erik dahl

The “Cadet Man” Adventure

Sunday May 3, 2009

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It was a rainy weekend and I wanted to get both Cooper and myself out of the house for everyone’s sanity. I’ve always had a fascination with “Roadside Attractions,” so I did a quick Google search for ‘Pittsburgh Roadside Attractions’ and came up with a 35 foot tall cowboy holding a hamburger. Awesome! Let’s go!

I thought it was just going to be an adventure for Cooper and I, but Kelly and Ellery joined us for what turned out to be a driving, sighting, eating, and playground adventure. By the way, Ellery picked up two new nicknames today: Elle’s Bells and Beaner. (Can you figure out the provenance of each? One is decidedly easier than the other.) Continue reading for pictures and commentary.

Pecha Kucha Night Presentation

Saturday April 4, 2009

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I recently had the honor of presenting at Pittsburgh AIGA’s 2nd Pecha Kucha Night.

What’s Pecha Kucha? Basically, each presenter is given 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. The presentation is set to automatic, so the slides keep moving forward whether you are ready or not. That’s 6:40 to present an interesting idea and tell a compelling story.

It was great fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I presented an update to a side-project I have been working on just for the fun of it: my side view mirror project. Basically, I’ve been taking photographs of drivers through their side view mirrors during my daily commutes.

Check out the video below to experience it for yourself.

Please remove our free publicity - MIT Press

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UPDATE (03-24-09):
MIT has backed off their hard line and are allowing me to excerpt a subset of the lessons. I need to rework my article and republish the revision sometime in the near future.
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Today I received a letter (email) from Pamela Quick, MIT Press Permissions Coordinator regarding a few posts (now removed) referencing 101 THINGS [...]

Learning To Love You More

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I came across the website Learning To Love You More by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Miranda July wrote and directed the wonderfully brilliant movie Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). Okay, back to the website, or project, because its much more than a website. Its simultaneously a communal art project and catalog [...]

LEGO is mapping experiences

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Bruce Temkin from the Customer Experience Matters weblog digs up an interesting example of customer journey mapping from Lego. Its a nice example that emphasizes the need to design for the whole experience. The emphasis here is on the “make or break” moments as well as the places/moments where additional data/information may be necessary. There [...]

The Elements of Islay Bottles

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I came across a post in my feedreader today from one of the non-english design blogs that I follow, Below the Clouds. I don’t read Swedish, but I was immediately struck by the beauty of the bottle design. At first I didn’t realize that these were whiskey bottles. The bottles are reminiscent of medical or [...]

Microsoft, Glimpse into the future

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Microsoft, Future Vision Montage:

Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future (2019). Even though the ideas aren’t jaw-dropping innovative or orthogonal to current trends, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors. I think the most interesting aspects of the video are not [...]

Industry trends in prototyping

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Dave Cronin of Cooper Design has a great white paper about current trends in prototyping. He covers the reasons to create prototypes along with discussing popular approaches, paper prototypes (and crude physical models), and clickable prototypes. Its a good article and you should check it out here.

Dieter Rams Designs Revisited

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There’s been a lot of talk recently about Dieter Rams and his designs as well as his design legacy and impact.
About Dieter Rams

Born in 1932; strongly influenced by the presence of his grandfather who was a carpenter; trained as an architect.
Recruited by the Braun brothers in 1955 to join the company they had recently taken [...]

The Gruffalo in Mt Lebanon

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We are going to see The Gruffalo (a play) with Cooper and some friends tomorrow (Sat, Feb. 28, 2009).
It will be Cooper’s first play and I’m looking forward to it.
I’ll try to follow up with a review and maybe some pics.
Tall Stories, a children’s theater company from England, stages The Gruffalo, a musical adventure set [...]

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Twitter Updates...
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