Our everyday life is filled with all kinds of signs. They transcend ethnicity, languages and nations. Through the design of icons and signs we could illustrate people, things and items to swiftly and effectively identify and communicate with one another. Semiotics is a field of study on signs, symbols and the interpretation of their use. It mainly investigates how signs can be understood by people more easily.  Why should UI icon be simplified to signs?  The picture on the far left is an actual picture of a person’s face, on the far right is a conceptual face expressed through

Picture this. You are sitting on a beige sofa in a roomy cafe on a sunny afternoon. Vines spiral across the panes, and sassy jazz music is tingling in the air. Chic people around you are conversing in a light, happy manner. Suddenly the pager hums softly in your hand. You get up, go to the counter and collect your coffee. The staff member does not holler out: “Mr./Ms. X, your coffee is ready!” And there is also no risk of accidentally snatching someone else’s order. That little pager, that sometimes makes you jump when it goes off, is

G!VOICE Recommend:  “’Nānā’ is the common language in Kamusari village, which means slowing things down. It is a village isolated from the world and the villagers live a sustainable living with the Nature. The main character is an urban youngster who does not have any direction or goal for the future. After he arrived in the village, he learned to cherish the forest and the importance of respecting nature. He learned that life is like climbing trees, you can only look upwards, not downwards. He gradually found his way living in the woods. This is a book that makes

▲Japanese Photography Master—Moriyama Daido’s First Chinese Autobiographic Piece G!VOICE Recommend “High contrast, rough particle, vague, jumpy, and out-of-focused strong black and white photography has been the first impression the public have for Moriyama Daido’s work. This autobiographic content details his growing environment, sentiments, and his anti-routine, anti-stereotypical personality. This work depicts how he perceives the world, be it gloom and doom or free and unstrained. Through the text, we get to know the artist more, understand the most truthful definition of photography and his process of doing this.” “The passing time does not extinct, but awaits there. I see

Famous Astronaut Armstrong said, “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.” Now the scene shifted to Angry Birds, the moment when it is about to be flung what would it say? Would it snicker? Would its feather fall?  Videos about Angry Birds never disappoint me, and they always make me laugh! The Space edition of Angry Birds was launched on March 22. About a month ago, its official website released this video and quickly created sensational talk around the space edition. The video was inspired from true humor, the good kind of creativity. The creative team

    Source: http: //www. hidabroot. org The recent trend in modern web design emphasizes on simplicity yet with versatile and accessible content. Every site is trying to present its product in the most obvious manner possible, with over-exposure and overwhelming information. They are eventually buried among all the other hypertext messages, ending up with the visitor clicking off after a few brief glances. According to Sheena Iyengar’s “Jam Study”, it is suggested that when a being is offered too many options, the more difficult it becomes to make an actual choice. (View the Jam Study here)   It

I have recently come across a story that really blew me away: “Taiwan has broken 2 world records: a whopping 49 marathons races were held in 2012 (42.195 kilometers in total). falling in 4th place only behind the United States, the United States, and Japan. Taiwan hold the highest density of runners in an area based on the ratio of population and land. Wow! That is really something. Many friends around me have participated in some kind of marathon race. Some even already signed up for the 2013 Tokyo Marathon and are undergoing intensive training as we speak! The

When we were young, we all had the experience of looking into a kaleidoscope with one eye-- Remember how it felt like to be fascinated by the different patterns that almost never repeated themselves? Indian designer Nishant Jethi integrates the idea of the kaleidoscope with garbage and prompts the world to take a closer look at the “dazzling fashion” of garbage pollution from a new perspective.     In India, littering in public streets is the norm. Everyone does it, no matter in rural or urban areas. When local charity organizations decided to bring this issue to serious attention,

What kind of image would a liquor merchandise want to give its consumers? Heineken puts down its competitors by visualizing its slogan: “Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”; while Hennessy plays on being the favorite among hip and elegant yuppies. My encounter with Johnnie Walker, though, goes back to almost a decade ago...   It was the time when Harvey Keitel was the face of Johnnie Walker, the whole world recognized it as the famous drink from the “Keep Walking” campaign. In Taiwan it’s the same story. From the “KEEP WALKING Fund” project to the inspirational Tommy Chen

    G-Voice Recommendation:    This is a film by Darren Aronofsky who directed the critically acclaimed Black Swan (2000). If you consider Trainspotting as a brilliant film on drugs, addiction and the critique on modernity, Requiem for a Dream would be ever more appealing to your taste. Although the film is full of images of using drugs, and considered banned for such reason, the atmosphere created in Dream is a sound warning rather than an appraisal of any kind.    One of the films technique is using rapid cuts to parallel the emotion drug addicts are going through.

ALSOK is a company that provides various security and insurance services. Since early last year, they hired the well known Japanese figure, Saori Yoshida, a female wrestler who won World Championship of Women’s Wrestling for 10 consecutive years (as well as winning two consecutive Olympic Gold Medals), ALSOK became a product that imprints in everyone’s mind, a household name. The commercial adopted the form of a song and signal that average consumers are familiar with. They looked for the perfect endorsement person with ‘security guarantee’ as product feature. The commercial was made into a music video to ‘brainwash’ the

Coffee has become a staple for many white collar workers. Whether you like to make it yourself, buy a fresh one in Starbucks or grab a canned one from the convenience store, everyone could easily get one to ease their caffeine addiction or as quick fix to refresh their minds.   It is precisely because drinking coffee has become a common demand in our daily lives that more and more brands throw themselves in the market for a piece of share. If you want to stand out in this fiercely competitive market, you need to have big idea to

Ernest Hemingway sitting alone at a café in Paris in 1920, he wrote this down on his notebook, “You belong to me, the whole Paris belongs to me, but I belong to the pencil I’m holding and the notebook.” That notebook Hemingway referred to was Moleskine. Moleskine (pronounced mol-a-skeen’-a) originally meant ‘mole’s skin’ in French was a legendary notebook in the 20th century, notable for being owned by European artists and intellectuals. Famous painter, Vincent Van Gogh had used 7 Moleskine notebooks to draw and sketch numerous drafts and is now collection of Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This

The Power of Repetition G!VOICE Recommend   「＂If you only do things in the heat of the moment, you would fail; but if you do it persistently for a long time, you would succeed.＂We often think that repetition is boring and lacks sense of achievement, but professional personnel enjoys repeating and they are persistent in whatever they do. This book mentions that if you want to be a professional on one subject, you need to invest about 10,000 hours on it. The more times you repeat, the stronger the momentum, the closer you get to your goal. If you

For game developers in Taiwan, there is something unique about Taipei this June! Since 1988, Game Developer Conference (GDC) has been considered the biggest game technology exchange event in game industry. After 26 years, this year, the much anticipated first ever GDC Taipei Summit was held in Taipei. The event was joined by around 600 professional game developers from 12 countries including the U.S, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao and China and 20 invited guest speakers from Taiwan and overseas. In the past, Gamania had participated GDC as an attendee, this year however, we were honored to

What’s the relationship between a car and a piano? When you see a scene like this, “on top of a still car is a 350 kg, real piano hanging by 9 ropes”, what is your first reaction? Danger! Unexpected! It could crash and kill the person in the car! That’s right, this marketing case wants to give you the message that “you cannot secure yourself against all risks and dangers, so it’s best to insure”. The interesting thing is that, when will these 9 hanging ‘ropes’ break, and what breaks them will be determine by online users. Through live

In the fierce competition in the capital market nowadays, business owners could only wish their shops are filled with customers and their products pre-sold way before official launch. Shrewd sales personnel wish they could see through customers’ minds and know what they are thinking so they could earn handsome amount of commission fees. In this day and age, everyone wants to know what the customers think, what they want and how to get them to pay. In this article, I’ll introduce a research method that could have an insight into consumers’ real demands—context inquiry.   Context inquiry is a

▲Lego master, Nathan Sawaya pieced up many seemingly petty Lego bricks into artworks full of life force! In 2008, Lego, a brand originated from Denmark had gone through half a century but still standing tall. It is the common interest and memory of many children and adults alike. Why is its charm so pervasive that still influences people even after 50+ years? Such charismatic toy possesses the features of numerous combination and diversity so that people could use their imagination and creativity and create many precious pieces and stories! Creative Lego: Intricate to the Ts Lego’s slogan has changed