Google Phone Booth

There is a place that sells T Shirts with the logo of companies and places that appear in films and other 20th century fiction.

LastExitToNowhere.com specializes in designs relating to “some of the most memorable places, corporations and companies in 20th-century fiction.”

In his Consumed column, Rob Walker looks at this trend and says false brands tend to be appealing because they are fake and “often encompass a kind of critique of the absurdity of branding itself.”  Which, in one school of thought, then actually makes the false brand a brand itself.  Confused?

(Via a PSFK Consulting report aimed at providing insight into the Future of Retail.)

Key Learnings:

1. Increased access to the mobile web is freeing the retail experience from the confines of the physical and traditional online environment, allowing shopping to take place virtually anywhere.
2. Creating a flexible in-store environment through design, product offerings and promotions, ensures that each visit will feel like a brand new experience.
3. Leveraging collaborations based on aspects such as locale or cultural touchstones, maintains a brand’s relevancy in the eyes of the customer.
4. Whether physically or through connected technologies, shopping is still best experienced socially.
5. In a connected world where access to information is fluid and transparency is the expectation, brands must actively take part in the conversation, otherwise their customers will do so without them.
6. The introduction of connected technologies into retail environments is changing the ways that stores are able to provide customer service.
7. Introducing likeminded products and services into standalone retail environments shows customers that a brand is confident in their core offering and looking to further enhance the in-store experience.
8. Physical stores still provide the best means to communicate with customers and offer a brand experience.
9. In the new customer-centric approach to retail, stores need to continually find ways to lower barriers to purchase and be prepared to make a sale whenever and wherever a customer is ready.
10. Empower customers by providing them with all of the tools needed to make an informed purchase decision.

Bike culture in London is becoming very popular and is set to keep gaining more and more interest as the traffic gets worse.  No surprise then that some of the most popular hangouts right now are bike cafes like Rapha Cycle Club and Lock 7.  The latest is called Look Mum No Hands and is a bar, cafe and bike workshop all rolled into one.

Look Mum No Hands has an interesting decor, with vintage bikes and heirloom tomatoes on display in the windows, and a few desks and benches for furniture. The bar is stocked with microbrews from all over Europe, and hosts weekly route planning sessions and bicycle film nights.  (Via NY Times)

Painted cyclists are pictured on the facade of a building in the center of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The 97th edition of the Tour de France cycling race will start Saturday in Rotterdam, the largest European port.

A laser light display of ghostly human forms by French artist Laurent Francois appears in a fountain on the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul. 

Multi-dimensional design - Marie Chandler, an employee at Madame Tussauds wax museum, poses beside a wax display of The Hulk during the launch of the Marvel Super Heroes 4D exhibit in London.
(Image credits - http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/)

Animated Tweets parade to marching band music

By entering your Twitter username or keyword, this app will return an evergrowing procession of real tweets, portrayed as followers, marching to the beat of your drum.  You can even zoom in and see each persons latest tweet. Thanks isparade.jp 

Diesel brings Facebook to life in its stores with Diesel Cam.  Inspired by the photograph booths found in amusement arcades, spliced with a vending machine, the Diesel Cam doubles up as a mirror and a shopping buddy by allowing wannabe models to share photos of themselves wearing Diesel’s threads on Facebook by logging in via Facebook Connect on the machine’s control panel.  You can crop and cut pictures so only your good side is posted to your friend stream.
Only in Diesel’s stores in Barcelona and Madrid. Hopefully Diesel will figure ‘que pasa’ and it’ll catch on here. Great example of a brand using Facebook Connect to engage customers with their online presence.

There have been a lot of innovative applications for OLEDs lately - Ingo Maurer’s Double C-Future chandelier, Tom Dixon’s OLED flat lamp, and now Jason Bruges’ Mimosa, a dazzling piece of art that uses Philips OLED lumiblades to form flower-like light petals that open and close in response to onlookers. According to Bruges, “The piece was inspired by the Mimosa family of plants, which change kinetically to suit their environmental conditions.” It’s also currently on display at Superstudio Piu in Milan, Italy if you want to check it out first hand.