In honor of his trip to Berlin today, Obama's design team has created a campaign poster for the event that hearkens to that famous period in German design. This observation was pointed out in greater detail on the blog Meaningful Distraction.

Take a look at the comparison between Obama's elegant design and the current McCain poster. Yeeeeeeek.

And my personal favorite:

Check out the rest here.

This morning I came across a really fascinating article covering the debate over inexpensive online logo & "branding" companies by Doug Bartow (id29) via the Under Consideration design discussion blog Speak Up.

It highlights the ongoing debate of accessibility of design for all (income brackets) versus "...the devaluation of the design process altogether, particularly in brand development and identity design, which many consider the pinnacle of our field." – by cheapening the proverbial playing field.

In his field study of this issue, Doug commissions 4 different online companies to come up with logo options for a fictitious project and then analyzes and critiques the results. It is a good exploration of what you really get from these types of logo chop shops.

The Challenge: Hire four online logo design companies, give them the same visual identity problem to solve, then critique the results.

Take a look here.

I am a member of AIGA!! (The Professional Association for Design)
I got an invitation for the exhibition, " 50 books/50 covers of 2007". Since I am designing the 4corners new book i felt these book covers might help me to get inspiration.

This exhibition showcases selections from the “AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers” competition, which aims to identify the 50 best-designed books and book covers of the year. Selections were made by a distinguished jury and become part of the AIGA Design Archives, where images, full credits, project statements and jurors' comments for all selections are available.

Gallery hours:

Monday through Thursday: 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Friday: 11:00 a.m–5:00 p.m.

Pink may or may not be the new black, but [I'm hoping that] Plurk may, in fact, be the new Twitter. Taking Tweeting up a few notches, Plurk displays your Plurks (140-character messages), as well as the Plurks from your friends and those you follow, in a really great visual timeline, taking status/Twitter stalking up to a whole new level. It also allows you to formulate your message with a variety of qualifiers (allowing others to see what you need, like, say, wonder, feel, etc.) at any given time (don't worry, there's also the option for the freestyle Plurk for you more free spirited folks out there). With an overall better design and layout, and a little bit more of a fun factor, I'm hoping Plurk will catch on over Twitter. I'm definitely a convert. Now if only I can figure out a way to integrate this with my Tumblr...hm...

From former Google employees comes Cuil, the newest super engine to hit the net. I took a quick look around, and so far I really like what I see. It has a great clean design (including the option to view your search results in 2 or 3 columns), and great smart options for sorting your data (a search of the term "Olympics" presented me with tabs for Winter Olympics, Special Olympics, Summer Olympics, and categories such as "2012 Summer Olympics" and "IOC Members"). Cuil also presents a much cleaner summary of each page (in a small paragraph) than its competitors. I wonder if this will prompt enough people to make the switch over from Google...I think I'm convinced.

OMG I love robots. Seriously. (About as much as I love David Bowie.)

That's why I have to go check out Wakamuru who is "interning" at the NYC Uniqlo flagship store. I found this all out through his blog. Man, even robots have blogs these days. Check it out here. Apparently he also has a Facebook page. And a twitter page is in the works. So social-networky those robots are. So cute!

Wakamaru is "The robot designed to live with humans." "(the) design concept was to create "an object that can approach its user." "Wakamaru" is designed in the shape of a human being so that it is not considered simply a "machine" or a "terminal," but rather an "independent personality." Its cute expression and form make it appear friendly to everyone from children to elderly people, and suggest a possibility of human growth and development. "

Among his technological accomplishments, he can recognize faces (up to 100 people), respond when spoken to, meet a person's gaze, and offer up subjects of conversation. As "wakamaru" freely moves about an area he can decide for himself when to recharge – requiring no human assistance. He can also check your email, read you the news (from various feeds), schedule things for you, and take pictures and video for you that you can check remotely.

Read more about Wakamuru here.

The first time I used Google Chrome, I was suprised on how simple the design of the browser.   The only visible functionality are the most common use buttons such as: back, forward, refresh, favorite, address and setting buttons.  The address field looks like any regular browser, but it smarts enough to distinguish between site url and search text. It also gives text prediction as you type.  

But after using with this new browser for about a week, I'm starting to notice the limitation of this new browser.  Unlike FIrefox, Chrome does not has the functionality to add adds-on to the browser.  This limitation make me miss the convinient of accessing my favorite site through my virtual bookmark.   

I'm hoping  that google will bring back the virtual bookmark toolbar to Chrome.

Just in case you were wondering whether the Hadron Collider being tested right now at CERN has destroyed the world yet, you now have a handy website to go to check it out: http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

It might seem like a bit of an overkill with all of these Twitter clones, but Yammer seems to fall into a bit more of a niche. Creating a network solely for you and your coworkers (based on your email addresses), Yammer lets you microblog what you're working on, and check in with your colleagues as well. You can also post updates directly through an IM service. Seems like it could be handy in a company where lots of people work offsite. Check it out here.