I am actually becoming a workaholic. Last week I spent days staying in studio till 2 am almost every day. This is why I am loosing contact with the world and I am not posting on the blog.

Fortunately some friends of mine are still alive and give me some good tips. For Example Francesca has forwarded onto me a link to the Ferragamo exhibition, inaugurated on Jun 20th in Florence.

The Ferragamo flagship on Santa Trinita, in the heart of Florence, houses more than designer shoes and bags. It is also home to the newly renovated design museum, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo. In The most recent exhibition there is Creativity in Color, curated by Stefania Ricci. Continue reading ‘‘Creativity in Color’ - exhibition at Museo Ferragamo’

Every day, at work, I have a look to the ‘Daily slurp‘ for both duty and fun.

It is simply a daily dose of sites to check out. It is all about visual appeal and it is designed to provide the fastest way possible to survey freshly designed web sites on the web.

One of the feature I prefer is the Colour Search that allows the user to search the full database of sites on Daily Slurp for sample by color. It’s really useful and inspiring. Check it out!

Today I was reading a review about a book, ‘Seeing Red’ by Nicholas Humphreys.

Humphreys is School Professor at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics.
He has published several philosophical works on consciousness. ‘Seeing Red’ is one of these.

From Harvard University Press website:
“Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What’s involved in “seeing red”? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red?

Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact–a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that’s the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn’t told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what’s the point of consciousness?
Continue reading ‘Seeing Red’

This image looks like a thumbnail but it took me ages to take it with screenshot pilot! Anyway I think The Concretes last album website is gorgeous. Every colour option reminds me the trend boards that my friend Veronica compose for colour forecasting. Do you have the same feeling pupas? Have fun!

My friend Francesca has just posted on Neural an interesting review about Spin Cycle, a turntable that allows the user to navigate color and aural spaces by Spencer Kiser.

“It’s a plain ordinary turntable, surmounted by a webcam. On the same turntable, there are some colored plexiglass discs (shoot by the camera). Depending on chromatic combinations and on the dj’s juxtapositions, sounds are produced. During the performance the resulting chromatic mix is projected onto a wall or on a computer monitor while the sounds are played in the same environment. Continue reading ‘Spin Cycle, color turntable’

This weekend I ate too much. This is why I am going to start my blue food diet! Why?

Because as Color Mattes (the useful website where I also found this picture of ‘musubi’) reports , of all the colours in the spectrum blue is an appetite suppressant. Weight loss plans suggest putting your food on a blue plate. Or even better than that, put a blue light in your refrigerator and watch your munchies disappear. Or here’s another tip: Dye your food blue! Dramatic results can also be achieved by using a blue light bulb for your dining area.

Blue food is a rare occurrence in nature. Aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn’t exist in any significant quantity as a natural food colour. Consequently, we don’t have an automatic appetite response to blue. Furthermore, our primal nature avoids foods that are poisonous. A million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were “color warning signs” of potentially lethal food. Blue is often associated with alkaline conditions, whereas most organic life is mildly acidic. Food scientists have conceded that there are no natural food dyes of a blue colour1, and yet psychological research has concluded that blue is a relaxing colour with a positive influence on mental and physical performance. Nevertheless, there are a few brave foodstuffs that daringly cross the boundaries and promote themselves, bravely, as blue. Check the list in this article Continue reading ‘Blue Food’

Jody Turner is CEO of Culture of Future a trend and design culture consultancy in Los Angeles. She works with strategic trend partners Kathy Baylor in NYC, Reinier Evers in Amsterdam and Style Vision in France.
Culture of Future is currently working with Liz Fried in NYC and Paul Bennett in London on a “brand is dead” business and trend handbook.

Thanks to Vronili, as usual, I found this article published on Apple website about ‘Design Color Trends’.
I do agree with Jodi when she says that brand ideals are shifting from a primary focus on iconographic hierarchy to a sideways, organic relationship with consumers.

Copied and pasted below.

“Culture is moving from homogeneous expressions to an era of overlapping influences, creating a “co-creation culture.” As trends move out of focus, consumers are not discarding them as new trends move in. Rather, they are keeping bits, discarding others and redefining them on their own terms. Consumer choices are influencing design and color industries in brand new ways.

Continue reading ‘Jody Turner: Design and Color Trends’

According to Colorstrology, a tool developed by Pantone and written by Michele Bernhardt, my personal colour is Sky Blue (Pantone 14-4318). This is why I am an instrument of light and love. I am a highly principled with a refined nature and anything that is crude or base is antagonistic to my sytem. I have a strong sense of fair play and find it difficult to associate with people who are unscrupulous. Whether I am viewing works of art or creating them myself, I have a good eye for detail. My personal colour embodies the qualities of peace and calm. Wearing, meditating or surrounding myself with Sky Blue helps my pierce through hurt and anger and aligns with vision and possibility. Continue reading ‘Colorstrology’