Sunshine from American Buffalo on Vimeo.

This American Life contributor and producer Starlee Kine found a unique way of expressing what it means to keep going, no matter what. As many creatives know, that is the key to success: moving forward when you’re stuck, taking the first step without knowing with absolute certainty where you’re headed, putting in a few more hours to make sure it’s as resolved as it can be. Magic.

The New Design Museum from Design Museum on Vimeo.

The Commonwealth Institute building is set to be adapted to its new purpose by John Pawson. “We are on the brink of something extraordinary,” says museum director Deyan Sudjic. “John Pawson has the ability to very quietly give the building a new life and a new dignity in a subtle but powerful way.”

The new site is set to open in 2014.

Focus Forward – Short Films, Big Ideas Trailer from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Standford University has an amazing track-record in the initiation and development of projects that deal with data visualization. Geoff McGhee, an online journalist specializing in multimedia and info-graphics produced a compelling documentary on current research and practices in the art of visualization and its place in the age of data.

An annual awards and opportunity for cross-pollination is the Society of News Design Malofiej 19 Summit. Participants have observed that the rise in technologies allowing us to create visualization has led to an increase in stunning but otherwise vacuous graphics. The beauty factor remains compelling however as the annual Feltron Report demonstrates.

“We’re just in a phase where we haven’t quite figured out how to put this out to average reader. (. . .) It’s become like a cult trend. Some of the people doing it are like rock star”—John Grimwade of Condé Nast, observes.

This same technological development however is providing greater opportunity for interactivity and use of live data so results can in fact reflect trends in meaningful ways. Many Eyes, an IBM initiative, offers examples of visualizations but also tools to create your own. Its creators believe that—not unlike typography which is now accessible to anyone with a computer—data visualization will improve greatly the more people experiment with it.

“This idea of enabling discovery, look at the data and discover things in it that you wouldn’t have necessary have thought to look for is an important part of what we’re thinking about.”— Eric Rodenbeck, Stamen Design

With successful visualization comes unexpected questions, explorations into cause and a requirement for complete data and unlimited access. Stamen Design cites a telling example where, asked by the City of San Francisco to produce a crime stats visualization, the designers discovered that numbers they were provided were lacking those relating to prostitution, alcohol-related crimes and homicides.

“Visualization can promote openness by the fact of it existing. (…) [it] can serve two roles: one is the explicit role of letting us see stuff coming, the other is this sort of funny passive-aggressive role that you find yourself pushed into a mode of wanting to make data open.”—Martin Wattenberg, IBM Research

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All images from Journalism in the Age of Data

Enriqueta Book / V. Monsalve y G. J. Ibarra (C/AR)
Latinité Roman / Carlos Zinno (AR)

Sancho Regular / Miguel Reyes Cabrera (MX)
Petra / Fernando de Moraes Caro (BR)

The call for entries for the fifth biennial is now open. Whilst the typefaces design category can only include designers of latin-american origin, the design categories covering latin-american type uses is open to all nationalities. Deadline is 23 February 2012 for works produced between April 2010 and February 2012. More info on the site.

I am traveling to sanctuaries across the country to photograph animals that are elderly or at the end stage of their lives. I began this series shortly after I had spent a year in New Jersey helping my sister care for my mother who has Alzheimer’s disease. When my mother got ill, I made a conscious decision to not photograph her. However, caring for her had a profound impact on me and I knew the experience would influence my photography. Shortly after I had returned from New Jersey, I encountered a blind elderly horse that was living on a relative’s property. I was mesmerized by this animal and spent the afternoon photographing him. After reviewing my film, I realized I had found a project that would enable me to sift through my feelings around my mother’s illness.

Elderly Animals: Photographs by Isa Leshko from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

The Little Know-It-All provides the fundamental information designers need to know to thrive in their growing field of practice. This updated edition is an indispensable manual of the knowledge currently required of designers as the evolution of media redefines their role and expands the disciplines in which they must be competent.

I was interested to see that a 7-chapter long book could cover the basics of design practice. Admittedly, I like the title. If you need to brush up on colour theory, printing methods, type basics or digital media, the fundamentals are here.