist’s position in society is different today because it’s more individualistic. Maybe you’re not a direct servant anymore to the patron-you’re an indirect servant, or a servant with a choice, or maybe you could not even serve. That doesn’t matter. What I mean is, it’s the same. It’s the way you make something. Take a relief. You draw it, you carve it out. Later you build it up from a flat surface. There is no other way to do a sculpture-you either add or you subtract. There are only two choices, and it’s the same today.

The Take-Away:  There are tons of fascinating, wild, creative, odd things going on in the world all the time – sometimes right under your feet. All you have to do is dig around a little.

Post-Note:  I just hope Urs got all the mud off his paws before going back in the house.

Pre-Ramble:  The following post was recently written (by me, as a contributing editor) for the PUSH Institute.  Founded by visionary Cecily Sommers, PUSH is an organization that monitors under-the-radar technologies, markets, people, and ideas that are pushing the future in new directions, and divines their implications for business, government, and nonprofit sectors in the years ahead … all to foster and promote “strategic foresight.” (And who couldn’t use a little of that?)  Check out PUSH at the link above!

So, here is the post.  It’s about the role of typography in the modern marketplace … (this kind of thing is really fascinating to us “designer types” … )

________________________________________

I was blown away the first time my accountant used the “f” word.  Since when does a bean counter talk bold face and italics?

B.C. (before computers) the word “font” was exclusive to graphic design.  Basically, unless you were a card carrying “creative,” you never had meaningful access to the secret society of typography. (Afterall, there are rules about this stuff … when typography falls into the wrong hands, all kinds of illegible things can happen.)

Anyone who has practiced the fine art of graphic design prior to the main-stream presence of word processing knows what I’m talking about. If I start waxing on about “keylining” or the living hell of “type spec-ing” you have my permission to slap my wrists with your pica ruler (google it). Let’s just say that, like nearly every aspect of our modern way of life, the design field, and specifically the manipulation of typography, has been literally transformed by technology.

In his classic tome, Designing with Type (1971), James Craig reveals the back story on all things typography — symbolic pictographs, ideographs, and early alphabets like Phoenician, Greek and Roman. Craig discusses the anatomy of a letter and common font terminology like: uppercase, lowercase, x-height, ascender, descender, counter, serif, san serif, boldface, italic, condensed, extended, leading, point size, punctuation marks, and the beloved “ampersand” … &.

When it comes to specific fonts, Craig has his favorites and goes into great depth on five classics that he believes provide a “standard by which to judge/evaluate all typefaces” — Garamond, Baskerville, Bodoni, Century Expanded, and Helvetica. I’m guessing that he would look askance at some of the fonts I’ve uncovered in my research here.

I’d invite Prof. Craig to contrast the Bodoni cap “S,” for example, with a cap “S” configuration designed by Estonian font designers, Vladimir and Maksim Loginov, made out of biscuit dough (biscuit alphabet shown above right). The brothers Loginov specialize in developing “unique, untraditional fonts.”  From the myraid samples offered on their website, I’d say they have exceeded this expectation.

The Take-Away: If you’re still thinking that nothing could be more pedestrian than font design, fasten your seatbelts and take a look at the iQ Font project by Pierre Smeets and Damian Aresta. I’d bet large sums of money that the genesis of this idea occurred in a dorm room somewhere.

iQ font – When driving becomes writing / Full making of from wireless on Vimeo.