Man Ray: An Artist Any Designer Could Love

Ken Carbone — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:11:40 -0500

Man Ray has one of the coolest names in the history of art. However, he was born Emmanuel Radnitzky. He rejected his birth name moved to Paris in 1921 and became the sole American in the vanguard of Parisian Modernism. This transformation represented a conflicted identity and his deep desire to escape the limitations of his Russian Jewish past.

Penalty! Unnecessary Blandness! Redesigning the Worst NFL Helmet Graphics

Ken Carbone — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:26:17 -0500

The conservative columnist George Will once said football combines the two worst things about America: violence punctuated by committee meetings. As a designer who occasionally gets caught up in the fury of the game, I'd like to add graphic design to what's wrong with football.

Big League Chew: Phils Out-Spit Yanks

Ken Carbone — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:30:49 -0500

To quote the late, great sportscaster Jim McKay, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" never looked better than in high-definition TV. The pristine, crystal clarity of the widescreen image adoringly captures an athlete's grace, strength, speed and--in the case of baseball--his saliva.

Major League Baseball is the expectorator sport.

Creepy, Crawly, Crafty: A Tapestry Woven by Eight-Legged Artists

Ken Carbone — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:28:35 -0400

What could possibly drive two men to spend $500,000 of their own money over four years, become employers of a million female spiders, and rekindle an indigenous tradition on the island of Madagascar? The answer: To create an incredibly beautiful artifact that is unique in the world.

Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers, and Racing Machines

Ken Carbone — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:30:06 -0400

This slideshow highlights five of my favorite custom bikes from the exhibition, Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers, and Racing Machines at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. I’ve limited the technical information because I have no idea how to describe the impressive features of these motorcycles. More importantly, I want to avoid incurring the wrath of any burly bikers who may be reading this should I confuse a brake caliper with a clutch housing. The exhibition is up until October 25, 2009.

Designed to be Wild: Full Throttle Choppers In Vermont

Ken Carbone — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:38:37 -0400

I've never ridden a motorcycle and probably never will. Too fast, too dangerous. However, this conviction was seriously challenged when I visited Full Throttle: Vintage Motorcycles, Custom Choppers and Racing Machines at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont this past summer.

A Better Way to Health Care Reform: We Need an Information Design S.W.A.T. Team

Ken Carbone — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:34:49 -0400

Long before the "town brawls", "grass roots vs. Astro-Turf," and "death panels" became the three rings of the health care media circus, an op-ed piece appeared in the Washington Post positing that the U.S. health-care system was critically ill. The diagnosis? Terminal Information Design.

Les Paul: The Guitar, the Logo, the Legend

Ken Carbone — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:14:06 -0400

Yesterday, a deafening cry of disbelief was heard from every electric guitarist on the planet. Les Paul had died. He was 94. We all knew the day would come but the shock was seismic.

Bill and Kim's Excellently-Posed Adventure

Ken Carbone — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:41:46 -0400

There they are, sitting side by side in a photographic balance of power. President Bill Clinton looking his sartorial best and Chairman Kim Jong Il looking his janitorial worst. This photo released yesterday by the Korean Central News Agency, is designed to demand the respect the totalitarian state of North Korean so desperately wants. This tableau is so perfectly choreographed that it begs visual analysis.

Ron Arad at MoMA: Who Needs Discipline?

Ken Carbone — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:25:32 -0400

Variations on Ron Arad's Ripple Chair, photo by Jason Mandella

Ron Arad's exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is a lot about "no." No limits. No right angles. No expense spared.