I remember watching this great typography animation years ago but I bumped into it again just searching for any video that featured Ratatat’s “Nostrand” to introduce this awesome music to a friend. [so thanks Micro]

Link to everything Ratatat in Youtube

Flowing Danger
Nuclear Invincibility
Stoic Menace

(more…)

Psychology + optical

Optical psychopath: epileptic

[Thanks Gabsis. Photo by sonofgawddog]

People send postcards with their secrets to the website, secrets are shared with the world.

I believe this and Facebook’s honestly-named Honesty Box application, which allows the sending of annonymous private messages, are solid steps forward for open public sincerity. How can you possibly not find that exciting!

[Via Legal Alien]

About sensibility and simplicity.

Sensiplicity: 1. quality of sensible through means of simplification.
Simpsibility: 1. tendency to be carried away emotionally with simple, unimportant stuff; for good or for bad. 2. tiny bits of sensibility in some episodes of The Simpsons.

[Photo by andyi]

Tranquil + kill.

Photo by Bumfluff

A blue Wacom Bamboo

The economy of ergonomics (saving through preventing injuries).
The ergonomy of economics (haven’t figured that one out).

A quick google on “ergonomic economy” turns up with articles on the aforesuggested (word!) matter:

“The economy of ergonomic improvements is reported as case studies from four Swedish companies. Poor workplace ergonomics and related musculoskeletal problems were already known and had caused repeated sick- leave periods at these workplaces. Expenses associated with certain preventive activities were accounted for and financial effects were estimated based on interviews with representatives at the companies. When costs were compared to gains, the improvements appeared to be highly profitable.”

[Original Photo]

Del dicho popular “quien mucho abarca poco aprieta” más su posiblemente válido opuesto “quien mucho aprieta poco abarca”.

In English: “he who much embraces, little squeezes”

As some of you know, I’m colorblind. A colorblind ex-graphic designer to be precise.

I didn’t quit because of my problem identifying most colors —I now actually study car design which is way more critical when it comes to chosing colors— but I inevitably have to start any color composition by picking named colors off Corel Draw’s default palette. Even reading “Light Blue Green” on the status bar makes me feel confident it is indeed a light greenish blue or something like that. Picking colors from a photo or a website is another story, and I have to rely in the pseudoscience of RGB hexadecimal code to decode what a color might actually be.

But today we have tools like Name That Color, a genial (free, open-source) web tool for everybody to check the actual real name of any color and thus the identity it’s been hiding, or select one of the 1500+ preset color names in order to get its RGB code (or just to see how the heck the color wisteria looks like).

Also invaluable for many can be the several color palette generators that generate 5-20 colors based on any photograph, either a url or uploaded. For even more random inspiration, colourlovers.com has tons of custom palettes by users, but if you really want to combine colors yourself, you may want to read some advice.

Now if only all the good brands of markers put actual names of colors on the labels, and not only the bad ones.

De entre las viñetas de El País (periódico español), las de un tal Elrich (.com) se están haciendo un hueco en mis risas a la mismísima altura de Forges. Ésta es la que ha “triggerado” que finalmente lo publique aquí:

LOL indeed.

[This is an actual email sent to my Transportation Design classmates and teachers]

I may have found the ultimate tool for creating the “bubble” or “memo” maps Shook introduced us to in Trans 4 this week; and what’s best, sharing them for active feedback: Bubbl.us That is, hands-on editing by those you choose. The obvious advantages of making the bubble map on this website/program are several:

Z. Automatic arranging and coloring of bubbles by levels.
Y. Manual rearranging of bubbles at any time, both in placement and hierarchy.
X. Shows primary and secondary connections between bubbles distinctively.
W. Shows direction of connections.
V. Option for exporting to high resolution JPEG, perfect for printing any size.

The less obvious but with most potential feature is the ability to share bubble maps with coleagues, and give either read-only or full edit access. The latter, in my opinion, can be especially useful throughout the semester in Trans 4 and I encourage all of you to try it out. Registration is easy through the invitation email I am sending you right after this one. (And no, I don’t get commission or anything from this :))

[Via Download Squad]