Campana Brothers

Fernando and Humberto Campana have shaped the look of contemporary design for more than two decades. Celebrated for their whimsical furniture and lighting, the Campana Brothers have received the 2008 Designer of the Year at Design Miami/.

Welcome to Art Basel Miami Beach

Art Basel Miami Beach takes place December 4 - 7, 2008.

Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas. As the sister event of Switzerland's Art Basel, the most prestigious art show worldwide for the past 39 years, Art Basel Miami Beach combines an international selection of top galleries with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events featuring music, film, architecture and design. Exhibition sites are located in the city's beautiful Art Deco District, within walking distance of the beach and many hotels.

Student Ideas - Brandon Herring

I was raised in Asheville, North Carolina and just recently moved to Orlando, Florida to study Digital Art and Design at Full Sail University.

I've always gravitated toward traditional medias, and it wasn't until about 3 or 4 years ago that I was introduced to Photoshop and the world of digital art.

Since then I've enjoyed experimenting in many medias. Often I'll paint a canvas for a background, take a picture of that, scan an old sketch from the sketch book, and composite it all digitally. There really are no limits to what or how something can be achieved.

Still, nothing beats slinging some paint around, or sketching with good old pencil and paper. So, I try to incorporate the best of all worlds in my work.

If you see something you like, or something you don't, send me an email at Brandon.Was.Herring@gmail.com and let me know what you think.

I enjoy hearing the good and the bad, so don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Thanks for looking!

- Brandon Herring

Heinz: the interactive ketchup growing experiment

This is the behind the scenes blog for the ongoing interactive ketchup growing experiment Talk to the plant by Heinz. Here you'll find the latest information about the live broadcast, behind the scenes footage of the plants and tech development issues. Welcome.

1. Yes, this is a live broadcast experiment. There are real plants in a lab room.

2. The plants are situated in Sweden. Therefore, the time zone is UTC/GMT +1 hour. The plants usually sleep around 6-8 hours. And when they sleep, it’s dark.
3. Everything you write is sent to the plant. Everything the plant hear from you is broadcasted live on the site.

Blind n: a multimedia design studio

Never comfortable resting on their laurels, the Blind team has done it again with accolades from the 2008 Create Awards!
Blind n

Winners of the 2008 Create Awards!

Design Contest : 1800 Tequila

One winner will have his/her work featured on a prominent billboard in the arts district of the major city from where they reside. In addition to this, win the $10,000 cash prize to help further your career. Five runners up will receive complimentary printing of their artwork/design onto a 1800 Tequila glass bottle. Must be over age 21 to enter the site and to compete in the contest.

Chances of winning are based on the number of submissions received in a three month period beginning on September 14, 2008 (so, consider the deadline as about 14 December). Visit the site to learn more.

Poster exhibition: Conversations and Dialogues in Graphic Design

New Views 2: Graphic Design Poster Exhibition
100 international graphic design practitioners including students, emerging and established designers are featured in this exhibition of print and digital posters, in which the future of the profession of graphic design is questioned.

The featured work address a variety of key issues such as design and the environment, social responsibility, new technologies and education.

Divided into two components, physical and digital, the range of techniques featured in the exhibition include using photographs, found object constructions, illustrations, collage, and typographic forms.

Holographic Video Projection System

CNN displays computer controlled video overlay system of human figure.

XSTAGE is a high definition video projection system allowing spectacular 3D moving images to appear in a live stage setting using Pepper's Ghost Technology. XSTAGE delivers stunning video effect imagery of such clarity and high resolution.

Here are some applications.

Tokyo Design Week 2008

Design Week, Tokyo Midtown in Akasaka. This marks the 4th year that DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is being held．This year, Tokyo Midtown Hall will be used as the main venue for the event. DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is a trade show where designers across a variety of fields – from interior and product design, architecture, graphic design, textiles, fashion and art - can congregate and exhibit work from serious design practices that make up the unique mix in Tokyo.

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO preview

Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria

Ted Turner, founder and chairman of the United Nations Foundation, unveiled the world's first Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria program which outlines a bevy of best practices that will serve as "common framework to guide the emerging practice of sustainable tourism and to help businesses, consumers, governments, non-governmental organizations and education institutions to ensure that tourism helps, rather than harms, local communities and the environment."

The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria stems from the work of 30 international organizations, including National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations, and together, this group aims to address the four major areas of interest for sustainable tourism: effective planning; maximizing social and economic benefits to local communities; and the reduction of negative impacts to both cultural and environmental heritage sites. Enumerating key points like water conservation and energy efficiency, fair labor standards, and local sourcing of food items, the criteria will serve as a tool to instruct businesses, tour operators, NGOs, and, of course, travelers on how best to find and support sustainable practices.

For Erika Harms, the executive director of Sustainable Development at the United Nations Foundation, the creation of the guidelines was a natural process that stemmed from one question: What exactly is sustainable tourism? Reached by phone from Barcelona, she explained to me that up until now, everyone you asked that question might have a different answer. And many groups were working to respond to public demands for more responsible tourism by creating their own sustainable credentials.

"We looked at anywhere from 75 to 130 certifications around the world, some of which were regional – but none were global in nature," Harms says. She explains that the launch of these international guidelines are the first step in the process. In a few years, they hope to have a recognizable accreditation process (think of a Good Housekeeping seal) that the public will be able to easily identify. "This is all done under the U.N. umbrella – which gives it that global focus – and this is critical to us," she says. "Through the U.N. we access the governments, and through governments we access the people, and that's how we'll make it happen."