natecooper.net

(via kottke.org)

Living in New York, one’s mind might be lent to wonder about the legality of street advertisement. They are literally everywhere. I’m not just talking about billboards (though their omnipresence is also very hard to dismiss), but on every barricade, construction site (New York has many) and even just on empty walls.

According to this article on Rocketboom, most street ads are totally illegal. A group called Public Ad Campaign decided to do something about it. They reclaimed visual space with white paint and put wonderful street art in place of the ads.

Video Below:

Jason Santa Maria lays out some very interesting queries here, but seems to lack answers. Here he speaks to why visual appeal is very much alive in print media, but lacking in online layouts. He argues some pretty compelling points about things that work for and against both mediums but seems at a loss to explain why more attention isn’t paid to design online.

Interesting discussion if you design for the web.

(via konigi)

I’m amazed that it’s possible to be more meta than a Quentin Tarantino film. If for some reason you thought that Tarantino’s movies dragged or could have used faster cutting, this mash-up is for you. Simply a must-see.

It’s from Eclectic Method who has also fashioned a remix for 30 Rock, a Fraggle Rock remix, and a remix of the Colbert Report.

(via Popped Culture)

Steven Tartick’s photo montage of the graffiti (and counter-graffiti) in an SVA bathroom reminds me much of the long dialogues strewn about the halls at my alma mater.

First there is the well designed and printed decals quoting statistics meant to insight thoughtfulness about inequities in IT and graphic design. Then there are the comments scrawled on and around the decals critiquing the statements.

I find both rather poignant at times though some of the handwritten comments are rather low blows.

I remember hearing that in my school’s library there was an entire series of articles published in a newsletter format, regularly inscribed on the bathroom walls of the womens’ restroom. I wonder if they still exist.

(via StevenTartick)

(via thundrrr)

Just back from the Geoff Manaugh talk @SVA, “Designing the Post-Terrestrial”. Great stuff. Oddly enough I found it a very visceral experience. Not necessarily what I was expecting from a lecture on architecture.

BLDGBLOG, Manaugh’s blog on architecture and design, is clearly intelligent and well written and there’s a sense of wonder when reading some of the articles. In person Manaugh revealed a kind of exuberance when discussing hidden burial structures found accidently by tractors or on purpose by muons, the possibilities of a tour bus with ground penetrating radar like a glass bottomed boat and ancient Native American hills being incorporated into golf courses. His allusions to fantasy/sci fi and gaming culture made the weight of his material less heady and more fantastical. More than once he made a reference to Blade Runner.

Aside from his excellent discussion on post terrestialization (essentially architecture that passes for earth or is the earth), however, Manaugh did take a few minutes to argue passionately as a blogger. He quoted a interlocutor as saying (I’m paraphrasing) “Twitter is the end of civilization.” Manaugh stated (again paraphrasing) “I don’t understand that. Blogging and Twitter are just like a ball point pen. You can write a poem or a ransom note or anything your mind can come up with.”

Perhaps saying that I enjoyed that part of the lecture immediately upon meeting him did make it seem as though I wasn’t paying as close of attention to the bulk of the content. But as with seeing any writer speak what was interesting was getting a glimpse of his personality, which as with most of us in the blogosphere tinges on the nerdy but cool.

This collection of illustrations of animals made from continents is pretty amazing. More when you click on the image.

(via Pink Tentacle)

John King’s assessment of 8 small parks in San Francisco looks pretty complete. When I was last in SF I played on some of the questionable playground equipment in South Park and figured it was a great find. Certainly a fun day with good friends. Fond memories.

“The problem with shining the spotlight on a handful of San Francisco parks is that too many remain in the dark.”

I love the typography and layout in this old school poster but, honestly, what bridge is this supposed to be? The placement and vantage point suggest it is meant to be the bay bridge but it looks like a big, white slab with dangly support cords.

Still, all this modernism just makes the over-all design that much more intriguing.

(via If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats)