NICOLA GINZLER

Senior Graphic Designer
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Winners of the Webby Awards 2013

All the little characters from the animation

The totally great animated short “Dumb Ways to Die” won Webbies in three categories: Animation, Viral, and Viral Marketing, and won People’s Choice in Public Service and Activism. Don’t watch it unless you want to be singing the little song for days. My extra lyrics: Take a nail gun to yer face / Steal a […]

Is 3D printing about to hit the mainstream? Plus some items I’ve printed for myself

3D printed "Day of the Dead" style skull in stainless steel

  I ordered this skull and heart from Shapeways.com, a well-known 3D printing service. The 4-inch-high skull is heavy and beautiful (the heart hasn’t arrived yet). You can choose from many items with 3D patterns already uploaded, or upload your own. Some items are available only in the white plastic discussed below, and others in […]

What the Heck Is P-Commerce?

Illustration with Pinterest "P"'s

By Lauren Indvik from Mashable.com: First there was ecommerce, a term developed in the early ’80s to abbreviate “electronic commerce,” or sales made possible through electronic funds transfer (and later, the Internet). Since then, marketers have gleefully affixed various letters to the word “commerce” to describe sales (or the potential for sales) made through different platforms: […]

You’re Creating iPad Art Without Even Trying

Fingerprints from email app

By Stephanie Buck from Mashable.com: Technology is becoming increasingly invisible. That’s impossible, you might protest — technology is more omnipotent than ever. It’s everywhere, and we can’t seem to go a day, much less an hour, without encountering it. But entire computer systems are shrinking down to spaces the size of decks of cards. Keyboards […]

Sinuous animal sculptures made from tires

Bull's head

By Benjamin Starr from VisualNews.com: It’s perhaps the very best and ethical way you could place an animal bust on your wall – Korean artist Yong Ho Ji uses recycled tires from all sorts of vehicles to create these incredibly dynamic sculptures. The shape of his medium is what leads to the sinuous curves of […]

Jan Chipchase was given the opportunity to try out Google Glass. He declined.

Woman wearing Google Glass

By Jan Chipchase from Hidden in Plain Sight at Medium.com: On Friday I was invited into Google Labs New York and given the opportunity to try out Glass. I declined to put on a pair. Here’s why. There are many people who are exploring what Glass could be, evaluating and providing feedback to Google, exposing […]

Steampunk rabbit collectible toy

"Steampunk" rabbit collectible toy

This “steampunk” bunny started as one of internationally famous artist Frank Kozik’s plain white plastic “Smorkin’ Labbits.” I tricked the bunny out by applying a fine film of spray adhesive to hold multiple layers of silver leaf. I “antiqued” the silver with a wash of black acrylic paint and topped it with a layer of […]

A miniature book collector and his little library

Child looking at miniature books in glass case

By Claire Kelley from Melville House: A visitor to the Headley-Whitney Museum examines a display of Neale Albert’s complete works of Shakespeare as part of a Miniature Book Society exhibit. Neale Albert, a 75-year-old man who has 4,000 miniature books, was profiled—along with his tiny collection—in the New York Times on Monday. His titles include […]

Icon Strike! by Flinto: Easily test iOS icon designs on your home screen

Flinto is an iOS prototyping tool that allows you to quickly create realistic, installable, shareable prototypes. From the website: Icon Strike! By Flinto Like Icon Strike? You’ll love Flinto. It’s like Icon Strike for entire apps! Easily test iOS icon designs on your home screen. Upload Icon Open link on your iPhone Install your Icon […]

Physics, Entropy and Web Design

Chessboard

A long, interesting article by Anthony Wing Kosner from Forbes.com. Excerpts are below. [Full article] We have been taught to think of entropy as a bad thing. “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” wrote William Butler Yeats in the aftermath of World War I, in words that still ring […]

Syfy’s ‘Robot Combat League’ Makes Major Tech Dream Come True

"Steampunk" robot vs. "Crash" robot

By Brian Anthony Hernandez from Mashable.com: Robot Combat League, the Syfy network’s new reality series pitting 12 expensive, 8-feet-tall humanoid machines against each other in tournament-style face-offs, ends Tuesday night (4/23/13) with the final two robots. And while this season lasted only three months, it has been years in the making. “I really couldn’t believe […]

Stampsy: Use easy touch tools to create and share beautiful online experiences

Stampsy logo

The Stamspy app looks like a great way to share slideshows of portfolio images, advertising and more. Here’s how it works: Stamp: A Stamp is the unit of content you create on Stampsy. It can have up to 10 pages. A background grid helps you create well-balanced designs. Tools: Add images, enter text, arrange them […]

The Surgical Robot That Can Roam Around Inside Your Abdomen Like a Frog

Surgical robot

By Jason Bittel from Slate.com: From the chest-burster in Alien to the bellybutton bot in The Matrix, most of us are a wee bit squeamish about the whole thing-crawling-around-inside-you experience. And if thoughts of parasites playing poker in your body cavity already keep you up at night, this article probably isn’t for you—because scientists are […]

The Two Most Important Words in Business

"Thank You"

By Robert A. Eckert from the Harvard Business Review: When I arrived at Mattel, the company was losing almost a million dollars a day, the bonus pool was empty, and equity awards were underwater. I believed that those challenges were surmountable. On my first day, at a “town hall” gathering in the cafeteria, I said, […]

Mo Costandi on science writing: a good story conveys wonderment

Mo Costanzi

From the Guardian UK: Our series to accompany the 2013 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize asks top science writers about their craft. Today, we talk to neuroscience writer and blogger Mo Costandi. What’s a good science story? Something that makes me think, “Wow, that’s amazing!”. That is, stories about exciting new research that reveals some […]

Hacker Heroes: 6 Women Who Have Changed Technology

Women Nerd Heroes

By The Daily Muse Editor at The Daily Muse: When you think about women in tech, you probably instantly think Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook, and Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo!. But there are plenty more women you should know about—women whose names you may have never heard before, but who truly shaped […]

Did drinking insane amounts of coffee make these artists great?

Collage of autor pictures and coffee stains on paper

By Mason Currey at Slate.com: Coffee! It is the great uniting force of my Daily Rituals book. It’s what brings together Beethoven and Proust, Glenn Gould and Francis Bacon, Jean-Paul Sartre and Gustav Mahler. This should hardly be surprising. Caffeine is the rare drug that has a powerful salutary effect—it aids focus and attention, wards […]

The Secret to Keeping Phone Calls Short and Sweet

Illustration of woman on phone

From The Daily Muse: Whether you’re talking to a long-winded colleague, a not-so-interesting prospective partner, or a hyper-curious friend-of-a-friend who wants to learn about your career, there are times when it just seems impossible to get off the phone. But take it from me: Your time is precious, and it’s definitely worth mastering this art. […]

Victorian “Cobweb” Valentine

The Victorians popularized the “cobweb” valentine of intricately cut paper; I made this one-of-a-kind 21st century version in 2012. (Visit this article for an exhibit description of the Metropolitan Museum in New York’s historical collection.) I began with the red heart with its Valentine’s Day message, adhering it to light cardboard for stiffness. Topping that […]

Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 3 of 3

Responsive Web Design Summit - Day 3

I’m attending the Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 3 of 3. I’m summarizing the talks rather than going into detail to avoid infringing on the presenters’ copyrights. Today’s presentations focus on code. Extremely informative! Fractal CSS: There Is No Breakpoint, by Ben Callahan Major Approaches Single CSS File Multiple […]

Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 2 of 3

Responsive Web Design Summit - Day 2

I’m attending the Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 2 of 3. I’m summarizing the talks rather than going into detail to avoid infringing on the presenters’ copyrights. Mobile Development on a Shoestring Connection by Jenifer Hanen How do we design and develop for varying data and bandwidth scenarios? Is […]

Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 1 of 3

Responsive Web Design Summit - Day 1

I’m attending the Environments for Humans online Responsive Web Design Summit 2013 – Day 1 of 3. Great, informative talks! Today is mostly for developers, but I’m getting a lot out of it. A recurring point is that you should design/develop completely differently for different devices, including: images optimized for different screen sizes/resolutions, testing on […]

Boston Marathon Tragedy

Fallen runner and police officers

No clever words or fancy designs today, folks. Here’s a beautiful commentary from Patton Oswalt: Boston. Fucking horrible. I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, “Well, I’ve had it with humanity.” But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect […]

From dribbble: Free responsive wireframes (GIF)

wireframes Photoshop file

From Chris Bannister at dribbble: So after the extremely amazing reception that I received off you guys with these wireframes it’s time that I say thanks for all the love. The amount of people that requested the psd [Photoshop file] was surprising and overwhelming and as I promised you can download them here. I’d like […]

Leonhard Euler honoured by Google doodle

Leonhard Euler, the influential Swiss mathematician, has had the 306th anniversary of his birth honoured by a Google doodle. Photograph: Google

Leonhard Euler, the influential Swiss mathematician, has had the 306th anniversary of his birth honoured by Google with the publishing of an interactive Google doodle. Euler was arguably the most important mathematician of the 18th century and one of the greatest of all time. He introduced most modern mathematical terminology and notation and was also […]

From A List Apart: A response to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s condescending “Seven Rules for Managing Creative People”

Tweet: Mike Monteiro @Mike_FTW Never, ever, ever let them call you a “creative”. It’s a way to be disenfranchised. You are a designer. It’s not magic, it’s a trade.

By Cennydd Bowles from A List Apart: Childish, inaccurate, bizarre, and condescending? Perhaps—but you can’t just ignore articles like that. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s Seven Rules for Managing Creative People1 has caused some serious ripples. The article sets lofty standards for missing the point, misrepresenting creative industries to the point of infantilization. At its nadir—“Creatives enjoy making […]

“I love these guys, they make data fun: Zehnder Communications”

Infographic for cocktail festival

By Nancy Sharon Collins from DesignEnvy: New Orleans has two seasons: hurricane and festival. That’s it. Take your pick. Zehnder Communications—my favorite cross-media agency here—has recently announced “State of the Listen” (#TheStateOfTheListen or SOTL) to track social media buzz for everything from festivals, such as Tales of the Cocktail and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, to worldwide events like […]

Wired.com’s Weekly Picks of Stunning Architecture: Aqua Tower, Chicago

Aqua Tower, Chicago

Reflective glass makes a beautiful facade, but it can be deadly for birds, which often can’t tell the glass from the sky or trees it reflects. Studio Gang Architects designed their Aqua Tower with that in mind: the undulating concrete terraces not only provide balcony space for residents, but help restrict the angle the reflections […]

Tiny Injectable LEDs Manipulate the Brain With Light

LED fitting through the eye of a needle

Tiny, glowing probes packed with LEDs and sensors are scientists’ newest tool for measuring and manipulating the brain and other living tissues. They’re flexible, they can operate wirelessly, and yes, they’re small enough to fit through the eye of a needle. This kind of device could potentially improve researchers’ ability to influence neural activity in live animals […]

Transitional Interfaces and Design UX

Ease-in and ease-out illustration

By Pasquale D’Silva from Medium.com Designers love to sweat the details. Much time is spent pixel-fucking buttons, form styles, setting type, & getting those icons as sharp as a tack. A+, great job, don’t stop you guys. …but there’s little consideration about how it all fits together outside of a static comp. You tap a […]

Silk brocade kimono

Silk brocade kimono

I sewed this classic robe using a modern pattern, which I altered for a custom fit. The outer layer is heavy silk in a woven pattern that recalls brush calligraphy. The lining is lightweight black silk, a difficult material to work with.

Long Exposure Photos of Glowsticks in Waterfalls

Glowstics leaving colorful trails in watherfall

“Neon Luminance” is a beautiful long-exposure photo series by Kris Abildgaard of San Francisco-based multimedia company From The Lenz where landscapes (like waterfalls) are lit up by glowsticks and other forms of light such as road flares, headlamps, and moonlight. He says, “…each shot took a while because we would have to wait for the […]

Flashmob Recreates Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” in a Dutch Shopping Mall

Men in costume

The European banking sector may still be on shaky footing. But it’s not stopping European banks from putting together a good flashmob. Last year, the Spanish bank, Banco Sabadell, brought together 100 professional musicians and singers to perform the anthem of the European Union — Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his Symphony No. 9. And movingly so. It […]

The Daily Dish: A Petri Dish Painting for Every Day of 2013

Petri dishes with colorful growths

Artist Klari Reis will be posting a new Petri dish painting every day this year at The Daily Dish 2013. According to Reis’ Facebook page, the paintings are created using reflective epoxy polymer and are an attempt to “explore our complex relationship with today’s biotechnological industry.” [Full article]

Japanese Scientists Develop System That Can Visualize Dreams Based on Brain Activity

Screenshot of video: "An algorithm prediccts the images within a dream"

Scientists in Japan have developed a dream decoding system that can create a visualization of a person’s dream. Developed by researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani and his Kyoto-based team, the system uses a functional MRI to analyze brain activity and a learning algorithm to create visualizations from the brain data. While the researchers report that the system […]

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