Category: Design

Day by Data App Transforms Your Data into Art

2024-12-20

The Day by Data app, now available on the App Store, turns your daily data into stunning visualizations. Connect your Health and Spotify data to generate personalized art pieces reflecting your yearly step count, top Spotify songs, and peak activity days. Create a 'Day by Data Receipt' showcasing your yearly achievements. The app offers a simple and intuitive way to transform routine numbers into meaningful visuals, making your data a story worth sharing.

Design Health Data

Boston City Hall: A Controversial Architectural Masterpiece

2024-12-20

On its 50th anniversary, Boston City Hall, a concrete behemoth designed by Kallmann and McKinnell, prompts reflection on its complex history. Built in the 1960s to revitalize a struggling Boston, its bold modernist design, a stark departure from traditional city halls, initially polarized opinions. Today, it's hailed by the architectural world as one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century, yet public opinion remains divided. The architects envisioned it evoking profound reflections on human existence and history; however, its cold concrete exterior and labyrinthine interior fell short. This article recounts Boston City Hall's journey from design competition to completion and its impact on urban development, showcasing how a building can encapsulate a city's transformation.

Design Tokens: The Key to Scalable and Consistent UI Architectures

2024-12-18

This article explores the role of design tokens in modern UI architecture. By representing design decisions as data, design tokens serve as a single source of truth, enabling automated code generation across platforms for faster updates and improved design consistency. It details the layered organization of design tokens (option, decision, and component tokens), automated distribution processes, and how to choose the appropriate number of layers and token scope. Finally, it discusses when design tokens are appropriate and their limitations, helping readers determine their suitability for their projects.

3D-Printed Dune Chess Set: A Tactile Design Masterpiece

2024-12-17

Architect Rory Noble-Turner has created a unique Dune chess set using advanced quartz 3D printing. The piece aims to provide an engaging tactile experience through intricate textures, capturing sand's raw, elemental form. Noble-Turner skillfully used 3D modeling tools to precisely control the dune textures, resulting in a naturally flowing design that uses textural differences to distinguish pieces and the board. More than just an art piece, it's an exploration of tactile and sensory experience, urging a reconnection with physical sensation in our digital age.

Shanghai's Dual Faces: A Tale of Two Sides of the Huangpu River

2024-12-17

This article recounts the author's observations of Shanghai's architecture, focusing on the contrast between Puxi and Pudong. Starting with a 2005 visit, the author describes being captivated by Pudong's rapidly rising skyscrapers. Today, Pudong boasts the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Shanghai Tower, forming a stark contrast to the historical European-style buildings of Puxi. The author argues these structures are not just feats of engineering, but also symbols of China's economic development and cultural transformation, reflecting Shanghai's unique duality: a blend of historical heritage and modern dynamism.

Veryfront Figma Kit: Design Stunning Websites in Minutes

2024-12-14

Veryfront's new Figma Kit allows users to design stunning websites in minutes. Boasting 100+ components, light and dark mode support, and full responsiveness, the kit streamlines the design process. Users simply choose components, build pages, add content, and seamlessly hand off designs to front-end developers. Its intuitive tools and pre-built components save time and boost creativity, earning praise from users who report a transformed design process and increased efficiency.

Kowloon Walled City: A Cross-Section of Density and Decay

2024-12-13

In the 1990s, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was the world's most densely populated place, cramming roughly 50,000 people into just 2.6 hectares. After WWII, it became a refuge for refugees, its buildings growing organically into a labyrinthine structure. Crime and poor living conditions led to its demolition in 1994. Artist Hitomi Terasawa's cross-section illustration vividly captures this unique and ultimately tragic urban phenomenon, preserving its memory as a 'living organism'.

The Age of Average: Design Homogenization in the Modern World

2024-12-13

From interior design to automobiles and movie posters, a striking homogeneity pervades modern design. The article uses the example of Komar and Melamid's 'People's Choice' paintings to illustrate the surprising uniformity of aesthetic preferences. The sameness of Airbnb interiors, fast-casual architecture, car designs, and brand logos and advertising all exemplify this trend. The author argues this 'Age of Average' isn't accidental but a result of factors like technological constraints, cost pressures, and market convergence. However, this also presents an opportunity; bold brands and courageous companies that dare to be different and distinctive can thrive.