All of these examples, plus countless others all over the internet (like the data presentation-as-movie-poster we featured here) hew to one specific purpose: compile data into various charts, graphs, or even just basic numbers. Design beautifully. Present to public.

What got me thinking about the popularity and formulas of infographics is a new exhibition currently running through April 12th at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, which has much of the same underlying philosophy: it uses data to create art, only instead of presenting it as attractive charts and graphs, it features actual art installations that were ‘compiled’ through the use of various types of raw data.

It’s a fresh idea very much in line with the zeitgeist: harnessing the massive amounts of free data available online and organizing it in such a way that its conclusions are displayed not as numerical tables but pieces designed for contemplation. While all art is a collection and re-interpretation of data (visual, aural, etc, filtered through the eyes and brain of the artist), I’m unaware of a previous exhibition taking the accumulation and presentation of raw information so literally.

Featured in the exhibition are plenty of works from the well-known Aaron Koblin, including his “laser ranging system” last seen in Radiohead’s House of Cards video, plus his project called “Ten Thousand Cents“, where 10,000 online users (all anonymous) contributed to a master drawing of a $100 bill. If you click on any of the 10,000 portions of the bill, you can see a division between the original scan and an animation of the drawn re-creation. While the final result is, well, what you’d expect (a slightly iffy $100 bill), the fact that as an artwork, and has 10,000 anonymous artists and all the steps they took in its creation, is fascinating use of the ‘hive mind’.

Also featured in the exhibition is the grandfather of all great data-posters, by Charles Joseph Minard: Napoleon’s March to Moscow. This and other works like it (it was done in 1869) are the direct inspiration behind the great poster work at sites like historyshots: presenting data in an large, easily-digested, arresting, and beautiful format.

There’s plenty of art out there that uses raw data in various ways: various contemporary installations have been doing it for some time, and we might even make the argument that certain memorials function as great artworks, too. I’m thinking mainly of Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial, which, while admirably serving its primary function as a memorial to the dead, also works stunningly well on an aesthetic level, taking the chronological names of the war dead and displaying them in a unique fashion.

Most of today’s exhibits strive for a higher level of automation and calculation (in the computerized sense of the word).

This exhibit reminds me of another piece of data-art that came from Flickr some months ago, when they took geo-coded tags from all the people who tag the location where they took a photo (or have a camera that does it for them), and created a series of continental maps based on those co-ordinates. The results were remarkably accurate, and all generated entirely from photographic metadata.

It’s not so hard to envision dozens of future projects along the same lines, pulling raw data from a variety of sources and going beyond just a clean API integration, taking it into a completely unexpected space where the data functions as the primary creator behind a piece of art. This is the ultimate in “Container Art”, in that the real artistry is in the intake and manipulation of otherwise random or unadulterated data.

Something less automatic but no less enjoyable: this project putting two years’ of Twittering into a book, which is plenty interesting on its own, and mines a data source for a type of journal or log you simply are not going to see anywhere else. This is another example of raw data being transformed into a strangely personal kind of art. People complain that no one keeps journals anymore (wait, do they?), but here we have exactly that. You just have to move it off your computer and onto some paper.

According to their site, and a chat with their VP of Operations Paul Barbaro, their holidays are geared toward 18 – 39 year olds with a massive focus on entertainment. They take over entire resorts and cruise liners and build an part filled holiday with heaps of activities, a plethora of options to relax, and whole bunch of people to party with. I’m hooked!

About Paul barbaro

Paul Barbaro also known as DJ Paul Barbaro has been an entertainment & marketing consultant to the hotel & hospitality industry for over 10 years, helping rejuvenate hotels in Australia, Indonesia and Dubai. Not just content with consultancy, Paul went on to design, build and manage some of Dubai’s most luxurious Hotel Bars, Clubs & Restaurants; most notable is the world renown 360degrees situated in the Jumeriah Beach Hotel.

PROBLEM: WALLETS CAN BE CHEAP AND ANONYMOUS.

For me, wallets have always been about function over form. I have to take my wallet out of its resting place so many separate times in a day, that it’s got to hold everything perfectly and just plain work. Most wallets do this, to a degree—but do they do it for long?

Not really. If you’re the type that can’t buy an expensive wallet because you know you’ll be sitting on it, and moving your rear end in and out of various chairs all day, visiting god knows what sorts of stresses and strains on this little leather thing that contains much of your life—you know what a disintegrating wallet looks like. Leather that no longer seems leather, mysterious pockets that weren’t there a few weeks ago suddenly appearing as the material becomes shredded, torn; you’re likely destined to go through a ton of wallets in your lifetime.

PROBLEM: THEY CAN ALSO BE OVERPRICED AND EXCLUSIVE.

Or are you the cardinal opposite, the wallet connoisseur? Have you always splashed out for a top quality purchase, genuine, beautiful leather, something you can be proud of every time you pull it out of your pocket? If so, you’ve probably paid a damn lot for these things, and either way, used them into oblivion.

PROBLEM: WALLETS AREN’T SO INTERESTING.

While there are a ton of wallets out there, both cheap as all hell and expensive as some other, richer part of hell, most wallets follow the same form. A simple fold, wide enough that each side can hold various debit and credit cards, and the entire span will take your money and papers and put a nice crease right in the middle.

If you’re lucky—or not—your wallet might contain a little pocket for change, which, you will know if you routinely use it, changes shape depending on how many little coins you’re carrying around. Not always fun to have poking into one of your two cheeks.

PROBLEM: THE EUROPEAN-STYLE MEN’S BAG ISN’T REALLY A WALLET, EITHER.

So, is there a solution, a way out of this imaginary problem that I’ve sorta created here? Sure, there are plenty: abandon the wallet and use a sort of bag. If you’re in Europe and need to feel safe-in-numbers when it comes to fashion, you’re in luck, as plenty of people carry these around here, and there are tons of good models to choose from. If you can choose a kind of shoulder/purse/bag/pouch well and choose it with style, you’re set. This opens up a whole new world of accessorizing to you.

But what if you can’t really make that leap? What if you just want to get a damn good looking wallet, one that stands out and is strongly designed, but still functions, looks, and seems like the familiar wallet form you’ve been using your whole life? What’s out there?

PROBLEM: WALLETS DON’T LEND THEMSELVES EASILY TO FRESH, CONTEMPORARY DESIGN.

Not much. There are chain wallets, super-thick wallets, super-thin, minimalist wallets, wallets branded with various comic book characters that just don’t put in the effort, but there aren’t that many interesting wallets around. Sure, you might stumble upon a few fantastic specimens here or there, but most likely they’ll be one-offs, some kind of limited edition from a big designer that is so overpriced it’d be a shame to use it as a regular wallet.

And these are few and far between—you’re far more likely to find a $200 t-shirt done by an expensive designer’s hand, or even a designer canvas tote bag than you are to find a kick-ass wallet.

AND SO, A SOLUTION.

As a fun and exciting answer to all of these problems, I present Poketo. Their slogan: Art for your everyday. That’s exactly it, too: they make wallets that you can use as your everyday wallet, but they’re interesting enough that you can pull them out and simply admire them for their design, too.

SEE, WALLETS CAN BE AS NUMEROUS AND EXCHANGEABLE AS PURSES!

Besides just some great design work, in which Poketo have brought together a whole stable of illustrators and artists to do fantastic limited edition wallets, Poketo have also suggested a kind of revolutionary idea in their ‘surprise packs’. That’s the notion that you can have more than one wallet on the go, that the wallet should be enough of a minimalistic venture that you can switch the entire thing over to another one, just like many females cycle through various purses/handbags and their respective contents.

They do this by not giving you the option of fattening up the wallet too much—its design constricts you into eliminating every kind of card and addition you aren’t going to be using on a daily basis. And the great thing is that 10 of these wallets will only set you back $100. Ten wallets!

AND THERE ARE DOZENS OF NEW MODELS COMING OUT ALL THE TIME.

They’re also constantly producing new wallets from new designers, who are doing these designs freelance. This means the art is both recognizable if you follow illustration in any way, and wildly varied and exciting. Their site is overflowing with great designs.

The construction of the wallet itself is what allows Poketo to do this. It’s not a custom-crafted piece of leather, rather just a nice print, inserted into a piece of plastic, and molded into the form of a foldable wallet. Nothing fancy, no heavy custom printing or stitching jobs here. But it gives the company great creative license in the amount of models they can feature. It’s unlikely you’ll ever see wallets as varied as this, even if they all have the same external shell.

LIMITED EDITIONS DON’T NEED TO SIGNIFY RIDICULOUS PRICES.

Thankfully Poketo isn’t really overcharging for their product, but continues to produce limited editions, which is a concept that I absolutely cannot get enough of: the idea that limited editions don’t need to be expensive. They can be limited, sure, and once they’re off the market you can sell them for whatever the hell you want, but as these wallets keep coming out, they’re gonna keep costing $20 and nothing more.

THUS, POKETO IS GOOD.

And there you have it. Wallets that aren’t your father’s fine-crafted leather, but are instead something closer to a great stream of well-designed t-shirts: you change them up infinitely, they keep coming out, they look great, and they don’t cost that much.

Sure, they aren’t the most well-put-together things in the world, but they signify a big change. Now, pulling out your wallet isn’t just fun because you’re gonna spend some money—you get to stare at it, too.

Up until this week, you could almost have called me a Brand Champion, a Skype Evangelist, a VOIP hero if you will. I’d happily convert other non-skype-using nomads whom I pass on my travels; almost taking pride in the fact that I was able to introduce them to such a great product.

That was until I was forced to experience their levels of customer service (or lack there of), over the last two weeks. An experience that seems to be frustrating users by the thousands, as reflected in their forums.

This blog was initially created with a focus on Design, Brands, Trends & Traction. We tend to write about achievements in design, discuss the positive happenings of a given brand or outline burgeoning trends. Almost always, we attempt to keep things positive.

Occasionally however, a brand beckons the request to be called out on how poorly they are handling an aspect of their conversation with their customers. I mean, isn’t that precisely what branding is all about? Your specific persona, the way in which your product or service is perceived, and in today’s marketplace – the conversation and experience your current and prospective customer base has with your brand.

Skype – with claims of great value calls to anywhere in the world, fail to inform you; of how poor their customer service is. Nor, how many weeks you may have to wait for a response to your support inquiry (if they respond at all). Don’t be so quick to think that a Telecommunications company like Skype, actually has a Telephone number you can call; in fact, I dare you to try and find one on their site. It is non existent.

As aforementioned, I have been an avid user for quite some time – spending a great deal on both personal & business calls as I travel. This week however, when attempting to make a rather urgent call to a disgruntled customer of our own (see, we actually have a telephone number), I was confronted with this screen.

My initial thought was that there had been some sort of billing error, had my credit card expired? Did my last auto-recharge via Paypal not work? After a little investigation, I came to realize that in fact; there was no billing error, no issue on my part, my account is in good standing & furthermore; I have an abundance of prepaid credit on my account.

So what gives? I best contact Skype’s customer support department I thought. If I could find it. After weaving through a minimum of 6 different areas of their website, and ‘finally’ finding the place to submit a support ticket when your account has been blocked; I submitted my request & I waited. And then I waited, and I waited – and some two weeks later; 4 support tickets later, and a bunch of posts on their forum. I am still waiting. The only correspondence received, in over two weeks; has been auto responder emails, as below:

Thank you for contacting Skype Support!

This email is confirmation that we have received your request and a Customer Support Specialist will be working to get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Because the majority of requests require research to resolve, it can sometimes take us up to 48 hours to respond, though we make every effort to get back to you as quickly as possible and most queries are answered within 24 hours.

Though we will do our best to respond to you as quickly as possible, sometimes the best way to get immediate answers is to search our knowledgebase at http://support.skype.com where you can find answers to questions like:

• How to Use Skype
• Skype In/Skype Out
• Skype Voicemail
• Skype Privacy & Security
• And many other questions

You can also find helpful step by step User Guides at http://www.skype.com/help/guides/ that will help walk you through things like:

• Getting Started Using Skype
• Installing Skype
• Adding a Skype Contact
• Making a Skype Call
• And many more

We hope this is helpful and again, thank you for contacting us. We’ll be getting back to you as soon as possible!

Sincerely,
Skype Support

Please do not reply to this automated email,
we will reply to you directly from your support request.

What I would like to know, is how on earth Skype can claim to offer a business grade service? Nobody responds to your emails, nor your support tickets, there is no telephone number to call; and by the looks of the support forums & a quick google search – there are several thousand people with the same problem.

It is completely evident, that Skype, whom are owned by Ebay, have absolutely no regard for their customers. The savings I have made over the past several years by using their service – do not account for the time I have wasted, and frustration that has accumulated over the past two weeks; as I try and get in contact with ‘anyone’ from within their company.

They never explained in their slick marketing messages, that cheap calls, would amount to pathetic levels of customer service. When ebay purchased skype for $2.6Billion back in 2005 – did they not allocate a budget to a customer service department?

Can any of our readers suggest an alternative? I’d happily take my business elsewhere.

Back in the 1970s, the French racer Herve Poulain came up with the great idea to have an American artist paint his car. Instead of choosing someone who would do a relatively standard, acceptable, and OK job, he chose Alexander Calder, who created the memorable piece of work you see above. Although Calder died just a year later, he started a movement in art and car design that continues to this day.

While it’s not a grand, sweeping, big-time art trend, it is something that marries the otherwise little connected worlds of professional racing and contemporary art. Although many modern car designers can rightfully be called artists, and many of the designers as far back as the 1950s were creating cars that still look like masterpieces today, it wasn’t until this pairing that we started to see the car-as-canvas.

BMW decided to remain in the spotlight, and comissioned several other prominent artists to do their own cars. Not only are the cars themselves fantastically adapted to this sort of thing (there’s just something about that 1970s BMW racing design that holds a coat of unconvential paint so much better than, say, a Porsche), but the works of art created are quite memorable, too.

Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol all contributed work, and at the moment there are only 16 of these BMW art-cars in total. They’ve recently been sent on tour, and after short residences in Korea and Russia, they’re currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. They’re staying just until February 24th, after which they’re headed to New York and Mexico.

These cars are normally on display at the BMW museum in Munich, and the coolest thing about them is that most were actually used in races. I would pay to see someone racing an Andy Warhol car, I would, even though the Frank Stella one (above) is actually the most impressive.

This put me in mind of some other recent “art cars” we’ve seen, and we thought it a good idea to round them up here:

The aforementioned Ferrari Testarossa from 1957 isn’t an art car, but it should be. Just look at that detailing: it’s a 1950s (Italian) idea of what the future would look like, except it hasn’t gone out of style in any way.

Some recent new forumla 1 rules mean that the cars have to be completed redesigned, but look, the McLaren team car actually looks pretty awesome! Straight out of the damn future, I say.

Chris Gilmour has done up some very fine cardboard models of the Fiat 500 and the Aston Martin DB5. No, these aren’t just little models, which wouldn’t be much of anything to pay attention to—these are full-sized recreations.

Here’s artist Romero Britto’s take on a recent Audi model. At the time Jalopnik reported on it, it was available for sale in Miami. Definitely inspired by the BMW cars, it doesn’t quite reach their level, but isn’t bad.

This one was pretty famous in the blogosphere last year: a Lamborghini made entirely of steel tubing. It’s amazing, because the photos look exactly like something done up in a 3d program, and then inserted into real-life photos, except the entire thing is real-life.

Any more amazing combinations of art & cars you know of? Let us know!