Writing a portrait

Posted on April 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

Designer and programmer Juan Osborne develops portraits using words and phrases directly related to the respective subject of the portrait. Osborne creates his own programs to make these inspiring works possible. Here are a few of our favourites:

Produced with engagement announcement search terms

Featuring words from over 100 Obama speeches

Made using the lyrics from ‘Imagine’

Osborne not only uses words to create his portraits, but also images. Here is one we found especially cool, that is compiled of screenshots from Osborne’s 10 favourite Hitchcock movies:

We love the impressionist aspect of Osborne’s work — from up close, the images are merely words (or smaller images), but when stepping back the iconic figure takes its shape. We also appreciate that Osborne develops his own software to create his artwork. He has said, “There are no limits to creativity – if I need something or think of a new way to make something I just create a new application to do it.” Check out his website for further experiments and projects, as well as a plethora of more portraits!

(Sources: My Modern Met and Juan Osborne)

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Virgin Submarine

Posted on April 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

In his newest business venture, Richard Branson is offering  the ability to reach ocean depths that have never been explored before. The Virgin Oceanic  will be the first submarine to be able to sustain operation at 37,000 feet below sea level. Watch the video below to see its design:

Though we admit that some of Branson’s product extensions have been a bit too much, we think this is awesome. We can’t imagine how much one of these trips would cost but are intrigued to see the footage that will come of this new exploration! Branson will be a co-pilot along with pilot Chris Welsh. Very cool.

Happy Friday!

(Source: Geek.com)

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Trees of Knowledge

Posted on April 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

We really like these bookshelves from Greek-Italian architect and designer Kostas Syrtariotis, aptly titled BookTree. The designs were exhibited at the kidsroomzoom event at Milan Design Week:

The bookshelves are easy to assemble and are attached to a wall with just two screws.

We think these are a really creative, modern portal to get children excited about reading and about showing off their books and subsequent knowledge.

Keeping with the children’s theme, we must commend Hot Wheels’ recent advertising in Bogotá, Colombia from Ogilvy and Mather:

The monstrous poster is quite life-like and is guaranteed to garner some double-takes. After all, what child wouldn’t want to go on a real life loop after subjecting their invincible/invisible Hot Wheels  drivers to such daredevil fun?!

(Sources: MyModernMet and Neatorama)

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Modern Mad Men

Posted on April 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here at Baby, we love Mad Men (we may or may not regularly sip brandy during meetings). Hearing that we wouldn’t get another taste of Don Draper until 2012 was hard to handle, so we are grasping for anything Mad Men-esque that we can find. We came across this glorious set of photographs from photographer Ben Sandler that is certainly inspired by the 1960′s fashion and lifestyle epitomised in the series.

Furthermore, the Typescreen for iPads now offers a way for us to embody Mad Men characters in the 21st century! We love the classic, sleek feel of punching away at a typewriter, but functioning ones and their ink are expensive and hard to come by, plus their “erasing” was never quite seamless.

The Typescreen is also beneficial for those of us with bigger fingers (or even average size really), a problem which can make excessive typing on iPads quite annoying. We think this is a very cool accessory, and its an officially licensed Apple product.

(Sources: FastCo Design and Design Fetish)

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Rubbish Island

Posted on April 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

Dutch architect Ramon Knoester is making the best of a trashy situation (pun intended, ha). He has plans to construct the world’s only fully-sustainable island built out of garbage. In the northern Pacific Ocean, a gargantuan garbage pile has accumulated in an area estimated to be twice the size of Texas. Knoester’s island will be about the size of Hawaii, and is planned to feature a single family home with a solar roof, compost toilets, blue energy from wave motion, and a sustainable agricultural system. We think is a very cool way to deal with our planet’s excess of trash , are incredibly envious of anyone who gets to visit it, and hope to see more of these in the future!

For more information on what is dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this video, which is quite depressing, sheds light on the capacity of this phenomenon.

On a lighter note, it’s Friday! Our advertising this week comes from Mother New York for Target and features an amazing light show done at the Standard Hotel in New York City. The event actually happened last year, but we just came across this video today, and had to share. Watch below:

Though the extravagance of the lights wholly distracted us from the clothing featured, we thought this was a great ploy on Target’s part. As evident in the video, people all over NY got to see the show, even if they weren’t planning on it. This seems like something a major fashion house would do, so kudos to Target for executing it so well.

Happy Friday!

(source: Dvice)

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Posted in advertising, art, Conservation, creative, design, environment, green, home, Plants, video

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Dream Come True: Photoshop for iPad2

Posted on March 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

As if our creatives needed yet another reason to be obsessed with every Mac product made ever, Adobe is developing a “real” Photoshop app (not Photoshop Express) for the iPad 2. If all goes as planned, this app will feature nearly all of the image manipulating tools available on a computer. With the original iPad, a full version of the program was not possible due to hardware limitations, whereas advancements on the iPad 2 can make this creative’s dream come true. Watch the video here to see a few of the app’s conceptual abilities, as demonstrated at Photoshop World 2011.

Although the app is still in the conceptual stages and we have no release date to mark on our calendars (or our iCals), we are really looking forward to the concept coming to fruition.We love that Adobe is working to generate more resources for our creatives! Now, if only everyone in the office got a complimentary iPad 2. . .

(Source: Photography Bay)

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Underground Music

Posted on March 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

London entrepreneur Ajit Chambers is looking to rehabilitate and spruce up 26 closed London underground stations in order to reopen them as bars, tourist attractions, and music venues. Chambers has already received permission to do so from Mayor of London Boris Johnson under the condition that no public money is used in the renovations.The reopened areas would likely include Aldwych station (which is already featured in many films), South Kentish Town station, Y0rk Road station, Brompton Road station, closed tunnels and platforms at Euston station, and Down Street station, which now acts as an emergency exit for the Picadilly Line.

We think this is a fantastic idea! Since some of the stations were closed down as early as the 1930′s , they will still feature the decor and architecture of that time period which could offer a really cool theme to the new establishments. And, there’s nothing else happening in them, so why not? Though Transport for London has warned Chambers about potential safety hazards due to some of the stations being close to operating railways, he is still moving forwards with plans. After hearing about the successfully innovative events in the Old Vic Tunnels this year, we look forward to seeing this project go through!

(Source: The Independent)

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