“The 1927 edition of Studio Handbook by Samuel Welo is 233 pages of beautiful type and timeless design advice. Only this book comes with a twist – every page was hand-lettered by Welo.”
XPLANE in Entrepreneur Magazine: Simplify business communication
XPLANE was featured in an article about how technology allows us to be more creative and visual than ever — and how using it to make things simpler is the real trick.
Aric Wood, president of XPLANE, a consulting and design firm in Portland, Ore., says that when his team begins a project, it goes straight to the audience.
“One mistake companies often make is that they try to create one communication and send it to everybody,” Wood says. “But the reality is that you talk to a CEO very differently than you would talk to an employee on the factory floor.”
4 Dead Celebrities Font Art Pieces
“Dead Celebrities are always a fascinating subject to many, and this celebrity art created using actual fonts deserves praise. These four posters of Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Marlon Brando and James Dean in some of their most famous poses is nothing short of spectacular. They provide another tribute to the dead actors (and actress) in a way we do not pass by often. Besides small facial drawings, the entire figure of these celebrities is created using actual fonts.”
The eyeballing game
“Some people are bothered by pictures on the wall hanging slightly crooked. Others may not even be aware that something may be amiss. If you are somebody who is into woodworking or construction, its good to be one of the people who notice when things are crooked. But I suspect the ability to notice that things might be just a little off square, off centre, or not quite straight, varies greatly. I thought it would be fun for people to try to test their abilities to see if things are straight or crooked in a little game.” (Thanks kottke.org!)
Savings & (mis)Trust video by XPLANE ranks #40 on YouTube’s weekly education favorites
20,000+ viewers watch four-minute video visually explaining the subprime mortgage crisis
PORTLAND, Ore. (Oct. 16, 2008) – XPLANE, a global information design consultancy, created “Savings & (mis)Trust” – a four-minute animated movie clearly explaining the flawed subprime mortgage lending practices that fueled the current economic crisis in the United States. Since releasing the video on Oct. 9, it has generated more than 20,000 views on YouTube and ranked as last week’s 40th favorite education video. In addition, it is the 16th, 23rd and 98th most viewed education video in Mexico, Spain and Hong Kong respectively. The piece can be viewed at www.xplane.com/subprime.
“We’re very excited by the positive response to ‘Savings & (mis)Trust over the past week,” said Parker Lee, vice president of business development and marketing at XPLANE. “This video is a clear example of what XPLANE does for our clients every day in simplifying the complex through the use of visual thinking and design. We look forward to many more productions as creative as this one.”
The four-minute movie takes viewers through the process starting in 2000 and ending in current day, detailing the role that home buyers, mortgage lenders, banks, financial institutions and ultimately asset backed securities played. The production was created by XPLANE’s renowned information design team using Cintiq technology by Wacom to allow for live and still animation, and voiceover.
With an innovative visual, multidisciplinary methodology, XPLANE is unique because it applies both left and right-brained approaches to develop fresh solutions to challenging communication problems. This approach accelerates understanding, which drives actions and results. Companies have hired XPLANE to motivate employees, drive sales, convince decision makers and improve processes. XPLANE won a bronze medal in 2008 at the 16th Malofiej International Infographics Awards, known as the most important and respected infographic contest in the world.
Earlier this year XPLANE created an infographic detailing how Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public funding system because of the support he has garnered through online social networks. The work has been viewed nearly 12,000 times and can be downloaded at http://www.xplane.com/obama/.
ABOUT XPLANE
Founded in 1993, XPLANE is an information design consultancy that drives better results for many of the world’s leading corporations including Microsoft, Intel, Nokia, U.S. Department of National Intelligence, U.S. Marine Corp., Nike and BP through visual thinking and design. XPLANE offers clients unique and personalized service through its employees’ diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise, including journalism, consulting, technology, marketing, training, illustration, interaction, process improvement, information design and architecture.
Global XPLANE headquarters are in Portland, Ore. USA; European offices are based in Madrid, Spain and a third office is located in St. Louis, Mo. USA. For more information about XPLANE, visit www.xplane.com or call (866) 750-6467 (USA) + (34) 915 635835 (Spain).
For more information contact:
- Parker Lee
- 503 467 7756
- plee@xplane.com
Graphs that lie
“Here’s one thing that’s making me angry at the moment. In fact there are several things making me angry at the moment: McCain’s supporters; the greed that lead us into these financial end-times… and by comparison this particular matter is trivial. But at least it’s easier to solve than the others.
This particular annoyance is the graphs of share prices in the press and on TV. It is standard practice to start the y-axis at a number much higher than zero, in order to magnify the ups and downs of the market. Here’s one from today’s Guardian, showing the FTSE 100 over the course of Friday…”
Savings & (mis)Trust: A Credit Crisis XPLANATiON
The subprime mortgage crisis XPLANEd: The United States economy is suffering one of the worst financial crises in history, due to seriously flawed subprime mortgage lending practices over the past eight years. The repercussions have already been severe and continue to unravel. American people are fearful and unsure of what the future holds. How did we get to this point? Clearly understand the roles that borrowers, mortgage lenders, banks, financial institutions and asset backed securities played in creating this financial meltdown of historic proportion.
This four-minute animated movie takes viewers through the process starting in 2000 and ending in current day. It details the role that home buyers, mortgage lenders, banks, financial institutions and ultimately asset backed securities played in this financial mess.
David Armano: 5 Things I learned From Dave Gray
David Armano is VP of Experience Design at Critical Mass. He and Dave spent some time together at the IDEA 2008 conference and this is what he learned:
I just wrapped up 2 days at the IDEA conference in Chicago and one of the highlights for me was getting to spend some time with Dave Gray, founder of XPLANE and a wonderful advocate for visual thinking. One thing you should know about me is that I watch people very carefully and make mental notes about what I can learn about them. Here are a few things I picked up…
It’s back: ADNOTW
You may remember this from the old days. After a two-year hiatus, Grant is back with splorps’ available domain name of the week:
Welcome to your source for hand-picked, inspiring, and occasionally useful interweb addresses. The only criteria for a domain name to be featured is that it be available for registration according to the public whois database at the time of posting.
