D E S I G N /// ck

a holistic approach

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:43:00 +0000

originally posted at wigsphere.com...

Furthering the discussion from yesterday's post, I thought I'd show here what I thought a comprehensive bicycle lane system in Knoxville would look like. The current piecemeal approach has left us with good bike lanes that go nowhere:

I know funding has been a limiting factor, and also that some roads don't have much room (see Kelley Segars's comments) but what should we be aiming for? As the city redevelops major streetscapes (like the upcoming Cumberland Ave. Strip makeover) bike lanes need to be included by default.

Hall of Fame Blvd. is good example- great bike lanes, but they don't push through and connect with downtown, Broadway, or the Magnolia Ave. bike lanes. Actually making a comprehensive system will mean threading sometimes difficult connectors between paths, at expense of (gasp!) automobile traffic. The new Henley Street Bridge bike lanes are great, but what happens when you reach the end of it and plunge into that snarling mass of automobiles? What if it was more like this:

1) Extend the Hall of Fame bike lanes to Broadway and to the new transit center.
2) Extend the current Magnolia bike lanes to Broadway
3) Extend the Central St. lanes to the Old City
4) Introduce new bike lanes on Western Ave./Summit Hill to make a main east-west route. (Jackson Ave. could be an alternate if Summit Hill is unfeasible.)
5) Introduce bike lanes starting on Chapman Hwy. from Disc Exchange to Henley St. and up Broadway to Hall of Fame, creating a main north-south route. (Gay St. could be an alternate, but it doesn't really need lanes since it's the most bike-friendly street in the city.)
6) Introduce bike lanes on Cumberland Ave extending all the way to downtown. Make a connector to Western Ave. via 17th St.
7) Make an east-west connector to the new transit center on Church St. through the middle of downtown.
8) Tie in Sevier Ave to Gay Street and the Henley St. Bridge lanes

One could bike into downtown from Parkridge, 4th & Gill, Old North, Mechanicsville, Fort Sanders, the UT campus, and the South Waterfront on a dedicated bicycle infrastructure. I know this won't happen immediately, but all these roads will need to be rebuilt at some point. We need a city policy that includes these lanes into street design by default, not just as an incidental extra if its convenient. If there's no more right of way, we need to consider putting our roads on a "diet" eliminating wasteful lanes. Central St. was trimmed down from a four lane highway to make room for parking and bike lanes and seems to be working beautifully. I think many routes through downtown are eligible for similar diets. What do you think?

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:39:00 +0000

"You can come out when you can properly explain the differences between Modernist architecture and postmodern ornamentation."

It's like looking into my future.

(via Unhappy Hipsters)

it's about time

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:56:00 +0000

High speed rail lines in America: read more here.

human powered vehicles...

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:02:00 +0000

...are awesome. I use one everyday. And they make even more sense in the third world as a sustainable solution to transport.

That's a nice lookin' cargo bike. Very cool!

World Bike is helping get intelligently designed solutions to people that need it. Check it out

in praise of sugo

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Right now I'm helping the Friends of Fort Liberte, the non-profit I work with in Haiti, rebrand its identity. I started with an icon of the town, the entry arch, and abstracted it into a logo that hopefully will translate equally well into web, print, and apparel. Below is the second draft:

There's been positive feedback on Facebook, and lots of people seemed to like the font I used so I thought I'd put some info about it here. It's called "Sugo" and it's available for free at dafont.com. Dafont has been the best typeface resource I've been able to find on the interwebs. Most of the stuff uploaded there is terrible, but there are many diamonds in the rough. I'd recommend to anyone working on graphics to look through their catalog- and you can't beat the price!

Enjoy.

the golden ratio

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:53:00 +0000

...discovered at quantum level!

"Here the tension comes from the interaction between spins causing them to magnetically resonate. For these interactions we found a series (scale) of resonant notes: The first two notes show a perfect relationship with each other. Their frequencies (pitch) are in the ratio of 1.618…, which is the golden ratio famous from art and architecture." Radu Coldea is convinced that this is no coincidence. "It reflects a beautiful property of the quantum system -- a hidden symmetry."

Or not so hidden...

(via ISO50)

christmas truck

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:19:00 +0000

For some reason, this made me very happy last Saturday:

An old truck at the Farmer's Market selling Christmas wreaths, with bits of that morning's snow sticking to its hay bales. After that, I was officially ready for the holiday season.

hiking pics

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Alice, the dogs, and I went hiking on part of the Fiery Gizzard Trail near Monteagle, TN on Saturday. We didn't see any gizzards, but we saw some lovely waterfalls. You can see a gallery of pics here.

Bonus Question: Can anyone else see the creepy face in the rocks above?

new place for photos

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:48:00 +0000

So, I like Flickr... but Yahoo sucks. I don't want to have to remember another login name and password and I want unlimited uploading. And I want a generic place where anyone can go, not just my Facebook friends. Then I remembered that I'm paying for this fancy .mac subscription, which has a pretty nice pic gallery component. So from now on I'll be uploading most of our photos here. You can also always just hit the 'photos' tab at the top. Most of the photos are there are old but I've uploaded a few never before seen ones- like Alice vastly enjoying her bubble tea at a random Chinese place in Nashville. Enjoy!

logo evolution

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:01:00 +0000

I thought this was an interesting insight into the logo graphic process:

epic mobile homes

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:19:00 +0000

one of the best clips ever

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:45:00 +0000

Below is one of the best episodes this season. Check out the wasp nest scene at 2:50. "There could be something delicious in here that wasps DO make, and I want that."

ikea drama

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:55:00 +0000

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

Who knew furniture shopping was so dramatic!

Check out the other episodes here.

kudos colleen and jimi !

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Colleen King, Jimi Bonogofsky-I Think I Might Be from Huntington Digital Media Arts on Vimeo.

My sister and her friend Jimi are showing in the Chicago International Children's Film Festival! Pretty cool.

Her's a sampling of the best of King (now Thornbrugh) and Thornbrugh:

Colleen King and Cevin Thornbrugh-Shadow Birds from Huntington Digital Media Arts on Vimeo.

Colleen King and Cevin Thornbrugh-Motion Graphics Final from Huntington Digital Media Arts on Vimeo.

Colleen King-Frog Lip Sync from Huntington Digital Media Arts on Vimeo.

Well done!

bike riding!

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Riding High from 13thWitness™ on Vimeo.

Nothing like riding a bike around town. A whole generation is rediscovering that.

bike project

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:21:00 +0000

While I like the idea of fixed gear bikes, the reality of Tennessee hills has kept me geared. But my commuter bike (a solid early 90s Cannondale SR400) is an ongoing fixed gear-ish aesthetic project with lots of color. Next will be a new blue saddle (so this one can go back to the Klein) and blue tires. Note the new anodized gold riser bars! All in all, though, a great old bike for city riding. I love this thing. I'll try to keep the blog up to date as I customize.

If you want to know why I'm obsessed with this whole thing, this video may help explain:

Rad.

the greatest robot band of all time

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

performs a hauntingly beautiful romantic song:

It's worth watching all the way through- the little details are awesome! Look for the moon. That Gorilla can play a mean synthesizer.

Homework: Has the post modern world reached its low / high in this video?

what's in the box?

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:02:00 +0000

This a cool concept from industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa, utilizing the philosophy of hari in something as simple as a juice box. He creates a good tension between literalness and function, making something instantly understandable yet experientially new. It's intersting that hari emphasizes "tension" equally with "balance", as these two concepts are often opposed to each other in the Western dualistic mind.

"Fukasawa argues that we have an innate awareness – in his words, a ‘core awareness’ – of design, and in responding to this instinct he arrives at inevitable form."

An understanding of design common to all humans- stemming from our own common intelligent design?

[via D + R]

font wars

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

If you like typography as much as I do, this is an interesting read.

God bless seizure-inducing gifs

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

horchata

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:41:00 +0000

I didn't know what horchata was, but now I want some! Download the new Vampire Weekend mp3 here. Check it out!

[via Stereogum]

anti-butt chewing device

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:38:00 +0000

So I made a cone for Ellie, 'cause the ones at Petsmart were $30! Mine cost $3.00 and about 10 minutes. The dents on the sides are because she has no peripheral vision and runs into things. She hates it, but at least the fur is starting to grow back on her butt.

biking music

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:20:00 +0000

This song came on shuffle this morning as I walked out on to my porch. It was the perfect soundtrack for riding my bike on a cool autumn morning. I love the bright guitar intro in this version. Perfectly happy and melancholy! I guess I'm into Norwegian acoustic acts lately. Enjoy.

griz bear and dioramas

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

via Kanye West's blog (!) a cool animated video for a very good song. I really like when low tech and high tech are combined.

I guess this is becoming a bit of a video blog? Or maybe just a current phase of mine. We'll see.

boat behind

noreply@blogger.com (ck) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:06:00 +0000

I listened to this song on repeat for two hours this morning. I lurve it.