Graphic Designer
Moment
New York, New York

Moment is looking for talented interactive graphic designers to join their team. They're seeking perfectionists with a keen eye for detail and craftsmanship, systematic thinking, and a thoughtful approach to interaction design. The ideal candidate should not only be able to create beautiful, usable solutions, but be able to clearly articulate his/her ideas. Graphic designers at Moment work closely with our clients and their customers across the entire design process from definition to specification of websites, applications, and mobile device interfaces.

I've been living in Kampala, Uganda, for the past month now, and it's truly been a treasure trove for design observations. From the city's many tech incubation hubs to the wide variety of formal and informal solutions to everyday challenges, creativity can be found everywhere. In the spirit of Tricia Wang's Instagram ethnography, I post many of my field observations on my own account. This is not just for convenience; Instagram fosters conversation that helps me clarify my own thinking around the things I see. Here are a few field shots, with some notes I've added for context.

A stereo outfitted for a memory stick. The stereo reads the music files and displays the song artist and title from the meta data while playing each song. I've not read much literature on this, but I've now seen USB stick music players in Kampala, Beijing, Manila and even Los Angeles. Enabled by a stereo, the sticks act effectively as a portable music player without the cost and risk associated with a pricier MP3 player. As with iPhone decks, USB-ready stereos also enable a social experience, as people swap in their own sticks with their own music mixes.

I spotted this two-way calculator in Fort Portal, in the west of Uganda. Big calculators like this are quite popular in places like Beijing, as they ensure clarity of price and can even be used for haggling between two people who don't speak the same language. It was common in China to see the shopkeeper type in a calculation and turn the calculator around to face the client. The client then takes the opportunity to enter a new price. With the calculator above, the opportunity to haggle is lessened.

The famous Kampala stage, where a vast number of the city's minibuses, called "taxis" locally, take off to locations far and wide, both inside the city and into other parts of the country. From above, it looks like a vast mass of white cars with no particular rhyme or reason. But as soon as I descended to the staging floor, I realized it was no more or less complicated than Penn Station. Signs clearly indicated where each minibus was going, and locals easily directed me to the minibus I needed. And as in Penn Station, vendors wandered the grounds and set up shop on the periphery, ready to feed hungry travelers.

Gulf-state residents and those with hurricane experience would probably be horrified at some of the half-assed Sandy preparations made by New Yorkers. Here's a local restaurant in Evacuation Zone B, the secondary flood risk zone, and the steps they've taken to prevent flooding:

Yeah, I'm sure that'll keep the water out. I like that little extra four-inch strip of tape across the top, well done!

The nearby Apple Store has eschewed duct tape for something a little more substantial. But as you can see, it's presumably the local store manager, and not Jony Ive, who's in charge of floodproofing this branch:

The efficacy of sandbags against flooding depends on how the dikes are constructed. Below you see the ideal construction method, though it's not surprising that your average retail employee is probably not going to take the time to do this.

Source.

photo via Adaptive Reuse

Cambodia has one railway line, laid down by the French during their colonial occupation. The antiquated tracks are no longer safe for trains to run on, and as a result, there aren't any.

The locals, however, aren't about to let a potentially useful piece of infrastructure go to waste. In the area near the western Cambodian towns of Battambang and Poipet, the locals produce what are known as norry: Lightweight, powered railcars built from a wooden frame, bamboo slats, and steel wheels from decommissioned tanks. Two men can get the thing on or off the tracks in less than a minute.

photo via Andy's Cambodia

Norry were initially powered by poles, like earthbound gondolas, but eventually some locals got their hands on a two-stroke engine and figured out how to drive the axle via belt.

photo via Weekly Wanders

By using a stick to increase or decrease tension on the belt, the "engineer" can induce belt slippage as a rudimentary form of throttle control. Braking is provided via a foot pedal that contacts one of the wheels through the platform, using raw friction. The motors caught on and the pole-drive has gone by the wayside.

Here's a look at a norry being assembled and going into action:

"Hey pops, the times are a-changing," suggests the sparse website. "Gone are the days when you could impress the friends with your old oak rocking-chair."

Enter the iRock: billed as the first-ever power-generating rocking chair, Zürich's Micasa Lab has updated the classic rocker with a tech twist: "As long as you rock, you charge you iPad or your iPhone."

We have added... a generator that transforms the movement into power. We have equipped the iRock with an iPad stand and a set of built-in speakers in the back rest. Over the last couple years, we have come to depend on an increasing amount of technical gadgets...

The iRock is a product that explores how furniture can interact with technology and actually support the power for this technology. Movement is energy and to collect as much of this energy as possible is one of our future challenges. The laws of physics dictate how movement and friction constantly creates a vast amount of energy that in most cases is lost. iRock is a attempt to collect some of this energy and put it to real use. If you use iRock for 60 minutes you can recharge an iPad 3 to 35%.

The iRock is set at a "pleasant 37° rocking angle," allowing for a generous range of motion in generating power, which can be stored in a built-in battery for later use; I assume that the 25W speakers are also rock-powered.

The main challenge was to get the generator working efficient. After trying out several designs we finally got it right and with a set of gears we're now able to get sufficient power to charge the built in battery that in it's turn are charging the iPad/iPhone. A concept we were working on for quite some time was the use of rubber bands and springs to increase the effect of the movement but we ended up with a solution using a winding mechanism that is geared up to run the generator.

Not to ignore the profound scope of the brutality of hurricane Sandy but we are happy to say that, finally, Core77 is, much like "Rubber Duck" Penwald of Sam Peckinpah's Convoy, cruising these crazy (information super-) highways atop diesel-fueled horses.

Tip of the trucker hat (and a knock on wood) to Quality Tech for ensuring delivery of our data payload this past day despite the state of emergency and lack of power.

We've seen at least a few abstracted representations of time in the past: from the clocktower-inspired USMA to the wearable "Sasa" and ultra-slow Present. Studio Toer presents yet another alternative in "Shaped-by-Time," which expresses a rather more granular concept of temporality.

"Shaped-by-time" is a clock that shapes itself by the passage of time. It looks for the most efficient way to move itself through the matter. By the slow repetitive movement it will create an organic shape.

Time is slightly visible when the clock starts running. After a few days it excavates itself out of the matter and time will appear. From then on it slowly shapes its ideal pattern.

When you want to forget time, shake it a bit and it will start all over again with finding its way. Like time heals wounds, this clock literally heals itself by time.

The eternally self-effacing clock is something like an hourglass combined with an Etch-a-Sketch... or a self-tending Zen garden.

If you can't tell from the photos, "Shaped-by-Time" comes in at roughly six inches (15cm) in diameter and a little under two inches (4.5cm) tall. It's available now for €79 plus VAT and shipping.

We're pretty bummed that David Irwin's functional, miner-inspired M Lamp didn't reach its Kickstarter funding goal, but you can still get your hands on new lighting by Irwin with the ETXL lighting series he designed for Deadgood. Short for extruded lights, the two different EXTL lights are small, faceted pendants made using an updated version of traditional metal extrusion. Extrusion, a process that pushes a material through a die, is typically used for products with intricate cross-sections or brittle materials, like ceramics.

When it's used with metal, extrusion produces a high surface finish, but for EXTL Irwin used 3mm-thick aluminum with either a matte black, gold or silver anodized finish. To simplify the process and reduce material waste, a single sheet of aluminum is cut into varying angles, allowing for two styles to be made from one section of extruded materials. The aluminum facets are then bound together with a black silicon band.

Information Design Manager
McMaster-Carr Supply Co.
Elmhurst, Illinois

For more than 100 years, the McMaster-Carr catalog has been our greatest marketing tool, designed to captivate a broad base of customers. Visual aesthetics and layout design are critical elements to showcasing over 490,000 products. The information design manager is responsible for setting the visual direction and adhering to presentation elements of both print and web catalog publication. The position requires the ability to distill complex topics and concepts into something straightforward so that non-experts can quickly understand tradeoffs between our products. The information design manager helps transform ideas using words, diagrams, tables, images, type and sequencing to structure messages so that they tell a story effectively.

Add this new acronym to your phrase book: GIR, or Get It Right. For their very first product, the designers at GIR have cooked up what they're calling the Ultimate Spatula, a single piece of molded silicone that's easy to hold, easy to clean and can handle food temperatures up to 460 degrees. You'd think by now someone would have been able to nail spatula design, but most spatulas available to consumers have a number of flaws. For example, a spatula made from multiple parts, including a head, handle and grip, means there's at least three extra joints for food gunk to get stuck in. Metal handles get too hot; wooden handles have to be hand washed. The GIR spatula, however, is made from a single piece of silicone molded over a nylon reinforcement that runs through the entire body, ending just 5cm from the tip, lending the blade enough structure to mix heavy, wet ingredients while retaining the flexibility to run it flush against the inside of bowls, dishes and cookware.

To see if the GIR spatula really was "the best spatula you've ever used," we road-tested it in a variety of dishes and temperatures. At first we were skeptical that the blade wasn't thin enough at the tip to scrape the bowl clean, but after using it in dense, wet cookie dough, hot, sticky oatmeal and a greased frying pan for flipping our eggs over easy, we found the tip was able to run between the food and the cooking equipment seamlessly. We bent the blade back with the palm of our hands, used it in an impromptu kitchen sword fight and ran it through the dishwasher, where we were sure the heat would mangle its pristine silicone body, but it emerged from our endurance test without a scratch. Consider us convinced.

GIR's Kickstarter goal has already been met two-and-a-half times over, but you can still donate $20 and preorder your Ultimate Spatula in one of ten colors.

Text by Rachel Carvosso; photos by Junya Hirokawa

DesignTide Tokyo, held again this year at the Tokyo Midtown, is a little oasis of intimate calm in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Roppongi district. The exhibition hall is big enough to make the experience relaxing in a city where larger space is at a premium.

One of the designs that immediately caught my eye was the black lacquer lamp by Kenke Design that was established this year. It is the brainchild of Kensuke Yamaguchi—a designer with a background in art history, and this makes sense when viewing the "Koshirae" light he's exhibiting. The word Koshirae refers to the mountings of Japanese swords that were traditionally covered in multiple coatings of lacquer.

Yamaguchi left the interior solutions company Ilya to study the traditional Japanese lacquer craft technique of "Urushi Nuri" in Kyoto, where he was selected for the Kyoto Design awards earlier this year. His small company combines the best of Japanese design elements—simplicity, craftsmanship and functionality.

The lamp unit is created using the lacquer technique `Honkataji-roiro' leaving its surface a perfectly smooth, shiny black. The body of the lamp is also about the same width as a sword and sits on a choice of two possible bases allowing for both a horizontal or vertical mounting. At under a meter long (77cm), it's just the right size to be used as a floor or table lamp.

Another noteworthy detail is the lamp's internal switchless touch system, which allows the lamp to be turned off by lifting the entire body off of the stand (there's a regular on/off switch on the cord as well). The functional elements are largely hidden leaving a product that hints at its own functionality whilst remaining disarmingly abstract and simply executed.

The problem with most audio speakers is that they're not designed to irritate your neighbors to their full potential. Sure, you could point your speakers directly at a window or shared wall, or place it against a floor-mounted cast-iron radiator to send the sounds of Shakira directly into the apartment below yours, but doing either of those things can diminish your own listening experience.

Well, help is here in the form of wireless resonating speakers like the Mighty Dwarf, seen above, and the Mini Dwarf, seen in the video below. These diminutive devices sound like crap when played open-air, but attach it to virtually any surface--the floor, a window, or the sheetrock between apartments 2A and 2B--and you've got a party!

Check out the demo below by fast-forwarding to 3:10:

We know what you're thinking: Can I afford one of these? Folks, with buy-in starting at just 50 bucks, you can't afford not to get one of these. You may never find out exactly who is nicking your copies of the Times, or leaving the vestibule wide open despite your persistent and thoughtfully-worded Post-Its, but someone will be made to pay.

Although it's currently just a concept, Veronika's website indicates that it will be available in the near future.

Monsters aren't born in swamps or in Middle Earth—they manifest themselves in the dark crevices of your childhood bedroom. Veronika Paluchova, a recent graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, has creatively captured this notion with the Bat Hanger. Her remarkably consistent portfolio includes both experimental furniture designs and clever takes on existing products, and the Bat Hanger is an example of the latter, an age-old product with a new twist.

The conformity of dozens of hangers might satisfy those who crave organization, but can also bore those who need a little irregularity in their lives. The bat hanger transforms your closet into the cozy and low-lit environmseent that makes the perfect home for the flying. Furthermore, the simple design involves very few parts which means it can be produced easily and relatively cheaply.

Have a Happy Halloween!

During a crisis, there are a bunch of objects we interact with in hopes of saving our bacon or making life more convenient. Here I'll take a broad look at some of the objects that played a role, for both me and others, during the mere 24 hours that I was stuck in an electricity-free lower Manhattan during and after Hurricane Sandy. (And there are some topics I'd like to get reader feedback on later, particularly from those of you in hurricane country.)

I would not survive the zombie apocalypse, or even a mutant-free prolonged disaster. The weaknesses in my haphazard Hurricane Sandy planning, shoehorned in between work hours during the days leading up to the storm, made themselves clear on Game Day. Things that I thought were fully-charged were not; I needlessly drained battery life during the crisis; items I was certain I had on hand, I neglected to double-check for; and I'd made no plans for a fall-back position, as I own two rambunctious dogs, barring me from all government shelters and most reasonable people's homes.

There were plenty of things I got right, mostly easy things. I had enough non-perishable food and water to feed three people for 7-10 days. (I live alone, but most survival books espouse stocking enough for you and unexpected guests.) I had a portable stove and plenty of gas canisters to cook or boil water as needed. I had plenty of light sources in the form of candles, flashlights, batteries, matches. I had good bags to carry things in case I needed to pack up, and good adverse-weather clothing. I had antihistamines, meds, antibiotics and basic medical supplies. So I can cross Sustenance, Illumination, Clothing and First-Aid off the list. All of my failures were in Communications, and they were not errors of stocking, but of maintenance.

At 8:30pm on Monday night I was staring into my laptop when suddenly, noiselessly, everything around it simply went dark. The internet was gone too. I'd been expecting this moment and simply proceeded to watch a movie on the laptop, unconcerned with burning the battery as I reasoned a computer's not much use without Internet, and the Internet's not coming back on without the power.

Went to bed afterwards with a fully-charged phone, but stupidly neglected to switch it to airplane mode. As a result, the battery worked itself down to almost nothing overnight, as it fruitlessly kept searching for a signal in a neighborhood where no cell towers had power.

Woke up Tuesday morning with no household electric and a nearly dead phone. No problem, I think; I pull out the Mophie Juice Pack Air that I'd last charged several months ago, erroneously assuming it would retain the charge. It hasn't. Problem.

Devastation notwithstanding, Hurricane Sandy has been occasion for an uncanny respite from the otherwise unstoppable hustle and bustle of the city that Core calls home... and more than one of my friends has confessed to not-so-secretly enjoying the compulsory staycation. (Meanwhile, I've been diligently typing away at my kitchen table thanks to mostly-reliable broadband.) In fact, I couldn't help but think of one friend's remark, "I feel like I'm becoming a lush"—after three days off, no less—when Tatabi Studio's Enkaja cocktail mixer turned up in the inbox.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it looks like an inkwell or shampoo bottle (maybe it has to do with the "200 mL" on the label): the Enkaja is expressly designed to wet your whistle as well as your local mustachioed barkeep, even if you think Angostura refers to a quasi-atheistic belief system. In fact, especially if you don't know the first thing about mixology: the mix-and-match concept is essentially 'Drinks for Dummies,' with pre-measured bottles... something like a Keurig approach to a cocktail shaker—plug-and-play inebriation instead of caffeination.

While the product itself is certainly thoughtfully-designed, the visual identity—another of Tatabi's many services—is perhaps even more noteworthy.

There isn't anything particularly notable about Gonçalo Campos' latest project, the "Curvas" dining chair, except that I hope it's as comfortable as it is handsome. Yet the minimal form factor belies the crucial details behind the design:

It's thin and sturdy structure is only possible thanks to great advances in computer controlled machinery, that can precisely shape each part, to be later masterfully assembled by skilled craftsmen.

This chair was meticulously shaped, to provide maximum comfort. The elegant curves in the back and seat where studied to provide maximum support with the least area possible. While the legs have a semi round profile that allows for great elegance and still provide a large surface area, crucial for a strong joint.

It's a departure from, say, the experimentation of his "ESA" series, a finished product for WEWOOD—whom, Campos notes, are "experts in using high-end technology combined with traditional wood joinery" (based on the designs that they've produced in the past, we tend to agree).

Assistant/Associate Professor - Furniture/First-Year Program
California College of the Arts
San Francisco, California

The California College of Arts seeks candidates for a part-time, ranked non-tenure position of Assistant or Associate Professor in the Furniture and First Year Programs, beginning Fall 2013. Ideal candidates will be able to teach, mentor students, participate in curricular development, foster ties with local and international organizations, and play a leadership role in the Furniture program. They will also be able to teach at least one class per year in the First Year Program and contribute to its curricular and pedagogical development on a rotational basis. In keeping with the college's commitment to diversity, community engagement, and social justice, we seek candidates who will cultivate an equitable studio environment and a diverse curriculum.

photo by Nicole Nadeau

photo by longest august

Mid-lower-Manhattan-blackout, I need to relocate my two dogs and I to somewhere with electricity and internet, so I can continue to earn a living. I didn't know who would and wouldn't have power and did not pre-plan a fallback location. But now I remember I've got a buddy staying at his boss' townhouse in the east 60s, within the powered zone. It's a longshot that they'll allow dogs, but he's the closest place I can walk to while towing two dogs, carrying my computer and lugging my own food & water.

But I won't walk up there unannounced; because I failed to work out contingencies in advance, I'd better ask before showing up. I can't call him, obviously, so I put rain gear on and head outside to make the 2.5-hour roundtrip.

What I see outside makes me change my mind about walking. The amount of damaged trees, huge branches in the street, collapsed awnings, and generally heavy things sitting in places they oughtn't, makes me think a long walk would be dumb. There are a lot of once-securely-mounted things on the average city block that can fall on you, and I don't want to be killed proving the law of gravity.

A second, more surprising thing I see that also makes me change my mind: there are tons of people outside—and taxis. It's not easy getting one, but ten minutes later I'm in a yellow Crown Vic headed uptown.

As we reach the 30s I see people on the sidewalk talking on cell phones, so I pull mine out and switch it on. Service! I call my buddy, and during our brief, choppy call, he apologetically tells me we can't be accommodated. Ah well. I have the cab turn around.

The most amazing thing I saw on that cab ride was this: No traffic lights were working below the 30s. And traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, moved through those latter parts of the city flawlessly. Admittedly it wasn't a rush-hour level of traffic, but even still I'd have expected lots of near-misses, stymied pedestrians who couldn't cross, honking horns and curses. But there was none of that. My driver slowed at each intersection to look around, as did every other driver. Pedestrians watched cars going in the same direction as them, and crossed intersections when those cars crossed. We never sat still for more than a few seconds and it never seemed even remotely dangerous.

At just two major intersections we went through (23rd & 3rd and Delancey & Bowery) were there foot police directing traffic. Every other block worked flawlessly with no signals, just quick negotiating glances between drivers and pedestrians. I have more to say about this at the bottom of this entry.

Another thing that struck me was the amount of people, mostly tourist-looking, standing outside of closed subway stations and looking confused. They'd peer past the tape blocking the entrance, as if hoping to see something informative at the bottom of the stairs. I guess those without access to news would have no way of knowing the entire subway system had been shut off; I only knew because it had been mentioned in the radio broadcast.

Perhaps it's my personal obsession with nautical shirts, but when I think of stripes I think of my dangerous addiction to Petite Bateau and handmade espadrilles. Design editor Linda O'Keeffe, however, takes stripes to another level in her new book Stripes: Design Between The Lines. In it, O'Keeffe traces the history of stripes from cave paintings through the Middle Ages, when they were used to identify different social classes, and past their appearance as "dazzle camouflage" during WWI, proving that stripes really are "the simplest and most ancient of decorative markings."

By Daniel Buren, image copyright D.B - ADAGP Paris

Divided into eight chapters according to theme or mood—Jovial, Paradoxical, Tribal, Directional, Optical, Vertical, Horizontal, and Structural—O'Keeffe takes the reader from the Mojave Desert to the South Pole, visiting Elvis's "Jail House Rock," the paintings of Paul Klee and the evolution of circus culture along the way. Many of O'Keeffe's historical references are certainly interesting and will be new information to many readers, but her well intentioned text (cursory at best) simply can't compete with the page after page of stripy eye candy. Her books, however, like last year's Brilliant: White in Design, are easy flip-throughs, thematic romps, if you will, and aren't meant as anything more serious, so we certainly can't hold the fact that this is design light against her, especially when the pictures are so good.

Image copyright Deidi von Schaewen

Hit the jump for more...

Once again, we are thrilled to bring Hot One Inch Action, the tiny button art show back to Portland.

Friday, Nov. 2nd
Admission is free. Mixed packs of 5 buttons are $5.
6PM - 9PM PST
RSVP on Facebook

Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR, 97209

For those of you who missed it before—conceived by Jim Hoehnle and Chris Bentzen in 2004, Hot One Inch Action is the original, one-night only show of button art and social interaction from Vancouver, BC.

Hot One Inch Action reproduces the tiny art of 50 local artists on one inch buttons. At the show, we sell mixed packs of 5 buttons for $5. If you want a specific button, you'll either have to take a chance and buy more mixed packs of random buttons OR trade with the other people at the event.

With none of the pretentiousness of a regular art show, everyone interacts out of necessity—"I want that button!"—and the evening becomes a relaxed and fun event for people of all-ages.

This year's artists include: andyvanoverberghe, Audrey McNamara, Ben Bittner, Bryce Pedersen, Caprice White, Chris Bentzen, Chris Cilla, Chuck E. Bloom, Danielle Weiss, Darlene Schaper, DAVIE, Dick Mama, Emily Segel, Eric J. Millar, Erin Gibbs, Erin Nations, Far Sebastian, François Vigneault, Jackson Smith, Jacob Redmond, Jadah Goldblum, James Baker, Janette Ussher, Jennifer Winship Mark, Jess DeVries, Jesse Narens, Jill Bridgeford, K.J. Campbell, Kyley Quinn, Leda Zawacki, Mari Navarro, Marilyn Romaine, Matt Cosby, Matt Schlosky , Megan Carruthers, Murphy Phelan, Nicole Gartland, Patrick Woolworth, Peach MoMoKo, Pierre Leichner, Randall Cosco, Rose Thor, Starheadboy, Suzanna Wright, Tom O'Toole, Tyler Segel, Violet Tchalakov, White Swallows, Yo Mutsu, and Zachariah leBaron d'Avignon.