PSST (2.0 opinions & trends) : contagious ideas blog edited by jérémy DUMONT + Andreea HIRICA POPA

A Derelict Nightclub Transformed Into A Fascinating Street Art Museum

http://designtaxi.com/news/357242/A-Derelict-Nightclub-Transformed-Into-A-Fascinating-Street-Art-Museum

By Dorothy Tan,

Cult Parisian nightclub Les Bains—the former haunt of celebrities like Mick Jagger, Kate Moss and Andy Warhol—was declared as a safety hazard in 2010 and currently awaits renovation.

While it stands empty and condemned, its owner Jean-Pierre Marois decided to turn it over as artistic canvas for 50 renowned street artists—the “One Day One Artist” project effectively transformed the derelict property into a wonderful street art gallery.

Featuring well-known artists like Futura, Space Invader and Sambre, the 3,000 square meter gallery holds a diverse collection of intriguing artworks, from vibrant paintings to imposing 3D installations.

Unfortunately, the space is not opened to the public and none of the artworks will be preserved when renovation work starts later this month.

On the bright side, a couple of photographers have been allowed into the building to document the artworks-in-progress.

The resulting images would be published in a catalogue—take a look at the stunning “One Day One Artist” artworks over here.

























[via Creative Review] 

Craften Amsterdam conference to celebrate production craft in Europe

 by Nick Goundry

The Craften Amsterdam conference is preparing to celebrate the production craft of advertising in Europe. It will take place in the Dutch city next week on 24 and 25 April 2013 and is being organised by Ciclope International Advertising Craft Festival.

Craften is associated with Ciclope but is a separate entity. The event is a conference rather than an awards-giving festival and is designed to offer an intimate networking environment, while also discussing how some of the top campaigns of the past year came to fruition.

“We chose Amsterdam because it’s a creative hub in continental Europe,” explains Francisco Condorelli (left), of Ciclope and Craften: “It’s a very international city and a welcoming place. The European advertising industry has suffered as much as anywhere in recent years but part of Craften’s purpose is to explore the opportunities available in the market and discuss what the industry can do to go forward.”

An advisory board of global experts has selected a series of showcases of award-winning commercials from the past year. Campaigns like Virgin Atlantic’s Still Hot After 25 Years, the Adidas Collider campaign and The Guardian’s Three Little Pigs production will be discussed from the initial brief through to production and launch.

“Craften will include panel discussions looking at advancing the relationship between agencies and production companies,” Condorelli adds: “We’ll also be looking at digital production and how production companies can move beyond more traditional campaigns to embrace multi-platform ideas and techniques. This is vital for the digital age.”

To find out more about Craften Amsterdam click here.

• DAVUD KARBASSIOUN/
  BBH LONDON
• MYLES LORD/
  HEIMAT BERLIN
• DAVID STEWART/
  PARTIZAN LONDON
• Erik Verheijen/
  W+K AMSTERDAM
• Jonas Keller/
  JUNG VON MATT
• DAVID GREEN/
  BETC PARIS
• CHRIS HARRISON/
  RATTLINGSTICK
• YUKI SUGA/ SOIXANTE QUINZE
• Marcel Kornblum/
  Stink Xt
• POL HOENDERBOOM/
  TRIBAL DDB
• BART MOL/
  TRIBAL DDB
• BEN STALLARD/
  THE MILL
• WESLEY TER HAAR/
  MEDIAMONKS
• NEIL RILEY/
  PASSION PICTURES
• Maarten Boon/
  MINIVEGAS
• Ed Meijaard/
  THE AMBASSADORS
• OLIVER HACK/
  MARKENFILM CROSSING
• SIMON SCHMITT/
  SID LEE
• Johannes Ahlund/
  B-REEL

• LARS BJURMAN/
  B-REEL
• STEVE DAVIES/ APA
• Sean Singleton/ APA
• Jody Allison/ RKCR Y&R
• Duncan Malcolm/Glassworks
• Stine Hein/ Bacon de Czar
• Sander van Maarschalkerweerd/ Sizzer
• Joep Beving/ MassiveMusic
• JAKE MENGERS/ MPC
• NILS HARTMANN/PARASOL ISLAND
• CHRIS HODGKISS/ RKCR Y&R
• Michelle Craig/ Parasol Island

THE TOP 200 BEST DIGITAL ARTISTS WORLDWIDE = Lürzer’s Archive series, dedicated to the best digital artistry from around the world

 '200 BEST DIGITAL ARTISTS WORLDWIDE'

Michael Weinzettl talks you through the very first Special from the Lürzer’s Archive series, dedicated to the best digital artistry from around the world. Order your copy now.

 

About 14 years ago, our very first Lürzer’s Archive Special came out. It was simply called Advertising Photography (five years later it would be relaunched under 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide and became a very successful series of bi-annual books).

 

Back in 1999, I remember talking to Walter Lürzer about the images we had selected to appear in this first Special and he was adamant about not having any in there that relied on a lot of “retouching” as he then called it - when it was, in some cases, an early form of CGI.

 

Flash forward to late 2010 when I last met Walter Lürzer personally to discuss some possible future projects for Archive. I told him about the enormous advances CGI had made in the past years and that it really could by now be considered an art in itself. Why not do a Special entirely devoted to these digital artists? He liked the idea very much and we proceeded to make preparations to publish our first 200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide.

 

Our first calls for entry were, so it seemed at first, quite successful but we soon found that the lion’s share of submissions turned out to be images in which digital artistry was put at the service of what once was called retouching.

 

Although we could see that it might take a lot of craft and dedication to create the illusion of perfect physical beauty - rejuvenate ageing stars or making cars appear shinier, sleeker and sexier - these were not the kind of images we had in mind.

 

The same was true with a lot of the work entered by illustrators. Again, many of them used the digital tools simply to save time and money: a patient enough illustrator could have created these images analogically and no one would have noticed. But this use of CGI has meanwhile become so commonplace, particularly in ad photography, that it’s hardly worth focusing on anymore.

 

 

Image: Chris Christodoulou, CEO of Saddington Baynes, London, and 200 Best Digital Artists jury member.

 

 

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW | Check out the sample pages below:

 

 

Image: 200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide is available for pre-order.

 

So we dug deeper and got more insistent in our requests to the studios to show us the kind of work where they had created “fantastic worlds” – images, in other words, that could not simply be photographed. We wanted to show in this book the spectacular imaging options available nowadays.

 

Finally we had amassed some 5,000 submissions from which the jury passed verdict on the 1,200 images preselected for their deliberation. The jury included Anne Telford, freelance writer and editor and former managing editor of Communication Arts whose work has appeared in Émigré, Communication Arts, Step Inside Design, San Francisco Chronicle and Chronicle Books Arts. Anne was a founding board member of illustration conference, ICON, the ninth of which will take place in July 2014 in Portland, Oregon.

 

“Judging this digital arts competition, I was transported into unimaginable worlds of fantasy,” Anne told me.

 

“This collection of work is inspirational and magical and made me realise that nearly anything is possible with artistry and imagination.”

 

Then there was Michael Jostmeier, head of the Design faculty at the Georg-Simon-Ohm University in Nuremberg, Germany. He has been professor for media design and CGI imaging since 1996. He chairs the DFA, the German Photographie Academy, and in 2004 organised the symposium “Das Digitale Bild – Bildung des Digitalen II,” as well as editing the accompanying book of the same title.

 

As for our third juror, we turned to Chris Christodoulou, CEO of Saddington Baynes, and surely one of the top addresses for digital imaging in the world. He granted us an interview, which appears at the beginning of the book, discussing the history of CGI in advertising and the extraordinary evolution of his London-based creative production studio. (He also appeared in our Who’s Who section online in 2012.)

 

The cream of the crop comprises a total of 506 images from worldwide, with Germany and the USA, coming out in front with 35 and 30 works, respectively, followed by the UK and Brazil with 15 images each. The entire 416 pages show you what digital artistry is able to achieve these days.

 

 

Keywords: Specials, books, digital artists, CGI, retouching, illustration, digital imagery

Vine Movies Debut At Tribeca Film Festival : A new category at this year’s event showcases the use of the app in independent filmmaking.

Ryan Gerhardt

The 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, going on from April 17-28 in lower Manhattan, will have a new competition category that gets right to the point.

The #6SecFilms Competition, which is powered by the Vine app, encouraged any Vine users to submit their own six-second, looping films created with the app for consideration in the Tribeca Film Festival. The submissions were then shortlisted, and will now be judged by a panel including director Penny Marshall, actor Adam ‘The King of Vine’ Goldberg, and 5 Second Films.

Users were able to submit films via Twitter that fell into a wide range of topics, including #genre films (i.e. horror, comedy, western), #auteur six-second stories, #animate animations, and a #series category that allowed for a set of Vine trilogies (if you felt you couldn’t possibly confine yourself to just six seconds).

Entrants could submit as many Vines as they wanted, but the deadline for submission was April 7^th. The finalist list will be set by April 17^{th -} the start of the festival, and winners will be announced by the panel on April 26^th. The winner of each category will receive $600 (not a bad return at $100/sec) and have their film showcased on the festival website.

The Vine app was developed by social media giant Twitter, and was released this past January. The shareable, six-second, looping films are entertaining, fresh, and provide a new challenge to filmmakers. Even established entertainment professionals are intrigued by the new platform.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Robert De Niro praised the video-sharing app as an

interesting thing, and seems open to the possibility that it could be a creative tool . . . Six seconds of beginning, middle and end. I was just trying to time on my iPhone six seconds just to get a sense of what that is. It can actually be a long time. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, five one-thousand, six one-thousand – you can tell a whole story in six seconds.

While it’s too late to enter the competition, you should give Vine a try for yourself – it’s a lot of fun, and an oddly addictive challenge. The app can be downloaded for free from iTunes, and you can keep up with the #6secfilms hashtag on Twitter as they choose a winner.

Vine

Tribeca Film Festival

Images via Tribeca Film Festival and Vine

The investigative work made by Ralston & Bau the last years within Transplant and Ideal Lab' is attracting interest in France.

Winner of the Red dot design award!

The urban lighting and furniture series Shroom designed by Ralston & Bau and produced by the french editor SaintLuc, is the winner of the Red dot design award 2013. The “red dot” is the prize for high design quality. The international jury only awards this sought-after seal of quality to projects that set themselves apart significantly from comparable projects thanks to their excellent design.

Exhibited in St Etienne & Milan

In March Shroom is exhibited at the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne. This year, the theme is "Empathy or experiencing the other". If your activity is somehow linked to this concept, it might be a good idea to pass by Saint-Etienne before the 31st of March. Then we join the annual Milan Design Week the 9-14 April where Shroom is shown at MOST, the design destination instigated by British designer Tom Dixon at Milan’s Museum of Science and Technology.

Ideal Lab' to Nantes & St Nazaire

The investigative work made by Ralston & Bau the last years within Transplant and Ideal Lab' is attracting interest in France. The 28th of March, Ralston & Bau is invited to transmit and share knowledge from the Ideal Lab' / Precious Food theme at the Les Ateliers "Green Creativity" in Nantes, rewarded the title of the European Green Capital 2013. Les Ateliers is a festival of innovation, dedicated to "Green Creativity" with 70 speakers participating throughout the week in 15 lectures, 13 panels, eight workshops, four master classes in seven locations. You can read the program here (in french). The 4-5th of April, Ralston & Bau is participating in the "Creative Industries" seminar of the ADDRN at Saint-Nazaire, transmitting the example of Transplant as a place for prototyping innovation.

I wish I did that… By Mads Jakob Poulsen

http://blog.wolffolins.com/post/44547325087/i-wish-i-did-that

As a creative, and a senior designer here at Wolff Olins, I am a big fan of ideas. Good ones, new ones, sweet and fun ones.

Here are six of the latest ideas that have struck me, visually, emotionally, or conceptually. 

1. The bicycle airbag 

We all know it, we should wear helmets when riding a bike.

I had one as a kid, I wore one when I worked as a bike messenger in Copenhagen, but it took 16 stitches in my forehead before I started wearing one as an adult biking to work. 

I first saw this project in the form of a student concept, and I was amazed when I saw it was finally out as an approved alternative to a bicycle helmet.

The Hovding is basically a glorified scarf, a bit bulgy yes, but won’t mess up your style or your hair. As a bonus it even looks amazing when activated in a crash.

Hovding, the Invisible Bicycle Helmet.

http://www.hovding.com/

2. The new old school milk frother

Taiwanese born Po-Chih Lai has crafted a very nice add-on milk frother that fits with the original moka pot. The Milk Brother is a great example of how to innovate with respect for the original product, which still serves up great no fuss coffee. 

Also check out Po-Chih Lai’s other projects, I love his sensibility and thoughtfulness.

The Milk Brother

http://pochihlai.com/2012/05/15/moka-milk-frother/

3. The 7-Eleven stripes

Beautifully crafted update of 7-Elevens in-store experience, by Swedish BVD. 

Unfortunately these lovely stripes will only be found in the Swedish market, so please steal me a napkin. 

7-Eleven by BVD

http://bvd.se/7-eleven/

4. The nerdy glasses

This is an interesting one to watch. The concept has been out for a while but seems like it’s finally ready for market. I am not sure we need it, but who cares, let’s see what kind of impact this will have on the world.

Even though it still looks a bit Star Trek-y, wearing this device on your face, it’s great to see Google embracing design, in both graphic, online and product.

Google Glass

http://www.google.com/glass/start

5. The colored walls of a favela

With the help of the local community’s kids, the street art collective Boamistura transformed dark narrow spaces in one of Sao Paolos favelas into colorfull little treasures. They used the always striking and popular perspective trick (anamorphosis) to write positive messages on the walls. Above, “doçura” means sweetness in Portuguese.

The Favela project

http://trendland.com/boamistura-favela-murals-in-sao-paulo/

More from Boamistura

http://www.boamistura.com

6. The invisible umbrella

We have all fought our way to work in a jungle of rain and umbrellas, trying not to poke an eye out on others, or our selves. This concept, an umbrella that could use air to protect users from the rain, is not available (yet) but would be very welcome in the world of “rain protection.” Maybe it could even be solar powered so the battery is charged before the rain comes.

Dyson - Airblow 2050

http://www.coroflot.com/quentindebaene/DYSON-AIRBLOW-2050

Mads Jakob Poulsen is a senior designer at Wolff Olins.

#INSTAGRAM Murad Osmann snapped pictures of his girlfriend taking his hand and leading him through some of the world's most iconic and recognizable landmarks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/follow-me-instagram-series-goes-viral-2013-3

 

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Courtesy of Murad Osmann

It's the Instagram account that's taking over the world — literally.

Murad Osmann and his girlfriend Natalia Zakharova have traveled to destinations most people only dream about: They've seen the rice fields in Bali, swam in the Singapore infinity pool, walked the streets of Barcelona, and even toured Disneyland in Hong Kong.

Jump right to the photos >>

But instead of run-of-the-mill tourist shots, Murad snapped pictures of his girlfriend taking his hand and leading him through some of the world's most iconic and recognizable landmarks. There are more down-to-earth pictures too, like those of Natalia on a park swing, or at a bowling alley.

The series is aptly titled, "Follow Me" on Murad's Instagram account, which has since gone viral with almost 50,000 followers at the time of this post.

The first photo happened accidentally in Barcelona when Natalia and Murad were on vacation. "Nataly was a bit annoyed that I was always taking pictures of everything, so she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me forward," he explained to The Daily Mail UK.

"That said it didn't stop me from doing photos while she was pulling me. So that's how it all started."

Murad graduated as a civil engineer from Imperial College London, but later decided to pursue a career in photography and started his own production company Hype Production in 2011. The Daily Mail UK reports that his girlfriend Natalia works as a Russian journalist, and they have been together for a year and a half.

Now see the pair's incredible pictures >

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/follow-me-instagram-series-goes-viral-2013-3?op=1#ixzz2Meuea3ei

Colour and Space by Jotun. Jotun, one of the world's leading decorative paints brand, simplifies the color selection process. This data visualization is the result of colour statistics extracted from Pinterest...

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Colour-and-Space-by-Jotun/6509563?utm_source=La+Lettre+de+Petit+Web&utm_campaign=1812faced8-L74&utm_medium=email

• Colour and Space by Jotun Türkiye from jotunturkiye on Vimeo.

   

  Background

  Jotun, one of the world's leading decorative paints brand, simplifies the color selection process. This data visualization is the result of colour statistics extracted from Pinterest which is a rapidly growing content sharing platform effecting millions of consumers' decoration decisions.

   

  Concept

  The data visualization is showing peoples relationship between colour and space in specific household areas. The concept for the visualization is to design the data of the survey by using the two key elements, colour and space, as tool and canvas to thereby establish a familiar relation between the user and the data. The diagrams use the context of the data to design the data itself and that allows the diagrams to show more layers of information about the statistics.

   

  Designers
  Mie Frey Damgaard
  Peter Ørntoft
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  Credits

  Merve Ergün, Jotun Türkiye

  İsmet Uçarlı, Jotun Türkiye

  Morten Sørdahl, Sørdahl Design Studio

   

  For high-res images contact:

  Mie Frey Damgaard: miefrey@gmail.com

  Peter Ørntoft: peterorntoft@gmail.com

Apple’s newest patent application could offer a look at the company’s rumored iWatch. It details a wearable accessory device that includes a flexible display coupled to a bi-stable spring.

The wearable accessory device looks like a digital version of the classic slap bracelet.

Emma Hutchings on February 22, 2013.

Apple’s newest patent application could offer a look at the company’s rumored iWatch. It details a wearable accessory device that includes a flexible display coupled to a bi-stable spring.

The accessory is like a digital version of the classic slap bracelet from the ’80s, as it has a flat state and a curled state in which the flexible device wraps around the user’s wrist. The patent describes this in more detail:

Bi-stable springs have two equilibrium positions. This allows a device with a bi-stable spring to assume two distinct configurations. The most recent widespread use of such a device was the slap bracelet, also called the slap wrap. The slap bracelet consists of layered flexible steel bands sealed within a fabric cover. Typical slap bracelets are roughly one inch in width by nine inches in length. In a first equilibrium position they can be flat. The second equilibrium is typically reached by slapping the flat embodiment across the wrist, at which point the bracelet curls around the wrist and stays relatively secure in a roughly circular position.

The patent application also describes a user interface in the form of a touch-sensitive sensor overlaid on the flexible display, and power supplied to the bracelet that is partially provided by ambient light energy collectors disposed across a portion of it’s surface.

USPA

StadiumVision Mobile technology in use at the Barclay's center in Brooklyn, NY is a first of its kind the brings live replays and stats to life.

http://www.psfk.com/2013/02/barclays-center-stadium-app.html

• Stadium App Lets Fans Order
• Food And Get On-Court Close
• Ups

StadiumVision Mobile technology in use at the Barclay's center in Brooklyn, NY is a first of its kind the brings live replays and stats to life.

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Ryan Gerhardt on February 22, 2013.

There’s nothing like the atmosphere at a live sporting event. The crowds, the players being within shouting distance, and the nachos are truly an ‘experience.’ (Making nachos at home doesn’t even come close).

But in some ways it has become a better viewing experience to watch the big game in the comfort of your own home. With better televisions and more advanced technology, providing instant replay and better angles, the in-home entertainment center has overtaken the rigid stadium seating and drunken, shirtless strangers.

And that’s just wrong; everyone needs to see that amped up fan in full body paint. So, one of the most technologically impressive arenas, the Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, has come to the rescue.

Earlier this week, the home of the Brooklyn Nets released the Barclays Center app in an attempt to merge the best of the stadium experience with the technological benefits of watching the game from home.

The Barclays Center app, which is iOS and Android compatible, is a new event app that allows spectators to interact with live in-game footage and other arena features. The app, which connects through the arena’s public Wi-Fi and is powered by Cisco’s StadiumVision Mobile technology, provides fans the ability to access live, in-game video, the official television feed, a 30-second rewind feature for replays, and up to four different cameras – mixing TV angles and GoPros mounted around the arena.

Incredibly, the app also lets users order food from their seat, send messages for display on the scoreboard, check-in, and interact with other users. The StadiumVision Mobile technology provides a nearly seamless stream of action to your phone at only a two second delay. It does this by using a ‘multicast’ connection, which keeps the stream from being overloaded and slowing down by splitting the feed and then delivering it individual to each fan. This is great if you want to watch a replay, and is certainly no worse than if you were listening to the broadcast on a handheld radio – as some fans still do.

Now, even if you are waiting in line for beer, food, to use the restroom, or are otherwise distracted, fans can get a front-row view of the action. For fans in the nosebleeds, they can get a little taste of what the high-rollers experience in the floor seats. And for fans that enjoy stats, replays, and different camera angles, they can enjoy the best of both worlds right from their hard, plastic stadium seating.

YinzCam, an interactive in-game technology company, has previously developed mobile offerings that are similar to those offered by the new Barclays app, but none that have gone as far as this newest iteration, or that have employed the high performance technology of a multicast.

The app is designed to also be used for other events at the venue, such as concerts, providing a greater variety of sights and sounds.

Would you go to more games if you could have a live stream and instant replay in the palm of your hand?

Barclays Center app

Cisco

StadiumVision Mobile

Images via The Verge

The Geography of Happiness According to 10 Million Tweets...The happiest city in America is Napa, California -- and the saddest all swear too much.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/the-geography-of-happiness-according-to-10-million-tweets/273286/

 

Red states are relatively happier. Blue states are relatively less happy. Gray states are neutral.

Sorry, Louisiana, you are the saddest state. And Hawaii (shocker!) you are the happiest. 

That's according to a team at the Vermont Complex Systems Center, who posted their new analysis of 10 million geotagged tweets to to arXiv.org. They call their creation a "hedonometer."

They also found that the Bible belt stretching across the American south and into Texas was less happy than the west or New England. The saddest town of the 373 urban areas studied was Beaumont in east Texas. The happiest was Napa, California, home of many drunk people wine makers. The only town among the 15 saddest that was not in the south or Rust Belt was Waterbury, Connecticut. (Although Waterbury has appeared on several "worst places to live" lists, which seems like mean lists to make.)

The researchers coded each tweet for its happiness content, based on the appearance and frequency of words determined by Mechanical Turk workers to be happy (rainbow, love, beauty, hope, wonderful, wine) or sad (damn, boo, ugly, smoke, hate, lied). While the researchers admit their technique ignores context, they say that for large datasets, simply counting the words and averaging their happiness content produces "reliable" results.

Here's a closer look at how they calculated a happiness for the top and bottom cities. The illustration is a little confusing, so let's walk through it because it really shows the methodology of the research. 

Next to each word are two symbols, a plus or minus (+/-) and up or down arrows. The plus or minus indicates whether that word is considered happy or sad. The up or down arrow indicates whether that word was used more or less than average in that city. So, let's take 'shit' as an example. Shit, a negative word, was used less often in Napa and more often in Beaumont. The size of the bar that you see shows how much that word contributed to the happiness rating for the city. So, the lack of shits in Napa played a substantial role in its high rating, while the prevalence of shits hurt Beaumont's happiness rating. Looking just at Beaumont, one can see why it got a low rating. The only positive words at the top of its ledger are "lol" and "haha," and there were not enough hahas to bring it up to the national average. The rest of the words -- shit, ass, damn, gone, no, bitch, hell -- were negative and used often.  

For individual cities, the Vermont researchers note, the amount of swearing contributed substantially to their final scores. They think it's worth investigating this phenomenon, which they call "geoprofanity."

One difficulty I have with the study is that it doesn't take into account that people might just talk about happiness differently in some parts of the country or within some demographic groups. The study identified people with Norwegian ancestry as happier than African Americans. Is that because the Norwegians are actually happier or do they just tweet as if they're happier? 

This is not an easy problem to solve, but the authors of the new paper do an admirable job showing that their data correlates with other existing measures of happiness, primarily surveys conducted by Gallup. They also show that their happiness data correlates with income and the prevalence of obesity in an area. 

We should also note that many people vacation in Napa (the top city) and Hawaii (the stop state), which might throw off the numbers at the very top. But if you look a bit farther down the lists, you see cities (Longmont, Green Bay, Spokane, San Jose) and states (Idaho, Maine, Washington) that are not year-round tourism hot spots, but still score very high on the hedonometer. 

Another problem is that the researchers did not look at Twitter in Spanish. If the researchers contention that income is positively correlated with happiness is true, cities where the poor population is primarily Spanish speaking would appear happier on this list than warranted. The prevalence of Western states with large Latino populations on the happy list would seem to suggest this bias is worth exploring.

Nonetheless, it's fascinating to see people exploring how to quantify happiness beyond survey data. I'd love to see examples of cities that overperform on happiness relative to their economic factors. Do they just have good weather or has some set of policies had an actual impact? 

Update: The list of happiest and saddest states was incorrect in a caption in the original paper. The paper has been corrected, and so we have changed the list here, too.

Push the button of connected TV by BBDO proximity

PUSH THE BUTTON from Richard Fraser

Pssst: an exhibition for children

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/january/pssst-an-exhibition-for-children

The Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art) in Frankfurt commissioned two collectives of illustrators, one from Frankfurt and one from London, to create new artworks on a theme of secrets for an exhibition aimed at children…

The show, entitled Pssst, has been curated by Jakob Hoffman in cooperation with the Kinder Museum Frankfurt. Hoffman worked with both Frankfurt collective Labor who work regularly with the museum, and also Anorak magazine in the UK who put together a group of British illustrators that have contributed to the fun kids magazine.

Sixteen artists in total – including Matthew Bromley, Gemma Correll, Rob Flowers, Anke Kuhl, Supermundane, and Philip Waechter – were invited to participate by creating brand new works exploring the theme of secrets. Here's a look at some of the work in the show:

Rob Flowers created these large prints in bright colours. Visitors are encouraged to put on the face masks next to the prints and the coloured filters in the eye holes of the masks allowed the wearers to see the 'hidden' images which related to the masks of Flowers' characters Earl of Mushroom, Eyeball Shamen, and Treegar - shown below:

"We were given an open brief to approach the secrets theme in anyway we liked," says contributing artist Rob Lowe (aka Supermundane). "Interactive pieces were encouraged but it wasn't explicitly part of the brief. My work (shown above) is called Speak Secrets / Hear Secrets. The wall is massive 4m x 8m and double sided with tubes running through it so children can speak into them and listen on the opposite sides. The holes don't match up so you could be hearing someone speaking from right at the other end of the wall."

Also visible above is Gemma Correll's Monster Jaws. Children (those who dare) can put their hand into the many-eyed beast's mouth. Correll explains: "Kids can put their hands in his mouth and feel what's in there (various squishy and strangely shaped things). There's a glove incorporated with the hole so they can't peer in."

Matthew Bromley's piece (being finished, above) explores the idea of graffiti artists wanting to keep their identity secret. For the show he created the Pssst Crew – five fictional characters (Snoz Flapper, Goober, Bozo, Dilbert and Chump) who each paint or paste a logo which represents something about their personality. Visitors were challenged to match up the characters with their tags / paintings.

Bromley also created a publication (shown above) to accompany the project that can be bought in the museum shop.

Above, Christopher Fellehner's Secret Ambassador installation allowed visitors to record secrets (by pressing a button and whispering into his ear) or listen to secrets by turning the mouth.

Zuni and Kirsten von Zubinski (who also created the image at the top of the post which was used for the show's promotional material) created a confession booth (above) in which visitors could unload their secrets.

Psst: An Exhibition for Children runs until January 27 at Museum Für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Domstrasse 10, 60311 Franfurt am Main. While the show runs, installations by Matthew Bromley and Simon Peplow will also be on view at the Kinder Museum Frankfurt.

For more info, visit mmk-frankfurt.de

CR in Print
The January issue of Creative Review is all about the Money - well, almost. What do you earn? Is everyone else getting more? Do you charge enough for your work? How much would it cost to set up on your own? Is there a better way of getting paid? These and many more questions are addressed in January's CR.

But if money's not your thing, there's plenty more in the issue: interviews with photographer Alexander James, designer Mirko Borsche and Professor Neville Brody. Plus, Rick Poynor on Anarchy magazine, the influence of the atomic age on comic books, Paul Belford's art direction column, Daniel Benneworth-Gray's This Designer's Life column and Gordon Comstock on the collected memos, letters and assorted writings of legendary adman David Ogilvy.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

The Next Year in Mobile by Greg Janssen

(@grgbike) / December 27, 2012 10:40 pm 

The end of one calendar year is, of course, time for reflection and also time for making plans and predictions for the new year. Reflecting on where we are in the mobile space, I’m reminded of a line from the movie Anchorman. The product mentioned shall remain unnamed here, but the important point to remember about the product was that “sixty percent of the time, it works every time!”

This is, in essence, where we are today with mobile as a medium. Growth and possibilities are endless, but we’re not quite there yet. Sixty percent is approximately where we are in terms of US smartphone penetration. Not to mention, we’re well under sixty percent in terms of brands or websites being ready for mobile use, with either mobile optimized sites or native apps.

That said, sixty percent is incredible progress. If you could win a bet 60% of the time in Vegas, you’d walk away a millionaire pretty quick! We’re well past the halfway point and there is no doubt 2013 will be a breakout year in terms of mobile use and continued growth, usage and innovation. There are a few key trends that will push mobile forward in 2013.

 

Responsive Design will explode.

One Design to Rule them All. The promise of responsive web design is in creating a single website that re-configures automatically, based on screen size of the browsing display. Previous successes with responsive design for the web have been with text heavy and content rich sites, such as newspapers and content-rich blogs. Now for 2013, we can expect to see an explosion of sites embracing the investment required to make a single site responsive across the huge variety of screen sizes that are now a reality for web browsing. If you’re not thinking or evaluating responsive design options for a web site, now is the time to start.

Voice will be huge.

Can you hear me now? Siri is in its second iteration on Apple products, and Google Now for the latest Android OS is coming on strong with integrated voice searching and inputs. Everyday, apps are adding voice input functionality via partnerships with the big players in the space, such as Nuance and even AT&T. As with many things in the app world, it’s an easy mashup to simply cut a license deal and add voice input and recognition to your native application. Expect to see far more voice-enabled apps in 2013

Location will become more contextual.

You’ve heard it before – Location, Location, Location. Now, the mantra of real estate is moving to mobile. Just about every new app you download is now asking permission to use your location data, and HTML5 mobile sites are asking more and more as well. WIth all this location data available, 2013 should be the breakout year when marketers and app developers put the pieces of location and real mobile context together. Putting your location information together with the deep context of your browsing history or app usage patterns is key. The value of location data increases for apps over time, as tracking and history emerges and provides exponential value over a single geo-location point at one moment in time. As long as developers are responsible and transparent with their location tracking and usage, expect to see consumers readily embrace the additional context that historical location brings, in 2013.

Looking forward

There are so many more exciting trends to watch in mobile as well. Mobile wallets will continue to evolve slowly, along with mobile coupons, as the heavy investments in retail infrastructure, especially POS systems, takes a few more years to play out. QR codes will continue a slow, steady creep into mainstream usage. (I don’t believe they’ll ever explode in terms of usage, but they just won’t go away either.) Texting has forever changed how we communicate, and it will continue to replace the voice call and other longer forms of communication.

2013 will be a year or massive change and innovation in mobile… but don’t take my word for it; just ask your phone!

The Future Worker and The Future Workplace

http://www.customerthink.com/blog/the_future_worker_and_the_future_workplace?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+customerthink+%28CustomerThink%29&utm_term=jeremy+dumont

As I mentioned in a previous article on The Manager of Today, many of our educational institutions and businesses have been modeled after the military where everyone needs to think the same way, dress the same, get access to the same information, and do what they are told, just like everyone else. This model is quickly crumbling and as Clay Shirky aptly pointed out, “social” is changing communication or work, it’s changing everything. One of the things I find particularly interesting when looking at the workplace is the terminology we use to describe work and things related to it. Many of the terms, concepts, and ideas we used to create our companies are archaic.  Here are a few:

Work, The activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something. Synonyms include: drudgery, struggle, daily grind

Company, A chartered commercial organization or medieval trade guild. Synonyms include: club, crew, gang.

Manager, Someone who controls all or part of a company. Synonyms include: slavedriver, boss, zookeeper.

Employee, A person working for another person or business for pay. Synonyms include: cog, servant, slave.

The synonyms are all real.  Now, when you look at the terms we used to build our companies it’s no wonder that it is so hard for many organizations to change their corporate culture.  These terms aren’t old, they are archaic.  This isn’t about changing the definitions in the dictionary this is about changing what these things mean at your workplace.  Is an employee someone who just works at your company for pay?  Is work just the daily grind?

Organizations looking to evolve the way the way they work and make a suitable environment for the “future worker” need to seriously reconsider what these thing mean.  I encourage every organization to go through some of the terms and concepts that we take for granted and redefine them for their future workplace, then, put them in a public place for all to see.  If you want to start change you need to start with changing what these things mean to your employees and managers.  Let’s change the way we think, starting with the very basics.

It’s time to evolve and make way for the future worker and the future workplace.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Jacob Morgan.