-
A modern media tale
As piracy and regulation clash, the march of modern media continues relentlessly to an unknown future. A friend shared this exchange with me, this is the modern media story: An ad plays relentlessly on CNN. After a while I realise the ad doesn’t bother me because I like the tune. I whip out my phone. Click Shazam. Click search. It recognizes the song. Even with the ambient noise it tells me the... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 23/1/2012.
-
User 2.0
Across the coffee shop a little girl, maybe 4, is showing her dad something on a tablet with a stylus in her hand. For now it’s just a game, bright and colourful, but she’s learning to interact with technology in her formative years. It’s happening while she’s learning to interact with people through language and gesture. She will be technology literate in way that we probably... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 22/1/2012.
-
Sun, sand and brilliant innovation
Markus Kayser is the inventor of Solar Sinter, a 3D printer which uses “the abundant energy of the sun and the abundant material of sand”. It concentrates light from the sun to melt sand into glass, as with all 3D printers, it does this in cross section layers that build up simple three dimensional objects. The idea is that you use a free, inexhaustible source of energy and a hugely abundant... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 21/1/2012.
-
Signs of life
People who understand design know that it isn’t a layer added on top of something but that it’s intertwined. Design has come to mean ‘visual’ to many people, but good design is about planning and composing things in a considered way that affects appearance, function and meaning. It’s inseparable from quality. It’s not a lick of paint. A Woolworth’s water bottle caught my eye during the... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 17/1/2012.
-
Our take on 2012
Click here to view this article on Bizcommunity. Anticipating this year’s macro environment, most analysts are banking on a European recession. I think this will set the tone for another tough business year globally. With business tightening its belt and household income under pressure, frugality will once again be the driving consumer trend. We can dust off those reports on how to market to... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 16/1/2012.
-
A dark day
Governments all over the world have their share of corruption and ineptitude. The news flow in South Africa though, paints a picture of a government that is rotten with corruption. Headlines constantly read of millions, even billions, squandered and stolen while delivery remains mediocre. And its precisely that voice of the press that is now the target of lawmakers, who are poised today to pass the... Read More
No Comments
POSTED ON 22/11/2011.
FEATURED
The future of communication: Catvertising
If you don’t get on board.. you will be left behind. Read More
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Designers
Being a graphic designer is hard. Not potentially as hard as Alaskan crab fishing or cleaning Calcutta sewers (I guess), but difficult, in soul-searching... Read More
Going back to the start: sincere concern or green wash?
Here’s great video that comments on the shape of the world today. Ultimately it’s an ad for Chipotle though, a listed international... Read More
It’s official, the smarter people sit upstairs
The HKLM team bravely defeated our neighbours, Columinate, to regain Captain Orange and some pride. As with all Cranium sessions, there was blood... Read More
Fashion’s Photoshop Fallacy
Fashion magazines seem dead-set on portraying freakishly thin women on their covers and further thinning and polishing them in post production... Read More
Japanese 3D: dedication, discipline, diligence
One has to appreciate how Japanese culture promotes commitment, hard work and mastery. On a slightly different note, it’s interesting... Read More
Honouring Mandela
Nelson Mandela will be honoured by being featured on all South African bank notes, Jacob Zuma and Jill Marcus announced in a surprise statement... Read More
UPDATE: On like Donkey Kong – Columinate 1 : HKLM 0
When researchers go bad.. Game on. UPDATE: now they’re just toying with us >:( Read More
Slogan slagging: FNB use unnecessary force
FNB’s ‘Steve’ campaign is surely doing a great job for them. It’s creating the perception that their features are suprior... Read More
The startup that’s going re-wire your brain… maybe
22seven is a local startup which aims to give people a consolidated view of their spending and finances so that they can make more informed decisions... Read More
opportunity: borderless digital-physical experiences
As physical retail environments are evolving to become more connected, digital and interactive, online experiences are evolving to provide a... Read More
You suck at PowerPoint
Something that I’m painfully aware of, is that good ideas aren’t worth anything if you can’t communicate them effectively... Read More
Most Recent Comments
Just saw this - Amazon to open their first physical store: http://www.psfk.com/2012/02/amazon-real-life-store.html Andre
Talking about death - start designing for KODAK!!!! Graham Leigh
Sorry, couldn't resist with this alternative title: "Information design at the end of the line" :D Andre
I think the ad is okay - not provocative at all, but it doesn't sit well with me mainly because of what Dakota represents to me and "society" - innocence. Lungile
The first thing I thought of when I saw this was "Lolita", the novel by Vladimir Nabokov... Lola/Lolita ... Dakota/Delores ... This may be a stretch, but I'll be surprised if this was entirely unintentional. And even though Dakota is no longer a 12-year-old girl, she's still a symbol of 'child stardom'. I don't think this falls into the same boat as all the other nameless, childlike models we see in popular culture. Dakota, my girl, because I've made the "Lolita" connection, I'll appreciate this. But it's borderline. Leanne