Hasta La Ideas

By all reports, Friday’s National Design Awards luncheon with Michelle Obama went over really well (no word yet if Tom Dair got to say anything smart). As we said last week, we’re hoping to have all of the official Cooper-Hewitt group photos to share with you soon (and a rep from the museum recently told us that they’re coming sometime this week). In the interim, here’s video of the First Lady’s design-focused speech:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Have the maddening, costumed crowds and inevitable internecine Star Wars/Trek-related feuds kept you from Comic-Con this year? Fear not, because Chip Kidd is on the scene! The designer (and comics expert) patrolled the convention floor yesterday with an eye to all things Batman and was not disappointed. Posted to Kidd’s online journal are photos of several new Batman statues, including a black-and-white likeness of the caped crusader waiting for a bus (or perhaps for chatty Robin to get off the Batphone), as well as several Bat-vehicles: your classic Bat-cycle with side car, your Bat-Pod. And like so many trips to Comic-Con, Kidd’s ended in venereal disease: at a booth chock full of German expressionist posters, he spotted this one that memorably conveys upticks in syphilis and gonorrhea in 1946 with the help of a slimy proto-sleestak.

Previously on UnBeige:

Following deliberations on 17 July 2009, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) announced on behalf of the members of the World Design Capital Jury that the City of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) and the City of Helsinki (Finland) have been selected for the shortlist of cities that will move on to the next round of evaluation in the hopes of becoming World Design Capital (WDC) in 2012.

The evaluation for the WDC designation is founded on a comprehensive assessment process spanning a five-month review and deliberation period, during which time, applicants were requested to demonstrate evidence of their strengths in the following areas: Design, Programming, Infrastructure and Financing.

The final jury deliberation will take place in September 2009 in Montreal, Canada, and the official announcement of the WDC 2012 designated city will occur during the ICSID World Design Congress in Singapore on 25 November 2009.

>> Read ICSID press release

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Forgoing his own lunch break, John Maeda just took a short hour to serve up a tasty webinar for the IDSA’s Designer Spotlight Series. Addressing the challenge of “Open Source Administration”, Maeda expounded on his philosophies of humanizing technology through social medias, specifically focusing on his own efforts to create more communal and creative networks in his present role as president of RSID. If you could get past the microphone echo, Maeda’s talk, as usual, was perfectly simple, refreshing and human. Reminding us that “electrons move at the speed of light, [people] don’t”, he touched on his implementation of internal blogs and digital message boards for the RSID community, the importance of finding “authenticity” within large organizations, and the realization that he had evolved from a “CEO” to a “moderator” at RSID. The whole thing rang true with evidence-of-community-makes-humans-happy speak and we’re thrilled to see someone finally bringing design schools into the 21st century. The tab for digging into this Spotlight hour can be a bit steep ($70-$85), but it sure beats listening to waitresses complain about their kids. Check out the full listing here.

And yes, we did do a screen shot of JM’s presentation from a tiny laptop so it’s a bit rough around the edges. And yes, that is Maeda’s very own LIVE mouse arrow in the top left corner.

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I’m looking forward to a quick trip to Vancouver this Thursday-Sunday. I haven’t been in so many years (since before I opened UPPERCASE!) and it is at long last that I will be able to experience the magic of The Regional Assembly of Text in person. Brandy and Rebecca have graciously allowed me to host a little UPPERCASE magazine meet & greet. Please stop by this Saturday from 4-6pm for refreshments, magazines, books and a few other goodies. I’ll have copies of issue 2 on hand as well.