Sunday 31 August 2008

Imagine Visual Thinking

Beautiful graphics, dooodles, animation visually interpreting the spoken narrative language of John Lennon.

38 years ago, Jerry Levitan, who was then only 14 years, managed to interview John Lennon, during his stay in Montreal. Starting recordings of the interview, filmmaker Josh Raskin has created an animation that reproduces, word for word, visual language, the arguments of John Lennon.

'A small gem that reminds me of the thematic map in motion' by Philippe David Boukobza.

It has nice literal interpretation of johns dialgoue. Lovely layered effects with varying zoom perspectives.

I am curious about a graphic of we all have hitler inside and we all have christ inside when referring to violence.

Also love the graphic of sounds/music literally within inside countries and beautiful organic changing from each individual world shape.

I agree philippe, fantastic gem from josh raskin and co.

blogged here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heuristiquement.com%2F2008%2F08%2Fimagine.html&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=fr&tl=en

Thursday 28 August 2008

Nintendo Map

Quite an apt time to discover an excellant visual map of the rise and development over 23 years of nintendo's technology in the games console market.

With them re-emerging with the fantastic and amazingly affordable interactive technology (although not to moi), of the wii it is great to observe the development of the brand.

I dont know how but they have also transformed (in the uk) the brand of dr kowa-shee-ma (no disrespect) for their handheld DS. They have taken the addictivness of Tetris from the Gameboy and transferred it to a universal appeal of 'training your brain'.

I was addicted to 'SNES' and would probably be called a 'retro gamer' now as i am addicted to Mario Kart & the greatest game ever Super Bomberman 3 (this was the multiplayer version).

Enough nostalgia this map gives you an excellant overview, it is clean & informative of the different hardware and dates of release. It also gives you a subtle reflective summary of nintendo's brand Mario over the years.

The clean white design of the wii and the DS (although you can get different colours) give it a avant garde look that is reciprocated in the award winning clean white packaging design of Apples Ipod.

Excellant

Cheers phillippe

found here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heuristiquement.com%2F&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=fr&tl=en

Sunday 24 August 2008

Graphic Design Map

This is an excellant visual diagram that visualizes the evolution of graphic design. It is a minimal black and white design with dates/columns accross the top and divided into 3 rows:

  1. Art and design movements
  2. Influential Designers
  3. Developments and events

The 1st row was used partly as inspiration for type timeline as well as some dates, details references such as dates aiga formed, atypi etc.

The 2nd would yield fantastic research from any of the designers mentioned, all hihgly important figures in graphic design. some myabe harder to find resaerh on then others.

The 3rd as mentioned i used for some dates, but there is also william henry fox talbot mentioned with his pioneering work using silver nitrate solution and louis daguerre that I wasn't aware of. Then travelling right the way through to 1984 invention of the macintosh computer.

very detailed, very good

found: on a tutors wall a while ago and so made a copy.

sorry dont know the book it was originally photocopied from. know who to show to ask and jog their memory if necessary.

Thursday 21 August 2008

Domain Name Map

This is a great complex domains visualisation of how we are provided with our unique url website addresses.

The creators of this domain name system diagram hope to provide a comprehensive picture of how its governed, how it works and what it is.

They keep clean and minimal to help you feel at ease navigating this complex map and a hint of yellow for a starting point guide along the many multidirectional connections.

Along with the yellow they also suggest you can start anywhere or go from 'people' no 1 grey arrow (very small). They have these arrows numbered around which you can use to navigate it as well.

TLD's are Top Level Domain names that are run by Registars such as VeriSign who buy the rights to run .com's ($115,000) & .nets ($115,000) & Afilas who run .info ($115,000). They have to provide public access to their databases searchable at whois.net and purchase these TLD's from ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names & Numbers) a non-profit organisation chartered by US government.

I read just a little from the 'people' and followed it easily, recognising whois and hwo they fit into it all.

Excellant Diagram

featured here: http://visualthinkmap.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=2168552%3APhoto%3A1124


Sunday 17 August 2008

Pictograms / Signs


Polyclinic pictograms (3)
Originally uploaded by goenetix
These have some quirky visual thinking for pictographic signs from a 60's polyclinic in Prague, Czech Republic.

They really gets me thinking of what they stand for having a lack of czech understanding. Always like variations of the iconic human shape. would be interesting to know who started that representational form.

Thursday 14 August 2008

Periodic Table of Design

Problem solving [Ps], Visual thinking [Vt], Information [In], Communication [C], Language [L], Technology [T], Shapes [S], Form [Fo] & Function [Fu].

Just the first 9 elements in my periodic table of design. I had a sketched idea to try it in one of my notebooks. then saw the periodic table of visualisation methods by Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler, had seen simon pattersons rhodes to reason done in 95' and so kept making notes of things that should be included until had a good structure (below). might have missed things but found some of the elements were already covered under another. any other suggestions please let me know.

Not quite as interactive as the visualisation methods table by eppler and lengler but hopefully equally as useful to overview the topic of design and have a substantially improved awareness of design releated issues/elements.

published here: http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/when-elements-go-extinct

Monday 11 August 2008

World of Art Game

This was a great diagram I discovered that helps understand/simplify some of the complexities of the art world in an excellantly designed visualisation.

Adelheid Mers subverts this diagrma of rather than being just a diagram he would transform it into a game, with players following the artists.

Start life at college, finish with a clear mind. It has excellant pictographic symbols of people/places with clean, soft contrasts/graduation of monochromatic colours.

'ABOUT WORLD OF ART: Curator Mary Jane Jacob had seen the diagrams after Lakoffat the Chicago Open Studio, and commissioned me to create a poster for a workshop symposium she was organizing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago:

"Setting Up Your Art and Your Life - Strategies for a Sustained Practice".

The idea was to create a diagram of an artist, not based on a book, but on my own expertise. Conjuring up elements I wished to include, it first became apparent how crowded the world of art is (artists, audiences, curators, juries, dealers, students, critics, historians etc.), then how many locations are involved, and then, in discussion with Mary Jane, it became very clear that how we value the players and the locales varies greatly as well.

As the task was not to diagram my personal belief system, two design possibilities presented themselves: to indicate all possible varieties, or to make a game in which all possibilities are evoked. The game seemed to be appropriate, and it was printed on the rear of the poster that announced the symposium, as a treat of sorts. Later I also printed a larger version and made game pieces to go along with it'.

found: http://thediagram.com/5_1/mers.html

link featured: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davegray/355002597/

high res: http://thediagram.com/5_1/mers_woa.pdf

Thursday 7 August 2008

Communication Animation



Saw it and thought I do like the sketched animation look. always draws my attention. A Brief History of Communication, the new ad for The Carphone Warehouse, is a charming stop motion animation by Kristofer Strom, the Swedish artist behind You Tube hit Minilogue (equally as creatively brilliant).

There is a wonderful sequence of the development of the phone from the circular dial, to seperate buttons and then a quaint cultural script of the old 'brick' mobile phones. Then its decrease in size sequenced wonderfully in a clockwise twist from phone, to Ipod/Mp3, to mouse (with quirky/surreal ear phones as its wire) & to RSS symbol (blogging/feeds).

Still with more shifting directions/perspectives it continues fast and sharp until back to mobile with GPS mapping technology into a laptop finishing with the future technology of flying engine subtly anchoring that Chitty Bang Bang idea of flying automobiles.

If it was stop motion, there must have been a thousand photos, but it was worth every last one.

Excellant

cheers

Kristofer

found: on youtube

dugg here: http://digg.com/television/The_Carphone_Warehouse_A_Brief_History_of_Communication

(alas, never the first).

Sunday 3 August 2008

Nokia Map

The new Nokia 6220 advertisement promoting its mapping technology available on it with, a giant collaborative map. Contrasting close ups of people of varying ages with close ups of pencils/pens even a wonderfully kept one of the pencil nib breaking it creates an excellant mix of creativity, enjoyment and concentration.

No surprise of its brilliance from Wieden & Kennedy, they just do it, sorry about the pun.

Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London
Agency Producer: Lucy Russell
Creative Director: Matt Gooden, Ben Walker
Art Director: Dan Norris
Copywriter: Ray Shaughnessy
Production Company: Partizan, London
Director: Antoine Bardou Jacquet
Producer: David Stewart
DOP: Damien Morisot
Art Director: Chris Oddy
Editor: Bill Smedley, Work, London
Post Production: The Mill, London
Telecine Operator: Paul Harrison
On-line Operator: Barnsley
Music Composer: Wave, London

More at: http://advertisingpawn.com

featured here: http://visualthinkmap.ning.com/video/video/show?id=2168552%3AVideo%3A788