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A monthly review of Web design and resources.
By Ken Coupland
October 2002
Tint www.tint.de (right)
Tint is the homepage of a 27-year-old German designer who, like Madonna
and Aristotle, goes by a single name: Tilman. The majority of space is devoted
to a portfolio of the designer's Web-based work, including downloadable
pixel fonts, an abstract shockwave toy involving bouncing dots, and a link
to www.the-mount.net, a collaborative forum for discussing and illustrating
the Sermon on the Mount ("The Word of God--Now Interactive!").
The site also features Tilman's résumé, news about his life,
and pretty vacation photos he took while traveling across the United States
on the Green Tortoise bus.
Design Institute design.umn.edu
Connecting the research and design community at the University of Minnesota
with the outside world is one of the mandates of the Design Institute in
Minneapolis. Headed by Janet Abrams, the organization addresses issues such
as transit, sustainability, voting reform, and multidisciplinary design.
The site posts word of its lectures, a fellows/faculty forum, a design camp
for teenagers, and joint programs with other organizations in the Twin Cities
area. The resourceful "Knowledge Circuit," edited by Metropolis
contributing writer Peter Hall, reviews worldwide conferences by experts
in the field.
ArchNewsNow www.archnewsnow.com
This site makes up for a somewhat lackluster aesthetic by offering a
daily roundup of links to architecture and design news from around the world
as well as original articles on new buildings, exhibitions, conferences,
and architectural controversies (although you'll find more reporting
than critical analysis here). An archive allows you to browse through past
features and images; a calendar of events is updated regularly. For those
who prefer to receive news in their in-box, ArchNewsNow also publishes a
daily electronic newsletter.
Flat www.flat.com
"Simple, clean, good fun" aptly describes the work of Flat,
the New York-based "culture design" firm, founded in
1997 by Tsia Carson and Doug Lloyd. They've developed an impressive roster
of clients that includes the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA),
the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Children's Television Workshop,
just to name a few. Check out the firm's pet projects:
www.getcrafty.com, a quirky site devoted to the firm's favorite fun stuff
you can make yourself; and
www.flrt.com, a PSA project that combines "a School-house Rock
sensibility with a Black Panthers aesthetic" on relevant topics such
as light pollution, homeland security, and the paperless office.
Designboom www.designboom.com
This Italian site's content is not "writing" so much as an
exhaustive but uncritical brain dump of useful factoids on contemporary
design: biographies of important designers read like résumés;
reports from shows like the Milan Furniture Fair are straight pictorials;
and a visit to Diller + Scofidio's Blur Pavilion doesn't weigh in on
the project's merits or flaws, but it does reveal the exact diameter
of the water jets and individual droplets. The site's best feature may be
Designboom TV (short video clips of interviews and parties) or its "fleamarket"
of vintage furniture--a high-end version of Ebay.
Heart www.heartagency.com
There's a lot to love about finding a graphic artist on Heart's
user-friendly site. The London-based agency represents two dozen illustrators
and designers whose client lists include the New Yorker, Pentagram,
the BBC, Nike, and Font Shop International. The online portfolio is arranged
by artist, category (corporate, publishing, editorial, and portrait), and--most
interestingly--work samples. There are about 20 for each artist, along with
a brief bio. The site's list isn't huge--"It does not aim to offer
'a little of everything'"--but it's strong. Their logo may be chicly
obscure, but the format of this site couldn't be clearer.
Ken Coupland can be reached at
screenspace@metropolismag.com.
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