Jan Chipchase

Researching for Nokia, Jan Chipchase has the enviable job of travelling the world to discover how people live, and how technology is used and accommodated internationally. The future perfect blog... a collection of insights, thoughts and snapshots from those trips.

New York Murders

New York Times interactive graphs via Infothestics

Lesser Spotted Cards

I came across this range of greeting cards in Paperchase: all the signs are real places and located on a map of England on the reverse. I sent my Dad "crackpot: 3/4 mile" for Father's Day. The photographer is Dominic Greyer.

All the Time in the World

An Electroluminescent Art Wall for British Airways Heathrow Terminal 5
Troika was commissioned by Artwise Curators to create 'All the Time in the World'; a 22m long electroluminescent wall that marks the entrance to the First and Concorde Galleries lounges in the new Heathrow Terminal 5.

It's Bauhaus Bicycle!

I'm looking for a bike right now and this takes my fancy. Might just park it outside the Ritzy Cinema on a friday night..www.baubike.dk Via Ceilidh. .

Studio Verbarius

Their website looks like a default 'fake' site, but swallowing the doubts, there are some nifty bits of design here. Let me know if this is a spoof!

Post-it Action

Obsession to Recession

This is a great spoof...

Recession for Men from Adrian Beiting on Vimeo.
And the inspiration...

I Lego NY

Christoph Niemann's "Abstract City' is a series of illustrations that appear in the NY Times. They're very witty and you can just feel his joy creating variations using materials like coffee stains on napkins and mosaic tiles in his bathroom.

Ghosts of the faithful departed - David Creedon

These are so beautiful and haunting. Check out the book

Between 2005 and 2007 David Creedon photographed many of the abandoned, derelict houses to be found throughout Ireland, whose owners had fled, mainly due to dire poverty during the 1950s, leaving an unmarried family member behind to maintain the property’s upkeep or run the farm. When in turn they passed away, ownership was usually passed to far-flung relatives. Now, in a new millennium, these houses lie deserted, awaiting the return of owners whose dreams of coming home may never be realised.

Your own social network

Ning seems to have a lot going for it: a merge of facebook, flickr, blogspot, online chat and events calendar ... As a private version of facebook, this is clearly the future for social networks: we are many people and many worlds at once.

What is Information?

Maya Design are interesting in that they use a large variety of design research methods for many commercial applications. www.maya.com "A fundamental understanding of the user in context is key to good design. It is dangerous to assume that you know what users want. The argument, “I’m an expert user, so if the system is designed for me it will work for everyone” is a telltale sign that you have introduced unnecessary risk into your design process. Design research is a way of understanding the users’ behaviors, goals, and expectations beyond simple demographics or statistics. Studying your users closely helps you identify customer needs and expectations in order to satisfy them in your design and translate them into competitive advantage."

Beautiful Hannah

It's tricky to find handwritten style typefaces that don't seem twee. Hannah is available in three different width proportions from youworkforthem

Amazing Creatures

A fascinating synergy of engineering and sculpture. Vorsprung von technik.

Ambitious City - Ferit Kuyas

Having a pleasant coffee at Rosie's this morning, I came across a flier for a photography exhibition at Photofusion, just around the corner on Electric Lane. And so it was an auspicious viewing of beautiful large looming smoggy industrial building sites. Barely a soul evident: I suspect most of the pictures were taken at dawn... “I am mostly interested in the outskirts of Chongqing, where the city can’t really be seen, but rather sensed. Also construction sites and places of change are of main interest to me. They show us metaphorical facets of the huge changes taking place in contemporary China. Astonishingly, Chongqing is an unknown place for most people in the western world. The city is located in Southwest China’s region of Sichuan and was the capital of China during World War II. The municipality is populated by approximately 32 million people.”

CND Poster and Photography Exhibit

Stumbled across an interesting show just around the corner from Russell Square tube. An unassuming little door (The Horse Hospital) ... inside was a fascinating collection of protest materials, posters, badges, news clippings and photos of people being dragged along the streets by old school metropolitan bobby hats... A visual language of protest from the 60s.

A tribute to a home

This is my dream home, built by Grace Weir and Joe Walker. It literally blends into the countryside.

On Memory and remembering

Lately, I have been reconsidering the use of a reflective diary. Up to now, for me, it has been hand scribbled notes in a book made in binding class, or a little black moleskine, or sometimes typed into project notes or generally left to sent email archive. These remain unfiltered and unaccessible, and frankly, very old-school ineffective. I then stumbled on rememble.com which is a lovely MA project by Gavin O'Connell and developed to a web 2.0 site last year. Its fun to play with. Alan Sekers wrote in a blog there: "A memory is not the same as what is being remembered." This spun me into the whole area of blogging which hasn't been on my personal radar up to now, but which would be an ideal way to set up a relevent diary: searchable, digital, organised, outward facing and spacious.