I found this amazing infographic this evening showcasing what different colors represent in different cultures and societies. I just pre-ordered this a print for $38 with US Shipping for my new work space. Very well done. Click the image to visit the site!

Wow. Didn't take long... not sure how I feel about this, but it's pretty tight.

iPad Magazine Art Direction from Brad Colbow on Vimeo.

by Brad Colbow

A design friend of mine on twitter posted this article link last night and I thought it was really interesting. Enjoy.

02 MARCH 2010 | 16:50 GMT

What they don’t teach you about identity design in design schools…

by contributor Paula Scher

… And what you can’t learn from blogs.

One of the most often repeated refrains on design blogs, in the critique of a new logo, is “Any design student could do a better job.”  This ubiquitous comment is especially amusing to me because, well, it’s mostly true.  If you judge virtually every new logo designed today by classical design school standards, the kids in school are doing a better job. This is because of the way logo and identity design are taught in so many schools, and what that exercise is meant to accomplish. 

In design school, identity design is all about the form of the logo.  A student will be given the problem: “design a logo for such and such organization,” and then the student may spend the better part of the next six months refining the form of a mark (or a wordmark), and then they sometimes transfer that word mark to a piece of stationery, or a shopping bag, or some other item (often a truck, and regardless of what school they attend, they all seem to magically use the same generic truck drawing.) And after six months of criticism and refinement, a good student will usually produce a formalistically beautiful logo. There may be some discussion in class about the appropriateness of the logo for the business.  But the main goal will be to make the logo recognizable, with strong aesthetic attributes that will enable the logo to “stand alone.” 

The design school exercise is indeed a good way to develop craft skills, and hopefully when the student becomes a professional he/she will learn to get fast at it, and achieve that work in the course of a week as opposed to six months. And there, any similarity between real identity design and a design school exercise ends. 

Identity design, for any organization containing more than three people, is the act of diplomatically negotiating personal egos, tastes, and aspirations of various invested individuals against their business needs, their pre-formed expectations, and the constraints of the market place. Making something formalistically beautiful, while desirable, is a more private part of the process, something that the designer needs to achieve incidentally, not something that can appear to be an overt motivating cause.  (This is because form is subjective, and not an easily argued position when a designer is trying to get their client to feel comfortable assuming a new identity.) 

When organizations are larger, their identities often need to be designed as systems (kits of parts) that allow for complicated organizational subsets to exist and therefore give organizations and corporations the ability to partially personalize departments or sub-brands. Systems often demand that logos become more neutral so they can more effectively accommodate all necessary secondary information.  A complicated logo design, one that might “stand alone” in a design class may simply look too busy in this real-world kind of context. 

Often the identity of an organization that has many subsets can best be brought to life by the use of its supportive materials within the systems (promotion pieces, packaging, websites, signs, merchandising materials). This is an especially effective methodology because it can allow for a logo or identity system to gain resonance and recognition over time in connection to materials that are capable of being far more expressive than logos. For example the Nike logo, which has evolved over time into its current form, became a powerful symbol to the masses because of its effective use in advertising campaigns. The “cool” of the logo happened in connection to some brilliant campaigns by Wieden & Kennedy, and the effective positioning of the mark on merchandising materials. As pure form, if the “swoosh” appeared alone in a design school critique (or on a design blog) it would most likely have been dismissed as too thin, weak, and pointy, looking like a checkmark and not really conveying motion. 

Logos become iconic over time, through their use and in combination with an overall perception of a brand.  They shouldn’t be judged purely as form and out of context, as they are on design blogs, because it takes a period of time for a logo to establish itself in the marketplace, just as it takes a magazine a year or so to establish its personality. 

Another thing they don’t teach you in design school is what you get paid for. Right alongside the blog complaint that “any design student could do a better job” is the comment that the designer at hand got “hundreds of thousands of dollars to design that logo that could have been better designed by a design student.” 

I never knew a designer that got hundreds of thousands of dollars to design a logo.  Mostly, designers get paid to negotiate the difficult terrain of individual egos, expectations, tastes, and aspirations of various individuals in an organization or corporation, against business needs, and constraints of the marketplace.  This is a process that can take a year or more.  Getting a large, diverse group of people to agree on a single new methodology for all of their corporate communications means the designer has to be a strategist, psychiatrist, diplomat, showman, and even a Svengali. The complicated process is worth money.  That’s what clients pay for. The process, usually a series of endless presentations and refinements, persuasions and proofs, results, hopefully, in an accepted identity design. 

Some branding firms employ strategists and account executives to manage the process. I’m in favor of designers doubling as strategists, or at least working extensively with them. I think the designer needs to be involved every stage of the complicated negotiation between the clients, their expectations, tastes, aspirations, marketplace concerns etc.  The designer needs to be ever present because, inevitably, at some side meeting, something will be suggested that will totally destroy the form of the logo. Something can be suggested innocently, with the best of intentions, that will scuttle all plans, compromise all standards, and destroy the integrity of the design. The only person who can know this and stop this is the designer.  And the reason that the designer knows it is… well, they learned it in design school.

THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE.

I would like to take this opportunity and thank all of you for helping my site achieve over three thousand hits since this past Christmas, when the new site went live. It means a great deal to me that you visit, most of you regularly. I wish you all well and look forward to learning more about design and technology with each of you.

Here's to another 3,000. Peace.

Jon

Courtesy of Google Analytics

How many times have you been looking for inspiration, only to find hit or miss results in Google? I found this resource today and thought I'd share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Abuzeedo: Abuzeedo provides articles about inspiration, interviews, and tutorials on Illustrator and Photoshop.

Aisle One: Aisle One is written by Antonio Carusone and is part of the Thinking for a Living Network. The blog is an inspirational resource that focuses on graphic design, typography, and other design concepts.

All Graphic Design: All Graphic Design Blog provides career and educational advice, software reviews, tools, tips, and other information of use to graphic and web designers.

• Check this out: A tutorial on making 3-d objects in Photoshop

Anamorphosis: Anamorphosis, written by contributors Kate Andrews, Rose Stewart, and Carly Bartlett, covers news, reviews, contests, art exhibits, and other areas of interests to designers. 

Be A Design Blogs: Be A Design Group was created in 2004 by Adrian Hanft and Bennett Holzworth. The blog covers a variety of graphic design topics, including photography, typography, technology, books, logos, branding, and advertising.

Colorburned: This design blog features news, resources, and tutorials. It has some awesome freebies and a sleek design.

• Check this out: 10 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes

Creative Curio: Creative Curio exists to explore the world of graphic design and to share knowledge and skills.

Design Blurb: Design Blurb posts graphic design tips, tricks, tutorials, and links to other useful sites. It's updated at least three times per week.

Design Informer: Design Informer is a blog on web and graphic design, offering articles, resources, freebies, tutorials, and inspriation.

Design M.ag: Design M.ag is a community-based blog that present news and articles on web design.

The Design Superhero: This blog is run by Aravind Ajith, a user-interface consultant based in India. He posts awesome freebies and has a well-designed blog.

• Check this out: The 35 Coolest Twitter Backgrounds

Design You Trust: Design You Trust covers art, photography, fashion, advertisements, architecture, and other aspects of design.

Designer Daily: On Designer-Daily, Mirko Humbert shares resources and tips for designers and non-designers.

Designers Who Blog: This design blog is authored by a group of graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, marketers, and other creative types, so you're sure to get a plethora of diverse information. The majority of posts are design-related, but there are also a few interesting asides in the mix.

The Dieline: The Dieline was established by Andrew Gibbs, and is now the most visited package design blog in the world. It's dedicated to reviewing, critiquing, and promoting the best examples of packaging design.

• Check this out: ABC Paper Cup Design

Dirty Mouse: Dirty Mouse provides designers with inspiration in web design, graphic design, photography, and more.

Elite by Design: Founded by Brian Lovin in 2007, Elite by Design provides articles, tutorials, inspiration, and resources for web and graphic designers.

Fadtastic: Fadtastic is a multi-authored journal presenting articles and reviews on trends in web design.

Fuel Your Creativity: Fuel Your Creativity aims to provide inspiration to designers through articles, interviews, and links to other sites.

Grain Edit: Grain Edit covers design from the 1950s to 1970s and artists who draw inspiration from this time period. The blog posts articles, interviews, and vintage design images.

• Check this out: Great Britain Energy Resources Stamps 1978

Graphic Design Blog: Graphic Design Blog gives professional insight on graphic design tools and techniques, and provides news and resources for graphic designers. Posts include reviews, discussions, and interviews with graphic designers.

Graphic Identity: Graphic Identity posts tips, tutorials, news, and reviews on graphic design.

The Graphic Mac: The Graphic Mac provides tips and tricks on Adobe Creative Suite and Mac OS. It has software reviews, commentary on design, Apple, and the internet in general, and other graphic design resources.

Graphicpush: Graphicpush is a blog for creative professionals, posting on a variety of topics, including business, management, design, freelancing, and more.

I Love Typography: Founded in 2007 by John Boardley, I Love Typography exists to discuss lettering, typography, and type design.

• Check this out: Top Fonts of 2009

Inspiration Bit: Inspiration Bit presents tutorials, reviews, and articles on web design, art, and photography.

InstantShift: Instant Shift presents articles, tools, and freebies on design.

Just Creative Design: Jacob Cass, owner and founder of Just Creative Design provides tips, resources, and articles on all areas of graphic design.

• Check this out: Top 12 Logos of 2009

LifeClever: On Life Clever, Chanpory Rith gives advice on how designers can work and live better.

Logo Design Love: Launched by David Airey in 2008, Logo Design Love is devoted to logos, including news, features, and opinions.

MyInkBlog: Created by Andrew Houle, MyInkBlog is a resource for designers, sharing knowledge and inspriation.

N.design Studio: Nick La, a Torono-based illustrator and web designer, runs this great design blog. Nick runs multiple blogs and you can follow him on Twitter. His posts have excellent variety and his talent is evident from his well-designed blog.

• Check this out: Illustrator Christina Ung from Thornhill Ontario

Noisy Decent Graphics: Written by Ben Terrett, Noisy Decent Graphics focuses on graphic design, and posts articles, reviews, career advice, and more.

Noupe: Noupe offers news for web designers and developers on advertising, typography, graphics, and all elements of design.

One Xtra Pixel: One Xtra Pixel is dedicated to bringing innovative and useful content to web designers.

• Check this out:  40+ Attractive Infographics

Outlaw Design Blog: Outlaw Design Blog offers tutorials, product reviews, advice on freelancing, and other resources for designers.

Positive Space: Positive Spaces is a resource for graphic designers, topics range from technique and inspiration to agency management and freelancing.

Presidia Creative: Part of the Presidia Network, Presidia Creative presents the best content from resources on art, graphic design, web design, and audio.

Psdtuts+: Psdtuts+ presents Adobe Photoshop tutorials for graphic and web designers.

Scarlet Bits: Scarlet Bits brings news, tips, and freebies to the web design and graphic design community.

• Check this out: 30 Funny & Creative Outdoor Adverts

Six Revisions: Launched in 2008 by Jacob Gube (now Chief Editor), Six Revisions publishes articles from professionals around the globe, and offers useful tips, tutorials, and resources for designers.

Snook: Snook shares tips, tricks, and bookmarks on web and graphic design.

Specky Boy: Specky Boy presents articles, inspiration, and resources for graphic designers.

SpoonGraphics: Written by Chris Spooner, this blog provides design tutorials in Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop, as well as articles, links, and giveaways.

Think Design: Think Design presents articles, resources, freebies, and more on graphic design.

Tutorial 9: Tutorial 9 is written by a group of experienced educators who provide tutorials and knowledge to anyone interested.

• Check this out: How to Create a Sleek Audio Player Interface in Photoshop

Tutorial Blog: Founded in 2005, Tutorial Blog presents web and graphic design tutorials, articles, and other resources for designers.

Vandelay Design: Vandelay Design Blog was established in 2007 and provides informative posts for designers and online entrepeneurs.

Web Design Ledger: The Web Design Ledger is written for web designers by web designers. The blog shares web design-related resources, inspiration, tips, and tutorials.

WebDesignerWall: On WebDesignerWall, Nick La posts design ideas and tutorials, and talks about trends in graphic and web design.

• Check this out: Best of CSS Design 2009

Webdesigner Depot: Webdesign Depot explores different design techniques, best practices, and great examples.

You The Designer: You the Designer focuses on graphic design, specifically marketing and branding. The blog also features, tips, tutorials, and other resources.

SOURCE: http://www.guidetocomputertraining.com/tips-and-tools/graphic-design-blogs

Google annouced today that it is building an experimental fiber optic network to test 1 gigabit/second transfer speeds for select communities of betwen 50,000 - 500,000 users. Check out the official announcement video and transcript from the Official Google Blog below.

Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network

2/10/2010 08:00:00 AM

Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this and more possible. We've urged the FCC to look at new and creative ways to get there in its National Broadband Plan – and today we're announcing an experiment of our own.

We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:

• Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
• New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
• Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone.

As a first step, today we're putting out a request for information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public. If you'd like to respond, visit this page to learn more, or check out our video:

We'll collect responses until March 26, and will announce our target communities later this year. Stay tuned.

Posted by Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly, Product Managers

I stumbled across this site today showcasing some of the most creative advertisements that utilize elevators. I put some of my favorites below. Check out the full article here.

I came across this blog post today regarding Apple's lack of Flash technologies in their newly-annouced iPad digital consumer device. For your convenience, I copied the original article below but can also be found here. I wish Apple would allow Flash support for all of their mobile devices. Let's hope Steve has a plan.

APPLE'S IPAD - A BROKEN LINK?

POSTED BY ADRIAN LUDWIG ON JANUARY 27, 2010 5:00 PM

As I drove by Yerba Buena Theater in San Francisco this morning, I couldn't help but be impressed. Apple certainly has the ability to excite people with great products, and with the iPhone they even managed to generate momentum for an entire product category. So it's no surprise that the iPad looks like it's a pretty good new device.

It was really exciting to see some of the technologies that Adobe has contributed to, like PDF and ePub support, taking center stage in the launch. Adobe technology is at the center of virtually every print and digital workflow, so undoubtedly a lot of what you¹ll see getting delivered to the iPad will have originated in Adobe creative software.

But, as a picture posted on Engadget shows (below), and many others have reported, there's something important missing from Apple's approach to connecting consumers to content.

It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.  And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.

If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, orJibJab -- not to mention the millions of other sites on the web -- I'll be out of luck.

Adobe and more than 50 of our partners in the Open Screen Project are working to enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any device, so that consumers have open access to their favorite interactive media, content, and applications across platform, regardless of the device that people choose to use.

To follow more from the Flash Platform Team about developments on all mobile devices, follow us at@Flash_Platform

Graffiti Analysis 2.0: Digital Blackbook from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

Graffiti Analysis is an extensive ongoing study in the motion of graffiti. Custom software designed for graffiti writers creates visualizations of the often unseen motion involved in the creation of a tag. Motion data is recorded, analyzed and archived in a free and open database, 000000book.com, where writers can share analytical representations of their hand styles. Influential graffitis artist such as SEEN, TWIST, AMAZE, KETONE, JON ONE and KATSU have had their tags motion captured using the Graffiti Analysis software. All tags created in Graffiti Analysis are saved as Graffiti Markup Language (GML) files, a new digital standard used by other popular graffiti applications such as Laser Tag and EyeWriter. Graffiti Analysis 2.0 is an open source project that is available online for free in OSX, Windows and Linux. Graffiti writers are invited to capture and share their own tags, and computer programmers are invited to create new applications and visualizations of the resulting data. What Martha Cooper did for archiving graffiti on film, and Chalfant/Silver did for archiving graffiti in video, Graffiti Analysis intends to do for archiving graffiti in code. The project aims to build the world's largest archive of graffiti motion and bring together two seemingly disparate communities that share an interest hacking systems, whether found in code or in the city.


Graffiti Analysis is a project by Evan Roth. All of the software changes in GA2.0 were written by Mzz Chris Sugrue, with support from the Fondation Cartier. GA1.0 was created at Parsons Art Media & Technology with input and advising from Zach Lieberman. Graffiti Analysis was built in Open Framewerkz.

More info here.

You see it dozens of times of day and yet think nothing of it. Helvetica has truly changed the way in which designers and companies communicate with the world. I found this awesome post at the WebDesigner Depot. It gives a thorough background of the typeface and the incredible impact it has had on the world. How would the world's top brands have communicated if Helvetica had never been designed? That's a chaotic thought.

Also, if you haven't seen the documentary, it is amazing. I pull it off the shelf every once in a while when I need some inspiration. You can find out more about it here.

Here are a couple of the many examples of its use in society.

\Click the images above to read the original article.

Truely great websites understand that the way to attact and retain organic visits is to continually develop and maintain relevant content. Kristina Halvorson, CEO of Brain Traffic, tweeted this article written by Lee Odden today regarding this very issue. It was definitely a nice read with my coffee this morning. I pasted in the original article below. 

A Challenge: Content or Die | Written by Lee Odden | January 14, 2010

Time after time, when I discuss the search and social media based opportunities for companies to reach new customers and achieve other online communications goals, it comes down to content.  Most companies understand the need to have a web presence and publish some kind of web site. For many, the creation of a web site is a one time event with minimal updates. Marketing budgets are tight and companies are frugal.

For the most part, updates and new content on many web sites are limited to news, an occasional press release or product announcement. Site owners are happy with the design and employees are happy they don’t need to come up with new content. IT staff do whatever they can to minimize site maintenance (which often means shortcuts or templatization that makes page level editing difficult). Essentially, this kind of web site with static content is a tombstone when it comes to being a search marketing asset.

When suggesting the need for new content, many web site owners either cringe at the idea, imagining resource issues, or they pay lip service and make a commitment that turns out to be a fraction of what the web marketing agency has in mind.   The importance of shifting from a dead end web site to becoming a content publisher (and promoter) is critical for any company that has customers and competitors active online.

When a company marketer says this, “We don’t have anything new to publish.” it’s pretty much a death sentence for the web site.  Businesses that are actually involved with meeting the needs of their customers, that take the time to learn pain points and solutions, that innovate, that participate in their industry or community, have plenty of reasons and content to publish.

It’s an important mind shift, which is why I used the stark title, Content or Die.  If the people responsible for the success of a company web site don’t have the resources or skills to make the shift from tombstone web site to active content marketing, the options are: hire people (internal or outside consultant) that can champion, implement and manage the change or get existing staff educated on to do so. Or things could remain as they are. Traffic dwindling, inquiries drying up and desperation.

When presented with a reasonable argument, most business web site owners will agree that content creation and promotion makes sense.  The more useful web pages that are published, the more there is for others to link to them and to show up in relevant search results. This can easily be demonstrated by showing how the competition is dominating the search results. Additionally, more search traffic means more data to analyze in terms of conversion optimization and the creation of new content to meet customer needs as they move through the site and into the sales pipeline.

These benefits are not realized over night. It takes a commitment, a plan, education and a bit of faith. The question is, “How bad does it have to get for a company to change?”.

I challenge companies that are seeing declines in their organic search based traffic to re-evaluate their web marketing strategy. Where does content creation AND promotion fit?  Are you SURE the content you’re creating is achieving the maximum possible effect?  How much content is enough? How will you manage content? How will you promote it? How will you plan the editorial of  content to be as efficient and productive as possible?   Are you measuring customer interactions with your content ON and OFF the site? What feedback mechanisms are in place for your content creators to know what’s working and what’s not? How can multiple departments responsible for creating content work together?  How can you make the corporate approval process more productive and less like a stranglehold on your content publishing plans?  How are you measuring up to competitor content strategies? What content strategy is reasonable given current resources but IMPACTFUL enough to give you a competitive edge?

I also challenge companies that are starting new web sites to take a fresh look at the content component of their web marketing strategy. Don’t make your fancy, flashy web site a tombstone for search marketing. Assess the landscape in your topical category and identify what kind of content structures, topics and audiences make the most sense for your own editorial plans. What will distinguish you from the competition? What are the most cost effective, yet high impact investments you can make to reach content marketing goals? What technologies will help your content creation, management and promotion yield the best possible results?

How has your company and web site have addressed these challenges? Is your company a tombstone web site? What objections are keeping you from making these changes?

Many times, it's the typography that gives a design its stand-out quality or appeal... if not the structure for the overall design's development. Proper use of beautiful typography strengthens the value and core of the product or brand represented. I found this post today on Noupe's site that showcases fifty amazing advertisements that utilize stunning typography to properly convey the message.

This post is dedicated to those of us who collectively hate Comic Sans. Here's to us!

Click any of the images above to visit Noupe's site.

Click the image above to visit BERG's website.

I came across this last night while catching up on the day's tweets and had to share it with you all. BERG, a London-based design studio, created this amazing 3D image of Manhattan. It's incredible how the image shows the depth of the city's scale, within a simple image. The designers wanted you to be able to both look down and forward simultaneously. Here's the official description:

"Imagine a person standing at a street corner. The projection begins with a three-dimensional representation of the immediate environment. Close buildings are represented normally, and the viewer himself is shown in the third person, exactly where she stands.

As the model bends from sideways to top-down in a smooth join, more distant parts of the city are revealed in plan view. The projection connects the viewer's local environment to remote destinations normally out of sight."

BERG will have large prints available for $65 sometime in 2010. I might just have to pick one up.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Bonnier released a video showcasing one of its latest concept devices... a digital magazine reader. With all the current buzz surrounding tablet devices, this is by far, the most useful in my opinion. I am very curious as to whether or not Apple will release their alleged iTablet at the end of this month, but if they do, I suspect they will announce something along the lines of this that will do to the publishing industry what they did to the music and movie industry. 

I very much enjoyed watching this in-depth movie, narrated by one of its chief product designers. Below is a statement Bonnier released regarding the device: 

"The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming."

I stumbled across a really great article today at Creativity Den that helps designers add web 2.0 style, depth, and visual appeal to their site designs. I definitely learned a few more tricks... definitely worth a read.

Many times, the world views design strictly in the sense of graphic or online media. However, design, true design, is more than the layout structure of an advertisement for the next car, for example. True design is the result in which something is created--the reflection of the creation's meaning. 

Ford Motor Company has taken this idea a step further as it better focuses (designs) its products around the consumer lifestyle (rather, the creation's meaning). Ford has developed state of the art crash safety sensors that change the way in which users interact with the design, or the meaning, of Ford's product lines. 

These new sensors constantly monitor a large quantity of moving and stationary objects near or approaching the vehicle and utilizes both LED and auditory sensors to alert the driver while charging the brakes, readying them for maximum force as soon as the brake pedal is activated. 

The sensors alone are not the new 'design' aspect in which I am referring. The overall experience the user has with the product, is the design that is revolutionary. In this case, Ford is focusing its design around safety, while streamlining communication between driver and car; streamlining communication between the product design and the one interacting with the design.

I would like to thank @janepyle for the head's up. You can read more about this design that has immense implications on future concepts and design interactions here. i have included two videos below demonstrating the new product features with Ford Motor Company's Chief Safety Engineer, Steve Kozak.

I found this site today that showcases amazing minimal design techniques applied to a simple sailboat. I would love to spend an afternoon sailing on such a well designed ship. Someday... 

B60 Sloop

"Designer/architect John Pawson designed this B60 yacht in collaboration with naval architect Luca Brenta, who’s always at the forefront of minimalist, innovative and beautifully finished luxury yachts. Pawson says: 

The project’s functional goal [was] to create the ultimate day racing yacht, built for recreational rather than competitive purposes, but with the highest levels of manoeuvrability. The aesthetic expression of these functional aspirations is embodied in the sleekest of carbon-fibre hulls surmounted by the geometric purity of a triangular white sail.

Photography by Jens Weber Munich."

Landor, a premier strategic branding agency, recently released its 2010 trend projections for various market categories, including: financial services, social media, airlines, design, green, consumer spending, corporate social responsibility, hospitality, and food and beverage. The individual forecasts are written by Landor's top creatives and chief officers. 

The articles do an excellent job explaining emerging market trends within their respected categories, and how the emerging trend will develop further during this new year. Landor also allows visitors to download a PDF copy of their article for each of the genres. Landor has done an awesome job putting all of this together.

 Click the photo above to visit Landor"s 2010 Forecast