fueledbycoffee dot com

The End.

2010-03-03T20:20:00.011-06:00

After 8 years of blogging, I have decided to retire the blog at fueledbycoffee.com. After much deliberation, I decided it was time to shift for a number of reasons:

Blogger is no longer supporting the format (FTP) in which I publish fueledbycoffee.com, opening the opportunity for me to try a new blogging service.
The moniker "fueledbycoffee" has lost much of its meaning to me over the years. What started as a lighthearted notion of a caffeine-fueled work ethic now feels a bit awkward, and perhaps not very descriptive of the things I write about here.
Additionally I have begun to use the moniker "fueledbycoffee" as a nom de plume for the design-cartoons I create for Core77. The pen-name allows me the freedom to publish satirical work without a direct connection to my name and reputation. However when a reader follows my fueledbycoffee link, they end up on a site that mixes my thoughts with illustrations and cartoons. This doesn't give the reader what they expected-- more drawing work.
In recent years I have begun to establish my own independent design practice. Having a separate blog and portfolio site splits my personality between my thoughts and my work-- a distinction I don't embody. I believe moving this blog to craightonberman.com will allow me to show both sides on one stage.
Moving the blog to craightonberman.com is also a good way to make my personal site more dynamic between project updates.
And since I am in the business of selling objects & ideas, more traffic to my personal site could also result in more sales.
Fueledbycoffee.com will convert into a drawing-blog, focusing exclusively on cartoons, illustrations, and sketching experiments that I might not normally post on craightonberman.com.

In the coming weeks I will apply an archival template to the blog posts that currently live here, and will take down the home page. All posts will be left in their current locations, and should be accessible via an archive page, as well as Google indexing. Unfortunately, those of you that read this via RSS may lose the feed entirely, but I will do my best to try and preserve the current one.

As of this writing, I'm considering using Tumblr for my new ventures, as I like the lightness and simplicity of the interface, and find I am much more interested in the content I want to create-- not the tool used to publish it. (Most likely I will use this one for Craighton Berman and this one for fueledbycoffee.com, but this is not final yet.) Look for finalized homes by the end of March 2010.

Thank you to anyone who has been a loyal reader of this site-- I truly appreciate it. I've met a lot of great people through writing this blog, many of which I now consider consider friends. Through blogging I have grown as a designer and-- more importantly-- as a person through the posts I have placed here. It's been a fun 8 years of writing, and I hope you follow me on to the next venture.

Cheers,

Craighton

December by the sea

2010-01-23T15:15:00.002-06:00

Birthday in Boston, December by the sea.

3 Ideas with limited Commercial Potential

2010-01-23T15:09:00.000-06:00

For Core77

Written in Reverse

2010-01-19T16:25:00.001-06:00

Mr Sketch Markers in 3D!

2010-01-07T10:25:00.002-06:00

Rump & Shoulder

2010-01-05T21:53:00.001-06:00

I.D. Magazine is dead.

2009-12-16T09:49:00.011-06:00

Print is dying and it's taking 55 years of US design history with it.

As a subscriber for well over a decade, I'm really saddened.

I.D. inspired me back when I was an industrial design student, searching for inspiration and a point-of-view on the outside design world. Blogs were still finding their way, so the monthly appearance of my subscription was an exciting event. Years later, I.D. exposed me to the firm I currently work at, through an article on gravitytank's process in the June 2005 issue. It was one of the first things I had read about gravitytank, and could certainly be credited with my initial interest in the firm.

The magazine has had it's ups and downs over the years, but in recent years had really hit a stride both in reporting and in art direction. The spare & straightforward photography style that they started to use a few years ago, had really started to form into a recognizable aesthetic point-of-view. I love how they stopped trying to over-glamorize the objects in their pages, instead casually placing them in empty rooms, leaning against other products or photography equipment, cords casually appearing in the corners of shots-- and then lighting them in a wash of even strobe flash. It was democratizing and beautiful. It had a vision. Blogs just don't produce art direction like that.

Sure, I.D. was losing a lot of it's uniqueness-- with lifestyle magazines reporting on design, blogs breaking the latest news, and an American industrial design industry that's in serious transition-- but the fact remains that there are no other publications in the world reporting on design the way I.D. did. Other design publications spread their focus to other disciplines (like urbanism, architecture and dwellings) but they rarely step behind the scenes to talk about the designers, their workspaces, and their processes.

Perhaps most unfortunate is the loss of an American voice on industrial design. England has Icon, Japan has Axis, Italy has Abitare. To lose that voice is to lose a record of the current zeitgeist of US design, to lose a critical voice of the industry it reported on, and to lose a champion for design-at-large.

Of course, this is certainly the darkest times for the publishing industry. When major newspapers and magazines are dropping weekly, I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that a somewhat niche magazine would also struggle for advertising dollars. I was always a little amazed that the majority of the advertising in I.D. seemed to come from design consulting firms and design service providers-- not exactly high dollar advertising. Was there never an opportunity to approach big money "lifestyle" brands to advertise in the US's premier design magazine? Isn't their target market those who read this type of periodical? (I should mention that I.D. has let my decade-long subscription lapse multiple times in the past few years without so much as a renewal notice. Not exactly a good subscriber retention strategy.)

Innovation zealots may excitedly exclaim "Print is dead!", but there's definitely some serious irony in the fact that a magazine about the culture of objects is now ceasing to exist as an object.

We'll miss you, I.D.-- hope to see you again soon.

iPhone Body Mods

2009-12-11T00:17:00.002-06:00

For Core77.

I turned 30 today.

2009-12-02T18:06:00.000-06:00

Cog + Rockstar's Socially Responsible Holiday

2009-11-30T12:07:00.004-06:00

My half of a collabo with Lunchbreath for Core77's Holiday Gift Guide:

Twenty-Four in Philly

2009-11-20T18:32:00.001-06:00

And back to the airport, cheesesteak in hand.

Subtlety is underrated.

2009-11-20T18:31:00.000-06:00

This is important.
NYC design-darlings Rich, Brilliant, Willing redesign their website. The best feature happens when you let it sit for a while and come back to it.
Haters gonna hate.
The Lego Remote Control cartoon was on Wired's Gadget Lab blog this summer, and I had no idea.
DIY MUJI. (What would Naoto say?)
I saw the Dirty Projectors play last week. They were great. The opener, tUnE-yArDs, was also very impressive. You should watch her perform.
It looks like I'm starting to firmly plant my other foot in the world of interaction design: I'll be helping to run a workshop at the upcoming MIT Media Lab's TEI conference and I'll be attending Interaction10, the interaction design communities' conference.
I had the opportunity to attend the openeing reception for the new Konstatin Grcic exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago this week. Not only is this an important exhibition for Chicago's image in the international design community, but it's also a successful museum show on design because it reveals Grcic's process and it allows people to touch (!) and sit on (!!) dozens of his chair designs. Those simple� but important� exhibition details inspired me to think about what makes design work (and sometimes fail) in a museum setting. A blog post is forthcoming.

Autumn began in London

2009-11-14T13:29:00.003-06:00

Life is good with the experimental jetset.

Summer ended in London

2009-11-08T23:37:00.004-06:00

Snow Leotard

2009-11-02T19:37:00.002-06:00

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE FEW OF US WILLING TO GET OUR HANDS DIRTY.
"Until recently, treating design as an intellectual medium, rather than a practical one, was rare in Europe and rarer still in the United States, where designers are more deeply rooted in the �build a better world� optimism of 20th-century modernism than in other countries."
- NYT article on the Boyms (whose work I don't particularly care for, but I find this quote compelling)
The Drunkard's Progress
1974, in the sunshine.
In B flat. Best use of YouTube since Breakcore Kid. (Not really, but I wanted an excuse to link to Breakcore Kid again-- the best use of YouTube ever.)
The Unlucky Motorist. Life can always get worse.

Segway Hacks

2009-10-02T11:39:00.001-05:00

Created for Core77.

It's time to work on some new design projects.

2009-09-29T14:08:00.001-05:00

With two similar designs to ones I've created popping up recently, I think it's time for me to put some new work out in the world:

Did Urban Outfitters rip me off? Or Suck UK? Or is this idea floating in conceptual zeitgeist?

The original exhibited earlier this year:

See 'Stimulation' in more detail at craightonberman.com.

A recent lamp by British designer Guy Brown:

Coil Lamp, created in 2008:

I emailed with Guy, and he was really nice about it all-- he had never seen Coil before. He had considered making his lamp the way I made mine, and actually I had considered his wire frame solution as well.

So, the take-a-way for me is two-fold:

I need to make more projects to stay a head of the design zeitgeist.
Even in the age of Google it's still basically impossible to search for conceptual ideas to see if they already exist. Ideas have no physical form, and are difficult to search for. Search engines are text driven, not image driven. Press & blog coverage is imperatively important.

EPIC FALL

2009-09-25T17:44:00.000-05:00

Did I mention I'm teaching a drawing class again at the School of the Art Institute? Did I mention I'm keeping a class blog of inspiring and interesting sketch work?
This cement and bentwood lamp definitely captures the same aesthetic zeitgeist as Studio Ilse's wonderful lamp for Wastberg, but the details are gorgeous nonetheless.
I made a song for you with an online Tenori-on.
Christoph Niemann still has the best illustration gig in the world.
Max Tundra - Which Song. I hope this is what hotel lounges play in the future.
Ted Leo meets Spoon uptown for coffee with King Tubby.

Introducing: Cog + Rockstar

2009-09-15T13:58:00.005-05:00

Introducing Cog + Rockstar, two iconic designer ~~stereotypes~~ "personalities" created in collaboration with Toby Lunchbreath for Core77's Hack2Work Special. Vinyl toys and graphic novels to come.

See more of my scrawlings.

Telegrams from a summer in Italy

2009-09-15T13:16:00.004-05:00

Eating buffalo mozzarella at 10 Corso Como and touring Achille Castiglioni's studio were the highest points. Sublime.

Pulsing Forward

2009-09-04T18:01:00.002-05:00

Read an interview I did (as Fueledbycoffee) with my friend Lunchbreath, for Chicagoist, about our web comix for Core77.
Global designers coming to Chicago! Official: Konstatin Grcic exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Not yet official: BarberOsgerby in December 2009, Hella Jongerius in 2010.
Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource - Their new album is perfect and wonderful, and this lead-off track is perfectly wonderful.
The Fat Boys aren't even fat by today's standards. I see guys fatter than that on the bus every day.
Spoon - Got Nuffin - Spoon are the only pop band that matters.
"Industrial Facility feel that someone must take up the position of providing simple, no-nonsense computer products. The courageousness in design is that they make the affirmation that sometimes, some products don't have to be celebratory, but can act quietly in the background."

Seoul Provider

2009-09-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

A brief stop in Seoul, just because I happened to be in the neighborhood.

Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

2009-08-21T20:52:00.002-05:00

You should read this epic-length (but excessively interesting) article on the market by Vanity Fair. I also have more market photos and videos, if you're so inclined.

Crazy things don't stop for no one.

2009-08-18T19:19:00.000-05:00

"Fabbers, Dabblers, and Microstars" - a stellar article on the future of home fabrication from Icon Magazine. I've heard this vision before: people will all own rapid prototyping machines and will print downloaded products, or design their own. However this article deftly navigates from this utopian vision, to other possible scenarios:

"This doesn't mean that you'll make everything at home... 2D printing is a good analogy. Just as we used to have local copy shops, high streets will sprout fabrication shops where people can take their designs on a memory stick. It is quite feasible that a lot of products will start to disappear from our shops, and will exist simply as data... "We're moving into a world where the only thing that's for sale is information," says Dr Adrian Bowyer..."

"Perhaps fabbers will be most useful simply to repair things. It doesn't seem too idealistic to suppose that a repair culture could replace our disposable culture - that throwing away a remote control because one button has come off will be a socially unacceptable act. Instead, you could scan the offending product and print out a new part."

"...in theory at least - it ought to be more sustainable. No more planned obsolescence, no more landfills. You simply don't produce anything that doesn't have a proven user demand first, that way nothing is speculative or wasteful. There is an obvious flip side to that, of course. Given that we are error-prone, wasteful creatures, will putting the power to manufacture in the hands of everybody reduce the potential for waste or massively increase it? What happens when millions of people press print and then think, "Oh, actually, I don't really like how that came out, let's try again"?"

"What people will actually use fabbers for is difficult to predict... One designer, Tim Stolzenburg, designed and printed a functioning revolver, an early indication of William Gibson's notion that "the street" finds its own uses for technology."
A recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's ninth symphony stretched to fill 24 hours. A continuously running webcast.
'Table, Bench, Chair' by Industrial Facility for Established & Sons - Wow. Absolute conceptual purity. I love this. Read more about it here.
More Sam Hecht led design: coverage of RCA Platform 12's final design projects. Ideas that are so smart, they're obvious.
Atlier A1 - All of Belgium's best & brightest designers under one roof (and lots of great photos of their workspaces). Home to some of my long-time favorites: Big-Game (new website & collection!), Sylvain Willenz, Marina Bautier, and new favorite Diane Steverlynck. I love the work coming out of this studio.
On the history of Chicago's Street Life, or a 3 point history of how the highway came to dominate (ruin) the city:

"[Daniel] Burnham's plan, with its unimpeded traffic flows, also represented a transition into the automobile age, which dramatically changed the relationship between Chicagoans and their streets..."
"The extension of Ogden Avenue from Chicago Avenue to Armitage at Lincoln Park symbolized a new attitude. In the quest for an efficient way to link the West and North Sides, the roadway slashed thought existing neighborhoods and scaled Goose Island with a lofty bridge. That same attitude that almost any part of the built city might be expendable was present in early plans for wide, limited-access roadways. The idea of the street as a place for getting from here to there was about to triumph... "
"The expressway system, which removed much of the traffic from the major city thoroughfares, represented the near triumph of the idea of the single-use street: the only possible function was as a place for cars to drive... Neighborhoods that lay in the way were now regarded as irrelevant piles of rubble-to-be, and the older transient districts were flattened to make way for superhighways."

Redefining Modern Luxury

2009-08-14T16:05:00.003-05:00

Originally drawn for Core77 / See more drawings