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Aesthetic Bias Leads to Shameful Waste, Higher Prices, Poor Nutrition

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Take my word for it, my farming credentials are impeccable. I’ve grown up around commercial fruit and vegetable farmers my entire life, and I know that the tasty, tree/vine-ripened, organically safe stuff rarely make it onto the supermarket shelf because retailers want their produce uniform in size, unblemished and picked firm and barely ripe so they won’t spoil before sold. As a result, mega-tons of fruits and vegetables are rejected for purely cosmetic reasons. Millions of people are suffering from malnutrition and billions of dollars of food are tossed out because they don’t rise to the aesthetic standards of clueless urbanites who believe that beauty trumps taste. What’s equally sad is that many city-dwellers don’t know how a real tree-ripened apricot, peach or cherry should taste. Shame!

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Design Classic

Kilroy Was Here, There and Everywhere

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Sometime during World War II, graffiti of a man with a long nose peering over a wall and the message “Kilroy was here” began popping up in the most unlikely and often dangerous places. It was boldly hand drawn on rocks and trees on the battlefields of Europe and the South Pacific, painted on the side of warplanes, on U.S. troopships, Army jeeps and bombed out buildings. The little Kilroy man became the logo of American GIs, and a way to taunt the enemy that there was no safe place to hide. The more remote and inaccessible the location, the more likely a GI would paint the graffiti to announce they had been there first.

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Information Graphics

Election Map Point of View

By Delphine Hirasuna |

If you’re like many of us, the more the cable TV news commentators explain how the electoral map of the United States works, the more confused we become. If viewed purely from the perspective of landmass, the red states (Republican) overpower blue states (Democratic), and the all-powerful “swing” states that supposedly will determine the outcome of the national election aren’t that important or trendsetting (sorry, the truth hurts) except during Presidential election years. So, it is enlightening to view this National Public Radio video produced by Adam Cole, although I’m not sure how listeners can see it on the radio. Never mind. If you haven’t voted yet, do. There are just a few hours left to cast your ballot if you are on the West Coast or Hawaii.

Posters

CBS Outdoor Advertises Advertising

By Delphine Hirasuna |

In the UK, CBS Outdoor has been trying to convince advertisers to think outdoors in the city by running an in-house branding campaign on buses, trains and the London Underground. Called “Outdoor by Name, Urban by Nature,” the strategic ad series features animals and birds made up of silhouettes of familiar regional landmarks in the UK. The ad running in London, for example, depicts Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Wembley Stadium and other urban icons. Citing data from ONS and TGI surveys, CBS Outdoor says that “87% of urban respondents have seen Outdoor advertising in the last week.” This is nearly double the number of city dwellers who are exposed to ads via newspapers and radio.

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Design Education

Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design

By Delphine Hirasuna |

World-renowned German industrial designer Dieter Rams defined the latter half of the 20th century with a parade of landmark products. Head of design for Braun A.G. until his retirement in 1998, Rams’ many designs — coffee makers, AV equipment, consumer appliances, calculators, radios, record players, office products – found a permanent home at many of museums, including MoMA. His Universal Shelving System for Vitsoe is still considered as contemporary and functional as it was the day it was introduced. Rams once described his design philosophy as “Less is Better.” In the early 1980s, he pondered the question: What is good design? The result is the 10 principles stated above.