Design Category
Hot Links: Talking Print Ads, Milky Mega Photo, Freakonomics
Dictators Attacked with QR Codes
Scan the QR code with your phone and voila! Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally divulges his regime’s censorship of the press. These nifty ads from Reporters Without Borders blend print, mobile and online advertising to promote journalistic freedom in repressive regimes like Iran, Russia and Libya. See them in action on Adweek.
40,000 Photos for a Picture Perfect Night Sky
After quitting his job as a marketing director, 28-year-old Nick Risinger snapped 40,000 pictures of the night sky while hiking 60,000 miles through the U.S. and South Africa. His amateur photos formed the largest ever, true-color, 360-degree panorama of our Milky Way galaxy. Enjoy feeling completely inconsequential as you scan and zoom about the interactive map.
The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur
A post on the popular Freakonomics blog gives small business owners the tools to survive. Author James Altucher urges entrepreneurs not to sell themselves short during a recession. And if a product sounds too good, it probably is, so don’t lie. Read the full post.
![[Facebook]](http://www.ideopia.com/wavybrainy/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.ideopia.com/wavybrainy/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
You’ll Want to Overhaul Your Office After Reading These Feng Shui Tips
There’s a r
eason why our “giant” logo is red, and it’s not just to make you hungry. When used in moderation, the color red represents creativity and energy in feng shui. And that’s just one of the ways feng shui can help transform your office to bring about positive energy.
Here are some more feng shui tips we use around the office to keep up the positive vibes:
- Face your chair toward the doorway so you can always see people, and not a wall or dead end. It’s not just to avoid your co-workers from creeping on you.
- Small office? Get a big mirror. Mirrors make the room appear bigger and not depressingly tiny.
- Ditch the clutter. The rule of thumb is if you’ve had something for a year and haven’t used it, get rid of it.
- Use positive colors, such as red, yellow and green. Of course, we’re biased. Our office is 95 percent these colors, and, they sure keep us bubbly.
Give it a shot. Minor changes can have a major positive impact on your workday and mood.
Stop the Packaging Insanity
We recently upgraded the entire agency to the latest edition of an important software product we use. Let’s call it Adumpy. Our Adumpy came with a landfill of packaging: a cardboard shipping box, a container carton, sleeve, insert, and then a precious little box for the actual software DVD. This is insane. We like the software, but the company looks like an eco terrorist. Yes, we know it’s all relative. But what better time than now to trim down the amount of material used in packaging. Your customers will thank you. They’ll give you credit for being eco friendly. Meanwhile, you can save a bundle on materials, printing, transportation and warehousing.
Design Protein Molecules for Fun
Foldit is an addictive interactive game that mimics the way complex protein molecules fold up, and allows users to find new configurations. It’s really fun, and four-year olds have already found solutions that have led to new vaccines. So when you disappear for five hours at the family dinner, you can tell your in-laws you were conducting scientific research. Unlike the hugely complex massive multiplayer online games, Foldit represents a trend in easy-to-use and snap together applications that offer great entertainment and learning environments.
Infographics Make Sense of a Complicated World
Infographic created by CNN during President Obama's March 24, 2009, press conference.
Infographics, contrary to urban legend, were not invented by USA Today. One of the most famous infographics created by Charle’s Minard in 1885 depicts the failure and eventual retreat of Napolean’s army in Russia by correlating time, temperature, and mortality rates. (For stunning contemporary examples, visit visualcomplexity.com) Infographics allow us to visualize hundreds and even hundreds of thousand of data points, so we can see patterns, extract information and make decisions. Cloud navigation found on many blogs and websites shows key words that represent content. In turn the size of the word may communicate popularity or the amount of underlying content. This allows us to understand very quickly what a site is about without a single click of the mouse. Aside from keeping innovative designers off the dole for the near future, infographics are a survival mechanism that keeps us from drowning in a sea of data. Use them!
1. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte