Compromise

We are in New York with my girlfriend for some time. NYC is one of my favourite cities in the world: it’s big and smelly and exciting. It’s so creative and moves so fast that it propels everyone who comes around.

It’s a wonderful place, but I couldn’t live here: it’s really-really far from my family in Europe.

London is a good compromise. It’s close to all my family members, but it also is: big and exciting and beautiful. It too, attracts all the creative minds and inspires the hell out of them. When I tell Londoners that I find this city to be a good compromise, they are of course happy: we all understand that compromise is a good thing, and as such, London is pretty good in every aspect, though not the best in all of them.

Berlin is a good compromise too: it is exciting and inspires people, but they say that it doesn’t move that fast so you can have an actual life. It’s spacious and cheap, so you can work on side projects or book ideas or startups aside. When I tell Berliners that I find their city to be a good compromise, they seem to feel hurt. ‘You think Berlin is not the best in every way? Well, fuck you then!’

Well, fuck you too, for missing the point.

People who think that they are better than every other person in every existing aspect, are: not much fun to live with.

j j j

October 18th, 2012

Selfridges London on Google Maps

If you have ever lost in a subway or a shopping mall, you know that indoor maps are indeed useful. I’m not the kind of person who wants to consult info points and -graphics every time looking for the right exit in the underground – but having a map in my phone that helps in these situations: that’s a real deal.

I have read sometime in July that the indoor function of Google Maps will be available in the UK, but I didn’t pay too much attention: with my age I already know how to get around in shops and how to look for those signs that give me directions. What’s really great though, is the ease of use. No matter which section, floor or department you are at, the phone is always in your pocket – and you always know which way to go next.

A faster, more effective, happier way of getting around indoors.

j j j

September 6th, 2012

The 2016 Rio Olympics logo is already boring

As the 2012 London Summer Olympics reaches its end this weekend, we will see a very different logo when someone talks about the Olympics: the one Rio unveiled on New Years Eve last year. And the more we see it, the more boring it will get – it’s simply too shiny to be interesting through the next four years to come.

Rio Summer Olympics 2012 (from the video on Youtube)

Don’t misunderstand me: I think the graphics team is brilliant and the logo is beautiful. It has nice thoughts behind, the execution was great, the emblem and the ‘Rio font’ is authentic and really pretty. The logo makes a clear identity and will live on the website, in 3D, on prints and on thousands of different materials. It’s just that they played a bit too safe.

Every year has a visual trend. My favorite way to show the change in the mainstream visuals to others, to make them look at the cars passing by: all vehicles made in the same timeframe have similar headlamps, shapes, colors, interiors – leaving us with snapshots of tech driven development for 2-3 years. The same goes to fashion (which I have absolutely no clue about), and to design as well: do you remember the early 2000s, when all web 2.0 logos had a gradient and a reflection?

To make a logo age better, it’s not enough to simply make it fit the nicest visual key you can come up with. You have to create a vision and a clear message, and stick to those – just like London did with the 2012 Olympics: going with these progressive looks was risky, and people hated it four years ago. By today though, the vivid colors and the hipster-look got understood.

Quick evolution: applicant city and Rio 2016

It’s worth to take a look at the list of all olympic logos from the last 90 years. All of them are great artworks, it’s fair to assume that they are the top notch designs of their age – how many of them look still interesting? Are those the ones that were accepted by the crowd immediately?

That’s the problem with the 2016 logo: according to Wikipedia, the emblem was based on four concepts: contagious energy, harmonious diversity, exuberant nature and Olympic spirit. Clear? Not really. If you want to stick out of the crowd, you have to invent something new. Even the best design team will be useless with an idea based on such bullshit.

At least in the long run.

j j j

July 27th, 2012

London Eye will be lit up by Olympic tweets

One of London’s most important landmarks got a spectacular decoration for the Olympics from EDF Energy: the lights will change their color according to tweets sent with the hash tag #Energy2012.

Lightshow and more info on edfenergy.com

The company developed an algorithm that filters tweets, and the more positive tweeps are, the more lights on the wheel will be lit. The highs and lows of the day’s major sport events, together with Twitter results will be displayed every night in form of a lightshow, between 9pm and 10pm on the EDF Energy London Eye.

j j j