The networkSim project, undertaken by White Void, has placed a massive air traffic visualization display within the flight control tower of the Lufthansa Brand Academy Frankfurt-Seeheim. The 14-meter-wide, 180-degree projection lets visitors view a 3D real-time display of 16,000 daily flights by Lufthansa and Star Alliance, and learn a little more about local and international air traffic. The user can seamlessly shift from a specific hub view to a full global view of flights around the world and use additional time and content filters to further adjust the view. Six-channel, 3D audio completes the dynamic experience. Looking at the complex tangle of criss-crossing routes could make even the calmest flyer consider a ride on Amtrak. [via Fubiz]
The WordPress community has almost single-handedly changed the face of the web. Countless blogs, portfolios, news sites and web communities are powered by WordPress, in a range of quality from good to bad, beautiful to ugly. WordPress.org and its community runs an on-going tally of some of the best WordPress designs on the web, including their ten best. To showcase the hard work of a select group of designers, we take a close look at the 10 best WordPress designs as rated by the WordPress community.
The SmartChef isn’t an appliance, it’s a food prep partner. A concept by Kaiju Studios, and a finalist in Microsoft’s Next-Gen PC competition, the computerized cutting board helps chefs cook and create by plugging kitchens into a real-time network of food information. Local ingredients and producers are tracked by SmartChef, which makes recipe suggestions and offers diet guidance. The device has a kitchen-safe, touch-screen tablet that docks with a bamboo cutting board and interfaces with on-board food scanning hardware. And if chefs get a blue screen while preparing blueberries, at least a knife is handy. [via yankodesign]
Etsy.com is like a gigantic, never-ending crafts fair, but without the sales pressure, aimless waddling around or fear of accidently knocking something over. The wares — from art and jewelry to music and toys — are all handmade and sold by individual vendors who operate digital storefronts at no cost to them. Etsy charges 20 cents to stock each unit of every item, and takes a 3.5 percent cut of the sales. As a customer, there are no extra charges except the shipping cost established by the store owner. So what’s the big deal? As Clive Thompson writes, it’s a way out of the cookie-cutter decor you find in malls and department stores. You won’t be sneezing at any potpourri or scented candles as you browse, either. [Etsy]
Amateur filmmaker and musician Andrew Wilson has cranked up an instrumental rock song he wrote with a colorful video that combines light-painting and stop-motion animation. Wilson took a photo of each fret and body component on his Gibson Les Paul and colorized each with Photoshop. He then synced the song up to the images that corresponded to the specific frets played throughout the track. [via cldfx]
Enzo Henze knows there are patterns and beauty in the chaotic disarray of curving lines. Using software to plot mathematical data, the Berlin-based artist generates hundreds of thousands of detailed arcs, which he enlarges and mounts on giant gallery installations. The large-scale pieces are infinitely subtle, and feature tiny threads that wrap and weave like a map of brain neurons or a guide to an extra dimensional galaxy. [via newblack]
A cursory glance of the above photo likely caused most DesignCrave readers a near panic attack. “Oh God… No! Why would anyone, especially a cool motorcycle guy, smash a perfectly good pint of beer?!
The dramatically lit and photographed “Alcohol is stronger than you think” series creates an impact — literally — depicting cars, SUVs and motorcycles halted in their tracks by lone cocktails, the drivers just smashing headlong through windshields or over handlebars. The prints were created by Fisher Portugal for an anti drunk driving campaign led by for The Salvador Association, a Portuguese disability education and awareness organization. We’ll drink to that– responsibly. [via fubiz]
Attention Mainstream Media: the financial crisis did not replace the environmental crisis on our doorstep. Crumbling credit markets shouldn’t overshadow the crumbling polar caps. Bear markets are scary, but so are dying polar bears. So who is going to give us a sense of balance? It is often the creatives at advertising agencies that are tasked with giving us perspective. To remind us that we humans are battling a war on two fronts, both financial and environmental, here are 30 amazing advertisements in honor of Earth Day 2009.
By artfully framing characters from popular films with signature movie quotes and his innate eye for dramatic design, Poland-born graphic designer Grzegorz Domaradzki has created a series of movie posters that convey the mood and personality of specific cinema imagery. Domaradzki graduated from the Slovakia’s Academy of Fine Arts and Design Bratislava and has worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for several large advertising agencies. His Vector Movie Posters are colorful, bold and wonderfully detailed with choppy lines and aggressive, staggered design elements. The posters are reproduced with key quotes alongside illustrated characters, which makes the 2-D prints look more like enlarged frames from the graphic novelization of the movies. [via behance]
