{image: do2learn.com}
 
Color is the universal language that everyone recognizes.
 
Informed by cultural keystrokes, our perceptions are intrinsically linked to the impact of color and navigating that spectrum is vital to relationship building.
 
Colors help to create a recognizable and distinct brand identity. At retail, we often talk about the impact of brand views tied to a logo, packaging design, store schematic, or marketing campaign to provoke an instant reaction.
 
Seasonal themes are often represented by multiple hierarchical tones across a vast spectrum.  Irrespective of forecasts, a mega color like Tangerine Tango will need a backdrop of many shades to pop accordingly and generate desire. This fall, blues dominate the supporting cast with twilight and reflective calm as harvest hues establish a granular base next to acidic shades of moss. Every alpha has a beta.
 
As we examine the continuum of color for 2013, we are far more enthralled with inspiration that sounds a dynamic chord rather than just a singular note.
 
 
This slightly offbeat form of inspiration celebrates the hue, not the race. At The Color Run, runners in white t-shirt experience a rainbow of powdered pigments at each leg of the event 5km race. Every kilometer is associated with a designated color:  1k is yellow, 2k is blue, 3k is green, 4k is pink, and the 5k finish is a “Color Extravaganza.” This celebration transforms physical endurance into a vibrant hue procession.
 
 

Similarly, the kickstarter campaign The Present by Scott Thrift of m ss ng p eces, tells the story of the seasons using subtle gradients of pure color to mark the equinoxes & solstices throughout the years. Using a custom microprocessor commissioned to accurately turn hours into months, the color wheel is a reminder not to sweat the small stuff.  

Regardless of must-have trends, color is creative promise — which raises the bar in terms of architecture, design, and fashion.
 
apparel sizing
apparel sizing
 
Do you or someone you know suffer from size-a-phobia? Or worse — is your online brand imprint muddled with sizing complaints resulting in negative customer reviews.
 
It's time to stop focusing on the size and pick up your mobile phone. There's an app for that.
 
U.K. computer programmer Anna Powell-Smith has collected the official apparel size data and built a data visualisation to assist the women of Britain and the US navigate the sea of sizing options sold at various shops. The end result is a web app called What Size Am I?.
 
The application, inspired by The New York Times article: One Size Fits Nobody: Seeking a Steady 4 or a 10, lets you put in your measurements (bust, waist and hips) in inches and cm and recommends brands and sizes that would fit the best. Due to the three unique datapoints, the results favor different body shapes flattered by different stores.

What Size Am I?
 
"I tested the app with friends, and while some felt that fit also depends on fabric and cut, we were all interested to see the variation between shops... I also adapted it to display nicely on mobile phones, so you can use it on the move," said Ms. Powell-Smith within a datablog post on The Guardian website. "I'm surprised no-one has explored the data or built a similar site before, but then being a computer programmer and a fashion fan is… unusual. Coders get an unfair press in some ways (I find most are articulate and charming) but when it comes to fashion, the clichés are largely true. Tech conferences are a sad sea of baggy black T-shirts," she continued.
 
In an industry where virtual fitting rooms are the latest lure to dress the average woman, What Size Am I? provides a simple non-augmented solution based on official measurements published online by each shop: closest sizes estimated with least squares.
 
We love the motto: "Finding clothes that fit shouldn't be so hard. Add your measurements here to find out which high-street sizes are best for you," and hope manufacturers and retailers take note.
 
{source: Guardian.co.uk}
food trends
 
Korean food has a reputation for popping-up in the most unique places...
 
On the heels of two reports on the popularity of Korean food in America (see big. bold. Korean. & food trends by way of The Simpsons), we learned about an interesting project in Berlin, Germany from our pal Mandie O'Connell: Dr. Rhee's Food Lab.

Equal part art installation and community curation, the one week bartering pop-up store opened during the season in which Baechu Cabbage Kimtschi is traditionally made in Korea aiming to secured personal cultural artifacts of equivalent value from various cultures in the city in exchange for "the national treasure of Korea".
 
 
The exchange of 60+ portions between customers and the Dr. Rhee's Food Lab brand was then documented online in real-time so followers could understand the specific reasons which a specific object was displayed. View the complete catalog here.
 
A collaborative project from visual artist Kate Hers and scientist Hanjo Rhee, we love how the exhibition engaged community prior to opening via Kickstarter funding and again throughout the event — linking food to cultural identity.
 
{special thanks to artist/Berliner Mandie O'Connell}
 
There are buzzwords and there are great words. And sometimes, marketers turn great words into trash.
 
For example, Premium used to be a compelling word bound for potential greatness. The petrol industry drove the awareness of premium gasoline in the 80's to denote a better grade. Unfortunately, marketers in the food industry have driven premium, artisan and specialty into the ground. If you feel that you have to put premium or World Class as a descriptor of your confections, it's mute. (And, by the way, World Class was never a great term.)
 
Often words are overused. Personally, we made the decision to remove Bespoke (an undeniable great word), from the In Your Head website messaging as part of our redesign.  We still do consider our consultancy "made-to-order", but the word became overpopulated as it relates to design aesthetics particularly in fashion. Special edition products and custom items are not bespoke unless they are made by hand for a specific client/user. The same bespoke logic applies to Couture, which comes from the term haute couture, meaning exclusive custom-fitted clothing made-to-order for private clients with one or more fittings. Track suits with catch phrases on the backside are NEVER couture, regardless of the name brand.
 
The latest death of a great word came yesterday via our inbox. A dedicated email advertising a "curated prize package" of tampons. No joke.
curated tampons
{image: DailyCandy.com}
 
We've long been fans of Curate within this blog and as an additive to some of our clients temporary installations. The word, stemming from the term Curator, had become a term that brands and collaborators used to communicate a link between cultural heritage and consumerism in a post-recession environment. For us, curating demanded that the job skills of the owner, manager or buyer had evolved beyond seasonality with unique offerings that held greater meaning, research, and care than the standard quo.
 
It's unfortunate that marketers thought otherwise...
Curating tampons is beyond gross. It's time to flush the toilet.
 
 

A fresh baguette vending machine may seem an oxymoron in Paris— but baker/owner Jean-Louis Hecht thinks differently.  He has opened coin-operated machines outside his bakeries in Paris and Hombourg-Haut to meet client demand at all hours.

His machine in Hombourg-Haut opened in January, it dispensed 1,600 baguettes; last month it sold 4,500.

We are intrigued at the continual evolution of specialized vending machines featuring healthy foods and fresh produce, but saddened at the potential impact on the French boulangerie.

{source: Mashable & Telegraph}
SATC
{photo: hbo.com}
 
It's been seven years since the Sex and the City television series ended but only in the past few months has a new wave of money-conscious writers begun to tap into the franchise. Blame it on E! network reruns of the series or the Sex and the City movies for reminding us of our free-spending pasts.
 
Last month, our friend Molly forwarded us a link to "Carrie Bradshaw Math" on the popular blog The Frenemy. In the hilarious & explicit post, (note: do not open link at if you are reading this on your work computer) the author examines how Carrie could never sustain the extravagant lifestyle depicted in the show/movie with earnings from her writing gigs. As the character's shopping habits, designer dresses for dates, restaurant choices and general expenses (rent, utilities, cab rides, etc.) are scrutinized, the writer also addresses her own writing career and subsequent economic decisions with finesse.
 
In it's short time online, the entry has nearly 1,500 comments and a link to the article was included in a Forbes Woman blog post The Legacy of Carrie Bradshaw And Reaching Financial Success which offered financial advice to Carrie-Wannabes, Fashionistas, and the Fash Pack.
 
The newest indicator of the "Slam Carrie Bradshaw's spending" micro-trend came from Racked in a post for the sites Wedding Week 2011 that costs out the Sex and the City wedding from the first movie. Sadly, What the Sex and the City Wedding Really Cost is only a list of high-end wedding resources and lacks the humor and vitality expresses by The Frenemy.
 
In the current economic conditions, it seems safe to assume that it's not the first time - nor the last - that someone somewhere will compare how a TV or movie character's lifestyle measures up to the real thing. This fiction may be one of the few things on the air less realistic than Reality TV, but it does tap into the desire to escape the day-to-day with a little help from those four-inch stiletto-wearing women and their human accessories.
 
 

{image: Hartman Group}

Last week the Hartman Group, a Seattle-based food research firm, shared a subway-style infographic with the following text: "In the spirit of celebrating contemporary food culture, this subway-style map is intended to serve as a snapshot of the main actors, techniques, values and ideas representing today’s culinary zeitgeist. From chefs and the media, to packaged goods and food politics, these “stops” are suggestive of the people, places and things that have influenced the food world (some more directly than others), thereby becoming part of our Greater Food Culture. Take a ride on the Modern Line, stopping off at Thomas Keller and then maybe head onto the Global Line, paying a visit to David Chang. Wherever you go, you’re likely to learn a bit, be entertained and most certainly eat quite well."

We love the idea but feel that the stops, signs and symbols are one piece of the food-geist puzzle. In today's marketplace, chefs (or restaurant groups) often have one food in publishing and/or packaging in addition to focusing on multiple cuisines/concepts to remain profitable. Relevance in the culinary community is subjective to many influences outside consumer demand and trends.  

{source: HartmanSalt}

{photo: Pavillon des Lettres}

As the economic climate has changed, so have travel habits. The modern traveler is looking for new lifestyle experiences such as one-of-a-kind vacations and cultural encounters with strong tendencies towards eco-consciousness, wellbeing and mindfulness.

Special vacations for booklovers are evolving beyond a tours of Keats-Shelley house in Rome or Robert Burns birthplace in Scotland with reading retreat packages using literary inspirations in spatial design. Notable high-end hotels who have embraced and evolved this trend to meet consumer demand or highlight design aesthetics include...

{photo: The Mercer Hotel}

Often hailed as the first hotel to offer "loft living" in 1997, The Mercer Hotel's Christian Liaigre designed lobby, featuring high 14-foot ceilings, a library of books for guests to borrow, and low, plush, intimate seating, doubles as a late-night lounge for it's SoHo guests.

{photo: The Library Hotel}

The Library Hotel, in Koh Samui, Thailand, offers a range of activities related to reading as well as an impressive library. Travelers can spend hours and hours reading on the beach, by the Pool, at the Restaurant. The owners, designers and architects involved in the project boost that "The unit of library by the beach serving as the biggest library for beach resorts."

{photo: Pavillon des Lettres}

Pavillon des Lettres Hotel in Paris pays homage to French and international literature. Each of the 26 rooms takes a theme based on a letter of the alphabet and inspiration from a poet or writer. Walls feature extracts from authors like Shakespeare, Voltaire and Zola.

Like the slow food movement, the slow travel ethos is growing among well-educated, cosmopolitan travelers - fusing travel with culture, architecture, art, design and reading.

Today, much like the 365 Project, aims to "live more richly" using photography. The project began when Jonathan Harris turned 30 and began taking one photo a day and posting to his website before going to sleep, along with a story.

 
This short film, by his friend Scott Thrift, is a beautiful archival of the project in the artists own words.

 
CULTURE

- Hong Kong developer sees a future for more 'art malls' in China. Could the concept, dubbed K11, translate globally?

FASHION
- London studio of Solve Sundsbo, known for a style of digitally manipulated imagery that could be described as a modern mannerism, captures the McQueen Exhibit and the mannequins are actually models.
- Bergdorf Goodman invites consumers to design and crownsource a Fendi 2Bag on Facebook.

FOOD
- Pop Pub, a spinoff from NYC latenight favorite Pop Burger, launches this Friday and Grub Street has the details on new menu items that target three distinct dayparts.
- Karl Lagerfeld and Rachel Bison premiere their film shorts for Magnum Ice Cream at the Tribeca Film Festival.