Blog Archives
Ghostbusters Earbuds Redux
Slimer if he were designed by Aardman Studios (Wallace and Gromit).
Earlier this year I posted a design for Ghostbusters earbuds and protective case that featured a rather plain earbud design. I thought I would update their appearance. These Slimers would be on the back of the earbuds, appearing to be caught in a proton stream, which is actually the cords.
This would still be used with a Proton Pack protective case, where the blaster is used as volume control extension these earbuds would plug into.
Geeky Media Centers Part 1: Theater Marquee
As I much as I enjoy designing Blu-Ray cases, the reality is physical media is on its last legs. Soon everyone will have a Media Center beside (or within) their TVs that will contain all their movies, TV shows, books, and music.
Currently PVRs, TiVos, and Web Media Centers (like Boxee and Apple TV) are becoming more and more commonplace. And while these are all well and good, I believe a new trend will succeed them in the not-too-distant future: Designer Media Centers.
These Designer models would be available in a wide range of styles to reflect many different personal tastes, and packed to the brim with bells and whistles. They will become the centerpiece of the entertainment center, possibly the entire household. In many ways, this will be like placing a jukebox in every living room - a showy piece of hardware that contains all of your media.
I base this prediction on this: currently people surround themselves with physical media, usually arranged in a proud display. Books, music, video games, and films help define our individuality. We like to see our personal tastes and lifestyle manifest in all this media. It says who we are and what we love - both past and present. Simply put - we like to show-off our physical media.
So with physical media on the decline, it will eventually fall on the Media Center to make a personal statement about who we are and what we like. And because we like so many different things, these Designer Media Centers will be grandiose in their appearance and operation. Make no mistake, they will be expensive - a carefully measured investment for many - but they will cost nowhere near as much as assembling large libraries of physical media as we do now. Somewhere along the lines of buying two game consoles, methinks.
A few examples of Designer Media Centers: a Harryhausen fan will buy a Media Center that is adorned with several sculptures reenacting a scene from Jason and the Argonauts. A Disney fan will grab a Media Center in the shape of the Cinderella castle from Disneyland. A U2 fan will grab a Media Center that looks like one of their tour stages, with the band included (lights and pyrotechnics as well -maybe).
The logistics of these DMC’s could take the form of many scenarios: they could be aligned to a few platforms (Google TV, Windows TV), could have upgradeable/interchangeable hardware, or the external cases could be partitioned from the hardware - meaning you buy the media center and the designer exterior case separately.
I will be designing many geeky/fancy Media Centers going forward. How about I finally talk about the one shown above?
This Media Center is for film buffs, and is a small scale movie theater. As you can see it features a detailed marquee with many LED lights. The sign board is customizable, and there are few poster frames to place your favorite movie posters (you print them out yourself). It could also feature swiveling spot lights for a more authentic look. The light show is entirely on-demand.
This would go nicely with this IKEA entertainment unit I designed. If you like this concept check out this Talisman media center from a while back.
Orchesta Film Score Picks Part 2
This goes back to a post from last year where I recommended several film and video game scores, because they sound great and inspire creativity.
And that’s the great thing about film score music. It was originally conceived to compliment a scene or a set piece, but played on it’s own you are compelled to fill in the visuals with your imagination. Be it the original film scene the music hailed from or something new entirely, the mind can create interesting visuals when stirring music is being played.
Minor spoilers ahead. Hurray all the videos can be played from here! In no particular order:
Noon - Eric Serra - The Proffessional (1993): If you can forget the onscreen massacre for which this song is based, you can appreciate the dual nature on display here: lurking low-key drum rhythms that flirt with going completely silent, clashing with a full score of violins that escalate with each appearance. The clear standout from the film.
Battle - Steve Jablonski - Transformers Dark Of The Moon (2011): A very recent song, but It’s among my favorites these days. It just keeps escalating, and is adrenaline incarnate. Fortunately it has a nice cool-off section to finish the song, to prevent you from going into a rage.
Not Human - Javier Navarette - Pan’s Labyrinth (2006): I linked to this one in the original article, but it deserves to be showcased here. It starts off sounding like fairy tale - whimsical and harmless - but then it gets dark, really really dark. Sounds like a nightmarish chase scene. Apologies - it cuts out at the end early.
Homework - The Dust Brothers - Fight Club (1999): The guy who posted this on YouTube is a genius - he cut out the first half of the song, which is what I do as well. It’s just catchy and hypnotic - would like to hear an extended version of this.
Basic Instinct medley - Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct (1992): If I played mixed-and-match with the films and music listed here, you’d swear up and down this belonged to Pan’s Labyrinth, because it has this fantasy-like quality to it. I will say this - it really gave a surreal atmosphere to the film, and wasn’t content to sit in the background. It really hit you over the head with it’s presence.
Earbud Ideas
1. Built-in speakers. You can take off your earbuds and switch these speakers on. Handy for times when you want tunes, but cannot wear earbuds (like talking with your buds).
2. A built-in jack. This way you can plug your MP3 player directly into an AUX port, without having to switch to another cord entirely. This would flip out of one of the earbuds like a switchblade.
3. Visualizer. Okay this one is entirely cosmetic, but I always liked the idea of a visualizer on the earbuds or the MP3 player itself. Sure it’s a bit Lady Gaga, but it looks cool.
4. A spare jack port for sharing the audio feed. Sure it seldom ever happens, but this would be nice feature that would allow a friend to listen in. Handy for when you want to a share a film on a long flight. You could buy one of those splitters, but they are never around when you need one.
Ah, the internet.
An older earbud idea that features ejecting earbuds can be found here.
Here is a link for my Ghosbuster earbuds. I really need to re-do those.
Piano Foot Pedals For Your PC Keyboard
The foot pedals on a piano, in my opinion, influenced a few keys on the typewriter (and thus the keyboard) such as the SHIFT key. By pressing these pedals, the behavior of keys pressed elsewhere are changed. It’s rather brilliant!
If pianists can use this pedal system to compose musical masterpieces, then why shouldn’t the typical PC user who is writing the next great angry comment on YouTube use the same technique? Okay so playing the piano and writing a few paragraphs aren’t a good comparison, but there is something that can be learned from those piano foot pedals.
It may help people type faster, or at least more efficiently. I also think this will free up artists who are drawing on their tablet (pressing ALT to sample a color in Photoshop, for example). And for gamers, this will be an awesome addition: not only for racing games (gas/brake pedals), but for FPS games where SHIFT and CTRL are used for sprinting and crouching respectively.
There may even be some health benefit to keeping your feet active - certainly some improvement in your motor skills I would wager. Less strain on your pinky fingers as well.
Originally I designed this to mimic the piano foot pedals, but your foot would need to be angled (toes elevated and pointing up), so I thought a design where the foot was planted would be less taxing. Merely slide your foot forward to press a key. I also designed this so you can push 2 keys at the same time.
This item would probably illicit the need for a companion keyboard that would display what pedals are being pressed using light indicators. That keyboard would still have all the Shift/Alt/Ctrl keys - old habits need to be catered to!
Public Enemy CD Box Set
I started listening to Public Enemy when I was about 13-years-old. To say that I couldn’t appreciate the message or the politics behind their music would be a huge understatement. I just liked their sound. It wouldn’t be until my 20′s that I really listened and started to put together a cohesive understanding of their music. But to actually relate? Not in the least - this white boy grew up in the suburbs of Calgary. However to this day I still love to fire up Fear of a Black Planet or Apocalypse ’91 when I am working or on the go.
So I thought I’d put together my ideal box set for the group. I needed to incorporate their iconic ‘sniper cross-hairs target’ logo - no way around it. And as you can see in the title image above, it looks like I created a bullet-riddled box. Well that is the impression I wanted to give from afar.
Up close it’s a different story:
I wanted the box to be made in a cassette theme - the medium that many of Public Enemy’s albums saw release on. All of the bullet holes are actually cassette spindles, complete with a spool of tape.
The design incorporates the clear plastic tape case that was popular in the early 90′s. One side of the box prominently lists all the albums and songs, much like the labels on a cassette tape. Yes there was a time when people had to read the cassettes to know which song was where. And they had to squint when reading the track listing. Good times.
The box would contain all of their albums in CD form. If it were up to me, I’d include a Blu-Ray compilation of their music videos and if possible, a concert performance as well. As much content as possible to lure in fans who likely already own most if not all of the PE library (like myself).
You could apply this ‘cassette box’ to many other old-school rap or hip hop artists, but it just works so well with Public Enemy’s logo.
I’ve posted many Blu-Ray concepts for films, so it was nice to make something for music. I hope to make more concepts for music, as well as designs for video games and books. Stay tuned.
