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A new exhibit of Robert Bateman's work opening at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection on Saturday is the first major retrospective of the wildlife artist's work in Canada since the early 1990s.

The curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam says an examination of several paintings from the last year of the artist's life has discovered they were done on tea towels.

Peruvian photographer Mario Testino, who took the last official portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales, is set to auction off one of his images for charity.

British artist Damien Hirst's latest headline-grabbing artwork - a platinum skull encrusted with more than 8,000 diamonds - has fetched its more than $100 million asking price.

An artwork that morphs from an image of Jesus to that of Osama bin Laden is causing major upset in Australia.

Today on Quipsologies I saw a video:

and I decided to look up the designer, I found this interesting Profile at Coudal Partners and so began designer profile 1. Geoff is a director at The Directors Bureau. Geoff created the high school notebook typography of the Virgin Suicides and Freaks and Geeks Titles, and lots of other stuff. Ok, thats all for now.

I like this sort of simple stuff that still has a function. Like this Topography Soup Plate by Kouichi Okamoto. Every flat surface you place the plate, it turns it into a landscape sculpture. Add some soup to it and you have a lake in the middle of your dining table.

Manufactured and sold by kyouei design.

[Via mocoloco]

So, I broke down and bought an iPhone 2 weeks ago. Does everyone need one, no - but it is a pretty damn impressive piece of technology. It feels like you have a portable computer in your pocket. All the complaints people have stated are, for the most part, valid... That being said, if you want a taste of what is to come (convergence of mediums onto one device) the iPhone is a great starting point for the average person...

Reading sophisticates bookends

Eureka bookends

Growing together shelf

 

Human magazine rack

Squished animal CD-magazine-books holder

 

Alphabet bookends 

(thanks, Andrey, I love them!)

Today I read an article titled "Primary & Secondary Actions in Web Forms". They tested 6 forms where they changed the location and/or appearance of the primary and secondary action buttons, ie "submit" and "cancel".

It surprised me that the users finished the form quickest when the two buttons had the same appearance. I would have thought that by having the submit button stand out more, it would have been faster because it would pull the user to the correct button. However, when tracking the eye movement, users had more fixations when the buttons had different appearances.

Although it was slightly slower, users said they appreciated the visual effect of having the submit button stand out more than the cancel button. It made them more confident that they were clicking on the right button.

The article also made the point that many forms do not need secondary actions. Don't include them unless they serve a real purpose.

This article is an interesting read, and will be a part of a book by Luke Wroblewski titled "Web Form Design Best Practices". After reading this article, I am looking forward to reading the book once it come out in early 2008.