design
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Confuse the eye
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2 min read
There’s a fantastic piece about the history of camouflage in Topic Magazine this week. Before camouflage hit the runway, French artists (camoufleurs) in World War I used creative techniques to disguise soldiers and protect them from aerial reconnaissance and long-range enemy fire. To learn how to blend in, the French military turned to an unexpected group—the…
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“Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design.” — Dieter Rams
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Nelder Plots
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1 min read
A Nelder Plot, also called a Nelder Wheel or Nelder Fan, is a systematic planting design in which plants or trees are planted at the intersection of circular arcs and linear spokes. In general, Nelder Plots allow many different planting densities to be examined in a single plot. via
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Luxury fashion house Balenciaga knows how to nail the type of ugly design that gets people talking. In Fall 2017, it debuted the Bernie Sanders-inspired logo he used for his 2016 campaign. But this time around, the company once referred to as “the master of all” by Christian Dior, will release a double-shirt as part of its…
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Tom Wolfe: ‘Logos are strictly a vanity industry’
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3 min read
In 1972, Tom Wolfe criticized companies for creating logos for no other reason but to look modern: The abstract total-design logo is the most marvelous fraud that the American graphic arts have ever perpetrated upon American business. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, these abstract logos, which a company (Chase Manhattan, Pan Am, Winston Sprocket, Kor…
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Hearing impaired photographer Kate Fichard teamed up with a former design school classmate at the Paris-based F&D studio to create a fashionable hearing aid. Called the H(earring) project, it just won first prize for accessories at the most prestigious festivals for young designers, The International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France. Kudos to the F&D team for injecting some style and…
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Renowned graphic communicator George Lois takes us on a tour of his apartment. Located in Greenwich Village, what he calls “the best part of Manhattan,” the apartment is full of art. Even the chairs. [clickToTweet tweet=”‘I have chairs all over the house that I don’t let anybody sit in. ‘Don’t sit in that chair!’ But…
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From hand-illustrating every emoji ever to showcasing all varieties of beer, a taxonomy of rap names, and a compendium of basketball jerseys, the artists at Pop Chart Lab turns data into creative infographics. Not surprisingly, the visuals make perfect posters for the wall. You can order a standalone print, pair it with a handmade frame, or request…
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Blasphemy? This artist sets works of art on fire 🔥
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1 min read
What is new instantly becomes old, a permanent attrition. At least that’s perspective of artist Maaren Baas, who took a blowtorch to Gerrit Rietveld’s iconic Red and Blue Chair and turned it into something completely new. “I do not want to destroy, says Baas, “… burning is not something negative. Standstill is. If things remain…
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Open spaces, closed doors
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2 min read
Everything is design. While cubicles emerged as the “action office,” they created an environment antithesis to work. Says Dilbert creator Scott Adams, ‘cubicles are like prisons.’ Cubicles are anti-work; they impede collaboration. If companies want to create more office conversation, they have to make the conditions for more office collisions. Thus, the open space design became the standard…