Noise Between Stations

There is now a species of Razorfish called Victor, or Xyrichtys victori to be precise. I know this because the man who discovered it off the coast of the Galapagos, Benjamin Victor, just wrote to say Hi. He sent a picture too, of the male and female: Cute little bugger, yes? Benjamin compares it to [...]

In all the bruhaha on business innovation and creative thinking, the focus is often on new ideas, and by extension how different the ideas are. I very rarely see an important dichotomy represented, that of developing ideas that work both inside and outside the organization. In companies, this translates into making money while also serving [...]

I sympathize with the folks that rail against the word user to mean the visitor, reader, etc. of a computer system, but it’s so widespread and useful a term it seems a lost battle at this point. Still, I had to laugh this morning when my wife — who had been using a system called [...]

I’m so glad Christina wrote what I was thinking: “dudes, can we collectively move on now? …read businessweek instead of alertbox for a change.“

Mike Lee just told me about John Maeda’s new Simplicity blog (where John is coincidentally blogging about Mike.) While simplicity is a noble pursuit, we live in a complicated world and I was curious to know how Maeda could suddenly pounce on us with such a manifesto while surrounded by the complexity of work at [...]

Nooch is a new Japanese and Thai restaurant in my hood of New York, a chain originating in Singapore. I was skeptical, but I must admit Karim Rashid’s interior works well, balancing modern with comfortable through comfy seats and colorful but subdued lighting. The food is yummy and surprisingly inexpensive. The drink menu focus on [...]

FC Now lists a few creative problem solving techniques.

…are at the 92nd Street Y, along with an impressive roster of classes and events. Start with the list of lectures.

A private French firm spends somewhere in excess of 300 million Euro to build the highest bridge in the world. It’s located in Millau and designed by British architect Norman Foster. Slideshow

I hadn’t realized Richard Saul Wurman extended his Understanding book — which sumarizes an entire subject with information design — into a series, first with a volume on children and now one on healthcare.

Bruce Nussbaum’s Redesigning American Business for Business Week identifies what my company is doing: “Designers are teaching CEOs and managers how to innovate… They pitch themselves to businesses as a resource to help with a broad array of issues that affect strategy and organization — creating new brands, defining customer experiences, understanding user needs, changing [...]

They say the fish will be the last animal to discover water. Walking down the street the other day I wondered about the meaning of my own name. Victor means winner, but in my case I was simply named after my maternal grandfather. And Lombardi, especially when I was born in 1969, was synonymous with [...]

Actually, no. But not so far off when you learn a rat brain has been taught to fly a jet. Gibson extends: “…Thunderbolt IIs have Night Vision Imaging Systems (NVIS), rat brain compatible cockpits forward of their wings and a large bubble canopy which provides the rat brains all-around vision. The rat brains are encircled [...]

Niti Bhan’s While you were out: changes in the global design industry for Core77 is a good overview on the fusion of business and design, including some nice words about my new company. Niti is from IIT’s Institute of Design who, incidentally, has a newish Master of Design Methods program for those who want a [...]

Gerber makes pocket knives and tools, but not the kind of knives I’d feel comfortable pulling out in an office to adjust a screw on my laptop… these are serious knives. Their branding is a direct extension of the products, summed up in the words Fend for yourself… When did we decide campgrounds needed laundromats? [...]