auspiciousmotion

I want to talk a couple of things I really like:

First, some simple graphic goodness. A Softer World is, I guess, a comic strip. It’s carefully crafted from photos nostalgically framed in black and captioned with a slightly distressed typewriter font. I can’t even begin to tell you what it’s really about, wondrous and ironic as it is. It’s kind of a narrative, which gets me going. I check here often to break up the monotony of my life.

Part of what makes it so neat is the brief space which it occupies, and the strong message it gets across through imagery and text.

Now for some digitally stuff. Looking at a demo of a huge multi-touch screen in Germany, I was reminded of something I found totally awesome when I was in in Art School, something the Professors raved about, the reactable. Basically it’s a multi-touch screen with objects that also govern the interaction, and get this, it’s for making music. So it’s still really incredible, two or three years after its big debut.

With that new Bond movie out, the Quantum of Solace, and its gorgeous depiction of massive multi-touch screens, I think these ideas will become more and more practical to develop for communications and advertising. To impress potential customers and onlookers, I can’t think of anything better.

Finally, I’d like to say I appreciate telephone poles and wiring delivering electricity and cable TV and stuff. I found this logo while looking through my old stuff. Remember, this is from March of 2006, when I was practically a tadpole in the world of design (how much can change in a couple of years, nu?), so don’t focus on this being a viable or scalable or practical logo, just an exercise:

This is what I had to say about it back then, "This [logo] just encapsulates what I think about the program: layers upon layers of communication interfaces. We often forget how much coding and hardware goes into even our most every day activities. I love the telephone pole for this reason."
Aw.

Evan has some of his latest work in a show, opening this coming “First Friday” August 3rd. It’s going to be at Sliding Door Gallery, which is on the southern reaches of Denver’s Santa Fe Art District.

The show, “Rethought, Reworked, and Re-Painted,” is all about taking old, cast-off, ugly specimens of art Americana, and remixing them to make something new and hopefully more desirable. To see some examples of what this has looked like in other galleries, check out what they had over at The Wurst.

I first found out about Etsy.com, a web site to “buy & sell all things handmade” from Lisa Smith, a talented ceramics artist. She’s currently selling her porcelain jewelry at lisa smith designs on Etsy.com.

What’s really great about the Etsy service is that they can set you up right away, it’s got a user-friendly and good-looking layout, and they give you a decent address reminiscent of blogger accounts (as in lisa’s case: lisasmithdesigns.etsy.com). The set-up is affordable and easy, and Etsy takes care of all of those shopping cart and secure financial info technicalities.

For the user, Etsy is a delightful time sink. I personally would like to own this fuzzy cat hat. Clara says:

First you will say to yourself, “My there’s a lot of crap.” Then you will find something you will like and you will say “wow! This is so amazing, and so inexpensive, and handmade!” Then you will click on that person’s “favorites” and you may say, “This person has excellent taste in addition to making intriguing artifacts.”

My friend Carey (leaving traces) found obsessiveconsumption through Etsy.com. It’s a sweet site where consumption is turned into art.

What have you seen on Etsy that you like?

I love eating lemons and wish I had made this video. Enjoy its virtues, despite its non-jennifer authorship.

Enjoyable commercial about cuteness and destruction. Love that 3D animation style.