President’s Design Award Winners – Singapore

Now in its 4^th year, the President’s Design Award confers Singapore’s highest accolade on its top designers and designs across all design disciplines. Singapore designers and designs that are truly innovative and have improved the quality of life and enhanced human potential and national competitiveness are conferred the award through a process of public nomination and an international jury evaluation. This year’s President’s Design Award features 4 Designers of the Year and 7 Design of the Year Award recipients.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on November 20

Bruce Nussbaum is contributing editor to BusinessWeek. Previously assistant managing editor in charge of BusinessWeek’s innovation and design coverage, he was named one of the 40 most powerful people in design by I.D. Magazine in 2005.

“I was over at the President of Singapore’s residence last night to watch him personally give four Designer of the Year awards. Boy, are they promoting Design in Singapore!

The winners of this year’s Designer of the Year are:

Tham Khai Meng

Tham Khai Meng, the Worldwide Creative Director of Olgivy & Mather, New York.

Chris Lee

Chris Lee, founder of Asylum Creative (I had lunch with him and he’s great talent. Lee also spoke in Mandarin to his dad when he accepted the award—the only person in the evening to do so)

Koichiro Ikebuchi

Koichiro Ikebuchi, director of Atelier Ikebuchi

Look Boon Gee

Look Boon Gee, managing director of LOOK Architects

The US equivalent is to have the annual winners of the National Design Awards go the White House and be thanked by the President’s wife. So the message in the US is, what? Women know design and real men aren’t interested?”

 

Full List of Award Recipients for 2009 Designer of the Year

Koichiro Ikebuchi – Director, Atelier Ikebuchi Pte Ltd

Chris Lee – Founder and Creative Director, Asylum Creative Pte Ltd

Look Boon Gee – Managing Director, LOOK Architects Pte Ltd

Tham Kai Meng – Worldwide Creative Director, Ogilvy and Mather

Design of the Year

Genexis Theatre, Fusionopolis – Arup and WOHA

Henderson Waves – RSP Architects Planners and Engineers (Pte) Ltd

Paper Fold – Exit Design

Republic Polytechnic – DP Architects in association with Maki & Associates

The Met (Bangkok) – WOHA

Urband Origami – Nanyang Optical Co Pte Ltd

X-halo Breath Thermometer – Philips Design

THINKINGOUTTABOX congratulates the winners of the President’s Design Awards 2009!

Tom Hingston Studio: Visualising Music

Apologies if you’re not that much into insects! The great “Mezzanine” album cover by Massive Attack from back in 1998. Art direction and design: Tom Hingston Studio, photography: Nick Knight.

If you ask graphic designers how they got into graphics in the first place, a lot of them will tell you about their favourite album covers or something else visually related to music. Enter London-based Tom Hingston: For over ten years, he has been designing quite a lot for music, from flyers for the legendary Blue Note club to Massive Attack’s covers. PingMag asks Tom about visualising sounds.

Speedy! Animal Characters As Japanese Shipping Logos

You  can’t miss seeing them on the busy streets of Japan, logos with cute animals on courier trucks… Has kawaii mascot madness engulfed the Japanese transport business?

Packaging design & Japanese font workshop: Sake Bottles!

Japanese rice wine, or sake labels have bold designs decorated with pictures of crashing waves, strong calligraphy letterings, gildings and whatnot. When you look closely at these sake labels, the designs are all so typically Japanese and there just seems to be a certain special feeling about it.

More Movie Logo Intros

Ridley Scott’s super logo…

Movie Logo Intros

Got your popcorn? Shhh… the movie’s about to start…

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the largest and most popular parades in the United States, is a true New York experience that is magical for both children and adults. An annual parade presented by the departmental store Macy’s; the three-hour event is held in The Big Apple, New York City.

© nj.com

The REAL GI Joe movie trailer

Oohh…  yeah! Will the REAL GI Joe please stand up?

If you’re still unsure, here’s the ‘humanised’ Hollywood version below:

For a 45 years old toy soldier, G.I. Joe has certainly seen a lot of action. Depending on your age, G.I. Joe would have been a dress-up toy, a comic book, a cartoon, a scale-down action figure, several videogames and now a live-action film.

Turning 50 with Barbie

Katherine Lanpher — along with Alaska and Hawaii — is turning 50 this year, but Barbie is getting there first!

Learn Photography: How to Take Photographs; Cameras, Lenses, Film

Photo.net’s extensive learning section provides articles and guides on photography … Learn Photography: How to Take Photographs; Cameras, Lenses, Film …

photo.net

From Kodak.com comes these tips to get you on your way to taking better pictures. Each tip has pictures illustrating the tip in action and instructions detailing the tip.

Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures

Photographing People and Animals

Nature Photography

Photographing Vacations and Travel

Advanced Techniques

Tips from the Pros

Inspirational Photo Stories

 

Eleanor Rigby Typographics in Motion

Old Beatle’s classic…

Typolution

Favorite Movie Kisses

What are the most famous kisses in movie history? Some say it’s the beach kiss from the movie “From Here to Eternity” or “Gone with the Wind” with Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler or even the Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis movie “Some Like it Hot”.

Photobooth fun!

Fortune Magazine employs Gestalt Principle of Closure for CEO of the Decade article

Gestalt Principles are used everywhere, we just have to open our eyes to see and recognise them. Leafing through the November 2009 issue of Fortune magazine, I came upon this enticing spread about Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs – voted CEO of the Decade – with an artwork portraiture by Megan Caponetto utilising the Principle of Closure. Photography was by Christopher Griffith.

The Principle of Closure:
When looking at a complex arrangement of individual elements, humans tend to first look for a single, recognizable pattern.

Or in simple words, the Principle of Closure applies when we tend to see complete figures even when part of the information is missing. Kind of frightening huh?

Okay, let’s see how effective this portrait engages the Principle of Closure: A close up of the portrait shows Apple hardware – various iPod cases, mouse, keyboards and cables against a black background.

Illusions in Advertising: Gestalt

Gestalt Theory Principle: Proximity

Optical Camouflage – Understanding Figure/Ground Relationship

Optical Illusions

Absolut

By Sara Wilson

Absolut is the third largest international spirits brand in the world, shipping to 125 different markets, and is known throughout the world as being a premium vodka. But this is largely due to more than 20 years of creative marketing.

With the recent launches of Absolut Generations and Absolut Next Generation, the brand is paying tribute to art — one very essential value that has helped define the brand for nearly two decades and began with Andy Warhol.

In 1985, Andy Warhol admired the Absolut bottle so much that he was inspired to create one of his own. Dramatic and colorful, his creation became known as “ABSOLUT WARHOL.” It also signified the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Absolut and more than 600 artists, each one attempting to capture the spirit and essence of the brand. Inspired by Warhol’s original creation, ABSOLUT ART exhibitions recently appeared in Paris, New York and Stockholm. Meanwhile, the vodka brand has become nearly synonymous with art.