W

Wikipedia is the only source of light in a "world without free knowledge".

I think this page/ announcement works so well; it needed to be simple and to the point. I love the extreme shadow and the soft black and the Times New Roman. This is nothing dramatic or radical or ohmygodshit!, but that's probably the reason for its success.

Of course, Wikipedia is not the only site protesting. But I do think that it does it more, well, elegantly, than the others.

On an aside: never realized how often I went to the Wiki page in a day; I just instinctively click on a link or google search result and then realize a split second later that it's been blacked out.

The history of Gotham

The history of Gotham,
at
Wikipedia
and
Hoefler and Frere-Jones, the type foundry
and
the Helvetica movie website
and here:

Style

If you live in South Delhi then you've definitely seen some of the great graffiti (ahem, vandalism?) out on the streets. NowDelhi/ Tahska has even made a pretty brilliant short film/ documentary on this:

Vandalrt from tahska on Vimeo.

From the style and signature (which I sometimes spot) I know that most of the graffiti done around my area is by Daku. It's all brilliantly coloured typography (and I mean the other meaning of brilliant, the one to do with bright and shining, complete with glinting edges); it's really good work.


There's a huge abandoned plot at the edge of my colony -used as a rubbish dump and public urinal- with a lone square very DDA-looking structure on it. I don't know what it is, but I've seen it on plenty of other huge abandoned plots- perhaps some kind of guard room, or something that hides an ancient well?


Anyways, that structure has now been vandalized. (Actually, it's been so for at least a month, and I've been planning to write this at least as long, but we'll talk about my procrastination sometime else.) This is the best graffiti work I've seen for real so far, outside of my computer screen. I mean, shit. It's just so good, the idea and, of course, the execution. Take a look:

looking up at the sky?

looking away from the rubbish?

both?

update
Ankurb told me to watch Exit Through the Gift Shop (which has all type in helvetica, btw). It's a great, really, REALLY, funny movie/ documentary/ mockumentary/ prankometary/ I-don't-know-whether-it's-true-or-not; I mean, it's so ridiculous it's completely unbelievable.

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Style is still my favourite.

update, May 25
Thanks to the lovely Uzi, I now know the who the artist behind the style graffiti is: Loomit (find more of his work in Delhi here).

On wit

The Occupied Wall Street Journal is the mouthpiece of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.


So brilliantly funny. Also, I've said this before, I'll say it again, nobody tops Scott Adams. If you don't already flow his blog, you should. His recent posts documenting his US presidential campaign will have you LAUGHING OUT LOUD (and, if you're like me, annoying people around you by reading out loud too).


And, acceding to Adams' wishes, I'm posting the following disclaimer:

Warning: This blog is written for a rational audience that likes to have fun wrestling with unique or controversial points of view. It is written in a style that can easily be confused as advocacy or opinion. It is not intended to change anyone's beliefs or actions. If you quote from this post or link to it, which you are welcome to do, please take responsibility for whatever happens if you mismatch the audience and the content.

masala-waala

:D

Today, on the way back from the metro station, via Hauz Rani, I met a masala-waala! He sells masalas, and, unbelievably, pasta (!) on his redi/ wheel-cart. He sits in this area every Wednesday. Shit, I never even knew there were masala-waalas like him, let alone masala-aur-pasta waalas. This made my day, and even made the cycle-which-fell-on-my-foot-two-minutes-later sorta worth it.

Update:

My all-knowing brother tells me that a masalawaala isn't that rare (he's seen them around the Hauz Khas Village) and, more importantly, what I thought was pasta are actually un-fried/ dry fry-ums. You know, those snacky things that blow up when fried. Still, a weird thing to sell.

isabgol and licences

 

Packaging for Sat-Isabgol, which my dad has been having since forever. I think it's brilliant! So retro. Absolutely love the typography. Notice how elements are repeated on both the English and Hindi sides, especially love the 'R' of registered. It's cardboard, and the 'trademark registered' oval is embossed. And the telephone! I don't understand the significance, but I definitely like the style and the detail. Click on the image for a zoomed in view.

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Got my driving licence! Very impressed by the authority- I gave my test yesterday morning and got it today by 3.30 in the afternoon. The envelope and the licence both have "Drive only if you must: use public transport" displayed quite prominently. And, surprised to note that Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit Systems Limited is a project partner with the Transport Department.

Winning and Losing

Via Steven Heller's daily column at Imprint Magazine.
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Housing's over! YAY!

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In the latest issue of the Journal of Landscape Architecture, about the international design competition for the New Museum of Ancient India, Patna:

Five world-leading architectural firms are competing... each with their Indian architect partner firms...:

1.  Coop Himmelblau (Vienna) with ARCHOHM
2. Foster + Partners (London) with C.P. Kukreja & Associates
3. Maki & Associates (Tokyo) with OPOLIS
4. Snohetta (Oslo) with Spacematters
5. Studio Daniel Libeskind (New York) with Morphogenesis

Whoa.
The museum, preliminary budget INR 350 crores, is slated to be operational by mid-2015.