Happy New Year from the Greatest City in the World

Women In Power, Assassinated

Lysistrata ("she who disbands armies"), is an anti-war Greek comedy, written in 411 BC by Aristophanes and in many ways fortells the fate of women who rise to power. Assassinated by her son, Lysistrata is representative of the courageous women in power who have tried to rule with justice and were killed for their efforts. These are the other women who have been assassinated for their prominence and their beliefs:


Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (1917-1984) was the Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and to date only female prime minister.

Agathe Uwilingiyimana (1953-1994) was a Rwandan political figure. She served as Prime Minister of Rwanda from July 18, 1993 until her death on April 7, 1994. Her term was ended when she was assassinated during the opening stages of the Rwandan Genocide. She was Rwanda's first and to date only female prime minister.

In 1993, Sylvia Kinigi was the first woman to become Prime Minister of Burundi; she has since been assassinated.


And of course, Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) was the Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having been twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007.

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I may not be a lion but I am a lion's cub and I have a lion's heart.
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Timelines regarding women in politics can be found here:

International Women's Day

Keesings International Women in Politics

Brief History of the Filipino Women’s Struggle for Participation in Politics

Happy Holidays

Thanks, Gong, for the inspiration.

New York Launch of the Publikum Project tonight at AIGA

The official U.S. launch of the Publikum Project is tonight at the AIGA Headquarters in New York along with the annual 365 exhibit. Publikum is a non-profit project whose mission is to facilitate a meaningful artistic dialogue between artists, designers and a global audience with diverse beliefs and cultures.

The 2008 Publikum Project includes a “Guide to Living” which visually articulates the hopes, dreams, desires, wishes and goals inherent in any fresh new year, and a calendar created by acclaimed designers from Asia, Europe, Africa and America. Each artist was asked to interpret the idea of tracking time. These calendar pages unite the world of numbers, art and imagination, and the result is an extraordinary celebration of the uniqueness of life, and living. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to co-edit and curate this extraordinary project! George Mill and Nada Ray founded the project 15 years ago in Serbia; Paula Scher created the calendar last year, and Sean Adams of Adams Morioka was the principal designer. Some of the other designers included Marian Bantjes, Matteo Bologna, Chip Kidd and Luba Lukova. Some of their work is included below:


Detail of Marian Bantjes work.


Luba Lukova's work.


Chip Kidd's work.

30 Delightful Graphic Design Books at You The Designer

The site You The Designer posted a kind article titled 30 Delightful Graphic Design Books. I am thrilled and honored to say that they included How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer alongside such amazing reads as 79 Short Essays on Graphic Design and Thinking WIth Type, two of my all-time favorite design books.

Thank you, You The Designer!

MUST WATCH! The Story of Stuff: Consumption

The Story of Stuff will take you on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture — from resource extraction to iPod incineration — exposing the real costs of our use-it and lose-it approach to stuff. This is Chapter 5, Consumption, but You Tube has all 6 Chapters.

Random Miami Baselness

opening at the wolfsonian museum for stefan sagmeister


outdoor sculpture by jaume plensa


artwork by pam butler


artwork by tamara gonzalez

This Weekend, If You Are In Miami...

Please join us!

Yet Another Reason Why Civilization Is Doomed

You see correctly: McDonald's sponsored Report Cards.

According to Ad Age:

"McDonald's has found a nifty way to reach kids even as TV ad options toward the demographic shrink: Advertise on report cards. The Golden Arches picked up the $1,600 cost of printing report-card jackets for the 2007-2008 school year in Seminole County, Fla., in exchange for a Happy Meal coupon on the card's cover. With 27,000 elementary school kids taking their report-card jackets home to be signed three or four times a year, that's less than 2 cents per impression. Children who earn all A's and B's, have two or fewer absences or exhibit good behavior are entitled to a free happy meal at a local McDonald's -- so long as they present their report card."

This is dastardly on so many levels.

Adobe Presents Design Matters Live

This is a video of world-renowned designer, illustrator and typographer Marian Bantjes during her appearance at the recent Design Matters Live event presented by Adobe and the San Francisco Chapter of the AIGA in September.

Marian shares her love for the design community and the importance of staying connected, even while working from her idyllic rural home studio. She speaks about her transition from a more traditional design career path to a much more personally fulfilling mix of work. Marian has an obvious love for what she does, sharing some of the inspiration for her recent projects as diverse as hand-drawn valentines to the type treatment for the "Want It!" campaign at Saks Fifth Avenue. Marian's insights in this portrait are important for anyone who cares passionately about design and respects the craft of the artist. The video can be found here.

Credits:
Producer: Rachel Talbot (an amazing woman)
Associate Producer/Sound Engineer: Matthew Hendershot
Editor: Lance Edmands
Assistant Editor: Hei-Man Yu
Camera: Michael Coleman
Additional Camera: Michael Tucker, Rachel Talbot
Design Matters Live poster: Marion Bantjes
Animation: Colin Yu
Music: Music Box
Design Matters Theme: RJD2

So Beautiful, So Sad, So True

The very best movie I have seen this year. David Denby loved it also, calling it "nothing less than the rebirth of the cinema."