Our job of the week on Dezeen Jobs is for a product designer at the London studio of Benjamin Hubert, whose chair with a hammock-like back is pictured. Visit the ad for full details or browse other architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.
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at Benjamin Hubert appeared first on Dezeen.
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: digital technology is infiltrating all aspects of design and making, according to Dries Verbruggen of Belgian design studio Unfold, who has transformed a set of wood and brass tools into digital measuring instruments (+ movie).
“I think the time when we were either for or against digital tools is becoming irrelevant,” Verbruggen says in the movie. “You cannot remove digital anymore from our daily life. So I think we should stop thinking as either one or zero, and start thinking of where we can embed [digital technology] everywhere in our practice as makers.”
Unfold’s Of Instruments and Archetypes project, which was developed together with Dutch design and research lab Kirschner3D and British interaction designer Penny Webb, consists of a set of instruments that measure physical objects and transfer the dimensions to a digital model in real time.
“Instead of measuring and noting down those measurements and transferring them to the computer, your measuring tool becomes a making tool,” Verbruggen says of the project, which has been nominated for the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year 2015 prize.
The tools can only be used digitally — they do not feature any measurement digits — but are designed to look like traditional analogue tools made from brass and wood.
“We used the insides of digital measuring tools but then moved them into a different language that also adheres to our notion of what a tool should look like,” says Verbruggen. “We wanted to make it less technical and make it more of something that you could see lying around your own cabinet at home.”
Verbruggen believes that such tools could enable designers to interact more intuitively with 3D modelling software. But he also envisions them being used by consumers to quickly and easily order bespoke 3D-printed objects in future.
“The way we always envisioned it is a way of customisation for consumers,” he says. “We see it as an essential tool in an ecosystem of digital manufacturing.”
To demonstrate the technology, the designers created software that enables people to create a bespoke 3D-printed part that can transform any glass vessel into a decanter – using the digital calliper to measure the diameter of the vessel and the thickness of the glass.
The calliper can also be used to measure a second object to act as the handle for the decanter.
“In the end you get a 3D-printed part that connects two real world objects into a new object,” Verbruggen says.
The jugs are based on silver decanters designed by 19th century industrial designer Christopher Dresser. Unfold produced copies of these as part of an earlier project called Kiosk 2.0, in which the studio used 3D-printing to replicate iconic design objects. The idea for the Of Instruments and Archetypes tools grew out of this earlier project, Verbruggen reveals.
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“When we copied [the Dresser decanters] we noticed that we needed something to measure the variety [of different shapes] and translate them directly to the computer,” he explains.
This interview was filmed in London at the Craft Council‘s Make:Shift conference, where Verbruggen was a speaker. The Of Instruments and Archetypes project was filmed in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week 2015.
Additional footage used is courtesy of Unfold and Hetbeweegt.be. The music in the movie is a track called Trash Digital by UK producer 800xL.
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers is an ongoing collaboration with MINI exploring how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.
The post Boundaries between analogue and digital
tools “are becoming irrelevant” appeared first on Dezeen.
“There is no way back for me now. I’m going to take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible.”
Alexander McQueen
A magnificent new show at the V&A exploring the life’s work of legendary British fashion design Alexander McQueen is a moving immersive experience that will leave you breathless.
The widely anticipated Savage Beauty exhibition builds on the success of the smaller Metropolitan Museum of Art show in 2011. Claire Wilcox, senior curator of fashion at the V&A, worked alongside the Met’s Andrew Bolton as consultant curator to produce a show as rich as the work itself, exploring the wealth of references and materials of the collections, with the aim of reflecting the imagination that McQueen poured into his work, and inspire new generations with the thought that creativity and fashion needn’t be limited by function.
Shown top: Duck feather dress, The Horn of Plenty AW 2009/10; Above: Butterfly headdress of hand painted turkey feathers, La Dame Bleu S/S 2008
“I oscillate between life and death, happiness and sadness, good and evil.”
The late Lee Alexander McQueen, born and raised in London, trained as a tailor on Saville Row at just 16 years of age, and went on on to work with theatrical costume and fashion designers before studying fashion design at Central St Martins. He was both a true visionary and so very much of his time, and his suicide in 2010 shook the fashion world and beyond.
From top: Tahitian pearl neckpiece, Voss S/S 2001; Voss room, with works from the 2001 show; Romantic Nationalism room.
“I don’t think like the average person on the street, I think quite perversely at times.”
Visitors to the show are met at the entrance by McQueen’s face darkly merging with a skull image on a large screen, in a reworking of the hologram invitation for his NATURAL Dis-Tinction, Un-Natural Selection, s/s 2009 collection; and his presence is felt throughout the show beyond the garments, with interpretation labels often including quotes like little whipsers, and other statements printed boldly across walls.
The exhibition design is magnificent, with themed rooms including bespoke mannequins and beautifully designed sets by McQueen’s long-term collaborator creative director Sam Gainsbury, and production designer Joseph Bennett, along with well-considered lighting and some incredible, and often haunting, sound design.
London room.
“I want to be the purveyor of a certain silhouette or a way of cutting, so that when I’m dead and gone people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen.”
Rooms include London – an epicentre for McQueen – setting the scene with iconic early works including his Bumster trousers, with more revolutionary early constructions from the hero-artist found in the next room, Savage Mind. Black leather and golden feather, Victorian-inspired creations mix lightness and darkness in Romantic Gothic, a room of Poe-esque ‘shadowy fancies’, as McQueen once remarked.
From top: Romantic Gothic room; Romantic Primitivism room; dresses from Romantic Nationalism and Romantic Gothic rooms.
“I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists. I have to force people to look at things.”
The hair and horns of the Romantic Primitivism room play out fantasies of ‘nature’s gentleman’ and the ‘noble savage’ in a cave-like room lined with bones and skulls; and the tarten and lace of the grand Romantic Nationalism room reflect his ancestral history and Scottish heritage, whilst reminding us of the autobiographical narratives that so often run through his collections, mixed with irony and pastiche.
From top: Cabinet of Curiosities room; details from the same space including bell jar dress with swarovski crystals, leather and horsehair dress, armadillo shoe and bird’s nest headress; still from the spray paint dress live show footage.
“It was about trying to trap something that wasn’t conventionally beautiful to show that beauty comes from within.”
Cabinet of Curiosities is the most intense and thrilling display, with sublime one-off creations, extravagant, bejeweled silhouettes and fetishistic accessories, along with AV displays of some of his infamous catwalk shows. Iconic pieces include the spray paint dress rotating in the centre of the room, originally painted by two robots in the live show; examples of his signature armadillo shoes; and the butterfly headdress made from hand-painted turkey feathers.
The next room is home to a film installation of the poignant finale to The Widows of Culloden show, featuring Kate Moss suspended as an ethereal form, involving the ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ technique, using projectors and mirrors.
From top: Romantic Exoticism room; Romantic Naturalism room; dried flower dress and razor clam shell dress from the same room.
“It was time to come out of the dark and into the light.”
The final, lighter rooms include Romantic Exoticism exploring global influences; Romantic Naturalism, looking at nature as one of McQueen’s most enduing influences with dresses made from dried flowers and razor clam shells; and finally Plato’s Atlantis – the last fully realised collection shown before his death in February 2010, with complex digitally engineered prints inspired by a narrative on humankind and its devolution and Darwin’s Origin of Species, often seen as offering a potent vision of the future of fashion.
Savage Beauty is an unmissable and moving exhibition, full of spectacle and theatricality, liberation and intense creativity, that leaves you with a real feeling of sadness at the loss of such an inspiring artist, but also a sense of celebrating an incredible talent.
From top: Plato’s Atlantis room; Alexander McQueen and Skull lenticular prints – a smaller version of what is seen on screen in the entrance.
A beautiful book accompanies the show, with essays from fashion commentators and industry figures, with backstage portraits, previously unpublished sketches and research boards from the archives.(vandashop.com £35)
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens Saturday 14 March at the V&A in London.
Check out the online interactive here – vam.ac.uk/museumofsavagebeauty
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in partnership with Swarovski, supported by American Express, runs 14 March – 19 July 2015.
Photos: V&A/Anthea Simms/Swarovski Archive/Antonia Wilson/Creative Review
We talked with some seasoned sketchers about their app-inions and how and what works for them. Read more from Core77’s Sketching App Showdown, including Chris Cheung’s introduction to digital sketching, in the Core77 Tech-tactular.
Rachael Stefanussen is Lead Insights Designer for Astro Studios in San Francisco. She pursued her career as an industrial designer due to her love of problem solving and creating. After graduating Valedictorian of University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Rachael moved out west to work with Astro Studios.
What kind of design work do you do?
I am an Industrial Designer for Astro Studios in San Francisco. I work on everything from blue sky conceptual projects to consumer electronics and devices.
A sketch for Burberry perfume packaging by Rachael StefanussenWhat do you find yourself using sketching apps for?
I use my Wacom tablet for storyboards, sketch renderings, illustrations and tweaking photo-realistic CAD-generated renderings when I’m on the go. I use Sketchbook for rough line sketches, then move into Photoshop for anything and everything else. I have a larger Intuos tablet at the studio and a smaller one I use on-the-go.
How do specific programs it fit your sketching style?
Photoshop lets me keep things gestural and pressure sensitive custom brushes do a good job of translating my sketching style to the digital. I’ve been collecting Photoshop brushes since I was 19 and have a huge library. The hot keys on my Wacom tablet save time and keep the sketching process fluid and streamlined, which is important.
Sketches for a remote control by Rachel Stefanussen.Any pet peeves about the app(s) you use?
Sometime Photoshop is just a little too heavy of a program. Even fast laptops can struggle with an enormous PS file. I also wish there were a more robust way to organize layers; things get pretty gnarly if you don’t organize and label them (I know it’s best practice, but I refuse to believe anyone actually does this unless they’re planning to hand off their file.)
This article is part of the Core77 Tech-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technologies are shaping the future of design.
We talked with some seasoned sketchers about their app-inions and how and what works for them. Read more from Core77’s Sketching App Showdown, including Chris Cheung’s introduction to digital sketching, in the Core77 Tech-tactular.
Spencer Nugent is founder of IDSKETCHING.com and Sketch-A-Day.com, online networks dedicated to providing free, high quality design sketching tutorials and sketching inspiration. His professional experience includes working at General Motors, Astro Studios and heading up his own design consultancy, Studio Tminus, where he worked with several clients primarily in the consumer electronics and apparel industries. Most recently, Spencer has been involved in managing design for Spacemonkey, a cloud storage company with a twist.
What kind of design work do you do?
I’m a product and design manager for a home automation company in Utah called Vivint. I help with strategic product design and development planning as well as execution of ideas through sketching, CAD, and development materials.
You’ve said previously that sketching on a phone or tablet wouldn’t take the place of more serious sketching on paper. How does your in-app sketching relate to your other work (or play)?
I still think we’re not THERE yet with digital sketching on a tablet, however, much like a smartphone camera being the best camera because of its immediate availability, I think the same can be said for tablets and smartphones. They’re becoming your best sketch toolkit, because of their ready availability. I haven’t quite made the transition yet, at least fully.
I do enjoy being able to use a few more tools than I could possibly carry with me. being able to use watercolors or an airbrush without the full setup is pretty fun.
Watch sketch by Spencer NugentWhat app(s) do you use the most and why?
In the past, I’ve used Sketchbook Pro. It’s gotten better over the years, but right now, I use Adobe Illustrator Line and Draw, and Adobe Photoshop Sketch. They’re companion apps to the Adobe Ink stylus, which is a huge part of my choice to use those apps.
Which features do you need or enjoy the most?
I sketch a lot with whole line and tend not to focus too much on color or rendering up front. Pressure sensitivity is huge for me. It was a big reason I stayed away from iPhone and iPad sketching in the beginning, despite being a big fan of the idea at the time. The Adobe Ink & Slide work really well. They’re similar to an Adonit Jot Touch, but I like the integration between the hardware and the software on the Ink & Slide. With the Slide, it’s like having a template toolkit with you at all times. There’s also cool perspective tools to help get your sketches or tighter drawings tighter.
Softgood sketch by Spencer NugentIn an app, I want to be able to just get in and draw and not have to think about setup too much. The initial setup in the Adobe apps may take a minute, but the payoff after that is worth being able to just jump in, grab the stylus and get sketching.
The stylus feels great in the hand and they’ve added nice touches with an RGB light to add personalization. I can change the color on the end of the stylus using an in-app action that is pretty cool.
Which, if any, other apps provide similar features?
The only thing I’ve seen that’s somewhat similar is Paper by FiftyThree and their Pencil stylus. They’ve done some pretty cool in-app interaction to simulate pressure or rather the area of contact by the “lead” on screen.
Sketch by Spencer NugentDo you think sketching apps are useful tools for students and why?
I think they’re potentially useful for students. I travel a lot doing workshops and as part of my presentation, I talk about sketchbooks. Instead of carrying around a thick sketchbook or stack of paper, most of us already have a powerful computer on us at all times—our phones and tablets. I think sketching on these devices allows students to always be ready to capture ideas or even showcase their process or portfolio on the fly. I think this is powerful.
Being ready for opportunity as it strikes is incredibly valuable.
Any pet peeves about the app(s) you use? About sketching apps in general?
In general, my main pet peeve with all things digital, and it’s getting better, is the coldness of the work as it’s produced on a digital tool. There are tricks and ways to overcome this, but much like the differences between a vinyl LP and digital music to the trained ear, the differences in digital and analog work, to me, are stark. I wish there was a way to preserve a bit more human-ness in the work that’s digitally produced.
I miss the sensation of the tip of a felt pen on a pad of paper and the resistance, the flow, the unforgiving process of ink on paper. It’s something I miss a lot.
Figure drawing by Spencer NugentWhat do you do with those sketches when you’re done?
I usually just leave them on my iPad or occasionally share with friends. lately I’ve been practicing figure drawing, so that has been fun to explore with new tools.
This article is part of the Core77 Tech-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technologies are shaping the future of design.
We talked with some seasoned sketchers about their app-inions and how and what works for them. Read more from Core77’s Sketching App Showdown, including Chris Cheung’s introduction to digital sketching, in the Core77 Tech-tactular.
Craighton Berman is the founder and creative director of Manual, a design brand that makes designed objects for food; he is an adjunct professor at University of Illinois at Chicago currently teaching “Entrepreneurial Product Development”; he has design work in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago; he was the first designer ever to use Kickstarter to launch a product; he taught a drawing workshop to Disney Imagineering; and he has a YouTube video with 5 million views.
Core77: What kind of design work do you do?
Craighton Berman: My studio practice essentially has two sides—product design and visual storytelling. On the product side I have a startup called Manual where I create and launch designed objects for food and drink. On the visual storytelling side I combine illustration and design-thinking to tell stories and bring ideas to life. This manifests itself in many different ways from illustration, to rapid visualization to animation. In one week I might find myself creating comic-like illustrations for a book, large-scale sketchnoting a strategy session for a large cultural institution, running a brainstorm session for a consumer product company, and creating an animation that explains how a new technology works.
What do you find yourself using sketching apps for?
I use sketching apps for the majority of my client work. The functional reasons is time: digital sketching allows me to quickly iterate and share that work with almost no additional work after creating. However over time it has also influenced my drawing style and has become an aesthetic as well! At my studio I might be doing illustration on my Cintiq for animation or publication work, on a tablet I might be doing on-site sketchnotes or storyboarding an animation while on a flight.
Craighton’s illustrations were featured in the C77 Design Daily, a self-published newspaper for New York Design Week 2014.Which do you use most and why? How does it/do they compare with others?
My work generally comes out of Autodesk Sketchbook and Adobe Photoshop. I use Sketchbook for all of my up-front concepting and roughs because it’s lightweight yet powerful and it exports to high res PSDs. Once I move into final production I can open my roughs in Photoshop to refine and finalize. I have used Sketchbook on every platform from iPad to iMac, but recently I have fallen in love with the version they made for the Microsoft Surface.
The Surface has the best digital sketching experience I have used—screen resolution, pen sensitivity, pen distance from drawing, kickstand, removable keyboard, and most importantly palm detection. Sketching on a Surface in Sketchbook is the closest thing to pen to paper I have experienced—plus it also runs a pretty killer touch version of Photoshop. (full disclosure: I work with Microsoft, but I truly love this product) I have dabbled with a handful of other sketching apps, but find that many others offer various features and novelties that are interesting, but I tend to want the tools to get out of the way while I work. The best way to do that is to learn one platform and stick to it until it becomes transparent.
Illustrations and storytelling for Knoll.How does it fit your sketching style?
My sketching tends to be loose yet confident and minimal—I like drawings that employ as few lines and colors as possible. I’ve found that sketching on a plastic screen has influenced my style to be much more fluid, and the ability to create quick underlays, re-arrange the pieces for composition, and then create a final drawing allows me to be much more stream-of-consciousness without worrying about the final result. I love the clean lines created by digital sketching—I tend to avoid the use of airbrushes and any other tools like that in favor of harder edged lines and color fills
Which features do you enjoy or rely on the most? What do they allow you to do?
Layers—I can’t imagine life without them! Always a light grey underlay, a black linework layer over top, and colors beneath that linework layer. Every piece of the drawing is on it’s own layer for max flexibility. I’m always zooming in a ton to do any sort of text—it’s really hard to control your handwriting at a normal scale.
Sketchnotes for the Wired Business Conference by Craighton Berman.Any pet peeves about the app(s) you use?
My pet peeves are mainly around the app getting in the way of getting in the flow of drawing. Sketchbook does a great job of letting you get immersed in sketching and doesn’t make you focus on the tool, but any time I’m forced to think about the interface—saving files comes to mind—it really breaks the 4th wall and becomes a lot less appealing.
This article is part of the Core77 Tech-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technologies are shaping the future of design.
We talked with some seasoned sketchers about their app-inions and how and what works for them. Read more from Core77’s Sketching App Showdown, including Chris Cheung’s introduction to digital sketching, in the Core77 Tech-tactular.
As Chief Design Officer of Sound United, Michael DiTullo is a passionate advocate as well as experienced practitioner of design. In addition to his work at Sound United he frequently consults for the epic artisans car maker, Icon. DiTullo holds a BFA in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His work has garnered international awards and has been featured in many media outlets and publications.
Core77: What kind of design work do you do most?
Michael DiTullo: My background is in industrial design, but as I’ve grown in my position now I’m responsible for a team of designers in the ID, IxD, and brand design spaces. My personal work is still mainly ID focused in CE, Footwear, transportation, and other lifestyle goods.
Audi R8 sketch by Michael DiTullo on an iPadWhat do you find yourself using sketching apps for?
I mainly use sketching apps for rapid communication. I travel a lot, so being able to sketch on my phone or my tablet allows me to be in constant visual communication with my team as we bounce ideas back and forth. Sometimes I’ll sketch over my team’s CAD, or jot down notes and doodles on the go. I also find it personally enjoyable to be able to focus on doing a great sketch on a plane or in a hotel room and not need to bring any additional materials. I haven’t turned on a TV in a hotel room in years.
Where do they fit into your creative cycle?
I use digital sketching apps in my entire design cycle, form strategy frameworks, to concept generation and ideation, all the way through annotating production work.
How, if at all, do sketching apps fit your sketching style?
I think most designers love tools. For me the sketching apps are just another tool. When I’m with my team at a big table during a brainstorm session, we use paper and sharpies, and pencils because those are the right tools for that kind of collaborative social interaction where we are sketching on each others work and getting ideas down. At my desk I’m usually on my Cintiq in Photoshop or Sketchbook because that is the right tool for that setting. On-the-go I’m on my tablet or phone…though the tablet Sketchbook app is getting so powerful that it is almost good enough to replace the desktop.
Bell & Ross watch sketch by Michael DiTulloWhich do you use most? Which features do you enjoy or rely on the most? How does that compare with other apps?
I’ve experimented with a lot of apps but I always come back to Autodesk’s Sketchbook and Adobe Photoshop. The tools are great, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that familiarity didn’t play a part. I’ve “grown up” with these apps over the years and for me, I want to focus on getting the ideas out efficiently. I don’t want to be thinking about how I get a certain tool to function.
Are there things you can do with an app that you can’t with a stronger program or on paper?
The main benefit is the pure portability and immediacy. I always have my phone, I frequently have my tablet. The app is always there. I’m not going to travel with an airbrush…though I used to travel with a dozen or so marked, white and black chalk, and prism pencils, it just isn’t very practical. The ability to simulate all of those tools and to be able to share it immediately via email, Dropbox, social media, what have you, is amazing. Frankly it was almost unimaginable 10 years ago, and now it is just normal.
I also mix mediums a lot. I’ll start a sketch in my notebook, or on a cap of paper, take a quick pic of it with my phone, and then start adding color, editing it, pushing it, riffing off it and iterating. That ability is very liberating.
Footwear sketch by Michael DiTulloHow does in-app sketching relate to your other work (or play)?
I’m amazed how much they have integrated into everything I do at work and how easy it is to open up sketchbook on my iPad sitting on the couch and just doodle a bit. Change is good. Change keeps you fresh. I love seeing what other people are doing with these tools on Coroflot portfolios. It pushes me.
Any pet peeves about the app(s) you use?
At the risk of sounding like an old man, it is the small changes that don’t seem logical. Downloading an update and then having to find where layers are, or why the airbrush was moved off the main palette, it is just a small pain point really, but typically this also comes with a big improvement somewhere else in the app so the momentary discomfort is worth it. Discrepancies between desktop tools and mobile app tools can also be frustrating, but are understandable in terms of the scale of the app and the processing power available.
This article is part of the Core77 Tech-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technologies are shaping the future of design.
Today’s designers have copious options for sketching beyond the traditional tools of sketchbook and pencil. The layers of bionics that augment the design process and the depth of technology available to the average creative professional are astonishing. However, despite access to such N’th degree of computing, that fundamental classic transaction still reigns: the act of drawing and just ‘putting shit on paper.’
These days you can pack a lot of digital horsepower in a bookbag and still have room for peripherals… not to mention what you pack in your pocket (seriously, can you even remember what is was like when they were just normal telephones?)! For all these devices, there is no shortage of affordable sketching apps to choose from, each taking a different approach on technology and a distinct interpretation on UX and functionality. With so many to choose from, which ones are the best? The apps that are right for you depend on, well, you.
Sketch by Chris Cheung using MischiefWe suggest thinking about your needs first. What do you expect from a sketching app? Are you looking for something lightweight that emulates the simplicity of a traditional tool? Are you keen on particular digital enhancements that make you sketch better or faster? Do you prefer all-in-one apps that are like mini-photoshops? And what are you looking to do with your digital sketch afterwards?
Then there are the crucial criteria: ease of use (it’s sketching after all!), sketching quality (how it looks and feels), performance (does it keep up with your every move?), functionality (does it do what it claims to do?), and value (is it worth it?).
There is endless promise for digital sketching. Luckily, these days, it is easy to experiment with new apps and to mix and match the ones that fit your needs without having to spend a fortune. You can also expect this space to continue to evolve rapidly—the battle for sketch superiority is not over!
We talked with some seasoned sketchers about their app-inions and how and what works for them. Let us know what you use… Have you discovered your killer sketch app?
• Spencer Nugent, Founder of IDSketching
• Michael DiTullo, Chief Design Officer of Sound United
• Rachael Stefanussen, Lead Insights Designer at Astro Studios
• Craighton Berman, Founder of Manual
This article is part of the Core77 Tech-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technologies are shaping the future of design.
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Dr. Nancy Snyderman Out at NBC News (TVNewser)
NBC News chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman is leaving the network. Snyderman announced Thursday that she is leaving NBC News to take a faculty position at a medical school. THR / The Live Feed “I stepped out of the OR a few years ago and it is now time for me to return to my roots, so I am stepping down from my position as chief medical editor at NBC News,” Snyderman said in a statement. “Covering the Ebola epidemic last fall in Liberia, and then becoming part of the story upon my return to the U.S., contributed to my decision that now is the time to return to academic medicine.” HuffPost Snyderman’s departure comes just a few months after the network reprimanded her for breaking an Ebola quarantine. After returning from a reporting trip to Liberia, Snyderman was spotted getting takeout from a restaurant in New Jersey. She was placed on “family leave” for a month and a half, after which she apologized on Today. The Washington Post She never covered Ebola news again. Snyderman worked for NBC News for nine years and, before that, had been a medical correspondent for ABC News. She also had been an executive at Johnson & Johnson, managing consumer education. NYT Snyderman’s departure is the latest shake-up at the NBC News group in recent weeks, as the network has been in engulfed in crisis involving the news anchor Brian Williams. Last week, NBCUniversal hired Andrew Lack to lead its news division, the first step in a major restructuring of the executive ranks. Williams, meanwhile, is on a six-month suspension after he admitted that he had misled viewers with a story about a helicopter incident in Iraq. Lack officially starts in April but was aware of Snyderman’s departure from the network.
Univision’s Rodner Figueroa Fired Over Racist Comment Toward Michelle Obama (HuffPost)
Univision host Rodner Figueroa was fired Wednesday after comparing first lady Michelle Obama’s appearance to that of someone from the cast of the Planet of The Apes. PRNewser Figueroa was fired after a segment on live television where he said, “Well, watch out, you know that Michelle Obama looks like she’s from the cast of Planet of The Apes, the movie.” Figueroa, Univision’s (former) host of entertainment news show El Gordo Y La Flaca, was sent out the door almost immediately. TVNewser Figueroa has written a public letter to First Lady Michelle Obama, asking for her forgiveness. In the letter, he insists his comment was never intended to be interpreted about Obama herself, but rather the makeup artist’s poor effort to copy the First Lady’s look. Figueroa writes that while nobody at Univision objected initially to his comment, he was called and fired after the network received a complaint from Mrs. Obama’s office. THR Figueroa, who in 2014 won a Daytime Emmy Award, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. He worked for Univision for 17 years and had been on El Gordo Y La Flaca since 2000.
FNC Hires ‘The Man Who Killed Usama Bin Laden’ (TVNewser)
Fox News has hired former U.S. Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill as a contributor, offering military expertise and analysis. O’Neill is best known for being profiled in the FNC documentary, The Man Who Killed Usama Bin Laden. FishbowlDC He is FNC’s second contributor hire in recent days with Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., being brought on board last week. Variety During his career in the Navy, O’Neill served as a team leader within the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team Six, and completed more than 400 different combat missions within four theaters of war. O’Neill has flirted with greater fame since leaving the military. He did an anonymous interview with Esquire magazine in 2013 about the fateful bin Laden raid and took part in the Fox News special last year. His disclosures — and those of another Navy SEAL, Matt Bissonette — have fueled debate over whether military personnel engaged in some of the nation’s most critically important national-security initiatives ought to be recognized for their service or keep the details of their roles in clandestine operations from public scrutiny.
Kathy Griffin Flees Fashion Police After Seven Episodes (THR / The Live Feed)
Fashion Police is now down two panelists. Just weeks after the exit of longtime cast member Kelly Osbourne, Kathy Griffin has announced her own departure — breaking the news in a long Twitter missive late Thursday afternoon. “After seven episodes of Fashion Police, I discovered that my style does not fit with the creative direction of the show and now it’s time to move on,” she wrote, before wishing producers and the network well. Mediaite “I do not want to use my comedy to contribute to a culture of unattainable perfectionism and intolerance toward difference,” Griffin said, perhaps pointing to recent criticism the show has received. Griffin’s announcement comes just a couple of weeks after her Fashion Police colleague Giuliana Rancic came under fire for making what many viewed as a racist comment towards Disney Channel star Zendaya. Deadline Much more a vet than Griffin of the show once led by Joan Rivers, Osbourne walked away from her co-hosting perch of five years on Feb. 27. Osbourne’s departure followed her outrage at Rancic’s comments. Rancic later apologized for her remarks, which Osbourne seemed to accept, but she left soon afterward anyway.
Good Morning America Will ‘Yahoo! Your Day’ (TVNewser)
The Yahoo! placards were flying outside Good Morning America ahead of an announcement of an expanded ABC/Yahoo! partnership. Starting Monday, Yahoo! editors will begin appearing more frequently on GMA to, as ABC calls it, “Yahoo! Your Day.” Variety The deal is designed for both sides to expand the reach of their content as media audiences become more splintered. Katie Couric’s involvement would also seem to put to rest speculation that the former Today anchor might be heading back to NBC amid the shakeup at NBC News. Deadline Yahoo! Screen and Yahoo! TV will feature “special clips” from Disney/ABC shows including Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Dancing With The Stars. THR / The Live Feed The GMA segment will each day feature Yahoo! editors and experts, including style editor Joe Zee, beauty editor Bobbi Brown and food editor Kerry Diamond. Flickr images will be integrated into GMA weather reports and Tumblr will be featured in the morning show’s Social Square. The companies also will develop a more robust partnership on major news events, including the 2016 presidential election.
Author Terry Pratchett Has Died (GalleyCat)
Fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett has died. He was 66 years old and suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. CNN Pratchett, who wrote more than 70 books, including those in his “Discworld” series, had been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease in 2007. Pratchett continued to write following his diagnosis, completing his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014. NYT He became Sir Terry when Queen Elizabeth II knighted him as 2008 turned to 2009. In a Twitter post on Thursday, David Cameron, the British prime minister, said Pratchett had “fired the imagination of millions” with his books and had “fearlessly campaigned for dementia awareness.”
HuffPost Adds Scott Conroy (FishbowlNY)
The Huffington Post has named Scott Conroy senior political reporter, focusing on the 2016 presidential election. Conroy comes to HuffPost from RealClearPolitics, where he worked for the previous four years. FishbowlDC Conroy began his career in political journalism covering the 2008 presidential campaign for CBS News as an embedded reporter on the Romney and Palin planes, and was a contributor to the network’s 2012 election coverage.
Jay Penske Makes His First Major WWD Move (FishbowlNY)
Fairchild Fashion Media owner Jay Penske has been spending a great majority of his media-calendar time recently not on Deadline or Variety but rather WWD. And he has chosen to do with the 105-year-old fashion industry bible what he did not so long ago with his 110-year-old showbiz bible. New York Post WWD cutting its print frequency from daily to weekly and focusing on its Web presence. The final daily print issue will be April 24. WWD print subscribers will get the weekly edition as well as the Daily Digital, which will be delivered via email each day, starting April 29.
Lionsgate to Get $375 Million in Production Financing From China’s Hunan TV (Variety)
China’s powerhouse broadcaster Hunan TV plans to give Lionsgate $375 million in production funding, in a deal that would represent the largest Chinese investment in Hollywood filmmaking to date. THR The agreement, which gets Hunan TV into the U.S. market through Lionsgate, includes film production and distribution, and will be unveiled on March 18 in Changsha. The Asian investment is expected to account for 25 percent of the film production costs incurred by the mini-studio in the next three years, with total budgets to run to $1.5 billion.
Viacom Agrees to Pay $7.2 Million to End Internship Lawsuit (THR / Hollywood, Esq.)
Viacom will be putting up more than $7.2 million to end a lawsuit over unpaid internships. If approved by a New York federal judge, the settlement will represent the most amount of money ever set aside to resolve labor claims on the internship front.
Andy Samberg to Host 2015 Emmys (THR / The Live Feed)
Fox and the TV Academy’s choice for this year’s Emmy host is Andy Samberg. The actor and comedian, star of the network’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, will emcee the live awards show on Sept. 20 — marking his first time hosting a major television event.
MSNBC to Launch Daily Facebook Videos (Variety)
MSNBC’s two newest programs won’t be seen first on the cable news network. In the latest example of so-called “traditional” news outlets casting about for audience in new ways, the NBCUniversal-owned outlet will produce two daily videos that appear on Facebook before they surface anywhere else.
ITV Acquires The Voice Creator Talpa for Up to $1.17 Billion (Variety)
The U.K.-based broadcast, production and distribution group ITV has acquired John de Mol’s entertainment show producer Talpa Media, which is the creator of singing competition format The Voice.
Robin Thicke, Pharrell’s Lawyer to Appeal ‘Blurred Lines’ Verdict (THR / Hollywood, Esq.)
The attorney who represented Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in the “Blurred Lines” case said he would be appealing the verdict handed down on Tuesday.
James Carville to Write for Media Matters (Politico / Dylan Byers on Media)
James Carville, the longtime Clinton loyalist and Democratic strategist, will write a recurring guest column for Media Matters for America, the liberal watchdog announced on Thursday.
FishbowlNY Fishbowl Five with Kat Kinsman, Editor-in-Chief of Tasting Table
TVNewser FNC Hires ‘The Man Who Killed Usama Bin Laden’
TVSpy KTTV’s Gina Silva Asks: ‘Why Do People Yell Profanities During a Reporter’s Live Shot?’
Lost Remote Thanks, Nielsen, for That Twitter Study—But It’s Time We ‘Total It Up’ with You
SocialTimes How to Drive Leads with Tumblr
FishbowlDC The Huffington Post Names Scott Conroy Senior Political Reporter
GalleyCat Author Terry Pratchett Has Died
PRNewser 5 Questions on Influencer Marketing Trends with Matthew Myers
Ever since Kate Rohde partnered with psychedelic fashion house Romance Was Born (RWB) for their 2010 “Renaissance Dinosaur” collection, it’s as though a portal to a hallucinatory parallel universe has opened. Most recently this occurred at RWB’s……
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