30 October

Art and Design in the Montreal metro

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I bet New Yorkers can’t believe their eyes (or ears) when they first encounter the Montreal metro… AESTHETICS Every station is designed by a different architect, and each one is home to giant works of art, from walls of stained glass to exquisite modern tile patterns. (View a quick photo line-up of the many different […]

26 October

Signage in Montreal

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Montreal has some of the most artsy storefront signs in the world. Not content with the usual 2 dimensional retail signs, they add on these massive 3-D sculptures that extend out into the street, looming over you like modern gargoyles, only much friendlier. In the winter, they gather snow and icicles; in the summer, pigeons. […]

19 October

Professional blogs: what works, what doesn’t

So if you’re going to put the effort into writing a blog, you want people to read it, right? And hopefully come back for more. So, what works? New ideas. Humor. News. Controversy. Personality. Opinions. What doesn’t work? Conventional ideas. Cut-and-paste’s from a brochure or ad or anything that reads as if it’s been approved […]

13 October

But is it memorable, darling?

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So I went to the Montreal Fine Arts Museum yesterday to see the “American Streamlined Design: The World of Tomorrow” exhibit. The focus was the 1930’s and how the “streamlined” aesthetic still influences products today (e.g. nike shoes, motorcycles). It was mostly industrial design and furniture. Lots of bullet-shaped objects, especially car accessories (tail-lights and […]

5 October

One of nature’s perfect designs…

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Here he is, by popular demand. Oscar the Cairn terror/terrier. I caught him sunbathing and guarding the lake. Technically I was working, as I’m demonstrating the ins and outs of adding stuff to a blog. It takes longer than you’d think, (how many passwords and user names does one girl need??) and the instructions are […]

4 October

Worst ad ever

I saw this ad for a plastic surgeon on the New York subway and – after my eyeballs had stopped bleeding – I took a photo for purposes of criminal analysis. (Click the thumbnail image and you’ll see the whole ghastly thing.) Can you count the number of grievous visual assaults? Let’s begin: 1) The […]