Headphones

I've seen quite a few different versions of designer headphones pop up over the last few years. Of course, this always raises the question in my mind... are they listening devices or style accessories? Can you have both? The answer the manufacturers would give is, of course, yes. Does fashion appropriate from other walks of life? All the time. Check out the "Beats" headphones that have appeared on a number of celebrities here.

These "Pick-up" headphones designed by Swedish ID firm Norra Norr are collapsable and based on the shape and mechanism of a turntable.



Fashion appropriates design appropriating design.

via core77

"Fear of Apples"

"At the farmer's market the other day, not one but three people (perfect strangers) asked me what sort of apple to buy. What do I look like, some sort of apple expert? Apparently.

In our industrialized world, people are now afraid of apples. Afraid of buying the wrong kind. Afraid of making a purchasing mistake or some sort of pie mistake.

And they're afraid of your product and your service. Whatever you sell, there are two big reasons people aren't buying it:

1. They don't know about it.

2. They're afraid of it.

If you can get over those two, then you get the chance to prove that they need it and it's a good value. But as long as people are afraid of what you sell, you're stuck.

People are afraid of tax accountants, iPods, chiropractors, non-profits, insurance brokers and fancy hotels. They're afraid of anything with too many choices, too many opportunities to look foolish or to waste time or money.

Hey, they're even afraid of apples."

-Seth Godin

We are so motivated by fear in our lives. There are two types of marketing; those motivated by fear and those that aren't. So many advertisements and marketing campaigns play on people's anxieties, or make people aware of anxieties they didn't even know they had! This brings up a whole host of ethical questions. Is it right to motivate fear to sell products? How far is too far when marketers alleviate fears? (i.e. can you alleviate fears to such an extent that you eliminate the normal, essential fears that keep us alive?)

I don't have an answer for these questions, but it's something for us, as residents of the 21st century to consider.

via Seth Godin

"Upcycling"

Ah, the Swedes. Such wonderful innovative people. It's always nice to see something coming out of Sweden that ISN'T Ikea. I had a rocking stool when I was a small child (though I think it may have been a child-size rocking chair with the back broken off). The "upcycling" part of this project... the stool is made from pieces of an old sofa frame.

via core77

Guest Presenter: Carla Gannis

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination...And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to."

-Jim Jarmusch

This is the quote with which Carla Gannis opened her presentation for our class. She spent much of the lecture talking about her career and the many directions it has gone. Some of the points I found particularly interesting were her takes on Appropriation Art, "Post-Human" effects and the "Fetish Finish."

The idea of a "Fetish Finish" is interesting because it starts to cross the boundaries between art and commercial production. It reminded me of the Takashi Murakami exhibit I attended at the Brooklyn Museum of Art last summer.



Her own personal work was very interesting. I like the way in which she blurs the lines between fantasy and reality through technology, the same way our everyday lives are injected with an element of science fiction/fantasy through the ubiquitous nature of technology.

Overall, I enjoyed her presentation, however, her interest in "non-linear narrative" made it hard to follow sometimes. Her voice was very clear and, at times, almost theatrical in nature.

Love In The Time Of Cholera: Florentino Ariza

Florentino Ariza is the epitome of the Romantic lover; he suffers for love. At the beginning of "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Florentino proclaims that he is still in love with Fermina Daza after many years and the novel then proceeds to explain the events that lead from their initial flirtations to her eventual marriage to Juvenal Urbino, a prominent doctor and social patron, and his promiscuous wanderings in search of solace for his unrequited affections for his beloved. Florentino's romantic gestures are wild and, at times, frightening. His devotion is unending and his "lovesickness" often manifests itself as actual physical illness. He has a masochistic streak which is evidenced in his obstinate refusal to move from his hometown to a place with a better job (and also away from Fermina and her new husband). While he has countless sexual encounters with other women throughout his life, he maintains that he is still a "virgin" when it comes to his eternal beloved. The book describes him as dressing like a poet, in all black with a hat and an old fashioned tie, even in the dead of summer.

Philip Johnson Brochure (Original Layout Sketches)

Apparent vs. Actual Risk

This is a great post from Seth Godin. It talks about the way most of us perceive the world around us and how every action is influenced by the risk we perceive, rather than the actual risk. (i.e. fear of flying, even though driving is more dangerous) I think marketers have to be hyper-conscious of this effect when analyzing how to position their product or service. People will gravitate away from something they are even remotely fearful of, even if that fear is totally unfounded or is simply based on the fact that we, as humans, are apt to seek out the familiar in our environment.

The vast majority of us are creatures of habit.

HAGA Photoshop Workshop Project

Dell Adamo XPS

Holy breakable laptop, Batman! This thing is insanely thin! I guess it's only to be expected that the PC world would be right on the heels of Apple's MacBook Air. How far can developers extend this trend before I can break a laptop in half with one hand?

via core77

Philip Johnson Inside

(click)