Congratulations!

Congratulations Everyone!

Homebase and Little Monsters have been selected to appear in Communication Arts Design Annual.

Cheers!
Lisa

Packaging you never have to throw away!

The future of packaging is looking both earth-friendly and user-friendly. Packages shaped like tank tops and boxer shorts leave little chance that the shopper will pick up the wrong item. Once home, the entire package goes right in the wash, thanks to a packaging material composed of dissolvable cornstarch and a small amount of detergent.

"You can't do without packaging, but you can do something with the package once it's done its job. This entry shows a clear, intelligent way out of the looming threat of being engulfed by our waste. It provides hope and uses good form while doing so!" - Poonam Bir Kasturi, I/IDSA, Design Consultant

credit: fusproject

Welcome... Back

Inspired by Chris's longing for David, Turner Duckworth: San Francisco, showed its enthusiasm for David's return by patiently waiting and anxiously peering from the office entrance all weekend.

Nice to have you back!
signed,
Turner Duckworthians

Chicks with Tats

UK-based, Lion Quality, has developed a thermochromic graphics system for egg boiling. The graphics, printed directly on the egg shell, change color according to the temperature of the egg. Hence, there is an immediate and accurate reading of the density of the egg. I'm not sure I am too worried about how dense my boiling egg may be [seems like an awfully British concern], there could be some great potential with this printing technique. Perhaps, we can "Americanize" the concept to tell us how well-done our 15lb buffalo steak is. Personally, I am hoping this adds a little warmth to the oh-so-institutional barcode tattoo on the back of my neck.

Soylent Green is People,

CG

Read more here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5226338.stm

Dinner on Time

Ross McBride is an American-born designer that has been living/working in Japan since 1985. Originally trained as a Graphic Designer, Ross's focus is now on product and furniture design. His pieces tend to rethink their own practical qualities: some in a surreal manner.

Visit his site here:

http://www2.gol.com/users/ross/

CG

Strange Statues from Around the World

You can see more here:

http://haha.nu/funny/strange-statues-around-the-world

iLike iBar

iBar is an interactive bar-counter design. The technology is video projection with intelligent tracking that recognizes anything that touches the surface of focus. Sf people, think the Metreon foyer floor.

Read more here: http://www.i-bar.ch/index.php?id=88&L=1

CG

Clean Sweep from Clean Slate

Well; not quite. But, it looks like TD-designed riesling performed well at the SF Intl. Wine Competition. There is an article in Beverage Industry here:

http://www.bevindustry.com/viewprnews.php?nid=4969

Also, Click Wine Group launched the Clean Slate website here:

http://cleanslatewine.com/#

CG

The Future in 3-D!

On beadesigngroup.com, there is an article that [skims] trends of modern logos and applies them to some current classics. I am showing the new Payless logo, as well, since it is referenced in the article. Personally, I don't see the new Payless logo following the trends that the author highlights.

The article can be found here:

http://www.beadesigngroup.com/blog/archives/2006/07/logo_news_8_the_future.html#more

CG

The Global Curse of Comic Sans

I found this article on designobserver.com. More interesting than the criticism of the typeface usage, is the culture of designers throwing rocks in transparent rubber houses. Basically, it is a "let's bitch" article. The saving grace is the inclusion of a public apology by the designer of Comic Sans, Vincent Connare.

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/016321.html#more

CG

Congratulations and Coke article

Congratulations! The following projects will be featured in Print Regional Design competition:

TurnerDuckworth Red Eye Party Invitation
Homebase Own Brand
Sparks Posters (based on print ad campaign)

Also, attached is an article from Brandweek about Coke and the beverage market. It features not only our beloved Coke Classic, but TaB Energy and Godiva Belgian Blends.

Happy Friday! Happy actual birthday Chris!

Lisa

Happy Berfday Chris/Christ/Chis/Christofer/Fancypants Bruno Bones!

google searches for an embarrassing photo of one "Chris Garvey" turned out, well, quite charming













Pirate Fancy Pants Bruno Bones posing here for a Banana Republic ad on the TD "3 Hour Tour". Embarrassing it is not, but wait til your real birthday on Friday when you aren't in the office to see what's posted...


arg, happy birthday, your mateys

Rainfall in the Urban Jungle

Aqua is a newly approved tower in the Lakeshore East district of Chicago. Each floor of the 80-something stories is unique in shape. The result is to the effect of water erosion on stone after many, many years.

You can read more about it here:
http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=190323&aid=8

CG

Improvement to drinking!

Here is a nice little invention to make the shots go down that much smoother!
-Shawn

Shots are key to any unrememberable evening of drinking, but coordinating the two glasses necessary to shoot and chase can be exhausting, and incredibly confusing. Thankfully, sweet Mother of Cuervo, the Quaffer is here.

The Quaffer is an oversized shot glass shaped like a POM bottle. To load, just tilt, and fill the 2.25oz lower bulb with chaser and the 1oz upper bulb with shot. The Q's narrow waist prevents the liquids from mixing, so throwing it back unleashes a potent liquor/chaser one-two that'll have you fighting with oversized bouncers and undersized table lamps in no time.

Happy Birthday Shawn!

Over Thirty and Still Flirty

No one is going to tell this bitch how to celebrate his birthday!

Totaled Car Experience

Yes, the car IS the metaphor of life. *wink* DT



Uros Pavasovic has taken a nod from Levis. Levis reinvigorated their brand with grass-stained, hole-emitting, worn jeans. The "livable" pants adopted elements of wear-and-tear to the point of creating an [expensive] artform. Uros Pavasovic noticed the same inevitable depreciation of automobiles. The Flat Scratch car celebrates this notion by layering four exterior paint colors that reveal themselves everytime the car is banged, dented, and scratched. The aesthetic revealed may be a subjective manner considering that general wear and tear, over many years, is isolated to certain areas of the car body. Regardless, it is pretty neat to see a car company thinking against the grain of pristine automobile manufacturers.

Second Desk on the Right,

Chris

Seeking...

The more things change

The more things change the more some have to stay the same.
This design element is considered a BMW trademark. Though photos are not taken from the same angle, I have highlighted the rear window curve. This contour has remained the same since the early 80's even earlier for some models. It is carefully considered and maintained as well as thought to be attractive. even under the auspices of revolutionary stages of the company's design.

Seems successful car brands have a family of their own complete with siblings. So, what makes 1 car hot and 1 car not. Maybe we can do a slide tweaking a car to fit into those two categories. I think Michelangelo said that all good art/architecture is based on human proportions, more examples to come on that thought.

Turner Duckworth

Turner Duckworth
Over the years, DARPA has continued to adhere to these founding principles:



darpa.mil

Small and flexible;
Flat organization;
Substantial autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic impediments;
Technical staff drawn from world-class scientists and engineers with representation from industry, universities, government laboratories and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers;
Technical staff assigned for 3-5 years and rotated to assure fresh thinking and perspectives;
Project based -- all efforts typically 3-5 years long with strong focus on end-goals. Major technological challenges may be addressed over much longer times but only as a series of focused steps. The end of each project is the end. It may be that another project is started in the same technical area, perhaps with the same program manager and, to the outside world, this may be seen as a simple extension. For DARPA, though, it is a conscious weighing of the current opportunity and a completely fresh decision. The fact of prior investment is irrelevant;
Necessary supporting personnel (technical, contracting, administrative) are "hired" on a temporary basis to provide complete flexibility to get into and out of an area without the problems of sustaining the staff. This is by agreement with Defense or other governmental organizations (military R&D groups, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, etc.) and from System Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contractors;
Program Managers (the heart of DARPA) are selected to be technically outstanding and entrepreneurial. The best DARPA Program Managers have always been freewheeling zealots in pursuit of their goals;
Management is focused on good stewardship of taxpayer funds but imposes little else in terms of rules. Management's job is to enable the Program Managers;
A complete acceptance of failure if the payoff of success was high enough.
Each Director recognized the wisdom of the agency's historical approach and defended the organization from outside influences that would constrain its freedom and flexibility. In addition, the Department of Defense's senior management, seeing the value of an agile, forward-looking R&D group unconstrained by conventional thinking and able to investigate ideas and approaches that the traditional R&D community finds too outlandish or risky, has consistently protected the independence of DARPA. Failure to keep the bureaucracy at bay would have doomed the value of DARPA and this has been consistently recognized over the years.

The freedom to act quickly and decisively with high-quality people has paid handsome dividends for DoD in terms of revolutionary military capabilities.

Today, DARPA is an organization of 240 personnel (approximately 140 of which are technical) directly managing a budget of about $2 billion. A typical technical project might be structured as follows:

$10-40 million over 4 years;
Single DARPA Program Manager with direct control of the efforts and the funding;
A SETA contractor or contractors to support the Program Manager in his or her primary roles of managing the efforts and representing the program with Congress, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military Services and/or involved Unified Commander;
An Agent (furnishing from a fraction of a person to several people) in a military R&D laboratory to provide technical and contracting support (paid from program funds to provide this support);
Five to 10 contractor organizations and two universities executing tasks focused on a specific aggregate goal.
Obviously, there are wide variations to this "typical" case. Some projects are under $1 million and a few are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the management paradigm is the same; the variation is in the amount and type of "hired" assistance. Even in larger programs, the emphasis is on small teams of the highest quality people. Regardless of size, a single DARPA Program Manager is in charge and must manage and represent the project internally and externally.

DARPA's original operating philosophy has changed over the years in only three ways -- its relationships with the commercial marketplace, its business practices, and its emphasis on joint systems.

First, the DoD has gone from dominating the market in such areas as microelectronics, computing and network communications, each of which was driven by DARPA in past years, to the current situation where the DoD is able to somewhat influence the directions of a much-larger-than-DoD market. DARPA has played one of the key roles in assuring that DoD's long-term interests are served in this new situation.

Second, in the past decade, DARPA has pioneered revolutionary R&D business practices reform. With the support of the Congress and DoD senior management, DARPA has led the way in adopting commercial practices and innovative contracting arrangements. Congress provided the authority for "Other Transactions" and "Section 845" agreements to DARPA on an experimental basis, and, because of DARPA's success, has now conveyed the same authorities to the rest of DoD.

Third, since the Goldwater-Nicholls Act, DARPA has focused considerable attention on solutions to joint-Service systems and problems.

In summary, DARPA's ability to adapt rapidly to changing environments and to seek and embrace opportunities in both technology and in processes, while maintaining the historically proven principles of the Agency, makes DARPA the crown jewel in Defense R&D and a unique R&D organization in the world.

E-rope

 E-rope is a student-designed, modular power strip that can be twisted in any direction and strangle currents from power-hungry devices. You can find an article about it in BusinessWeek here: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/06/idea2006/source/105.htm.

You have been tipped off!

Chris

There's a Plastic Hero in All of Us

I would like to propose a new mandate for Turner Duckworth employees: once having reached one year of employment, a hero doll in your likeness should be awarded to you. I went to herobuilders.com and made a Chris action pictured in this post. I was hoping to accessorize with small red shorts and a sword, but alas, those items were not available.

Here's the site again: herobuilders.com

I expect pictures of other's action figures!

Keepin' it Clean for Public Viewing,

Chris

Welcome to our blog!

Hi all,
This is our internal blog. I encourage you to post any interesting observations about design, culture, and life in general. Funny stuff especially welcome! Feel free to include personal news, pictures, and links to other interesting things to read, view, etc.

Here are some general guidelines:

Be brief.
Be nice.

I'm happy to give anyone a short tutorial on "how to post" and give you some pointers to save time.

Lastly, here's the most important thing in my life right now:

Our fearless leader