Thinking Interactive

1. AKQA’s Christmas Card (Thanks B1)

A lot of people are hating on this because it is fake. Who cares? It is awesome.

2. A Charlie Brown Ad Agency

I don’t know who did this, but it is brilliant.

3. The Design Process of the Obama Logo

I love seeing the progression and thought process behind logo designs. Logo Design Love lays it out very nicely here. You can also watch a video of Sol Sender, one of the designer behind it discuss the process below. It is interesting, but be forewarned, he is not the most charismatic guy in the universe.

4. Unlike (Thanks Fred)

This is the next logical step for a company like Lonely Planet, except they didn’t do it… Unlike did instead. I wish I knew about this service (if it was around) two summers ago when I was in Vienna and I will be sure to use it next time I’m in Europe. 

5. Happy Holidays From IDEO Labs

My apologies for all the Christmas content, but that seems to be what is going around. Also, I love Rube Goldberg machines and I think a bicycle-powered music box qualifies.

I think everybody could benefit from considering the first few paragraphs (I was tempted to say stanzas, but it’s not a poem).

Stop doing what is comfortable.

Contrast is good.
When broad, go narrow. When tall, go low.
When wide, go tight. When bright, go dark.
When certain, get lost. When obscure, go clear.
Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

Always look at the work on your desk from varying distances.
Every distance tells you something different.

Contrast is to architecture as dance is to a dervish.

Always honour the context.
Go first with camouflage.
Then illusion.
Then interpretation.

Always listen.

You can find the rest here.

Coming in later than usual this week, but it has been a crazy week for me, but I am hoping to write a few real posts over the holidays so stay tuned. 

1. BMW Product Navigator

As somebody who has previously worked on automotive kiosk experiences, I would really like to try this out first hand. Also, it is nice to see Microsoft’s Surface technology popping up more regularly.

2. How to be a 21st Century Capitalist

Umair Haque has a nice (albeit slightly abstract) post on the redefining capital and capitalism (something Adbusters and a whole bunch of other folks have been harping on for years). It is nice to see those ideas making it into more mainstream strategy discourse.

3. Woordle

Woordle creates word clouds based on text you provide. Below is what they automatically generated based on the RSS feed of this blog. I would love to see a word cloud of a week’s worth of the words that come out of my mouth. Now imagine that tracked over a year with robust analytics. I could pinpoint exactly when certain words became played out in my mind, compare my social vocabulary to my work vocabulary (I bet there would be a lot more cuss words than I would want to see in both) and do a whole bunch of other awesome stuff. There is definitely a nice business application or at the very least a cool art project here. Somebody please do this.

4. TechCrunch’s Interview With Lord Zuckerberg

It’s always nice to hear a bit about the vision for everybody’s favourite time hole.

5. Let Me Google That For You

Now when somebody asks you a question they could probably just Google themselves, you can really step up your jerk game by using this service to send them custom Google instructions to answer their question.

1. Citizen Coverage of the Attacks in Mumbai

While the attacks were both saddening and tragic, the use of Twitter, Flickr, Wikipedia and Facebook to provide first hand coverage and keep open lines of communication between loved ones was not only fascinating, but also prompted some lively debate about citizen journalism and the role of social media.

More links:
With Twitter, a Desperate Need for Context
Following Mumbai Attacks via Social Media
Twitter and Streaming Coverage Make Debut in Mumbai Coverage
 

2. A History of US Government Bailouts

Pro Publica provides a nice perspective on the history of US government bailouts (spoiler: they usually turn out better than you would think).

3. Art of the Title

Ian and Alex do an awesome job exploring title sequences.

4. The Grumpy Owl

I stumbled across this blog through Twitter somehow and I like it. Ryan Oakley vents his rage in clever and well-written prose. Check out A Selection of Weaponized Umbrellas.

5. Boxee

Fred Wilson is calling this “the Firefox of media software”, which you can take with a grain of salt given that it is one of Union Sqaure Venture’s portfolio companies, but all you need to do is check out the video below to see that it definitely has potential.

quick intro to boxee from boxee on Vimeo.