Ask Si
I've got nothing of note to say this morning so I'll turn things over to you.
Is there anything you want to know?
Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 | Photos | 8 Comments
Archived: March 2006
Neutral
We've just launched a new client site at work for a new company called Elementree, who are all about neutralising the carbon dioxide produced by your lifestyle. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 | Work | 3 Comments
Wired
As previously predicted, moving our office across the road from a coffee shop has been my undoing.
I think I'm a little addicted to the caffeine hit. Worse still, my workmates are converting me to not only a coffee addict, but someone who drinks coffee first thing in the morning.
This can only end badly.
Coffee: good thing? Bad thing? Discuss.
Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 | Work | 8 Comments
Foto. Freo.
FotoFreo, a month-long photography festival kicks off this weekend down in Fremantle. There are some intersting-sounding seminars and lectures being held as part of the festival, including a two-day workshop with Douglas Kirkland, who's taken some beautiful photos of a few beautiful (and famous) people over the years.
Incidentally, the last few posts have all been photos taken at this year's Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe.
Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 | Photos | No Comments Yet
Cottesloe Sunset
Another 1-pixel-stretch pic, this time it's last Saturday's sunset at over Cottesloe Beach.
And on the theme of the other day's rant about good design, check out the BBC's recent search for the Best British Design since 1900.
I have a weakness for the Underground map (as you may have noticed) and the Penguin paperback (and how can you go past the über-British Aston Martin or the Jag).
Update: Turns out there's a book on Penguin's cover designs available.
Posted on Thursday, March 23, 2006 | Photos | 5 Comments
Ideas
If you're in Perth and interested in the web or design make sure you check out Ideas3, an event with two world-class speakers being organised by Port80, the Australian web industry association.
At Ideas3, typographer and brit-pack blogger Mark Boulton will be speaking along with Australian CSS guru John Allsopp. They're both fresh from speaking at the SXSW festival over in Austin (one year I'll make it there).
Should be a great night -- hope you can make it.
Posted on Thursday, March 23, 2006 | Work | 1 Comments
Design Is
The other day I had a fairly frustrating conversation with a client trying to discuss the merits of a design. In hindsight I think the frustration boiled down to our different interpretations of of the word 'design.' I was talking about design as a mix of form and function while they were talking almost exclusively about form.
Over my (short) career as a designer my own philosophy has shifted further to the function-first side of the form vs function debate. Which is saying something, since I was never really one for pointless eyecandy when I started designing.
To me, design is about problem-solving and effective communication. Something needs to work first and foremost, and the style comes from (or after) that function.
The iPod's iconic design is driven by a clear function: it plays your music, and the design of the iPod aims to make achieving that task incredibly simple. The Eames Lounge Chair, easily one of the most famous chairs of the last century, is at heart an incredibly comfortable chair (if you haven't had the pleasure, track down a showroom and try one out). London Underground's geography-defying tube map makes understanding a complex network of train lines easy by adopting the visual language of circuit diagrams, and in the process created a new standard for the presentation of route maps across the world (and even for showing the mixing of music genres).
Me? I think in most instances form should follow function.
So then, what does design mean to you?
Posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 | Chairs , Work | 1 Comments
Six degrees of (musical) separation
A while ago on a road-trip to Pemberton we set a challenge for a friend of mine with a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of music.
With my iPod set on shuffle, his mission was to connect each artist to the next using less than six steps. The connections might be cover versions, producers, bandmates, whatever. It's about finding the right combination of very few, but very obscure links.
It turned out to be a great way to discover music, so I thought I'd give it a go here.
So, here's my challenge for you. These are five random songs to come up in iTunes:
- 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) - The Gorillaz
- A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (A Love Supreme)
- The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes (Elephant)
- Discotheque - U2 (Pop)
- Superfly - Curtis Mayfield (Superfly)
How would you connect the artists/songs? Leave me a comment with some ideas (if you're stuck on one, comment with the ones you know).
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 | Music | 3 Comments
QV1 again
Here's another photo of QV1. I was torn which one to use for my last post and settled on the other one, since you can actually tell what building it is...
And speaking of architecture, I don't think I could ever be a trainspotter, but I could potentially become a train-station-spotter. Check out this gallery of train station architecture and artworks to see what I mean.
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments
Seidler
Harry Seidler, possibly Australia's most controversial and celebrated architect, died last week aged 82. There isn't much of his work here in Perth, but I do love QV1, the office tower he designed around 1990 and while I've never been there I'm a big fan of his Rose Seidler House from the 1950's.
"It's like listening to beautiful music or listening to poetry and that's what really is the essence of those buildings that I respect so much. They are poetic. Beautifully conceived and they give deep rooted pleasure."
(Seidler, in a Sunday cover story in 1998; there's more on his legacy from the ABC's 7.30 Report)
Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 | Life
By the river
My brain's officially left for the weekend, so here's a photo instead.
It looks like the airlines are playing nice with moving travel dates for music fans after U2 postponed their Australian tour. I'm waiting to find out the new dates to decide what to do with my corresponding holiday in Melbourne.
I might move my flights around, or I might just take two holidays (as if I need an excuse).
Update: Qantas have extended the deadline for U2 fans shifting flights until Friday March 17.
Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 | Photos | No Comments Yet
Still trawling the archives
Here's another old photo I discovered, this time from my first trip to Melbourne waaay back in 2002.
From memory it was taken somewhere on the city-side of the Yarra River between (then under-construction) Fed Square and the MCG. Not that you can tell — it could be almost anywhere...
Posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 | Melbourne 2002 , Photos | 3 Comments
Verbosity
I've been getting a little talkative on here lately (by my standards at least) so this is a post featuring a photo and not much text.
Posted on Thursday, March 2, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments