At the final session of the Y Conference, it was a Best Hair showdown: Tucker Viemeister vs. Stanley Hainsworth. We dunno but we’re gonna give it to Hainsworth for his rad super spiky ‘do (twice as long as the photo to the right). You can tell he works at Starbucks just by looking at him. His hair just had a double espresso.

Global Creative Director Hainsworth talked about Starbucks culture, branding and projects like their tie-in with the film Akeelah and the Bee. And he did it all through the voices and opinions of Starbucks fan sites, reviews (good and bad) and pop culture references. He even cut a reel together of Starbucks as seen in movies. But one thing he didn’t mention was the Starbucks portrayal in our favorite future brand experience, Idiocracy, so we asked him about it during the Q&A. He claimed he had never seen it, and that he doubted Starbucks had enough power to get the movie yanked from theaters (that was the rumors we heard). We offered to show it to him, we even had Armin’s article cued up on our trusty laptop. But he said he’d look at it later.

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Apparently Tucker Viemeister has been stricken with a terrible affliction: The Curse of Being Able to do Everything. His dad, legendary industrial designer Read Viemeister could also do anything (“And not just because he’s my dad,” he said). And yes, Tucker is named after the car–which his dad worked on. No pressure, right?

At his latest gig at Studio Red at the Rockwell Group (named for the soda, not that other RED) they’re working on everything from a frightening-sounding Coca-Cola Wellness Center to the Coke Cruiser, which is like an ice cream truck on a Segway. He says working at the Rockwell Group is like being in the Village People. We bet David Rockwell is the cop.

But back to being cursed. Le Corbusier was cursed. Da Vinci was cursed. Hitler was especially cursed, says Viemeister–he was a brilliant designer of SS uniforms, a Volkswagen, imposing architecture, and of course that pretty effective logo–but he was also cursed in a different way.

Viemiester himself has been single-handedly cursed by literally “good design”: he did the OXO Good Grips and can’t live it down. So what does a cursed man do? Choose “multi” over “total”. Take chances, for more choices. Cross-pollinate. And so, from the man who can do everything, a really good new idea:

We don’t have any good rituals for Martin Luther King Day, he says. So on January 15, eat lunch with someone from another race. The civil rights movement was all about integrating lunch counters and lunch with anyone is a good thing.

Viemeister also wins Best Designed Presentation for the conference, with slides that zipped by with continuity that made us feel like we were swooping through an IMAX-sized screen. He’s currently tied with Stanley Hainsworth for Best Hair.

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Creative services consultant Maria Piscopo broke down everything from networking to time management for designers at the Y Conference. Most of her tips can be accessed through her super handy website, but she did say something that struck us. Joining a professional association used to be optional, she said, but now it’s no longer an option. Getting involved with a group of your peers is absolutely imperative, especially if you’re making a career transition.

Piscopo is also always looking for creatives to feature in her many columns and articles in design mags. Be sure to send all your company news to her and get yourself some ink.

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We felt horrible for Hillman Curtis today, who couldn’t shake a cough during his presentation at the Y Conference. The designer/filmmaker laughed (and coughed) it off, but it didn’t matter–he didn’t have to say much once he started running the clips.

You’re definitely familiar with Curtis’ Designer Series of web films; we often find ourselves cueing up one of those portraits when we need a few breaths of fresh Glaser in the middle of the day. He’s not just an expert interviewer, either–”Quaaludes,” he joked when asked how he gets his subjects to open up–a montage he cut of Mark Romanek‘s videos set to different music is better than most editing in the music video industry today. Soon there’ll be even more to love: Curtis is currently delving into these pristine little short narratives that are dramatic, emotional and absolutely gorgeous.

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Depending on where your hotel room was situated at the Hotel Solamar your anticipated bedtime may have been delayed (windows facing the pool were treated to a fratty party scene of epic proportions). Luckily, there was somewhat of a wakeup call this morning at the Y Conference.

First, Christopher Simmons from MINE delivered a casual, no pretense heart-to-heart that was a pretty nice deviation from the canned presentation–and this is coming from a guy who made police tape that says EVERYTHING IS OK and puts it up in random places to see what people do. We like that. Simmons also gets bonus points for the Thomas Kinkade reference.

And when Hank Richardson from the Portfolio Center took the stage, the mood shifted yet again. Beginning with bashing the new branding direction for Uncle Ben’s as way of example (very frightening, check it out), Richardson ranted and raved about design ethics for the better part of an hour, even as the “time’s up” light flashed in vain. Soon the hot pink slides matched Richardson’s rosy cheeks and we felt like we were back in school–or church; this was design fire and brimstone! Richardson acknowledged that he always gets dragged off the stage, “I don’t even get warmed up in 35 minutes.” But the bottom line from Richardson’s presentation: When it comes to great design work, it’s ALL personal. And it was pretty obvious to everyone in attendance that this is one man who practices what he preaches.

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Stefan Sagmeister ended the day with a crowd-pleasing presentation at the Y Conference that seemed to send everyone out into the world with a smile. Now you know we love you, Sags, we do. And we love that thing you do. But as regulars on the conference circuit, we’ve gotta ask you to switch it up a bit. Here’s the recap from a year-and-a-half ago. And one from a year ago. The new developments, as far as we can see, are a cool ad for a economic development agency in Singapore, and that he’s trying to make a giant floating speech bubble out of a blimp.

One thing we did learn is what happened when Sagmeister was performing one scene of a short film which required him to hang out of a window in Debbie Millman‘s office in the Empire State Building, holding a sign that said OVER. The cops came, thinking he was a jumper, and wanted to seize the camera as proof. Millman thought fast and said that the camera contained “personal” footage…they backed off.

Ninja co-conspirator Kent Nichols returned the favor during the Q&A, asking about Sagmeister’s affinity for the painters of light, like Thomas Kinkade. Oh Ninjas, we do hope you’re back tomorrow for more hijinks.

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Terry McCaffrey is chair of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, of which the blogosphere’s fair Jessica Helfand is a member. She’s the latest in an illuminated list of design names like Bradbury Thompson and Meredith Davis who’ve served (apparently Steven Heller was on it once but attended two meetings, found the committee too bureaucratic and quit).

But with all those big names, 50,000 letters from the American public annually, and the collecting community clamoring for single color engraved designs–it seems like when it comes to stamps, everyone has their own agenda.

Until the Elvis stamp they didn’t do anything contemporary (remember the old or young Elvis contest?). The USPS was only allowed to start making a profit two years ago, but they made $26 million on Elvis–and that’s mostly from collectors. They’ve also made $53 million for breast cancer research from a 1999 stamp.

Here’s the crazy thing about stamps: When they make mistakes, people want them more. For example, McCaffrey learned today that in the Buckminster Fuller stamp based on that famous Time cover, the artist made a huge mistake and put six sides on his geodesic dome-head instead of five. Mirko Ilic was good enough to point that out from the audience. Whoops.

Maybe they should purposely make a mistake on the upcoming Star Wars series (available May 28) since McCaffrey predicts it will blow the lid off the USPS. At first the committee didn’t want it because it honored living people, which is against postal rules, but McCaffrey argued that it’s not Harrison Ford, it’s Han Solo. They’re printing 500 million, just to start.

Sagmeister and Kent Nichols (who are either brand new BFFs or old friends) manned the peanut gallery throughout the presentation, cheering “I love you, Stampy!” If that’s the official term of endearment for McCaffrey, then we say, Stampy, we love you, too.

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At Yale, Paul Rand once told Kyle Cooper that there wasn’t really anything interesting going on in title design. Alvin Eisenman told Cooper that the world needs graphic designers more than it needs filmmakers. It’s a good thing both of those legends told Cooper to focus on design first, film second, or title design wouldn’t be where it is today.

The founder of Imaginary Forces got fired from the GoodFellas titles because he was trying too hard to make them into a metaphor for the movie. Saul Bass ended up getting the gig (tough break, Kyle) and he solved the problem by not creating a metaphor but making the titles into another scene for the movie. And that’s why Cooper’s new company is named Prologue.

“I like to make a mess,” said Cooper as he showed the heart-wrenching titles for Donnie Brasco, the freak show opener for Se7en and super-clever titles for some really bad movies: Wimbledon, Euro-Trip, The Painted Veil, Dawn of the Dead (okay, that one was actually pretty good) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which seemed to bleed Bass, but as Cooper revealed later through examples, was actually inspired by Rand.

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We know what you’re wondering…what the hell is a ninja is doing on stage at the Y Design Conference? Ask a Ninja creators Douglas Sarine (dressed and in character as Ninja) and Kent Nichols began their presentation by answering that very question.

Ninja: What are we doing at a design conference?

Nichols: Well, you’re wearing all black. Don’t you fit in?

But fitting in became irrelevant once they showed the latest episode of their web show, which amazingly featured an interview with Blades of Glory stars Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. Ninja was upset they didn’t kill anyone with their “blades” of glory. This is a show that started in their tiny West Hollywood apartments.

Nichols and Sarine first started down this dark path with an animated screenplay about ninjas in Orange County, which has evolved into one of the most popular shows in history–Ask a Ninja has been viewed over 20 million times. With Ninja as moderator, they engaged in a discussion about creating with accessible tools, having an audience that pushes back, and developing a brand, but mostly they were just really, really funny.

Of all the audience questions, Sagmeister asked the best one. “I have a question about light,” he said in that sexy Austrian purr. “Is it a particle or is it a physical state?”

Ninja: You live in the light you create.

Nichols: The light you take is equal to the light you make.

Sagmeister laughed and seemed to be pleased with the answer.

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A little bit of interesting fun by way of Zach Klein: an Apple profile of how things get done at South Park HQ. Granted, like the lot of them, you’re just reading a sales pitch, but if you’re a working designer, you’re probably already, in some form or another, part of the cult, so what’s the harm? It’s a nice little read on how, week after week, they put together the show and how insanely fast they must work to get it all done (you’ve likely read before that they produce the show up to the minute it airs, to keep it timely — not an easy thing for animation). Here’s a little:

To duplicate that analog jumpiness today, the animation crew employs Adobe Photoshop and Maya. “It’s incredibly fast,” says [Animation Director Eric] Stough. “It used to take three months to do a show. We’ve gotten it down to six days.” The animators scan the original construction paper characters and backgrounds. “We have a 10-year library of props and backgrounds and characters that we recycle and reuse,” says Stough. Those scanned images can be used as textures in Maya. The 3D modeling application can easily duplicate the physics of working in the real world with paper. “With Maya, we have puppets now and they’re grouped together as if they were glued together,” says Stough. “It’s kind of like a virtual camera stand in a computer. But instead of using a computer to make the animation smooth, the artist has to go in and make it jumpy.”

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Because we find it interesting, and we keep pretending that you do too, allow us to report once again on the goings-ons at Design Within Reach. This time around, the news isn’t great, they just reported that they’re still losing money, but it’s looking like maybe their massive changes mid-last year might be turning the ship around in the other direction. Here’s from Forbes:

Design Within Reach Inc., a provider of modern design furnishings and accessories, said Thursday it expects to break even in 2007 – a prediction above Wall Street’s expectations.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial are predicting a 2007 loss of 7 cents per share.

For 2006, the company put its loss at between 57 cents and 59 cents per share.

The company also said it will report sales of about $190 million in 2007, an increase of 7 percent from 2006. That year, the company’s sales were $178 million for the year.

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In case you’ve been too focused on 2016, like the two of us have been, you probably haven’t been counting down the days to the next Olympics. You remember. Yeah, that one, the one in 2008. However, if you were counting, you might have noticed that we just crossed the 500-days-until mark and with it came an announcement out of Beijing where they’re unveiling the new medals for the big event. We’re not exactly sure how we’re going to pull this off, but after seeing them, all filled with precious medals and inlaid on the back with jade as they are, we’ve decided that we want one or two. So how’s ’bout it Alissa? Let’s cast aside all this LA versus Chicago nonsense and get ourselves to some shot put classes. Here’s some of a whole ton of info from China Daily:

The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On their obverse side, the medals adopt the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — a drawing that represents the winged goddess of victory Nike and Panathinaikos Arena, while on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centerpiece.

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Per all the talk about Kathy Sierra this week, Andy Carvin has decided to try to put something together as a show of support: making today, March 30th, Stop Cyberbullying Day. How does it work? Here’s from Carvin:

I decided to unilaterally declare this Friday as Stop Cyberbullying Day. What does it mean? I leave that up to you. Generally, though, I think we should all set aside some time that day to address cyberbullying. Write a blog post pointing to online resources about cyberbullying. Post a podcast about personal experiences. Create your own public service announcement about the dangers of cyberbullying and post it on YouTube. Then tag it with the phrase stopcyberbullying. If you’re uploading it somewhere that lets you type in your own tags, be sure to include it. If you’re blogging and don’t have tagging built into your blog, you can embed it with the HTML code shown here so it will be picked up by search tools like Technorati. The more people we can get blogging about it, the better, because that will catch the attention of search tools and social media websites, spreading awareness further. It will also allow us to aggregate everyone’s posts so we can see who’s participating.

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We adore the excellent BLDGBLOG and so does the Wall Street Journal–BLDGBLOG, Inhabitat and Archinect were three architecture sites singled out in the paper last week. But the reason we love it is because editor Geoff Manaugh stays plenty busy, not only filling the darn thing with BLDGNEWS, but by also organizing creative events, forums and seminars. Like this upcoming event on May 8 in LA, which he describes as “an evening full of talks and presentations about film, science fiction, space, landscape, and architecture”:

I have said many times before on this blog that contemporary architecture could learn quite a lot from the spatial and material imaginations on display in both film and science fiction–so perhaps this event will be a good opportunity to explore what that really means.

Read on for illustrations from the artists and designers who will be featured that night along with some nice commentary.

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Oh Nussie, Nussie, Nussie. You don’t have to apologize to us–we were just kidding.

We’re sure someone out there can help you find a spell check for your blog. But it won’t correct stuff like “Moveable” Type. For that you’ll have to use this little-known innovation.

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