ext to romance and fantasy, I can’t think of any genre other than science fiction that relies so heavily on base images. The possibilities with design are wide open for fiction and arguably non-fiction as well. Mystery and its sub-genres are also able to utilize a larger palette of concepts and mediums, and there are more than a few genre authors out there who signed with publishing houses smart enough to utilize brand and art direction to prove it.

But within the world of sci-fi/fantasy, the art is pretty much stuck with the task of presenting to the reader a fairly non-speculative visual representation of the non-existent world we are about to enter. Paint and ink seem to be the medium of choice to achieve a realistic look that remains firmly rooted in fantasy — its properties, the artist’s hand and even the brush itself reminding us that this is man-made.

I haven’t read a true sci-fi book in awhile, but what’s been making me think of it more and more is the artwork of John Harris. Through coming across the random Orson Scott Card, Ben Bova or John Scalzi books I find when I hunt for books, I have really taken to his covers. His use of scale is unparalleled. One clearly feels there is an epic plot lurking in the pages based on the cover alone, but what initially piqued my interest was his use of abstraction.

Clearly capable of intricate technical detail as seen in his early works, it’s his soft, slightly surreal covers that I find most interesting. The pastel colors and abstract brush strokes grant an entirely new vision of science fiction, one slightly matured and without the need for fanfare. The fragmented images of spaceships and structures with their lack of detail actually allow the bigger picture to become the focus and we immediately feel the vastness of space and how small and minute we are in comparison.

It might be a while before I even have time to contemplate starting a new sci-fi series but if and when I do, it will surely have the art of John Harris on the cover. Everything he’s done artwork for just screams epic which is exactly what I like.

t this point the term sustainability isn’t even sustainable. Greenwashing, leaf logos. It’s getting tired, fast. Designers and brand managers can only do so much before the PR and advertising teams take over and produce a commercial or ad that ends up backfiring once people start researching the company. And why is that by the way? Why do companies think their customers or the general public don’t have the internet?

Even beyond the clear signals coming from consumers for green products and company practices, there’s still a clear advantage for big businesses to invest in the emerging field.  Imagine a competitor paying a third of what you do for energy because they utilize solar and you use oil. You begin to see why the term sustainable needs to be taken seriously by companies, not consumers. It turns out in the end it’s not so much about recycling as it is about your business going extinct.

L. Hunter Lovins has been at the forefront of the business case for sustainability for as long as I’ve been interested in the topic. She’s co-author of Natural Capitalism and the Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, both of which share a common theme of looking at the value for value concepts of nature itself as a business model. It’s an interesting concept, and Lovins is the perfect guide not only due to her knowledge and experience, but to her slightly sarcastic and blunt way of explaining things.

The video above is quite long, but totally worth it. And even though it’s a bit older, everything in it seems to become more relevant every time I watch it. From global warming to Germany’s electric grid to China eating our lunch, everything we as designers, business owners, and humans need to know about the future of American business is covered in this genius presentation.

n my book jacket hall of fame, there is a special place for Rodrigo Corral. He is simply a genius. The meager sampling above does not begin to represent his rotating range of palettes and output. Like I’ve mentioned before, when I come across a really nice book cover I usually take a wild guess as to who could have designed it. Although I can spot a John Gall or Barbara deWilde cover a mile away, I will never be able to spot a Rodrigo Corral cover. Just the other day I found a small chap book on philosophy with a simple design: a solid green block with a thin white border and white serif letters. It was minimal perfection and I was curious who designed it. I flipped to the back flap and yep, Rodrigo Corral.

His ability to produce stunning results in a variety of styles and techniques is clearly evident in his work for author Chuck Palahniuk. I don’t know if it’s Chuck or his publishers, but who ever it is they really let Mr. Corral go to town. From the gold ink on the cover of Survivor to the use of Jacob Magraw-Mickelson’s illustration for Rant, these are some of the most adventurous and beautiful covers out there. And better yet, they have meaning.

Although I love well designed book covers, I take a special interest in the ones that actually portray aspects of the novel itself. Particularly those aspects that become clear only after reading the book. For me this is the mark of a great dust jacket designer.

We’re all familiar with his cover for A Million Little Pieces which is brilliant, but the cover for My Friend Leonard is what kills me the most. It’s probably my second favorite book cover of all time (and definitely one of my favorite books). It’s a perfect example of a cover that means more to the reader once read. A cover that starts as a simple but lovely design and ends up being so much more.  You don’t just think of the book when you look at it, you actually see Leonard.  And for that, Rodrigo Corral will always have that special place in my dust jacket hall of fame.

he 60s and 70s saw the Netherlands experiencing what could only be called a cultural revolution, and as a result, has been producing cutting-edge art and design ever since. For me, it was the experimental music distributed from the Netherlands (to the U.S. via Portland Oregon, ironically) that started my interest and ever since it’s been a big plus sign for me when I stumble upon a band, book, or artist from the region. In this case it was a book.

I came across the Blommers/Schumm book Anita and was blown away by their work. Anita collects, alphabetically, portraits of people, mostly young women and men shot for various magazines as wells as work from their many exhibitions. I’m particularly loving the Class of 1998 series for Self Service Magazine where their mastery of microscopic detail and enormous vision are displayed to perfection.

Work from the Netherlands may be slightly too clinical for some, and the U.S. for example, seems to have a particular lack of interest, but I think it’s worth mentioning that I find the work coming from the Netherlands to be quite timeless. Most of the above photos are at least 12 years old, and yet they look like they were produced yesterday. And I still spin my Funckarma vinyl.

echa Kucha is one of those amazing things you suddenly stumble upon and wish you had known about the whole time. I personally came across Pecha Kucha when reading an out-of-date copy of Utne Reader I found in a local tavern one fine evening, and I’m so glad I did. Even though I’m seven years late to the party, it’s good to see it’s still going strong and perhaps even getting better.

The event itself consists of a series of presentations featuring designers, architects, artists and creatives who all utilize the 20×20 format: twenty slides with twenty seconds per slide which adds up to a six-minute & forty-second presentation for each speaker on the bill. This format not only creates a cohesive time frame in terms of presentation length, but the 20 images rule creates a strong need for the chosen visuals to be in perfect alignment with the points being made, giving the presenter a creative challenge normally not associated with the typical Powerpoint presentation.

Pecha Kucha (which is the Japanese term for chatter or chit chat) was created in 2003 by fellow Tokyo based architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in order to provide a simple method for communication between the creative fields themselves. Its DIY concept has since gone completely viral spawning events in Hawaii, Barcelona, Mexico, Detroit and Germany just to name a few.

Although comparisons to TED might come to mind, Pecha Kucha, like their FAQ page states, has a bottom-up model rather than top-down. And obviously its encouragement in creating your own local Pecha Kucha Night is a perfect example of the bottom-up model (if you build it, they will come). The basic formula itself is easily repeatable anywhere. All you really need is a laptop or two, a projector, and a space to perform in and you’re ready to host your very own event.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed from watching the random Pecha Kucha videos online is seeing the actual 20×20 format in action. Six minutes and forty seconds is not that much time after all, and for me, I’m sort of watching the clock, noticing how different people deal with the compilation, display, and presentation of their material within the 20-slide framework.

I should add here that the public domain aspect of the 20×20 format has had good results in the office as well, eliminating those long-winded speeches and run-on sentences as well as tightening up even the most seasoned presenter. So have a look around their site for an event near you. With over 300 cities participating, you’ll most likely find one, but if not, at least you now know how easy it can be to invent one.

pisode eight of Nueva Forma Listening Pleasures is now available for streaming or download. You can download the enhanced podcast or subscribe to it. Also, please check out the previous episodes over at Nueva Forma.

Episode 8, curated by Wolfe+585 comes right at the tailend of July, a month that saw two new releases, a single from Hello Square, and a full-length album from iameb 57. One of our favorite iameb 57 tracks from the Tipsy Hax album is featured on the mix, and it also includes songs from both Masmöd and Miori (one old, and one new). We hope that these sounds accompany you from the remaining days of this month to the next.

Download this podcast or subscribe to the feed.

rthur “Weegee” Fellig is best known for his crime scene photographs taken around New York throughout the mid-1930s and 40s. Untrained by formal means, Weegee had a natural eye for composition, which effectively added an aura of artistry to his routine shots of dead bodies and stunned on-lookers. His unique approach and friendly nature soon made him as well known as his photos, and yet despite fame, Weegee chose for the most part to remain loyal to the very streets he grew up on.

Weegee started out in the newspaper business around 1924 as a darkroom technician. He began filling in as a news photographer soon after, and by 1935, he was freelancing full time. He was well known then by the major newspapers and equally known amongst the local law enforcement agencies whose districts he covered. Being a likable guy, he was able to install a police radio in his car (which also contained a portable darkroom in the back seat and a typewriter in the trunk) giving him not only his pick of scenes to photograph, but the obvious ability to get there faster than the competition.

Aside from his work with crime  – and later his celebrity photography, Weegee also spent many hours photographing the street scenes of his lower east side neighborhood, capturing the faces and personalities that inhabited it. Here, his natural eye for composition captured something quite different from his usual post mortem fare; a slice of  life from streets, as poignant as any produced by Margaret Bourke-White and as timeless as the sentiments of a Steinbeck novel (although probably closer to a Hubert Selby, Jr. novel the more I think about it).

How can it be that photos taken in New York during the 1940s seem more relevant today than today’s actual photos? It’s true that investigative journalism has all but been erased from mainstream formats and replaced by meaningless infotainment (or worse, the outright lies seen daily on Fox news), but we can’t just blame the system. We have the Internet after all.

And if not today’s then tomorrow’s photojournalists will surely benefit from comparing the vanilla point and shoot photography we have to look at everyday in our local papers against Weegee’s almost 70-year-old body of work. We as designers clearly know a picture truly is worth a thousand words. Today we should be asking who those words really belong to. Weegee’s subjects spoke a truth, no matter how gritty or raw, alive or dead. A truth that was so clearly communicated, the results strangely reflect our present day reality far more effectively than our actual present day reality does.

For more information on Weegee, check out the following links:

• Weegee’s World
• 1958 Weegee Interview
• New York Photographs 1935 to 1960
• Naked City

image via Harrison Krix's Volpin Flickr page

image via Harrison Krix's Volpin Flickr page

image via Harrison Krix's Volpin Flickr page

image via Harrison Krix's Volpin Flickr page

image via Harrison Krix's Volpin Flickr page

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

lthough I’m not the biggest fan of Daft Punk (I know, crazy, right?), I will say that I have always enjoyed their visual aesthetic, specifically pertaining to their costumes. So when I saw this prop work by Atlanta graphic designer Harrison Krix, I was completely blown away.

Apparently, Harrison decided that he wanted to produce his own Guy Manuel Daft Punk helmet. Obviously he nailed it, but the amount of time and dedication to seeing this through to its completion is what I’m most impressed with. This type of dedication and hard work by Harrison and people alike will always beat out the run-of-the-mill crap that others try to pass off as “great” in my honest opinion.

Just look at the subtle details of the helmet, and the LED (diodes). You can’t just make something like this overnight. This obviously takes a lot of planning, frustration, trial & error, and above all, patience.

Mad props (no pun intended) to Harrison for producing such an amazing likeness. Also, be sure to visit Harrison’s Flickr to see his photo journal of his 17-month-long journey for producing this beautiful helmet (and yes, it actually did take him 17 months to make this). Now that’s dedication.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

s we draw closer and closer to the release date of the new Tron sequel, these previews keep revealing more and more details about just how epic this movie promises to be, especially with this new Tron trailer that was recently released at this year’s current Comic-Con. I don’t want to say that I’m not anticipating a masterpiece, because honestly, I am. To be on the safe side though, I’m trying to reserve getting my hopes up before I actually see the movie in its entirety. I will say, however, the level of detail and CG involved in this movie is stunning to say the least. Hopefully I’ll be able to withhold excitement to avoid standing in line for a ticket on the day of the release (December 17th 2010).

stumbled across the book Paper in Architecture by Shigeru Ban and was really impressed with his use of paper tubes as a building material. The recycled paper that goes into what is essentially a reinforced cardboard tube is quite an impressive alternative to wood and other common raw materials. Nevertheless, there were a few obstacles in the way of his initial use of the concept, mainly passing Japan’s strict building code (a problem he would face again later in Germany).

Once in use, Ban found an additional benefit to the concept in that the tubing itself could be manufactured anywhere instead of relying on transportation. This led to designing various disaster relief shelter structures that required little effort to manufacture and employ.

Traditionally, one of the main problems with previously designed relief shelters is that they used metal for the framing and metal can be sold or stolen, therefore defeating the purpose and possibly making things worse for the victims using them. Ban’s designs alleviate this basic problem and have since been used for relief projects ranging from the Kobe earthquake to Rwanda. His paper framed tents and temporary structures from churches to town halls have all met with much success.

Ban’s commitment to humanitarian efforts and sustainable design are a credit to his industry. Far too often we only see the cutting edge in architecture applied to million dollar projects — the results of which we all enjoy for their obvious qualities, but at this point in time, the concept of the common good is a subject all fields of design could stand to focus on a little closer. After all,  good design can solve any problem as Shigeru Ban has clearly shown us.