Animated presentation of Sir Ken Robinson by RSA Animate

RSA Animate produced this entertaining animated video based on Sir Ken Robinson's talk on 'Changing Education Paradigms'. (Thanks to Charlie D for pointing it out). This is a clever and entertaining animation which enhances some parts of the talk of Sir Ken's ideas on education in the 21st Century but I found it a little forced and unnecessary at times. Then again it's a LOT better than some presentations I've seen where the speaker insists on cramming too many superfluous words onto one slide so I'm not complaining....

More on RSA animate here: http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

More Sir Ken TED talks here.

Finally! Decent sub-titles on television!

These lovely sub-titles were spotted on the fantastic BBC show, "Human Planet".

They are crisp white with a slight blurred shadow to help for projection on different backgrounds, built up by a swipe transition word by word AND faded gently to finish. All this enrobed in a simple but elegant font.

These beat the hell out of the normal label sticker type.

In fact, they are the John Hurt of the sub-title world. Of course.

Location:Cambridge,United Kingdom

A huge list of Style Guides and UI Guidelines » The UX Bookmark

A huge list of Style Guides and UI Guidelines » The UX Bookmark

Interesting to see companies' guidelines and there are plenty to choose from here.

See how they protect their logo...!

Thanks to http://www.behance.net/analia_antenucci for spotting this.

***Top 5 design objects of all time***

1.Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire was designed in the thirties as a seaplane and retained some of this art deco style and elegance despite it turning into one of the msot effective killing machines in the second world war.

This paradox is intriguing to me and shows a complete mix of form and function. The stylish eliptical wings and bubble 'Malcolm' style canopy were introduced for functional reasons but boy, this plane looks sweet and, by all accounts, handled like a dream.

So much so that German pilots who were shot down by other Allied aircraft swore blind that it was a Spitfire that shot them down.

Spitfire snobbery, and rightly so.

2. Marcel Breuer's B32 Chair

Embracing modern production techniques without foregoing style, the B32 chair cleverly strips down the infrastructure of the chair to its most basic construction but looks great. In addition it is, unlike Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair, comfortable to sit in!

3. Cat's eyes (road safety reflective devices)

The cat's eyes follow you everywhere, never ceasing to cast their gaze over your travels. And it's a caring gaze as these cat's eyes, embedded into the roads all over the UK help driver's perceive the route ahead by clever use of reflective lenses. But that's not the only clever part: housed in rubber domes they are wiped clean whenever a car goes over them and pushes down the dome.

Ingenious, simple, low-cost and, in today's *environment*, very friendly.

4. Tube map (Harry Beck)

I appreciate that I'm stretching the bounds of 'object' here, but let's just say the tube map, as a poster, is not only essential for travelling in London it's also an inspired and (to me) beautiful piece of sculpted infographics. Up to the point Beck introduced his version in 1931 the map had been based on geographic lines but with the increasing complexity of the Underground system something had to be done. Beck's saw the solution as helping people get around more effectively.

Although the map has undergone many revisions since the thirties it still retains Beck's distinctive style and effectiveness.

5. Post-its!

Simple, effective and borne out of a search for a gap in the market for *slightly* sticky glue. This product shows how with good research and a red hot research department victory can be snatched from the jaws of adversity (initially it was a consumer flop). And what a victory!

Post-its! not only help us bookmark, send notes and make shopping lists they also help us brainstorm new products. The ideal product designer's choice.

Is Google taking over the world? Probably.

Neat advert for Google animation (technically a viral advertising campaign, "Google Demo Slam" was a competition run by google to encourage people to create youtube videos promoting Google applications.)

Is Google docs taking over your office?