Things posted about design

MIT Media Lab Identity, 2011

MIT Media Lab Identity, 2011 from readyletsgo on Vimeo.

The new visual identity of the MIT Media Lab is inspired by the community it comprises: Highly creative people from all kinds of backgrounds come together, inspire each other and collaboratively develop a vision of the future.
This unique offering of the MIT Media Lab is reflected in the logo design. Each of the three shapes stands for one individual’s contribution, the resulting shape represents the outcome of this process: A constant redefinition of what media and technology means today.
The logo is based on a visual system, an algorithm that produces a unique logo for each person, for faculty, staff and students. Each person can claim and own an individual shape and can use it on their business card a personal website. The design encompasses all collateral, business cards, letterhead, website, animations, signage etc. A custom web interface was developed to allow each person at the Media Lab to choose and claim an own individual logo for his/her business card, as well as a custom animation software which allows to create custom animations for any video content the lab produces.

Date: 2011
Studio: TheGreenEyl
Creative Direction & Design: Richard The, E Roon Kang
Programming & Design: Willy Sengewald
Programming tool: www.Processing.org

Video Credits:
Music: Mount Kimbie (http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie)
Footage: Paula Aguilera (MIT Media Lab)
Photos: Andy Ryan, Richard The

Monocle: design notes

Monocle

I started buying Monocle magazine two months ago, after reading one issue from a colleague, mostly because it is a magazine focusing on different perspectives and issues from all around the world, but also because you really feel that you buy a high quality magazine from the paper, structure, photographs and illustrations. This article from cityofsound describes what/how they did to reach the same quality level on the online version. Its a long one but it really worth the time.

With that, I thought I’d pause to reflect on some of the design and strategy choices I made with Monocle.com and share them here. I’ve often tried to be ‘transparent’ about the work done on projects here, in the hope that it stimulates useful thought or conversation in other projects elsewhere, and partly to facilitate my own reflections on work. None of what follows is rocket science, and it’s not the place to look for thoughts on 2.0/3.0, social software, or urban informatics. That would be in the accounts of different projects. But if you’re interested in the honest craft of website work, almost deliberately old-fashioned ‘classical’ web design – and how to ally this with innovation in magazine publishing – the following should provide a decent account of several of the key decisions in this particular project.”

Article: “Monocle: design notes”

Links:
Monocle: design notes {cityofsound}
Monocle