October 2010
1 post
Moonlight sconce | People's Design Award |... →
The Moonlight sconce is online for the People’s Design Award. Help by voting for the win! Voting closes OCT 12 2010 3 PM PST / 6 PM EST.
May 2010
2 posts
3 tags
3 tags
March 2010
4 posts
3 tags
SXSW2010 schools me on music
This year was my first visit to SXSW Music. I stuck around for a few days after giving a SXSW Interactive talk (thank you for those who attended!) and was blown away by the energy and the discovery taking place on such a massive scale. I picked up a few new favorite bands and some timely reminders about music as a form of artistic expression:
music is personal.
Each person’s navigation...
3 tags
Medical packaging that makes you feel normal
I wear contact lenses. I also design medical products from time to time. A theme that comes up over and over again with clients is the customer desire for products that feel less ‘medical’.
If you have to have corrective lenses, for example, it shouldn’t feel like a blemish or a disorder. Related products, from saline solution to lens cases, should feel like they’re part...
4 tags
A candle for my father on his 3rd year of passing
In the Jewish tradition, on the day of the Lunar year when a parent had passed away, you light a candle and say a prayer. The candle is called Ner Neshama which means soul candle and signifies the memory of a lost one. It burns for almost 24 hours. This is the third year that I’ve lit a candle for my father and it’s a startling feeling to wake up the next day to see it burning. You...
3 tags
February 2010
2 posts
3 tags
More than just tea
Starving and on the way to a Whole Foods this past Sunday for some ideas for dinner, I decided on a whim to stop in at a local Middle Eastern grocery store instead. I start chatting with the owner, after having tasted a batch of hummus she made by hand moments before I arrived. She brings me tea and urges me not to rush off until I finish it. While I’m hanging out and drinking my tea, with 3...
3 tags
Life before Album Art
Album Art was “invented” in 1940 by a young designer, who proposed that putting artwork on the covers of albums, instead of the earlier treatment of silver or gold type imprinted on a heavy, solid color background (like an encyclopedia), would increase record sales. He was right.
Before that, designers created visuals to imprint a mental image and a mood on the covers of sheet music....
January 2010
7 posts
3 tags
Duct tape wine labels and Jefferson's initials
A while back, I read an article in the NY Times about how fickle we are when it comes to consumption, especially when it comes to something as elusive and subjective as wine. Cliff notes version: Most people can’t tell the difference between $10 and $80 wine. Connoisseurs train themselves to learn what $80 wine is supposed to taste like. For the rest of us, ignorance is bliss.
Now...
3 tags
Lake Tahoe on the meaning of White
From 9,000 ft, Squaw Valley’s Granite Chief is a stunning place to snap into bindings and give gravity a run for its money. Every time I visit Lake Tahoe’s winter summits, I am overwhelmed by the power of White - all colors of the spectrum coating an otherwise rugged terrain, dotted with evergreens that boldly survive the cold winter months. Though I’ll readily admit the...
4 tags
3 tags
4 tags
3 tags
