DesignEx Melbourne 2011

Its that time of year again. When all designers head to designEx (this year it is in melbourne) for fun, forcasts, freebies and forums. It is on from 13-15th April at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. As a trade only event, deisgnEX offers information on all the latest trends and products. Hopefully there will be some interesting things to report. Unfortunately I won't be getting there this year, however I will be holding out for Saturday InDesign in August in Sydney. The dates are 19&20th of August if you want to put it in your diary now.

Favourite quotes

I have collated some of my favourite quotes that I am considering for a business card and/or website. Please comment - and let me know what you think!

1. Our opportunity, as designers, is to learn how to handle the complexity, rather than shy away from it, and to realize that the big art of design is to make complicated things simple.
   — Tim Parsey
2. The quality of any creative endeavor tends to approach the level of taste of whoever is in charge.
   — John Gruber
3. Color is a creative element, not a trimming.
   — Piet Zwart
4. A good designer may not have all the answers, but he knows which questions to ask.
   — Rudy Duke
5. Life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one.
   — Stella Adler
6. The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.
   — Neil Gaiman
7. The landscape belongs to the person who looks at it - Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. The silence of nature is very real. It surrounds you . . . you can feel it.
   - Ted Trueblood
9. We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.
   - William Hazlett
10. A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.
    — Frank Capra
11. There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.
    - Aristotle

India's Colour celebration

What a lovely idea, and such a beautiful celebration of something so pure and vibrant that you can't help but smile. Colour. This image just makes me want to be there, surrounded by colour and HAPPY!

People in India have painted the streets in vibrant colour during the annual Holi festival, also known as the Festival of Colours, to celebrate the begining of spring.

Read the full story here

Design Seminars

Home Ideas Centre is a great resource for design related seminars in Sydney. Each topic is run approximately once a month and is a great opportunity for learning, gathering and sharing information as well as networking. Some categories include:

- Architect talks
- Kitchen design
- Bathroom design
- Landscape design
- Interior Design

But best of all, most of them are free!

Find out more here

Brighten your interior up

Just a quick one...


This is a lovely idea posted by ddffaaa on Apartment Therapy. Brighten up the rainy days with something that makes you smile.




Read the full story here

Painting tip

I was at a Resene talk the other night and found out a really interesting fact.



On a paint roller, the soft part that slides on the roller is called a roller nap. There is a misconception amongst some painters and DIYers that the thicker the Nap the more paint you can hold and therefore the quicker you can do it, and the less coats you need.



This is wrong!



Because the thick nap holds more paint it is more likely to create an uneven and irregular finish.



Bunnings explains it well here:
Roller sleeves are sold in short, medium and long nap lengths. A short nap, usually about 5 to 8mm deep, does not hold as much paint as the others, but is the best kind to use with glossy paint since it leaves a thin, very smooth coating. The all-purpose medium nap, about 8 - 12mm deep, holds any type of paint well and produces a soft-looking stippled effect. The pile of a long nap, about 20mm, works a heavy load of paint into the irregularities of a textured, damaged or extremely porous surface, and can create a deeply stippled effect on any surface.


This is particularly important with high gloss paints and metallic finishes.

Design for Bushfire safety

I was reading a steel magazine "Stramit" about the RAL kit houses which are not only designed to be energy efficient, and easy to construct but have a high tolerance to surviving bushfires. Two RAL homes survived bushfires in the Grampians intact which was a great surprise to the firefighters who expected them to be in ruins.

I am impressed to see such an innovative Australian design, the only shame is that they aren't particularly attractive from the outside.

You can read more about their products here.

Image source: ralhomes.com.au