I just received a lovely edition of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London in the mail. It’s part of a series of Orwell classics that Penguin rereleased with beautiful covers designed by David Pearson. 1984 certainly wins the creativity price with a plain cover and blacked-out title. That said, I really love the detail of Down and Out. Not long ago, I refused to buy Penguin books. The quality was just complete crap. Which is ironic, considering the company’s history. Sir Allen Lane started Penguin precisely because he disliked the poor quality of paperbacks found at his local train station. So, he began publishing well-designed books of literature for the masses. As the company grew into a global publishing powerhouse, profitability became the sole objective and graphic design was considered an unnecessary expense. As soon as head designer Germano Facetti left the company in 1971, quality just went to hell. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but it looks like they are finally returning back to their roots. Over the past few months, Penguin came out with a whole bunch of amazingly designed books. I mean, Down and Out has a letterpress cover! Now, there’s an important point to this story. Publishers are constantly freaking out because they still don’t know how to deal with digital. Will print die? I don’t think so. People will always love the tactile experience of reading a book. But here’s the thing: Digital will be a commodity while print will be a luxury. Just look at vinyl. LP sales have increased by 17.7% last year and most of the buyers are millennials. You consume everyday music streaming, but when you really really like a record, you will buy the vinyl. Same holds true for books. Once you saw the cover for Murakami’s 1Q84, you just had to hold it in your hands. You just had to own it. People just had to see you with that book! Publishers can survive the future, but they won’t do so by competing with digital. Instead, they must focus on stuff that digital cannot offer. In the end, hiring an amazing graphic designer might just be the key to profitability.
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I just received a lovely edition of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London in the mail. It’s part of a series of Orwell classics that Penguin rereleased with beautiful covers designed by David Pearson. 1984 certainly wins the creativity price with a plain cover and blacked-out title. That said, I really love the detail of Down and Out.

Not long ago, I refused to buy Penguin books. The quality was just complete crap. Which is ironic, considering the company’s history. Sir Allen Lane started Penguin precisely because he disliked the poor quality of paperbacks found at his local train station. So, he began publishing well-designed books of literature for the masses. As the company grew into a global publishing powerhouse, profitability became the sole objective and graphic design was considered an unnecessary expense. As soon as head designer Germano Facetti left the company in 1971, quality just went to hell. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but it looks like they are finally returning back to their roots. Over the past few months, Penguin came out with a whole bunch of amazingly designed books. I mean, Down and Out has a letterpress cover!

Now, there’s an important point to this story. Publishers are constantly freaking out because they still don’t know how to deal with digital. Will print die? I don’t think so. People will always love the tactile experience of reading a book. But here’s the thing: Digital will be a commodity while print will be a luxury. Just look at vinyl. LP sales have increased by 17.7% last year and most of the buyers are millennials. You consume everyday music streaming, but when you really really like a record, you will buy the vinyl. Same holds true for books. Once you saw the cover for Murakami’s 1Q84, you just had to hold it in your hands. You just had to own it. People just had to see you with that book! Publishers can survive the future, but they won’t do so by competing with digital. Instead, they must focus on stuff that digital cannot offer. In the end, hiring an amazing graphic designer might just be the key to profitability.

Over the last year, I spent most of my days hunched over computers, which had some unavoidable physical consequences. Since I prefer not being an amoeba, I recently started going on brisk walks through the backwoods. Now, I like nature just fine, but I also tend to get bored quickly. Conveniently, this allows me to catch up on some podcasts. With thousands out there, I had to come up with a listening strategy. Eventually, I decided on two possible avenues: Deep dive and listen to podcasts that further my knowledge of one particular area, or listen to a variety of subjects to discover things I would normally not come across. I decided on the latter. For one, it’s more entertaining on a daily bases, but it also gives me new perspectives. I believe in the power of patterns. Listen to a range of subjects for a while and universal patterns will emerge across disciplines – and these patters reveal underling systems. Suddenly, you realize that all this stuff is still connected and everything makes sense on a whole new scale. Granted, I am not listening to ESPN radio. But in case you care, here my nine favorite podcasts from the world of design, innovation and music: 1. Design Matters: Produced by Design Observer, the legendary Debbie Millman interviews leading designers and “change agents.” The interviews have a great personal note and you really get to know the guests and their thoughts. 2. Radiolab: It’s like This American Life for science. Or a non-hipster version of This American Life. About science. Amazing. 3. The Monocle Weekly: Oh Monocle Magazine, you sure are the most pretentious publication out there. But you know what, Tyler Brûlé and crew constantly find stories from around the world that no one else does. The Weekly brings you one hour of interviews with thinkers from business, culture and design. 4. Notebook on Cities and Culture: Each week, Colin Marshall sits down with some interesting character to talk about stuff related to, well, cities and culture. Originally, the show was Los Angeles centric but has gone global recently. Love it. 5. XLR8R Podcast: Hands down, my favorite music podcast. Each week, a quality artist drops a quality mixtape. Usually some crazy free play, things mostly stay within the trifecta of electronic, hip hop, and dusty grooves. 6. Mr. Phipson: Sadly no longer with us, Mr. Phipson provided glorious tropicália, broken salsa and all sorts of tropical funk. Check the archive. 7. On Being: Officially, Krista Tippett talks about religion and ethics. But this is so much more. Each episode is a thoughtful journey to regions where science no longer has clear answers. “Driven By Flavor,” an interview with Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm, might be the greatest hour of radio ever recorded. 8. The Urbanist: Another podcast by our snob friends at Monocle 24. But seriously, if care about cities, this is a must. 9. 99% Invisible: It’s like Radiolab for design. Or This American Life for… you get the picture. Any show that dedicates an episode to Kowloon Walled City is a winner in my book.
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Over the last year, I spent most of my days hunched over computers, which had some unavoidable physical consequences. Since I prefer not being an amoeba, I recently started going on brisk walks through the backwoods. Now, I like nature just fine, but I also tend to get bored quickly. Conveniently, this allows me to catch up on some podcasts. With thousands out there, I had to come up with a listening strategy. Eventually, I decided on two possible avenues: Deep dive and listen to podcasts that further my knowledge of one particular area, or listen to a variety of subjects to discover things I would normally not come across.

I decided on the latter. For one, it’s more entertaining on a daily bases, but it also gives me new perspectives. I believe in the power of patterns. Listen to a range of subjects for a while and universal patterns will emerge across disciplines – and these patters reveal underling systems. Suddenly, you realize that all this stuff is still connected and everything makes sense on a whole new scale.

Granted, I am not listening to ESPN radio. But in case you care, here my nine favorite podcasts from the world of design, innovation and music:

1. Design Matters: Produced by Design Observer, the legendary Debbie Millman interviews leading designers and “change agents.” The interviews have a great personal note and you really get to know the guests and their thoughts.

2. Radiolab: It’s like This American Life for science. Or a non-hipster version of This American Life. About science. Amazing.

3. The Monocle Weekly: Oh Monocle Magazine, you sure are the most pretentious publication out there. But you know what, Tyler Brûlé and crew constantly find stories from around the world that no one else does. The Weekly brings you one hour of interviews with thinkers from business, culture and design.

4. Notebook on Cities and Culture: Each week, Colin Marshall sits down with some interesting character to talk about stuff related to, well, cities and culture. Originally, the show was Los Angeles centric but has gone global recently. Love it.

5. XLR8R Podcast: Hands down, my favorite music podcast. Each week, a quality artist drops a quality mixtape. Usually some crazy free play, things mostly stay within the trifecta of electronic, hip hop, and dusty grooves.

6. Mr. Phipson: Sadly no longer with us, Mr. Phipson provided glorious tropicália, broken salsa and all sorts of tropical funk. Check the archive.

7. On Being: Officially, Krista Tippett talks about religion and ethics. But this is so much more. Each episode is a thoughtful journey to regions where science no longer has clear answers. “Driven By Flavor,” an interview with Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm, might be the greatest hour of radio ever recorded.

8. The Urbanist: Another podcast by our snob friends at Monocle 24. But seriously, if care about cities, this is a must.

9. 99% Invisible: It’s like Radiolab for design. Or This American Life for… you get the picture. Any show that dedicates an episode to Kowloon Walled City is a winner in my book.

Normally, I try to stay out of politics. But tonight, I did something very stupid. I got sucked into a discussion with pro-gun trolls on an undisclosed interwebs board. The whole affair was expectably unreasonable, but one thing really made we wonder: Why are so many Americans happy to engage in a race to the bottom? I took the picture above some time ago in Haiti. I love Haiti. Great food and some of nicest people you will ever meet. But Haiti is also desperately poor, corruption is rampant and violence normal. As a result, you see a lot of guns. In Haiti, you really need guns to be safe. Which brings up the question, what kind of place does America want to be? Do we really want to strive to become like Haiti? Maybe. But we could also strive to become like Japan or any European country. The murder rate in the UK is 1.2 while the murder rate in the US is 4.8. After mentioning that fact, someone was quick to point out that the UK has more violent crime than the US - which is true. Now, let’s ignore the fact that I would still rather be punched by a football hooligan than shot. But why are so many people so eager to find the single one statistic that is even worse than the US? Why should we use the worst as our baseline? Don’t we all want the best for us and our families and friends? If so, let our new baseline be the best. Let’s find the country with the lowest murder rate. Let’s find the country with the lowest rate of violent crime. Let’s find the country with the best health care system, the best education system, the best infrastructure and learn from them. Let’s get our act together and strive for the best.
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Normally, I try to stay out of politics. But tonight, I did something very stupid. I got sucked into a discussion with pro-gun trolls on an undisclosed interwebs board. The whole affair was expectably unreasonable, but one thing really made we wonder: Why are so many Americans happy to engage in a race to the bottom? I took the picture above some time ago in Haiti. I love Haiti. Great food and some of nicest people you will ever meet. But Haiti is also desperately poor, corruption is rampant and violence normal. As a result, you see a lot of guns. In Haiti, you really need guns to be safe. Which brings up the question, what kind of place does America want to be? Do we really want to strive to become like Haiti?

Maybe. But we could also strive to become like Japan or any European country. The murder rate in the UK is 1.2 while the murder rate in the US is 4.8. After mentioning that fact, someone was quick to point out that the UK has more violent crime than the US - which is true. Now, let’s ignore the fact that I would still rather be punched by a football hooligan than shot. But why are so many people so eager to find the single one statistic that is even worse than the US? Why should we use the worst as our baseline? Don’t we all want the best for us and our families and friends? If so, let our new baseline be the best. Let’s find the country with the lowest murder rate. Let’s find the country with the lowest rate of violent crime. Let’s find the country with the best health care system, the best education system, the best infrastructure and learn from them. Let’s get our act together and strive for the best.

Coffee in Europe sucks. German coffee is horrible. Italian espresso is palatable. The only place with consistently great coffee is London. Wait… what?? OK, in a not so distant past, like 15 years ago, Italy had the best coffee in the world. England and the U.S. had the worst. But then something changed. And here’s the crazy part: It’s not that the coffee in Italy and the rest of Europe suddenly got bad. Nope. It’s the same it has always has been. In the meantime though, some geeks in the U.S. decided that they would no longer accept the worst coffee in the world. So they started experimenting, improved the quality of their beans and eventually got coffee as good as the one in Italy. But they didn’t stop there. They continued their experiments and, voilà, one day made the best coffee in the world. Not content with being the only shitty coffee nation, the British emulated American style “third wave coffee,” as did the Australians. And let me tell you, once you had a perfect flat white, you just can’t go back to Illy. So what about Italy? Most Italians simply don’t know anything about these developments and are still convinced that they have the best coffee in the world. Big deal, one might think. It’s just coffee. True. But the same pattern repeats itself in organizations the world over. Something is good enough for now, so we don’t push any further. We stop looking around and rest in self-satisfaction. Even worse, we warp reality and refuse to acknowledge that someone else might be getting better at our own game. Don’t do that. Go outside, explore and keep on pushing the boundaries yourself. Always. Now where’s the best coffee at? Handsome Coffee in Los Angeles and Sightglass Coffee in San Francisco are good starting points.
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Coffee in Europe sucks. German coffee is horrible. Italian espresso is palatable. The only place with consistently great coffee is London. Wait… what?? OK, in a not so distant past, like 15 years ago, Italy had the best coffee in the world. England and the U.S. had the worst. But then something changed. And here’s the crazy part: It’s not that the coffee in Italy and the rest of Europe suddenly got bad. Nope. It’s the same it has always has been.

In the meantime though, some geeks in the U.S. decided that they would no longer accept the worst coffee in the world. So they started experimenting, improved the quality of their beans and eventually got coffee as good as the one in Italy. But they didn’t stop there. They continued their experiments and, voilà, one day made the best coffee in the world. Not content with being the only shitty coffee nation, the British emulated American style “third wave coffee,” as did the Australians. And let me tell you, once you had a perfect flat white, you just can’t go back to Illy.

So what about Italy? Most Italians simply don’t know anything about these developments and are still convinced that they have the best coffee in the world. Big deal, one might think. It’s just coffee. True. But the same pattern repeats itself in organizations the world over. Something is good enough for now, so we don’t push any further. We stop looking around and rest in self-satisfaction. Even worse, we warp reality and refuse to acknowledge that someone else might be getting better at our own game. Don’t do that. Go outside, explore and keep on pushing the boundaries yourself. Always.

Now where’s the best coffee at? Handsome Coffee in Los Angeles and Sightglass Coffee in San Francisco are good starting points.

Fast Company just published a fun article about a super innovative new Starbucks in Denver. It’s beautiful, no doubt. It’s also LEED certified, clad in “in gorgeous old Wyoming snow fencing” and offers a drive-thru and a walk-up window. But let’s face it, this coffee shop is made for drivers who are not expected to get out of their cars because it doesn’t even have any seating. This reminds me of Apple’s iOS 6 maps situation. Ignoring all other issues with maps, Apple sends a clear message by sacrificing transit directions for turn-by-turn driving directions: Cars are more important than trains. Drivers are more important than people in buses. Both Apple and Starbucks are considered to be among the most innovative companies on the planet. But if all this innovation is used to further encourage outdated modes of life, are they actually innovative? Now, I’m not going to tell everyone to give up suburbia and move downtown. However, true innovation would attempt make suburbia more livable and sustainable. Good transit directions make public transportation less scary. More transit riders lead to better transit. Better transit would allow Apple employees to take the train to One Infinite Loop. And how fun would it be if you could walk to the new Starbucks and enjoy it’s sidewalk seating? All of this would actually increase your quality of life and disrupt our normal mode of operation for the better. Instead, we can now sip our trenta latte from the super innovative Starbucks while sitting in a traffic, listening to Siri.
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Fast Company just published a fun article about a super innovative new Starbucks in Denver. It’s beautiful, no doubt. It’s also LEED certified, clad in “in gorgeous old Wyoming snow fencing” and offers a drive-thru and a walk-up window. But let’s face it, this coffee shop is made for drivers who are not expected to get out of their cars because it doesn’t even have any seating.

This reminds me of Apple’s iOS 6 maps situation. Ignoring all other issues with maps, Apple sends a clear message by sacrificing transit directions for turn-by-turn driving directions: Cars are more important than trains. Drivers are more important than people in buses. Both Apple and Starbucks are considered to be among the most innovative companies on the planet. But if all this innovation is used to further encourage outdated modes of life, are they actually innovative?

Now, I’m not going to tell everyone to give up suburbia and move downtown. However, true innovation would attempt make suburbia more livable and sustainable. Good transit directions make public transportation less scary. More transit riders lead to better transit. Better transit would allow Apple employees to take the train to One Infinite Loop. And how fun would it be if you could walk to the new Starbucks and enjoy it’s sidewalk seating? All of this would actually increase your quality of life and disrupt our normal mode of operation for the better. Instead, we can now sip our trenta latte from the super innovative Starbucks while sitting in a traffic, listening to Siri.

On the whole, we feel that the ideal attitude is: (1) a love of the subject for its own sake, accompanied by inquisitiveness about things which aren’t known; and (2) a somewhat fatalistic attitude concerning “creative ability” and recognition that hard work is, in the end, much more important.
Harvard Mathematics Department, Graduate Program
Los Angeles I’m Yours just posted an interview with Eric Nakamura of the amazing Giant Robot. Of the many inspirations I had in my life (and for dapp), GR always had a special place in my heart. The article title perfectly sums up why: The Ability To Do Everything. But this is not a mere matter of self-indulgence. It’s the idea that everything in life is connected to a larger system. When we isolate things, we miss the wonderful whole. GR is a magazine, brand, restaurant, gallery, design studio and many things more. But none of those things just float around in empty space - they all integrate with each other. OK, maybe I’m even a little bit jelly. But not in a negative way. Giant Robot is just that cool.
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Los Angeles I’m Yours just posted an interview with Eric Nakamura of the amazing Giant Robot. Of the many inspirations I had in my life (and for dapp), GR always had a special place in my heart. The article title perfectly sums up why: The Ability To Do Everything. But this is not a mere matter of self-indulgence. It’s the idea that everything in life is connected to a larger system. When we isolate things, we miss the wonderful whole. GR is a magazine, brand, restaurant, gallery, design studio and many things more. But none of those things just float around in empty space - they all integrate with each other. OK, maybe I’m even a little bit jelly. But not in a negative way. Giant Robot is just that cool.

Source: laimyours.com