A cup

An ordinary mug cup, with the handle being slightly square and big enough to fit two fingers through. Designed by Plusminuszero.

Block party

I recently played with these cubes created by Radica Games. These pixel men are interesting. One pixel man per cube, they each have their individual behaviors. They can play, visit and interact with one another. They can play games and be pestered: just tilt the cube and the pixel man falls!

Windbelt: Cheap Generator Alternative

As part of the 2007 Breakthrough Awards discovered on Popular Mechanics.

Frayne’s device, which he calls a Windbelt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines. Frayne envisions the Windbelt costing a few dollars and replacing kerosene lamps in Haitian homes.

Video
Third-World Wind Power: First Look

Handmade bears

I could not resist! All these bears are handmade by Bearka

Use 1915's conventions: Pink for boys and blue for girls!

Sony is a visionary: the use of a stronger color for its ps2!

I found an article 11 Great Color Legends on Colour Lovers. An excerpt:

According to the website “Gender Specific Colors,” it would seem that assigning color to gender is mostly a 20th century trait. It would also seem that at one time, the color associations were reversed when color first came into use as a gender identifier.

In fact, this reversal of what we consider “normal” was considered conventional, even in the early 20th century.

“At one point pink was considered more of a boy’s color, (as a watered-down red, which is a fierce color) and blue was more for girls. The associate of pink with bold, dramatic red clearly affected its use for boys. An American newspaper in 1914 advised mothers, “If you like the color note on the little one’s garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.” [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.]

“There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” [Ladies Home Journal, June, 1918]

According to Jo B. Paoletti and Carol Kregloh, “The Children’s Department,” in Claudia Brush Kidwell and Valerie Steele, ed., Men and Women: Dressing the Part, (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989). - In the United States: “The current pink for girls and blue for boys wasn’t uniform until the 1950’s.

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Nao Matsunaga | Conversation Part 2

Everyday objects and architecture have symbolic meanings that we have come to accept and rely on, as if they are the norm and there is no alternative. They create a sense/illusion of a place where what we expect from our world and what is expected from us are seemingly set. I feel that my job is to remind myself and others that this is not always the case. --Nao Matsunaga

Sweet logo

To design psychohaptic's logo, I searched a visual identity for the research. The logo that I ended up creating visually represents a mix between therapy and artificial comfort: a cross pink. The pink reminded me of artificial candy' sweetness, and the cross aimed to connect to medical care. Creating an artificial sensation of touch with Psychohaptics for therapy, the pink cross logo worked pretty well.

I recently discovered Happy Pills, a sweet shop in Barcelona designed in homage to traditional pharmacies. The logo is exactly the same one than the one I made for our project at MIT. I started to be interested in the common points between projects with similar logos. I envision a database of logos with a few keywords on the rationale for their design choices and their corresponding projects. As for a navigation system through design works, that would be very exciting!

M designed the branding and packaging as well as the interior of the store. “When you get candy in your mouth, your mood lifts, you feel better,” says M partner Marion Donneweg. “It’s like a bite of happiness.”

Take comfort seriously!

Sometimes you want to blog, read a book, channel surf, eat popcorn or play World of Warcraft and it is chilly in your home. It is hard to lie on the couch or in bed and play video games without your shoulders and upper body exposed to the elements. Well I found the solution: the Slanket, a blanket that wraps you up and you end up snugged like a toasty burrito in the middle of winter!
NB: Works especially well for Boston area!

Object Artistically Modified

Stéphane Vigny, Mécanique Populaire. For this installation, an electric drill becomes a skipping rope.

I discovered the work of Stéphane Vigny at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Mixing minimalism to mainstream objects, he produces subversive pieces. I love his work that I find humorous as much as alarming.

Foux de fa fa

I love this series Flight of The Conchords given to me by Aurelius. I especially loved the Foux de fa fa episode on French impersonation. It is not meant to be an accurate reflection of French. It's a representation of the public school child's exposure to French culture via outdated textbooks, 1970's film reels and Serge Gainsbourg disco era.