are you representing?

Posted by Chris under Community, Fashion, I wish I'd thought of that

T-shirts as always seem to be the ultimate way to represent. From Threadless, the ultimate in crowdsourcing design, to natch, one of my favorites, SevenTenths. Maybe it’s me but there are t-shirts that I just can’t seem to part with, that have some special hold for what they represent. Some are trips to far away places, others are a reminder of a time/event/thing sometime in the past. Maybe it’s just a Gladwellian pull for me, that upon sight they immediately conjure up a feeling.

So when along comes a couple guys hawking T’s that represent each and every one of the Chicago El stops, well they just might get my $15. Afterall what says Cubby or Sox fan more then sporting the appropriate T/el stop. And what’s more green then giving prop’s to public transportation.

Put this in the “I wish I’d thought of that”

IDEA: Design Award Winners, 2008

Posted by Chris under Community, Fashion, Mobile, Technology

The Best Global Design of 2008

Business week has fantastic coverage of the IDEA 2008 design award winners

Thumbnails lead you to large photos and descriptions of the products, where inspiration is just waiting for you. Great design at it’s best.

For the full, story click here, excerpt from Business Week below:

The globalization of design achievement is evident in the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEAs). Europe is surging, with its corporations, consultancies, and schools winning substantial numbers of awards. Asia is rising fast, with Japan back in force, joining China and Korea. And, for the first time, Latin America is making a strong impact. While the U.S. held first place, taking 114 IDEAs, Korea came in second, with 19, and Brazil ranked third, with 12. Run independently by the Industrial Designers Society of America and sponsored by BusinessWeek, the contest features 17 categories ranging from computer equipment to entertainment, and from design strategy to student design.

The second big trend in 2008 was the return to minimalism and elegance. Apple’s (AAPL) gold-winning MacBook Air laptop and iPhone best represented this trend. So did the silver-winning Whirlpool (WHR) Duet front-loading washing machine. Other winners were not beautiful but simply sensible. The Flip video camera by New York’s Smart Design and Pure Digital Technologies is a pocket-size, easy-to-use videocam that employs no cables or complex software.

Worth it’s Weight in well… awesome

Posted by Chris under Fashion, Mobile, Social Networking, Technology, trends

A big shout out for Oliver Tse, planner/cultural anthropologist/cool hunter at Element 79. His Blog Worth it’s Weight in Awesome or know around the office as WiWiA, is a great collection of as he says “Awesome things happening now”

I’d recommend putting it in your bookmarks.

Meet the man in the TECHNICOLOR SUIT

Posted by Chris under Chicago, Fashion

You’ve seen him dancing on the bridges or spinning outside the TV news studios. Who is that guy? His story will surprise you.

I usually start my morning by watching NBC 5, while multitasking through emails, writing, reading, etc. A few years back I saw this guy, that I’d seen on the Michigan Ave. bridge spinning in these wacky suits. My theory was that he was a rich eccentric (if he was poor he’d be crazy, right) guy doing this for some jollies.

After a deeper dive on the web I found I couldn’t have been more wrong. Recently the Tribune posted an article on Vincent, yes that’s the suit guy’s name, that you’ll find here.

You’ll also find more info on his site as well as the site for the a 90-minute documentary from Jennifer Burns about Falk, called “Vincent: A Life in Color,” which is now in the final stages of postproduction.film