A little info behind twentysomething…

Twentysomething is the brainchild of James D’Arcy (jimmydee) and James Carroll (jimmycee). It began as a medium in which we could share our experiences and interests of everything design related. Being in different parts of the world, the easiest way to keep in touch is through a blog.

We try to update the blog as often as possible with pretty much anything to do with design, from products that truely inspire to music that helps get you in the design zone.

Along the way we have recruited another contributor, JP Hartigan (jippypee). He brings with him a new experience and passion for design aswell as a love fo the colour purple!?! The blog has now grown to the stage where we now want interaction from you on the posts we put up, whether it be good, bad or ugly!! For your contributions we will be giving something more back in the shape of competitions and there will be some cool prizes up for grabs. We also have special guest interviews coming up.

All of this will be coming soon once we get our heads around this new site!

Dublin is already a fast paced, energetic city but not many of us have seen it this fast! Richard Twomey’s time lapse video is quite simply…amazing! The shots he has picked for this really highlight the hustle and bustle of our Fair City, and this is contrasted by the more tranquil parts of the county, such as Dublin Bay. The colours are vivid and bring this video to life. The car lights race across the screen and even the traffic lights at 3.00 minutes seem to change to the beat of the music. As we keep saying on twentysomething, we do love a good beat and the score used in this video does not let us down! The Cinematic Orchestra piece almost seems as if it was composed just for this vid! The slow panning shots of the city show the amount of life happening in and around the capital and it’s hard to look away from the screen when the video is on.

Dublin Time Lapse 2011 from Richard Twomey on Vimeo.

Overall a really great video, we hope to see more of these videos from all the different cities in Ireland! Perhaps a little competition to see who has the best time lapsed city in Ireland?

At twentysomethingdesign we are big into our sketching and if, like us, you like to kick it with your sketchpad whilst listening to some deadly tunes, you should check out this guy:

OLD PINE from Astray Films on Vimeo.

Now we thought this was a cool video and to be honest, it looks very like our beloved coastline here in Ireland. (You can guess this is were the procrastination occurred…… no sketching getting done today .) Well, with a bit of Internet digging, we discovered that the video is filmed in Ireland by a renowned Irish surf photographer Mickey Smith who lives on the west coast of Ireland.

Here is an excellent piece of Mickey’s work that we have admired for a while now. It’s his creative ability to capture the aesthetic of waveriding on the harsh but magnificently beautiful Irish west coast, that makes this video, “DARK SIDE OF THE LENS”, so inspiring.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

“In the beginning there was nothing, only the idea”

As your probably beginning to see we love a good design story. As your going to see you will struggle to find a design story executed better than this one.

The History of Asics is wonderfully captured in this charming animation. The animation was created by Nordpol + Hamburg advertising studio, the origami was the creation of Mabona Origami .

Asics: Origami “In Pursuit of Perfection” to give it’s full title was launched back in 2008. For us at twentysomethingdesign it is still one the best examples of brilliantly executed animation. The animation mixes modern animation with true craftsmanship, origami. This blend of new and old strikes the perfect balance and reflects Asics harmony with their old traditions “the pursuit of perfection” and their forward thinking through their modern testing facilties. It is no surprise that the animation won a Grand Prix at the Eurobest, gold at the New York festival, gold at the London International Awards, silver at the Clio in Miami and two times bronze at ADC Germany back in 2008.

The success of the animation is largely down to the personal touch that is strikes throughout. From the beginning we are dropped into a place ( Kobe. Japan ) and a time ( 1949 ) with the founder Kihachiro Onitsuka. We learn of his ambition, that you could build something out of almost nothing, and where it all started, with the simple idea of the slice of Octupus stuck his dinner plate. The story is told effortlessly and is a joy to watch. The simple narration and the unobtrusive use of the origami allows the story to speak for itself.

Everything about the animation is so simple and humble. We enter the story with a man, his foster Dad’s desk, and his ambition. We leave the story with a man behind the Global Goliath Asics, and with his ambition still burning as brightly as when he sat as his foster Dad’s desk “But it’s the beginning of the end, when you start to appreciate your own achievements…the question comes up again what will be the next big idea”

“Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection” by mabonaorigami.com

Director: Tim Schierwater (Nordpol+ Hamburg)
Art Director: Sean Kirby (Nordpol+ Hamburg)
Producer: Florian Liertz (elemente-e Production)
Animation: André Junker, Chrisoffer Wolters (Nform)
Stopmotion: Kathrin Albers, Jim Lacy (Stoptrick)
Origami Artist: Sipho Mabona (Mabona Origami)

Jippypee’s post the other day on the history of Oakley got me thinking, since he has a slightly unhealthy obsession with Oakley, maybe a post every now and then about the history of products/brands we love may be a nice way of us sharing our product fetishes! For me, the series of headphones brought out by Dr. Dre are my unhealthy obsession. Even though Beats have only been around for three years, their combination of unrivalled sound, good usability, and aesthetically gorgeous design means they deserve their place in the design history books!

When Beats were first introduced in 2008, they blew all competition out of the water. The original headphones (Studio, shown above) were circumaural, packed with a high-power digital amplifier and have a powered noise cancellation system. The result was a sound never experienced by many, except those lucky few in the actual recording studios! The high quality sound they produce creates a whole new way of listen to music. It has been said that Beats allow you to listen to music the way the artist intended and it lives up to that statement!

Beats were created by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and are manufactured by Monster. In the video below Iovine goes through the story of Beats, how they wanted to revolutionize the experience of listening to music and why they are different from other headphones. They didn’t want just any old headphone, they wanted users to experience the full audio spectrum any headphone had to offer. Even the way Dr. Dre speaks about the headphones shows how much he wanted develop an extraordinary product, definitely something different!

“People aren’t hearing all the music. Artists and producers work hard in the studio, perfecting their sound. But people can’t really hear it with normal headphones. Most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, the dynamics. Bottom line: the music doesn’t move you. With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do.” – Dr. Dre

Even without the exceptional sound quality, Beats would be still be a top seller through their design alone. The slick, all-in-one headpiece surrounds the ear piece. The ear piece itself manoeuvres and pivots to fit your head comfortably. Even the way the headphones collapse for ease of transport is executed well. The hinge for this is not hidden, instead they make it a design feature and blatantly highlight the screws. This design feature almost persuades the user to pick it up and fold the headphones. Even the logo is great, the ‘b’ looks like the side profile of the headphones. Just great design all over from Beats

Since the launch of Beats, many other audio products have been added to the product line from in-ear earphones to an iPod dock speaker. Their latest addition, Beats audio in the new HP range of laptops means even your laptop will be equipped with the latest in audio technology. Hopefully Apple will be adopting this technology into their laptops also! The music from their latest TV advertisement is something to get your head bopping and sounds amazing through these headphones! Check out the song below!

For us at twentysomethingdesign the Philco PC is what it’s all about, something different!
( #somethingdifferent was trending last night … wahey! )

The Philco PC concept is admittedly a couple of years old, but I hope you’ll agree that it’s a must see design. The Philco PC concept was designed by schultzeWORKS an industrial design firm from Pasadena, California. SchultzeWORKS designstudio was founded by Dave Schultze in 1997, some of schultzeWorks clients include Microsoft, LG, and Target.

schultzeWorks have created an iconic piece of design in our opinion. They have merged retro steampunk styling with modern materials and finishing, the complement is as close to perfection as we’ve seen anywhere.

schultzeWorks took inspiration from the Philco Predicta, an icon itself, it was designed and launched in the late 1950′s, during the dawn of the space age. It’s futurist design included a seperate and rounded viewing screen, which was a break away design to traditional tv sets at the time. The Philco Predicta was marketed as “TV today from the world of tomorrow”.

philco-predicta-holiday

schultzeWork have gently extracted some of Philco Predicta retro design elements and married it with their own vibrant design aesthetic. The attention to detail carries through the entire design. The mix of the coiled back cable, chunky orange knobs and the aluminum front grill is magic. Unsurprisingly lead designer Dave Schultze says “The design was a total labor of love”. Dave’s ambition was to break away from the stereotypical pc “I felt so strongly that, with few exceptions, most computers are engineered eyesores”. What else can we say only that Dave Schutlze has accomplished his ambition and nailed a supreme piece of design!

We all associate Oakley as leaders of innovation, masters of design and producers of world class eyewear. But did you know that Oakley began as a BMX grip manufacturer?

The history of Oakley takes the viewer through the humble beginnings of the global eyewear giant Oakley. The piece is beautifully shot and edited by Harrison Boyce from BMX blog def grip.
Harrison takes us on a personal journey with Mike Bell a former AMA Supercross champion and an employee of Oakley who started in 1985. Mike shares with us the largely unknown stories of Oakley founder Jim Jannards triumphs and failures on their rocky road to success.
Mike opens a window into the past as we learn about Oakley’s first product the BMX grip B1B and their transition to eyewear. We learn about how they struggled with patent infringements to their success story of Oakley’s iconic and possibly most successful product the O-Frame goggle.
So sit back and enjoy this wonderfully crafted piece!

History of Oakley from Defgrip on Vimeo.

The Maglus, the magnetic stylus (no prizes for guessing where the name came from) is the brainchild of Applydea. Applydea is made up of two fellow Irish designers Noel Joyce and Andy Shaw. Having a stylus for your iPad is a great addition….but only when you can find it! This is where the genius lies in the Maglus, the stylus simply sticks to the new smart cover for the iPad2 and is there when you need it. It can also attach to the iPad itself so you dont even need the smart cover for the stylus to work. Having the stylus close to hand means you can quickly access it rather than searching around the bottom of the bag trying to find a stylus. The design of the stylus is in keeping with Apple’s design philosphy, a product that looks good and functions even better.

This clever product is hosted on the Irish crowd funding site, Fundit, and is currently 18% funded. They are looking for a target of €15,000 to get the first batch into production so if you haven’t funded yet, click on the link above and get your hands on one of these if you pledge a €15 donation (RRP €24.99). Of course if you feel more generous then donate some more and help the lads at Applydea. Since the launch of the Maglus, the guys have got some great media coverage, numerous blogs including the likes of MacTrast, CultOfMac and even Wired. They even got a mention in the Wall Street Journal! But clearly a mention on this blog is bigger than all that!!

Maglus from Applydea on Vimeo.

Not only is all this coverage great for the Maglus but also for Irish design. The design talent in Ireland has an enormous potential and it is something we at twentysomething want to encourage and let the world see this talent. Knowing both Noel and Andy on a personal level, we know too that they feel strongly about this so the further they go with the Maglus, the further Irish design will be promoted. We’re sure the Maglus will be in production soon and we look forward to some more innovative products to come from Applydea.

The Spica Speaker first appeared at Tokyo’s DesignTide in 2009 and we can’t cant believe we only saw this now! These speakers take on a whole different perspective of listening to music. Not only can you hear the music but now you can see the beats resonate through the water. This combined with lights makes for a truly unique experience in audio entertainment.
Designer Yuki Yamamoto has managed to combine music, water and light to make the experience of listening to music more of a visual aspect. What better way to be booming out a bassy tune on your subwoofer and seeing the water bounce to the beat.

The video below demonstrates this and you can see the cool effect of the water when the bass kicks in. Also the video has a kicking beat by Cornelius, having a good tune to accompany and demonstrate your product is vital!