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Superior mousetraps have their public health benefits, but they’ve got nothing on condoms. Reinventing the modest but life-saving device (some 15 billion are produced each year) is among the latest round of “Grand Challenges Explorations,” an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has previously thrown its substantial resources behind design-minded projects such as rethinking the toilet and, in parternship with IDEO, a human-centered approach to poverty-related challenges. Grand Challenges Explorations is ready to award $100,000 grants to anyone–students, scientists, entrepreneurs–with a transformative condom idea:

We are looking for a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use. Additional concepts that might increase uptake include attributes that increase ease-of-use for male and female condoms, for example better packaging or designs that are easier to properly apply. In addition, attributes that address and overcome cultural barriers are also desired. Proposals must (i) have a testable hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.

The entry process is as streamlined and agile as the grant-making program itself: simply complete the two-page online application. Puzzled by prophylactics? Check out the other new Grand Challenges topics, which include increasing interoperability of social good data and labor-saving innovations for women smallholder farmers.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Admit it. Your seven-year-old nephew could out-HTML tag you any day and you think that a Cascading Style Sheet is something with a thread count. That’s where the Mediabistro mothership comes in. They’ve asked us to tell you about the online course in HTML and CSS that kicks off next week. Over four fun-filled weeks, web designer (and illustrator) Laura Galbraith will guide you through a variety of web page production techniques, from column-based layouts and search engine optimization to semantic markup and advanced CSS styles. And you’re bound to ace the typography sections. The online learning fun begins Tuesday, and before you can say “May flowers,” you’ll have brought a pre-designed webpage to life through the magic of HTML. Preview the course syllabus and register here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Robert Longo, “Capitol” (2013)

Want a good look at our nation’s Capitol? Take a detour from D.C. and head to Ridgefield, Connecticut, where the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum has unveiled Robert Longo‘s monumental charcoal drawing of the United States Capitol building. “The building appears to be moving forward toward the center of the room,” writes curator Kelly Texter in a publication that accompanies the exhibition, on view through August 25. “Varying opacities of black create clouded sky and landscape, which blanket and surround the building executed in tonal grays and chalky whites. A differently shaped moulding adorns the top of each window, with snippets of tapestry unique each opening barely visible through glinting glass.” The 41-foot-long work, which spans seven panels and gets an entire wall of the museum’s South Gallery to itself, is shown with 81 of Longo’s ink and charcoal studies, with subjects ranging from the furniture of Sigmund Freud and Franz Kline‘s 1956 AbEx classic “Mahoning” to the Hollywood Sign and Steve Jobs.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Logo redesign as performance art? Design firm Sagmeister and Walsh will redesign the logo of Adobe MAX 2013: The Creativity Conference live during a 24-hour period using "a single design material, such as strings or pencil." You can tune in at 9 AM ET via Adobe's Create Now Facebook app to witness this design highwire act. A brief interview with Jessica Walsh provides some background on what to expect. Related is something called the Adobe MAX Speaker Challenge Sweepstakes. To participate in this you need to tweet which of two MAX sessions you'd rather attend, for a shot at winning not only a full conference pass and the Creative Cloud subscription that goes with it but also VIP seating at the MAX Bash. You can guess what that is. If you'll be attending this year's Adobe MAX, you can use the promo code MXSM13 when you register and save $300. Note to Art D. Rector: I was not paid by Adobe to post this..

MathMagic is available in several editions, and includes connectivity for use with Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. ...

The Illustrator plugin provides improved export functionality and advanced map-making automation....

Established in 1923, Czech Radio (Český rozhlas) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic with four national stations — Czech Radio 1 - Radiozurnál (news, current affairs and music); Czech Radio 2 - Praha (entertainment and education); Czech Radio 3 - Vltava (cultural station); and Czech Radio 6 (analytics and current affairs) — as well as four specialized stations — Czech Radio Rádio Česko (news and current affairs), Czech Radio D-dur (classical music), Czech Radio Radio Wave (for young listeners), and Czech Radio Leonardo (popular educational service) — plus thirteen regional stations. In February Czech Radio introduced Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

Detail from Gary Baseman’s “The Celebration of Toby” (2005)

The countdown is on to Gary Baseman‘s first major museum exhibition, which will turn L.A.’s Skirball Cultural Center into a fun house full of paintings, photographs, toys, sketchbooks, and videos. More than 300 artworks and objects will be installed in thematic “rooms” of a gallery designed to evoke Baseman’s childhood home, complete with family photos, Super 8 home movies, and furnishings. The creative exuberance of “Gary Baseman: The Door Is Always Open” will be revealed on April 25 with an opening house party at which Baseman will create a “spontaneous artwork” amidst pinata smashing, mask making, a performance by Nightmare and the Cat, and a DJ set by Shepard Fairey. Prepare yourself by taking a virtual trip into Baseman’s world (and studio), thanks to filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Looks legit! ;)

The process of rotoscoping was invented almost 100 years ago by the talented American animator Max Fleischer. The process is a simple one, in which animators draw over footage to provide a realistic sense of motion. If this sounds like a primitive version of mocap, you're right. Rewind to 2013, with Adobe now showing off the rotoscoping capabilities of After Effects, past, present and future. Now all we need is someone who can dance as well as Cab Calloway, as shown in the last two videos, in which he served as a model for these 1930's-era Fleischer cartoons. Frankly, I'm not optimistic. I've included two clips showing the Fleischer rotoscoping of Calloway at work. Sublime.

It was 102 years ago this week that a fire broke out in the cutting room of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York’s Greenwich Village. When the fire department responded to the blaze, which soon spread to the “fireproof” building’s eighth, ninth, and tenth floors, the ladders and hoses didn’t reach past the sixth floor. Some 146 workers perished in less than 20 minutes. The tragedy, which played a pivotal role in the movement to enact worker safety laws, is getting a permanent memorial, but what form should it take? (We’re thinking three sides?) The group spearheading the initiative is now seeking ideas with an international design competition.

“We need something that can’t be ignored,” says Mary Anne A. Trasciatti, executive director of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. “That compels passersby to take notice, stop, and reflect. That will make them work for a better world where something like the Triangle Fire never happens again.” To enter, simply sketch out your idea for the memorial on a 24” x 36” sheet and submit it online (register here by April 5 and upload your entry by April 12). A jury that includes Daniel Libeskind and Deborah Berke will select a shortlist of ten entries to further develop their designs and later reconvene to make a final selection of the top three prizewinners and honorable mentions.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Established in 2003, King is one of the leaders in cross-platform, casual, social games with 150 exclusive titles available in 14 languages and has grown to become the second largest developer — behind powerhouse Zynga — of games on Facebook and a leader in mobile with over 108 million monthly players generating over 12 billion game plays per month. Interestingly, according to their advertising page, 75% of their players are women and 70% have children. King has offices in London, Stockholm, Barcelona, Bucharest, Hamburg, Malta, Malmo and San Francisco. Today, King introduced a new identity designed by London-based venturethree. Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

The addon provides new menu items, icons, buttons, key shortcuts and dialogs, bringing significant Photoshop functionality to Elements....

The bundle of six pro-level image editing plugins works with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and Apple Aperture....

It's not everyday that a brand consultancy publishes a 482-page book, but also not every brand consultancy has been around for 30 years. Happy Accidents, published by Graphis (although not available for purchase at their site or Amazon) chronicles "Three Decades of Design and Discovery" of the Seattle-based firm Hornall Anderson. Although there is emphasis on newer work, the book does include some great 1990s work — some of which was eye-opening for me at the time — including the Jamba Juice identity, Smith packaging (not a single annual then didn't include this one), and the Seattle Supersonics identity. Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

They came on the mediabistroTV series “Elevator Pitch” hoping someone would take a chance on their ideas. In our new show, “Elevator Pitch Fast Forward,” host Alan Meckler checked up on the new business owners to see how they’re doing.

In our first episode, we dropped in on I-Ella CEO and founder, Ella Gorgla to see where the fashion insider’s marketplace is today. Gorgla showed us how giving clients a red carpet experience put new life into her business. She also gave “Elevator Pitch” hopefuls some solid advice to make sure their startups never go out of style.

For more videos, check out mediabistroTV, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This week, Hollywood Life is hiring a photo editor, while Clarkson University needs a designer. Daily Mail Online is seeking a deputy photo editor, and Macmillan is on the hunt for a designer. Get the scoop on these openings and more below, and find additional just-posted gigs on Mediabistro.

Photo Editor Hollywood Life (New York, NY) Designer Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) Deputy Photo Editor Daily Mail Online (New York, NY) Designer Macmillan (New York, NY) Visualization and Infographics Designer Resonate (Reston, VA)

Find more great design jobs on the UnBeige job board. Looking to hire? Tap into our network of talented UnBeige pros and post a risk-free job listing. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The winners of the 2012 Brand New Awards have been posted on the Winners page of the BNAs' site. Judging took place this past Friday, March 22, 2013 here in Austin, TX — pictures of the day can be found in this Flickr set. Read on for additional notes, thoughts, and a peek at the big-ticket winners. Armin http://www.underconsideration.com

The new application simplifies the process of adding light rays, lens flares and tints to photos....

Chalk it up to the privileges and pressures of designing for eternity (“Forever” beats first-class any day) or the security that comes with a future of free Saturdays, but the United States Postal Service is on a roll when it comes to fetching stamps. The agency is following up its Armory Show centennial “Modern Art in America” stamps with a fresh take on flowers, a perpetual crowd-pleaser for philatelists and Johnnies-come-philately alike. Behold “Vintage Seed Packets,” a bouquet of ten self-adhesive blossoms sourced from antique seed packets (pictured at right, printed between 1910 to 1920) and cropped to highlight the detail of flowers from asters to zinnias (each flower is identified in bold capital letters, lest you mistake a calendula for a phlox). USPS art director Antonio Alcalé is to thank for the design of the stamp booklet, which debuts next Friday, April 5.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.