Hasta La Ideas

For this review of the new unibody MacBook Pro (and new LED Cinema Display), we are hopefully going to give you the type of review you won’t see elsewhere: One that focuses predominantly on how the physical designs of the two machines, and the decisions that Apple’s designers made, affects the user’s experience on a practical level.

We’ll start by having a look at the MacBook Pro’s new physical features, and specifically looking at how they change your experience as compared to the previous generation MBP.

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by Ariston Anderson

Obama art swept the nation, but his support among the art community wasn’t just limited to the states. Renown culture jammer Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, created a 2.5 acre sand painting of Obama in Barcelona, Spain. Named “Expectation,” the piece is made of 650 tons of sand and gravel and was revealed on the eve of Election Day.

“People from all walks of life came together to make Expectation a reality,” says the artist. “We struggled against a tight production schedule, zero budget and four consecutive days of torrential rain.” If nothing else, the project reveals the global impact of Obama’s election.

An edition of 250, there are two different prints of the project available for €250 from artjammer. Also, be sure to check out his past work, including, the Identity series—larger than life charcoal portraits of neighborhood residents on the sides of local buildings.

Regular readers of the CR blog may recall our story this time last year of a 1-metre long model of a trainer-shaped mini-city which formed the basis of Japanese trainer brand Onitsuka Tiger’s advertising campaign, conceived by Amsterdam-based agency, Strawberry Frog. Now the agency, rebranded as Amsterdam Worldwide, has created a new 1-metre long model of a trainer, this time covered in shrubbery, trees, a mountain and rivers. Why? Well, to continue the brand’s Made Of Japan campaign but also to mark the occasion of Onitsuka Tiger’s 60th birthday…

The hand built model of the sneaker (no rapid prototyping this time) represents Japan and features several of the country’s landmarks including Mount Fuji, the Tottori sand dunes, ice sculptures from the Hokkaido region, the dry volcanic area of Kyushu as well as the pylons which power the bright lights of Tokyo. It also features a race circuit – which ties in to this year’s campaign story, which reworks the ancient Zodiac legend that thirteen animals raced each other to secure a spot in the Zodiac calendar. An animated film, created in partnership with New York-based animation studio PandaPanther brings the trainer model and indeed the zodiac race to life:

A new website at onitsukatiger.com/ launched today that embodies the new campaign. Visitors to the sige can watch the above animation, use the Zodiac Calculator to work out what zodiac animal is (this CR writer was born in the year of the Rabbit), watch a film documenting the making of the oversized, beshrubbed sneaker, explore the history of the 60-year old brand and, of course, check out the current collection of footwear. Zodiac Race visuals will be adapted for in-store promotional use in the form of posters, shopping bags and window stickers while the 1-metre long Zodiac Race sneaker will tour Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA appearing in selected stores, venues, events and trade shows.

This making of film shows the development of the model shoe from concept to model – and then how the model was used as the set for the animation:

I was back in NYC during the winter holidays and on the way to the MoMA with my mother, I noticed the man shown above. The first thing that struck me was his attire- a deep brown suit with a bold green sweater along with a well-chosen tie and button-down collared shirt. They all complimented his white hair and beard rather well. What’s more, he had a fantastic British accent and had attracted a sizable crowd for selling cheap carrot peelers.

Today I read about him in The New York Times and found out about his passing on Sunday. It’s amazing how Ades handled the power of context and the value of experience. His iconoclastic sartorial sense and his refined, confident speech drew crowds to watch him peel carrots. I have no doubt that people bought the peelers as a memento of his performance, and not a tool for the kitchen.

According to Autoweek, legendary designer Chris Bangle, the man responsible for the much-imitated aesthetics of the BMW 7-series, is quitting the auto design industry to “pursue his own design-related endeavors.”

In an interview with the man, Motor Trend mused that Bangle might be “The most influential automotive designer of the early 21st century.” For those of you unfamiliar with him, here’s a look at some Bangle news, opinions and accomplishments from the past few years:

Bangle on design, from Design Thinking Digest.

Chris Bangle at the TED conference, explaining that “Great cars are art:”

Bangle giving his personal overview of the BMW Design Group’s exhibits at the Detroit Motor Show from ’06:

Lastly, Bangle’s basic bio is here.

For Bangle to quit the biz is horrible news for BMW, but may be great news for the design world at large. No word on what Bangle will be getting into yet, we’ll keep you posted of developments.

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