Coke Mutation
We’re unsure on the survival prospects of this oddly mutated Coca-Pepsi-Cola can. This could be the ultimate coke – if only the current species could interbreed. Peculiar image of the week. Designer unknown.
What is Next Nature?
With our attempts to cultivate nature, humankind causes the rising of a next nature, which is wild and unpredictable as ever. Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us.
Posts Tagged ‘corporature’
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Razorius Gilletus – On the Origin of a Next Species
My first razor I got when I was fifteen. It consisted of two blades on a simple metal stick and I remember it gave me a really close and comfortable shave. In the twenty years that have passed since my first shave, I’ve used nine different models of razors. This morning I shaved myself with the Gillette Fusion Power Phantom, a rather heavy, yet ergonomically designed battery-powered razor that looks like a bit like vacuum cleaner and has five vibrating blades with an aloe strip for moisture. So what happened? A story about design, technology, market and evolution.
By KOERT VAN MENSVOORT
First, a personal disclaimer (in case you were wondering): Yes, I agree shaving technology was already sufficiently developed when I got my first razor twenty years ago. Actually already in 1975, shortly after the Gillette Trac II razor – the first two-bladed men’s razor – was advertised, its excessive design was parodied on the US Television show Saturday Night Live. The creators of the satirical television program played on the notion of a two bladed razor as a sign of the emerging consumption culture and made a fake commercial parody for a fictitious razor with the ridiculous amount of three (!) blades, emphasizing the consumer is gullible enough to believe and buy everything seen on TV. Of course, the comedians of Saturday Night Live could not know a three-bladed razors would become a reality on the consumer market in the late 1990’s. Let alone that they could have anticipated I would shave myself with a five bladed razor this very morning. Welcome in the twenty-first century folks: No we don’t travel in spaceships… but we do have five bladed razors!
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Colalife
Coca-Cola© succeeds in what most NGO’s try to achieve: getting the goods to the poor in
the 3rd worldAfrica. For most people there, a Coke is easier to get and cheaper than a bottle of drinking water. One might say that we shouldn’t encourage them to drink that much Coke, but we can also use the system. Colalife© aims to use the efficiency of the Coca-Cola distribution chain to ship medicines to the places that need them. Parasiting on the crates of Coke, the containers fit perfectly in the spaces unused. -
Energy-aware Internet-routing
Data-hungry companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon could reduce their energy consumption with 40% by rerouting data to locations where electricity prices are lowest on a particular day. A smart routing algorithm could take advantage of daily and hourly fluctuations in electricity costs across the country (US) perhaps even the world. Further it could weigh up the physical distance needed to route information (it is more expensive to move data over greater distances) against the likely cost savings from reduced energy use. Energy prices fluctuate daily (changes in supply, consumer demand, fuel price hikes), even among geographically close locations. It is the outcome of research done by PhD student Asfandyar Qureshi and colleagues at MIT.
Google recently built a datacenter in Belgium that relies entirely on ambient cooling — on days when the weather gets too warm, the center’s servers are simply shut down. The energy-aware Internet-routing scheme is an extension of this idea says Bruce Maggs, vice president of research at Akamai. Data distribution alone will not be able to do the trick; servers need to use substantially less power when idle than when fully running. Further he remarks: “The paper is not about saving energy but about saving cost, although there are some ways to do both. You have to hope that those are aligned.”
Via: technologyreview.com | Related: Search Engine | Energy Consumption shown on Power Plant | Datafountain | Power Aware Cord
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Corporate animal wallpaper (in real life)
Students of the Next Nature Theme at TU/e Industrial design in Eindhoven decided to jungle-up their working environment a bit with the corporate animal wallpaper.
Hand painted (!) by Jurrian Tjeenk Willink, Glenn Jacobs, Kevin Pfeil and Josien Rijswijk. Original pattern design by Karl Grandin, of whom the corporate animal sweater is still available.
See also: Corporate animal pattern laptop engraving, Five strategies of biomimicmarketing, A wood of logos, Nextnature@Volume magazine, Designing for Next Nature @ TU Eindhoven.
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Brand dating
Male - BMW, Armani, Durex - is looking for a Female – Dolce & Gabana, New York Times, Victoria’s Secret.
Branddating.nl is a (serious) dating site that relies on the identification people have with brands. It replaces characteristics like “sporty”, “spontaneous” and “funny” with brands like “Apple©”, “Starbucks©” and “Camel©”. We were surprised how well it works and how much more easy it was to describe yourself with brands than it was to do it with words. Although the site offers a lot of Dutch brands, we guess you get the point.
Start dating: Branddating.nl. See also: iReligion, Wood of Logo’s, Media sunrise, We are all born in a world.
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Branded Pigs
What are these people doing? Of course! They are tattooing a pig with the pattern of the luxury bag brand Louis Vuitton. For those who want something more special than the mundane poached tiger pelt to decorate your home.
The tattooed pigs are a project by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, who says his pigs are treated humanely and they are given sedatives before being tattooed. You can buy the tattooed pigs live or purchase their tattooed skins.
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iReligion
Graphic designer Roel Boonen takes the Apple cult to the extreme with this iReligion triptych. His piece is illustrative on how central corporations and digital technology have become in our everyday lives. Will technological corporations replace religion and the holy church in the long run? Read more »
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Survival of the bankrupt companies
“In the environment this company will survive for another 500 years.” From the advertising campaign of WWF Brasil.
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Straight Outta Tokyo
Karera sporting the corporate animals sweater.
And pollen allergy.Related post: Corporate animals engraved on laptop. Via Karl.
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Animal Sweater
As we are surrounded by logos, we are systematically invited, encouraged and directed in what we do. Brands want to be personal and engage in a relationship with you. They want to become a central part of your life. But there is no dialogue, only targeted one-way communication. The symbols are constantly in your field of vision but they are still not part of the public domain. Ownership is of the corporations and the destiny of the logos is in their hands.In the Animal Sweater pattern, designed by the Swedish artist Karl Grandin, the animal shaped logos are set free. Emphasizing the beauty of the stylized animals and their collective kinship, rather than each mark’s individual commercial value, the pattern suggests a new way to experience the commercial imagery.
Finally a limited edition of the Animal Sweaters are available for purchase! Read more »
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Hamburger sneaker
We are unsure whether it is just an accidental evolutionary recombination, or that the hamburger sneaker was bound to happen – somehow, it feels natural. Our peculiar object of the week was created by Olle Hemmendorff. Of course there is also a vegetarian version.
