What if Music Instruction was Designed with Visual Supports

In my many attempts to study and learn a musical instrument: trombone, piano and guitar all were less than successful. I ever mastered the skill of reading musical notes and relating them to the instrument and sound.

And so, after coming across this image of a keyboard with colored keys, I wondered what if music instruction was designed with additional visual supports like color associations between the page and the instrument would I had a better chance of getting it?

Oh well, I will leave this opportunity for someone to research and develop if it hasn't been done already. The one thing I know is that it would help those like myself whose ears aren't as useful as our eyes?

Conversation: The Business of Design

Video Link

Bruce Nussbaum of BusinessWeek discusses community and co-creation. This panel will explore what happens when consumers become producers and ask what impact this shift will have on the future global success of corporations. Panelists: Bob Greenberg, R/GA Marissa Mayer, Google, Inc. Amy Radin, Citi.

Video: Examining American Masculinity by Byron Hurt

Here is another example of a viral video. It looks into the concepts that have shaped masculinity in America particularly Black masculine imagery.

The challenge of using video media is selecting appropriate images and words to construct a cohesive, believable and persuasive story, which is not as easy as it appears. When it comes to motion graphics the key element a designer must learn to control the pacing/ timing of when various elements enter and exit the frame.



Wired Article: How YouTube Changes the Way We Think

The Green Revolution: According to Thomas Friedman

Tom Friedman on how America can regain its international stature by taking the lead in alternative energy and environmentalism.

Video: The Green Revolution

Video: How Flat is the World

A Business Plan to Provide Free Internet Access to 95% of Americans

To be better positioned to press his case, M2Z chief executive John Muleta -- former head of the Federal Communications Commission's wireless bureau has set up shop in Virginia.

The opportunity to address the divide between the have and have not's, in regards to the internet, has been a subject of great interest to me ever since discovering the potential a few year ago. While working on a solution my graduate thesis project I became aware to the role of governments in managing public spaces. The public space of this generation is clearly the virtual spaces that are controlled by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).

This new startup's proposal states that it would provide internet access to 95% of the American population. So time will tell if this vision of opening the internet gets traction among the policy makers in Washington.

M2K Website

PC Article

Washington Post Article

A Better Place: A Company Building a New Model of Sustainable Transportaion

The innovative America spirit is alive and well and reflected in companies willing to tackle the opportunities that seem more possible as the traditional models of business are collapsing before our eyes.

Best Place Website

NYTimes Article

Video Short: Obama Keeps it COOL

Video shorts animations are gaining in popularity and influence in creating viral messages which can be shared through peer networks. This SNL short is interesting in how it uses the visual aesthetics defined during the jazz age, most notably by the Blue Note record label.

UK Designer: Thomas Heatherwick

Architects are designers too!

The separation of architecture from the other forms of design (graphic, interior, product...) is more about history and perception than it is about the process of creation which is shared by designers without regard to how they may label themselves.

This curious situation is one Thomas Heatherwick is looking to turn it on its head, or like his most notable project the folding bridge, its a gap he is willing to cross.

New Yorker Article