one part truth, two parts mixer

Public clocks

The four clocks I walk past on my way to work (technically I can also see the Houses of Parliament):

Shellmex House

20/20 Optical Store

Heal's

Just outside the office

It's kind of useful not to have to expose my wrist to the elements but still have an idea of what the time is. It got me thinking about urban utility and how it's good when buildings (or the general environment) perform other tasks than the one that they were ostensibly built for. Clocks are a great example of this, but what else?

It seems as though advertising is the only other dual purpose that street furniture and buildings can find (bus shelters, phone boxes). I'm not saying we need to start some São Paulo-style advertising ban, but I would be interested to see what extra utility could be bought to the urban environment. Does it even have to be useful information? And in some instances could advertising provide that utility? I liked that AEG advert in Shoreditch last year that measured and displayed the decibel level (you can see it here via Laughing Squid) - and in a double win surely something that has a direct relationship with it's environment is more relevant and therefore more noticeable. We can't turn the filters off when we're being faced with useless facts can we? Or is that just me? 

A bit of a ramble, but I think there's something in this urban/environmental utility and I'm sure some clever architects somewhere have got it all worked out.

Trick or treat

I'm a big fan of the Google logo; in fact I'd always meant to start a blog where you recorded every day's image and what it linked to. While today's (now yesterday's I guess) wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as previous ones, I liked how it told a little story:




It would have been quite cool to have tricks and treats when you clicked through.

Under pressure

I may have bitten off more than I can chew. See you on the other side.

'Di, doll and me' by Corinne Day

Puzzlement

I recieved a TasteLondon card yesterday, which basically gets you 50% off food at a bunch of restaurants. On the back of the card be this (well, it is Talk Like A Pirate Day):

I don't know whether I'm being really stupid or short-sighted but I can't figure out what this is for. If anyone can shed any light, I would be grateful. Maybe I'll even take you out for dinner.

Judge and jury

Next Friday I'm judging a little open pitch as part of London Digital Week. It's a bit like the Push the Brief event that Ash and Ant organised last year, with a live charity brief open to agency teams. You will be briefed by the client YouthNet, before having 2 hours to answer the brief and then presenting it to a team of  judges including the client, David Bausola, Beeker Northam and err, me.

All you need to do is put together a team of 4-6 of your finest (a bit of research around YouthNet probably wouldn't go amiss either). There is also the possibility that some real work could come out of this - and if that isn't motivating I don't know what is.

If you would like to get involved but can't get a team together contact Sol who is trying to put together a team of renegades: solwei85 (at) gmail dot com.

Details here and registration here. Look forward to seeing you there.

Nice threat

I just liked this slide, it made me smile:

Russell Davies talking about post-digital and his Newspaper Club project at dConstruct

Together apart

If there's something this blog misses, it's trivia. For those of you that know me IRL, you will know trivia is one of my favourite subjects. Anyway read this on Yahoo this morning, about how it is actually better for couples not to sleep in the same bed if they actually want to sleep - I've often said if I was rich enough I'd like a house next-door to my partner with a joining door, or at least separate bedrooms. Which is interesting, because the reason behind the 'marital bed' is apparently rooted in the Industrial revolution, 'when people moving to overcrowded towns and cities found themselves short of living space' (Dr. Neil Stanley).

Introductions

Spent a good day yesterday at dconstruct, will write about it later. Just wanted to give a quick mention to Ben Cerveny for the best introduction I've heard for a long while. He got up on stage after his partner at Stamen Design, Michal Migurksi, and introduced himself as 'the hyperspace button'. Quality. Maybe I need to rethink 'planner'.

Outdoor viewing

Was in The Victory yesterday (sadly without victory for my team) but liked their outdoor TV action.

Blessed are the children of the hip hoppers

And other vinyl afficionados. I was thinking the other day about which items of my wardrobe would be valuable to future generations and which items would be laughed out of the 2040s. That is the nice thing about clothes: their physical nature allows them to have a shared history through generations, like most other physical things that have cultural significance (everything?).

But in 2040, or even in 2020, discovering your parents music collection is going to be scrolling through a list of digital files. I just wonder how that tilts the act of discovery and it's meaning. Whole generations won't have a physical, tangible discovery of things like music. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, just interested in how it's different. Especially because clothes and furniture and the like will still hold that mystique.