As passionate food freaks, it's all too common to get caught up in the tastes and exoticism of what we are experiencing, rather than in what makes the most sense and is good. In fact, if you look at what makes something 'gourmet' these days, more often than not it's the item that has taken great effort and care to produce and spent the least amount of time traveling from the farm to your table.
A good example of this in Vancouver is asparagus. Ask around and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who can tell you specifically that they've even tasted fresh, local asparagus. Seriously. Most of what people buy comes from Mexico or California with little thought to the seasonality, or what was done to it to get it to grow, or survive the long trip here. In contrast, the local season for asparagus is very short—a few weeks at best. If you're not quick, and early, at the farmer's market, you might not even realize we have an asparagus supply here!
Enter
Foodtree.
Although manifest as a website and mobile app to share fresh, mouth-watering photos of food in your community in a fun and simple way, Foodtree is a philosophical and fundamental shift in our approach to understanding the where, why and how of the food we consume. If information is power, then this is one of the key ways we as consumers can control our food supply future. Until we empower ourselves in this way, organic and healthy food will remain a novelty and just slightly out of reach of the mainstream.
Yet, mainstreaming this concern about where our food comes from and what's in it, is precisely what's required.
Inspired by the symbols, styles and ideology of
the Homesteading movement, the new identity hearkens to a simpler time of getting back to the land and a self-sufficient lifestyle. The hand-crafting and do-it-yourself ethic also produced a unique aesthetic evocative of an era past, but also in resurgence.
Our future may very well lie in the successful merger of a new integration of technology with the sustainable methods from our past. This is what Foodtree represents and the logo and its application is meant to evoke.
[post_title] => Know your food
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Sometimes it is convenient that our food world and our design world cross paths. Recently Foodtree asked us to help rebrand in the time leading up to the launch of their new iPhone app and City of Vancouver collaboration. Rolled out simulta [...]
Posted by: Ben Garfinkel on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Categories: Branding, Industrial Brand, Sustainability | 1 Comment »
Rebel. Ignite. Commit. A fitness company starts over with a new strategy, brand, website and iPhone app.
Ever used the WhatTheFont website to determine what a font is? You see a picture and just NEED to know what that obscure font is. Well what happens if you’re out and about and see one on a restaurant menu, or an ad on the bus? Well gr [...]
Posted by: Steve Mynett on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
Categories: Design, Fun, Interactive | 2 Comments »
Three Strikes, You're out:
One: If you had gone to the trouble of making your own ringtones for your iPhone using clips of songs from your library then you will find they are all gone the next time you sync with the latest iTunes. Apple now sells ringtones to its US customers for $0.99 and it would rather you paid up than made them yourself.
Two: It seems that the new generation of iPods will not output video through cables or docks that aren't Apple authorised and have a specific "authentication" chip. Apple charges a hefty cut for joining its approved suppliers programme, and this is a way to ensure that vendors sign up.
Three: iTunes keeps your songs organised using a database, and over the years a number of free and open source music players have been developed that can read and write this database format. Any Linux user who wants to use an iPod needs a non-Apple library manager. Programmes like gtkpod, Rhythmbox and Banshee are easy to use and don't try to sell you songs all the time, but now Apple has added a new feature to the iTunes database, a special number which is calculated from your list of files using a process only Apple knows. If the number is wrong, your library looks empty. And because the free players don't know the algorithm used, they can no longer be used with iTunes/iPod.
These three examples point to a larger strategy that Apple has adopted. It may be a strategy that Apple has had for a while as the iPod was never really that open a device. But now it's getting to the point where users will really start to feel the squeeze.
This got me thinking about the iPhone. I have to admit it, Apple has done a great job of making the iPhone one alluring gadget, here at our own studio most of us are lusting over the iPhone even if it's unusable as a phone in Canada. It's touch-screen interface is a pleasure to use and so intuitive.
I am an early adopter, the iPhone is made for people like me. Back in 2000 when Apple first launched its iPod, I was right there, then it was miles ahead of the pack.
Apple has been extremely slow to improve upon that first generation iPod. With nothing more than cosmetic changes to the original apart from the fundamental video capability. The iPhone has been a long time coming and it's a bit of a closed box when you look at it closely. With a price tag of $640 you'd expect it to have at least the same amount of features as some other smart phones.
Here are some of its deficits:
1. Can’t exchange contact information via bluetooth with other PDAs,
2. Can’t listen to music with bluetooth headphones,
3. Bluetooth can only be used to answer phonecalls (limited)
4. Web browser is not flash compatible
5. No zooming for the camera
6. No flash for the camera
7. No video camera
8. NOT compatible internationally like most other smart phones
Sure, there are hacks,
Hacktheiphone.com is full of tutorials and software but that's besides the point. It's clear that the iPhone is a first generation product. It didn't really dissuade me back in 2000 when I bought the iPod but I'm going to wait and see what direction Apple will take it.
[post_title] => Apple Locks Down
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During the iDesign conference in London I heard Bill Thompson talk about design’s role in the world of technology and he mentioned the locking down of Apple’s newest portable products. I did some reading and found quite a lot un [...]
Posted by: Haig Armen on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Categories: Articles, Music, Technology | 2 Comments »
What I love most about Photoshop on the iPhone is the functionality. Adobe has really thought of everything. Designers, prepare to throw your laptops and towers away. The iPhone is really all you need.
Posted by: Kevin Broome on Monday, September 17th, 2007
Categories: Design, Pop Culture, Technology | No Comments »
