Something for the Weekend: Nudge

Very cool music app.

(via Conor)

Awesome Names of World Cup 2010: Part 1

Paraguay's Rodolfo Gamarra (above) scores in the qualifier against Brazil.

Now is the time for World Cup 2010, in South Africa!

It's arrival can only spell one thing... the presence of some awesomely-named footballers! This is how the World Awesome Football Names Cup 2010 will unfold.


The Group Stranges

Some teams have nothing to offer in the strangely-named stakes. New Zealand is just such a team. So too are North Korea and South Korea. They will go straight out, leaving us to wonder if we ever saw them at all. Instead, watch out for referees Benito Archundia and Olegário Benquerença, moonlighting from their respective day jobs as lawyer and Insurance agent.

Despite the best efforts of George Welcome, Honduras will probably go out in the first round. Likewise for Marcus Tulio Tanaka of Japan. Algeria will make a promising return to the World Awesome Football Names Cup with Gaouaoui (pronounced Ga-ou-a-ou-i) and Boudebouz, but not enough to get out of their group.

And there are some big name casualties early on. Argentina have their poorest showing in many years, despite their talis-manager, Maradona, Pozo and Messi shining. Mexico also disappoint, except for their one genuine star, Aztec high priest, Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

The departure of England is another shock. Failure to invest in creepily-named youngsters is evident all over the pitch. A player with two surnames, Leighton Baines, and one with two first names John Terry, are just not random enough at this level. Tom Huddlestone and of course Dickens-novel-escapee Peter Crouch play well, but England miss out on a final sixteen place.

Next week: Sixteen of the Most Awesomely-Named

The 10 Commandments of Design: Good Design Makes a Product Useful

This is the second article in my series looking at Dieter Rams's Ten Commandments of Design. Read the introduction and the first article.

Rams's second principle of good design is that it makes a product useful:

'A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.'

'Usefulness' is, in a sense, too simple a term to capture the nuance of use; it is a term from another age. It cannot hope to imply the multiple interests now at stake in a piece of design. Branding has, in many ways, replaced usefulness as a criterion for successful design. The values or emotions created by a design are now more important than their utility.

Sneakers are a prime example. What is the best sneaker? The one that is most comfortable? The one that is best for your feet? The most durable or weather-resistant? All of these questions are beside the point of sneaker design.

The best sneaker is the most desirable, gives a positive branding to the wearer. The usefulness of the sneaker comes from its ability to reflect consumer identity. This usefulness is not necessarily in the best interest of the consumer; although it is certainly in the interest of sneaker manufacturers.

Much design is, in fact useless. It is neither integral to the product nor does it enhance it in any tangible way, but rather furthers the product's brand in some way. This is the molding of emotional content, but it is far away from what we think of as design, where form serves function.

On Gestures and Character: Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the Renaissance artists who particularly fascinates me: Leonardo was both incredibly interested and open-minded about what he observed and reflective about his work. (I love the work of Albrecht Dürer for the same reason.)

To my understanding, both gesture (how a character moves, the energy of a figure's movement or posture) and gestures (what a character does) are crucial to drawing for Animation. They say everything about character and story. I like to dip into a book of excerpts from Leonardo's prodigious notebooks.

Here is a quote from Leonardo Da Vinci on the subject:

'A picture or representation of human figures ought to be done in such a way that the spectator may easily recognise, by means of their attitudes, the purpose in their minds. Thus, if you have to represent a man of noble character, in the act of speaking, let his gestures by such as naturally accompany good words; and, in the same way, if you wish to represent a man of brutal nature, give him fierce movements; as with his arms flung out towards the listener, and his head and breast thrust forward beyond his feet, as if following the speaker's hands.'

Something for the Weekend: Henchin'

Some years ago, a friend and I wrote a short mockumentary film script called Henchmen, in which some luckless ex-henchmen talked about the travails of their careers in what they called 'henching'.

Well, seemingly good ideas never die, they just go to other people, such as Venezuelan/Canadian animator Javier Badillo in his short film Henchin'. I'm particularly loving the animated title sequence.

(via Cartoon Brew)