Friday, September 03, 2010

Just a few reasons why I love the Design Museum

The Idea of a Tree,
Designed by mischer'traxler

Extrusions, designed by Thomas Heatherwick Studio

Soma, by Ayama Serfati


I went around the Design Museum on Wednesday,  my first visit in quite a few months, and, as always, i was left awed and inspired by the exhibits.
I went because I realised that it was the last week for the Urban Africa exhibition by David Adjaye

It consists of a series of photographs plus graphical information about african countries and was thought provoking.

But as always, it was the pieces on show in the annual Brit Insurance Designs of the Year that had me wowed.
From the amazing folding plug and sugru moulding putty to the astounding BMW concept car.
Go and see this while its there.
You wont be disappointed.

Monday, August 30, 2010

British Music Experience

In the Great British Tradition of ' its a bank holiday, what shall we do? ' my family and I [ well most of us - my eldest daughter declined the dubious delights of a family outing in favour of ..... well I'm not exactly sure what, but in her mind something with way more appeal ] went to the Great British Music Experience at the O2 bubble.

Actually, for once, this was a pre planned outing rather than a total spur of the moment one.
My youngest daughter had been mosying around the internet and had come across the face the music game  and being a bit of a music nut [ not surprising given the pretty encyclopaedic knowledge of her dad and my own eclectic tastes in music ] had easily walked away with a free ticket as her prize.
Cue lots of prompting from her for said parents to get their finger out and win more tickety goodies so that we could go and see what was going on.

We were pleasantly surprised overall.
Although our initial experience was that this was a really small exhibition [ its set out around a central hub with rooms leading off representing the various decades, plus other interactive displays in that central area, so you can see most of everything as you walk in ] we were there for 3 hours just listening to and playing with the exhibits.
Some of the pieces I saved on my smart ticket to look at when i got home - a blinding idea BTW - and some I listened to all the way through.
It wasn't incredibly busy, so we didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes for any one display item to come vacant, and most could be shared by up to 4 people.

The 2 most hands on areas did have queues.
One was a video dance booth, with a short lesson section then a video of you doing the dance that you got to keep via your smart ticket.
My family went for the ' I'll hold your bag while you make a fool of yourself '
and the ' I'm not with you ...walk off rapidly as far away as possible ' approaches, leaving me to try it out solo.

Lets just say it was not a success.
:D

The other was the Gibson Interactive Studio 
Although we got there just half an hour after the experience opened this area was already full.
I'd wondered why the family in front of us were rushing through.
As we walked in to find them already seated at guitar, bass , keyboard and drums it all became clear.
Since it was bass that my daughter wanted to try, and since they were both in use, we wandered off to look at the other exhibits, erroneously thinking they wouldn't take long.
By the time we had looked round, i had given up any hopes of being the next discovery in the dance world, and we had wandered back, it was even more full than before, so, weighing up growl belly against gibson bass, said daughter opted for food over guitar lesson and we strolled through the gift shop,  picking up the 2nd part of our prizes on the way -  BME white canvas messenger style goodie bags with hat, pen and travel card holder.

Blinding value for a few minutes time having fun doing a music quiz on the internet!

The growly tummy syndrome was cured by a visit to the S&M cafe [ thats Sausage and Mash ] also at the O2.
Lashings of gravy drenched sausage and mash for me, Oodles of all day breakfast for him and Yummy baked potato for her followed by gloriously gloopy puds for afters.
Yum!

Altogether a great day out was had by all.

FYI
I decided to drive to the O2 rather than go by train since it would have meant going in to london then out again, and so had to use the O2 car park.
Parking cost £7 for the 4 hours approx that we were there, but it was easy to get to, clearly marked on the A2 and only a few minutes walk from the car park its self [ we were in car park No2 ]
The only downside was the getting out of the car park.
The angle that you have to approach the exit meant that my arms werent long enough to insert my ticket into the slot.
I had to reverse and straighten 3times before I could reach it!!!!!!!!!
Now I may only be 5'2"and have arms in proportion , but I am NOT a rubbish driver.
My car has a good steering circle, it doesnt have a long bonnet or anything else to make it hard to get it into a small gap, and I have had tons of practice at taking the right line to get me clear of a ticket machine while still ending up close enough to insert said ticket.
So having to reverse 3 times is an unheard of occurrence.
 Whats going on O2?
I am just totally grateful that I didnt have anyone behind me while I was shimmying into position.

Oh, and while I'm having a moan.....
GET SOME BIGGER CLEARER DIRECTION SIGNS PLEASE.
The only indication of where to go at the entrance of the O2 are some album sized markers on the floor, which peter out at one point, and a couple of large general banners above your head.
For people with normal vision its not too bad - though we did come to a confused halt on the way in when the floor markers stopped - but it would be impossible for anyone with reduced vision.
Guys .... when you design these things, forget that you know where you're going and pretend that everyone's partially sighted and confused and IMPROVE YOR SIGNAGE.
Thank you.