*HERO Design Lab - 03.26.08 , 00:13 -

Outdoor Speakers (part 1) - NOTConcept 002

gnome-sketches.jpgNOTConcept 002: Outdoor Sound System - [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]

NOTCOT Note: This week has been a bit off… i’m still trying to catch up, but freshly in my inbox are the first rough sketches of NOTConcept 002! Jenny and Leo (of HERO Design Lab and i have been playing with ideas on what can be done to create more ambiance in our outdoor spaces. We played with discussions of solar power, lighting, music, projections, and just subtle objects that add character to our spaces. Ultimately we decided to head in the direction of outdoor speakers you least expect… creating a whole new way to achieve surround sound outdoors without needing to completely “hide” your speakers. As with NOTConcept 001 feel free to comment and brainstorm with us as we stretch our minds and play with new ideas.

First sketch above is the Gnome idea… Tapping into the kitchy world of garden ornaments - this media pod channels the essence of garden gnomes. You could have a clan of ‘gnomes’ that would generate your surround sound/light/projection/media experience.

See the sketches of the other 5 ideas after the jump!

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*notcot - 03.25.08 , 21:34 -

Sam Flores and Munk One for Obama

munkfloresobama.jpg008 The Movement and Upper Playground strike again ~ for Obama! The artist collaborations they have been coordinating are incredible, regardless of whether you support Obama, it’s hard not to be in awe not only of the way that Obama’s campaign has been designed, but also how impeccably designed/inspired/executed the unofficial art that has come out to support him has been as well. Here are the latest limited edition posters (which you will probably be seeing popping up around soon as well) - from Munk One, and long time NOTCOT favorite, Sam Flores. If you’re looking to get one of these limited editions, move quickly, because the last ones from the MAC, the Date Farmers, and Obey/Shepard Fairey (and the shirts as well) have sold out nearly instantly. You can still get Shepard Fairey HOPE stickers here.

To side step slightly… did you hear that Obama wrote Shepard Fairey a thank you note? And that it might be sanctioning him to create street art on stop signs? Will this really become a free pass for street artists? (yes, a bit of reading between the lines by shep on this one, but i think its a nice move that Obama and his people acknowledge the influence of the medium.) And the unofficial artist posters in support of him have been so influential and successful, that Obama’s official campaign has even Artists for Obama gallery with limited edition prints, the first being a CHANGE version of the Shepard Fairey poster.

And as a special something for our NOTCOT/Obama supporters - i’ve also gotten my hands on a few of the Shepard Fairey HOPE posters and stickers, the MAC posters, and Date Farmers posters… i haven’t been sure how to give these away yet, but how about those interested in helping the cause - comment here with where you’d put them up and we can try to send some out to you in exchange for some pics of where they go?

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*notcot - 03.23.08 , 13:54 -

Wool Teddy Bear Fetuses and Skulls

Teddy-Fetal-Development.jpg“Wow.” That’s pretty much the best i can come up with initially to describe Stephanie Metz’s incredible use of wool for her felted sculptures exambining the anatomy of of the fetal development of teddy bears, and their skulls… and that before you even see her large breasted cow, leggless lap chihuahua, adorable bull dog and rabbits… See more images below, as well as an excerpt on her process to develop these intriguing creatures! I saw these over at DesignBoom, which led me to sweetest blog i can’t believe its taken me this long to discover, Street Anatomy… anyhow, see after the jump for more pics of Metz’s felted creatures!

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*notcot - 03.20.08 , 13:32 -

TED BIG VIZ

tedbook1.jpgRegardless of whether you did or did not attend TED this year, the TED BIG VIZ pdf book is a MUST download for anyone visually oriented looking for a burst of inspiration. What is it?

The BIGVIZ is an exploration in visualizing the Big Ideas presented on the TED mainstage. Two visual cartographers, David Sibbet and Kevin Richards, created over 700 spontaneous sketches of the presenters’ ideas using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro software running on Wacom Cintiq tablets and rendered on a Perceptive Pixel multi-touch display. These tools illustrate the power of interactive visualization to present the big picture to foster insight and communicate ideas visually, central principles of design innovation.

I just went through all 200 pages (i even picked out a few of my favorites for you after the jump)… and its incredible, to see their sketches of the “big ideas” and things that grabbed their attention throughout the talks… seriously, the 700 “spontaneous sketches” are breathtaking. When you have a sec, the BIGVIZ movie is pretty sweet as well. Discovered this through the wonderful Information Aesthetics!

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*notcot - 03.19.08 , 00:51 -

Paul Villinski Beer Can Butterflies

beercanbutt01.jpgWhile at CA Boom V, the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery had a booth with a mesmerizing series of Butterfly Installations by Paul Villinski. Apparently he is quite the recontextualist of found objects… transforming found gloves into dresses and comforters, wheelchairs and radio flyers into planes, and my favorite - beer cans into butterflies which when installed appear to be flying and fluttering with every breeze. Villinski’s site describes this collection: “These pieces explore themes of transformation and recovery through the metamorphosis of crushed beer cans from the streets of New York into flocks of realistically crafted butterflies.” See close ups of the CA Boom installation and others after the jump!

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*notcot - 03.18.08 , 23:32 -

Wooster’s Mac Masthead

mastheadbyjamesselby.jpgAh, how i love Wooster Collective ~ getting me my daily dose of street art in all its glory. But tonight it wasn’t the art that grabbed me - i couldn’t help but giggle when i saw their latest masthead image… making the best use of a Mac OS X’s Dock icons… and the folder window… the file name seems to imply that it is made by a James Selby.

*HERO Design Lab - , 14:11 -

The Ultimate Grill (Part 3) - NOTConcept 001

grillcloseup.jpgNOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]

Can you believe we’re already at the final installment of the first NOTConcept, a NOTCOT and HERO Design Lab collaboration? So, you’ve seen the research, the sketching/brainstorming, the concept development, and here is our final piece of NOTConcept 001 - the Ultimate Grill! Here are the 3D renders of the product, and some photomontages of the product in context. Lots to see after the jump ~ in particular, i love the details of how you can swap in different logos/symbols/anything really in the grill plate itself to mark the food differently (whether that is NOTCOT, or “medium rare” and “well done”, or a little veggies only symbol)… also its versatile enough to be hanging, or with a floor stand… anyhow see below and the details are outlined!

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*notcot - 03.17.08 , 18:04 -

AB5TRAX Mountain Dew Blues

CanJump.jpgNew from AB5TRAX ~ super cute Mountain Dew Blues… check out this adorable (yet grumpy and growling) little can in action in the viral video after the jump!

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*HERO Design Lab - 03.10.08 , 18:27 -

The Ultimate Grill (Part 2) - NOTConcept 001

2hangingopen-w-image.jpgNOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]

So, last week, in collaboration with HERO Design Lab, NOTCOT kicked off NOTConcept 001 with the brainstorming + sketches of what the future grill might look and function like. With input from readers and friends, we’re excited to show you Part 2, more detailed sketches focusing on a specific concept that has evolved from idea B1 (the hanging grill/pod idea) and C-series (the “smart fire jacks” idea). The result is this new series of concepts around modular heating elements for cooking, and the various housing they can adapt to… see all the ideas below!

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*notcot - , 14:24 -

NOTCOT Thank You Art?

pinillusmain.jpgWell, this is certainly unprecedented. I have received some very cool rather meta snail mail… from Germany! I chat with Johanna Krimmel via email, then send some NOTCOT Buttons in the mail ~ and then she sketches out a a picture of those buttons being opened on her laptop (yay, mac) down to the details of the air mail stamp, and snail mails me back! So to complete/continue the cycle i wonder if i need to now paint her a picture of me opening her envelope of her picture of my envelope…. etc etc etc you get the point. Or is posting it enough? Anyhow, this was a first, so thought you guys might liked to take a peek! More images below…

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*notcot - 03.09.08 , 12:29 -

Nate Wragg

wragg1.jpgMy random visual addiction for the weekend has been Nate Wragg’s illustrations ~ particularly his angry human hating Yetis. His illustration style is absolutely mesmerizing, and i can’t seem to stop staring at them! It should come as no surprise to you that he’s a Pixar guy ~ and worked on Ratatouille. Also awesome is this “USE TECHNOLOGY TO COLLECT THE WOMEN!” piece (close up and sketches after the jump of course), which is for his next installment of the “Ancient Book” series, which will be focusing on the themes of Sex and Science. See more close ups after the jump…

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*HERO Design Lab - 03.07.08 , 00:00 -

The Ultimate Grill (Part 1) - NOTConcept 001

A1A2andA3.jpgNOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]

NOTConcept: The Ultimate Grill Part 1. Well, we showed you some of our research on the many grills and induction implementations out there, and now for Part 1, we have 20 ideas to bounce off of you! Yes, those above are only three of 20 sketches that you can see fully after the jump. And those 20, are our favorites of even MORE that didn’t even make it off the sketchbook pages and into photoshop! Keep in mind these are the crazy first round of brainstorming types of sketches we start with, before we start to narrow things down based on tighter constraints… and we’re looking to have fun conceptually, so, don’t worry about trying to actually build any of these - tomorrow?

For a quick recap ~ NOTConcept is a new experimental collaboration between NOTCOT and HERO Design Lab, where we will run through ideas from research and extremely rough sketches to glossy renders in under 2 weeks per project… and document/share it all along the way. Reason? We love designing, and with so much inspiration daily, why not play with fun projects and exercise our design minds/skills outside of our usual client work?

SO ~ curious what we came up with? Take a look below, and help us decide what direction to take when we flesh out one of these ideas in the next post…

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*notcot - 03.06.08 , 20:52 -

The Ultimate Grill (Research) - NOTConcept 001

grillresarch0.jpgNOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]
Introducing the first NOTConcept! This is the intro of a new NOTCOT Experiment where NOTCOT has teamed up with industrial design duo, Leo Corrales and Jenny Lemieux, of HERO Design Lab, to put some of the constant design/trend/inspiration curating across NOTCOT to good use… by flexing our design minds and skills and to bring readers further into the design process with us, we will be presenting 4 NOTConcepts in three parts each…

Each NOTConcept will start with a brief and some visual research (starting with a search across NOTCOT.com and NOTCOT.org, and making our way through the internet and real world) - for this premier project we look to design the ultimate portable grill/BBQ utilizing newer/future technologies.
1. The first post will show you various concept sketches, doodles, and ideas (which we’d love to have you weigh in on which direction interests you).
2. The second post will take one of the previous ideas and further research and flush out the concept.
3. The third post will consist of 3D renders of that concept.
(and all three steps will happen in under 2 weeks!)

Basically we wanted to find a fun way to put our skills together, and have some fun, like in our grad school days, and have an opportunity (or excuse?) to work on projects with minimal constraints - basically playing with those inspiring crazy ideas our clients never go for! So… to kick things off, want to see every interesting grill, bbq, induction piece i put together to inspire this first project? (GIANT collage after the jump!)

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*notcot - , 17:27 -

Pranna Timer Review

prannatimer.jpgPranna Timers ~ these incense meditation timers may not be the expected NOTCOT content, but when i received an email about these i was genuinely intrigued. “Using gravity instead of batteries, incense instead of circuits.” And the site had these beautiful handmade wooden contraptions that sit next to ancient singing bowls…

To further indulge my curiosity of a COMPLETELY technology free activity (timed meditation? or any other random timing you need once you perfectly calibrate how long it takes a certain length of incense to burn)… Pranna Timers sent one over, so here is the review - with close up shots of how exactly it does its thing, and a video of how it sounds as well! Check out your minute of zen below (please don’t mind the airplane noises that had to fly over right when i was filming it…)

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*notcot - , 13:00 -

Sesame Street Visual Thinking

visualthinking.jpg“cool it, cool it, man, you’re being too literal. What you need is a lesson in abstract thinking… [wow. you are weird]… the funny thing about abstract thinking is you can’t get away from it… to get rid of an abstract thought you have to erase it by thinking backwards.” I don’t know about you, but that makes perfect sense to me. And remind me again, why don’t we have more television like old school Sesame Street anymore? If we make a NOTCOT show, i think we really need to head back in this direction.

Visual Thinking, i think it’s something that every design client needs! Check out the three videos embedded below for some enlightening…

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