An excellent Flash plugin written by Roy Tanck, takes the Tags and forms a real tag cloud!
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Published on September 29th, 2009 in
design, discourse and tagged with cloud, Flash, tags, WordPress •
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This series of images is continuing with the exploration of mathematically derived objects and landscapes. There is both order and chaos in the way the images are constructed, repetition and variation on a theme. The landscape is inspired by the landscape I see from where I live, on the edge of a plain that collides with the mountains in the distance.
Thanks to Scott Hull for pointing me to this Fast Company article about what personality type makes the best designer. It seems to be inline with what I would expect, it also makes me wonder (beyond it’s incomprehensible design graphics). To see a trend, I would need to know how other professions would fare with the same criteria. I would think investment bankers would also be good at “intuiting”.

I asked seven digital design students to take a look at the iPad and Kindle, analyze the major points both good and bad and come to a decision about the product. The specific question is what’s going to happen a year from now. Will the Kindle be overshadowed by the iPad, or will it hold it’s own? Is there a market for both kinds of products, a dedicated e-reader and a new type of device?
Continued…
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This piece explores objects created through mathematical rhythm and variation. The same methods are employed in a series of images that I call Visions of Promise. My interest is very similar in this work, to find beauty in nature as interpreted through a system that I have devised. The music is similarly constructed, a looping system of frequency oscillations are layered to create a familiar, but artificial soundscape.
Continued…

I thought it would be fun to revisit a classic assignment Michael Beirut mentioned in a recent post on DesignObserver.com where he showed his student portfolio. The idea is to simplify an animal to it’s most essential elements and create a logo-like image. It occurred to me that those same skills are exactly what is needed when designing characters for game design, and with the game engine Unity now free we should introduce motion as an element.
My favorite microcontroller, the Arduino, has hit the big time – a WSJ feature article! For the uninitiated, the Arduino can be hooked up to sensors to detect presence and then it can send out signals to the computer or to motors, LED lights and a bunch of other stuff. The nice thing about doing interactive design with the Arduino, is that it can be a stand-alone installation without the need for a computer to remain attached.
Bryan Leister bryan@bryanleister.com