April Fools!
Thursday, April 7th, 2011 by Patrick Maun
The first of April is upon us and as is customary, the day is filled with tricks intended for unsuspecting souls. April Fools day has found itself more and more at home on the internet in recent years and it seems only appropriate to take a moment to gather a list of a few honorable mentions; specifically those that appeal to the designer within all of us.
Thinkgeek hasn’t let us down this year, including new false products in their catalog such as a Playmobil Apple Store Play Set. It wouldn’t be April Fools day without something outrageous from Google, and they didn’t disappoint. The introduction of Gmail Motion allows users to ditch the outdated keyboard and mouse, and type emails with full body gestures. Google didn’t stop there, writing an article about the one font that consistently outperforms the the others – Comic Sans of course. Additionally, typing “comic sans” into the Google search bar renders your results entirely in everyone’s favorite font.
A humorous time machine trend emerged with the debut of YouTube 1911 simply a feature that allows you to view youtube videos as they would have been seen in 1911 with added film grain, sepia tone and of course old time music. Similarly, Hulu featured a 1995 version of their homepage complete with high-compression images, and internet dial-up sounds.
While there area many more worth mentioning, it’s more fun if you find them by yourself, so check out #aprilfools on Twitter, and happy April!
Can You Hear Me Now?
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Patrick Maun
UPDATE The Utne Reader has written a lovely little post about Patrick’s latest poster. Read it here.
The new poster for Poster Offensive has been printed and delivered. Poster Offensive is an independent, non-partisan poster show, which utilizes the politically potent medium of the poster to showcase contemporary interpretations and critiques of political and social issues. There have been four Poster Offensives, the last of which coincided with the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
For previous Poster Offensive shows, I have examined datasets involving genocide, for this one I decided to examine the state of conflict minerals in Africa and our dependence on them for high-tech gadgets, computers and other detritus of daily life. Cassiterite, which is the mineral I write about in this poster, is actually being touted as a green solution to tin and other more harmful minerals. I was having trouble envisioning data for this piece, so instead looked at interweaving two narratives which is a technique I’ve used in a couple pieces – most recently
Neighbors. The narratives here show two perspectives of artisinal mining through the eyes of a pro-mining marketing piece, and those of a mine porter. The poster was screen printed using silver and dark red representing the mineral and the blood shed in the pursuit of said mineral. The poster is then printed with a varnish coat overlaying a re-interpretation of the Congolese coat-of-arms. The poster is printed on a heavy cover stock from French papers. Much love out to Lucas Richards for the printing.
Most of the previous Poster Offensive Posters are for sale on a little hidden page on our website.
The Thought Kitchen
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 by Patrick Maun
One of our favorite sites in any category is Nau. The folks at Nau creates sustainable , functional and yet fashionable urban and outdoor apparel. Being outdoorsy types, we love their clothing and really love the site. Great design with a highly functional shopping cart. One thing Nau does wonderfully is combine social media with their retail site. One aspect of this is their great blog The Thought Kitchen. Here’s their description:
The Thought Kitchen is our effort at collective inquiry and its power to affect change. Have you ever noticed how the party is always in the kitchen? There are more walls to lean on and people are energized by the proximity to food and drink. Well, welcome to our kitchen, where we hope to tap into everything we love about that feeling—community, vivacious exchange, food for thought.
Focusing on sustainable living, the blog highlights items as diverse as green building, bicycling, the environment and fashion. Check it out for yourself.
Lighthouse Lager
Monday, August 23rd, 2010 by Patrick Maun
A preview of a quick little project for some good friends getting married in beautiful Bayfield on Lake Superior. They wanted a pint glass to give to guests at the wedding. Using the famous lighthouses of the Apostle Islands as inspiration, we created a fun little design.
