Design and Futbol

As the summer draws near I think about my coming time in South Africa and my journey to watch the 2010 World Cup. I was well aware of all the merchandise I would be faced with choosing over but I never took a look into this seasons new picks. Apparently the shirts are being redone so as to be more designer friendly, is how I'd put it.

Creative Review claims that the designs are what futbol jerseys would look like if they were designed by illustrators. Well the team might not like that idea but I do!

Go team!!!... Well I haven't chosen who to rut for yet... but I'll keep you updated!

Layer Tennis

OMG I totally wanna do this!!! Seriously, I'm obsessed. So obviously I didn't even know this existed!!! But, now that I have found it I will love it forever. So Layer Tennis. Oh! firstly you should know that I'm really into photo essays and photo journalism and stuff of that sort so this goes right along with that. Now, layer tennis. What it is is a sort of tennis match where you have one opponent against the other but, it doesn't take place on a court. Both opponents equipt their camera's and try and battle eachother for who can take the better photo.

I found it on Coudal. I don't really understand the rules much... actually I think that there are no rules but what it really interesting is that these designers are in different cities throughout the world. They have to travel around their area, find, take, edit, and send a photo using their own laptops all within fifteen minutes... it's, for lack of a better word, epic.

The players snap some really cool shots too.

Tips!

Tips are always good. Take'em and use them, or try them cause maybe it will work. Someone clearly thinks that they know better than you. So, I saw a post on Authentic Boredom with a topic that everyone really needs to know about, public speaking/presentations! It's a list of try to does for speaking in front of crowds. Twenty points from a veteran blogger... well more veteran than me anyway.

Here are some of the points that I think most important:

1. The art of speaking is roughly 51% entertainment, 49% meaty content.

- This is something that people do in Politics too. They always seem to speak around the problem, but if you are entertaining enough people don't seem to notice!

6. Select a typeface appropriate for on-screen presentation.

- Design tip, typeface = very important. Make sure people can read it and that it transfers well to other computers before you go and select any random type.

12. Don’t stray far from who you really are.

- People listen to sincerity, if you really believe in something people are more likely to take you seriously about it. Don't try to lie to the people you are speaking to; if there is a large enough group, someone will call you out on your BS.

13. In the first 30 seconds you’ll do more to establish your presence on stage than just about any other part of the presentation.

- The first impression is always the greatest. My friend just realized that she just can't seem to like this girl, why, because the first time she met her, she was stealing her beer.

15. Always repeat the question.

- I learned this one in Economics class year. If you repeat a question it proves to the asker that you were paying attention. Also it checks that you understand the question correctly, so hopefully you won't start rambling about something completely different... We've all been there...

LA YAY!

So yes the fact that the post on Core77 was about LA was the reason I looked at it, sue me.

But once you start looking it's kinda interesting! It's about using this time were so many spaces

are opening up because of the economic crisis and what designers can do to swing that to there

benefit.

It's time to start your own gallery and take a chance. Instead of walking by an empty

building a designer can take that building and use it to create something for everyone. Whether

it's just a gallery or maybe a place to take a break, or a shop filled with nik-naks... It's better

than having empty space.

ps. I garden in a building in LA = freaking brilliant.

Themes

When ever a holiday comes around we see the changes in the candy section of our supermarkets, the lights of houses, and the tone of people in general really. Well now we can see changes in our favorite internet sites too...

Smashing Magazine posted about how around halloween time banners on sites change to fit

the time. Pumkins and skeletons started popping up everywhere. Everything turns black and

orange.

So my point is... what is this for? Does it attract more people? It looks cute! and I sure

wouldn't trade it, but I can't believe that large companies would change their look just for

kicks. Well, I'll keep enjoying it.

Stop the Violence

What would I do with a human skeleton... Well I don't really know. But I wish that it would be as great as I found Francois Robert's work to be.

I found a blog post on Design Observer about his work in 2008 with a human skeleton he had aquired. Originally Robert is a photographer who usually does do work in which skeletons make an apearance, but working with a skeleton is something else completely.

His collection is called "Stop the Violence" and well... I think it's pretty self explanatory...

Terrarium?

While scrolling through design sponge I ran into a post about something called a terrarium. I didn't know what that was at first but when I read the post I was intrigued. It's basically an easy way to get a garden.

Since I'm stuck on the idea of getting my own place I've been trying to make a list of things that I would need. I would love to have a garden! But obviously I can't in an apartment but with terrariums I can. I just put the plant in the glass container and let it grow! Well water it and it grows.

This is a really good design for urban gardening because it's super easy to maintain and it looks nice too. Plus it doesn't need to be kept outside! So check out the video! I'll be making some of these next year...