Wall-E Eyes Collage: An Algorithmic Selection of Images from the Function Project Archive

Hunter Pence Signs: A Tech + Design Edition

Heading into the weekend when the SF Giants will play the St. Louis Cardinals, "Where I Live" came up with some Hunter Pence signs for the ballpark appropriate for a team that is from the crossroads of design and technology: 

Background for the Confused

Hunter Pence is an outfielder for the SF Giants, a major league baseball team. The Giants are currently in the playoffs. Hunter is a quirky guy that looks a little funny at bat but has great stats and is known for his passionate motivational speeches to inspire his teammates.

When opponents of the SF Giants began making mildly derogatory signs mocking Hunter Pence like "Hunter Pence Struggles with Long Division" or "Hunter Pence Eats Pizza with a Fork," Giants fans came back with their own versions to counter with equally mild mannered positive posters.

Opponents

Fans

Command+Z

It doesn't happen to people as we
This harrowing sense of tragedy

Lucky to 've lived above the fray
In sheltered harbor shun dismay

Our pristine histories, pristine homes
Our gifted minds and healthy bones

Though obsessed with unending perfection
Incurred but one poorly chosen exception

And within an instant never more
Seen exempt from desolate horror

The headlights turned on a blessed lot
Beyond sorrow's reach now suddenly caught

To get back that night, its ill-fated ending
To give back a life and another defending

No recovery awaits from what has been lost
Soul-wrenching despair the inevitable cost

Lululemon Zipper Pulls Need Some Attention

Every jacket I have ever bought from Lululemon now has a broken zipper pull. Please someone help them.

Separated at Birth?

This was making the rounds and landed in my inbox...

Thinkers, Dreamers, Doers

I love the Thinkers
Watching others
Raising questions
Engaging the Conversation

They are the ones who can
Dust off an old idea for a look
Make a verb out of "conference"
Ensure a story fills the pages
Imagery rich
A magnet for Pin and Like
Get others Thinking

They are great friends
Who are invited to the party
Who wear cooler shoes
Who first coin the word that becomes the buzz

Yes, I love the Thinkers
They serve up the inspiration
They elevate our work, even mine
For others to drink from the glass
And taste what things can be at their best

But Where I Live
-- And I once believed it was a choice --
Is a different sort
The Dreamers and Doers
Who undistracted
Spend seemingly infinite time
Patiently wading through the squalor
Often of a single question
With a broad smile
Bearing the load that others fear
Sweating an elegant solution
Obsession until breakthrough


If invited to the party
They may choose instead
A small forum of other
Dreamers and Doers
Who relish
A three hour discussion
Only one topic
A nuance in physics, history, violin making, fiscal policy, athletic equipment of a particular genre -- who knows!
Not selected for relevance
But for its intricacy
A complexity of flavor
That can't be captured in an Epicurious posting

Yes, I love the Thinkers
But I lie with the Dreamers and Doers
Because questions raised
Are not questions answered
When the Big Thoughts are done
The team built, the culture updated
Uncomfortably often
The original question
Rolls back into view
As yet unresolved
Waiting for someone undeterred by the stigma
Of an individual imagination
Or worse, old school expertise
To catch it before it drops
And run like a mad man for the end zone

I love the Thinkers

But I gush over the work-in-progress that defines

Dreamers and Doers because

Ideas conceived
Are not ideas fulfilled
Any more than the act of having sex
Is the same as raising a child

Design Heroes on My Mind

Some of My Design Heroes at a CCA Party circa 2008

Left to Right: Dan Harden (Whipsaw), Paul Bradley (Frog), Gadi Amit (NewDeal), Phil Hobson (Apple)

This week I had each of these guys on my mind. 

It started over the weekend when Gadi was quoted for an article in The New York Times. It used to be that great designers didn't make it into the popular media unless they were somehow outlandish and wore pink jumpsuits and big sunglasses. It demonstrates of how far our industry has come that Gadi would be a reference for how design and manufacturing can differentiate companies in the marketplace. (Although, there were no photos of Gadi so I can't confirm he wasn't wearing a feather boa during the interview to appease the journalist's vision of what a designer is.)

It was Phil's birthday on Wednesday, so that was on the agenda in the House of Hobsons. I asked what he wanted, and he gave his usual answer to that question: a Bundt cake. Not that he's ever even had a Bundt cake. He was making reference to a scene from There's Something about Mary when Matt Dillon knocks out Mary's vicious terrier and tries to stall for time to revive it by asking for a Bundt cake. Totally off the wall. (http://www.flickclip.com/flicks/somethingaboutmary.htm) While that is Phil's standard answer to the question, to surprise him, I decided to actually make a Bundt cake. (To ensure it was a surprise, what better time to do the cooking than in the middle of the day during a conference call about a project? If the kind clients who were on that call read this, it was in the oven while we were talking. I was listening -- I promise!)

Dan Harden lives a stone's throw from my house, but it was another Whipsaw neighbor, Gerson Goldberg, whom I met up with while running on Thursday morning. Gerson is on the engineering side at Whipsaw, and it is always a pleasure to hear how things are going from their corner of the Valley. Besides, I doubt that I'll ever run into Dan at that time in the morning for a chat. It was still dark out.

Finally, this week I thought very much about Paul Bradley and how long it has been since I have seen him. Paul is responsible for me actually learning about industrial design while we were both at IDEO, long before he left for Frog Design. Having had the recent pleasure of interacting with Mike Nuttall on some business and being tearful over the recent loss of Bill Moggridge, my IDEO design mentors are definitely on my mind. Paul is definitely on my mind.