From oct 2010 my educational posts are published only on Pip

7 okt. 2010

Only for Children's apps for iPad

Playing games with your kids can be really fun, or really stressful and enervating. Much of the pain comes from playing games suited for another age. It's amazing how exact the development of the mental skills are, they differs from month to month. A game that didn't work this summer, can be perfect only a few months later.

Before I've listed some iPad apps that works fantasticly for both 2 year olds and moms. Creative games tend to be fun for any age if you like the theme. The same goes for leasure for fun games that don't require any preknowledge to perform.

These three games below completely stress me out right now as Zack, 2,5 years old, love them, but doesn't fully understand them. He's just tapping the screen making things happen without any strategy or improvement. This kind of games are much more age specific - great and developing for the exact targetgroup but not as fun for others.

Itsy Bitsy Spider 7 kr

An interactive sing-book giving respons when finding the interactive areas. This works almost fine but Zack's tactics are to just tap the screen and see if anything happens, he's not using any kind of higher strategy to complete the story or song. In a month he probably will.



Pocket Frogs Free

This is more of a leisure game and works fine for any ages - or rather anyone older than 3 maybe. Zack adores it but hasn't a clue of that he's supposed to lead the frogs to catch flies and at a certain size they should find another frog to merge with and produce new colorful patterned frogs. I'm getting nervous by him not doing it the right way, while he's happy with it for hours.



Monkey Preschool 7 kr

This is of course a very age specific game and it's not made for children below 3, and yet it's amazing to see how both puzzles, colors and fruits drop into the right gaps - even though it's in english! Not so sure it's good for his staggering swedish: Mamma, jag vill ha en banana!



Peek-a-Boo 15 kr

I almost forgot this lovely app for the absolutely youngest ones. The baby is just going to find the hidden animal in each image and there are three different levels of difficulty. It's short fun though and Zack is drop dead cute when looking through his fingers saying Peek-a-boo in english, but it's only taking a few minutes of his attention.

iPad lekar för 2åringen... och för mamma

Vad är det som är så bra med iPad?

Bästa iPad leken hittills! Let's Create Pottery

4 okt. 2010

The things you put a lot of time on must be important





When I was a teenager I thought it was not aloud to paint and illustrate realistic, to copy a photo or to paint exactly the way it looked. The 70s was much more about abstract and naivistic arts. It wasn't actually until about 10 years ago when I saw Gunnel Wåhlstrand's magic huge canvases that I realized what it was that I wanted with those paintings.



It's the fascination of the history - what was - and of the moment - what once was now. When someone put a lot of time to visualize these moments, they gain importance. There is always something in that photo that has fascinated the painter, and I want to know what it was. When painting myself I kind of look into my own childhood when copying a photo. I see and remember new things when putting lots of time on it.

What to begin with looks as 'only' beauty often includes something more that makes us see it as beautyful - a feeling we share - as in Gregory Thielker's inside cars in the rain paintings. Melissa Cooke has put a lot of time in presenting the choking horror feeling, and the big size and realism makes it awfully obtrusive.

Today this kind of photorealism is well adapted into many different themes. They always work for me.

More fascinating art

28 sep. 2010

Old and new in a wonderful mix





I love when you recognize something from the history, take it to our times and the mix goes all new. You get a sense of both history and of future in the same breath.

The first plastic wrap hairstyle is one of Kate Cusack's wigs - a fantastic mix of the strange 1800 century fashion with powdered pompous curls, and today's plastic orgies - both so unnatural. They remind me of how trends change even though we can't see them while we're in the middle of one. It would be weird wearing both the originals and this wig today.

The second is a promo picture for the CuldeSac Crazy Hair Art Workshop and is a fascinating mix of new techniques and an old fashioned almost etno style. It's one potion of russian, one of medival and a big one of future. I guess maybe Catherine the Great would have been proud to wear this overwhelming powerful hairstyle while we today prefer more sublte signs of wealth and power such as manicured nails. These are the times.

24 sep. 2010

Orange är osvenskt


Det är höst. Allt blir orange. Orange är ett hopplöst ord, går inte att böja. Oranget. Orangea. Fult.

Innan 60talet fanns inte orange i Sverige. Då var det brandgult. Och det är ju brandgul naturen blir just nu. Inte orange. Intensiv men inte saftig.








60talets orange var helt ny. Syntetisk. Gräll. Hållbar och inte urtvättad. Unga tjejer på Stardoll köper helst inte orange kläder eller prylar när de ska göra sig fina. Orange är sällan fint på riktigt. Det är provokativt, skrikigt, signalerande, högljutt, men inte på ett tufft sätt, utan nästan desperat. Den stora massan unga tjejer har inte nått dit i sin identitet ännu. Några har, några vill aldrig i hela sitt liv sticka ut, och andra kommer dit senare i livet.






Man är synlig eller flummig i orange - kreativ. Inte så många vill varken sticka ut för mycket eller verka ofokuserade. Det är mycket osvenskt.

Vi svenskar spanar mot mer naturinspirerad jugend för att känna oss trygga med den gamla hederliga brandgula färgen. Allemansrätt är ett begrepp vi värnar om. Och apelsinerna måste ju fraktas så långt. Vi tänker på miljön och slår ett slag för det brandgula.








Giles fall 2010


Erdem fall 2010


om lila
om rosa
om blått
om grönt och gult

om sverige ur någon annans ögon
om när jag känner mig svensk

22 sep. 2010

Prezi still for early adopters

Now when I've run my presentation at Disruptive Code I can ventilate my thoughts from the hours I've spent with the Prezi tool.

You find and work with this web based tool online on Prezi.com since 1,5 years now. For me who is a really lousy Power Pointer, and who is working on a PC and therefore can't access Keynote, this Prezi tool was a fun option. The presentations look different, more narrative, less bullits, and more fun. Suits me.



You more or less through all the information you've got on one big sheet, more like a mind map, and then place them in the order you want to display them. The effect is as if a camera is screening from one info piece to the next. Makes you kind of sea sick, but is visually different from the power point view which offers an entirely different experience. I'm not completely convinced that it's better, but I had to try it out.

The thing that striked me the most when working with the tool is how poor it is though. There is no functionality, no options. The least you could ask for to not get dizzy yourself is 'align', different fonts or send to the very back/front, or at least 50 templates, or even better - any template shared by any user. It took me a second to learn how to build a presentation, it took me hours to create it.

Then I remembered - I'm still an early adopter, spreading the word, making the hype. The feature is visually fun, it's innovative, surprising, and for free. They can afford to release it with small bugs, and shortages. I can't upload 10 4 kb illustrations without the pres being too big, and yet I will try the tool out for the effect and alternative.

And then they can add and add and add the features that the users ask for, one by one, and live on this for a long time. If they put in all the functionality that Power Point offers, they have a chance to be the best tool for some time... until something new arrives. Then they will have to do some innovations again.

Geoffrey A.Moore 1991 - Crossing the Chasm - from early adopters to slaggers.

In fashion I go for version 1, in tech for version 2

25 aug. 2010

Online is real life

Almost every little meeting, every little chat I run with someone new to me, generate a lot of thinking afterwards. Phrases from the conversation pop up here and there in my mind, probably those words that mean something more, that have something deeper and more interesting to say than what was said in one phrase.

When reading a post in wired this morning on how online friends are almost as valuable as real family, a phrase from such a meeting yesterday pops up. I saw a previous post to this yesterday morning, but didn’t bother to read it. Young people identify with their online community almost as much as their own family is so obvious to me that I don’t need to read a post about it. It’s superfluous information, maybe good to remember sometimes if you will need to convince someone else.

Now the phrase added to my mind yesterday was ‘The online community life is as real as the physical life’.

This statement is so much more interesting. It’s the reason. If you accept this reason it is also evident and self-explaining that people spending much time in a community, feeling support and feedback from others, building up an identity both visual and mental probably feel that this is as big part of their lives.

Also if you know that for example Stardoll was created as a resource or a refuge from the intriguing and tensed school yards and homes that often cause young girls a lot of disruptions and dissatisfactions, then it’s no wonder that they feel more safe and comfortable in their online community life than at the dinner table or in the classroom.

I can't even call online for virtual anymore. Virtual life is as real as... the rest of my life.

Please flip in Alicjaf13’s Album to be amazed by how much time she puts on her online Stardoll friends and identity and there is no doubt anymore. Also remember that the background images don’t exist, she put them together from hundreds of other objects. She has spent weeks on this Album only. More time and for the moment maybe even more love than her own family.

23 aug. 2010

iPadlekar för 2 åringen - och för mamma

Som innehavare av en iPad och tre barn - 2, 6 och 8 år gamla - kan jag bekräfta att iPadden är en underbar leksak för oss alla. Mest spännande är kanske att 2 åringen Zack så lättvindigt spenderar timmar med flera appar. Dessutom försöker han sedan på samma lite världsvana touchscreenmanér få den stationära skärmen hemma att interagera med honom. Och blir lite irriterad när den inte svarar hans söta fingrar. Känns som ett krav för den kommande generationen.

Förutom klassiker som att färglägga, memory och finn fem fel finns en helt annan sorts lekappar som är oslagbara för den minsta, och även tidsfördriv för de äldre.

Veggie Samurai (22 kr)
Dela grönsakerna som någon kastar upp i luften minst ett par gånger och akta dig för giftflaskorna för annars dör du. Hela familjen kan spela länge och väl, men Zack är den enda som vaknar med orden 'Jag vill hacka grönsaker pappa'.


Art of Glow (7 kr)
Lite knepigare att komma igång, men färgeffekterna när man väljer form, tempo för blinkningar och upprepningar av fingerdragen, är iögonfallande. Med tiden vill man försöka forma något realistiskt också, men för Zack räcker det med vackra neonmönster som rör sig över skärmen. Touch - respons räcker långt.


MewMew Tower Toy (22 kr)
Stapla katter på varandra tills stapeln vinglar och katterna hoppar ner. Högst torn vinner. Tjock katt, liten katt, svart katt, och alla jamar lite irriterad när man släpper dem. Evighetslek. Tar aldrig slut. Ren avslappning för hjärnan.


Koi Pond (Gratis)
Var de äldre tjejernas favorit redan på iPhone. Man flyttar runt fiskarna lite i dammen... och det blir fint. Titta mamma. Jag vet aldrig vad det är jag tittar på, ser likadant ut jämt för den som inte har lagt tid på det.


Den här typen av lekar är kanske inte jordens mest utbildande, men roliga, eviga och trevligt långsamma.

Det som saknas mest bland apparna är det som kanske Stardoll borde vara bäst på - dekorera rum, styla, sminka, gör egna mönster och kläddesigns, sätta ihop scrapbooks... mmm scrapbooks i iPad... finns mycket att drömma om för både mig och barnen.

Eva Wieselgren rekommenderar några iPhone appar för barn.

Vad är det som är så bra med iPad?

Girls' Games - baby land game


How happy do you think I get when my 8 years old daughter presents her and her best friend's last personal project -

a baby land game!

When you first enter you get a drill so that you can bore your way through the giant baby bottle.

Next you get a question and if you know the answer you achieve a bottle of green poison. These are the anti-dote to the very deadly mushrooms.

You decend the stairs, collecting the coins on every step, until you reach the floor. Again you get a question to answer, and if you succeed the giant pacifier will offer you a bone to please the dog... you enter the next level.

12 aug. 2010

Att lia är grönt


Grönt, det växer, saftigt liv. Jag har liat en äng idag. Jag står som mitt i ett William Morris mönster och börjar särskilja de olika ängsblomstren utifrån färg och vattenmättnad. Långa gula torkade grässtrån går lätt av, det våta mörkgröna gräset är svårt att skära. Det böjer sig, slinker undan, lever. Vill leva.

Ett vanligt år följer gräsets och bladverkens gröna frodiga harmoni på en kort intensiv månad med det unga, friska, spirande, hoppfulla skimrande ljusgröna lövverk som ser ut som en impressionistisk tavla.

I år är ordningen annan. Det gula, torkade, brända kom före. Det gula blev det vissna förräderiets färg. Gult som annars förgyller augusti med mogen säd, sol och glädje - guld. När gul är klar och ren och beständig är det en lycklig, ettrig och energisk färg, medan den urtvättade, smutsgula tonen känns simpel och gammal.

Gul är min favoritfärg, långt innan dagens liande, och gröna uttryck i alla dess former kan få mig att inte vilja sluta beskåda.

Jugend, 70-tals naturromantiken och dagens ekologiska och naturbevarande rörelser kommer i vågor – efter destruktiva krig, efter upprättande av struktur och ordning, lockas vi tillbaka till det naturalistiska. Vid sekelskiftet var det puritanerna som ville återgå till det naturliga efter nya gifter i både kläder, smink och hårfärger. Industrialismen som sådan fordrade förstås också en motreaktion.

Victor Horta


Antonio Gaudi


Alfons Mucha

Gustav Klimt

Arthur Rackham

På 70-talet var återigen en önskan om att människan skulle frigöras från krig, jobb och förmyndare.

Biba




2008 var den senaste höjdpunkten för naturväsen, älvor och skogsrån att dansa i dimman, och den här gången handlar det om något än mer avgörande för mänskligheten – vår överlevnad.

Erdem hösten 2008


Prada våren 2008


Förra året förändrades estetiken mot en råare avbildning av naturen, för att i år övergå till en mer futuristisk och grundämnesliknande färgskala. Och den är varken grön eller gul, utan vit, beige, brun och grå.

Rodarte hösten 2009


Klä vackra Judith i innovativa sekelskifteskläder på Stardoll.

Läs mer om
Rosa
Lila
Blå

4 aug. 2010

Merge magazines and online shopping


Net-a-porter is taking a huge step towards what all magazines must become - and maybe all fashion online shopping devices as well. This is what you really want a traditional magazine to be, that has not been possible in print, but is online. It's a merge of instant online shopping and a glossy fashion magazine.

All images you see, even the ads, are linked to a shopping layer.

For navigation you both have the glossy cover, an image overview and the number of pages to flip from 1-49. All those versions are needed to find your way back to where you were, to get a grasp how much you have left of the experience and to get the full magazine feeling that you don't want to miss.

There are of course few articles, net-a-porter is an online shopping site, but those added are great presented, they are on fashion and illustrated with lots of images, more than in a traditional magazines as that many images would take too much space in the layouts.

Now I only long for additions of/from users - possibilites to add comments on everything as well as blogs and uploaded personal images according to each garment and article.