Method.
Method has a new website – and first of all: I like it a lot.
Back in the days, the old black and white Method website was one of my favorite agency websites (they had it at least until 2003, says archive.org). I liked the way they were so clear about what they do, how they achieved to communicate very well on different levels and being very appealing design-wise, although it was “just white and grey text on black background”. In my opinion a good example of a content-driven design, yet avoiding to be just another minimalism stereotype. Focus on their work and their method, no distractions, but without the website design itself being too reduced and –as many other examples– just boring.
The next version of their website was full Flash as far as I remember. I did not pay too much attention to it – not because it was Flash, I just thought it looked a bit too generic and to me personally, it didn’t fully feel like Method. I just tried to link back to the site or take a screenshot, which does not work since the old Flash detection always redirects to method.com, showing the current website.
Well, I think the current redesign is another Wow finally. Again very content-driven, clear and with a highly appealing visual design. I like the quite sublime and charming concept of featuring people and their statements as short built-in video interviews, where answers are given to questions that are not explicitely (and not necessarily) being posed. But I mainly like the focus on the design of the website’s behaviour – which to me does not feel Technology-driven at all (not reloading pages and using opacity fading for transitions is en vogue). I think it is best shown in the way the grid of teaser boxes behaves according to resizing the Browser window – a topic quite many designers and web developers are agonizing over these days:
Now just get rid of the horizontal scrollbar. And the text zooming behaviour could be improved (I know this criticism is very nerdy and anal, but these are the things that stick out with those close-to-perfect examples ;-):
Back to work.
bunny
Eselsohren.
Das sehr gelungene Spreeblick-Redesign bekommt von uns 10 von 10 Eselsohren.
Es ist immer wieder interessant zu beobachten, wie schön (oder überhaupt) gestaltete Online-Publikationen als “print-mässig” bezeichnet werden. Darüber machen wir uns alle ein paar Gedanken über die Feiertage, ok?
Golf Auditions
Here’s a cool web feature for Volkswagen Sweden done by Acne Digital – Web 4.0. I was laughing several times although I don’t understand a single word of swedish. Refreshing.
Make a mellotron out of walkmans
Speaking of Compact Cassettes, here’s some Walkman vs. Arduino vs. QWERTY pleasure:
Via Make: Magazine.
EVS
I found this old and cute logo of Energie-Versorgung Schwaben AG, an energy supply company from southern Germany that does not exist anymore.
UDK Rundgang 2007
Was very impressive to me. This year illustration and art more than the communication design and typography classes. Class Klar was a real disapointment. Hickmanns Class had some nice Stuff. But the illustration and art works was so nice! UDK has open until tomorow, Sunday. Worth for a Visit! I left the exhibition with some kind of euphoric smile :)
Spätzle
Ich hatte gerade einen Spätzle-Workshop bei meiner Mutter, da fiel mir das geniale Otl Aicher-Zitat wieder ein:
Die Relation von Form und Material lässt sich nirgendwo so gut nachweisen wie bei Nahrungsmitteln, also etwa Teigwaren. Maccaroni schmecken anders als Spaghetti – nur aufgrund der Form. Es gibt Maccaroni die sind glatt und es gibt welche, die sind geriffelt. Es gibt gedrehte, es gibt Gnocci, es gibt gewirbelte, verzwirbelte und immer, immer schmecken sie anders. Doch die wirkliche Urform der Teigwaren – das sind die Spätzle.
Kapitulation 3
Kapitulation 2
Schickt uns eure Fotos: info at precious-forever dot com
Lego Synth
monome forever
I wrote my first post about the monome on March 4th, 2006. At that time, I was quite excited about the idea, concept and design but didn’t really know what to do with it.
On April 28th, 2007 I ordered my very own unit of the 40h. Damn, I think I got one of the last few available pieces! It felt great to see many requests arise immediately in the monome forums and some days later, the first box appeared on eBay and made $760 (original price: $500).
But the really cool thing, and this is the main reason why I’m writing another post: There are great news coming from the monome headquarters. Soon you’ll be able to get a kit to build your own monome-inspired hardware, there’s a special edition of the 40h available (only 16 pieces) and they’re going to release three new models.
The special edition even has motion/tilt sensors built in! But no worries, that’s the cool thing about very well documented open hardware: it inspires and motivates me even more to hack my own accelerometer into my monome (I’m wondering if all the inner life of a Wii Remote would fit into the box?).
More extended coverage over at CDM. As soon as I have played around with the monome a bit more, I’ll let you know about my experiences. I’m planning on using it live pretty soon.
Update: Check out this video of the 40h special edition with the accelerometer in action.
Beer Label from Bohemia (Czech)
Černá Hora from Bohemia. I like the label design, not the website. It made me smile after beeing shortly at the horrible reopening of the Tresor in berlin. I found it on an art school party that wasn’t even better than the experience we had made before. Is this beer allready the new shit in Prenzlauer Berg? I wasn’t there for a long time. Afterall we had an nice evening starting with 100 minus 10 disploded manual blowed up ballons for Joanas birthday party and also morning – we checked out a scaffold to climb on the roof top. A women, 5:30 am, looking out here window, was very concerned about us – a couple late-youth drunken people exercise in front her flat at the buildings wall – but we more about her, cause her general mien and evidently not so well condition. she looked so sad. The police officier who busted us later had not that apprecication for our youthful behaviour as we thought he could have. He introduced us to the legal and more safe option to use next time the berlin tv tower. we said that is to expensive and boring for us. he had no further arguments. after all that i pissed my bohemian styler beer gainst a sheating nearby the chinese embassy. in the end i forgot to save the label. but next time.
but i have a snaphot, here:
The Beauty of Melancholy
Listen to this album
Read this book
Watch this video
“Interagitation” | Projection on building
Yesterday afternoon I willingly disturbed my fellows Lauritz Lipp and Till Nagel while preparing their lecture entitled Interagitation, which they are going to hold on 15. Mai, 16.30 Uhr at the Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule. Go there if you’re around, it’s worth it and it’s for free.
Besides a marvelous Crazy Shake, I also got to know the following – which I liked a lot for not only projecting on a plain wall, but using visual obstacles as content: