May 19, 2009 • 10:31 am • POSTED BY lwalczak
Everyone loves a holiday.
Along with the well-known, well-observed stand-by’s, there are plenty more obscure favorites that exist, such as Pi Day (March 14), and a crowd favorite, International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th). Causes and events claim weeks or months as their own as well, such as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) or Ride Your Bike to Work Week (this past week).
This year, May 17- June 16 is designated as National Smile Month by the British Dental Health Foundation in partnership with Oral Health America. We at 160over90 wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate by showing off our own pearly whites!
May 14, 2009 • 3:33 pm • POSTED BY stephen penning
This just appeared in my inbox.
May 13, 2009 • 10:04 am • POSTED BY ahartley
I’m a pretty voyeuristic person. I look into people’s living rooms when the blinds are open. I wonder about the lifestyle of the bus driver. I eavesdrop—at cafes, in line at grocery stores, walking down the street. It’s bizarre how frequently I catch snippets of conversations so illogical that I struggle to put them into context. My imagination can stretch only so far.
“…And then he just jumped out the window. It was awesome…”
“…No I’m not kidding. Swordfish are host to over 40 different kinds of parasites. Worms like, burrow into their flesh…”
“…Dude. Jasmine’s the hottest Disney Princess, hands down. F*** Cinderella…”
I think it is this curiosity about the bizarre details of strangers’ lives that interests me in the psychology of marketing and advertising, as well as the nuances of language and writing. All of the random people you encounter on the street are potentially impacted by a given campaign, depending on placement, marketing strategy and style.
My interest in the internal lives of complete strangers is also the reason that I’m so intrigued by a site that I discovered a few months ago: Tweaktoday.com.
TweakToday was founded by some people who work at the digital services company The Barbarian Group, and assigns random tasks (usually photo-based) to the tweeters each day. (Previous tasks: Take a photo of everything you eat in one day. Write a love letter to a random car and leave it on the windshield. Take a photo of your favorite piece of clothing and tell us why. Post a link to the song with the highest count on your iTunes playlist. Take a picture of the coolest thing in your room.)
It’s interesting to see how different people respond to the same creative task, and allows a glimpse into random lives, apartments and refrigerators. Plus, it takes my habit of eavesdropping one step further.
Anyone can contribute, but I have not yet entered the crazy world of twitter, and my digital camera lies broken in a drawer somewhere. Besides, in my creepy way, sometimes I just like to observe, unnoticed. Maybe you will too. Enjoy!
May 11, 2009 • 4:01 pm • POSTED BY mpark
Recently, AIGA Philadelphia held its inaugural Design Competition/Exhibition featuring the best of Philly design. Promoting the design community, the show was aptly titled, PDA (Philadelphia Design Awards): Show Some Love. With almost two years of planning under Michele Cooper, chair of the AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards committee, we were able to accomplish and almost exceed all our goals for this awards show.
For the identity of PDA, my studio-mates, of gdloft, and I were privileged to design the promotional material for this competition. With the art direction from Allan Espiritu, Mr. CEO of gdloft, our latest and final collateral piece for PDA is the winner’s catalog. A total of five hundred seventy-six catalogs were printed, representing all (576) entrants to this competition. Each catalog is individually numbered (1-576) and has a different color for its cover, thus making each one unique. The show is held at Always by Design Axd so please come if you’d like a copy!
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May 11, 2009 • 3:59 pm • POSTED BY Margherita Urbani
So this month it’s one year I am living in Philadelphia, the city of pretzels, brotherly love, huge city parks and that “old” – spelled with an “e” at the end – neighborhood filled with historic landmarks and people wearing white scruffy wigs. As you know, I come from the Old World and this is why I am spoiled when it comes to talk about history. I guess you can’t help if you grow up in a town that has being busy since the Western Roman Empire. But one thing that fascinates me of America is the appreciation and effort to preserve old – but indeed recent – traditions and cultural roots that instead other countries just don’t care that much about (hello, Italy). This said, it happened to me to recently discover Folkstreams, an amazing source of documentary films about American folklore. MORE
May 8, 2009 • 1:57 pm • POSTED BY stephen penning
If you are out and about Philly this weekend check out this installation in Logan Square. Authored by Dread Scott, the installation places giant photographs of Philadelphia youth in coffin like formation in front of Family Court. As viewers pass by they can hear the dreams of the photographed creating an interesting juxtapostion between sound and space.
