Sustainable Design

I have developed a keen interest in nature and its sustainability since 4 years ago as I have been exposed to global warming news quite frequently.

Early this week, I attended an event at US Embassy in Surabaya. They explained that they implemented sustainability in their building by using fluorescent lights and tinted glass to cut 70% of UV rays. Therefore, I would like to share some sustainable design that are not just pretty but also eco friendly:

1. Orchid House - UK

Brad Pitt and Kylie Minogue interested to buy this place.
http://www.trendir.com/house-design/72million-luxury-ecoestate-in-1.html

2. Dome House - Japan

Their superior characteristic are:
- The Antioxidant method of healthy building construction
- Ultra-thermal insulating properties that enable energy savings
- The world's highest earthquake resistant
- Ultra low cost
- Ultra- short assembly time (weighs only 80 Kg, if performed by 3 or 4 people, it takes approximately 7 days to complete a Dome House.)
and many more

http://www.i-domehouse.com/housing.html

3. Haven 8.5 - Australia

http://www.build.com.au/stunning-houses-2014-nabd-building-design-awards

4. Eco Balanced 1 - Australia

5. Green School - Bali, Indonesia

"The remarkable campus of buildings is constructed completely from sustainably-harvested bamboo and is powered by renewable energy systems" (B. Meinhold,2014)

This school won The Greenest School on Earth in 2012 by the USGBC Center for Green Schools.

http:// greenschool.org
http://inhabitat.com/the-green-school-showcases-bamboo-construction-in-indonesia/

Hello World!

It has been awhile since my last entry (4,5 years??). I have been quite busy in my real world but I would like to try to be more active in writing again as I was compelled by my colleague's sharing about online business and some success stories. And thus, I was thinking to write about online business for fine art. It will take some time as I have to do research first. Hopefully I will be able to present it on my blog.
Cheers,
P

Artsy Farmers!

Even before I read the article, these images caught my attention immediately. I have never imagined that rice fields can be used as a canvas. Japanese is probably the pioneer of rice paddy art. It was started in Inakadate, a village located in Aomori prefecture, 1993, as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew out of meetings of the village committee. The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety to create the coloured patterns.

Rice field close-up

Daily Mail UK covers this story last year as well as WebEcoist, a website focusing on environment. Webecoist gives more information about this stunning art but they surely need to remove the google ads beside its introduction paragraph because it's out of proportion and looks unprofessional. The content is worth people's attention but the webpage layout is like a mess. There are too many ads and some of them are blinking and pop-up ads, which are distracting and annoying. On the other hand, Daily Mail has better layout, less ads and provides a time-lapse video of rice paddy art, which is interesting because readers can watch the initial process until the end of it. Daily Mail also gives informative captions on each images, uses narrative style in conveying its story, which create an easy to follow structure.

WebEcoist begins its story with a sub headline presenting some people's false perception in the past regarding this art. Some people thought it was a hoax because there was an argument that this art was produced by aliens or drunken pranksters when the picture of Mona Lisa circulated on the interwebs. In fact, it's real, it was planted in 2003. Interestingly, Daily Mail also use 'alien creation' term in its first paragraph. Some people might have believed
the hoax so that both articles mention about it.

Both Daily Mail and WebEcoist mention Inakadate, the village, as a travel destination in summer time because September is the harvest time. By giving interesting statistic numbers - 150,000 visitors to visit Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, it will persuade people to come and experience this awesome art in person.

I personally like WebEcoist article better just because it has more detailed informations even though the story doesn't flow well. However, I encourage you to read the Daily Mail first because it has better structure and layout. 

- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1198381/Bizarre-spectacle-giant-crop-murals-covering-rice-fields-Japan.html

- http://webecoist.com/2010/05/20/amazing-living-art-18-giant-rice-murals-pics/

Big names of the past in ad industry - where are they know?

Adnews is Australia's leading publication serving the advertising, marketing and media industries. Its coverage includes news articles, news anaylsis, investigations of industry issues, comment from industry experts and many more.

I discovered this article regarding the big names of the past in ad industry in Adnews magazine 2009. It has an eye-catching title: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?, which made me initially engaged with article. It is an interesting article as I never thought about ad legends' life whom no longer work in industry. Well, actually, the article also mentions some ad legends whom still active in industry.

Adnews also says that they chased them over the internet, the phone book and the high seas to answer the question often asked over a beer ot two: whatever happened to...? This article contains human interest, which make this story is newsworthy. Adnews intentionally published it in their January edition to inspire readers as a new year dawns. Adnews also invites readers to interact by asking them to drop a line if they curios about particular ad legends whom hasn't been mentioned in this article.

Naseema Sparks

One of my favourite stories in this article is Naseema Sparks, former managing director at M&C Saatchi. Adnews explains her background, visions, and current activity briefly and supports it with interesting facts, such as she used to work as a pharmacist in Blackmores Australia, a breast cancer survivor and currently Sparks is president of Chief Executive Women, a group that aims to facilitate talented women's entry to senior levels, and spends a lot of her time mentoring younger advertising people for FREE!  - A very informative news for those who want to develop their advertising skills.

McFancy - fast food with a twist of luxury

Burberry burger, Paul Smith Sundae, Hermes Fries

How would you sell fast food to highly desirable, influential consumers that attend
Fashion Weeks? Access agency had the answer, " We envision a cool, surprising and fun mix of concepts. First is McFancy, an upmarket temporary McDonald's store that launches at Fashion Weeks around the globe - London, New York, Paris, Milan, Sydney, Hong Kong. McFancy is part art installation, gathering spot and, of course, a restaurant that offers a traditional McDonald's menu but packaged in a way that makes a playful yet stylish."

Chanel burger, Gucci fries

I think they should explain the product concept further like what Amy Moss, McFancy packaging designer, does on her website called Eat-Drink-Chic. She writes "to give McDonalds food a complete makeover and re-brand the fast food giant with an aesthetic suitable for a 5 star restaurant". It's simple and easy to understand. However, I think Access agency describes the restaurant details quite well. They mention about waiters in tuxedos, silver service, private dining areas, and packaging co-created with the fashion brands that present at Fashion Week - Paul Smith sunday, Burberry burgers.. which at first I thought  it was creme brulee because there's Chanel burgers and I thought they only have one kind of burger.

Restaurant Interior, insert: Private Dining Room

In this article, Access agency also gives eye-catching 3D interior images, it looks elegant and modern. However, I think it will be much better if they also update their article with real interior images, which taken during the Fashion Weeks to support their interesting description about the interior design: a central bar area providing a dramatic focal point, the ceiling is constructed from stretched fabric, ribbed to provide articulation and define zones and many more. Readers would like to see how the final execution looks like so that they can compare the 3D images with the real ones. It will give credits to Access agency as well if the have a successful execution as potential clients would acknowledge them as an agency who is not only good in designing but also in making it into realization.

http://www.access-agency.net/mcfancy

http://www.eatdrinkchic.com/post.cfm/mcfancy

A web review - Thecoolhunter.com.au

The Cool Hunter is a design site founded in 2004 by Bill Tikos. It won 2007 & 2008 Webblog Awards in best culture blog category and connect with just over 1 million readers monthly, generating over 1.8 million page views. 

The Cool Hunter is not a trend-spotter or trend-predictor but it values global relevance and sharing its discoveries to its worldwide audience, who values architecture, design, style, music, fashion and entertainment.

Pictures worth more than a thousand words is the best description for its content. This site filled with lots of attention-grabbing images of latest design along with concise information. It works very well for those who doesn't like to read long paragraphs but still can get some inspirations by only looking at the pictures, hence this is a designer-friendly web because most designers are visual people.

For example, The Cool Hunter article on Lexus sculpture only contains short descriptions on every images of Lexus sculpture. It briefly explains the creator, project's purpose, materials, and follow-up events. It delivers the significant points well and straight to the point. It also gives some details on sculpture form, which is an interesting fact: "the sculpture is based on a map of vertical lines created from the CAD model of CT 200h. It was built of 2,500 half-inch anodized aluminum bars cut to the exact measurements of the map."

Balance and proportion between pictures and text are probably the most significant thing that must be enhanced by this website. The pictures size are too big and take some time to load. In contrast, the font size is too small, out of proportion. The space between pictures and text also too tight, it is quite distracting. Nevertheless, this website still has potential to convert visitors to subscribes because of its newness and appealing images.

Lexus Sculpture - CT Umbra

5 Seeds Ad - too creative to be understood?

Have you seen this ad before? If you haven't seen it, you might want to spare a minute to watch it. People who already watched the ad were most likely fall into one of these two categories; "What??" or "Wow!!". Based on my own research, the first category has more followers than the last one because the ad's key message is not clear. The execution is beautiful but hard to understand its single minded proposition. However, in campaign brief, a blog for advertising creatives in Australia, lots of positive comments posted by its readers regarding this ad. Its readers are people who interested in advertising and work in related industry.

The Campaign of Tooheys Extra Dry cider, 5 Seeds, is created by BMF, Australian ad agency. The first TV commercial was aired in October 2009. Campaign brief explains the concept behind the ad clearly by using a valid source, BMF creative director, Simon Langley. According to Langley, the campaign poses an alternative reality to the rise of human kind: "Eating the apple gave humanity knowldge and power over all other creatures on earth. But imagine if another creature had eaten the apple first - they would have ruled the earth. Scary thought..."


After reading this article, I could understand the meaning of the ad. If I didn't know the concept behind it I would probably still be guessing. However, if people don't understand the message when they watch the ad, it's not a good ad after all.

Campaign brief also gives information about digital creative and strategy by Holler Sydney, which supports the integrated campaign. The online work centres on Facebook, as well as an online interactive film co-developed by BMF. This information is helpful for people who want to know more about the product.

The interactive film can be found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3xfIMyaAnM

Source: http://www.campaignbrief.com/2009/10/bmf-launches-5-seeds-cider-for.html