Brains & Pencils
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Hello!
The Mondays Unplugged blog has now been transported to a new place – Brains & Pencils. It’s authored by Rochelle Martyn and its purpose is to inspire, provoke and encourage art and creativity to boldly lead change through ideas that matter and connect with people. You can also follow on Twitter @RoxMartyn
Thank you for showing an interest so far and we hope you continue to follow.
Monday Collective
Monday Collective Blog Changes
Monday, February 27, 2012
Hello!
If you’ve noticed a silence, aside from being busy designing, we’ve been reflecting on the postings of the past year and working on a strategy to improve our blog (as well as our web site, to follow too). We’ve really enjoyed doing our blog so far and we’ve had some fantastic feedback that’s been great for business. We want our content to be of value to followers, and for these to grow. As with most things in life, it’s a moving experiment. We learn and evolve. From now on, the blog will shift beyond our own cultural insights and experiences and also involve sharing and critiquing other interesting insights, ideas and topics that connect design and business. They’ll be shorter and more frequent, just the way we all like it. We’re picking up the pace and you’ll be seeing the changes very soon.
Thank you for following
Monday Collective
Cultural Connectivity
Thursday, October 27, 2011
We’re loving exploring the neighborhoods of NYC, there’s always something new to discover. We’re interested in what’s popping up on a local level, as emerging trends often start here. And when it comes to those related to food, well, we’re all over it.
Butter Lane Cupcake shop in the East Village, NYC offering cupcake baking classes
Butter Lane Cupcakes is a tiny shop in the East Village that we stumbled upon recently. NYC has plenty of cup cake shops, but this one has a good twist. The owners have chosen to ditch the dyes and artificial additives and focus on natural and local ingredients such as real vanilla bean, organic butter, pure cocoa and fresh fruit. The truth, they taste really good (based on a vanilla cake with strawberry topping). In addition, they offer baking classes for groups so that you can create your own iced gems. You may bake with friends or people within the local community.
Menu board at Butter Lane showing the many flavors including seasonal specials
Aside from being cupcake lovers, we love Butter Lane for being in touch with a growing theme around co-creation and community connections. Butter Lane brings people together through a shared, creative experience. The small, local guys are right on it. For anyone living in New York City, a kitchen with enough room to bake is one thing, one that unites a few friends over the process is just double the indulgence. Who and what will be next?
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Cultural Connectivity
Monday, October 24, 2011
We’ve spent the past few weeks delving into cultural happenings, one has created impact and left us debating. Those of you that live locally may have experienced this, or maybe not. This one’s for those who didn’t get Unplugged in NYC.
Exterior view of the mobile structure of the Lab, designed by Atelier Bow-Wow. Photo: Paul Warchol
We’ve been watching BMW of late, its a brand that’s doing great things to gather collectives, explore new ideas and get connected, and naturally Monday Collective is into that. The BMW Guggenheim Lab parked itself conveniently, for us, in the East Village for a little over two months, but it’s on the move to Berlin now. It’s a mobile laboratory led by teams of emerging talents in urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education and sustainability. The goal of the Lab is to explore new ideas, experiment, and discover forward thinking solutions that improve city life. The theme for this first leg (there are three themes, each on a two year cycle, total journey of six years) is Confronting Comfort, which explores “notions of individual and collective comfort and the urgent need for environment and social responsibility”.
Interior view of the discussion setting at the Lab. Photo: Paul Warchol
We love that BMW has created an ideas based Lab, enabling the public to participate, engage and get inspired by the ideas that are generated. A lively bunch of talks, debates, yoga, comedy, games, meditation, workshops, screenings, demonstrations… there really was something for everyone. Great job BMW for connecting and inspiring ideas!
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Monday Vision: Cultural Connectivity
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
We’re back on our theme of Cultural Connectivity and how design can transform objects, buildings and places to engage and connect people with what’s going on around them at street level. We’ve been roaming around the city and found some interesting sights to share.
The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition has collaborated with the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn and the New York City Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program to create “Plan Ahead”, an environmental street art installation by the famous graffiti knitter Magda Sayeg. It’s a year long installation of 300 iron rods on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn between South 5th & South 6th Streets, which are covered in colorful knit fabric. Magda “brings a sense of humanity back to the concrete and steel of the city” and we never knew that steel railings could look so cool.
“Plan Ahead”, an environmental street art installation by graffiti knitter Magda Sayeg.
We were also wondering through Astor Place and to our delight came across “Flaming Cactus”, art installations by Animus Arts Collective, which debuted at FIGMENT 2011 and were recently adopted and expanded upon for this years “Summer Streets” program. The lamp posts have been transformed with thousands of fluorescent colored cable ties which create neon psychedelic cactus plants. A reference to The Day of the Triffids soon passed when we realized they couldn’t move, talk, or eat humans. It helps to be a little crazy if you’re a designer, we forgive ourselves (daily).
“Flaming Cactus”, art installations in Astor Place NYC by Animus Arts Collective.
What we love about both of these examples is how our city environment constantly changes and surprises us. The necessary, yet rather mundane looking, objects that surround us can in fact entertain us with a little imagination applied. We like how interesting and unexpected materials and colors are coming together to enhance what already exists. If you can’t build something entirely new, why not make a difference by transforming something to be more aesthetically interesting to the human eye?
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Monday Vision: Emotional Connectivity
Friday, August 19, 2011
A good design idea is all about powerful storytelling, rooted in a concept that emotionally connects with, and entertains, your audience. Achieving Emotional Connectivity is no easy feat, you often have to think differently and explore intellectual curiosity to new levels. Sadly, one of the few designers that did is no longer with us, but we’d like to continue to celebrate his brilliance.
The Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has just finished but will leave a lasting impression in many minds, including ours. This is a breathtaking example of a great idea executed to perfection. McQueen’s designs are distinctive, elaborately crafted, masterpieces that tell a powerful and timeless story. In McQueen’s own words “You’ve got to know the rules to break them. That’s what I’m here for, to demolish rules but to keep the tradition”. McQueen expressed his intellectual curiosity through his captivating designs and dared to be different, and his work will be enjoyed by many for years to come.
Some of McQueen’s elaborately crafted creations using elements of nature.
Not that we have any particular favorites, as it’s all brilliant, but we do have a lot of heart for design that’s inspired by nature. McQueen themes this as Romantic Naturalism and describes this greatest influence, or at least the most enduring, in a way that inspires us to celebrate nature more through design… “I have always loved the mechanics of nature and to a greater or lesser extent my work is always informed by that”.
McQueen’s Romantic Naturalism collection on display at The Met.
Emotional Connectivity is something all designers should be searching for, whether fashion, graphic, interior… it’s all about telling a powerful, emotional story that connects with people and leaves a lasting impression. There aren’t many designers that have done this as effectively as Alexander McQueen and we’d like to think more will emerge to take bold steps, dare to be different and truly entertain us.
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Monday Vision: Creative Connectivity
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
We specialize in connected brand design ideas, so we have an obsession with discovering all things that connect, especially those that are highly creative and often a little obscure. So our theme of Creative Connectivity is getting our brains firing on all cylinders again as we discover new places to expand our connected knowledge.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication Between People and Objects is a new exhibition at MOMA in New York that explores the communication between people and things. All objects go way beyond what meets the eye into a discovery of engaging interactions and connectivity, whether it’s emotional, sensual or intellectual.
There are many great exhibits here, but in the interest of keeping this post short (short for, we’re busy) we are teasing you with just one. PostSecret started as a community arts project spearheaded by Frank Warren. About 6 years ago he handed out 3,000 blank postcards to strangers, asking them to write down a secret and mail it back to him. Today, Warren has received 450,000 postcards, with around 1,000 new cards arriving to his home every week. Bet the mailman loves him. The postcards have been assembled onto a website, which has received more than 250 million hits since launch.
A diverse selection of cards from Frank Warren’s Postsecret project.
What we like that it’s a collective of diverse secrets gathered from strangers and shared in a way that allows people to express themselves and get more connected to other human behavior. Each one triggers a different emotion, whether it’s serious, funny, touching, shocking, sad, rude… these are real secrets, people finding the courage to share what may strike a chord with others. This exhibit clearly connected with the visitors too, as it was the one that attracted the biggest crowd. We came across a few shockers that kept us there for a bit longer than expected, these will probably be secrets repeated many times over a drink or two with friends. Go find some secrets too!
Creative Connectivity encourages us to explore ways in which we can interact with what exists around us, whether it’s people or objects, helping us identify design ideas of the future.
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Monday Vision: Insightful Experiences
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
How often do you take time to step back and observe what’s really going on around you? Not in the comfort of your office, studio or home, but in places that allow you to view things from a different angle.
Everyone is so busy rushing around on a mission to get things done (yes, being New Yorkers doesn’t help), that most of the time we’re zoned inwards rather than looking outwards. Slowing down, looking up and around to observe what surrounds you provides Insightful Experiences that can offer you a different perspective on life and living.
As designers, it’s important to find space to see, to identify possibilities for design to influence a change in the way we experience what really matters most. Most importantly perhaps change how we see, and interact with, the cities and environments we live in, finding a new appreciation for what exists that may often go unnoticed.
A section of walkway on the newly extended High Line in New York City.
The High Line in New York City has just been extended and it’s one of our favorite outdoor spaces right now. It was originally built in the 1930’s as a means of lifting dangerous trains (30 feet in the air) from the streets of Manhattan’s largest industrial area. Trains stopped running here in 1980 and faced threat of demolition, until a group of people – Friends of the High Line, City of New York, and a team of landscape architects – gathered to transform the space ready for us to experience in 2009 and 2011 with its most recent extension.
View to the East and West of Manhattan from The High Line including an art installation by Sarah Sze.
The new extension allowed us to not only see the city from all sorts of angles, observing things we don’t normally see (all the nooks and crannies), but also the latest art sculptures that have been installed there. Sarah Sze has shaped space with hundreds of interconnected sculptures that frame views from both directions while allowing park visitors to walk right through. The architecture also acts as a bird, butterfly and insect observatory, with perches, feeding spots and bird paths integrated throughout. To top it off you can also see the Empire State building and the NY skyline.
The High Line merges natural outdoor space with the old and new buildings of the city.
The High Line is a great place to observe how the old and new can come together to live in harmony in a way that feels very natural. The old rail line, with the new art/architecture, the old buildings with the new and stylish… all provide plenty of visual entertainment for those interested in an Insightful Experience.
At Monday Collective we encourage stepping outdoors on a regular basis to experience what’s going on in the world around us. By doing this we can get in touch and more connected to what matters most.
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Collective Change
Thursday, June 16, 2011
We may seek change, but very few are willing to be the first. Our fear of sticking our necks out prevents us from getting where we know we really need to go. But if the spotlight isn’t on the individual and more focused on people (and companies) uniting to make a difference, perhaps we’d make more progress.
At Monday Collective, our design business concept is all about the power of the Collective in designing connected ideas that change the way we think. Collective Change can be a way of igniting shifts in behavior, getting the message ‘out there’ with maximum impact, in a way that connects with people. Whether it’s driving social change, or making a positive difference in other ways, surely we all want to make progress towards a better future?
A selection of AIDS awareness posters from different designers across the world.
On this theme, this week we discovered the The Art Directors Club in New York, which has an exhibition on Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010. It’s a remarkable collection of posters from designers around the world, demonstrating diversity of creative ideas in response to a strong social message – AIDS as a massive public health issue. You may recognize some (such as those from Benetton and Kenneth Cole), you won’t others, but each one has played its part in raising awareness about AIDS and preventative measures across diverse cultures. It’s a great example of the power of design in Collective Change and how designers can help with social change around the world.
Posters from Benetton and Kenneth Cole, who have contributed to helping build AIDS awareness.
The concept of Collective Change will continue to grow as more people grasp the power of this in shifting thinking to make a meaningful difference. The individuals and companies that recognize the benefit of tapping into designers and innovative thinkers to create social change, will lead the change. And the designers that think beyond, to address the real problems, will be engaged in making a real difference.
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
Monday Vision: Customized Experiences
Friday, June 10, 2011
We we are surrounded by a ‘more, faster & cheaper’ mass value mentality, it’s a conveyor belt churning out more disconnected brands. To truly connect you have to think differently. So our attention is gravitating towards the rise in personalization, what we think about this and who’s out there getting in touch.
There’s something incredibly appealing about putting your mark on something you wear. Whether it was decorating our favorite jacket in the coolest badges (an 80’s thing), wearing odd socks (a bad trend), putting your own patches on your favorite jeans (another 80’s thing)… most of us have been involved in customizing our own clothing at some point and in some way. We don’t want to look like we’ve stepped off a production line. Customized Experiences allow us to create, learn, engage and just have a little fun.
The interior of Scott Morrison’s 3×1 (Made Here) store in SoHo, NYC.
Denim entrepreneur Scott Morrison has just graced us with 3×1 (Made Here), his newly opened custom denim shop in SoHo. The concept is completely unique, marrying transparency of production within an exclusive retail experience. The name is derived from denim’s standard weaving construction (3×1 Right Hand Twill) and is a nod to his third denim line (prior to this he founded Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn). The store stocks more than 106 different selvedge fabrics from all over the world. A handful of sewers, cutters and pattern makers are housed in a glass area in the center of the store. Everything is made here, right in front of you. You can’t get much more transparent than this. There are three choices for your denim: Ready-made (you choose your style and then customize the buttons and rivets); Custom-made (you select a style and customize other elements); Bespoke (you book an appointment and design your perfect jean). The only branding on any pair of 3×1 jeans is an unmarked, minimalist selvedge tab tucked under the back pocket. Their main focus is not on the branding, but on the quality and craftmanship. The experience at 3×1 is a fine example of a Customized Experience, part retail, part manufacturing, part gallery, and plenty of passion. We particularly love the transparency vibe, it’s spot on with where things are headed. Thanks to Jessica for giving us the low down, we’ll be back again soon for our fitting!
The production and manufacturing process inside 3×1′s retail store.
On the way back up through SoHo we popped into Converse to check out what they’re up to with their Customized Experiences. We, honestly unintentionally, found ourselves amongst a children’s birthday party in their Design Your Own section. The energy, and noise, levels were high as kids ploughed through a multitude of patterns on screen and talked to the staff about what color, shoe and pattern they wanted. Top it all off with a choice of laces. This is clearly a very popular section of the store, while the other areas remain true to the authentic classics we love from Converse.
The ‘Design Your Own’ section at the Converse store in SoHo, NYC
Many brands are tapping into the customization theme, but who’s pushing the boundaries? What we like so much about 3×1 is that they take it one step further and tap into a growing theme for transparency, people wanting to see how things are made. We’re wondering if we’ll see more food companies rising to the transparency challenge.
Monday Collective specializes in connected brand design ideas. Our on-the-ground discoveries, insights and ideas help others get in touch with people and the world we live in. Get in touch with Monday Collective through more@mondaycollective.com.
