Apagogie Ordinaire
Irregular archive of findings, references, quirks & tricks
“My heart says yeah, but can’t convince the rest of me.” Logic
Designer as writer: shared principles
In this intriguing and beautifully set essay, writer an designer Stas Aki draws parallels between the principles of his two crafts. From flow to details, he points out the synergies between a well-written piece and a well-designed work, with a convincing set of...
The War of Art: how to turn pro at your craft
The 10 quick quotes below are from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and selected by Ryan Holiday in this excellent Forbes article. It's now at the top of my reading list. We're pros. We're not amateurs. We have patience. We can handle adversity.Steven Pressfield,...
Japanese butter knives designs
Bookmarking a few interesting designs of Japanese butter knives (as a Frenchman, it is of particular interest): More on these fascinating utensils over at Japan Taste
Be convincing: focus on the fantasy behind every idea
Looking at what’s the best way to convince others by appealing to what your interlocutor truly wants at a deeper level, rather than staying on the surface
How Athens’ modernist polikatoika came to define its mixed social fabric
Adapted from one of Le Corbusier's frameworks, the Dom-Ino system, the polikatoikia are Athens' ubiquitous apartment blocks, built from the 1950s to the1980s. Simple principles for good living Remarkably, they helped the Greek capital to achieve high levels of social...
The aesthetics of Almodóvar’s Dolor y Gloria
The origins of “cool” in product design: Loewy’s MAYA approach
Notes on this excellent piece from The Atlantic via Pocket. What do people like?What makes them prefer things over other? Industrial designer Raymond Loewy pioneered the modern era of industrial design. The French-born American is a figure-head, from aviation and...
Milton Glaser, pioneer of modern travel branding (I ♥ NY)
Milton Glaser, the New-York-based graphic design legend, has had a long and incredibly successful career, during which he launched New York Magazine, designed a Trump Vodka (in the 80s) and created the iconic "I <3 NY" campaign for the state's tourism board in...
DOPA: Japanese café branding in Sydney informed by 起死回生 (kishi kaisei)
The team at The Colour Club was tasked with creating the identity of this new café in Sydney's Darling Square. One of the starting point for this Japanese-inspired outpost of the cult coffee chain Devon was the idea of kishi kaisei, meaning ‘wake from death, return to...
Rebranding of Spain’s national postal service, Correos (2019)
Spain’s national mail service, Correos, has a long history and continues to serve millions daily. Its rebranding by summa: in 2019 brought a fair amount of controversy, as it often does in such a high-profile work. Looking closely at the sizeable brief including a...