Hasta La Ideas

On its own merits this book deserves the attention of any student of drawing, but it is more than just an inspirational collection of drawings; it is also a memorial to a dear member of the Art Center design community. The drawings are those of Norman j. Schureman, a beloved and talented faculty member at the acclaimed school. Norman tragically died earlier this year and this book aims to preserve his legacy while raising some money for his family.

You can see more of its contents and order it here.

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With categories like Design Junkie, Green Geek, and DIY’er, there’s something for every eco-conscious friend on your list in Treehugger’s 2010 holiday gift guide. Low-Impact Luxury for High-Impact Giving is the theme dictating entries that made it into their collection of over 100 items which range in thoughtfulness from items that are completely recyclable or made from recycled materials, to immaterial charitable gifts that help shape future behaviors.

Check it out.

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As a Creative Director for a global innovation firm, I fly often. Having to get around the globe on short notice I sample a lot of airlines. All of us should be turning to the passenger next to us saying “can you believe this is really working” on every flight we take, but much of the majesty and magic has been sucked out of the flight experience. From the online booking process, the shoeless, beltless, TSA shuffle through security, to the ragged airplane interiors we are just trying to get through it, perhaps imagining we are in our “happy place”.

Not on Virgin, where Sir Richard Branson, billionaire, innovator, adventurer (man crush) and Adam Wells, Virgin America’s Design director, have created an immersive design based experience that brings back a touch of that wonder of flight. The planes are more than three years old now and it is amazing to see how far ahead they are of the competition. From the mood-lighting, to the CMF of the seat backs, to the sarcastic safety announcements, everything is just better. Because of routes (and my high mileage with United and Delta) I don’t get to fly Virgin much. When I do, I’m reminded of the power of design to evoke a sense of dignity and fun to what is really an amazing fact of being hurtled through the air in a machine with a few strangers.

Appropriately, there is no one big WOW element in the design, but instead it is a collection of well orchestrated small things that make me actually want to be on the plane; like being able to order food anytime you want via the seat back UI, a remote control that feels like it was made in this century, a color palette that relates more to me than my grandmother and flight attendants that seem to be trained to be funny. So thank you Adam Wells. Thank you for not pandering, thank you for looking for the highest common denominator instead of the lowest, thank you for respecting your passengers and honoring the wonder of flight. Other airlines, take note, this is how you do it. Hope you are flying Virgin for the holidays!

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For those looking to add a little quality and variety to their pursuit of bacon, we’ve got hungry eyes on Savenor’s Bacon Society. Choose any combination of their monthly specials (from Cob Smoked to Smoke Wild Boar to Duck Bacon) and have the finest bacon shipped to your door. With shops in Boston & Cambridge, Savenor’s prides itself on the quality of both its goods and its butchers’ skills. If Julia Child couldn’t resist, how can we?

Check out more great gift ideas in Core77’s Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide 2010.

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there is an interesting discussion is picking up steam over in the discussion forum on Skeuomorphic Design. Long time poster “Slippyfish” defines a skeuomorph as a derivative object which retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original. This really ranges from things like ornamental shutters on a new home that don’t shut, to the five bolt pattern on Ducati gas caps even though only three of those are now functional, to the shapes of modern shoes which have evolved from cobbler’s wooden foot forms and have little to do with the anatomical foot, but instead more to do with our perceptions of what a shoe should look like.

An area this is happening at a rapid rate is in the convergence of physical and digital experiences. Think of how many apps on you iPhone have skins that look like physical buttons. Sometimes the skeuomorph is a design cop out, and sometimes it helps us bridge the gap between experiences to intuitively know how to use something without any experience. Would Guitar Hero be any fun with out a guitar shaped controller? To that end, Sean brings up the iPad DJ app, which mimics a real turntable visually. Its not what you need, but its what you want!

Check out the discussion and weigh in > HERE.

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