HTTPCOLONSLASHSLASH, &c.

Matt says,

Jennifer Daniel's portfolio site is fun in all kindsa ways.

Jan in Rio

Robin says,

Jan Chipchase, the on-the-ground design ethnographer mentioned here before, is in Rio: uno, dos, tres, cuatro (rad), cinco (also rad). What an awesome job.

The Park at the Center of the World

Robin says,

The incomparable Witold Rybczynski writes up proposals for a new park on Governors Island in New York City. Really really interesting. And I agree with his pick for the best design.

P.S. Slate's slideshow format = not great, I know.

P.P.S. Read Rybczynski's book Home. It's transcendently good.

Just Imagine What the Suburbs Would Look Like

Robin says,

You know how sometimes the avante-garde gets commodified, and styles and forms once special are suddenly just everywhere?

I totally hope that happens with this.

(See also.)

A Matrix of Cost/Benefit Analyses, i.e., a Parking Lot

Robin says,

Short, weird, awesome post on parking lots from Jan Chipchase. Love his jotted-journal-notes-to-self style.

Immortal Design

Robin says,

Advancing the argument that good design is bound neither to time nor to technology: Industrial designers choose some favorite products and the best of them are all old-ish.

Then again, maybe it mostly just advances the argument that good photography is everything... I mean, look at that Walkman! Hot!

(Via Core77.)

Designing for the Other 90 Percent

Robin says,

Nice roundup over on Core77 of a Cooper-Hewitt show focused on design for the other (read: poorer) 90 percent. Very cool, though I wish somebody would throw a design show full of stuff invented by the other 90 percent. It's out there.

Roundup written by Natalia Allen, a "design futurist"! Rad!

I'll, Er, Pass

Robin says,

Ew! The new U.S. passport is ugly! (Via Kottke.)

Holy Crap, Best Blog Design Ever

Robin says,

I don't think I've ever actually pointed to a blog here based solely on its design -- but man, Magnetbox is cool. Via Rex, who still shuns RSS because he likes the way webpages look.

Open Architecture Network

Robin says,

Ooh! The Open Architecture Network is live. Go sign up. Via email Architecture for Humanity says:

If we hit 2000 users then we will have an amazing announcement tomorrow.

Who doesn't love amazing announcements?

Architecture for Humanity

Matt says,

By the way, speaking of open-source processes and design, I just learned about Architecture for Humanity's plan for an Open Architecture Network:

By embracing open-source technology and removing barriers to the improvement, distribution, and implementation of well-designed solutions, we can, more than ever before, ensure that communities in need receive innovative, sustainable and, most importantly, dignified shelter. Since the mid-1990s, the sharing of information and technology has steadily gained popularity in the high-tech and arts communities. Why not adopt this approach in the area of humanitarian reconstruction and long-term development?

I'm a bit skeptical, but it's also well-established that I'm a sap and an open-source triumphalist, so I wish them luck.

Reviews of the New Slate.com

Matt says,

From across the Web:

"An unmitigated disaster."
"Boo, Slate. Boo."
"It's hideous. Yuck."
"I think it's awful."
"We hate it, but, then again, we initially hated the last makeover too..."
"Oy."

Yeah, pretty much sums it up for me. (By the way, I didn't cherry-pick; those are the top mentions on Technorati right now.) Generally, I don't mind redesigns; I think I'm usually pretty good about detaching from my nostalgia for familiar layouts. But the new Slate aches my kidneys. It is so bad.

File Under: Bright Ideas

Matt says,

A combo lock that uses words instead of numbers. I dig it. (Ferreterrific.)

Good Tiled Background Images

Matt says,

Pixel patterns, where have you been all my life?