It seems somewhat silly to publish a book filled with pictures of nothing but trademarks; after all, how useful can a book be that deliberately shows pictures of the things that already permeate everyday life? There are trademarks on the clothes I wear, on my coffee cup, and on nearly every product I see on store shelves. One would be hard-pressed to find a more ubiquitous subject matter.

You wouldn’t be wrong to ask such questions, however, Marks of Excellence is much more than a catalog of brand logos. Revised and expanded for its latest edition, the book is filled with over 1,000 color illustrations, each one carefully selected to be an object lesson on some aspect of trademarks the purpose they serve. Used as a launching pad, this collection of trademarks is able to draw connections and bring insight to almost every aspect of their use. Read more…

As we enter a transition era that demands far greater resilience and sustainability in our technological systems, we must ask tough new questions about existing approaches to architecture and settlement. Post-occupancy evaluations show that many new buildings as well as retrofits of some older buildings, are performing substantially below minimal expectations. In some notable cases, the research results are frankly dismal [see “Toward Resilient Architectures 2: Why Green Often Isn’t”].

The trouble is that the existing system of settlement, developed in the oil-fueled industrial age, is beginning to appear fundamentally limited. And we’re recognizing that it’s not possible to solve our problems using the same typologies that created them in the first place. In a “far-from-equilibrium” world, as resilience theory suggests, we cannot rely on engineered, “bolt-on” approaches to these typologies, which are only likely to produce a cascade of unintended consequences. What we need is an inherent ability to handle “shocks to the system,” of the kind we see routinely in biological systems.

In “Toward Resilient Architectures 1: Biology Lessons” we described several elements of such resilient structures, including redundant (“web-network”) connectivity, approaches incorporating diversity, work distributed across many scales, and fine-grained adaptivity of design elements. We noted that many older structures also had exactly these qualities of resilient structures to a remarkable degree, and in evaluations they often perform surprisingly well today. Nevertheless during the last century, in the dawning age of industrial design, the desirable qualities resilient buildings offered were lost. What happened?

The fractal mathematics of nature bears a striking resemblance to human ornament, as in this fractal generated by a finite subdivision rule. This is not a coincidence: ornament may be what humans use as a kind of “glue” to help weave our spaces together. It now appears that the removal of ornament and pattern has far-reaching consequences for the capacity of environmental structures to form coherent, resilient wholes. Image: Brirush/Wikimedia

A common narrative asserts that the world moved on to more practical and efficient ways of doing things, and older methods were quaint and un-modern. According to this narrative, the new architecture was the inevitable product of inexorable forces, the undeniable expression of an exciting industrial “spirit of the age.” The new buildings would be streamlined, beautiful, and above all, “stylistically appropriate.” Read more…

In the building industry, architecture and engineering firms are full of talented people who solve complex problems as a matter of routine. So why are their IP portfolios virtually empty?

I spent most of my working life in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology sectors. I specialized in intellectual property after spells in research and then commercial roles. For ten years I was the director of the Intellectual Property Institute. In 2010 I joined Billings Jackson Design as business director.

I have had less than three years experience in my new industry sector so, clearly, I claim no great knowledge or insight, but maybe it’s useful to get a picture of an industry from the perspective of an outsider so, here goes…

Firms of architects and engineers operating in the building industry use and generate considerable intellectual resources. They are usually staffed with highly qualified, motivated professionals with a mixture of creative and technical expertise, which is not matched in many industry sectors, if any. It is surprising, to me at least, that these intellectual resources are rarely identified, valued, managed and effectively exploited within such firms.

Problem solving (generating good ideas) is the life-blood of the industry, but these good ideas are seldom captured, managed, and exploited internally in a structured and effective manner. They are almost never exploited externally, traded with third parties as the subject of formal intellectual property rights. This is not generally the case in companies that are heavily reliant on scientific or technical expertise, where the role of intellectual property protection (through patents and trademarks) in justifying and enabling R&D investment is well understood.

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Paula Scher is principal at the well-regarded New York City design practice, Pentagram. She’s held that august position since 1991, and during her busy tenure she even found time to redesign Metropolis magazine when we went from a large, tabloid size to a smaller format with the November 1999 issue. Paula has continuously given her special brand of identity design to such New York institutions as the Public Theater (a spectacular poster campaign that caught my attention when we were looking to redesign Metropolis), Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the New York Botanical Garden, among many others. Her knowledge of the city, form the inside out, also landed her on the Open House New York 10th anniversary advisory council. On the eve of OHNY celebrating its first decade of programs (October 6th and 7th), I asked Scher to talk about her favorite city, including the often overlooked graphic element, signage.

Susan S. Szenasy: If there is one thing you could tell a friend from abroad about New York City, as it relates to the design you encounter here every day, what would that be? Please explain.

Paula Scher: For me, the most exciting thing about New York City is the distinct personality of its ever-changing neighborhoods, especially the ones I know best in Manhattan and Brooklyn. This is a result of ethnic groups banding together, artists and other trail blazers continually hunting for cheap space, real estate developers taking some risks, all under the seemingly invisible hand of City Planning, the Economic Development Corporation, the Parks Department, the Department of Transportation, and the Business Improvement Districts.

SSS: What is unique about the planning and design of the city that makes it work for you?

PS: New York has such a big vocabulary in such a small space. I never cease to be surprised by a changing block, a crazy store or restaurant popping up in an unexpected place. I also love the expansion of parks that has occurred under mayor Bloomberg and parks commissioner Benepe, they have changed and revitalized neighborhoods all over the city.

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The Hunger Games logo is a symbol you’ve seen on books in the hands of people everywhere and on movie posters plastered all over subways and theaters. The infamous logo originated from Tim O’Brien, an adjunct professor in Pratt Institute’s Undergraduate Department of Communications Design who illustrated the three The Hunger Games’ covers for Scholastic.

The Hunger Games cover design by Tim O’brien

The Hunger Games movie poster designed by Ignition Print

O’Brien is an illustrator and portrait painter who’s work has been featured on the cover of Time, Harpers and Rolling Stone, among others. His paintings are in the collection of the National Gallery, Washington, DC., and he is a winner of the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators. His work is intricately detailed and imaginative with a curious balance of realism and fantasy that makes him the perfect fit for The Hunger Games. Not so coincidently, his wife Elizabeth Parisi happens to be the Creative Director at Scholastic.

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I love bike share. I think it’s a fantastic idea and a great way to make NYC more sustainable, healthy, and livable for residents and visitors alike.

This past Monday, NYC announced that Citibank is the main sponsor for the system. And while I think it’s cute to call “The City’s” bike share “citibike”, I have some reservations.

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Managing crowds isn’t easy anywhere, least of all in the anarchic world of the Internet. Yet, ever since Jeff Howe first coined the word in Wired magazine, we’ve instinctively known that “crowdsourcing” would someday be the next big thing in design. The only problem was figuring out how. As Tropicana and Johnson & Johnson found out last year, crowds are very good at expressing dissatisfaction with bad design. But can their insights be harnessed to actually produce good design?  Last month, three mega design consultancies decided it was time to find out.

The least daring of them all is Continuum’s Open for Branding project. The Design Museum, Boston, is an unconventional client, to say the least – the nomadic museum has no permanent building and no real ‘collection.’ When they approached Continuum for re-branding, the project begged for an unconventional approach. Read more…

‘Tis the season for new graphic identities, apparently. Already this month, three institutions—the Art Directors Club, Chrysler, and the New York Public Library— have unveiled updated logos. Here’s a quick look at the changes.
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Art Directors Club
Trollbäck + Company’s new design spells out the 89-year-old organization’s name inside a bold pink rectangle—a  major departure from Paula Scher’s original logo, which, according to the folks at Unbeige,was based on Albrecht Dürer’s monogram.

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Therese Virserius Design recently unveiled Xie-Xie, a new restaurant brand from chef Angelo Sosa. Xie-Xie (pronounced shay-shay), which means “thank you” in Mandarin, brings us affordable Asian street food fare in a high-end setting.

Some thoughts from Therese Virserius on her design concept after the jump. Read more…