Thursday
Aug162012
ExplorationAfter a Summer Storm: View from our Office
An inspirational view out our office windows yesterday evening, courtesy of a wild thunderstorm and the sunset. We love New York.
Monday
Aug062012
NYC2012: Reflections on New York's Olympic Bid
Of course we all know the 2012 Olympics are currently being held in London, but it wasn't always so. Back before the London Olympics were a reality, many New Yorkers and New York organizations, including Two Twelve, were involved with NYC2012 — the organization responsible for New York City's bid to host the Olympics. From 2000-2004, we were responsible for designing the bid books and venue graphics for the official submissions to both the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Friday
Jul202012
Shots from the Street: #sign #shadow #flatiron
It's so easy to get lost in our everyday tasks, often forgetting to take time to observe the simple beauty that surrounds us. Sometimes, you need a reminder to slow down and find some creativity in the mundane. Through the lens of nostalgia, we're now able to capture the beauty in the every day with iPhone Apps like Instagram, Phonto, and Pixlromatic (to name a few) and catalog these moments in our pockets for future inspiration.
Our new series, Shots from the Street, challenges us to take a closer look at the world around us and remind ourselves of why we live and work in this great city.
Wednesday
Jul112012
Japanese Heritage Night at the Mets
YouTube offers a view from the stands of performances in honor of the Third Annual Japanese Heritage Night at the New York Mets Citi Field, hosted last month.
Japanese Heritage Night is an important fundraising event, with a portion of each ticket sale purchased online going to the Tomodachi Fund of the U.S.-Japan Council. The Tomodachi Fund supports Japan's recovery from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami through the strengthening of cultural and economic ties and individual exchange between the United States and Japan.
Ann Harakawa, Two Twelve Principal, U.S.-Japan Council delegate, and Board member of the Japanese American National Museum, helped to initiate this yearly event through her long term professional relationship with the Mets. Through her involvement, Two Twelve contributed by designing invitations, banners and programs to help promote and commemorate the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRuucs9l-LQ&feature=em-share_video_user
Wednesday
Jun272012
Graphic Design - Now in Production
In 1989, the year that the Walker Art Center exhibited Graphic Design in America (its first and last comprehensive exhibition on graphic design), corporate Modernism was singing its swan song and April Greiman, the New Wave pioneer of the exhibition's patriotic masthead , was ushering a generation of designers into a decade of graphic expression and individualism. Though the turn was both stylistic and idealistic, it was driven by the presence of the personal computer, which put the means of production in the hands of the designer. Fast forward to 2012, Graphic Design — Now in Production surveys the state of the designer-as-producer in the new millennium. As the tools of the designer have evolved, has the designer evolved with them?
Wednesday
Jun202012
Even Fans Need to Eat
As part of our work at MetLife Stadium, the home of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets, we were asked to create a set of iconic signs to identify the stadium's concessions. The goal was to evoke the jumbled energy of New York's streetscape on a limited budget in the span of a few months. No problem!
Drawing from our experience at Citi Field, we were familiar with different methods of capturing fans attention in the hustle and bustle of the game day environment. Armed with the stadium's seven offerings, from burgers and hot dogs to cheesesteaks and a delicatessen, we jumped into design. Working closely with concessionaires at Delaware North, we were able to visually connect their food concepts to the iconic regional food offerings that inspired their menus by studying historic and contemporary photos of the Jersey Shore's classic boardwalks, Coney Island's Astroland, and New York City's Lower East Side. The greatest challenge was defining the typographic character and color palette for each option. How do you capture the energy of those locations in a single panel?
Wednesday
Jun132012
Two Twelve Wins New York Landmarks Conservancy Award for NY City Center
The New York Landmarks Conservancy honored Two Twelve with the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the Conservancy's highest honor, for their work with Ennead Architects in the restoration of New York City Center. Recognized as New York City's leading center for dance and musical theater, City Center began a comprehensive renovation project in 2010 to restore the authentic beauty and charm of their landmark building. Two Twelve's elegant wayfinding signage and donor system both compliment the building's elaborate architectural patterns and filagree, while helping visitors and staff navigate the building with ease.
Thursday
Jun072012
#SEGDConf
It's early June, and once again time for the annual SEGD gathering and gabfest. In other words THE conference, our big event of the year. It used to be called the "national" conference, but that doesn't make sense any more. Last June it was in Canada, and these days, SEGD is more international than ever. In any case, it's a great opportunity to network, tell our stories, be inspired, snag some new ideas, and just catch up.
The 2011 conference was in Montreal, the city where I was born. I helped organize and run that one, and my dear friend, Sylvia Harris, was one of the final speakers on the program. As it happens, it was her last public performance, and yes, it truly was a performance, as she shared her experience and opinions about why it is real, living, breathing people for whom we actually design. This summer Montreal is in turmoil, with its raucous, unhappy students disrupting everyday life, so it's a good thing that we have moved on to New York City for our annual gathering.
Friday
Jun012012
Designers Make a Difference
Recently AIGA/NY held a celebration for the 30th anniversary of the New York Chapter of AIGA,, the largest and one of the oldest in the country. Debbie Millman hosted the evening at the SVA Theater and 12 designers presented different aspects of the AIGA/NY story. I was asked to talk about the time after 9/11.
Wednesday
May232012
Don't Make Me Think - Really?
GPS can be a real marriage buster. Using the damn thing often makes me and my husband argue. You see, we are a mixed marriage, he loves it and I hate it. It's amazing how that calm, reassuring voice of the GPS (we call her "Alexus") gets us worked up while we are on a nice excursion somewhere. It all comes down to different styles of receiving and processing information and our personal relationships to maps and digital tools.
I recently met with a group of students from New York University's graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program. We were talking about the relationship between wayfinding through physical space and navigation in digital media. One of the students brought up the work of Steven Krug who wrote, Don't Make Me Think, the seminal book on web usability. The book is now twelve years old but Krug's ideas still carry a certain currency in the user experience world.
