On this Day, December 3

1586: Sir Thomas Herriot introduced potatoes to England from Colombia.

1967: The first human heart transplant was performed.

2014: We celebrated Melissa's birthday!

CG

On this Day, November 13

1995: "Goldeneye" debuted.

2001: Shakira's album, "Laundry Service," was released.

2014: We celebrated Josh's birthday!

CG

On this Day, November 12

1982: Anne Hathaway was born.

1998: Tidy Cats issued a recall of all their cat litter.

2014: We celebrated Shart Brian's birthday!

CG

On this Day, October 15

I have some birthdays to catch up on...

1980: George Brett was forced out of the World Series due to his hemorrhoids.

1981: Cheerleader, Krazy George Henderson, led the first audience wave in Oakland.

2014: We celebrated Wyeth's birthday!

CG

Materia Materials Resource

A great research tool for discovering materials. Materia offers a database, articles and events about materials. Each material is shown with photography and technical specs. There's also a quick link to order samples and more info from manufacturers.

JM

http://materia.nl

On this Day, (Last Saturday) October 4

2005: "Advertising Age" listed "People" as the magazine of the year.

2009: Britney Spears was announced as a new "X FActor" judge.

2014: We celebrated Jessica's birthday!

CG

Gorgeous

The other week a group of duckies toured the Gorgeous exhibit at the Asian Art Museum.

The exhibit was an interesting collaboration; pieces from the SF MoMA's permanent collection were presented alongside ancient artifacts held in the Asian Art Museum, to compare and contrast different perceptions of beauty. The presentation of the artworks is purposefully jumbled, not following a linear or conceptual path, prompting viewers to come to their own conclusions of contextual relationships. 

 

 

"The objects in Gorgeous are not easily categorized, and embracing their resistance to classification is an essential part of the project. Rather than providing a contrast between “East” and “West” or focusing on centuries of scholarly debate concerning beauty, the exhibition aims to engage visitors in an ongoing conversation about personal reactions to what makes something not merely beautiful but gorgeous."

Mike's favorite piece was Brancusi's "The Blonde Negress."

Overall, a wonderful exhibit exploring perceptions of beauty, attraction, and cultural values.

MC

On this day, (Yesterday) September 29

1997: Toronto's Brian Zemic won a $100,000 wager after obtaining breast implants and keeping them for a year.

2013: Rolling Stone listed their top Game of Thrones characters.

2014: We celebrated Fay's birthday!

CG

On this Day, August 22

1979: The Rampson Mental Hospital closed.

1987: Madonna's "Who's that Girl?" single reached the #1 spot on the Billboard 100.

2014: We celebrated Cassandra's birthday!

CG

On this Day, August 3

1988: Nintendo unveiled their magazine, Nintendo Power.

2012: Google released the Android Jelly Bean mobile OS.

2014: We celebrated Tanawat's birthday!

CG

On this Day, (Yesterday) August 10

1979: Lisa Frank was founded.

1980: Hurrican Allen hit the shores of Texas.

2009: Season 6 of Project Runway began shooting.

2014: We celebrated D'Arcy's birthday!

CG

On this Day, July 30

1992: Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie.

2012: BFI named "The Godfather" their favorite film of all time.

2014: We celebrated Amy's birthday!

CG

On this Day, (Last Saturday) July 26

1979: The top six songs in the US were disco songs.

1983: Light flashes were seen on the Jupiter moon, Io.

2014: We celebrated Leanne's birthday!

CG

How Adobe Illustrator Changed Graphic Design

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3033587/watch-how-adobe-illustrator-changed-graphic-design 

A fun look at how design was done before the computer showed up and how Illustrator became the default digital drawing tool.

JM

On this Day, July 29

1965: The USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh.

2002: The first "National Chicken Wing Day" was celebrated.

2014: We celebrated Nicole's birthday!

CG

On this Day, July 27

1924: The eighth Olympic games closed in Paris.

2011: George R. R. Martin's, "A Dance with Dragons," was published.

2014: San Francisco hosted the "Up Your Alley" sexual fetish festival in the SoMa district.

2014: We celebrated Jamie's birthday!

CG

On this Day, July 23

1980: Jimmy Carter designated the River of No Return Wilderness Area.

2007: The stage adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" premiered in Denver.

2009:  The Board of Directors of the Coca-Cola Company elected Joseph Tripodi as Executive Vice President.

2014: We celebrated Butler's birthday!

CG

That Time Packaging Created Legislation

Great podcast about a piece of packaging that managed to help create a federal law:
http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/longbox/

I'm so old that I actually filled out and mailed in this postcard.

BL

On this Day, July 21

356 BC

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.

1925

Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.

2002 

The movie, “The Country Bears” was released.

2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the fastest-selling novel ever is published. It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release.

1925: "Monkey Trial" ends - John Scopes found guilty of teaching Darwinism

2011: Space shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the last flight of NASA's space shuttle program.

2014: We celebrated Chris's birthday!

TAP

On this Day, July 17

2004: Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison.

2013: Residents of Prince Edward Island, Canada, discovered that discarded lobster meat was the source of local infestations.

2014: We celebrated Tyler's birthday!

CG

On this Day, July 15

2008: Pandora released a mobile version of their software.

2011: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" was released in theaters.

2014: We celebrated Georgiana's birthday!

CG

On this Day, (Last Thursday), July 10

Almost forgot about this one...

1040: Lady Godiva rides naked on horseback through Coventry.

1997: Joe Camel was removed from cigarette ads.

2014: We celebrated Sarah's birthday!

CG

Color Shift

Last Friday TDSF took a guided tour of the Color Shift exhibit at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Inspired by Josef Albers' experimentations and theories on color, BAM presents a show curated from from their permanent collection exploring color relationships within abstract compositions.

Leading with one of Albers' iconic geometric color-field studies, "Color Shift" also includes Mark Rothko's famous Number 207 (Red over Dark Blue on Dark Gray); Number 6 by Jackson Pollock; textile work by Ruth Laskey; and selections from Jennifer Barlett, Xylor Jane, Dan Flavin, Linda Geary, and Willem de Kooning.

It was interesting, and useful, to see an integral element of our profession dissected and extensively explored. A return to the basics can be key to innovation and moving forward to create unexpected and delightful design solutions. I think a lot of us had flashbacks to the Foundation studies from our early college years!

Our docent provided some insider knowledge to the techniques and contexts of several key pieces in the collection, and the team was able to spend a warm summer afternoon in Berkeley.

(click through to view Suwanna's video!)

http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/colorshift

MC

On this Day, July 7

1961: The supervillain, Sinestro, was introduced in the Green Lantern comics.

2014: Oscar-Meyer declared a recall of many of their packaged wieners.

2014: We celebrated Tall Brian's birthday!

CG

On this Day, June 16

1955: Pope Pius XII ex-communicated Argentine President, Juan Pero.

2014: JetBlue refused to let a little girl use the toilet, resulting in her soiling herself.

2014: We celebrated Jesse's birthday!

CG

On this day, (Monday) June 9

1951: Collier's June issue on ice cream was released.

1963: Johnny Depp was born.

2014: We celebrated Liisa'd birthday!

CG

On this day, (past Saturday) June 7

2012: A bus fell into a ravine in La Paz, Bolivia, killing 16 people and injuring 32 more.

2013: A bus caught on fire in Xiamen, China, killing 42 people and injuring 30 more.

2013: A bus plunged off a mountain road in Himachel Pradesh, India, killing 18 people and injuring 14 meow.

2014: We celebrated Sam's birthday!

CG

On this Day, (Yesterday) June 3

1979: "The Muppet Movie" released in theaters.

2013: 119 people were killed in a poultry farm in China.

2014: We celebrated Robert's birthday!

CG

On this day, May 21

1994: "Best Little Whorehouse" closed at Lunt-Fontanne NYC after 16 performances.

2007: Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, was severely damaged.

2014: We celebrated BriZo's birthday!

CG

On this day, May 20

2012: Adele scored 21 wins at the Billboard Music Awards.

2013: Yahoo purchased tumblr. for $1.1 billiion.

2014: We celebrated Thom's birthday!

CG

On this day, May 16

2013: Scientists successfully cloned stem cells for the first time.

2014: A missing Nebraska boy was found inside a carnival claw machine.

2014: We celebrated Rebecca's birthday!

CG

The ONE and Only, Bruce Duckworth

Bruce Duckworth explains how many shows we can expect from the One Show on Friday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2JAaY1Ts0

CG

On this day, (Sunday) April 20

1940: George Takei was born.

1971: Barbra Streisand recorded "We've Only Just Begun."

2014: We celebrated Joanne's birthday!

CG

1972: Erno Rubik filed for a patent for what was then called "The Magic Cube."

1992: "Les Miserables" opened at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.

2014: We celebrated David's birthday!

CG

On this Day, April 8

1867: Jules Verne's, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," was published.

2014: High-end retailers started selling Sailor Moon inspired fashion.

2014: We celebrated Hannah's birthday!

CG

This Is a Generic Brand Video

http://dissolve.com/showreels/this-is-a-generic-brand-video/

Very funny but uncomfortably close to the truth of many real brand videos

ch

Medical mural: Bridget Riley goes wall to wall at London hospital

Brigid Riley has completed a spectacular new mural at St Mary’s Hospital in London, her first and largest for 27 years. The mural, measuring 56 metres long, and inspired by a visit the British artist made to Egypt, was commissioned by Imperial College Healthcare Charity Art Collection - talk about graphic!!

CH

An Easy "How to" Guide on Hipster Logos

CG