Are You A Generalist?

In ancient times, there were no professions. Every human being (or at least every family) was ultimately responsible for his or her own survival. This included hunting for food, making clothing and creating tools in order to do so.

Now that was some time ago. Nowadays we live in a super specialized society. Globalization made it necessary for people and businesses to get into ever smaller niches. Generalists have become rare.

And that’s mostly a good thing! You don’t want your plumber to be your doctor and vice versa.

Anyway, when it comes to the creative industries, specialization can become a real pain in the ass. We have managers that do nothing but manage, designers that have no idea how production works and programmers that don’t waste a single thought on the user.

Which brings us to the three reasons why you are better off as a generalist

continue reading …

This post was written by Philipp
on December 6th, 2010

decoded generator

The whole design concept of the decoded conference is based on a graphic coding of words. The code creates generative forms which represent the name of the speaker, mottoes or any text you want.

The visual coding concept consists of few specified rules for each single letter. The basic geometrie is based on a triangle, each corner stands for a letter within the prompted word. All characters are located on a specific angle of a circle depending on the last position. Triangles are always built on two existing corners together with the currently created vertex. Furthermore this means that new triangles always have a same side with the previous triangle. For shaping the generative appearance the triplets of letters are therefore more important than single letters.

Color and shapes are based on the letter frequency in german. The letter »E« (17,4%) occurs more often then the a »Q« (0,02%) for example. For this purpose the guiding principle is, that less frequent letters need a more noticeable graphical change. Coming back to our example the »Q« has a more saturated color than the »E« which is setting an emphasis within the whole generative structure.

If you want, you can try to type in your own name:
http://decoded-conference.com/generator

decoded conference

It‘s almost two days ago that we launched the decoded conference, an event which will interconnect people from the field of design and programming.

The decdoded conference is focusing at the development process of interesting projects within the limits of design and code/technology. The projects should be inspiration and build a base for further discussions. At this conference we will online show projects, that have been done or which have been prototyped already. Ideas and visions have to be brought into reality. The conference will foster the cultural interchange between the fields of design and tech. Topics and projects about generative design, gaming and human computer interaction will be presented by the speakers.

Our featured speakers are:
Mario Klingemann – Schönes aus Code
Moritz Stefaner – Ästhetik von Information
Benedikt Groß & Hartmut Bohnacker – Generative Gestaltung
Tilman Reiff & Volker Morawe – Games, Art & Testosterone
Massimo Banzi – Tinkering with Arduino

Like the decoded concept itself the the organisation team is a mixture of the fields of code and design. we as envis precisely, a design studio for interface and interaction design, are organizing and hosting this event together with our nerdy coding friends from reppa.net. We are looking forward to see you there…

You can find more information about the conference and ticketing at
www.decoded-conference.com

Joined Bildr!

Today I found out about a new community which is a driven site for Artists, Designers, Makers, Builders, or anyone interested in the world between electronics and code. Its name is bildr, at this site they are rethinking the ways in which DIY sites have previously approached this world like instructables or make:projects and so on. Typically, the approach has been to showcase an individual’s project, while including instructions that would enable a user to create a duplicate. bildr’s method is quite different. Instead of focusing on individuals’ projects, bildr features community-written, collaborative articles that can be used as the foundation of an individual project. The articles come in two forms: Components and Modules.

On the one hand you have Components – (for e.g. an ADJD-S371 Color Sensor) show you how to connect and use an individual component. These pages also include code when needed. On the other hand you have Modules as mini-projects. These are all about how to make one thing. Like making an electro magnet, or sensing distance.bildr is about simplifying information to help you get your ideas made as quickly as possible. If you want to join bildr, just log on to bildr.org an register your seat at the public beta.

If you want you can try it with invite code: bildrInvite76f3

via make magazine

Free World Cup Match Schedule

We launched our very own Match Schedule for this years Soccer World Cup at South Africa yesterday.

The internet offers a huge amount of free downloadable schedules for the upcoming FIFA world championship. But it’s hard to find any simple, handy and good-looking timetable. Therefore envis precisely decided to offer a schedule, that everyone can download and print on only two standard A4 sheets of paper. And it is available in three different languages. It’s reduced to what’s necessary but still offers enough space to fill in the results and teams in the play-offs. With the timeline next to the games, you can always keep track of when they are taking place. And best of all: it’s free!

Free-World-Cup-2010-Match-Schedule-Design

You can get it in three different languages. English, German & Spanish. Download & print it! Put it on the wall! Fill it!

And if you really like it… Spread it. Thanks!