January 2009

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

Q How do I go about installing a new toilet?

Anyone whose pet has gone missing knows the stress - and the
heartache - of trying to find it again. Dorene Olson, 43, of West
County remembers that feeling well.

Set aside time to sharpen pruning tools to prepare for the busy
weeks to come.

Czech-born architect Jan Kaplicky, who passed away this week

January 16, 2009. Articles and blog posts that have been circulating around I.D.'s office for the past week:

Visionary architect Jan Kaplicky is dead at age 71 [The Guardian]
...recession special:
T's Pilar Viladas responds to the Cannell vs. Moss debate [The Moment]
Seven questions architects need to ask themselves now [Design Intelligence]
Starck, Allsopp, and Conran: Don't pay retail, invest in wine [The Guardian]

Hungarian pottery, part of an exhibition on view now at New York's Forbes Galleries

January 28, 2009. The country that gave us the ballpoint pen and the Rubik's Cube is looking for a little cultural recognition in the U.S. this year. Already underway, the Extremely Hungary yearlong festival will showcase contemporary Hungarian artists in both New York City and Washington, D.C., complete with cooking classes at the French Culinary Institute (goulash anyone?) and a mustache contest held in hipster enclave Williamsburg, Brooklyn ...

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

...In this short video tutorial, learn how to use the Guides and Overlay panels in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom™ 2.0. Chris Orwig shows you how to turn guides on and off in the Guides panel. You'll also learn about the different features in the Overlay panel. See how to add and maniuplate...

...In this short video tutorial, Chris Orwig outlines the Print Job panel in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom™ 2.0. Learn how you can use the Print Job panel to print your images to either a printer or to a JPEG file. Discover the various settings available for each type of print job. Duration:...

...In this video tutorial, Julieanne Kost takes you on a tour of the updated Develop module in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom™ 2.0. Learn how to make nondestructive localized corrections using the new Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter tools. Duration: 22 minutes 28 seconds...

...Photoshop® Lightroom™ 2.0. Learn about integration with Photoshop, as well as updates to the Print, Slideshow, and Web modules. Duration: 22 minutes 07 seconds Requirements To complete the tasks demonstrated in this tutorial, you need the following software: Adobe Photoshop...

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

SOA continues to evolve through economic downturns and bends in the road. SOA has evolved into a set of underlying principles, concepts, technologies, paradigm and patterns of designing and building software; all predicated on a set of loosely coupled services that collectively support an organization's business processes and goals.
These services provides the enterprise with an adaptive or agile capability to morph and transform itself in the face of environmental change.

As we look at the SOA Maturity Model we have called SIMM (Service Integration Maturity Model), we see a clear evolution path:

1. Simple Services (level 4.0 to 4.9) from 2005 -2007
2. Composite Services (level 5.0 to 5.9) from 2007 – 2009

now we see a lot of interest in paradigms and technologies that are BASED on Service principles, namely

3. SIMM level 6, Virtualized Services, in the form of Software-as-a-service (Saas) and Cloud Computing.

Services have become Pervasive, they can be found in many of the recent initiatives including Mashups, BPM, Infrastructure, Enterprise Architecture, Governance, etc.

The notion of an SOA is finding new applications in new areas and continues to morph and integrate into new things, ingesting new use-...

My interview just came out in Designer in the Spotlight weekly feature of Jacob Cass’ JustCreativeDesign.com
It’s rather long, but for those of you who are ardent fans of my persona, or want to find out the dark secrets of my existence – here’s the link to the interview: Designer in the spotlight – Lady Omega

Have that brand new video done, and now you want to show it off? Need to put it in many formats, keep it small and, have it still look great? Get those questions answered when we talk about rendering & compression in this weeks CMD TV quick tip.

Last night we released a very significant project that will impact everyone who uses Fellowship One; a total replacement for the Household/Individual detail pages. Accounting for over 35% of our web traffic, nearly 100% of our users access these pages in the course of a normal day. While the exposure of this project makes it significant, the underlying architecture is equally as important and is the aspect of product development that can be, but shouldn't be, overlooked.
 
It is always obvious when screen design changes, what is not so obvious are the scaffolding and foundation changes that must be considered. This is an area that is easily ignored when software development is rushed, on a tight budget, or farmed out since the end user doesn't see or typically understand what this is; in the end this will determine how easy it is to make improvements, support, and extend the functionality. We did not short cut this step! A significant effort was put into a solid foundation that will help us continue to build upon, reduce errors and support what you see. Database calls and render times were tested and re-tested to work toward an optimum performance; this was very important since we are displaying so muc...

Jefferson Hack, left, as shot by The Sartorialist

The Sartorialist, as shot by Jefferson Hack

I'm working with Karl Lagerfeld this season. Karl approached me a few months ago to discuss the possibility of designing shoes for his autumn/winter 2009-10 show in Paris and I knew straight away it would be a good collaboration. Karl's love of structure and clean lines match my ideas on good design to a T.
It's refreshing to conspire with the big beasts of the fashion industry, if only because they are so damn decisive! No wonder he can do so many jobs at once: everything is a split second decision. More time for fan wafting and teddy bear cuddling.
It's been a great project for Liam Fahy, our Fashion Fringe Shoes winner, to get his teeth stuck into as well, and gives him an insight into how the real big fashion machines work.
I don't want to give too much away on what the final designs are going to be, but keep watching this space because it's going to be big...!

Today in America, Marvel has launched a special edition Spider-Man comic featuring Barack Obama - to celebrate the fact that he's being inaugurated on January 20. It's really exciting - in fact I just left a message for Dylan Jones to make sure he knew about the comic.
I'm busy this week guest editing an eight-page edition of the French newspaper Liberation and I've filled it with a selection of various different things from me. Part of it will be a diary too - going from this Saturday to the Saturday it launches, the 24th. I might do a picture diary inspired by something I see in the papers on the first Saturday and then theme it according to that - it's a work in progress and I haven't completely decided yet.

We had a wonderful Christmas and record takings on the first day of our sale on Monday. We didn't even start the sale before Christmas and we still managed to equal last year's takings. I wish all the newspaper and television journalists pumping out all the stories of financial doom and gloom could be dragged away from their computer screens to go and see that there are actually still people out there, still shopping and still enjoying themselves and life is going on.
We were in various restaurants over the Christmas break and they were lovely and full, and we took the family to Claridges on New Year's Eve and it was packed. We first went five years ago and there was just Pauline and myself and Noel Gallagher and his wife, but this time it was much more fun. And I was in Peter Jones this morning and it took us about 20 minutes to get to the end of the queue.
Of course there are sad and stupid things happening in the world but we need a balance between all this dour reporting and the optimism that is out there too.
So, that's sorted that out.

It may have been a market place, but Galliano and his team transformed the location for his menswear show and as far as the eye could see the tarmac was covered with hundreds of flickering tea lights and crystals, the catwalk marked out with rose glitter.
We sat outside in the cold night air on benches, sipping piping hot chocolate laced with Grand Marnier and, as is usual with a John Galliano show, everyone in party mode. The inspiration for the music - Slumdog Millionaire - blasted out of speakers and the minute the show started, we warmed up.
As dark and sensual as a Rembrandt painting, the collection was romantic and decadent, with references to the past - coats with gold thread embroidery and black jet, lean tailoring, floppy shirts, layers of black tulle and naughty boys in suspenders.
We loved it. Dinner at a packed L'Avenue was noisy and bustling with fashion people table hopping. Credit crunch or not, life goes on in the fashion world and there is a light at the end of the tunnel (sponsored by

Jefferson Hack, left, as shot by The Sartorialist

The Sartorialist, as shot by Jefferson Hack

Back from the honeymoon we have another quick tips that helps you see your Photoshop Brushes faster and you don't even need to have Photoshop open.

Last summer I met the Schwartz family at my nephew's T-ball
game. At the time, it was dad Chris and his two sons, Jason and
Kyle, who, at 2 and 4, were about six months older than my two
boys. When I

Having young kids is never dull, but the routine of day-to-day
schedules - and my kids are kept on very strict schedules - can get
a little boring at times.

Carol and Bob Eader have two daughters who are so close in age,
they look like they could be twins. Just over a year apart, Ali and
Hailey have similar tastes and styles - and you can bet that if one

Things we love

Super Bowl parties are one of the most casual and simple parties
you'll plan. Even nonsports fans like this party, if only for the
guacamole and commercials.

Jennifer Drennan had her eye on the old, red brick home for
years. "I always walked past it and admired it," she said. When she
learned it was for sale in 2004, she snapped it up thinking, "It's
a lot

Now that the emotional impact of President Barack Obama's
historic inauguration has worn off, it's time to seriously consider
his collective call to action. Can my kindergartner help change the
world?

POLL RESULTS

John and Mary Matyiko know all about old houses. In addition to
just completing a large-scale renovation of their third house in
University City, moving old houses is the family business - that is
mov

Q. The 4-inch vent opening in our basement wall is covered by
only five vinyl louvers. This allows cold air to enter the venting
and the dryer, and, of course, the basement. Is there any way to
decrea

Mornings are an unrehearsed symphony of clanking dishes, crying
babies and calls for Mom - all set to the background din of The
Wiggles on TV.

When 24-year-old St. Louis fashion designer Miriam Coffey
clinched our first-ever Bridesmaid Revisited design challenge last
year by transforming a dowdy electric pink frock into a rocking
party dress