Ged Carroll

Category: design | 設計 | 예술과 디자인 | デザイン

Design was something that was important to me from the start of this blog, over different incarnations of the blog, I featured interesting design related news. Design is defined as a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, interfaces or other object before it is made.

But none of the definition really talks about what design really is in the way that Dieter Rams principles of good design do. His principles are:

  1. It is innovative
  2. It makes a product useful
  3. It is aesthetic
  4. It makes a product understandable
  5. It is unobtrusive
  6. It is honest
  7. It is long-lasting
  8. It is thorough down to the last detail
  9. It is environmentally-friendly – it can and must maintain its contribution towards protecting and sustaining the environment.
  10. It is as little design as possible

Bitcoin isn’t long lasting as a network, which is why people found the need to fork the blockchain and build other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin uses 91 terawatts of energy annually or about the entire energy consumption of Finland.

The Bitcoin network relies on thousands of miners running energy intensive machines 24/7 to verify and add transactions to the blockchain. This system is known as “proof-of-work.” Bitcoin’s energy usage depends on how many miners are operating on its network at any given time. – So Bitcoin is environmentally unfriendly by design.

On the other hand, Apple products, which are often claimed to be also influenced by Dieter Rams also fail his principles. They aren’t necessarily environmentally friendly as some like AirPods are impossible to repair or recycle.

  • Spray can revolution

    If you live in London or have been to Shoreditch you’ve probably came across the spray can stencilled graffiti art of Banksy. Talent, anger, political statement and a black sense of humour via Andy Warhol to create provocative stencil art.

    In the interest of spreading spray can derived revoluton here is Banksy’s guide to creating creative grafitti:

    A guide to cutting stencils- First off, stencil anything. If you wait for the perfect idea you will be waiting for ever. Cleverness is never as entertaining as blatant stupidity, failure and public humiliation

    • Obtain a fucking sharp knife. Blunt knives result in fluffy pictures and make the whole process long and boring. Snap off blades of British steel are best.
    • Draw your artwork on paper, glue onto some card then cut straight through the both. Acetate is apparently quite good but any sort of free cardboard is okay. Stiff 1mm to 1.5mm board is ideal.
    • Get a small roll of gaffa tape, pre-tear small strips and stick them on your shirt inside your coat.
    • Find a suitable piece of card to act as a folder. For instance when using red paint cut the stencil into the bottom of a pizza box so when you get paint all over your fingers its not so suspicious.
    • Leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.
    • Spray the paint sparingly onto the stencil from a distance of 8 inches.
    • If you’re in a place with lots of security cameras wear a hood, move around the city quickly and act like a sad old drunk if you attract attention.
    • Be aware that going on a major mission totally drunk out of your head will result in some truly spectacular artwork and at least one night in the cells.
    • When explaining yourself to the Police its worth being as reasonable as possible. Graffiti writers are not real villains. I am always reminded of this by real villains who consider the idea of breaking in someplace, not stealing anything and then leaving behind a painting of your name in four foot high letters the most retarded thing they ever heard of.
    • Remember crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.
    • The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a bi-product of making something that means something. You don’t go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.

    This reminded me a lot of the golden rules we used to have whilst fly posting for events. More related content here.

  • Oakley MP3 glasses

    Ok, its the Sunday morning (late) after the Saturday night, your feet are aching, your clothes stink of cigarettes and your ear drums have been desensitised by the music power of a night club sound system. You want calming sounds at relatively low volume, which makes a pair of MP3 glasses sensible. Your best mate might be working his way through the contents of your fridge.

    So what would be jazzy gear to ease those frayed edges of reality that stray into your world?

    Oakley MP3 glasses: Ok so you will look a bit of a spaz, but they will protect your eyes from harsh daylight and have enough space for Adventures beyond the Underworld by The Orb, Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. Unfortunately Lance Armstrong is riding in the Tour de France with YOUR pair!

    Mickey Mouse ceiling projector: Ideal for when you are about to go to sleep but still feeling a bit cosmic. Only available from Toys R Us in Japan

    Relax and terrible Tuesdays will be not quite so bad even if your pension fund is taking a punishment with the Ambient Devices Orb. It is designed to convey energy consumption information, but is very soothing to look at. More design related posts here.

  • Barcode turns 30

    The Boston Globe online has a mildly interesting article about the UPC (universal product code) or barcode that graces all our groceries. They give a potted history of the code and mention the various urban myths that rose around it including:

    • Some considered that the barcode represented the Anti-Christ
    • Others considered that the barcode was a corporate plot against consumers (though the lack of technology before the bar code had not stopped collusion).

    The article goes on about the inventory savings items, but neglects to mention other add-ons that came out of it including:

    • Near-real time sales data, which could be datamined for purchase paterns, this allowed Walmart to famously increase beer sales by putting a six pack and nappies (US Eng: diapers) together for stressed fathers
    • Increasing the power of retailers who can provide research companies and suppliers with data on product sales faster, fattening the coffers of AC Neilsen
    • Dramatically altered store design by being able to trial changes in layout or promotion and see the results through the tills, this was as dramatic as the spreadsheet allowing senior business folk to run what if scenarios
    • Loyalty cards, when you can analyse purchase patterns and inventories, match them both together to decide how to influence consumer behaviour

    A less documented feature of the barcode is that it revolutionised kick-backs for music shop workers. Record labels have been hot beds of interesting accounting practices at the best of times, which is why these practices could happen. When I DJ’ed far more (and had more time); I used to hang with a number of record shop assistants who worked in ‘chart shops’.

    Being a DJ meant tapping into a number of sources. I was signed up to promo agencies for white labels, but that wasn’t that great and a lot of the quality was pretty awful.

    I was also connected to the specialist shops for my imports, promos that I didn’t have access to and underground vinyl.

    The small chart shops was where I got some of the best British dance music cuts. The smaller independent chart shops got a lot of support from the major labels:

    • Cheaper records to sell on to the public
    • Items often arrived in their stores first, before the big chains
    • Exclusive access to limited edition remix records
    • Instore band signings (again often at the expense of big chains like HMV)
    • Promotional record label items: jackets, bags, gig tickets, artwork
    • One high selling record for free with every two hype items they put through the scanner (note that I did not say sell)

    I used to occasionally drive with friends to Fox’s Records in Doncaster, one of the largest chart shores. Closer to home I had a good relationship with Jez and Tony who used to run Penny Lane Birkenhead. Tony had been with the firm for time and had risen to be the store manager at this branch. Tony was a seasoned ligger. His assistant, Jez was a quiet dreadlocked skater kid who used to work in a secondhand dance vinyl shop in the Palace – at that time a trendy shopping complex on Wood Street in central Liverpool.

    This barcode revolution did not happen overnight, I still remember being in primary school in Liverpool and seeing sticky price tags and the guns being used in the local Tesco and Asda supermarkets. Bargain bucket department story chain TJ Hughes, only implemented a stock management system utilising bar codes less than five years ago after new owners discovered stock in their warehouses that may have been over ten years old. The local supermarket to my Uncle living in rural Western Ireland still uses sticky price labels with no barcode scanner in sight, a nod to our modern times came when the labels changed colour from white to fluorescent yellow. More related content can be found here.

  • V and A

    On Saturday, I continued my sporadic tour of London’s cultural highpoints: Fabric, Smith of Smithfields, The End, Flying Records, Phonica, The Science Museum and now the Victoria & Albert Museum known informally as the V and A.

    The museum is very disorientating despite the map that they provide you with on the way in. In fact the map was an offence against design to my co-explorer Steve, a design agency owner who came along. The exhibits on Japan were very interesting and made Europe look like a bunch of savages. The Victorian silverware looked crass and tasteless, the plunder of robber barons from an empire that spanned a third of the world (sort of like Kenneth Noye on a grand scale).

    There were lots of activity areas and it should get a high rating for being child friendly. It was way cool and both Steve and myself took some time out for learning activities. The café wasn’t as swish as I had thought that it would be, however it is still very good. My expectations of the V and A had been distorted by the ‘V&A café with museum attached’ descriptions of it in the media. (Their 1 1/2 cup pot of coffee is actually good for two cups).

    In addition, they had The Other Flower Show art exhibition and Tracy Emin’s work in particular had a very dark sense of humour in it with a ouija board and knife in the centre of a children’s wendy house.

    One of the things I found out was that it was Architecture Week, judging by their materials and handouts both RIBA and the Arts Council had invested heavily in it. However beyond mentions in the design press about activity in Clerkenwell to celebrate the event we had not seen any press coverage. If you were involved in Architecture Week and want to get more publicity give me a call :-))

    The V&A area suffered from a dearth of fast food suppliers so Steve and myself had to decamp by foot to Leicester Square in order to support a heinous global corporation that tears down the rainforest and provides gainful employment to sociology graduates in the fast-food industry. More posts about getting out and about here.

  • Donkey Bong and other curios

    I’ve had a number of links sent to me that were too good not to share with you all: Donkey Bong, Graff Jewellery, PBS on porn and more.

    Donkey Bong

    JoeCartoon clogged up many networks in the late 90’s with his un-PC and puerile flash animations, creating characters like the Cheech & Chong ‘Stoned Fly’ and Gerbill. The most memorable animations like the frog in the blender and gerbil in the microwave allowed office workers to unleash the passive sadism that lies beneath us all and put the phrase Who’s ya Daddy? into popular English usage. His work has defined what a viral campaign is. He is back with another dollop of surreal weirdness and ultraviolence in Donkey Bong. More on it here.

    Graff Jewellery

    No not Graff – the most fabulous jewels in the world, but graffiti enabled by the reverse setting on a diamond ring by Tobias Wong. Get caught making use of your ring to make your mark on the world by tagging car and train windows, luscious pearlescent paint work on a TVR or your boss’ computer screen. You can see Tobias’ diamond project here.

    PBS On Adult Entertainment industry

    OK, we are currently pitching for a UK-based adult entertainment orientated television channel and web site, this this website designed to complement a PBS Frontline documentary on the adult entertainment industry was useful for research into the business . Seriously though, looking at this, there are some scary people out there, interesting facts – a starlet in the industry has an average career lifespan of just 12 months. Sombre, disturbing and yet compelling reading here. Glamourous like Boogie Nights it ain’t.

    Supercharged Records

    Email text from Supercharged Records: “Click on the link below to hear an exclusive preview of all the tracks from the forthcoming Freestylers ‘Raw As F**k’ album!

    Turn audio off on the front page and click on ‘album info’ and then ‘preview album’

    http://www.thefreestylers.com/

    We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you how have purchased Push Up. Thank you!

    The album is out in the UK on the 5th July, contact you local record store to pre-order a copy!”

    More culture related posts here.