Latest Entries

Anatomy of a Mashup: Definitive Daft Punk visualised

You all know Daft Punk, right? But have you seen the anatomy of the a Daft Punk mashup? A little side project for Sydney-based web technologist Cameron Adams to give the general public a better understanding of the minute details and nuances that go into constructing a complex mashup from tiny pieces of songs.

Using “Definitive Daft Punk,” a 7-minute mashup that he created himself based on Daft Punk’s complete discography, he exposes the entire structure of the 23-song piece, revealing everything from the cutting and layering to levels and equalisation.

Anatomy of a Mashup Definitive Daft Punk visualised

Okay, so now for the science bit. What is a mashup I hear some of you ask? A mashup is a song created by blending two or more other songs. The more complex a mashup gets, the harder it is to distinguish the parts that are being used to create what you’re hearing.

Anatomy of a Mashup Definitive Daft Punk visualised

Anatomy of a Mashup Definitive Daft Punk visualised

Watch the screen to see the entire mashup, composed using the latest HTML5 and CSS3 technology visualized in real-time = geeky goodness.

(Thanks to HypeBeast for the additional info)

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of Anatomy of a Mashup: Definitive Daft Punk visualised? Join the discussion »

Still + Co for Sit and Read

I wrote about Sit and Read in February last year and have kept a close eye ever since. I love their latest project, working with Still + Co to create a collection of rugs, hand-dyed in Brooklyn.

Mike Strout of the burgeoning Still + Co made a series of overdyed rugs that went on display in January with a limited edition chair part of the exhibition.

If nothing else, this beautiful film with a soothing background tune makes me want to run away to the country and sell hand-knitted jumpers and backed apple pies. Now, I’m sure I had some hair dye somewhere from 1997…

Still + Co for Sit and Read

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of Still + Co for Sit and Read? Join the discussion »

Crane.tv Curates: One Room, Three Global Names

Culture lovers are in for a treat this month as Crane.tv go offline with a pop-up at the glamourous St Martins Lane (don’t use an apostrophe or call it a hotel, whatever you do).

Crane.tv, the leading digital video-magazine for contemporary culture, will exhibit a selection of their favourite objects created by their most loved artists and designers, alongside intimate video profiles and if you look closely in the video you’ll spy me near the door during the talk.

Crane.tv curates One Room, Three Global Names

Starting with Sir Terence Conran, famed for transforming the look of the British home will be showcasing his most loved work from his retrospective at London’s Design Museum. The following week, artist Kate MccGwire presents a cabinet of curiosities, objects, which she has collected over the years that continue to inspire her work. Closing the week is digital artist and founder of ‘Universal Everything’ Matt Pyke who will exhibit digital wonders like ultraviolet trees grown out of mathematical formulas and 3D-printed figurines borne from code.

Crane.tv curates One Room, Three Global Names

Crane.tv curates One Room, Three Global Names

“In keeping with the Crane.tv ethos of thoughtfully exploring leading thinkers’ and creatives’ works, we curate our favourite and most loved artists and designers, and give them free reign to select their own favourites – giving viewers an exclusive look into their ‘world’.”
Trisha Andres, Editor, Crane.tv

Crane.tv in The Front Room at St Martins Lane is open Monday – Sunday from 11am-8pm. Admission is free.
The Front Room, St Martins Lane, 45 St Martins Lane WC2N 4HX

9th January – Sir Terence Conran
16th January – Kate MccGwire
23rd January – Matt Pyke

Crane.tv curates One Room, Three Global Names

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of Crane.tv Curates: One Room, Three Global Names? Join the discussion »

Damien Hirst, The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011

“I was always a colourist, I’ve always had a phenomenal love of colour… I mean, I just move colour around on its own. So that’s where the spot paintings came from – to create that structure to do those colours, and do nothing. I suddenly got what I wanted. It was just a way of pinning down the joy of colour.”
Damien Hirst

Something quite incredible is happening right now. The Gagosian Gallery’s eleven locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong are showing Damien Hirst’s spot paintings in all of their locations until 18 February 2012. Conceived as a single exhibition in multiple locations, “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011” makes use of this demographic fact to determine the content of each exhibition according to locality.

damien hirst spot paintings 1

damien hirst spot paintings 1

Included in the exhibition are more than 300 paintings, from the first spot on board that Hirst created in 1986; to the smallest spot painting comprising half a spot and measuring 1 x 1/2 inch (1996); to a monumental work comprising only four spots, each 60 inches in diameter; and up to the most recent spot painting completed in 2011 containing 25,781 spots that are each 1 millimeter in diameter, with no single colour ever repeated.

To celebrate this, Paris store colette is selling merchandise from Damien Hirst’s own shop Other Criteria along with some other pieces such as this dress from the Art Freaks collaboration between Cynthia Rowley and artist Olaf Breuning.

damien hirst spot paintings colette cynthia rowley

Don’t miss your opportunity to see this show in your nearest location.

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of Damien Hirst, The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011? Join the discussion »

#the50 things every creative should know

I love Twitter. It allows people to be really creative with the information that fills their heads. Not only can you share links but, and a nice big but, people have created specific ‘tweetable’ websites. How good an idea is this?

#the50 is the first fully-Tweetable primer for graduating creatives.

London-based Designer Jamie Wieck decided to write #The50 Things Every Creative Should Know when he realised he was not the first, nor the last student to fear the leap between art college and the creative industry. I recall the moment very well and actually ended up avoiding the ridicule of trying to be a designer in the traditional way.

Each piece of advice has been written within 140 characters and features a consistent hash-tag, making them easy to share across Twitter.

there is always someone better

I love ‘there is always someone better’. I held myself back for this very reason so many times. It is a fact that you can always find someone better than you, be it because you lack confidence or because someone has spent far longer in the industry than you have. Get over it and get on with working.

curate your work

Another fab one is ‘Never stop editing your portfolio. Three strong pieces are better than ten weak ones – nobody looks for quantity, just quality.’ I only realised this when I started to have people pitch to me… it’s the same as CVs, nobody reads them – they just look at your past experience and education. If that is good, I’ll read more but to this day I have never read a CV in full.

the100

And with over 1,000,000 visits and counting, #the50 has struck a chord with both students and established creatives across the world, inspiring many to submit their own advice for #the100 — an expansion of #the50.

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of #the50 things every creative should know? Join the discussion »

29 ways to stay creative [video]

It’s not easy to stay creative when you are doing it day in, day out. We all fall in to the same patterns and traps. There is a myth that all creative people can turn it on every morning at 10am and come up with the newt big thing every single time. Even the greatest designers have had some bad days, we only see the good things after time passes.

In fact, that would make a great post – a collection of the most famous designers biggest mistakes. Or perhaps that is a little too sinister.

So, when I saw this video it did make me smile so I thought I would share it with all of the creatives out there struggling to get their mojo back after the Christmas break…

  1. Make lists
  2. Carry a notebook everywhere
  3. Try free writing

    4. Get away from the computer

  4. Get away from the computer
  5. Quit beating yourself up
  6. Take breaks

    7. sing in the shower

  7. Sing in the shower

    8. drink coffee

  8. Drink coffee
  9. Listen to new music
  10. Be open
  11. Surround yourself with creative people
  12. Get feedback
  13. Collaborate
  14. Don’t give up
  15. Practice, practice, practice
  16. Allow yourself to make mistakes
  17. Go somewhere new
  18. Count your blessings
  19. Get lots of rest
  20. Take risks
  21. Break the rules
  22. Don’t force it
  23. Read a page of the dictionary
  24. Create a framework
  25. Stop trying to be someone else’s perfect
  26. Got an idea? Write it down
  27. Clean your workspace
  28. Have fun
  29. Finish something

Now it's your turn... leave a comment

What do you think of 29 ways to stay creative [video]? Join the discussion »

Copyright © 2008–2012. All rights reserved.

This blog is proudly powered by Wordpress and uses a highly-customised version of Modern Clix, a theme by Rodrigo Galindez.