Fall | Color Explosion

Wow.  That is some serious color.

If

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: 

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Information and Design

Why those who devise the mechanisms to generate data need designers to communicate and orchestrate their outputs.

Pants

I generally try to avoid posts like this, but I found myself so baffled by this sight today in Columbia Heights that I had to post it.

The woman below appeared to be heading off to work around 8:50am this morning on Newton Street.  Nothing about her stood out at first.  But then I thought, "Is she missing her pants?  A skirt maybe?"

Upon closer inspection, something was indeed out of place.  I was speaking with my friend, Jonah on the phone and said, "Uh man, I need a second opinion on something I'm seeing here.  I'm going to SMS you an image right now and give me your honest point of view." --which he did.

He concurred that this woman appeared to have on no pants.  I checked my rear view mirror from about 1/2 half a block away, and yes, that pink polka dot pattern was indeed showing in the front too.

Dude

...always stoked by the New Yorker cartoons.





The Onion too...

Cruising the Earth from Above

This satellite zips across the horizon on the dark side of our planet.  Look out for the huge lightning storms in the upper right side.

Hacking

Pretty much everything now is run or controled by a computer.  That opens lots of interesting possibilities for hackers.

Bruce Lee | Ping Pong

People make a big deal about Bruce Lee.  This is why.

In case you can't tell in the video, he is playing ping pong with this nun chuks.


Upon further research, there are many admirers who aspire to be 'marshal' arts masters themselves...

Food Trucks -- Find Them All

I like eating food truck cuisine.  --That is, literally eating food prepared and sold from a vehicle parked curbside.

DC has seen an explosion of food trucks in the past year, and tracking each one on Twitter was fun before there were about 80 of them.  Now get the real time update on all DC food truck locations at Food Truck Fiesta, by app or site.

While the site is cluttered and cramped, the app is breeze to use.  Enjoy and happy hunting.

Party in the Back

I have heard of the phrase, "Business in the front, party in the back" to describe certain hairstyles found in the countryside. Is this it?

Inspirational Posters

It has been a while, but some of these inspirational posters and images still cut the mustard.

New and Old

Haiku from Back in the Day

Liz wrote these while I was away in Ireland in '04

Dog waits anxiously

When will we begin our walk?

Only I can say

Warm between my hands

Da Earl Grey steams a white mist

It’s cold outside

Pink light glows dimly

Behind the stand of cedars

The day breathes goodbye

Dusk

The air is just cool enough

To give me goosebumps

And I penned this one while in Ireland with my Dad.

Driving with my Dad

Countryside is roaring by

Whoa, slow down big guy

Gotta Dog

We've been looking.  And through the Humane Society, we found one.

"Kalu"



...and so after the previous post, we have a dog.

Compassion and Companionship

This shot, which I snapped in Paris a couple months back, really got me...

Lunch

This past weekend, I snapped this butterfly.  Not a bad site for a lunch break.  Click on this image to see it larger...

Safety Third

Yeah, sure...let's grab some beers this weekend.  Meet you at the range.

South Africa | Innovation

Bartender, shot of rum please.  In fact, throw a bag out to everyone, on me.

So it turns out that you can buy rum in South Africa in the same packaging you might find, say, Heinz ketchup or soy sauce.  It has flames on the package, so my guess is you can cook with it too.

Lilly

Oh yes, I'm real.  Check me out!

[click on me, to see me bigger]

Mmm Schlitz

Oh please, you don't have to over-sell me.  It's Schlitz.

Americana

Tinted windows.  Blue-purple mat paint job.  Rear sun visor.  Smashed-in passenger side door.

Does it get any more real than this?

\

Forrester - Fire up the CXM!

First off, I like and respect Forrester Research.  Multitudes of important decisions are based off of their findings each day.

I just got hold of the recent Forrester paper on enterprise management of content, which is admittedly a risky and expensive subject for large enterprises.  The report analyzes software platforms and how best they meet the needs of content management, governance, distribution, etc.

In particular, this report, which goes for a tidy a la cart price of $2,495, presented a summary graphic about the aforementioned subject.  The graphic depicts CXM (Customer Experience Management) as the central hub of an efficient machine interacting with a variety of components.

Step 1
Build and configure the machine as depicted.  Check.

Step 3
Fire up the CXM.  All systems go.

Step 3

Dammit, wait, that was not supposed to happen.  Phil, get the CXM strategy and engineering team in here.

OK, so the graphic probably came from PowerPoint or something, but seriously.  If you're gonna depict your key concept as gears, don't arrange them like that.

Long Live Soul Train

QR Codes ...uh, not so bad.

I ragged on the QR code recently.

Several of my esteemed NavigationArts colleagues showed me the light on the QR code's design outlook (from Mashable, not surprisingly).  In any case, check these out.

Of course there are always barcodes too.  Thanks, Son.

Stop

...Hammer time.

Security

Be advised...

Location:Jones Branch Dr,McLean,United States

Hot? No Way

Regarding the Post Article about the heat wave.

Mr. Freedman: You can't fool anyone with these fake heatwave articles.  Carbon's existence on the periodic table is total hoax. And even if it was real, it couldn't possibly float in the air.

But, let's just say you're right.  And if you're right, bigger and better-air conditioned SUV's will be needed to transport our citizens in comfort as the planet grows hotter. I have dispatched a team of highly-paid lobbyists to "work with" law-makers to secure the on-going subsidies for those SUV's. And to do that, the US debt ceiling should be raised, and frankly, education's bloated budget must be brought under control as a part of that package.

QR Codes Are Ugly

QR Code, anyone?  Music?

I don't love QR (Quick Response) codes much.  I appreciate how they can be useful:

• Nothing like scanning a produce item in the grocery store to find the back-story on just how organic it is and perhaps even "following it" on fb as it is juiced by another customer later that day
• Being in an airport and scanning a code while on the move to learn of a nearby deal, value or offer.  Then becoming excited that they QR code enticed me to purchase a Brookstone travel pillow as a result ---that I will never use again. 
• Standing in line for a lunch, becoming bored of staring at my mobile phone, and then looking up to see a QR code, and then becoming suddenly un-bored of my phone again as I scan the code to find out the salad bar has its own community that I should become a fan off.

But even if they could provide consistently useful information at the point in time and place that it is needed, I can't get past that we're just bar-coding life's experiences with something ugly.

Old Spice

Remember the Old Spice man of the 80's?  --some sailing guy coming home to his waiting lady?  I do, vaguely.  Thanks to YouTube a refresher is available.

In context to that, the ad campaign of 2010 seriously cracks me up, even now.  I wish the recent campaign could be mailed anonymously (by time machine) back to the previous ad executives of the 70's and 80's.

Swimming in the Summer

To be a kid again...

1st World Rap

Penny on the Move

This penny from 1956 found its way into my hand.  For the last 55 years it has traveled around, and the journey continues.

Trending Technology | Infographics

Whoever chose the easy-listening music (probably to subdue panic of the stratospheric figures) should be fired, but the the data about world consumption/adoption of mobile devices and internet usage is fascinating.  Mute your speakers and have a look.

•  Internet traffic generated by 20 homes in 2015 = the total Internet traffic in 1995    
• The proportion of people who access the Internet only through mobile devices will grow from 14 million in 2010 to 788 million by 2015.
• The number of smartphones will rise from about 500 million today to 2.5 billion.
• Revenue from social network will increase 33% by 2015

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663953/infographic-of-the-day-15-facts-about-the-internet-in-2015

Get Happy

There was a day when this was entertainment.  I am not sure when that was, but whatever is gong on here is certainly entertaining me now.

Spring

The world can be a tender place. So much potential.

NYC | Romeo's Studio

When I was in Manhattan last Fall, I dropped into Romeo's studio.  A local (and amateur) Hip Hop posse was shooting their video.  I snapped these shots:

      

Last weekend, Julia and I stopped in and some models were there.

Art | Julia

I love to paint and art has been a big part of my life.  I skipped the liberal arts college route and attended art school for my undergraduate degree.

Recently, my five-year-old daughter has taken up art at school.  I now find myself in the awkward position of loving her work more than my own.  Life cracks me up.

Here is some of Julia's art:

View more of Julia's work, is up on Flickr.

Palisades #21 | Sold

I recently sold another one of the large oils in the Palisades series in Richmond.

People know I love nature, I took these shots.

Or you can view them much larger on Flickr

Lucky Charms

I totally sprinted for the end of this one, but no gold, again.  Is this some kind of joke?

Grasshopper

It never fails...

You stop paying attention for one season and the next thing you know the design-team has totally screwed up the new Grasshopper release 1.2.7 --due next week. Dammit, get the project manager in here!

Huffy Pro Thunder | 1980

I saw this theft notice in Misha's Coffee shop in Alexandria, VA.  Still lamenting the loss of the Pro Thunder about 31 years later...

Oso Fresh ...on the Road

What exactly are your doing in your car that requires about a dozen and a half Strawberry and Pine air fresheners about 2.5 feet from your nose?

Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms in the April evening around 6pm. Washington DC.

Typeface

This snippet of video describes the decision-making process typeface designer, Erik Spiekermann, uses in creating his work.  Fonts and typeface form the stylistic characteristics of letters, which when joined into words, provide nuance and impact to our formatted communication.

Canned

I opened up my mother's senior year book (1967?) and found these.  So what exactly are we attempting to convey here ladies?  I dig the vehicles in the background.

LCD Sound System

When Someone Great is Gone.

Beautiful.

Petit Lap Giraffe ...go on.

I Feel Great

Everyone I work with should watch this every day.  I fckn love it!!!

Royksopp

Liz and I caught Royksopp last night at the 930 Club here in DC.  While we agreed their act did not translate live very well, anyone with a graphic design, information architecture, or creative background will enjoy this video.

St. Patrick's Day

Valentines Day

Christmas

Darren Smith Art

Darren is a close friend who has been an artist since I've known him.  I will be at this show.  Join in.

KALEIDOSCOPE By Darren Smith

Art Soiree: Hosted by Sandro & Tati

Friday, March 25th 7pm-10:00pm ($10 cover; RSVP to artsoireedc@gmail.com) L2 Lounge 3315 Cady's Alley NW Washington DC 20007 (33rd & M Street) http://theartsoiree.com/

Hill Wellford | 1933

There are a lot of Hill Wellfords around in my life these days, though I never met the one winning the race in the image below.

This is Hill Wellford setting a new record for the 440 at a time of 48.2 secs in 1933 (incidentally the current record set in 1971 by UCLA John Smith for the 440 is 44.5; the particular race is no longer run as the imperial distance has been replaced by the metric distance).

I like this image for its composition, detail and history.  Also if you look closely at Hill's face, his eyes are cast down at the finish line just as he is about to win the race.  His stature and determination blows the Duke fellow away.  Below is also the annotation on the image.

       

Click on any of the images to enlarge.