Social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon or Delicio.us are great for finding interesting, quirky content. But the hunt is on for something better. One example: The just-launched PearlTrees, which allows you to lump and organize your links into network graphs. The best bit is that when you create a node in your network (a "pearl"), you can see who else has bookmarked that same link--and see what they've tagged as related content. A short video explains:
You might have noticed that startups like these are reaching a fever pitch--In recent weeks we've seen this Twitter visualization tool and Nebul.us, which does much of the same work as PearlTrees, with a more robust (albeit complex) visualization system.
The logic seems hard to fight: Think about how easy it is to get lost in all the content flying around on Digg or Stumble Upon. People naturally want to organize that information--and you can use that instinct to create a semantic network. And that network should make it easier for anyone to find the stuff they'd love but simply don't know enough about to search for. That's sure to be one of data visualization's killer apps--finding likeminded souls whose tastes might inspire your own.
The question is: Who can build their network the fastest? PearlTrees is a fascinating first step--but they've got a ways to go in creating an interface so fast that it's a joy to use. And that's what interfaces are all about (insert obligatory iPhone reference here).
It's 2030. Copenhagen has failed. Manhattan is a wading pool; Kansas has a beach. Our food supplies have crashed. And yet design snobs still exist. (Including, hopefully, yours truly.) What are they supposed to do, eat rats with their bare hands? Of course not. They catch rats, using the most stylish rat traps you've ever seen (above).
The pieces were conceived by 5.5 designers, as part of a "guide to free farming" that was just presented at the ICSID world design congress in Singapore. The whole idea is that we're surrounded by food sources. Sure, they're disgusting, but hey--it's 2030, and a guy's gotta eat. (That poncho printed with bricks? It's a camo suit for catching pigeons.)
The book is accompanied by some useful recipes, such street flower with grilled rat, and helpful tips on plucking a pigeon. (Which are good eats, BTW.)
For pics of these tools at work, check out DesignBoom.
Today is Jay-Z's birthday--he's 40! It's also marks the last weekday in the Worst Week Ever for Tiger Woods. Jay-Z has complained about his 99 Problems; Tiger's got at least as many. How do their problems compare?
Big ups to the person who designs the next chart comparing the country's current economic and unemployment woes to Jay's "Money, Cash, Hoes."
Next week, the 15th U.N. Climate Change Congress convenes in Copenhagen--and the world leaders and functionaries passing through the airport might be met with a bracing message: A new series of ads, created by Arc Communications for Greenpeace, which depicts aged world leaders ruing what might have been, if they'd acted more decisively.
The ads all feature a doctored image of a current world leader - so
that they look about ten years older - apologising from the future
(2020 to be precise) saying, "I'm sorry. We could have stopped
catastrophic climate change... We didn't."
"It's an apology from the future aimed at putting pressure on- and
just maybe making these world leaders think twice about the
consequences of their action or inaction now," explains the writer of
the ads Toby Cotton of new agency Arc Communications.
"The brief from Greenpeace International was simple," he continues,
"to put pressure on world leaders to create a fair and binding
agreement at Copenhagen."
Now, Copenhagen has often been hailed as a last-ditch effort, coming at a pivotal point when we can still act to radically curb our carbon emissions.
But not everyone thinks that the ideas being mooted are effective. The most powerful criticism has been that the various cap-and-trade proposals being tabled are all so complex and prone to loopholes that it would be better to scrap them in favor of a straight-up carbon tax. Which might be the best solution--while also being about as likely as breeding solar-powered unicorns who'll fly us to work.
Harry Pierce, a graphic designer and partner at Pentagram, is an avid collector of a type of puzzle the British call conundrums, graphic representations of common phrases. They can be devilishly hard, and when you find out the answer, you usually slap your head.
Now Pearce has produced his own book of 171 of these puzzles, Conundrums, which goes on sale this week.
Wallpaper* has just posted an entire slideshow's worth. To whet your appetite, here's a few. Scroll down for the answers we came up with...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1. Left: Neither here nor there Right: Overlaid
2. A Quiet Life
3. Left: Anyone care to guess, in the comments below? Right: Just Between You and Me.
Bilbao arguably launched the vogue for contemporary starchitecture, with the titanium-clad Guggenheim Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry. That vogue has wound down--witness Dubai. Urban planners are now gaining prominence, as we realize the connection between livable cities and low-carbon emissions.
So it makes impeccable sense that Bilbao's showiest new public work isn't another flashy building. It's a beautiful, faceted park.
Designed by ACXT,
the park serves as a promenade linking two neighborhoods, which had been separated by a odd, badly placed slip of land.
As Inhabitat writes, this is part of a larger movement in Bilbao:
Situated between the districts of Txurdínaga and Otxarcoaga, Pau Casals Square is part of a series of projects that Bilbao
has undertaken to improve urban spaces in the city's outlying areas,
creating connections between different neighborhoods and increasing the
quality of life for residents. These neighborhoods grew during the
post-war era, when they suffered from poor urban infrastructure and
disorderly planning, which created rocky unused spaces like this site
along Jesus Galindez Avenue.
All those seemingly willy-nilly concete facets you see serve a purpose: The site is steep and rocky, and prone to landslides. Rather than razing it, ACXT preserved as much as they could and shored up the trickiest sections with concrete.
Everyone knows the comic-book inspired work of Roy Lichtenstein. But for some, a measly painting just isn't enough. They'd prefer to actually live inside of one.
People seem all to happy to declare Twitter the future of the Internet. But it has one glaring flaw: The interface, which collapses all those tweets into one overwhelming stream of words.
Mentionmap is one attempt to solve that problem. The tool allows you to visualize your Twitter network in real-time, showing which people are interacting the most, and thus alerting you to topics and conversations generating heat among the people you're interested in hearing from.
The tool crunches all the people and hashtags being mentioned the most in your network. When one person mentions another, a line connects them; when multiple users are engaging in a cross-conversation, the results appear as a cluster. Hovering over the lines brings up detailed information about the subject. The thicker the line, the more frequent the number of cross mentions.
Tools like this are starting get some heat across various applications--Nebul.us, for example, allows you to visualize all your social networking content; this tool allows you see comment activity on Digg. But Mentionmap is the first tool we've seen that so elegantly tackles the Twitter interface problem. You hear that, Twitter? You guys working on something like this with all that VC cash that's lining your pockets?
Pish posh--they've got nothing on this new lamp by Studio Dror, being unveiled this week at Art Basel. The shade itself folds completely flat--it actually looks just like a bit of chicken wire or plastic fencing. But give it a tug, and the thing unfurls into a forest of interlocking cubes.
The only way to create something this complex is rapid prototyping--and laser sintering, to be exact. The process works by sweeping a laser across a pan of powdered nylon; when the lasers hit the nylon, it fuses ("sinters"). The process repeats in layers, until the final product emerges. Thus, you can create interlocking shapes all at once--for example, a chain whose links are completely closed.
Dror created the lamp for Materialise.MGX, which specialises in producing furniture using laser sintering. The lamp shade itself is designed so that the cubes are densest in the center--thus diffusing the light simply by overlapping.
If the name Dror sounds vaguely familiar, then it's probably because the studio, founded by Dror Benshetrit, recently designed a line for Target.
Erik Stehmann, a recent design-school graduate, thinks design takes itself too seriously--the fun has been sucked out of the room, but a bunch of stiff-limbed jerks in black. So instead, he creates objects using techniques inspired by kid's toys.
Balloon animals are a particular fascination. For his Tube Chair, he experimented with them for months, looking for ways to recreate their shapes in other materials. Eventually, he hit upon the idea of wire coated in foam and upholstery. The chairs are made by bending and twisting, just like that creepy clown did at your sixth birthday:
His Inflating Lights puff and breath like cuddly living things. Tiny photovoltaics are used to power ventillators; when you turn on the light, the shade puffs up with air. Turn it off, and it sags and deflates:
This one looks a whole lot like telephones you made out of two cans and a string, or like those suction cups that Inspector Gadget used to scale buildings. But it's actually a coat hanger--you just afix each suction cup to the wall.
You know those beads that fill stuffed animals? Here, a lamp created by filling sealed cotton shapes with expanding foam--creating what looks like a cuddly kid's toy:
For more pics and projects, check out Design Milk.
