Friday, October 29, 2004
Q: How do you make a world beating iconic product and thereby revive the fortunes of your $2 billion loss making computer company ?
A: Hire a visionary designer who can align himself almost completely with your founding values and give him the freedom to pursue his belief that simplicity is not a style but is designed into a product from the ground up.
Jonathan Ive at the recent launch of the U2 ipod special editon was dubbed by Bono, "ipod Johnny". More formally, Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Computer, Jonathan Ive is the man who has developed a swathe of highly engineered products that are clean, pure and simple to use. A Dieter Rams for the new century, Ive has already had an enormous influence on product design as everything from pens to the BBC news studio takes on glowing translucency and aluminium detailing.
He joined Apple in 1992 and said that he felt at the time that the company had "lost it's sense of identity". Work had begun on the original imac before the return of legendary Apple founder, Steve Jobs but Ive dispelled the urban myth that Jobs simply arrived and demothballed the radical design for the imac. No doubt though, the imac was a survive or die product for Apple.
It was very interesting to hear Ive talking about his work. Not least because he doesn't do it very often. His last similar public event was seven years ago and he'd requested that this one be kept informal - the Q&A style suiting his low key approach. Describing his design rationale at Apple, it emerged that strong attention to every last detail is key. He obviously feels passionately about the values of the company and revealed that projects have no formal design brief. The guiding principal is 'making products better'. Ive talked about Apple as not just an opportunistic company or a purveyor of technology for its own sake. The simplification of Apple products he described as, "teetering on naive - almost unfinished" - the same might be said of their business philosophy. The goal of the company, he claimed, is "not to make money". The belief is that striving for the best products will create the desire for them and the profit.
Unconventional it may be but it's hard to argue when you look at the sales figures.
During the meeting Ive was at his most animated when talking about his geeky obsession with product features that nobody will ever know about such as the clutch mechanism controlling the opening of the display on the 17" Powerbook. Designer Dick Powell, who was in the audience, enthused about the disappearing latch hook on the Powerbook and Ive took the first of many opportunities to tell us how, "we had to work really really hard on that - spent hours and hours and hours on it". What marks out Apple products is this obsession with quality and detail. Mac afficionados will tell you how the total integration of products from their operating system through to the design of the power switch gives them a coherence and integrity. Ive's take on this was enlightening, "its the whole experience of the product not just the way it looks". Every last detail of the user experience is considered. He talked again and again about 'focus and caring'. Focussing on what was essential to achieving the vision for a product and caring fully about every aspect of it's design. Allusions to an iterative cycle of 'throwing away and starting again' gave a clue about the zeal with which Ive's quest to 'get design out of the way' is pursued.
Unexpectedly beefy in appearance, his jeans, sneakers n stubble consistent with his lack of formality. He confessed to finding computers intrinsically uninteresting. Feels comfortable with designing small products as opposed to larger items and lamented the lack of general quality in mass market industrial design, "there's not a lot of really nice stuff".
Design heroes were few but he commented that the current Marc Newson exhibition was irritatingly good - particularly admiring Newson's cellphone design. He dealt good humouredly with the inevitable inane questions - "Is the ipod masculine or feminine ?" [ A: "It's a music player"]. And for a resident of California did not seem too hung up on the ethical aspects of his job. Ive just appears to be wholly captivated by his role and the opportunity it provides him to 'make some really nice stuff'. It was good to see him in person and understand that he's rounded, grounded and the kind of bloke you would meet in the pub and not guess he was a superstar designer.
The prospect of a 2 button Apple mouse, though, was not up for discussion.
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:34 PM
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Then here's to John Peel
With his beard so gray
On the wireless each night
his tracks did play
Did ye ken John Peel
he was a fine DJ?
and a really nice bloke too. [ Who needs rhymes? - the man was an artist ]
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:18 PM
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
1. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises wearing their most revealing underwear.
2. Beds have strange L-shaped top sheets that reach up to armpit level on a woman but only waist level on the man lying beside her.
3. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
4. It's easy for anyone to land a plane, providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
5. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off - even while scuba diving.
6. The ventilation system of any building is a perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building without difficulty.
7. You're likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
8. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
9. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window of any building in Paris.
10. People on TV never finish their drinks.
 | Principal enemies are humans - (who sometimes kill it for meat), lions, hyenas and leopards; pythons also take the young. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 1:40 PM
Monday, October 25, 2004
| Young females stay with their mother until after the next baby is born. They may then dig their own burrows a few yards away from the mother and join her to forage for termites. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:45 PM
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Sarah Jane lives more like a princess than a Cinderella, and believes that the Bible's warning to beware of inner filth puts things into perspective. via Scary
Sir Cliffe hopes that you will think of him as you wear the perfume which he has created with just you in mind. via Zed
The heat in Tel Aviv is not too overbearing at 9am at this time of year [ grr ]
It's not a good idea to wear suede shoes during a torrential downpour.
There was an unfeasibly large organ in Leicester Square.
I always thought that 'Hero of the Soviet Union' was a great title. Now I know it was worth having - tax exempt status on all that vodka.
The Fat Slags may be out of circulation for a while. Not in Bignjuicyville I can assure you.
Not having a job feels pretty good...so far.
| Newborns are pinkish and stay inside the burrow for about 2 weeks. Then begin to follow their mothers in their search for food. The young first eats solid food at 3 months of age and is suckled until 4 months. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:07 PM
Saturday, October 23, 2004
| Young males become independent at about 6 months and go off on their own. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 9:00 PM
Friday, October 22, 2004
Those strength vibes you sent got me thru - thankyou.
Feeling now: drained, strangely unafraid and in need of a large drink.
Well I am as they say, officially the hell outa there.
The Formal Leaving Lunch was as weird as expected - the talk as small as a gnats shrivelled left gonad. After much general chit chat and consumption of bizarre food relieved only by water and the occasional fart from the assembled throng, the Formal Farewell Speech was performed. This was fascinating, excruciating and surreal. My achievements were outlined in glowing terms and my place in history almost assured when the official photographers tuned up. Sadly, I was not ready for my closeup and sent them away until later - when I knew I would be several miles distant. There was an awkward shifting vibe as we all sat around on bizarre low level pink loungerettes trying to keep the conversation flowing whilst maintaining the dignity and Formality of the occasion. I waited for the first one to look at the clock. [ 15 mins in ] I waited for chief tosser to arrive. [ 20 mins in - so he didn't have to stay too long ]. I waited for chief tosser to take over the conversation so that he became the centre of it. [ 21 mins in ] I cracked a few funnies and the assembled throng all guffawed maniacally. I looked around to see if the nude 86 year old bus conductress I had ordered for the entertainment had arrived such was their mirth. Sadly she was delayed in traffic and never made it. Everyone, all day was being so nice the sort of nice that ordinarily would have you worried you were about to be sacked or sent to work in the Slough branch office. It was as though everyone had taken a Nice Pill - how I wish they had started putting them in the tea five years ago - I might then have not needed to massacre them all with a high powered gas laser.*
*[ other revenge fantasies are available ]
| Give birth to one offspring at a time. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 4:50 PM
Thursday, October 21, 2004
I've been pretty blogstipated for the past few weeks. If you've been reading this stuff for any longer than that you'll no doubt have noticed. Sorry n all. I think it's down to coming to terms with what I did nearly two months ago. [ Resigned from well paid secure job with nothing to go to - as you do ]. I've tried not to go on about it too much but something this big is bound to have an effect eh? I admit it - I've been preoccupied with life, the universe and where my next pint of the black stuff is coming from.
Well my
After tomorrow the blogflow should improve - it better had or I'm off.
| With their keen sense of smell, also hunt for the long columns of termites that move outside the mounds at night. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:05 PM
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
| Sometimes press their snouts against an opening in a mound and suck up the termites. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:49 PM
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I see that the Welsh sperm donation situation is nearing criticality. "The service has practically dried up", according to sources. [ Oh the possibilities with that one - but I'll resist ] The prospect of being tracked down by your genetic offspring in future years is apparently putting off donors. What used to be a wam bam that'll be nineteen quid please experience could now mean an appearance on Surprise Surprise eighteen years later. Personally, I was toying with the idea of a visit to Wales in the near future but I realised that any profit potential would be neutralised by the train fare [ I wonder if you can send it through the post? ] I'm all in favour of passing on my genes to future generations - that's what we men are for isn't it? So with the prospect of ten different pregnancies and no responsibility I'm surprised that the demand isn't rocketing skywards.
[ OK I'm cheap ]
| Trap termites using their long protractile tongues, which are covered with a thick, sticky saliva. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:18 PM
Monday, October 18, 2004
Enjoying the autumn colour. Especially a truly biblical sunset this evening. With purple clouds. The more I look at nature the more I realise how much I've taken it for granted for so long. When you look, really look there is so much. Endless variety of colour, form, movement. Endless shimmering light on even the greyest of days - always something to be seen, to be wondered about, to be enjoyed. One day I'll probably be stuck in some awful room unable to get out - too ill or infirm to go where I want, when I want. Until then I'll be looking, really looking.
| Go from one termite mound to another at night, dismantling the hills with their powerful claws. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:53 PM
Sunday, October 17, 2004
| Have poor eyesight and are cautious upon leaving their burrows. They come to the entrance and stand motionless for several minutes. Then they suddenly leap out in powerful jumps. At about 30 feet out they stop, rise up on their legs, perk up their ears and turn their heads in all directions. If there are no sounds, they make a few more leaps and finally move at a slow trot to look for food. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:54 PM
Saturday, October 16, 2004
| Specialised in eating termites as long as 35 million years ago. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:00 PM
Friday, October 15, 2004
Apologies for the hiatus.
I've been maintaining my Aardvarks the last couple of days.
They're not easy I can tell you. All those termites play havoc with the shagpile.
And the burrowing! Don't talk to me about the burrowing.
Anyway, we are now about half way through Aardvark month here at Bignjuicy. Yes, time does fly when you are having fun. Thoughts are turning to autumn leaves fluttering gently to the ground - propelled by hurricane force winds and endless sodding rain. Hark! is that an Aardvark I hear in yonder park? [ No it's a squirrel in heavy makeup wearing a bum bag ]. One week from today I will be a free man. Slipping free from the shackles that bind my spirit. Escaping from the enslavement to capitalist imperatives and a large cheque at the end of the month. I'm feeling in turns excited, scared, depressed, exhilarated. A whole new vista is opening up before me. A future of satisfying, well paid and creative work or a downward spiral of drink sodden despair and daytime TV [ not necessarily in that order ]. There's a 'now or never' feeling about all this. A phrase I once heard sticks in my mind, 'Pounds follow passion'. No, not the final scene of a Belle de jour assignment. More a notion that if you believe in something and have a genuine passion and enthusiasm - that will drive you and inspire others and will lead to you achieving rewards, so good will you be at your chosen vocation. I'm not entirely convinced of this but I think there is something in it. The people who inspire me are usually those who are energised and communicate a clear vision of what they are about - people you feel you can believe in - those who are prepared to follow through from their fine words and deliver something of value. I suppose that sounds like integrity. Much in the news recently. One man's integrity is anothers disillusion. I wonder if that's always the case?
Must be off - those Aardvarks have discovered a new route into next doors termite mound. There'll be letters to the council if I'm not careful.
| Burrows which have been abandoned may be used for shelter by bats, ground squirrels, hares, cats, civets, hyenas, jackals, porcupines, monitor lizards, owls and warthogs. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 1:00 AM
Thursday, October 14, 2004
| Burrows vary from simple chambers with one entrance, to a complicated maze of galleries with 20 or more entrances. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 12:00 AM
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
| Keep their burrows clean. They deposit their dung in a hole away from the entrance, carefully covering it with earth. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 12:00 PM
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
As time progresses inexorably onwards and I prepare to get the hell out of my former job - [ How good that looks as I type it ] - I reflect on why I decided to leave. I realise that I have never really felt at home there. It's been a place I always knew I would be getting the hell out of sooner rather than later. I've usually gone for jobs where there is some kind of challenge - this one certainly had that. The upside of a challenge is that you have plenty to do and you can make your mark. The downside is that once you've made your mark the reason you went there - ie the challenge - is no longer present. I see things differently to most people. I have a weird angle on things and people find it odd. Sometimes I think I'm going mad - I can see something blindingly obvious yet all around me are oblivious. This job has been a bit like that. I knew from the moment I walked in what needed doing and I just got on and did it. Quite a lot of people got upset - they weren't seeing things quite the way I was. To me they appeared 'difficult' and stuck in their ways. To them, I appeared reckless and an upstart who didn't understand The Ways That We Do Things Here. Now, as I approach that 54321 moment I hear people talking about things I invented as though they had just thought of them. Doing jobs they couldn't have done before I did what I did. Telling me how to do things I taught them to do in the first place! I suppose all that means I've succeeded.
Wonder why it doesn't feel like that to me? I guess I'm just seeing it differently to them. I guess that's why they're staying and I'm going.
Laughs out loud
"I saw a farm in New Zealand that traded under the name of The Star Sheep Enterprise. Jake, Canterbury"
More like this.
"Live for now - if the cholesterol don't get you there's an asteroid out there with 'Planet Earth' written on it."
Birdy goes all Viv Nicholson.
| Leave a distinctive track from dragging their tails and can travel up to 18 miles a night. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 8:10 PM
Monday, October 11, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
|
Are nocturnal, usually waiting until dark before they emerge from their burrows. After a cold night they may occasionally sun themselves. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:25 PM
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Neil McGregor, Director of The British Museum, likes to shop at Heals, Tottenham Court Rd and banks at Barclays.
Layout Paper is not the same as Tracing Paper and it costs a bomb and nobody sells it.
The film crew that worked on Dr Strangelove had to wear felt slippers when on set - to protect the shiny floor.
Tower Bridge can be lowered in about 60 seconds and in eerie silence.
Writing data to CDs is a complicated business with many choices to be made along the way.
Michael Fish has lost none the self importance I remember him having.
| Are found where there are sufficient termites for food, access to water and sandy or clay soil. If the soil is too hard, aardvarks, despite being speedy, powerful diggers, will move to areas where the digging is easier. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:30 PM
Friday, October 08, 2004
Alan has a rather fetching photo of my favourite Ex Corrie Actor in a Gay Torment Storyline who is now furthering his career very nicely thankyou. Dalek linkage tells me that "exterminate" may not feature in the noo dr who. This can't be right. Daleks say, "exterminate" they just do.
Pussy
I've acquired a mad cat that has been reincarnated from a mountain goat. The cat pops up on various high points around these parts. Peering over chimney pots, sniffing in 2nd floor gutters, camping out on precipitous windowsills. The cat has decided that it likes to visit me as I blog, tapping it's nose on the window to be let in then prancing around like a mad cat like thing on my desk. The cat is cute.
Pain
..is what I feel after the news from Iraq. God rest his soul - poor man. Can't stop thinking about it. Bad bad bad.
Woop de doo
I'm celebrating this evening having almost secured my first job as a self employed personage. There was a rainbow in the sky as I drove to the appointment - surely a good omen?
| Are found in all regions, from dry savanna to rain forest. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:50 PM
Thursday, October 07, 2004
And so yesterday to the Design Museum - sans James Dyson - to meet with Ken Adam, Production Designer of nearly every Bond movie until 1979, Moonraker.
Born in 1921 Berlin, Adam was one of the few if not the only WW2 RAF fighter pilot with a German passport. A self confessed speed freak he mentioned his ownership of an E-Type during the sixties on several occasions last night. I, and several dozen others sat enthralled as he discussed his work. There can't be many 83 year old movie Production Designers that are still working. There is only one designer of Dr Strangelove. The movie so persuasive in it's visual power that Ronald Reagan, upon becoming president is reputed to have asked to see the 'war room'. The room, designed by Ken Adam, all shiny black floor, triangular vaulted ceiling and stark lighting. The room Reagan saw in the movies and always believed was real. Until they told him it wasn't. Stanley Kubric had seen Adam's work on Dr No and signed him up for Strangelove. Adam told the story of how Kubric insisted on being driven to the set every day in Adam's E-Type and how they had formed a close relationship. So close that Kubric drove him to distraction in later years during his work on Barry Lyndon - for which Adam was awarded one of his two Oscars. A recently revealed story credits Kubric with secret lighting consultancy for, 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. Adam sneaked him onto the set on a quiet Sunday afternoon - as you do.
Adam's influence on contemporary visual culture has been enormous. One of my favourite recent examples is Canary Wharf tube station. The Foster Associates design team was inspired by Adam's Bond sets - notably the Supertanker interior in Spy Who Loved Me.
Fosters are fond of Bond. The gherkin interiors looking strangely reminiscent of The Spider Room in Dr No.
 |  |
It was a memorable evening and I was greatly inspired to be in the presence of such a creative and imaginative man who is still a live wire at his great age. I'm going to do another post on this meeting, I've more to say. Meanwhile take a look at these sites which have some fantastic imagery.
The Art of James Bond - featuring a special Ken Adam section.
nyclondon blog
|
Have thick claws on the forefeet which are used as digging tools. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 10:30 PM
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
 |
Sean Connery in 'Goldfinger' 1964 - about to have his gonads lasered. What kind of mind could think up something like this? I met the man who did earlier this evening. More on this story tomorrow... |
| Have long, tubular ears which are normally held upright but can be folded and closed. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:50 PM
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Interesting to see that Evan Williams has left Google. The man who founded Blogger is taking time out to do his thang. No matter what you think of Blogger - it has changed the world. Well done Ev baby and good luck.
Interesting to see that James Dyson has left the Design Museum. The man who invented the bagless vacuum cleaner is taking himself off to escape an institution he feels has lost it's way. No matter what you think of Dyson cleaners and the Design Museum - they've both changed the world. Well done James and good luck.
Interesting to see that I have not yet left the job I resigned from over a month ago. The man who desperately needs to make a change in his life is now counting the days until he's finally free. No matter what you think of employment as a concept - it's still selling your life to other people and I can't wait to decide how and who I sell it to. Maybe I'll change the world? I've a while to go. Wish me luck.
| Have short legs. The hind legs are longer than the front ones. The head is elongated and ends in a long, narrow snout, with nostrils that can be closed. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 9:30 PM
Monday, October 04, 2004
1. I nearly got sucked into a vortex this morning on the way to work. There I was pootling along with some light Autumnal drizzle lightly dampening my wipers. Suddenly the end times arrive from stage right. A massive quantity of water is blasted at high velocity onto the road along with various arboreal ecoutrements - twigs, squirrels etc. Everyone slams on their brakes, switches on those stupid high intensity rear lights that are visible from space and the whole road erupts into a scene from Dune. I've never been in a hurricane before and even though this wasn't one I think I got an idea of the destructive force and brown trouser inducing helplessness you might experience. Now the sun is shining.
We live in a sick climate.
2. The only thing that will allow the Tories back into power will be a - Even more Labour arrogance and b - A complete clearout of all the current Tories to remove all of the gormless twats and PR unfriendly nuts and vampires. They need someone people can believe in. Like John Prescott, for example...
3. I've been thinking about the future. I realised that I lost touch a while back with my idealism. I always said that I would never become jaded and cynical and that I would continue to fight for what I believe in. Sadly, I think I've become jaded and cynical. I think cynicism is probably a response that a lot of older people, especially men, resort to when they realise that the ideals they held as youths might not be realised. That's tough isn't it? But I think knowing your fragility and insignificance is no bad thing.
4. As I type it looks as though the X prize has been won. One day soon we can all be spacemen. I wonder if you offered a prize to eradicate world hunger would anyone go after it and how long it would take before everyone had enough to eat?
5. My Phormiums survived Hurricane Juiciana last night. They are tough cookies. There they were all perky and gorgeous this morning - as though nothing had happened. I suppose millions of years of evolution has taught them a few tricks. I'm often surprised by natural resourcefulness in plants and animals and especially human beans.
6. That's enough musings for now apart from: does anyone now if Aspartame is officially Not Good for You? I'm addicted to Wrigley's Extra - which is far from organic.
|
| Have a short neck connected to a massive, dull brownish-gray, almost hairless body that has a strongly arched back. [ Sounds like someone I used to go out with ] |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 4:00 PM
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Gales are lashing Bignjuicyville tonight.
My hatches are securely fixed with industrial strength, 'I can't believe it's not Nails'. I'm a bit worried about my Phormiums though. They're being blown to buggery outside. I wonder what squirrels do when it's windy? Or for that matter aardvarks?
Hmmm...
|
| Are the last survivor of a group of primitive ungulates, really a 'near-ungulate' that has developed powerful claws. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 11:54 PM
Saturday, October 02, 2004
It's cold in Brussels.
Herrings communicate by farting. [ A trick they have been taught by schoolboys ] Sample herring farts
There is only one left-handed, colour-blind, Portuguese, wheelchair-bound, octogenarian lesbian in the UK.
Listening to country music may give rise to suicide. [ This lot have got nothing on Morrissey ]
Douglas lives in a den of iniquity.
The official South African national anthem combines Xhosa and English.
Even God is being outsourced to India.
The Vegetarian Society has been supersized. [ V = victim ]
You can now time your NHS heart operation so that you can recover at your country pad over the weekend, stitch up your next door neighbour and buy a new house. [ New Labour, new Mortgage ]
|
| Are endemic to Africa and are similar in some respects to the South American anteater - they are not related though. |
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 8:00 AM
Friday, October 01, 2004
October is traditionally Aardvark month at Bignjuicy. The tradition dates all the way back to Wednesday when Mystic Mog suggested it. Only it wasn't so much of a suggestion, as a mention of the subject of Aardvarks.
Well, I for one was not going to pass up the opportunity to explore and indeed research the most fascinating facts I could find about this pointy snouted insect snorting cutey. Having explored and indeed researched - all the while sucking pear drops - I realised that I had accumulated a wealth of material. [ I had also developed some dental problems which have required extensive emergency flossing and use of one of those curly sucky tubes at the dentists ]. Indeed so wealthy was I with material that I felt compelled to cascade my wealth in your general direction.
The Aardvark is a fascinating creature and every day this month I will tell you a fascinating fact about it. [ There is more than 1 aardvark - but you know what I mean ]. This, I feel sure will enrich your life - as it has done mine.
So here we are - our very first Bignjuicy Aardvark factoid:
| Name means "earth pig" in Afrikaans. |
More tomorrow
and the day after
etc etc.
freshly squeezed for you by drD at 5:00 PM