It is an undeniable fact – highlighted in 2004 ‘Content' by Rem Koolhaas too – that ‘shape is easy'. It is recognisable; works with our subconscious; and in the case of Platonic solids like cubes shape is also a philosophical notion with numerous connotations – starting from symmetry and regularity; stretching as far as our reflections take us. Cubes in particular are also ‘easy' to build but we believe their importance in architects' minds stays on the abstract plane. There seems to be a certain inherent relationship between cubes' geometry and the notions of perfection and clarity of structure. Thus, it is close to the highest honour among buildings to be cube-shaped, conspicuously derivative of cubes, or at least bear a cube name.
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The Rise and Fall of Flash Sales
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This past week, Fab.com made news once again after its co-founder Bradford Shellhammer stepped down. The departure is a bookend to the ecommerce store’s pivot away from flash sales and into the territory of standard online retail, a la Amazon. In its flash sale heyday, the company raised over $150 million in funding and was valued at around $1 billion dollars. Since the beginning of the year, Fab.com has been going through some rapid downscaling in an effort to be profitable.
Flash sales used to be the next big thing in ecommerce, but somewhere along the line, the business model’s wheels started to fall off. Surprisingly enough, Zulily, an ecommerce flash sale store for apparel designed for kids and mothers, is trying to launch an IPO north of $200 million total value. This seems to be an outlier though, as there’s a lesson to be learned from the Groupons, Fab.coms, Totsys, and the others out there. How did the flash sale business model fall apart?
50 Inspirational Photography Logos
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If you're a freelance photographer, or are involved in a photo festivals or studio, there's no shortage of photography logos to inspire you. Though photographers aren't logo designers, they are creatives with their own style which tends to be reflected in their logo. Common motifs of photography logos include cameras, lenses, film, viewfinders, frames and tripods. Check out this collection of 50 inspiring photography logos before you set out to create one yourself!
+50 Ways of Visualizing BP’s Dark Mess
ArticlesIt' been almost three months since the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred, in the Mexican Gulf. Arguably, the most horrifying man-made environmental catastrophe of all times, it has been illustrated all over the world in magazines, newspapers and websites.
HOW TO: Set Up a Q&A Website in Minutes – the Best Options Reviewed & Compared
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A recent trend in blogging that's going to be mainstream very soon is to have your very own Q&A website related to the same topic your blog is about. This comes very handy for webmaster because of recently launched solutions and very convenient for readers because they can ask and answer stuff in a well-known environment, among a community they like. Before reading the reviews of the solutions we found so far.
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10 Sources of Inspiration for Designers & Film Makers
ArticlesCreativity is an enigmatic aspect of human experience; it is often difficult to identify what it is that drives this impulse and the elements that inspire an artist’s work. Written from the perspective of a practicing painter and writer, this post brings together ten areas that are sources for artistic inspiration. When an individual chooses a career path of freelance art or design, a career that depends on a constant supply of creativity, it is important to recognize what inspires the work, and how to stimulate one’s imagination.
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What Everybody Ought to Know About Digital Photo Retouching
ArticlesToday we take a look deeper into the hidden art of digital retouching where skies can always be blue and imperfections simply disappear. Whether you like it or hate it, think it’s necessary or not, retouching is here to stay.
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20 fantastic ways to find new music that you like (no Last.fm & Pandora inside)
ArticlesOK, everybody knows that Last.fm & Pandora are great services, but there are a lot of other tools that can help us to find new cool music. Some of them just expose daily musical goodies, others make recommendations based on your very own preferences, and others take the web interactivity ever further. Explore the best 20 ways to discover new music in a web 2.0 world.
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