Deviations from the Daily Drive

Let's face it: sometimes we get bored. It's not anyone's fault, it's just a function of being human. We could be doing the one thing we have always wanted to do, but some day, we'll wake up and say to ourselves, "Hmm, I really should have been a spelunking guide in central Asia" or some similar, wonderfully obtuse and impractical wish.

Fortunately, for those of us that work as professional creatives, there are many companies that recognize the need to variety and encourage their creative staff to do something outside the company's core competency. A car company putting its design staff to the challenge of redesigning a piano, for example.

Yes, a piano!

In a sense, a piano is a bit like a car: it has a body and a frame that must undergo immense stresses (more than 20 tons of force is exerted upon a piano frame). It must perform with delicate maneuverability for Chopin and raw power for Mussorgsky. It is a monstrous object that must be beautiful not only in sound but in appearance. Personally, when I think of these characteristics, I think not of BMW (reminds me of a cello) nor of Mercedes (reminds me of a tuba) but of Audi.

Fitting, then, that Audi tasked its designers to redesign the grand piano (with the assistance of Bosendorfer). Here is the fruit of the designers' labor (care of AutoBlog and Core77):



Personally, I feel that the designers did well in thinking about the essence of what a piano is and used those metaphors to create the foundations of the design. The "piano" gets its name from pianoforte, literally meaning "softly loud", as its invention was a revolution in keyed percussion instruments, allowing the player to use dynamics in their performances. I interpret the exposure of the metal in the "legs" to be the piano's core of strength, while the almost liquid curves of the cover remind me of soft, gentle passages.

Thus, the philosophy of the work seems strong. However, I have a lot of discomfort with the 1980's synthesizer finishing and the car-trunk cover. I suppose the cover was an homage to their roots as automotive designers but it feels rather tacky. The design clearly draws from the Bauhaus school and in my opinion, "modernizing" Bauhaus is always risky business. The same curve is used to connect every line, which is sort of whimsical but also somewhat dull. The philosophical underpinnings reappear when the piano is in its playing position; it converts from its placid closed form to a form that suggests power and is visually engaging.

Overall, I would have to say that the core ideas are strong, the synthesis of car design and piano design is interesting, but it's not something I would want in my house (and certainly not for €100,000). Just as important, however, is the fact that Audi would embrace such a challenge. As long as they are stretching their creative selves, though they may not have a future in piano design, they will always be on the leading edge of automotive design. It's important to realize that, as creatives, if you do exactly the same thing every day, your design will fall into habit, just as any other activity. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

Black and White Style

I have to admit it, I love black and white, particularly when it's stark and severe. It's a trend that seems to come and go, but always has an undercurrent of popularity. There's something both classic and modern about black and white juxtaposition.

Maybe it's a certain fascination with the written word and typography too; black ink bound by white negative space. There's a pressure and an energy that surrounds such extreme contrast. I think you can find this feeling in many media, and lately I've been listening to Ladytron's latest album, Velocifero. The whole album, both in sound and imagery, has this interplay between the heavy weight of sound and the absence of it. Even the band itself, if you're not familiar with them, is a gigantic fusion of culture (Bulgarian, Polish, and British core members). Just check out the photography for one of the singles off the album, Runaway:


Of course, the strong interplay of black lines and white space doesn't have to mean ultra-modern style or electroclash music. Some of our wedding invitations have the same graphic sensibility, that meld transglobal culture and simplicity. Even better, you can get this unique sense of style and save a ton of money on eInvite with a wedding invitation like our Black Decorative Edge...



It's said that your invitations should be between 3-5% of the total cost of your wedding. Imagine having a wedding with a strong style identity like this that only cost thousands instead of tens of thousands. You could spend those savings on the perfect dress, like a Marchesa 2009 wedding dress that has the same design sensibility as many of our low-cost eInvite wedding invitations. Marchesa uses an incredibly bold border to the train and drape of the dress, just as our custom-designed borders frame our more modern invitations.



Such bold statements aren't for everyone, but it doesn't matter if you're lavish or minimalist, you can always be stylish.