Design posts

At SXSW Interactive, there has been a lot of discussion about data visualizations. The industry has exploded in the last 2 years and is quickly becoming both a preferred way of distributing large chunks of data as well as the bane of content creators everywhere. Is it possible to distinguish between true visualizations and invalid ones? Can true creativity, beauty, and usefulness be rewarded while spam is vilified? Yes and yes. The good side of infographics The advantage that visualizations have over spreadsheets and articles is that they can present a message in a way that is more easily and…

There have been many innovations in recent months that have blown us away from the world of robotics. If there’s one common theme between the Smart Bird and other robots that have gone from our dreams (or nightmares) to reality in recent months is the constant embracing of natural movement and style when creating movement. The same can be said about DARPA’s “Cheetah” which recently broke the speed record for legged robots. At 18mph, this machine will both amaze you and possibly scare you in a Japanese horror movie way. …

As the internet and mobile technology enter more aspects of our lives in this digital age, the activities we perform on a daily basis continues to expand at an extreme pace. It’s the way of the world that 2 million blog posts are published daily, that email dominates much of our time with nearly 300 billion sent, and our lives are hitting the web via pictures at a pace that is astounding. It can only get bigger from here, but this infographic depicts where we stand as of this day. Click to enlarge. Created by: MBA Online…

Some say less is more when it comes to marketing. Mercedes takes “less” to a new level in the marketing of their F-Cell vehicle line. The concept is simple and brilliant. To demonstrate that a vehicle has no emissions, they made an “invisible” vehicle to represent its lack of a footprint on the environment. By covering one side of the vehicle in LEDs, they’re able to let people see through it via a camera mounted on the other side. The results of the publicity stunt will be seen over time but it highlights a creativity that has evaded the German luxury car manufacturer for a while. …

Every day, I look for the latest rumors or reports about the iPad 3. I never have to look too far – Techmeme features a story or two about it daily. Some new rumor, video, leaked photo, description, or speculated feature pops up from reliable sources who talk about the device as if it’s going to change the world. Maybe it will. In many ways, it already has. Today as I sorted through the latest barrage of buzz surrounding the mythical creature, I realized that it’s just not that important. In many ways, it’s an obsession that certain people (myself included) have turned into a part of our daily journalistic…

Almost every time gets a new iDevice, they download LOTS of apps, especially fitness ones. They see apps that will supposedly make them marathoners within weeks, and during the first day, they exercise really hard. The next day becomes a rest one, and on the third day, the apps goes to rest for good. But Nike + GPS (1.99) will actually keep you running and having a good time. First off, let me explain what this app does. Instead of needing a sensor in your shoe like the app that came free when you got your device, this app simply uses your GPS in your iPhone. Even though the app is compatible with iPod Touch,…

Modifying board games has been a “thing” for a couple of decades now but in the last couple of years it has become somewhat of an internet sensation when people change board games to match various internet properties. It’s a fun distraction and relatively common, but this one stood out as exceptionally creative. The folks over at uFunk put it together. You can download a full-size version here. In the meantime, check out this “Social Media Monopoly” if Risk isn’t your game. …

Optical illusions are often fanciful diversions that keep us keen to the fact that our own minds can not only be tricked, but often tricks itself. Some illusions are so mind-blowing that we try with all of our mental capacities to see reality, but we struggle to convince our minds that what we’re seeing isn’t actually what it appears to be. One of our favorites is the shaded shield illusion. Thanks to a phenomenon known as brightness constancy, we look at the shield above and assume that the area being pointed to by the green arrow is a lighter shade of grey than the area being pointed to by the blue arrow….

For nearly a decade, the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition has put the sharpest minds in high school and undergraduate institutions around the world into competitive and creative mode to find the next great mad scientist genius inventor. Students work during the summer in their own schools or (gulp) labs using biological parts to build systems that can operate on living cells. Starting with 5 teams in 2004 and expanding to 160 team with over 2000 participants in 30 countries in 2011, the competition has yielded inventions that have included an arsenic biodetector,…

Over the years as Microsoft Windows has evolved since the late 80s, the logo associated with each major release has changed. Initially, it was a very clean, horizontal look. It became progressively more intricate through Windows 2000 before simplifying with XP, then Vista, and finally Windows 7. The Windows 8 logo is possibly the most simple of them all. In a blog post, they discussed the thinking behind the new logo and they recap each subsequent logo since the beginning. Here are the logos over the last 25 years: (Via: Insurance Websites)…