HELPING OUT

A man in need of financial assistance put a bit of marketing magic into asking for donations. He slipped into a Starbucks and as he walked by the tables he discreetly placed a pen onto each table where people were sitting. Attached to the pen was a small slip of paper that said something to the effect of: These pens are for my family. I am deaf and would appreciate $1.00 or $2.00 for this item. He walked back to collect back the pens and any donations people were willing to provide.

Benefits of this idea:
1. Does not disturb Starbucks patrons or staff
2. Gives each person a minute to think about donating
3. Provides a product—a pen—that someone sitting at a Starbucks may actually need

TECH PORN: TIES THAT BOND

installation, Riflemaker Gallery (April 2007)

A humorous art piece by John Maeda. From what seems to resemble something of a love knot, we can infer some kind of union created by two white Apple ipods. They are connected to something by one wire cord that vanishes into the wall. The juxtaposition is such that the tilt and downward position of the ipod on the right resembles something of a nuzzle. Alternatively, the tilt could be seen as an aggressive ram, which would be underscored by the screen images that reflect a jostling.

Since Maeda is a scientist-artist, let's go ahead and make some geeky interpretations. An initial reaction to the above observation is seeing the two as people. Even when objects do not look like people, we can find it easy to imagine what types of human characters they could have. A couple. Male and female. One interpretation is labeling the sex of each ipod as male and female using a genetic, chromosomal lens where XX is female and XY is male. Hmm. Now mathematically, the x-axis of a graph is horizontal and the y-axis is vertical. Since the ipod on the left has many vertically-oriented bars of color we could deem this male (linking to the Y in XY). Or, more simply, the vertical lines of the left ipod could signify height and the horizontal lines of the right ipod could then refer to width. Biologically, men are taller than women and women are "wider" through their curves.

Through this deliberate arrangement, Maeda could have implored viewers to personify the technological devices. By doing so we see ourselves in the technology. It is an extension of the self. A viewer of this exhibit literally sees him or herself in the screen's reflection. Could Maeda be probing the observation of the loyal, unshakable attachment people have with their personal technology devices (PDAs, mobile phones, smartphones, ipods, etc.)? Mere plastic and metal. A lifeless 4.7 ounces.

DON'T TELL ME THEY ACTUALLY LEGISLATED

Detail of map

The New York Times did a nice job with the information design of the graphics showing how the Senate voted to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. There was an emphasis on clarity here, as the details were kept to a minimum and the graphics were boiled down to bare minimum. For example, the designer used the typical red and blue colors to indicate party. But s/he did so in such as way so as to keep those colors, using slight modifications, to indicate three different data sets: Yes, No, and Didn't vote. It was smart to group the "No" and "Didn't vote" groups vis-a-vis desaturated color. I do wonder, however, if the map would be an even easier read if the "No" squares had the diagonal lines in the fully saturated color. Or... perhaps the designer intentionally made the "No" squares desaturated in the same tones as "Didn't vote" so as to make the viewer optically group those together, leaving the "Yes" squares to stand out since they're the only saturated colors. This then creates an emphasis on the "Yes", which is to say the passage of the vote. It is subtle, but this designer manipulated information to propagate the "Yes" (it's about damn time!) vote.

I think that in the future, several generations from now, when we see maps like these, we'll absorb them in one whole visual gulp without needing to put together the parts to make sense of a whole. These graphics do a really good job of hastening that gap closure.

ELECTION DAY

Current design

Suggested new design

It seems that the New York Board of Elections has not taken my—and The New York Times'—advice and has implemented their visually disabled ballot for the state's foray into electronic voting (in September's primary and today's election). It is so poorly designed that The New York Times implored readers to design a better ballot.

One glaring problem of the current ballot design is inclusion of the A, B, C, D, E party headings within the vertical space belonging to item 1. The headings are for the entire ballot, not just item 1. The list of problems goes on and on... too much bold type; paper orientation toward the parties not the actual office being voted on; unnecessary space devoted to language translation (how does a person's name translate from English to Spanish?); line strokes that are too heavy; etc., etc.

Let's hope this confusing design does not translate into voter confusion.

YEE HAW, MOTHERFUCKER

The Western is the most enduring and most successful Hollywood genre in history. John Wayne. Robert Redford. The Williamsburg Hipster. The cowboy represents the desired image of America by embodying a specific set of traits.

Independence
Autonomy
Ownership
Strength
Virility
Protection

But the cowboy is not unique to America. It evolved out of the medieval English knight. Our cowboy -- that we have constructed and shaped to our needs since the turn of the 19th century -- is an archetype that furthers a dominant ideology. What these figures do is provide a central icon around which to establish an identity as a nation. The cowboy offers a myth that seems to substantiate the ideology behind it, which is certainly capitalist. At the turn of the 19th century America needed to cultivate an idealized self-image characterized by the individual, self-reliant, transient qualities of the western hero in order to further capitalism as the dominant ideology. The myth prevails and masks the violence of the West, class and racial unrest in America, and capitalism’s control over American culture.

Cowboy boots. So damn American. We wear them as aspirational participants in the myth in considering ourselves to be strong, independent people. And maybe we like seeing them because at some level we like to feel that we have a strong, independent leader to take ownership of us and protect us against the evils in our lives.

CREATIVE CLASS

RICHARD FLORIDA

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY (MARCH 2009)

BIG SHITPILE: THE MOVIE

click for larger

It's fun to play Oliver Stone.

AVOIDING THE INFORMATION HOLE

Jenny Holzer, Protect Me From What I Want, 1986. New York, NY.

The Information Age is packed with, well, information. Tons of data enter our awareness on a daily -- perhaps even hourly -- basis. Just walk outside. You look down and there is a newspaper. You pick it up, maybe check out the headlines. Your phone buzzes and you read a few email, click on a link, check out a web site. You walk down the street with your newspaper in your hand, your phone in your pocket and your ipod in your ear. To the left is an advertisement on the side of a newsstand. To the right is a digital sign. When you return home, you turn on your t.v. and scan through the channel guide to find something interesting to watch. While you do some online shopping. Blog reading. And investigate hotel options in Tunisia. And then your phone buzzes.

This slice of the day is typical for many people. We are accustomed to doing several things at once (almost exclusively, which means that the word "multitasking" is now archaic) by processing words, images, other words all at the same time. Information. Lots of information.

So with all of this information swirling in and around our heads, how do we select what to pay attention to and allow entrance into ourselves? Sure, you could go with chance or something in front of you. Or drive yourself crazy by being indecisive. Or...

You could have someone else do the selecting for you. That person, who we can call the "Sorter," is responsible for isolating and ushering in information. Your Sorter should be smart. Curious. Engaging. And have a similar perspective to your own. Two examples of Sorters include the following:

• Jenny Holzer - (conceptual artist) helps sort by isolating certain aspects of literacy, mostly in the form of arphorisms or selections from government documents. She then enlarges them to a vast scale, which forces us to pause and look so that we take in information that is thought-provoking. Holzer's "Protect Me From What I Want" was projected in NYC's Times Square in the 1980s. Stop and think about that.

• Oliver Stone - (filmmaker) is a Sorter by virtue of the moving image. He steps back and isolates a sliver of our culture that is interesting or significant. This sliver is usually the life of a person, whose life details could easily be lost in the "Information Hole." Such examples include Jim Morrison of The Doors and George W. Bush. By pulling this information out and pushing it into our consciousness in the form of a film, Stone enshrines and enlarges these interesting parts of contemporary humanity. And what could be a better medium than film, which is both enjoyable and is easy to process since it is visual information. Pretty powerful stuff.

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

It appears that the red+white+blue+circle scheme has exceeded its capacity for unique logo generation. Although it does seem that the Missile Defense Agency's graphic designer is a republican with a beach-boys and/or McCain fetish. The new logo (center) has an unmistakable resemblance to the Iranian Space Agency's logo, however the latter's iconography is not as aggressive. One could argue that the ISA's logo depicts each of our solar system's rings as white lines with the red circle being the moon and the white circle (the negative space that eats into the blue circle that contains the orbit rings) being the earth -- the proportions seem accurate. That single dark line in the shape of an oval represents the earth's orbit.

Now let's look back at the MDA's new logo. It is easy to interpret the iconography as a missile bomb-bomb-bombing Iran. How? The circle of negative space (seen as light blue here) represents earth, as the U.S. tends to create visual identities and logos that are overwhelmingly directly connected to us since we perceive ourselves to be the center of the universe. The narrowing of the red band implies perspective (big to small or wide to narrow) and just happens to be going from about the location of where the U.S. would be to the location of where Iran would be on a globe. As the name implies, the MDA deals with missiles so it would make sense to depict a missile in the logo. And the star? An explosion? The sun? Who knows. The imagery is cryptic, but what else could that red band be?

QUICKIE ART HISTORY

This poster by Vuk Vidor embodies what good advertising people do -- make a brand "stand for" a one or two-word something. e.g. Volvo - safe; Sony - style

It is a simple, clear system and allows us to remember a name or brand that would have otherwise vanished into obscurity should similar others try to shout alongside or above it. Perhaps our interest in this paring down of concepts and categorizing just comes down to our limited memory capacity. We are living in the Information Age and thus have little "metanarratives" of data thrown at us constantly without any imaginable end point. PDAs, computer data, email, blog rolls, taxi tv, wild postings, bus ads, radio, t.v., ipod music, etc. We seek out knowledge and knowledge seeks us out. Quite frankly, it's overwhelming and a little scary. But that's going to be the struggle of humanity for the 21st century and beyond. A theme worth exploring through the arts.

WAIT, WHO WON?

LITTLE HIPPIES

It is always nice to see classic toys evolve to stay relevant with consumers. Dollhouses are no longer standard playroom toys in an age where the computer itself is one big dollhouse. Many parents begrudgingly let their kids play games online, however there is still the nostalgia of physical play that is delightfully brought to fruition with this fun Eco House. It features a rain barrel, a windmill, solar panels and of course recycling bins. Go hippies!

Such a product brings up the question of why we like to represent our lives and our families for our children to experience through play. Perhaps it is a way for adults to visually educate young children on the structure of life to give them a sense of security. Although the idea that everything is contained in one neat house is only going to set up those kids up for disappointment. As much as we want everything to fit into a box, it is not feasible since life is messy. Providing an idealized foundation, however, sets the standard from which we will deviate as adults. Regardless, we can still hope that this house imprints on the minds of our kiddies the normalcy of alternative energy and responsible consumption. (Or it's just another secret plot for the dirty hippies to take over the world.)

HOW TO FIX MAGAZINES: CENTRALIZE AND SIMPLIFY

Magazines and newspapers are continuing to lament their dwindling circulations and inevitable deaths. Their web sites may or may not charge for content. They are losing money. It's a problem. Want to know how to fix it?

Part of the problem with media today is that it is incredibly disorganized and all over the place. Many people have subscriptions to an assortment of media such as: The Wall Street Journal online, Financial Times newspaper, The Economist magazine, on-demand pay-per-view movies, etc. The problem is that a consumer must go directly to each medium they want access to and pay for each separately. In other words, it is not easy for consumers to consume media. If there was one central place in which one could subscribe to everything all at once, perhaps consumers would subscribe to more media. That is why I propose centralizing all media subscriptions in one spot to make things fast and easy for consumers who largely have no time to leisurely shop for and subscribe to magazines, online access, newspapers, movies, internet, tv, etc. Since cable tv/internet providers are ubiquitous in being common to almost all households, the easiest thing would be to throw subscriptions onto the provider's bill. Not only does it make it easy for consumers, but it also keeps tabs on which subscriptions are due to expire and when. In fact, Time Warner already has online bill pay so adding this would not be a monumental endeavor.

Media could be sorted by category for consumers to simply check boxes:

Cable TV
☒ All Channel plan
☐ 100 Channels plus HBO, Showtime

Internet
☐ Earthlink high-speed
☒ Roadrunner high-speed

Telephone (landline and/or wireless)
☐ Unlimited calling plan
☐ Wireless plan

Magazines
☐ Wallpaper
☒ Dwell
☐ The Economist
☒ The Week
...etc.

Magazines Online
☐ dwell.com
☒ economist.com
☐ cosmopolitan.com
☐ theweek.com
...etc.

Newspapers
☒ The New York Times
☐ The Wall Street Journal
☐ Le Figaro
...etc.

Newspapers Online
☐ www.wsj.com
☒ www.nytimes.com
...etc.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR NEWS?

EYES NEVER CHANGE

An immutable endearing quality: eyes that you could stand to gaze into forever. Wrinkles, sagging and paunch come with age. Eyes never change.

DEEP THOUGHT

It's 2009. The economy has gone to hell. Americans pride themselves in driving a VW or Prius or BMW. Not the all-American Ford or Chevy. We spend our vacations in Venice or Barcelona or Paris. We romanticize and idolize Europe and exotic islands. Not our own country, which offers history, wooded forests, rugged mountains, rolling plains, and the like. Americana is dead.

And then, thanks to a popular TV show, Britain's Got Talent, we hold up and glorify the overlooked, the unexotic, the neglected, and the ugly in making a shining star of the talented singer, Susan Boyle. Although she is from across the pond, we Americans celebrate this woman and her willingness to get out there, show her stuff, and triumph when all of the odds were against her. Susan Boyle. Hope for the dejected.