On January 28th at 7pm, the first ever Pecha Kucha night in St. Louis will be held in downtown St. Louis. A tradition started in Tokyo (and now spread globally), Pecha Kucha nights are an opportunity for local artists, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and creators to get together and present an interesting thought of their choice and stimulate discussion. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, and 20 seconds to talk per image. This should be a great opportunity to not only be exposed to some new ideas, but also learn some new faces in the local St. Louis community. It’s like the TED conferences, but from the grassroots up. And each presentation is less than 7 minutes.

For more information and a list of the presenters, visit http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/saint-louis/1.

For the past several months, I have been watching a show on HGTV named, “Holmes on Homes.” The premise of the show is for a contractor, “Mike Holmes” to go into peoples residences to repair and correctly finish their “Home” that a previous contractor had incorrectly remodeled or walked away from before the job was done, costing them big dollars. When you watch this show, it’s hard to believe that anybody could treat their customers this poorly and show this much lack of character, but I guess it happens.

Mike Holmes is like a savior to these people and I like him. I like him because he believes in hard work. He believes in being fair and doing the best job, not just an average job. He takes great pride in what he does for a living and I wish we saw more of that in America in general. Any job worth doing is worth doing it well.

Every time I watch this show, I think of my team at Big Wheel. I see the care and pride in producing good work and doing it right. I see how much it means to everyone to make a project a success. Most of all, I see the passion and endurance that takes a project from the beginning all the way to the end – which is just about the most crucial part of the process, especially in the t.v. show referenced above. If you can’t cross the finish line, don’t even bother to start the race.

So cheers to you in 2010 and the delivery of the Big Wheel promise of doing “The Hard Work.”

November 7th, 2009, Saint Louis Science Center

The science of sustainable design and its impact on our world is the focus of the local celebration of the fifth annual World Usability Day.

Created by the Usability Professionals’ Association, World Usability Day is an initiative that was founded to ensure the services and products important to life are easy to use and result in a positive experience. Last year, 40,000 people worldwide attended 200 events in 43 countries. And this year, like twice before, the Saint Louis Science Center will be the venue for what promises to be a unique learning experience right here in St. Louis. This year’s World Usability Day event in St Louis is free to the public, and is presented by GatewayCHI, an organization of St Louis area User Experience professionals, with the generous sponsorship of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Express Scripts, and Perficient. On Saturday, November 7, volunteers will guide Science Center guests of all ages through various hands-on activities demonstrating the issues and science of Sustainable Design.

Activities include:

• Interacting with the Metrolink Touchscreen System
• Toilet Designs – Comparison of dual flush and other, more complex functionality
• Thermostats – How easy are they to program?
• Sustainability Websites – User Testing
• Recycle Rally – How fast can a pile of recycling be sorted? What would make it easier to sort?
• Mobile Devices – How do websites look on different mobile devices?
• Animal Rescue/Recycling/Reuse – “Recycling” dogs into new homes

Since most people these days have developed a reluctance to ever put down their cell phones, board games creator Hasbro has now found a way to include them in the quintessential family activity: game night. Their new edition of Clue: Secrets & Spies not only updates the look and story of the game with a Tom Clancy feel, but introduces text messaging into the game play. Players send texts to a Hasbro number during the game and receive replies with new clues.

For me, the new design is another example of a strategy that latches on to a technology for the sake of trendiness, of being ‘with it’, versus truly enhancing the result. I’m all for companies staying up to date with the technology of the day, and finding creative new ways to use that technology, but there is something disappointing about the picture of friends and family sitting down together to play a board game only to all pull out their cell phones once more. Perhaps I’m just old fashioned, being a member of the last generation to grow up with phones that were attached to the wall, a time when answering the phone (with no caller ID) felt like playing a lottery.

For others of the old-fashioned mindset who enjoy disconnecting from the grid once in a while and re-connecting with friends and family through clever and engaging gameplay, I recommend the game Settlers of Catan.

Gothic Quarter – Barcelona, Spain

Recently I had the privilege to visit Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. Searching for a bit of inspiration for my artistic spirit, I think I found it.

Everything is visual eye candy, from the ornate architecture blends of Roman, Spanish, French and Arabic, to the window display signage and city graffiti that creates a nice juxtaposition between the elements.

Traveling is good for the soul. If you have a chance to experience it yourself, it will be well worth the journey.

Above is one of the many photos I snapped of a closed store front. The idea is for a store owner to create their own door graffiti in hopes that street graffiti artist will pass their store by and move on to the next wall or door that is untouched. The end result is endless streets of urban artwork with bright color pops amongst many of the neutral stone colored building facades.

Most designers with a passion for what they do will tell you that design is present in everything they do – the clothes they wear, the way they decorate their house, the art they make for their walls, the publications they subscribe to.  Design as a way of life is also very present in much of traditional Japanese culture, which is perhaps why it’s always struck a chord with me. Their sushi, zen gardens, tea ceremonies, and kimono patterns are all designed precisely and symbolically.

A creation from Flickr user 'Bentomom'

Bento boxes, a traditional format of Japanese meal preparation, are apparently making a big hit right now in the US as a way to add appeal and variety to food as well as limit portions. This certainly appeals to me as a designer, as a novel and creative way to think about lunch (not sure I want to spend 30 minutes every day making lunch, however). The New York Times has recently posted a slideshow on people and their Bento habits, which you can view here.

It was 1977 when I first laid eyes on an Ansel Adams print. From that day, I spent the next 20 years trying to produce a silver gelatin print of such grandeur. The key word here is trying. I came close, but there’s only a few folks skilled enough in darkroom magic to pull it off.

Now is your chance to be amazed, as I was. There is an exhibition of Ansel’s prints at the Saint Louis Art Museum.