April 21, 2008 will go down in history as the night Wyclef Jean shook up Hong Kong with his showmanship and charisma. Wyclef held a private concert at MO Bar in Central to promote his latest album “Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant”. This show is part of Sony BMG’s live and unplugged series - previous performances featured artists such as Alicia Keys and Coco Lee.
The concert had everything you could ask for. The bongo-playing, water-spraying, kung-fu fighting, crowd-surfing, blinged-out musician/producer/humanitarian did backflips on the bar tops, played the guitar with his mouth, and had every guy and doll in the audience rockin’ to his mix of solo songs, Fugees nostalgia, and even some 80s disco fever.
For the last couple of years, the web search engine process has been somewhat standardized by the key players in the game (Google, Yahoo, Baidu, etc…). Having said that, prepare yourself for the new kid on the block - Searchme.
Although still in beta stage, the beauty of the Searchme engine lies in its simple design and slick presentation. Your search is first filtered by category and then previews of each website are displayed in an Ipod album art-like format. I’m already hooked!
Born in the Netherlands and based out of Sweden, designer Christiaan Postma has created a clock that illustrates the transient nature of time. At first glance, this curious invention looks like a hodgepodge of toothpicks on a blackboard, but over time you’ll realize that this is a clock made for the right-brainers of the world.
At the top of the hour, the time is spelled out on the display in its appropriate position - as time shifts from one hour to the next, the pieces on the display slowly rearrange themselves to form the word for the next hour. This won’t improve your problem with punctuality, but it’ll make a good excuse if you’re late for work!
The Rono Ice Cream shop facade in Tokyo could easily be mistaken for an upscale jewelry store or a fancy spa/salon entrance. Rarely do you see an ice cream shop devoid of vibrant colours and pictures displaying the countless number of flavors.
This was Japanese designer Hiroyuki Miyake’s inspiration when creating the atypical interior space. The lack of character, texture, and colour in the design is not so much minimalist-motivated as it is product-driven. His “less is more” approach effectively focuses the customer’s attention on the ice cream itself, where you’ll find the only splashes of colour in the entire store.
Marion Bataille is a Paris-based graphic designer making her first foray into the US publishing industry. This video is simply a hand-made mock-up of the actual book that will be published in Oct 2008, but it gives us a taste of things to come.
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich is known for his one-of-a-kind typographical transformations. Peep his online portfolio and visit Bembo’s Zoo to watch the magic happen.
