Hasta La Ideas

//Click the image to see more//

–> Dear Ada

Studio 360 asked Worldstudio to redesign the 30-year old gay pride flag “in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that marked the first salvo in the gay rights revolution.” While the 1978 original represents unity (inspired by the rainbow peace flag), these proposals tackle some of the issues facing the LBGT community today–same-sex marriage and national identity in particular. For example, Isaac Mizrahi’s favorite (top left) doesn’t use rainbow colors at all. Instead, it’s a modification of the existing US flag, representing only those states that have legalized gay marriage.

See the entire slideshow here and be sure to vote for your favorite!

via the daily heller

(more…)

Illustration by Elisabeth Manus, Communication Art & Design, RCA

The Royal College of Art‘s SHOW TWO is on until 5 July, featuring work from the Animation, Design Interactions, Products, Textiles and Communication Art & Design courses. We had a look around the latter – here’s what caught our eye…

Page Tsou‘s illustrations of toy guns are well worth seeing in the flesh. They’re also huge. The Gift That Keeps on Giving (below, top) is actually about six feet across and made up of nine meticulously detailed panels.

Lottie Crumbleholme‘s Lost Skills Depository publications offer tips on mending old clothes.

Povilas Utovka‘s typographic work is really strong – his Code Share work for CAC Vilnius (below top) and the Office of Real Time Activity (below, bottom) are collaborative efforts with coursemate Alistair Webb. 

Illustration work for Marina Warner’s short story, The Different in the Dose, by Zoe Taylor. (The ahem ‘bottom’ image might require a second look).

Some great type from Alistair Webb in his While the Things of The World Still Do Not Move catalogue (designed for Anne Harild) and two posters for an RCA typography exhibition. 

David Fulford‘s portraiture feature in the shortlist for the BP Portrait Award in 2006 (see the untitled portrait of his mother, below). At this year’s RCA show he’s exhibiting more abstract pieces from his Family Portrait series (below, top). 

Monika is a new magazine written and produced anonymously, not a byline in sight. We do know that Povilas Utovka (see above) worked on the typeface though. More on Monika, with images of the inside, in an upcoming post…

Eva Kellenberger and Sebastian White often work together and created the Design Interaction 2009 catalogue. The design plays on the notion of the ‘green screen’ – where imagined environments are created to house particular objects. 

While the above is just a selection from the Communication Art & Design work on show this year, there’s also the Design Products, Fashion, Textiles, Design Interactions, Animation and Industrial Design Engineering shows to check out as well. 

Most have their own dedicated website – see Communication Art & Design‘s for every graduate of the course – and some, it seems, may owe a little of their inspiration to other sources. : )

Have a look at the site for Open_Sailing, an innovative marine architecture project that also features at SHOW 2.

SHOW 2 runs until 5 July (closed 3 July). Exhibitions open at 11am, closing times vary. For address details, see rca.ac.uk/.

Math geeks will be excited to learn that Hewlett Packard recently released a series of calculator applications for the iPhone. Based on vintage designs, the applications serve as virtual replicas of the HP 12C and HP 12C platinum financial calculators (both above) and the HP 15C scientific calculator (below), while offering the same functions, algorithms and calculation sequences.

The designers at HP clearly spent a good deal of time tweaking the buttons on these apps, creating a rich three-dimensionality that puts the iPhone’s standard calculator to shame. Taking advantage of the iPhone’s accelerometer, the calculators also offer a horizontal and simplified RPN vertical orientation. With a download price of $15 for the 12C and $30 for the 15C, however, these calculators make for a pricey trip down memory lane; these are more for serious computations on the go.

via designboom