Leave it to a small dutch studio to take a bicycle and reduce it even further. Eindhoven designers VanBerlo have been awarded an iF gold award for their ‘Batavus Utility Bike,’ which has a frame based on the shape of a paperclip that leads to production efficiencies such as the down tube and top tube made from a single bent pipe.
It’s a fixie, but a fixie done just right. The component balance is interesting since the storage basket is affixed to the front fork as opposed to the rear fender, making the fender more prominent. I heart how the white-on-beige interplay with orange/black detailing and how it results in a warmer feel for the bike, as opposed to how sterile powder coated white can tend to appear. Via dezeen.
Pictured above in a typical sized coffee/tea cup the ‘Lunartik’ which is both a distant cousin of the Munny (plastic, DIY, overpriced) and adorably strange. The only way to increase it’s cute factor? Make it about 1/4 smaller. This must be the way of the future because it seems to work embarrassingly well (see image below). These guys must be onto something because Coca-Cola is trying the same thing–just at a different scale and for a much less ’boutique’ product. Order direct here. Via ToysAreEvil.
Perfect breakout of methods by which to control applications when using a large-scale touch screen. Consider it a nice clean foundation to build off of for non-surface interactions as well. I guess you could file this away as an open-source tool to use as a jump off point in order to save time and apply a high level UI to wireframes and site maps. Bonus= it’s a downloadable .pdf available at canadian designer stivo’s blog.
Tadao Ando is someone who produces stunning yet polarizing work. Even if you don’t understand architecture you have to appreciate what he brings to the equation in terms of balance and focus on proportion by the ubiquity of his material of choice; concrete. This is a coffee table book worth paying around $100 based on the juxtapositions of interior/exterior spaces and landscape integration for if you ask me. Taschen just can’t fail in this space and really doesn’t waste it’s time on artists that don’t deserve their attention–the perfect business model. Via Curated.
I guess it’s a lot more difficult to disprove something of this nature, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop believing. Face it, $24 is a small price to pay in order to keep the dream alive.
When considering a new city to live in (Domestically) it’s a good idea to do your homework outside of identifying your comparable salary. I have always considered commuting (or lack therof) to be a significant element of the ‘quality of life’ equation and find this chart to be particularly useful. 
Via the Infrastructurist
This is the music video for Nobody Beats The Drum. It’s astounding to me that this is actually a stop motion piece comprised of 4085 photos as opposed to being computer animated. It syncs perfectly to the music and was worth the countless hours it must have taken to capture enough images. The making of video is a piece of work to boot. Via TodayandTomorrow.
It’s nice to see a case mod that isn’t dedicated to video gaming franchises for a change. Clean and tidy in terms of geometry, I like this more than I thought at first glance. Red LEds keep things nicely monochromatic while the black housings balance the structure against the white stand. Sure, there are a few details that I don’t like such as the clear acrylic HD stand on the base but other than that it’s a breath of fresh air in the DIY electronics space. Love the matching red ‘feet.’Via Coolist.
Whereas these look far from comfortable they definitely align with that West Coast/SoCal art/music scene look. Maybe the specific application isn’t my favorite in terms of appearance it’s awesome to see someone putting theory to use–designing with the potential of customization by the end user for mass produced products. Since people in the ID industry have talked about SLAs being used by consumers for one-off manufacturing for years it’s awesome to see it in practice, even if it’s just a concept.
I can’t wait until we can purchase products that have detail areas like this for a nominal upcharge. Even the roots of this today are far from open-source in nature. Take personalizing an ipod with a message for example…..no other manufacturer has implemented this and it remains a signature of Apple. This is a much more 3-D approach, which is more costly but infinitely more effective. Student Brian Garret Schuur’s work arrived in the form of a half dozen sites late last week…..
And the ‘Best Random use of Bruce Willis’ award goes to….