Mobiles for creation rather than consumption?

Just received my Glif in the mail (taking advantage of a new UK warehouse and a limited time free delivery offer), I totally recommend getting one. This elegant iPhone 4 tripod mount was featured on the MEX site a while back. It's an inspiring design success story where a couple of guys with a good idea managed to acquire the funding to tool and distribute their product to a global market. This tiny piece of plastic opens up the potential of the iPhone 4's impressive camera for time lapse, stop motion and standard filming. I'm just blown away by the variety of content that you can produce with a mobile now - and you've always got it with you. Although this does mean that the future holds even more strange and pointless media...

D minor is the saddest of all keys

Kigurumi UK - site looks a little bit 2002, but it arrived quickly and is cheaper than everywhere else in the UK!!

London Art Fair - a few of my favourites

I was down at the London Art Fair in Islington today and thought I'd share a few of my favourite pieces. These first 2 piratey ones are by Jacob Dahlstrup Jensen. The Bananaboat below was probably my favourite from the whole show (big fan of anything pirate-themed to be honest).

This simple yet striking ink drawing by Freya Don really stood out from the other framed pictures that surrounded it.

I'm a huge fan of Thomas Allen's work with cut-out pulpy book covers, they make the flat images appear really dynamic.

This is just mental! By Zak Ove.

And finally, this massive surreal tapestry by Grayson Perry was very impressive.

The other highlight of the fair was the people who attended it! If I had a bigger camera/ballsack then I would have photographed all of the slick art dealers, eccentric gallery owners, aged artists, skinny art students and sultry French people to create an artwork of my own.

Rival blogs

It can get a bit thin on the ground here at MuirBlogsville. One possible reason is that I have a number of other blogging projects (blogjects) on the go. I currently write on Mobile User Experience related issues for MEX, a mobile strategy consultancy and conference organiser.

I contribute posts on design and culture to the blog for Shellsuitzombie, a voluntary organisation that aims to improve the links between graduate designers and the creative industry.

Ideas that never quite made it #17 Heroes of chinema

During the thesis write-up the mind needs time off. Some people play golf.

Basically I saw a gap in the highly saturated chin-face video market for something with higher production values and better dialogue, with no sniggering in the background, but also no CG. The idea would have been to recreate iconic scenes from the movies in a series of very short films, with added chin-themed wordplay in the title or the actor names. I think, for example, that if it was done well it could make a cracking music video, or an ongoing campaign for a product or service. Might still happen if I find time (any bands up for it?).

Carl Zeiss Photography competition entry

There are quite a lot of things that I never got round to sharing while writing my thesis last year. So glad that's over! I will be putting a few of these on the blog over the next few days.

New Year update

Happy New Year!! So the PhD is done, I passed the viva in late December with minor corrections. I'm lucky enough to be currently employed as a research associate at Cambridge to continue parts of my research, while doing freelance design and research in the mobile industry. I'm also exploring my options for employment after the post doc. Best wishes for 2011 to one and all!

MEX Event Nov 30th - Dec 1st 2010

I'm speaking at the MEX event this year on the topic of new form factors, and the ubiquity of the slate. See you there! (sorry for the short notice)

1:1 - small buildings in a big building

Just been to see the 1:1 exhibition in which architects from around the world have built small buildings inside the halls of the V&A. My favourite is the Sou Fujimoto tea house on stilts (it was originally meant to be suspended by ropes). It captured the childhood ideal of having a small private space off the ground, with just a ladder to enter it. In other words the architectural lovechild of Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and the Ewoks (not the biological lovechild). More treehouse porn here and here.

My second favourite was this giant bookshelf with stairs inside, lined with books. Reminded me of this and reading books that don't have post-it notes in them.

dear andrew, probably not

by Jonny