 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 A monthly review of Web design and resources. May 2001
Pledging "green business solutions made easy," Is the world ready for photorealistic, customizable avatars that can be personalized for online game playing or (who knows) video dating? Digimask thinks so. Provided with a side and front view of yourself, the system creates a 360-degree model of your head that allows you to see and interact with an image in the round. The technology's scary verisimilitude ensures a photographic likeness that's vastly superior to conventional computer-graphic rendering. The software is free with online registration, the program's Pulse plug-in is easy to install, and the demo is appropriately eerie. "Now it's personal," Digimask's slogan reads--as if the whole thing wasn't already sinister enough. Lightolier This venerable lighting firm--founded in 1904 and almost as old as the incandescent bulb--has long been involved with architectural applications for its products. Lightolier introduced track lighting in the 1960s, during the 1990s leaped on the energy-saving technology bandwagon, and now has a smart, up-to-date Web presence that includes selections from its "Designing with Light Application Guide." Best of all is Lessons in Lighting On-Line, a 20-part course including an exam that covers the nuts and bolts of the subject--from luminaires and lamps to ballasts and controls. The creatively inclined will find additional tutorials on design and application, light and color, and terminology. Energy Star If you live in California you might have seen the TV commercial where Death grants a reprieve to an owner of energy-saving devices. The spot advances the cause of Energy Star certification, a joint labeling effort of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. The clunky logo won't win any design awards and, cosmetics aside, the program's Web site--potentially a valuable tool for increasing consumer awareness--is a mess. Poke around for "architectural lighting fixtures" and you'll stumble on a numbingly long downloadable spreadsheet that lists some 2,000 items (no links), organized poorly by manufacturer. A good idea, but a likely victim of the bureaucracy's lousy execution. The Wolfsonian Florida International University's unlikely claim to relevance in the design arts rests with the Wolfsonian-FIU, housed in a landmark restored Mediter-ranean Revival structure in Mi-ami Beach. The museum's splendor derives from the far-flung interests of its colorful multi-millionaire founder and namesake Mitchell Wolfson Jr. and his relatively narrow focus on North American and European decorative, propaganda, and fine arts of 1885-1945. The Wolfsonian's well-thought-out site boasts a wealth of visual material. Plentiful thumbnails of objects from the extensive collection offer tantalizing glimpses of its treasures. Martí Guixé Featured in the Workspheres show at MoMA, in New York (which closed last month), and as the designer of several Camper stores, Catalonian minimalist Martí Guixé has come up with some well-executed concepts (the self-charging Flamp and fish-friendly aquarium fixtures). But information about him is hard to come by. That's too bad, because the mercurial Guixé, who divides his time between Barcelona and Berlin--with work for Alessi, Droog Design, Ingo Maurer, Vitra, and scores of other clients--is a master of playful invention and inspired execution. Although his no-frills site is fairly up to date, it is hampered by bleary, indecipherable snapshots that fail to do justice to the subtle refinements and mischievous in-jokes that distinguish his best designs. |
