What Are the Smarter Planet Graphics All About?

Ever wondered where the inspiration for IBM’s Smarter Planet graphic design came from?

“In a bid to ‘show the world that the thinking and technology that’s needed to solve the world’s biggest problems exists today,’ creative studio Office were asked by Ogilvy & Mather New York to work on IBM’s Smarter Planet campaign.

Inspired by the creative vision of designer Paul Rand’s work for IBM in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, Office chose clear and bold designs that aimed to create an emotional connection with people.”

Paul Rand is famed for creating the IBM thirteen-stripe and eight-bar logos, the Eye-Bee-M logo, the OS/2 logo, IBM’s 1964 World’s Fair Brochure, the THINK letterhead, 15 annual report covers and designs for all kinds of packaging and adverts.

More pictures of the Smarter Planet marketing at PSFK.  But much more interesting is a collection of Paul Rand’s work for IBM at Paul-Rand.com.

The Future of Mobile Working?

Image via Wikipedia

What: ”Workspace-finding applications, such as Desktime, LiquidSpace, Loosecubes, and OpenDesks, are cropping up to help people in situations like these find good places to get things done. Some apps also help office owners fill extra space with people who have established a reputation for reliability.”

How: ”Typically, a service can be accessed via either a website or a mobile reservation and payment app. These contain a catalog of temporary office spaces—some in dedicated shared work buildings, work-friendly coffee shops, and business centers, and others within the offices of startups or corporations that have unneeded space. Loosecubes, for example, offers about 1,800 spaces in 52 countries.”

Why: ”The apps aim to take advantage of the trend toward increasingly mobile workers. These days it’s not just freelancers, consultants, and the self-employed who go hunting for wireless signals with a laptop bag slung over one shoulder. Forty percent of IBM’s workforce works outside IBM real estate. The U.S. General Services Administration announced at the end of July that it will renovate its Washington, D.C., office building to accommodate about three times as many employees, mostly by eliminating private spaces and instituting a system whereby employees schedule desk space when they plan to come in to the office.”

Full article on technology review.