reactions

MSLK’s Take-Less eco-art installation was featured in Graphic Design USA’s Green Design newsletter.

“More Thinking Green: Fries with That?”
GD USA Newsletter, newsletter
May 2010

The opening night for Uncomfortable Conversations on Sunday was a big success. The small gallery space in the Meatpacking District was jam-packed with visitors adding to the intimate uncomfortable vibe of the night. MSLK’s pieces were highly appreciated and initiated a lot of conversations about the design and message. Some people saw the “right” message while others saw the hidden unintended one. This often led to humorous conversations about “you see what you want to see” and “what’s really on your mind”. The question is: what do you see?

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What do you see above? Do you read “click here” or something a little, well… different? If your first read made you blush and feel a little uncomfortable, well that’s exactly what can happen when type is poorly set!

Amid all of the comfortable furniture at The International Contemporary Furniture Fair next week, MSLK and 14 other designers will be sparking some Uncomfortable Conversations at a show of the same name. Conceived by our friends and colleagues at Design Glut and sponsored by Fast Company, the show challenges viewers to step outside their comfort zone and willfully engage in an uncomfortable conversation. As designers we are highly attuned to the unsettling feelings poor design can create, especially poorly set type.

For the show we explore five examples of how careless kerning can lead to unintended miscommunication. If you’re in NYC, please join us for the opening reception on Sunday, May 16th. We expect it to be uncomfortably crowded.

Busy. That’s one word to describe things at MSLK these days.

While we have the benefit of working on many inspiring projects for our clients, we’re also hard at work on Take-Less, the third in a trilogy of what we’ve come to call eco-art installations. In an effort to be greener, we’re using our talents to focus people on the sheer volume of plastic we all consume in our daily lives. Whether it’s plastic bags, plastic water bottles, or the durable and resilient plastic containers we use for a moment with our take-out food — this cheap plastic comes at a cost.

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Websites have become the most essential marketing tool for businesses. One click from a customer is a valuable opportunity that can make all the difference. If created properly, a Website should instinctively lead visitors where you want them to follow.

In spite of the known value a good website can bring, take a moment and think about just how many poor websites you encounter every day. While not every business needs its site to be a high-budget multimedia extravaganza, every site should be effective and properly targeted to a company’s audience.
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MOMA isn’t the only Friday night free museum. The International Center for Photography has pay as you wish Fridays, so if you have time after work, make sure to see this extraordinary exhibition. Twilight Visions: Surrealism Photography and Paris showcases this often overlooked, but essential component of the movement. If you thought Surrealism was only about paintings such as Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory, you need to broaden your scope. Surrealist photographers of the 20′s and 30′s were inspired by the Parisian twilight and produced pieces that either made the ordinary seem fantastical or fabricated imaginary visions through montage.

The exhibition contains an overwhelming amount of photographs, films, books, and periodicals to completely immerse you in the period. Shown here is an excerpt from Dalí’s and Luis Buñuel’s short film, Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog). It’s spirit is supremely Dada/Surrealist; Having no real plot, it is a visual feast of irrational (at times hilarious) occurrences transitioning into one another. According to Buñuel there are no symbols in this, so try not to think too hard about the meaning. Enjoy! (If you want to see the rest, click here)

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World Cup summers are always exciting and it’s great to hear that Nike is making an effort to be green. The new Nike sponsored World Cup uniforms are made entirely from recycled polyester, produced out of, you guessed it, plastic bottles. Nike’s green jerseys have estimated to prevent nearly 13 million(!) plastic bottles from ending up in our landfills. So I guess they can safely claim that these are the “most environmentally friendly soccer uniforms ever to grace the pitch.”

/ Christel Fearon