Design vs Aesthetics - Back To Basics: Yaron Schoen

Recently I came across an article from a tweet of an acquaintance of mine from Arc90, where I am just wrapping up some consultant work on a small project. The article’s name was: “The Undesigned Web”. It made me flinch a bit at how loosely the concept of design is thrown around without a full grasp on what it truly means. I was even more surprised to see that many web designers agreed with what was said in the article. Now, before continuing, I would like to mention that I have nothing against the author. I am sure he is a great guy that finishes all his vegetables at diner and helps little old ladies cross the street. That said, it does not take away from the fact that his article is a great reminder of something us designers and industry folk have to pay closer attention to. Design is not solely aesthetics.

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Why Designers Hate Crowdsourcing - Forbes.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mix crowdsourcing, the Internet and a huge pool of underemployed graphic designers, and the outcome is a company that's grabbed a great deal of attention. In the two and a half years since it launched, Web startup 99designs out of Melbourne, Australia, boasts that it's helped to broker 48,000 graphic design projects for big name clients like Adidas and DISH Network as well as for thousands of small businesses. Acting as a middleman between business owners and graphic designers, the 99designs site hosts contests in which clients post their needs--website design, logos, print packages--and designers compete to fill them. Instead of bidding for the job, designers submit finished work tailored to the client specifications in the contest listing. 99designs calls it a win-win scenario: Its clients gain access to the site's pool of 73,000 active designers, while the designers are given a chance to compete for "upwards of $600,000 in awards paid out monthly."

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Why 243,734 Graphic Design Portfolios Reside at Carbonmade - Alexis Rodich, Washington Post

To date my exploration of technology and creativity has been primarily around music, but technology impacts art and artists of all kinds. My own path into the world of tech startups was rooted in my use of technology as a dancer--for marketing, networking and training purposes.One of my favorite online sources of creative inspiration is browsing through portfolios on Carbonmade Carbonmade is a site for artists of all kinds--from make-up and fine art to digital design and tattoo--to display portfolios online. One of the things I absolutely love is that the art is prominently displayed at the forefront. While there is space for an "about" section, it is almost unnecessary because the work speaks http://spencerfry.com/ for itself.

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My Product Identity and Design For Polaroid 1957-1977 - Paul Giambarba

Paul Giambarba initiated Polaroid's corporate image development and product identity in 1958. His innovative black packaging successfully subdued the dominance of Kodak yellow at point-of-purchase and spawned a vogue of black packaging within the industry. He is currently sparking a revival in Polaroid and his new project the Impossible Project can be found here. In the meantime, here is a fascinating case study on how the power of a good idea, beautifully executed with passion, can overcome the might of a dominant player.

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