Addiction

I have a confession to make. Over the holidays I overindulged. Not just in the obvious, like candy and eggnog (not really the later), but in game time. On my phone.Trivia Crack

The reason: Trivia Crack by Etermax. The name pretty much says it all.

The trivia game, which is very well done and highly addictive, pitches people (friends & family or random strangers) against each other, trying to answer questions from six categories – Art, Entertainment, Science, History, Geography and Sport.

The questions range from simple to who-could-have-known. (Answer: My dad, who is kicking my butt.)

Along the way to victory there are timed challenges, a few obscure questions and lots of “What is the capital of…?”

From a design point the game is done extremely well and the fact that it has claimed the top FREE Game spots in Android’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store for the last few weeks only underlines it’s widespread addicting capabilities.

The characters that one needs to acquire are extremely cute in appearance – think back to “Dumb Ways to Die”.

Oh and did I mention the game can be played in multiple languages? So you can play against friends and family overseas or just have a guessing match with your brother-in-law in Catalan – if you are so inclined…

Have some time left to waste and want to (im)prove your common knowledge? Give Trivia Crack a try. But don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Image via Trivia Crack by Etermax.

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 December 29th, 2014|Design|Comments Off on Addiction

Turkeys by the Boatload

The “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated in 1621 and the infographic below from everything pr tries to put all things Thanksgiving into perspective – showing how it started and just how many boatloads of turkeys (and green beans, pumpkins and sweet potatoes) are consumed these days in comparison.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

History of Thanksgiving Turkey

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 November 26th, 2014|Design|Comments Off on Turkeys by the Boatload

Today’s Special

Recently Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane featured an interesting piece about the role of restaurant menus.

Talking to Stanford University linguistic professor Dan Jurafsky, the show examined the language used to describe food and the feelings associated with the sounds they make.

He was joined by Sybil Yang, an assistant professor at San Francisco State University’s department of Hospitality & Tourism Management, who talked about how menu designs can lead customer to choose certain items over others and the psychology behind it.

Listen for yourself:

How do you look at menus? Just something that will get you the food you want or a look at the soul of the restaurant?

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 November 11th, 2014|Big Thinking, Design|Comments Off on Today’s Special

Not The Least Bit Grim

German artist Max Grimm’s work speaks through his great use of color and symbolism. On a recent trip I was able to spot his work in multiple locations.

School Gymnasium painted by artist Max Grimm

This is one – applied to a school gymnasium. The vibrant use of color and interwoven imagery makes it uniquely his and most definitely the opposite of grim.

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 August 14th, 2014|Design|Comments Off on Not The Least Bit Grim

Food for Thought

Vanity Fair announce on Thursday that Chipotle’s bags and cups will be featuring original writings by Jonathan Safran Foer (who pitched the idea to Steve Ells, Chipotle’s founder and  C.E.O. years ago), Malcolm Gladwell, Toni Morrison, George Saunders, and Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Lewis.

The burrito chain has branded the initiative “Cultivating Thought” and is comprised of a somewhat eclectic group of styles. According to Foer, he “wanted some that were essayistic, some fiction, some things that were funny, and somewhat thought provoking.”

“We live in a world in which there is shrinking space for literature and writing, and less time than ever for quiet reflection,” Foer said in a statement. “The idea of expanding the space and time, of creating a small pocket of thoughtfulness right in the middle of the busy day, was inspiring to me — particularly given the size and diversity of the audience, which is America itself.”

It’s not the first time Chipotle has used their packaging to tell stories, but usually it is to talk about things related to Chipotle – farmers or ingredients, for example. “These essays are unique in that they don’t have anything to do with us, and we gave the authors complete latitude to write about whatever they wanted to,” said communications director Chris Arnold.

Unfortunately our local store didn’t have the new bags or cups yet, so we will have to share an image from the internet and hope to read the stories in the near future.

Chipotle Cups

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 May 19th, 2014|Big Thinking, Design, In The News|Comments Off on Food for Thought

Anthology

HBO, always thinking of creative ways to promote it’s hit shows, used artistic interpretation of the most iconic deaths from the first three seasons of Game of Thrones, beautifully illustrating otherwise gruesome deaths. Each illustration displays several layers of deadly details, symbolism and significance.

Check out the whole series – entitled “Beautiful Death” – counting down to the start of the fourth season of Game of Thrones on Sunday.

Three Victories Don't Make you a Conquerer

The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 April 3rd, 2014|Design, Shows|Comments Off on Anthology

From Toy Box to the Big Screen

Most of us grew up playing with LEGO, building elaborate structure, being entertained for hours. And while the company has faced some controversy lately about gender specific toys, for the most part the simple concept of connecting bricks and letting your creativity and imagination soar is what still holds true to this day.

With the LEGO movie in theaters I stumbled across this history of the LEGO company – a reminder that you have to have an idea that is truly unique, quality will make your product stand out and lastly, if you fail, try and try again.

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 March 24th, 2014|Design, Inspiration|Comments Off on From Toy Box to the Big Screen

Going Green

Do The Green Thing and The World Wildlife Fund are encouraging people to turn their lights off for Earth Hour on March 29th with a series of clever posters. The campaign is to inspire people to think and act differently in order to save the environment and live more sustainably.

Do The Green Thing - Not My Season by Matthew Elliott

Not My Season by Matthew Elliott

Do The Green Thing - Share by Marion Deuchars
Share by Marion Deuchars

Do The Green Thing - Little Devil by Paula Scher
Little Devil by Paula Scher

Naresh Ramchandani, co-founder of Do The Green Thing and partner at Pentagram, stated in a press release: “Do The Green Thing has always looked to be a public service for the planet, working with world class creative talent to make brilliant inspiration, and feeding that inspiration to as many people as possible across the world to encourage them to be more sustainable in their everyday lives. … the 29 Posters are beautiful, playful, romantic, mischievous and provocative, and I hope they will inspire as many people as possible to be part of Earth Hour 2014.”

New posters are added daily until the 29th. You can see them all at dothegreenthing.tumblr.com

2017-05-22T13:17:01+00:00 March 17th, 2014|Big Thinking, Design, Inspiration|Comments Off on Going Green