The I Can't Read Movie Series....wait!

Sure....I am a complete Flickr freek, I can't help myself. But one of the most amazing aspects of the site, is the sharing of creative work beyond ones digital photos of their cat. I mean, I first found myself on Flickr not for photo sharing, but as a researcher - for it's better than any flea market for vintage ads, childrens book art, vintage cereal box covers, and even fabulous vintage book covers designed by dead mid-century graphic artists.......no wait. These are new!


Of course, I'm slightly late on the band wagon, and there is no excuse since I have bookmarked SPACESICK's animation blog for about 2 years now. I found these on his Flickr page while searching for some infuence for a new animated TV show I am designing, when, once I see these, I am smitten and had to download some for my office wall, when I later discovered that they are also featured in Entertainment Weekly. OK. So I am a validated trend hunter, but sometimes others get there first. Still....the graphic designer in me LOVES these fake book covers. Check them out here.

American i-doll A blurry spectrum of difference.

Guys have relatively been ignored by fashion, by style, by a glass ceiling, or by opportunity, right? But American Idol, the TV show that makes stars out of talent, does show more about our culture than screaming girls and Simons chitter with Paula. This latest season is demonstrating that young men are starting to evolve into expressing their soul, all in very public way. Guys now can cry, they can hug, move beyond the metrosexual movement into whatever they wish to become. A road which might be painful for many of us to watch, but in our modern world of Facebook and MySpace, reality is not just skewed, it doesn't really exist.

It is interesting to see how the writers and producers of this show, structures the edits to show stereotypes ( the welder and the oilman) but at the same time, they show the full spectrum of our society, which perhaps helps breakdown those walls of stereotypes and glass ceilings. Today, young people are more OK with macho, if they choose so, or camo, or fem, or gender blurring, our world is complex, both visually and figuratively, so it the influences are blurred, why too aren't who we are?

Watching American Idol last night, I noticed a trend or is is a newly accepted comfort zone, of some teenage males being increasingly flamboyant. However, greater pressure is on young males in terms of body image, with many feeling forced to slim down or beef up depending on their social network, many are also not afraid of femming it up, wearing earings, scarf's, purses, etc. Have you noticed that jean sizes seem to be getting smaller for guys? Many are even admiting that they prefer shopping for teenage girls' clothes to get the colours, fits and patterns they are looking for.
Still, guys get tattood, shave their heads, wear combat boots and they too aren't gay. What up? Welcome to the future, dude.
My 95 year old dad still says that "you can't tell the women from the men today". I remember him saying that in the 60's when he took me to a 'hippie joint" so that he could be 'inspired' for a painting series he was doing. Then, is was simply long hair and emotions, now, it's makeup and glitz. So what. Being individual today is harder, you just can't go to the Gap, because so does everyone else. You can't go start a 'movement' because they've all been taken. Minimalism, again, will only make you look 'very seventies'. Today, it takes guts, Is it beacause shock value is worthless in a post 9/11 world? Who knows really, but one thing is for certain, creativity is tougher to express in original ways.

The Worth Trend site WGSN recently posted a report by trend hunter Laura Jane Preston, who reported: "that UK author Richard Milward recently told The Observer magazine (January 6): "All my socks are from Topshop, the girls' section. I like girlie jumpers too, with patterns and that. Lads' clothes are dead boring." She also notes....

Adam Lambert of American Idol. Photo from Americanidol.com
Anyone who is a fan of this seasons American Idol, can see that not only is there a new level of talent with Americas youth, there is also a new confidence with many of the younger men.

American Idol's Nathaniel Marshall - Talent and confidence
"On the flip side guys are looking to traditional hyper-masculine male role models.

WGSN noted that "The New York Times (January 13) recently cited Chuck Norris, Rambo and Hulk Hogan as the new male icons, claiming that we are entering into a renaissance of brawn: "At a time when the country is faced with a new tangle of problems, the return of the 80s action hero suggests that some Americans, particularly men, are looking to revel in the vestigial pleasures of older times and seemingly simpler ways. (Witness the popularity of the best-selling The Dangerous Book for Boys).

The World Economic Forum, Nussbaum and the Design Manifesto at Davos

©2009, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

Design is finally a discussion point and creative intellects deep-dive at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

Many of us creatives, who sit behind out Macs, and spend our days selecting fonts, or choosing color palettes rarely think about the greater scope of design, it's role in culture, or how the many product we create or invent affect other people. It might come as a surprise then, that not only did Hillary Clinton and the scuffle between world leader make world headlines last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, but that Bruce Nussbaum and his Global Agenda Council (GAC), presented thier analysis and observations, as well as some suggestions about the future and impact of design in our global community.

The idea of Global Agenda Councils is interesting in itself. According to the World Economic Forum website, "Global Agenda Councils represent transformational innovation in global governance, creating multistakeholder groups composed of the most innovative and influential minds for the purpose of advancing knowledge as well as collaboratively developing solutions for the most crucial issues on the global agenda." Read more here.

These GAC's met earlier, and then reported thier findings at the larger World Economic Forum in Davos. To anyone who is interested in design theory, or the future of design, be certain to visit the related links, and snoop around. It is fascinating and quite interesting to see our world leaders considering such TED conference-like issues. Joy, in the design world, all hail Nussbaum.


Also, Harvard's IdeasLab was a new session format presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week with a weekend of events and interesting speakers, presentations and programs.

Design is stepping to the forefront, and as the worlds leading intellectuals, universities and business leaders join forces, the future of design is suddenly looking brighter. ( hence, the "light bulbs"). Baby steps.......baby steps....


Bruce Nussbaum is our contemporary hero. Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he presented again, the Creative Manifesto, which he shares a bit here gathered from his Innovation article on Business Week:

"My own thoughts on our troubles are simple. We are in a sustained period of ambiguity, with traditional institutions no longer working and established leaders failing us. This fog of uncertainty requires new pilots and piloting methods. Designers and design thinking methodologies are the best we have to guide us through uncertainty and ambiguity today."


Mr. Nussbaums "manifesto" which his Global Agenda Council/Design group crafted was inspired by and was the product of a discussion his team had in Dubai where 68 Global Agenda Councils met, and were asked to focus on answering two questions:
1. What is the state of the world on this issue and how is the economic crisis impacting this issue? and
2. What should be done to improve the state of the world on this issue/region/industry, and by whom?

Mr. Nussbaum has posted the Design teams' GAC response on the Business Week.com site, and I share part of it here, since it is relevant to both my book ( Beyond Trend) premise, and it provides some context to all of us in the creative field, seeking guidance and leadership towards a future which may seem unclear.

“ON DESIGN

Throughout history, design has been an agent of change. It helps us to understand the changes in the world around us, and to turn them to our advantage by translating them into things that can make our lives better. Now, at a time of crisis and unprecedented change in every area of our lives – economic, political, environmental, societal and in science and technology – design is more valuable than ever.

The crisis comes at a time when design has evolved. Once a tool of consumption chiefly involved in the production of objects and images, design is now also engaged with developing and building systems and
strategies, and in changing behaviour often in collaboration with different disciplines.

Design is being used to:
· Gain insight about people’s needs and desires
· Build strategic foresight to discover new opportunities
· Generate creative possibilities
· Invent, prototype and test novel solutions of value
· Deliver solutions into the world as innovations adopted at scale

In the current climate, the biggest challenges for design and also its greatest opportunities are:

· Well-being – Design can make an important contribution to the redefinition and delivery of social services by addressing acute problems such as ageing, youth crime, housing and health. Many
designers are striving to enable people all over the world to lead their lives with dignity, especially the deprived majority of the global population - “the other 90%” who have the greatest need of
design innovation.

· Sustainability – Designers can play a critical role in ensuring that products, systems and services
are developed, produced, shipped, sold and will eventually be disposed of in an ethically and environmentally responsible manner. Thereby meeting - and surpassing - consumers’ expectations.

· Learning – Design can help to rebuild the education system to ensure that it is fit for purpose in the
21st Century. Another challenge is to redefine or reorient the design education system at a time of unprecedented demand when thousands of new design schools are being built worldwide and design is increasingly being integrated into other curricula. Designers are also deploying their skill at communication and visualization to explain and interpret the overwhelming volume of extraordinary
complex information.

. Innovation – Designers are continuing to develop and deliver innovative new products at a turbulent time when consumer attitudes are changing dramatically thereby creating new and exciting
entrepreneurial opportunities in the current crisis. They are increasingly using their expertise to innovate in new areas such as the creation of new business models and adoption of a strategic and
systemic role in both the public and the private sector.”

Mr. Nussbaum credits his collegues here:

"I was fortunate to be able to work with an amazing group of people in the Design GAC: Chris Luebkeman, director of global foresight and innovation for ARUP, was our chairman. Paola Antonelli, senior curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Brian Collins who now runs his own ad/marketing company in his own name, Tim Brown of IDEO, Toshiko Mori of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Chris Jordan, a photographic artist, Alice Rawsthorn, design critic at the International Herald Tribune, Milton Tan, Executive Director of DesignSingapore Council, Ministry of Informatin, Communications and the Arts and Arnold Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory in Singapore."

My addition is this. The idea that there is a global group of world leaders who look at design is most encouraging. Especially when I look at the esteemed list of active participants, the collective intellect is impressive. This make me very hopeful that culturally at least, our human society is moving towards a deeper appreciation of the arts and sciences, of creativity and design, and of humanity and the greater collective spirit of invention.

Transforming the ordinary

I am smitten by this new Japanese Masking tape available at DWR. I don't know how I missed it, but I must have it ( Thanks Jessicle for turning me on to it). The above image is from Jordan Ferney's awesome site, decor8 (see below for link). This tape exemplifies how something so simple, can be reinvented just by adding the emotional shift of color ( not any color Mr. 3M company - the perfectly right palette of color). No one is running out to by cobalt blue masking tape to create art with. No matter what you believe, color itself, is a powerful emotional driver, but like anything emotional, getting it right requires a sensitive understanding of what your consumer desires, this is not something that can be forced. Taste and style evolves phenomenally, not by dictation.

Apparently, artists wrote a letter to the President of Kamoi, the Japanese manufacter of a particular brand of crepe masking tape, to inform him that they desired more choice, more color, etc, since many designers in Japan were using their brand of tape for artwork. The company decided to release this set of 'designer colors' and now, nothing is the same.


Kamoi is an old company with an interesting heritage, they made sticky flypaper in rolls, which alone could be another opportunity in our 'green' world -even if they never redesigned the vintage packaging. Boy, I would love to get some of these authentic designs of Japanese fly paper, surely it would do well in the states, if released in both the vintage packaging, as well as in a stylish refreshed model. Again, more possibilities.

From the Kamoi Kokoshi Co. website, where there is an art gallery of work that designers have made with Japanese Masking Tape.

It's worth snooping around their website, even if you cannot read Japanese. See Kamoi Kakoshi LTD for more ideas.

Made from Washi paper, a Japanese rice paper, which is flat and tears nicely, this tape was first 'discovered' by some savvy trend hunters and creatives last year, such as on Jordan Ferney's blog Oh Happy Day, and the design blog decor8. Now the tape is available at Design Within Reach, and one size is already sold out so hurry!








The manufacturer in Japan, has a website too, but apparently the links are not working, so I will not post it for now. Imagine the opportunities this simple color shift makes. I find it so inspiring, because now I want to walk through a Home Depot and look for other missed opportunities. There are so many places where one can still factor in design, to make the ordinary, extraordinary and desirable. Who would have thunk that a year ago,the idea the by simply changing the color of tape to a series of thoughtfully stylish palettes, could take something as banal as a roll of masking tape, and make it so desirable that it could become sold out on a global website.