Blade Runner - Yeah, it's an old movie, but...

As as an aspiring Industrial Designer, one of my many inspirations was the movie "Blade Runner" by Ridley Scott and starring a young Harrison Ford. I moved it up on my queue on Netflix recently because I felt I needed to revisit why it was such a significant movie to designers and futurists alike.
Apart from the social commentary of the early 1980’s predicting our dismal future (pre-destined??) the artwork and design to create the vision of this environment was exceptional. Syd Mead’s illustrations of this world helped this movie become the "quintessential industrial design movie" for many of us. By the way, what the heck happened to Sean Young!?

References:
www.sydmead.com
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Vintage Starbucks

I recently visited Seattle and went to the first Starbucks at Pike’s Market. Being an avid coffee drinker, I had to go to see where the retail phenomenon started. The store was very similar to the mainstream roll out in terms of colors, textures and overall feel. The original Starbucks logo still hangs in triplicate outside the shop and is in my opinion much better than the more common one we all know.





Repetition turned up a lot in my visit early Friday morning to the market (the Starbucks store, a gourmet food shop for example). I arrived there before it was actually open but noticed the cues everywhere as the vendors were setting up. Just a reminder that this simple design element creates visual interest and relevance in large-open areas. Even with coffee beans and salmon – presentation is everything!

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