The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress for over 250 years.
This is a great video plus animation by the RSA Group which discusses motivation and what drives us. A great visual storyboard is presented on a whiteboard to convey the narrators point. Definitely worth a watch.
As a consistent iPod user and Apple enthusiast, I constantly find myself looking out for the latest and greatest applications. I’ve tried a multitude of personal productivity applications over the last year, however, it wasn’t until recently when I found Diacarta that I felt like I had one that I actually want to use. Other applications at times, seemed confusing while being overloaded with advanced options that in turn make them less intuitive. The user interface is so clean, simple, and intuitive that it literally takes you a few seconds to add another task into your day. With a library of over 50 different icons, the interface also does something I’ve never seen in another personal planner — visually map out your day! You can very easily drag-and-drop these icons to the appropriate time of day and it will snap in place, automatically adjusting the time. How much easier can you get!?
Another neat feature of this application is the ability to switch between your AM and PM tasks or even days, with only the flip of a finger. I liked this personally because if you’re as busy as I can be a times, all those tasks pile up and get to look a little intimidating! So in a way, this is feature is helping to organize your day, and ease your mind.
As a designer, one of the most interesting things about this application was reading about the development of it in another review. Created by Jake and Georgia Yanchar, two former New York City lawyers, Diacarta is said to have evolved from daily organizers that Jake would draw daily in his Moleskine notebook. I think this only says alot about the application and its simplicity. If one person can organize their life from a few sketches in a notebook, and turn it into a iPhone application, it just might be worth a try! You might be surprised!
At first look, it might look like a regular plotting printer, but after a few seconds you’ll realize that this contraption is anything but ordinary. This invention called simply “The Plotting Machine” was developed by the folks at You Don’t Matter. This modified printer can work in various types of media and do anything from print, draw, cut, and scratch using any type of traditional technique, allowing for results that are neither man-made nor machine-made. I find the aesthetic to be one of its most interesting qualities. Although its a machine, none of the images it produces are ever the same. This may vary by pressure, color, media, etc. Furthermore, with the proper equipment, you could attach a glowing diode and take a timed exposure and actually watch this machine draw out its masterpieces with light. Overall, I think this is a truly unique piece of equipment. I hope anyone else out there will share my enthusiasm!
For more information and to view some of the work produced from this piece, click here.
A game based on typography you say? Where do I sign up!? Think you know your Arial from your Helvetica, your sans from your sans serifs? Then step up to the plate. With three levels of game play from the ease-yourself-in, ‘Somewhat Difficult’ through to the incredibly challenging ‘Exceedingly Difficult’, there’s lots of fun to be had for novices and typographic experts alike. I’m not sure how many of you saw my post with the original Font Game, but this new version puts this font-filled action in the palm of your hands via the new iPod application! Check out the beautifully designed Font Game by John Boardley, Justin Stahl and Kari Kari Pätilä.
Go ahead, press your luck! See if you can beat me.
