100 Years of Design Manifestos

Woodcut by Frans Masereel

Since the days of radical printer-pamphleteers, design and designers have a long history of fighting for what’s right and working to transform society. The rise of the literary form of the manifesto also parallels the rise of modernity and the spread of letterpress printing.

Here are a few excerpts:

"We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!... Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed."
1909 The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, F.T. Marinetti

"Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! For there is no such thing as "professional art". There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. By the grace of Heaven and in rare moments of inspiration which transcend the will, art may unconsciously blossom from the labour of his hand, but a base in handicrafts is essential to every artist. It is there that the original source of creativity lies."
1919 Bauhaus Manifesto, Walter Gropius

"I believe that typefaces are valuable, powerful, and beautiful cultural tools, worthy of legal protection and deserving of the price they bring in the Western marketplace. Moreover, a gift of typography makes good on a unique body of skill, knowledge, and passion."
2006 Free Font Manifesto, Ellen Lupton

Dig: 100 Years of Design Manifestos!

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HMK

Gracias to the smart folks at: Back Space.

Sound Branding

An effective brand identity is commonly perceived as a good brand name and logo, trendy package design – dimensions which mainly concern visual senses. However, this common perception of branding is incomplete.

Human beings have five senses, so why would brand strategists leave four of them aside? Over the past few years, senses other than sight have been explored by brand experts and marketers. Although the senses of taste and touch are more difficult for brands to reach, some brands like Singapore Airlines and Rolls Royce have already used scent to build brand identity, also known as olfactive branding.

A new area of focus is now sound branding, explored in this article from Brand Infection.

When you really think about it, this idea and focus is actually not all that new - I mean, if you're not familiar with the NBC Chimes, or the audio tag for Intel, you're either deaf of live someplace like Easter Island.

I've always loved audio tags and jingles and believe they can be just as vital to any branding campaign as any logo and/or tag line. If you've ever listened to my HMK Mystery Streams you're probably already familiar with some of my little audio tags: If: Irregular Frequency created in the summer of 2007 and Totally Bitchin', my first attempt from back in 1987 using samples from Frank and Moon Unit Zappa's Valley Girl (1982) and The Surf Punks Teenage Girls (1980).

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HMK

Marco Brambilla: Civilization

The Standard Hotel in New York, recently declared to be the Municipal Art Society's Best New Building of 2009, has an incredibly stunning HD video installation located in, of all places, their elevators!

Civilization, a chronological video sequence using over 500 looping clips to simulate the “journey” from hell to heaven plays on high-definition monitors which are seen through a viewing port in each of the elevators at the hotel and move according to the direction of the elevator.

It's awesome and I can't wait to check it out in person later on this year!

Do yourself a favor and check out Civilization by Marco Brambilla and Crush, Toronto.

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HMK

Brazilian Chair

OK, getting back down to Earth after what turned into Space Week here at That's Right...

Dude, I really want this chair designed by Brazilian designer Sergio Rodrigues via Silvia Nayla!

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HMK

Gracias: Design Milk!

Splashdown!

Safe at home!

In college, a friend asked Armstrong if he wanted to be the first man on the moon - "No," he answered, "I want to be the first man to come back from the moon"... Genius!

At 12:15 p.m. EDT July 24 the Apollo 11's command module Columbia splashed down in the mid-Pacific, about 24 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Hornet. Following decontamination procedures at the point of splashdown, the astronauts were carried by helicopter to the Hornet where they entered a mobile quarantine facility to begin a period of observation under strict quarantine conditions. The CM was recovered and removed to the quarantine facility. Sample containers and film were flown to Houston.

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Heinz Edelmann

Sad news about Heinz Edelmann, he passed away yesterday, July 21st 2009. Edelmann was 75. The photo above is from 1968.

With Heinz Edelmann, the graphic design community looses one of its most innovative practitioners. During his long and prolific career he has created groundbreaking work in the fields of Animation, Advertising and Publishing.

Among the best known of his creations are the illlustrations he did for twen Magazine and Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazine, his book designs for the publishing house Klett Cotta and his posters for the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (West German Broadcasting).

Then there is of course the one chapter in his oeuvre that has made him known worldwide: his stunningly inventive work on the Beatles movie Yellow Submarine.


Edelmann also designed many book covers, including the first German edition of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings,' and won a contest to design the mascot of the Expo '92 world fair in Spain.

More here: AGI. RIP Heinz.

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HMK

Quest For Storage Space

Wow! Considering the computer on board the Apollo 11 Lunar Module had about as much technology as a digital watch does today, this super huge 256GB DataTraveler 300 jump drive from Kingston is nothing short of amazing!

Retail price is a sky high $924US.

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HMK

Thanks to The Cult Of Mac

More Soviet Space Dogs

Most of us are by now familiar with Laika (Лайка, "Barker"), the first space dog and her fateful journey aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957, but did you know that there were at least 26 other Soviet Space Dogs shot into space?

Chernushka
This is Chernushka (Чернушка, "Blackie"). She made one orbit on board Korabl-Sputnik-4 (Sputnik 9) on March 9, 1961 with a cosmonaut dummy (whom Russian officials nicknamed "Ivan Ivanovich"), mice and a guinea pig. The dummy was ejected out of the capsule during re-entry and made a soft landing using a parachute. Chernushka was recovered unharmed inside the capsule.

Veterok and Ugolyok
Meet Veterok (Ветерок, "Little Wind/Breeze") and Ugolyok (Уголёк, "Little Piece of Coal"). They were launched on February 22, 1966 on board Cosmos 110, and spent 22 days in orbit before landing on March 16. This spaceflight of record-breaking duration was not surpassed by humans until Skylab 2 in June 1973 and still stands as the longest space flight by dogs.

Female dogs were used because of their temperament and because the suit for the dogs in order to collect urine and faeces was equipped with a special device, designed to work only with females.

The cool part is that unlike poor Laika, most of these little guys made it back home safely and received the appropriate star treatment.

But wait, there's more! There's an animated Russian feature film called Star Dogs: Belka and Strelka that's currently in production and scheduled to open in Russian theaters in December 2009.

Sweet.

Meet the rest!: More Soviet Space Dogs

U mina plokha s ruskim,

HMK

A big spasiba to fellow stamp geek Joseph Morris for sharing his awesome stamps!

Behold! The Real Moonwalk Thriller!

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind." Neil Armstrong

"This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." Buzz Aldrin

"Ok guys, I'll guess I'll see you back here in about 21 hours or so..." Michael Collins.

The lunar module landed at 20:17 on July 20th and took off at 17:54 on July 21st.


Actually, Michael Collins, the least famous our amazing trio did a lot more than he's credited for. The now famous mission patch of Apollo 11 was his creation. Jim Lovell, the backup commander, mentioned the idea of eagles, a symbol of the United States. Collins liked the idea and found a photo in a National Geographic magazine, traced it and added the lunar surface below and Earth in the background.


The Apollo 11 Crew: Lunar Module Pilot, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin Jr, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Mission commander and first man on the Moon Neil Armstrong.

Go to the Moon with Google Earth!:



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HMK

Boston Pizza

I'm planning on hitting my old college stomping grounds by the end of the summer to catch a Sox game, hook up with some old friends and eat some lobster. And no trip to BeanTown would be complete with out an awesome slice or 5... My hands down choice for the best pie in boston is Regina Pizzeria with Newbury Pizza running a close second.

Regina Pizzeria's opened in the North End in 1926 and it's truly everything a pizza place should be - awesome pies from the brick oven, pitchers of beer, hip, boisterous waitresses, and Sinatra on the jukebox. That’s amore! (Yup, that’s on the jukebox.).

Sadly, Newbury Pizza has closed. I worked at Newbury Pizza and interned at Hill Holliday part time while I was at the Massachusetts College Of Art & Design back in the late 1980's. Newbury's wicked simple and fresh pizza pie was the closest thing to a New York pizza you could find in Boston and working with Lee, Brian and the owner Angelo was really my pleasure and greatly enhanced the short 4+ years I lived there.

Regina Pizzeria
11 1/2 Thacher St.
617.227.0765.

More Boston Pizza!

HMK

Long Live Laika!

Fifty two years ago a sweet little puppy named Laika went from stray dog to a national hero when the Soviet Union strapped her into Sputnik 2 and launched her into outer space.

Just last April 11th, 2008, Laika finally got some well deserved recognition. On the eve of Cosmonauts' Day, marking Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin's April 12, 1961 space flight, a monument to Laika was officially unveiled near Moskow's Military Medicine Institute, the same place her flight team prepared for her original, fateful space mission in 1957.


Like all dogs used in the Soviet space program, Laika was a stray. Strays were chosen because Soviet doctors apparently believed the mean streets of Moscow were similar to conditions experienced in space. Small dogs were selected due to the size constraints of the Sputnik 2 capsule.

"Laika was quiet and charming," Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote in his book about Soviet space medicine. He even took the dog home to play with his children. "I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live," he said.

Here's to all Astronauts - God Speed!

And you've got to check out this nice flickr set dedicated to: Laika, my favorite Space Puppy.

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HMK

Thanks to Reuters

We Choose The Moon!

All Things Apollo 11!

• Interactive: Recreating the Apollo 11 mission in real time, with Mission control transmissions via Twitter, e-mail alerts and a mission tracker.


• Interactive: Review a space race timeline, watch videos and study the history of the space program.


• Neil Armstrong: Check written by Neil Armstrong auctioned.


• Mission audio: Sounds from the Apollo 11 mission.


• NASA: The Web site for the 40th anniversary.


• NASA: The Apollo 11 history page


• Google: Tour the moon missions.


• Twitter: ApolloPlus40 tracks the mission as it happened.


• Facebook: Visit the group page and join the conversation.


• Smithsonian: The National Air and Space Museum's exhibit on the Apollo program.


• iTunes: 'Apollo 11: The Game' is an app that puts you in the lander's cockpit.


• NASA: The Lunar Science Institute


• Wikipedia: Review the audio, photos and other links in the Apollo 11 entry.

• HBO: Featurettes on the making of the miniseries 'From the Earth to the Moon.'


• YouTube: Footage of Apollo 11's moon landing.

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HMK

D-45

This is a pretty cool little flashback idea - the iTunes Store just launched a new section called “D45s.” Just like old school vinyl 45s, these new digital packs contain two songs, the A-side single/the intended Hit and the flip side or B-side.

Pricing ranges from $1.49 to $1.99. Sweet. I even dig the logo.

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HMK

Unnatural Habitats

Rethinking the Modern Zoo. I like this idea a lot more understanding that it's only a temporary installation.

Should institutions dedicated to natural sciences depict a world untouched by civilization as a matter of history?

The Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna has chosen the opposite approach: this spring its animals share their pens with an installation created by artists Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf that reflects the degradation of animal habitats.

Check out the slideshow over at SmartCompany.

That Deli type is awesome by the way!

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HMK

This Saturday!

The Redbone Guitar Boutique Summer Clinic Series continues! Check it out - it's fun and it's free!

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HMK

SHIFT Cottage: Superkül Inc.

Totally digging the SHIFT Cottage from Toronto architects Superkül Inc.

The site for this 2000-square-foot family cottage on an island in Georgian Bay was chosen for its topography and orientation. Nestled into the exposed, washed granite of the island and against a line of trees, the cottage is sheltered against the strong winds off of the water.

The graphic lines of the cottage are designed to further marry it to its site—highlighting through contrast the wind-sculpted trees and craggy rock of the Bay that make its landscape unique.

A glass link bridges between the cottage’s two volumes—one containing living spaces, the other sleeping and washing areas—and a wood deck terraces down to fold into the island on three sides.

Wicked nice. Check out more shots and info on this fabulous place: Shift Cottage.

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HMK

Thanks to Blue Ant Studio.

Wicked Cool Junk Art

Speaking of really wicked cool stuff made out of junk...

Here's how artist Paul Loughridge of Lock Washer Design introduced himself in an interview for Aether Emporium:

"My name is Paul Loughridge (pronounced Lock-ridge). I was "given" the name Lockwasher by a classmate in metal shop way back in high school. Since my name was so often mispronounced and lockwasher fit...Lockwasher Design seemed the appropriate name. I'm a designer, sculptor, assemblage artist, junk dude...crackpot.

I'm a product of the late '50's and "happy to be - #1. totally taken (married) , B. a father to an incredibly talented "tweener" daughter and third. really enjoy creating new stuff out of other/old stuff" I am and have been a graphic designer, ice cream scooper, trade show manager, 2nd place winner in the 8th grade softball toss, event coordinator, teribull speller, store merchandiser, dishwasher, auto parts driver, prep cook, landscape designer, mattress builder, donut shop helper, auto mechanic, country club snack bar nerd, bonsai fanatic, toy collector and frequent finder of found objects...not necessarily in that order."

Genius. Read the entire interview over at: Aether Emporium and checkout mucho mas images from the mind of Lockwasher.

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HMK

This One Time, At Brand Camp...

More geniusness from Tom Fishburne over at: Brand Camp.

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HMK

New Math

Genius.

More proof that after all is said and done there is always more said than done.

More New Math.

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HMK

Sound Ideas

Being the audio, radio, speaker freak that I am, you know that I'm totally digging the concept of this prototype speaker shelf.

In the words of the designer: Why the traditional speaker has to be put away in the corner of the room or hidden in the wall? Speaker could be displaied, and the aditional function could be imparted. The object becomes the item of furniture by a simple arrengement of dvd and books. Two suggestion of shape give the possibility to arrange the interior in the modern style and to achieve a good quality of home video amplification.

Could not agree more!

And here's one of my latest - the official HMK iPhone Conference Speaker Box:



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HMK

Thanks to DesignBoom

Bang!

More firecracker wrappers over here: Bang!
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HMK

First Images: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

That's right, old school - we're going back to the moon!

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent its first images back to Earth after activating its cameras June 30, 2009.

The LRO has both a low-resolution wide-angle camera and a high-resolution camera. These shots were taken at the boundary between night and day, capturing shadows that exaggerate the terrain. Though the surface appears very rough, it is actually similar to the highland area where Apollo 16 landed and explored with a rover.

The LRO will get as close as 19 miles above the surface, but will spend most of its mission 31 miles up.

These pictures were taken to calibrate the cameras.

Read the rest and check out more images over at WIRED

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HMK

Images: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Texas Draws Opening Reception Tonight!

I never get tired and still totally dig the thrill of seeing finished projects in print for the first time - especially when it's for something that's puro San Antonio!

The Southwest School Of Art & Craft presents: Texas Draws, the inaugural exhibition of a new series instituted to highlight contemporary drawing in Texas.

It was a pleasure and a big gracias to Kathy Armstrong, Barbara Hill and all the awesome folks over at the Southwest School Of Art & Craft for including me in this project as the designer of the Texas Draws logo for the inaugural of this biennial exhibition.

The awesome cover illustration, Trace, is by Lubbock, Texas artist Alice Leora Briggs.

Opening Reception for Texas Draws 1 is Thursday, July 2, 2009 form 5:30-7:30.

More info: www.swschool.org

Hope to see you there, have a great July 4th!

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HMK