Somerton, U.K.

I’ve always loved clouds—while cloudless skies tend to leave me nonplussed. So it was with considerable pleasure that I stumbled across The Cloud Appreciation Society today. View a gallery of nearly 5000 cloud images here. Following is the Society’s manifesto…

~~~~~

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned

and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,

and the most egalitarian of her displays, since

everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.

Life would be dull if we had to look up at

cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the

atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of

a person’s countenance.

Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.

They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.

Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save

on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who’ll listen:

Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty,

and live life with your head in the clouds!

(book review)

Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change The World

by David B. Berman

AIGA Design Press / New Riders (Peachpit)

David B. Berman’s important new book is honest, timely, and hard-hitting, delivered with in-your-face directness—it presents a strong argument regarding the inherent power of design to shape our world and takes on greed, excess, and the scheming tendencies of advertising and “targeted” visual communications. Full of pithy quotations, well illustrated (with wide-ranging examples of manipulative media and manufactured needs) and impressively annotated and cross-referenced, Do Good Design rails against the consumptive excesses of the so-called “developed world” and urges designers to help steer a better course for our planet—before it’s too late. David combines his keen observation skills with courage to question the status quo, expressing his marathon call for positive change with passionate zeal. In his words, “the future of civilization is our common design project.”

I have known David (Duv to his friends) for nearly 20 years and have had the ongoing pleasure of interaction with him on matters relating to design ethics and the role design can play in shaping a more equitable and sustainable future. Thanks for writing this important book, Duv—and keep up the “good” work.

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I highly recommend that you buy this book, that you read it, and that you then act on it. Next, donate your copy to (or buy another for) your local library—it’s that important. See David’s call to action (from an Icograda talk in Hong Kong) here.

Vienna, Austria

Found signage, letterforms, pictographs, symbols, etc. from many different countries, compiled “with a desire to explore contrasting (cultural) backgrounds, juxtapositions, and motivations re: the shaping of intentional and concrete forms of communication.” (from the site’s German intro, here). Displaying thousands of images (organized by an ‘interesting’ taxonomy) and with almost daily additions to the collection, it’s worth a visit.

(via slanted).

Spring is sprung (in the northern hemisphere, that is)…

Happy Nowruz (new year) to my Persian, Kurdish, and Turkish friends (and those of the Iranian diaspora everywhere)… and best wishes on this equinox to all—may you find balance and enjoy the axial tilt.

Frühling blühender Kirschenbaum (Switzerland).

Winnipeg, Canada

I met up with long-time climbing buddy (and talented [also very modest] architectural technologist) Simon Statkewich for brews and dinner last night. At Simon’s place I noticed a copy of Cottage magazine lying on his coffee table—replete with a cover feature on the new Fay Hut in Kootenay National Park that Simon designed (as a volunteer) for the Alpine Club of Canada—to replace the original built in 1927 after it burned down in 2003.

Top photo by Matt J. Simons; bottom photo by Marta.

Washington, D.C.

Another year goes by, and the world’s (now rapidly dwindling) ‘Superpower’ is still involved in ill-begotten warfaring in the cradle of civilization. When will it ever end… or will it never end?

Looking back to last year’s post (language warning still in effect)… here once again is ‘Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV.’

Dublin, Ireland

Indeed. (Sign on a beam in the Guinness storehouse).

Berlin, Germany

If you appreciate or collect classic or art photography (or new imagery, for that matter) you’ll likely love Lumas… enjoy.

I’m not sure why—but I’ve been thinking about Joseph Beuys once again (deutscher Aktionskünstler, Bildhauer, Zeichner, Kunsttheoretiker und Pädagoge)… and then I came across the above image here (thanks to Silvie for the link).