Control desktop clutter with the Homework Desk For the last two months, I’ve challenged myself with the goal of walking every day. I’ve been spending more time with my treadmill and, as a result, I’ve also been doing quite a bit more reading on my iPad while I walk. I’m thrilled that I now have scheduled reading time and that I actually find interesting articles that help make the time pass relatively quickly. During one of my walking and reading sessions, I came across a blog post that asked if having a messy desk is such a terrible thing. My first thought, even before I read the post, was that I wouldn’t be as productive as I am if my desk were cluttered. In fact, I would probably feel compelled to organize it before I started working. But, I also know that sometimes while I’m working, things can get a little, er, out of control. Have a look: Image credit: Tomas Kral This simple desk (aluminum placed between two slabs of wood) designed by Tomas Kral has no bells and whistles and no drawers. Image credit: Thomas Kral
aruliden | Brand Strategy & Product Design Pacific Light: Macro Footage of Ink, Oil and Soap Shot by Ruslan Khasanov Russian graphic designer Ruslan Khasanov who is probably best known for his experiments in liquid typography just released this experimental video where he plays with the interaction between ink, oil, and soap. Khasanov says he became inspired while cooking with a mixture of oil and soy sauce when he noticed the small black beads begin to form at the bottom of a container. He then began playing with a mixture of ink and soap to create this amazing mix of blue, white, yellow, and magenta. See everything in motion in the video above, and you can see some larger stills over on Behance. oh whimsical me The Balanced Rock Sculptures of Michael Grab Rely Solely on Gravity Land artist Michael Grab creates astonishing towers and orbs of balanced rocks using little more than patience and an astonishing sense of balance. Grab says the art of stone balancing has been practiced by various cultures around the world for centuries and that he personally finds the process of balancing to be therapeutic and meditative. Over the past few years of practicing rock balance, simple curiosity has evolved into therapeutic ritual, ultimately nurturing meditative presence, mental well-being, and artistry of design. Alongside the art, setting rocks into balance has also become a way of showing appreciation, offering thanksgiving, and inducing meditation. Through manipulation of gravitational threads, the ancient stones become a poetic dance of form and energy, birth and death, perfection and imperfection. Almost all of the works you see here were completed this fall in locations around Boulder, Colorado.
chaos in the kitchen Not Your Average Drawing of a Rock: Colorful Riverbeds Drawn with Pencil by Ester Roi California artist Ester Roi (website currently down) works colored pencils to create drawings of imagined riverbeds that exhibit a superb understanding of the interaction between light, color and water. Roi uses a special drawing device called the Icarus Drawing Board that allows her to effectively create warm and cool “zones” underneath a wax-based medium. According to her website “the warm zone is used for mixing pigments, blending, burnishing and reworking. The cool zone is used for line drawing, layering, detailing and finishing touches.” The careful layering of pencil and wax apparently allows for some pretty brilliant color work. Although her website is currently down you can see more of her drawing and painting over on Facebook.
AU 2011: Interview with Design-Build Firm Because We Can, Part 1 From residences to offices to furniture to Burning Man art projects, Oakland-based design-build firm Because We Can is capable of designing and making a lot of crazy stuff. "CNC machines don't care how complex things are," founder Jeff McGrew pointed out during his Autodesk University 2011 Mainstage event. By now you've probably read our transcript of that talk, and now we're ready to post our video chat with both McGrew and co-founder Jillian Northrup, whom we caught up with in the AU 2011 Creative Studio. » Part 2: Projects Past and Present » Part 3: The Open-Source Desk Project » Part 4: Advice for Design Students Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software | Open Source Alternative - osalt.com
Gift Guide 2011: Core77's End of Year/End of Days Must Haves Photo Editor / New York, New York Finding great gifts for designers is tough: They’re picky, they already know what they want and chances are it’s not cheap—industrial designers are even worse—they’re some of the most over-informed and critical consumers to shop for! The best strategy is simply asking what they want but if you’re still up to the challenge of finding that special something, I recommend being thoughtful and giving a present that's specific to their interests. Here’s a selection of functional products that are awesome, fun and might offer you some inspiration. Zombie Bells$42.95–169.95X3 Watering Can$99FiftyThree Pencil Stylus$49.95–59.95The Ice Baller$85Punch Bag Laundry Bag$36 littleBits × KORG Synth Kit$159The Sheffield Kevlar Shear$76 Senior Editor / Los Angeles, California Tools for working better, or at least in better surroundings. No one really wants to think about work over the holidays. Columnist / San Francisco, California Senior Editor / New York, New York
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