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Just a quick apology regarding the polls on the B-Side: For the past week or two weeks, many logos that would normally have a majority of "Bad" votes have been appearing as getting more "Great" votes than they deserve. Some have expressed in the comments that it is the result of bots, or people from that company coming in and voting en masse. It's not. It was my fault. I'm the dumbass. If you care to know: For every post there is an XML text file that gathers the votes. In theory these text files start out with 0, 0, Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

With its imminent move downtown to new Renzo Piano-designed digs, the Whitney Museum of American Art decided that its graphic identity was also in need of an overhaul. And so it’s out with Abbott Miller‘s 13-year-old wordmark (which, like a fine wine, would only have gotten better with age) and in with a…spindly, shape-shifting line? The new identity, created by Amsterdam-based Experimental Jetset and unveiled today along with the museum’s redesigned website, is an anti-logo: lacking distinction, gravitas, and the ability to be seen from across a room. The “responsive ‘W’,” intended to dynamically “illustrate the museum’s ever-changing nature” with an elastic take on the letter “W,” is paired with a redrawn version of Neue Haas Grotesk, in all caps. With an infinite array of options, the identity can evoke the work of Dexter Sinister or Lawrence Weiner, the slanting logo of W magazine, or a line graph that got lost in a museum on its way to a sales report. But mostly, it leaves us wondering, Why?

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The must-attend design event of the summer is Michigan Modern, which takes place June 13-16 on the Eliel Saarinen-designed campus of Cranbrook. The epic line-up of lectures, discussions, tours, and films will bring together architects, critics, designers, historians, and others to discuss the role of the Great Lakes State in the development of American modernism. Come for the early concrete designs of Alnert Kahn for the auto industry, stay for the array of Cranbrook-affiliated designers–Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, to name a few–who became household names through manufacturers such as Herman Miller.

The main event is the symposium, which will delve into the design legacies of figures such as Harley Earl, Victor Gruen, Eero Saarinen, Alden B. Dow, George Nelson, and Alexander Girard. Meanwhile, interlocutor extraordinaire Debbie Millman will be on hand to interview textile design legend Ruth Adler-Schnee and architect Gunnar Birkerts. As if that weren’t reason enough to register, attendees will be among the first to see “Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America,” a major exhibition at the recently restored Cranbrook Art Museum. Early bird (read: discounted) registration ends tomorrow–plus, we suspect that this modfest is going to sell out faster than you can say “Minoru Yamasaki.”

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Compuserve may be a distant memory to most of us but we can thank it for popularizing the GIF file format that lives on in the form of web animations, having outlived the usage of both Java and Flash. While slick GIF cinemagraphs can still catch our attention, you can't beat a clunky, badly looped animation that uses appropriated content in a comical setting. The Digiday site, which covers digital media, marketing and advertising, recently posted an amusing GIF-invested collection of these entitled 20 Surefire Ways to Anger Creatives. Ranging from such classics as Make Them Work on Banners through Change the Office Dress Policy to “Business Casual,” the GIF above illustrates Put Them On the Phone with a Client.

Established in 1837, P&G is one of the largest (if not the largest) consumer packaged goods company in the world with operations in 75 countries and more than $83 billion in sales in 2012. Its two key areas — beauty and grooming and household care — include some of the most well-known consumer brands like Pampers, Gillette, Tide, Ariel, Downy, Pantene, Head�&�Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Crest, Dawn, and Always. Earlier this year, without calling much attention to itself, P&G introduced a new logo designed by Landor. Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

Say “Tim Gunn” to ten people and nine of them well immediately reply, “I love Tim Gunn!” (The tenth doesn’t watch television or read style manuals). The debonair and decanal Project Runway mentor, who has a vivid childhood memory of touring FBI headquarters and seeing J. Edgar Hoover dressed as Vivian Vance, is bringing his sharp eye and make-it-work mantra to Quirky. Gunn will visit the NYC offices of the social media-meets-product development company this evening to help evaluate products. Tune in here at 7 p.m. EST to watch the live webcast, during which Gunn will weigh on in on more than a dozen potential app-enabled products for the home that Quirky will develop in partnership with GE.

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Watch French street artist JR get his TED Prize wish for a global art project in Inside Out, a fresh-from-the-Tribeca-Film-Festival documentary that debuts tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO. Director Alastair Siddons (Turn it Loose) crisscrosses the globe–from Tunisia to Haiti, North Dakota to Pakistan–as people around the world come together to follow JR’s simple directions to “take a portrait photograph of yourself or someone you know and then paste it in the street, using it to stand up for something you care about.” More than 100,000 people responded to his call by uploading their portraits to the project’s website for JR to print and display around the world. Explains Siddons, “This is a film about an artist giving away his method and the inspiring stories that follow that.” Sample a few in the film’s trailer (below):
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Waste less, want more? That’s the thinking behind Wasteless, a sustainability-minded competition that challenged Parsons students to transform Poltrona Frau‘s leather leftovers–freshly harvested from the floor of its factory in in Tolentino, Italy–into luxe accessories and objects. Designer and Parsons faculty member Andrea Ruggiero led a group of 15 Parsons product design students in the seven-week project, and earlier this month they presented their projects to a panel of judges that included Massimo Vignelli, Metropolis editorial director Paul Makovsky, and Federico Materazzi of Poltrona Frau.

Jenny Hsu emerged on top with “Piqnique” (at left), a woven case for meals on the go that doubles as a leather placemat. Rounding out the top three were Yuna Kim‘s “Miovino” leather wine glass tags and the “Tuft” candle holders (at right) designed by Benjamin Billick. The three winning designers will head to Italy this summer to visit the Poltrona Frau factory and work with the company’s master craftsmen to fabricate prototypes. Check out all 15 of the student designs at Poltrona Frau’s Soho showroom, where they’re on view through Tuesday.

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Established in 1067, Minsk is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus with nearly 2 million people — about 20 percent of the population of the country. Today, as described by the Minsk City Executive Committee, Minsk is "a modern, dynamic city, the largest transport and logistics center, a cultural and scientific center of the country" with high education standards, positive diversity, clean and green (as in parks and stuff), and mostly as a city on the rise. "Minsk," however, share London- and Moscow-based agency INSTID, who have been working with the city on its new Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

A production still from 2012 episode of Art in the Twenty-First Century that featured Glenn Ligon.

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will honor artist Glenn Ligon with its SMFA Medal. First presented in 1996, the award honors individuals “who have made a significant and lasting impact on the art world, and recognizes their commitment to diversifying and communicating with the world through art.” Past recipients include Alex Katz, Kiki Smith, Ellen Gallagher, and Robert Rauschenberg. Ligon will receive his SMFA Medal (complete with red ribbon) this evening at a gala that will take place at the museum and benefit the school. Guests can assess potential future SMFA medalists during a pre-dinner silent auction of student work.
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Fab made a splash in Milan with more than cushy Warhol Brillo boxes. The online retailer invited designers from around the world to pitch new products for the chance to have them produced and sold on Fab. More than 150 creative types from 30 countries turned out, and now it’s onto New York. In addition to showcasing its new private label alongside collaborations with the likes of the Albers Foundation and Blu Dot at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which opens to the trade tomorrow, Fab is hosting another “Disrupting Design” competition.

The fearless leader of the judging panel will be Fab co-founder and chief design officer Bradford Shellhammer. “At Fab, we are constantly reinventing ourselves and rethinking what Fab can be,” he says. “By directly engaging with designers to find the best new work out there, we’re hoping to help even more of our members find things they love.” Today’s ever-changing offering ranges from a Louis Ghost Chair signed by Philippe Starck and vintage Kodak Brownies to a subscription to BirdWatching magazine and a Pepperoni pizza t-shirt. Shellhammer paused in his booth preparations (find Fab at #1220 at ICFF) to answer our questions.

How did the “Disrupting Design” competition go in Milan?
We were overwhelmed by the response in Milan, which is why we’ve decided to do it again in New York during ICFF. We had so many great entries from all over the world when we did the call out in Milan. Initially we were planning on selecting three winning designs, but we couldn’t narrow it down so we ended up shortlisting twelve designs which we are working to put into production and sell on Fab–the revenue of which we of course share with the winning designers.

What advice would you give to those interested in presenting their designs to the Fab jury on Tuesday at ICFF?
Take a look at our site and keep the Fab viewpoint in mind when presenting. The winning designs from Milan all embody the Fab ethos–they tell great stories, utilize interesting materials, or have a sense of whimsy. We are looking for designs that will be appreciated by our global community of more than 12 million design lovers.

What are some qualities of a successful product on Fab?
Great products tell a story, elicit emotions, or solve problems. It’s that simple. It needs to check at least one of those boxes (hopefully all three). They can be in any category and at any price, as long as there’e something compelling.

What is a product that you’ve sold on Fab that has surprised you, in terms of expected versus actual interest from customers?
Yves Behar‘s medicine accessories for Sabi I thought may be targeted for a customer older than ours, but we sell a lot of them!
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Backgrounds of lightly-colored hues abound in this week's Friday Likes with work from the UK, Russia, and Greece. Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

• Those in New York have plenty to keep them busy this weekend, as NYCxDESIGN rolls on and ICFF arrives. Whether you’re in Manhattan or Mumbai, Saturday is International Museum Day, an annual initiative of the International Council of Museums to encourage public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society. This year’s theme is “Museums (memory + creativity) = social change,” a nod to ICOM’s partnership with the UNESCO Memory of the World Program. Check out what some North American institutions have planned for International Museum Day here.

• The Association of Art Museum Directors is also seizing the Museum Day momentum. The organization is encouraging its members to offer free admission and special programs on Saturday for Art Museum Day. See if your favorite museum is participating by consulting the AAMD’s latest list.

• All that museumgoing sure works up an appetite. Depatures highlights some extraordinary museum restaurants around the world. Please pass the “whipped casein with strawberry-and-violet ice cream.”

• Where in the world are the best university museums? Consult this new ranking of the 30 Most Amazing University Museums. Created by Best Colleges Online, the international list is based on qualities such as architecture, depth of resources and collections, and activity as a learning and teaching resource for the surrounding community.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Opened to the public in 1992 in the suburb of Bloomington in Minneapolis near the Twin Cities, the Mall of America (MOA) is he United States' largest retail and entertainment complex as a 4.87 million square foot structure sitting in a plot of land 78 acres big — either 7 baseball stadiums or 32 Boeing 747s would fit inside. Attracting 42 million visitors annually, MOA houses 520 shops, an indoor amusement park with 27 rides, an indoor aquarium, a 14-screen movie theater, and even a chapel that weds over 300 couples every year. In other words: it's big, it's Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

Best known for its widely coveted modular shelving system designed by Dieter Rams, Vitsœ recently scored the exclusive worldwide license to Rams’ original furniture designs. First up on the relaunching pad for the London-based company is the designer’s 620 chair, which hits the market this month following a top-to-bottom reengineering. Every last purpose-designed stainless steel bolt in the chair, designed for Vitsœ in 1962 and later the subject of a legal scuffle that led to the design being copyrighted, has been given the once over, and the versatile seat–add castors for swivelling, connect a few together for a multi-seat sofa–emerged from the makeover with a reduced price ($3,340, sans castors) and a footstool.

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So many collaborations, so little time. Versace’s commandeering of the 69th Regiment Armory in New York last night included the highly anticipated reveal of its Versus Versace J.W. Anderson capsule collection, for which the British designer mixed 90′s-infused androgyny (Body Glove brights, cropped and slashed black knitwear) with house signatures (gold lion heads, safety pins). Those not in the market for pricey unisex clubwear should mark their calendars for the ides of September, when Target will unveil its one-off line with Phillip Lim. The New York designer, who describes his aesthetic as “something between classic and that sense of madness,” set out to create something “cool and chic, but still very accessible.” For the range of women’s and men’s apparel and accessories, he kept the focus on autumnally appropriate neutral tones and prints in materials such as jersey, French terry, and leather. Prices for the approximately 100 items in the 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target collection will range from $19.99, for a travel pouch, to $299.99, for a leather moto jacket.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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