Inspiration

Check out this collection of 50 well designed logos from StockLogos.com in various styles and themes.

E. chromi is a collaboration between designers and scientists in the new field of synthetic biology. In 2009, seven Cambridge University undergraduates spent the summer genetically engineering bacteria to secrete a variety of coloured pigments, visible to the naked eye. They designed standardised sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria.

The concept of design thinking as an approach to problem solving within the sphere of design has developed momentum in recent years, to the point where it's now almost a truism. But if there are more than a few books available on the topic, Design & Thinking would seem to be the first documentary. Consisting of interviews with such luminaries as Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO and Richard Grefé, executive director of AIGA, the idea has merit. Finding a screening may prove difficult, however, since no dates have yet been set subsequent to its launch at the Newport Beach Film Festival last Saturday.

A short film on the work of graphic designer Noma Bar, master of negative space. It shows his nifty Cut It Out device in the shape of a massive dog. People can apparently feed paper, rubber and other materials into its mouth to produce their own cut-out images. Fans can also purchase prints of his work at Online Editions.

Click images for a larger view.

A short portrait of 80-year-old Lewis Mitchell, who has been working with Monotype type casting machines for 62 years. It's the kind of film that raises many questions: What will you be doing when you hit 80? How important is it to perfect a particular skill over a period of many decades? And is such perseverance and focus justly rewarded in this day and age?

When it launched in February of last year by providing online access to the collections of 17 museums in nine countries, the Google Art Project broke new ground. And yet, while promising, there it sat, more a proof of concept than a satisfying experience. As the months went by it increasingly seemed that the Art Project was destined to simply fade away.