A nice plughole in a sink (in a museum)

Pic I took in the National Museum in Turlough Park, in the bathroom!
I liked the plughole, if that's the right term. It's just a hole, no plug, which makes sense in a public bathroom and no fiddly second material involved in the making/casting of the unit.

Road Signs

I've been taken with Irish warning road signs for years now. Maybe this is as good a place as any to record my photos.

Here's one of my favourites.
Spotted on the quay in Newport, summer 07.

Peig Sayers projected onto Bus Áras

This is a picture taken on my phone as I walked home past Bus Aras in Dublin a while ago.
It was a Wednesday evening. This image of Peig Sayers (an woman who lived on an island off the south coast and wrote a book about her travails that many students had to read in Irish class in school) was moving on the wall, winking at passers by, haunting the street.

TG4 were broadcasting the first tv show in the Paddywhackery series. Good publicity!I don't imagine Michael Scott foresaw this use of the blank wall!

Dublin Bus

Here's the newly designed bus-stop that Dublin Bus are planning to bring out. I spotted this one on O'Connell Street outside their offices.

I like the clear way the numbers of the buses servicing the stop are displayed (the white bit at the bottom of the top part). A little white square for each bus and as many as is required can be added.

The four-sided info bit got me very exited. There's a little blurb about "new design" of info and stop etc. It could be good. But unfortunately the other sides just have the same ol' stuff about what time the No 46A leaves Dun Laoghaire - no indication about the time it's due at the stop you're waiting for it. Rubbish! I think this is a basic requirement.

If my memory serves me correctly there's some kind of an attempt at a map displayed on the stop.

There was something uniquely Dublin about the old bus stop. A new arrival at the stop would arrive up, spin the info 'cylinder' around as if it was going to tell them something, then they'd join the line, with hope in their hearts that a bus would come soon. Ah Dublin Bus! And this is the week of controversy when the drivers are on strike about new bus routes...

As you can see, I've found the cable ;O)

"intuitive design"

I've a few things I want to write about but the cable for my camera is gone missing so I can't upload photos.

Was at a Crystal Reporting course this week. The course tutor was excellent. Kept using the phrase "remember this cos it's not intuitive". She meant that the command we were looking for wasn't in an obvious place. I thought it was a useful reminder to designers to be obvious and make things "intuitive". I know I aim for that in my own designs ;O)

Tojo beds

Thought these looked interesting.

Have always been curious about the japanese tokonoma and the size of tatami mats dictating size of room etc.

http://www.japangarden.co.uk/

The Hunt Musuem

I was in Limerick for a day or two and had time to see the Hunt Museum. I'd heard about it at lectures on Design History in NCAD.
The objects were varied, interesting, beautiful, educational.
The labels were dated and provided limited information.
I feel it could do with a make-over, a curatorial shuffle. I'm not clear what the layout was - chronological?
It was bizarre that we were told something like "blue stairs up, red stairs down" by the lady at reception when we bought our tickets whereas the circulation around the building was very clear.
There was a silver exhibition downstairs in the basement. It was laid out according to genre eg flatware, trophies, ceremonial, jewellery etc (I can't remember the topics precisely). And each section had laminated information sheets with limited information on each item:

3.5 Ladle, Mr X the Silversmith, 1850s.

Or something similar. I liked the numbering system. It took organisation. I thought it was a pity that the laminated sheets were located under the general info board for each topic. I kept seeing a nice object, grabbing the info sheet, moving on, seeing something else, having to grab the info sheet again. Silly me, I suppose. It might also have been nice to have other info on pieces for which it was available, some little story or something, on an additional laminated piece or... I'm not sure but it had potential.
The shop was incredibly disappointing. African jewellery and cabinets full of silver things, not much of which seemed particularly innovative, original or even Irish-made. There was a limited number of postcards, and they weren't of the best objects.
The restaurant was fab. Gorgeous goats cheese salad and meringue.