Most Seattleites are well aware of the NW’s majestic beauty. Seriously, with mountain views in all directions we are quite spoiled. But did you know that Washington state has 14 National Park units? 12 of them are within 175 miles from Seattle. Of course everyone sees Mount Rainier NP on a clear day, and longs to go to Olympic NP to see the rain forest, sea stacks, or hot springs, but have you heard of the others? In Pioneer Square we have Klondike Gold Rush. To the north of Seattle we have Ebey’s Landing, San Juan Island, North Cascades NP, Ross Lake, and Lake Chelan. To the west we have Lake Roosevelt, Nez Perce and Whitman Mission. To the South there is Fort Vancouver, and the Lewis and Clark Trail. Wow. That makes for a numerous road trips, each brimming with their own natural wonders and historical significance.
When Alton Brown says All Purpose flour he means it. If you try some fancy pastry flour mixed substitute YOU WILL BE SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTED! Only slightly though, because mediocre cinnamon buns are still cinnamon buns for crying out loud. So, I failed a little and I learned a little. Happy Day.
Rejection however is a more difficult type of failure to deal with. Because the most important question usually goes unanswered. What’s that question you ask. Good question I say. The question is… Why!
We just got rejected in our bid to be the designers of Heffner Management’s new website. We spent some time, we met with them, answered some questions, and showed our work. And then NOTHING. They just picked someone else. Was it money, was it style, was it intestinal? The world may never know. Big Failure, No Lesson, Bummer.
Information designer Edward Tufte is appointed by President Obama to a Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. A group with the following mandate:
To promote accountability by coordinating and conducting oversight of Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and to foster transparency on Recovery spending by providing the public with accurate, user-friendly information.
Presumably, he will visualize the data for the American public see where their $787 billion in economic stimulus tax money is going to help revive the US economy. Turning to Tufte, the father of modern data visualization, is a brilliant move by Obama and a big win for innovation. Read Edward Tufte’s presidential appointment.
I’m doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I’ll learn something. The practical consequence is that I will probably go to Washington several days each month, in addition to whatever homework and phone meetings are necessary.
—Edward Tufte
I am looking forward to seeing more visual thinking coming from the government.
This video really captures the feeling of South East Asia. I haven’t had the chance to visit Vietnam or Cambodia, but I really love Thailand. This video is so well shot that I can feel the tropics in my hair.
We are currently designing our first multi-lingual site for the Thai Chinese International School. It is an exciting challenge to create a design that will be used by Thai, Chinese and English speakers.
An unconventional design studio in Alabama is serving up pie to the public. Designers use PieLab to encourage conversation about design with a focus on community development projects. Way back in October of 2008 we curated Red White and Pie, featuring political graphics and delicious pie, to encourage political discourse. And it works. People love pie. It makes them feel good. It’s comforting. I am excited to see how PieLab evolves and their positive impact on community.
We made a ton of pie back in in 2008. In 2009 we moved onto ice cream and are still cranking. So far we have made Oreo coffee, mascarpone, cinnamon, honey, cookie dough, vanilla bean, chocolate with brownie swirls, mint chocolate chip, espresso, Guinness, strawberry, basil, and cayenne bacon. I’m sure I missed a few. Maybe our next design studio will be part ice cream parlor. How fun would that be?!
Welcome. We are pleased to introduce you to our new website and blog! GetBlankSpace.com. It was a long, thought provoking, painful, yet enlightening process, to really define who we are and how to present ourselves in the most meaningful way. Soon all of our web pages will be redirected to this site. Please take a moment to browse through the web pages and let us know what you think. Cheers!
British think-tank Demos teamed up with creative agency Airside to create “The Power Gap,” a three-minute visual essay that surveys the history of power structures in Western society and posits an atlernative to the de facto oligarchies that rule most of our lives. “The Power Gap” was created for “THINK TANK: A marketplace of ideas,” an exhibition at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland, UK. Read Airside’s explanation of the creative process behind the work.
photo: Olympic NP, Shi Shi Beach. We were lured here in 2007 by a park ranger who said it was The most beautiful beach in the world.
