Data in the Palm of Your Hand

Turning data into design has always been an interest of mine. But turning data into design that’s fashionable too? Now that’s just crazy.

But that’s what computational designer Alvaro Soto did. He started by asking, “Can ‘luxury’ be distilled from noise?” From there, he recorded video and sound samples in high-end jewelers throughout New York City, including the likes of Cartier and Bulgari. Soto turned the sound waves into geometries, and then the geometries, or “gemstones” as Soto refers to them, were 3D printed in stainless steel and painted gold, creating the Trucartier collection of rings.

These gold rings are one-of-a-kind soundscapes – infographics you can wear on your hand. Soto found away to combine data visualization and product design to make a completely new way of understanding sound. His rings are a symbol for what luxury really means. After all, the rings where created from a completely free source –sound.

The TruCartier collection of rings is the prefect representation of the possibilities our future holds. This idea started from a simple question, a question that may have even seemed trivial at first. Anything is possible and breakthroughs are happening everyday. Data visualization is no longer just a simple timeline or infographic.

This tangible example of data visualization has inspired me to continue to think outside of the box. Creativity is happening everywhere, and who knows, I just might come up with the next sound-sourced piece of jewelry for your collection.

The City that Never Sleeps, Tweets…In Different Languages

In light of a recent class assignment where I was asked to a create visual map of my commute, I was inspired to see how other designers, marketers, and creatives have used maps to express themselves.  When considering my own project, I toyed with the idea of using geo-tagging in some way.  We are so connected to technology; you hardly need a map any more – just geo-tag your location and someone can find you.  Ultimately, I chose to illustrate my map through a series of characters I interact with along the way, but the idea of geo-tagging and how there is so much data involved in social media as a result. So when I found this infographic, titled The Languages Of New York, Mapped By Tweets, I knew I had to share it on my blog.

The maps, created by James Cheshire, Ed Manley, and John Barratt, look at 8.5 million tweets to see who speaks which languages in New York.  The maps are visually striking, with several colors representing different languages, spattered across the city.  But aside from looking like a modern Jackson Pollock painting, the maps also uncover a captivating amount of data. The bursts of color in midtown Manhattan reveal it is incredibly multi-lingual. Mark Wilson, a writer for Fast Company, noted the endless possibilities this sort of data provides, and not only for marketers.  He writes, “A relatively simple analysis of big data reveals, with extreme specificity, where various nationalities reside inside a giant urban melting pot. Even the minor possible interactions one can glean from this–like should the city distribute language-specific emergency information to certain blocks?–seem powerful on the sense of scale alone.”  Something as basic as language, when looked at in a map like this, provides new understanding, new context, for creative problem solving.  Social media is not just a tool for connecting with friends and your favorite brands. Social media has the power to uncover copious amounts of knowledge and could have a huge influence on our lives outside of the computer screen.

Hats Off (or on) to Creativity

In fourth grade, three times a week, we had a writer’s workshop in which we wrote and illustrated our own books. I was working on a highly anticipated suspense story. It was widely known as the most ambitious idea in the class, and that’s a lot of pressure for a seven year old. When it came time to read my story, it had all the makings of a spooky thriller, but it failed to impress. And just like that my dreams of being the next Stephen King were over.

Thankfully, I could still turn to my favorite books for the stories I so wished I could write. Among my favorites were the works of Dr. Seuss. Even as a twenty year old, those stories still resonate.

The New York Times recently ran an article about my beloved author and his infatuation with hats. So many of his characters wear hats or some form of headwear, most notably being The Cat in the Hat. But Dr. Seuss’ obsession with hats began long before he started drawing illustrations. He collected hats and would have guests wear them as costumes at dinner parties.

Dr. Seuss often incorporated hats into his advertising work. “[Hats] could give that character a lot of personality,” said Robert Chase, co-founder and president of Chase Art Companies. In one ad for Flit insecticide, Dr. Seuss showed a mosquito bursting out of a woman’s flower-decorated hat. “The ad helped jump start his career as a commercial artist and copywriter,” writes Leslie Kaufman, “And became part of one of the longest-running campaigns in advertising history, built around the line “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

Dr. Seuss’ ads had a level of personality and creativity that I aspire to have in my own work.  Hat’s not only inspired the drawings in his ads, they inspired the man himself. For him, hats brought a level of playfulness and imagination to his work. They were a way of thinking through his stories and bringing them to life. Michael Frith, editor in chief of Beginner Books at Random House in the 1960s, remembers sitting and working with Dr. Seuss on a book. He said, “[We were] two grown men in stupid hats trying to come up with the right word for a book that had only 50 words in it at most.”

As silly as that sounds, the hats helped Dr. Seuss think outside of the box. The best illustrations, the best stories, and the best advertisements come from that sort of thinking. So if finding the right words for a tagline means wearing a silly hat, do it. If creating the perfect image for a magazine requires walking around with a flower pot on your head, so be it. Great work is inspired by great play, and that is what Dr. Seuss proved with his love of hats.

Dr. Seuss was much more than a marketing juggernaut or a pillar of the publishing industry, but an inspiration to your inner creative self. And with that, I leave you with a quote from “Oh the places you’ll go”

“You’re off to great places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting

So . . . get on your way!”

Creativity at its Core

After discussing creativity and the importance of imagination in class last week, I discovered these Mercedes-Benz ads in my Pinterest feed.  I came across them by chance – someone had pinned one as inspiration with the quote “I love it when the right side of my brain wins.” Me too, I thought. But I seriously doubted the power of my creativity after finding myself so challenged to answer if I really was creative in class. I have a lot of growth to do.  But that’s why these ads resonated with me so much. Not only were they visually creative but they also address creativity right at its core – the brain.  What better way to begin?

Created by the agency Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R Interactive Tel Aviv and creative director Gideon Amichay in February of 2011, these “Left Brain Right Brain” double page spreads are striking, especially in a space that’s filled with sleek photos of cars racing down the road or placed on a stark gray background. They exude creativity by showcasing paint, music and passion in vivid, explosive colors and designs that are literally pouring out of the right side of the brain. The left side is linear, clean, and accurate. The ads are clearly created for a younger, professional audience interested in cars and design, males and females who are motivated and interested in self-expression. For a car ad, they really make you stop and think.

The left brain reads:

“I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.”

 And the right brain:

“I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.”

But despite the visual potency of these ads, the Mercedes-Benz logo is easy to miss. The tagline reads “The best or nothing.”  Are they saying Mercedes-Benz vehicles are the best of both sides of the brain, despite the overpowering design of the right side of the image? The slogan also appears in some of the Mercedes-Benz more traditional advertising and is said to stand for “perfection, fascination, and responsibility. The “Left Brain Right Brain” ad is beautiful but I’m not sure if it initially connects with the product they are selling. When I look at the images, I immediately think “colorful, fun, and bold,” which is a different response then what Mercedes-Benz believes its slogan is saying.

After letting myself think about the images in these ads for a few days, I realized I couldn’t forget them. Whenever I saw a Mercedes-Benz on the street, I was reminded of these images. Perhaps I’m biased because I’m a student of advertising, but to me, the connection the ads were able to make with me are the epitome of successful advertising. These ads jump off the page. Mercedes-Benz cut through the clutter and that alone is enough to make me, as a consumer, check out the product they are selling.

A Snapshot of Olivia Bee

Olivia Bee was 15 years old when she shot her first photographs for Converse. Now 18, she’s captured photos for Nike, Fiat and Subaru. Levi’s has used her photos. She did a campaign for Adidas and she worked with TeenNick and the cast of Degrasi. Photos of her friends will appear on the cover for Le Monde d’Hermes. But she didn’t start out taking beautiful pictures.

Image taken by Olivia for Converse.

In her TED talk this past December, Olivia talks about high school, following your dreams, and disregarding reality. In middle school, Olivia was only mistakenly placed in a darkroom course. She didn’t think anything of her photos, except that they weren’t very good. But she stuck with it because she was passionate. And despite being told later in school by some unconvinced teachers that  “taking photos is silly,” and “you need to go to college to be successful,” Olivia continued taking photos.

Image by Olivia for Hermès Paris.

For an 18 year old, she has some wisdom that I sure wish I had back then. She understands that what we are taught is “smart” in school, is not the only way to be smart. She is a firm believer in self-motivation and learning through doing. In her TED talk she says, “You have to do stuff besides the stuff that you have to do.” I believe that is the key to being successful in anything in life.

Image by Olivia for Levi’s.

Her photos have been featured in so many ads because they resonate with the consumer. She captures the feeling of youth. If you are young, you want to be young and cool. And if your youth has escaped you, you want to be young and cooler. Everyone would like to be young forever. Olivia’s photos capture reality and present it in a way that is dreamy and mesmerizing. Olivia’s work stands out in the industry because her style is the opposite of many big name photographers. She doesn’t work with supermodels, but her friends. In a world saturated with models and glamour shots, ads that have real people, living out real adventures, are very appealing.  I think this is an exciting direction for advertising, where ads no longer look like they are selling a product at all, but a lifestyle, a story. Olivia’s photos are so seductive because they are so representative of our lives at any given moment, making them resonate in our minds long after we’ve viewed them.

Image by Olivia for Fiat.

Thinking Made Visual

In The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, she encourages artists that are trying to find their way to make lists of their imaginary lives – who they wished to be in the past, who they wish they were now. A part of me has always wanted to be a designer. Not necessarily a graphic designer in the marketing sense of the term, but in an “art for art’s sake” type of way.  One of my favorite designers was able to combine both the beauty of art and marketing as one. Saul Bass and his breakthrough use of illustration and typographic design continue to be a source of inspiration.

For a long time, I thought I would be attending the Rhode Island School of Design, but my business-minded parents combined with my less than stellar skill set landed me at Emerson to study Marketing. I still do graphic design work in my free time, but I often find myself feeling like it’s a lost cause. The technical skills of some designers are outrageous. And with Photoshop at their disposal, they can make anything look real. Personally, I like to experiment with type and I have recently started drawing illustrations again. But that can feel so passé in a field saturated with high-tech images and designs.

One of the most notable graphic designers of the mid-20^th century, Bass was a master of illustration and typography. He is best known for his movie posters and title sequences, but is also responsible for the design of some of the most iconic logos in North America. “I don’t give a damn if the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that a client thinks it’s worth anything, or that it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me, ” said Bass when speaking about the importance of beauty in good design. “That’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make things beautiful even if nobody cares.”

And that’s just what he did. Only lucky for him, people did care. Bass created beautifully crafted movie posters including West Side Story, Love in the Afternoon, The Shining, Vertigo, and The Man with the Golden Arm. He used kinetic typography in a way that had never been done before when making the opening title sequences for Hollywood’s greatest films, including Psycho, Ocean’s Eleven, Goodfellas, and Around the World in 80 Days. Many modern designers, most notable in the design of the American period drama, Mad Men, have emulated his work.

Bass once said, “Design is thinking made visual.” So while I may not be able to design like Saul Bass, I can certainly inspire myself to think like he did. If I enjoy doing design and I think it’s beautiful that’s all that matters.

In looking into Bass’ work, I stumbled across this example of kinetic typography in the style of Bass. The love message and the design, especially for those of us trying to be more creative, but I’d watch it without sound, I think it’s stronger that way. Enjoy.

Created by Japanese motion graphic design studio TO-FU