Hasta La Ideas

desigNYC, a group founded to connect NYC nonprofits serving the public good with probono designers, announced their 2011 list of collaborators today. 2010’s inaugural year projects were a huge success and included a match between New York City’s Housing Authority and the Rooster Design Group. The NYCHA x Rooster Design project created a communication tool for NYCHA’s 650,000+ residents to learn how to reduce their environmental impact and outline City resources for greening resident’s lives. Rooster Design transformed a 50-page single-spaced document detailing activities to live a low-carbon lifestyle into a concise guide called, “The Power Is In Your Hands.” The guide (optioned in English and Spanish) used colorful iconography and clear, direct language to help residents understand their options to reduce their environmental impact and energy consumption. Learn more about 2010’s projects at the desigNYC website here!

The new 2011 project collaborations include:

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Mayor Bloomberg is not one to shy away from new ideas. The 8 million citizens of New York City are famously opinionated — for every problem, there are at least 8 million ideas on how to fix it. Give a Minute is a new model for urban participation, a 311 for new ideas that, “seeks to reinvent the public process for the 21st century.” The program engages the entire city with a single question, soliciting ideas and then connecting participants together in Action Groups. Groups are organized around specific solutions, and sponsored by anyone from a city-wide nonprofit to a neighborhood group or individual. Mobilizing resources like fund-raising efforts and city programs will help to actualizes some of these solutions. As Mayor Bloomberg stated in his announcement, “This kind of open call for ideas — or ‘crowdsourcing,’ as it’s called — has helped cutting-edge companies improve services and save money. And with more than 8.4 million people in our crowd, imagine what we can come up with.” The program launches in April of 2011 in NYC but cities like Chicago and Memphis are already rolling out similar programs.

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A l’occasion des 10 ans de Wikipedia, voici cette vidéo réalisée par l’agence Jess3 présentant l’histoire de l’encyclopédie en ligne. Des faits et des chiffres sous la forme d’une animation infographique avec en narration le co-fondateur de Wikipedia en personne, Jimmy Wales.

Previously on Fubiz

• Wikipedia Book
• Yoshimasa Tsuchiya
• Concorde – Candy Boy

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Photo by Jeremy Hood

It has been nearly six years since I first moved my design business into Art Central in downtown Calgary. At the time, my plan was to have a nice design studio and, as a side business, I would also have a small shop selling design-related books and stationery. Thus UPPERCASE was born. I mused that someday I’d like to publish books under the same name, so I designed a logo that would look good on a book spine. I didn’t think I’d delve into publishing so quickly nor so thoroughly, but I love it.

Alas, I had to close the physical retail aspect of UPPERCASE one year ago. Expecting a baby was a big factor in the decision, but also the cost of maintaining store inventory plus paying magazine print bills was just too much to take on. Customers through the building had begun to dwindle and Art Central didn’t have the buzz of activity and energy that it once had. I had far more web traffic and online orders than actual people coming through the door and the need to focus my business to an online model was very clear.

I still love my studio space in Art Central and plan on revamping it to meet my current needs (baby-proofing?) I hope to be able to work downtown on a more regular basis now that Finley is approaching his first birthday. I have lots of ideas for events, workshops and the like to best make use of the space… it is just a matter of finding time!

I am dedicated to staying in Art Central; I think the place still has loads of potential as a focal point for creativity and community in Calgary. However, over the past two years, tenants have come and gone and it has definitely been seeing some tough times. We could blame this on the economy but that’s an easy excuse. I would like to hear your opinion on Art Central. What can we do to make it better? What would you like to see happening in the building? What sort of tenants would be a good fit? What would you like to see and do in UPPERCASE?

Please leave your comments below or if you have something lengthy to say, please email me.