Leipzig, Germany

A clever rubber belt design by the young graduate designers at YeaYea… the unique buckle allows for infinite adjustment.

Copenhagen, Denmark

This is the effective poster designed by Fabrica on behalf of the World Health Organization for deployment at the Conference on Climate Change last month. At a glance, it conveys the key message that climate change has devastating effects on human health. Art direction by Alexandre Demers Saumier; Creative direction by my friend Omar Vulpinari.

Rural Manitoba, Canada

Here’s a big Happy New Year! to friends far and near… may 2010 bring you peace, good health, and much happiness. Be good to each other, OK?

Also, a hearty Thank You! for your visits to this blog during this past year—over 68,000 unique visits (75% from first time visitors) from 168 countries in 2009—that’s more than three times the traffic in 2008. A very special thanks to all who have contributed ideas and inspiration and have taken the time to contact me directly with your comments, thoughts, and suggestions.

Cheers!

(meme-fighting greenwashing)*

*See Eddie Adams’ 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo here of the (then U.S.-backed) Republic of Vietnam’s Chief of National Police, General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, executing handcuffed Vietcong prisoner Nguyễn Văn Lém on a Saigon street—a history-changing image that became an anti-war icon and is now a powerful meme.

(poster by the talented and prolific McRay Magleby)

Ypres, Belgium

95 years ago today, late on Christmas Eve in 1914, a remarkable impromptu truce took place on the Western Front of World War l. British and German troops entrenched in freezing mud began serenading each other with songs and carols. By the following day, a full truce was on, with soldiers and officers from both sides meeting in no-man’s land to bury fallen comrades, fraternize, and exchange gifts of food and drink. There was even an informal international soccer match played with teams comprised of warring soldiers… read more about this remarkable day of peace here. Find lots of video tributes and historic photographs by simply Googling “Christmas truce.”

The quotations above are from a first-hand account written by Henry William Williamson, who had just turned 19 at the time.

An insightful piece by Stephen Hansen…

New York, NY

It seems that the venerable I.D. Magazine is folding… after a run of 55 years. Pity, that…

Tainan, Taipei

Today was the last leg of our three-city 2009 Conference of International Design Competitions lecture tour—with a very enthusiastic audience of nearly 400. It’s been an interesting week, presenting alongside (my new friends) sensei Nakanishi Motoo (one of the great corporate identity masters of our time, responsible for creating and/or managing the image of over one hundred top-500 companies worldwide, among them Bridgestone, Kenwood, Mazda, Asics, Kirin beer, etc., etc.), and Hiroshi Tsunoda, a talented young Tokyo-born product designer with a burgeoning practice in Barcelona, Spain.

A bonus—end of day I had the chance to bend elbows back at the hotel with long-time Manitoba climbing/skiing buddy Richard Tilley (who moved to southern Taiwan nearly a decade ago, and now spends his time scuba-diving along the southern coastline).

A big thanks to event organizer Apex Lin, Pang Soon, the dear design colleagues and professors who showed up for the tri-city events and celebratory dinners, to our excellent(!) professional translator Tracy Wang, and to our lovely, long-suffering, and insightful personal interpreters (you rock, Tree!).