Searching for romance.

Web searches for concepts (rather than something more tangible like people, places, or things) are always a little hit or miss, although they’ve clearly improved and continue to do so.

Searching for “romance” on Flickr seemed appropriate for today, but I wasn’t entirely sure what would pop up. I was delighted when the following image by Flickr user ah zut popped up; it resonated on a few levels with my personal feelings about romance. (The fact that the photograph was taken in Paris doesn’t hurt.)

“romance sous le parapluie jaune #1” (romance under the yellow umbrella #1)

February 14’s daily design idea is what image captures romance, for you?

Circle K’s: then and now.

I recently discovered (via Design Observer) a project called “Re-inhabited Circle K’s” by Arizona-born Paho Mann. The project is a collection of photographs that document the businesses that took over the space of southwestern Circle K’s, which were built from the 1950’s through the 1980’s but then abandoned for higher traffic locations.

When I searched “Circle K store” on Google Images just now, none of the buildings showed a resemblance to the form of the mid-20th century structures that Mann set out to document. And while I’m not sure I’ve ever even stepped foot in a Circle K store, I’m currently feeling something like nostalgia. The fact that my go-to technology doesn’t provide me with any images of these original stores – plus the fact that someone else has taken the time to seek out and photograph their sites – seems to make me value them. I mean, I am here writing about this project after all.

March 19’s daily design idea is can art provide a significant outlet for connecting with an unfamiliar place?

photographs by Paho Mann

640 images, 80 seconds, 1 trip around the world.

This stop-motion short is too good not to share, plus I’m psyched that the website documents their process (at least to a certain extent).

Discovered via GOOD (April 30, 2010). Watch it at www.tourdumonde.fr.

March 13’s daily design idea is be more like Alex: be adventurous in your work & faites “un voyage pas commes les autre.”

Empire State Building, Chelsea

More gorgeous work from Brooklyn Theory:

Empire State Building, Chelsea

March 12’s daily design idea is reflection can bring beautiful new perspectives.

What does an architect look like?

“What do real architects look like?” rhetorically asks Bryant Turnage of the Washington DC-based architecture, design, and urban planning blog “Off the Mall” (love that name, by the way). Turnage continues with some answers: “Well, that’s an easy question. An architect wears all black clothing, usually a turtleneck, and eyeglasses with thick, black plastic frames.”

“Instant Architect” via Core77

“Or maybe an architect wears a sharp suit and handmade leather shoes, and dons a hard hat whenever called to the construction site to review thick rolls of blueprints.”

“architect and supervisor reviewing blueprints” from iStockphoto (and from page 1 of results when I googled “architect”)

“No, wait, an architect wears distressed designer jeans, carries a well-used messenger bag, and is rarely seen without iPod earbuds firmly in place.”

photograph of an architecture student from The Satorialist

Turnage goes on to encourage architecture professionals to find ways of publicly showing what real, non-stereotyped, non-urban chic architects really look like, and even made a Flickr pool for people to upload photos of themselves.

“What Do Real Architects Look Like?” was an especially timely article (published February 8, 2011) because Architect Barbie was revealed a mere five days later during New York’s Toy Fair 11 (February 13-16, 2011). While the history of how the doll came into existence is definitely empowering (check out Design Observer or GOOD for the scoop), there have been mixed reviews on the final product.

via Architizer

February 27’s daily design idea is my own reaction to the new Barbie: I’m thrilled to see the idea of female architects playing out on such a national stage (because women are definitely underrepresented in the profession), but my biggest problem is that the idea of “career” within the whole line of professional Barbies is so oversimplified. I believe that the non-linear career path will only continue to become more common, which makes answering the question of “what you can be” more complicated (and more interesting) than what Mattel presents it to be.

Fantastic photographic reenactments (1 of 2).

Buenos Aires-based photographer Irinia Werning started an ongoing project in 2010 where she invites people to reenact photographed moments from their childhood. The project is (fittingly) called Back To The Future, and has some really great pieces in it. Below are three of my favorites:

MECHI in 1990 & 2010, Buenos Aires

TOMMY in 1977 & 2010, Buenos Aires

FLOR, MALE, SIL in 1983 & 2010

I know that every blogger and their mothers have been posting about this super fun and intriguing project (The Donut Project, Laughing Squid, Gawker, Flavorwire, and Juxtapoz, to name only a few)… but I first discovered this on Designboom.

February 25’s daily design idea is what photo would you recreate?

People, places, things, and alphabets.

Three fun alphabets (and, in one case, a set of numbers) made up of other objects:

Console Font, by Varun Vachhar

Furniture Font Print (photographed not photoshopped!), by the Butler Brothers, discovered via Share Some Candy

Nike Running Club Alphabet, by I Love Dust, discovered via Quipsologies

December 5’s daily design idea is alternate forms are everywhere.