I’ve written before about the use of tactile sidewalk strips to help the blind, as seen in Japan. Well, now we have them in Israel too! I was walking under the Calatrava bridge in Jerusalem, and saw this: At first I was puzzled, but then I noticed this led towards the Jewish institute for the … Read more
This is the Ashtanur pencil case. Once you see it, you can’t help wanting one: it is simply too cool! So I got one, and here it is. These are made by two designers, my friend Ido Mohar and Baruch Mogilevsky, in mimicry of the local flat pita bread – called Ashtanur in Jerusalem, but … Read more
Every seasoned traveler knows the drill: you go to baggage claim, everyone’s bags arrive except yours, and you start running around to try and locate it. If you’re lucky, you end up finding your suitcase standing, forlorn and confused, with a few other bags in some corner or another. How it got there nobody can … Read more
Form, they say, follows function… which leads to many utilitarian everyday products. But every now and then you run into a design detail that shows inspired abuse of this principle: some unknown designer decides that the product also needs to be lovely, or unconventional, or humorous. Here’s an example I’ve come across: a drain cover … Read more
I saw the… whatever… below in Hackney, London, and can’t resist sharing it with you. Is this a weird whatever-it-is or what? 🙂
I came upon this well-meaning sign at a university guest house. Can’t fault its call for responsible behavior, but what were they thinking when they created it? It never ceases to amaze me how little attention people pay to creating text that is easy to read. You see PowerPoint slides with red text on a … Read more
I was in the campus of the Academic College of Tel Aviv and l noticed a little courtyard with a nice deck and some garden furniture. What caught my eye was that the chairs were tilted against the tables. The reason became obvious when I saw one chair that had remained upright: it had a … Read more
Most food products have nutrition information labels that tell you in minute detail what they contain, from calorie count to milligrams of Sodium. All very edifying, to be sure, but boooring! So the other day I saw this box of cookies, and below the logo of the English Cake bakery it says – in Hebrew … Read more
We veteran road warriors know the drill: go thru security, then hunt for a power outlet to recharge our computer at as we wait for our flight. This often involves scouting the terminal halls hoping to find the occasional wall socket intended for the janitor’s vacuum cleaner, hoping there would be a vacant chair near … Read more
We all know the usual “Private Parking” no-parking signs: stark red and white, with wording in fat letters forming threats of the sorry fate – towing, usually – awaiting violators. They’re designed to jar and scare the thoughtless driver. Nothing pretty about these signs, and usually that’s exactly the intent of their owners. But here … Read more
