The Secret of Happiness

Maybe because of Coca Cola's massive Open Happiness campaign for the 2010 Games, maybe because spring has come early and the cherry blossams make everything cheery. I am thinking about happiness. The Happiness Project recounts the author's daily adventures in pursuit of happiness, an instant NY Times bestseller, while the Future Well is a new design firm specializing in health and happiness. I'm thinking that the secret of happiness is simply discovering the things in the world that make us smile. For example this public poster series by the Dopludo Collective!

Desire to Communicate

Dr. Ron Burnett, President of Emily Carr University, and former teacher of mine shares his optimistic view of the Literate Future:

“The beauty of language is its flexibility and adaptability. The various modes of conversation to which we have become accustomed over centuries have a textured and rich quality that depends on our desire to communicate. That desire crosses nearly every cultural and political boundary on this shrinking earth. Rather than worry about whether text messaging will undermine literacy, we need to examine how to use all of the new modalities of communications now available to us to enhance the relationships we have with each other. That is the real challenge, quality of exchange, what we say and why and how all of that translates into modes of expression that can be understood and analyzed.”

What I take away from his closing paragraph is by simply having an open mind to our now multi modal existence, we may be able to better cherish and appreciate conversations, share knowledge and strengthen relationships; that the real challenge is to not waste our time and energy with mindless distraction. After all, feeling connected to family, friends and communities is the top sustainability issue for North Americans. Today, there have never been more ways to stay connected with one another.

I will be posting here more frequently, and am looking forward to it. Garnering information from multiple channels – feeds, tweets, newspapers, blogs and the SHIFT Report findings – to record and support the cultural shift to sustainability. It is happening, friends.

It's happening.

Although I am currently away from work on maternity leave, I can't help it. I want to stay involved – observing and participating in this cultural shift we are in, that is becoming ever more obvious. The above image is a slide I put together for Ci and in the background is a gigantic mindmap about sustainability + food. FOOD! From Food Inc. raising questions about where our food comes from, to Chipotle changing the nature of fast food in the USA, to Michael Pollen's new book Food Rules, to the rise of urban agriculture and people spending more time in their kitchens, I am inspired and hopeful that North Americans are waking up and asking the questions about what we are putting in our bodies and how it effects us. And then today on Oprah. Food 101 with Michael Pollan. It's really happening. The food revolution. We have a long way to go, I know this. But it's happening.

"The less we spend on food, the more we spend on health care" ~Michael Pollan

The Challenge Series

The Challenge Series tells the story of the people and the work behind the planning, designing and building of Vancouver's Olympic Village. For the past few years, I have had my eye on the site, wondering how it would all unfold, not knowing how involved I would get in learning about the site's history, policies and the development process. A crash course in urban design and sustainable community building.

Beginning last April, I began working for this project, brought on to essentially manage all the visual information for the seven chapter publication that would launch each new chapter monthly. Each chapter covered a different topic from History and Policy to Public Space and Infrastructure, Architecture, Water and Building Landscape, Energy, and Community.

There were thousands of images to sift through, collect, review, and choose. I worked with illustrators from Letterbox Design Group and Cobalt Engineering to develop schematics. I created each chapter's wireframe for publication, liaised with writers (New Climate Strategies) with respect to appropriate images for each story. I liaised with graphic designers (Mizu Creative) with respect to each chapter's wireframe, image hierarchy etc. and I put forth recommendations for the front and back covers.

All in all it was a fabulous project to be involved with– great people full of optimism and passion.

You can access all chapters here. I recommend downloading the low res pdfs for a more graphical / magazine type experience.

mirror/drink by maia love

Riddle: What am I? Transparent in a tipped glass, glistening on your lower lip before cascading down your throat, nourishing your cells. Melting off a mountain ice-block, somersaulting over stones, pooling in a mirror form before streaming down your pipes to land splash into your glass. As wealthy as diamonds, precious as platinum, rare as air. Escaping skyward as we gently slowly heat our globe-shaped home . . .

Dance piece by Maia Love.
Filmography by Hans Christian Berger.
Video edit by Moira Simpson.

Performed at the Vancouver Design Nerd's Jam at Recollective, April 2009.

Public Potluck Picnic

Spinning off from the last Design Nerd Jam which focussed on the convergence of a green and creative city, our group decided to organize an informal unstructured potluck picnic on the luscious grassy hill beside Science World. Fredrick who I met randomly in my group was keen to help organize and he put together the invitation. I sent out some emails and facebook invites and prayed to the weather Gods. They listened. It was lovely afternoon with a great little spread of tasty food and delicious conversation. Next time, more activities like kite flying, music playing, croquet and Frisbee. One highlight was Bruce showing up with his electric bike and mini sound system. Nerdtastic.

Weird

larytta - souvenir de chine - video directed by körner union

so weird. but i couldn't stop watching... trying to get posting again. starting with videos. more writing and personal work to come soon.