leeeena's blog

http://www.bakmagazine.com/Default.aspx

IKEA's signature Futura font has been replaced by the Verdana typeface this year. For 50 years, IKEA had been using IKEA Sans, a customized version of Futura font. In this year's 2010 catalogue, the iconic IKEA font is replaced by the ubiquitous Verdana typeface. Fans and designers are displeased with the change. On August 26, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache even started an online petition to stop IKEA from changing the font.

Verdana was invented by Microsoft, first shipped with Internet Explorer 3 in 1996. It was intended to be used on screens, not in prints. Simon l'Anson, a creative director in London, said, "it has open, wide letterforms with lots of space between characters to aid legibility at small sizes on screen," but "it doesn't exhibit any elegance or visual rhythm when set at large sizes." "It's like taking the family sedan off-road. It will sort of work, but ultimately gets bogged down." Carolyn Fraser, a letterpress printer from Australia, said Verdana is "dumbed down and overused."

So why the switch? "It's more efficient and cost-effective," said IKEA's spokeswoman Monika Gocic. Verdana's ubiquity makes it easy for IKEA to use the same font everywhere in the world, and the online and print versions will be consistent.

Designers feel betrayed and dissatisfied with IKEA's motive. "They went cheap," said designer Iancu Barbarasa. "Designers have always thought of Ikea as one of their own, so now, in a way, the design community feels betrayed."

Shapes made out of water based paints and sound from a speaker. By Linden Gledhill


http://www.flickr.com/photos/13084997@N03/sets/72157608258335431/

Award winning Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto creates his art by using sea salt as the only material.

http://www.motoi.biz/english/e_top/e_top.html

hey guys

i joined a band, so please check it out

http://www.myspace.com/dramaticillusions

Typophile Film Festival 5 Opening Titles from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

CBC News

The three mascots and a sidekick for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were inspired by traditional First Nations creatures, and introduced Tuesday to 800 schoolchildren at the Bell Performing Arts Centre in Surrey, B.C.

Miga is a mythical First Nations sea bear that is part killer whale and part Kermode spirit bear.

Miga was based on the legends of the Pacific Northwest First Nations of orca whales that transform into bears when they arrive on land, but is also a snowboarder.

Quatchi is a sasquatch, but a shy and gentle giant, that loves all winter sports, and is especially fond of hockey and dreams of becoming a world-famous goalie.


The third mascot, Sumi, is an animal-guardian spirit who wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty Thunderbird and runs on the furry legs of the black bear.

The three creatures' sidekick is Mukmuk, a rare Vancouver Island marmot.

While not officially a mascot, Mukmuk enjoys surprising his friends by popping up on occasion.

Mukmuk's name comes from the Squamish word for food — muckamuck — because he loves to eat.

The mascots and sidekick were designed by the Vancouver-based company Meomi Design and introduced by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.


There was no shortage of opinion on the characters after they were revealed, with hundreds of comments submitted to CBCNews.ca. Some were positive:

"These mascots are exposing kids to the fact that Canada is a diverse place, one with different cultures and strengths. They are teaching kids, perhaps indirectly, to be open minded and forgiving of others," wrote Celeste from Kelowna.

"They're adorable, admittedly. The purpose of a mascot is to be marketable and make money (usually through blatant pandering to children) and they've achieved a victory in that category," wrote Noemi Pomerleau of Vancouver.

Sumi, an animal guardian spirit, has the hat of the orca whale, the wings of the Thunderbird and the legs of the black bear.
(CBC)

But the overwhelming majority of comments submitted were negative, criticizing the Pokemon look of the characters and highlighting confusion over what sort of creature they represented.

Fred Allnutt from Gibsons wrote: "If the kids enjoy them I guess they're all right. But … nobody will know what they are unless it is explained to them."

"Vancouver and British Columbia should be ashamed that Pokemon was elected to represent Canada," David wrote from Toronto.

"I'm disappointed," Patricia from Kelowna wrote. "Would have loved a cute, cuddly 'spirit' bear. Perhaps something we could all relate to."

http://huwshimi.com/404/

http://umbrellatoday.com/

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.

Coleran Reel 2008.06 HD from Mark Coleran on Vimeo.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

AL BALAD - Beethoven from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

AL BALAD - Ghandi from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

AL BALAD - Napoleon from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/carloslascano

London (harder, better, faster, stronger) from David Hubert on Vimeo.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/11/26/50-beautiful-and-creative-portfolio-designs/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/04/20/35-designers-x-5-questions/

Pixelmator is a Mac OSX image editor built by two brothers; Saulius Dailide and Aidas Dailide. Along with three other gentlemen, they seem to have built a good photoshop competitor. One big advantage is pixelmator uses your video card’s GPU to calculate image processing which allows your CPU to calculate other stuff. With with increased video memory you can expect “real-time responsiveness” on many operations. The biggest deal is the cost. They expect initial selling price to be $59. I for one will welcome this as great competition for over priced photoshop.

http://www.pixelmator.com/

Depending on your personality, you might see these as either empty beer or soda cans. Either way these are awesome and creative sculptures from Chinese artist Lei Xue.

Source: Link