The emotion laboratory

«…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel». This sentence of Maya Angelou is the motto of the creative industrial design studio «The Emotion Lab». Its creators are fully confident that emotive experiences is vital for the success of a companies' products and services. They say that «for products which only satisfy usable, intuitive and functional considerations are no longer sufficient», therefore they offer a simple, honest and functional approach to design, centred on the generation of rich, lasting emotions.
The objective of «The Emotion Lab» is to make responsible proposals for the society, without losing the emotive aspect. Creators are searching for hope and solutions which point towards a better future. They study intangible links and continue investigating until they find tangible solutions which improve the interaction and discourse between objects, brands and people.

The charismatic representatives of Spain studio «The Emotion Lab» – designers Tom, Christian and Yago – with great pleasure answer today our questions about their product Moonwatch.
«At The Emotion Lab we design more than objects; we generate and provoke emotions and product experiences which you will never forget. We provide an innovative future design vision which enhances and builds brands».

Moonwatch is the device showing to the owner with the time a current phase of the moon! It has two display modes: the traditional clock dial has hour and a minute hand, an interchange of day and night is shown by colour change of a dial from white to black; a lunar dial also is black-and-white: the black part just shows the moon phase. Moonwatch partially works from solar batteries.


Julia: Hello guys! We have some questions about the Moonwatch.
The Emotion Lab: Firstly, thanks for the interest and hello to our friends!
Julia: Please tell us 7 words about your command.
The Emotion Lab: Simple, honest, functional design which provokes emotions.
Julia: What are your associations with the full moon?
The Emotion Lab: We could say that for us it represents the start of a new cycle. For Tom, the full moon offers light to do some full moon surfing (but that's of course when he's in Australia!). Christian associates it with the most primitive and visceral side of our society and our desire to be free and Yago has less associations, but just admires the pure beauty as it rises in the sky.
Julia: How was the idea about the Moonwatch born?
The Emotion Lab: The idea was born quite a long time ago during a brainstorming session. We all thought there was a lot of potential in the moon cycles and history had shown that the human race was fascinated by this. The idea evolved... it went from being various objects until we kept molding and shaping it, refining the idea and came up with what the Moonwatch is today. The moment arrived when we were all happy with the result and believed that the end user experience would really have an impact.

Julia: For what purpose did you create the Moonwatch?
The Emotion Lab: The moon has been a guide and object of admiration and mysticism during thousands of years. Agriculture, fertility, tidal patterns, human behaviour and many other activities have been linked to the different moon phases. Moonwatch has been designed to establish a relationship between the moon cycle and a person’s emotional states.
Julia: Do you believe that the Moon has its influence on the person awareness or psyche?
The Emotion Lab: We designed Moonwatch as a new concept of time based on nature which invites people to reflect upon and gain a closer understanding of their mood and daily life on earth. We believe that over time, the user may be able to link the various phases of the moon to their particular feelings, cycles or experiences.
Julia: Do you know about all the options of your device application? For example, Russian women advise to use it to know the right time for a haircut or losing weight, or our agronomists say that they can watch the time for their job...
The Emotion Lab: During the research phase of the project we became aware of the many links that people make with the moon. They tend to vary depending on where you are in the world and your cultural background! The most common ones are probably associated with planting and reaping, religion, tidal patterns, fishing... but there really are endless applications! We love receiving mail from around the world explaining peoples personal applications...

Ibraheem Youssef. Welcome to obsession

Minimalistic graphics of movie posters from Toronto based designer Ibraheem Youssef is the best way to convey impressions of cult movies – Pulp fiction, Kill Bill, Death Proof, The Big Lebowski, Scarface, Inception and others. 

Ibraheem reflects on his experience, and also what is missing at the movies illustrations, what will happen at the future by the answers on our questions.

Ibraheem's projects you can see on his website. 

Please tell about yourself in 7 words)

One thing to another, curiosity to obsession.

Please tell about your first art work - it may not be deal with cinema posters.

Well, the first piece I remember doing in my life, isn't really a piece. The earliest memory is related to when I started drawing my own comic books at a really young age. Eventually that evolved into a family based comic book business, I'd draw my own comic books and sell them to my family members. I remember doing them from age 4 – 18 and now (thanks to mom) I have most of those issues that I made!

As for the first ever professional commission I ever did, was drawing a poster for a kart racing facility in Sharm el Sheikh, it was more of a graphical Design project, but to me everything is treated as a piece of art, obsession finds it's way into everything.

What stories did you tell at your comic books?

I had a series of different comic books, some were action based with characters like "Groste" the james bond of space "Colusus" the metal super hero, others were an action comedy hybrid like "Super Doo" the funny super hero with glasses. There was also some suspense based comic books "Detective Sam".

What film was the first illustrated by you and why? Did this film was the first point of your desire to illustrate it, or, other way, you wanted to illustrate the film and then select it?

The first was Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. I'm a big fan of Tarantino, but the fact that I selected his debut film to illustrate wasn't just out of admiration only. I chose his film specifically because I wanted a way to get my artwork out to the world in an easy and fast way. I made the conscious desicion to choose a film that I liked, but that also had a huge stake in pop culture.

What inspired me to think that way, was a couple years ago, a british artist named "Mr Bingo" http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/ illustrated this piece on Star wars, using only the different hair styles of each of the hero's. His work was picked up by the Guardian and really went viral. I read an interview with him later on that he was glad he chose to do something with a heavy pop culture reference.

How are you choosing the film for illustration now?

Thankfully I've gained a lot of recognition, even though I still choose films that I like but also based on there pop culture status, I now think I have the luxury of doing even a bit more obscure ones, I'm working on a couple independent Canadian film posters now.

How can you describe your style? Who/what did influence to its development?

My style is aimed towards those who enjoy thinking. We are so privileged to have such great abilities to think and decipher messages and symbols as human beings, yet I find most communication in this day and age is dumbed down to become very literal and require zero thinking. I like to think of my work as the anti-dote to dumb messages in society. The more the levels of thinking and deciphering the better, but more levels doesn't mean more complex messages, simplicity is essential. There is a huge difference between simple messages and literal ones.

As far as influences, I'd have to say that Olly Moss & Matt Needle with their simple yet thought provoking unique styles. As well as Mahmoud Hamdy, Ahmed Hafez Youness with there subtle and witty egyptian pop culture references.

For what purpose do you do the film posters?

Both as a form of enjoyment and a form of income.

What do you think about cinema today? What is the future of the cinema in your opinion?

Nowadays the film industry for the most part is still really exciting to me, I'm a really positive and optimistic guy, as long as there is one out of 10 movies that is good and thought provoking every year that makes me happy. The cup is always half full to me. As far as the future of cinema, I think it will become heavily interactive, involving the user participation. I don't know how quite yet, but I'm excited for the future and those who will live in it!

What is missing out by designers of cinema posters today, in your opinion?

Lack of originality. It's so common to see the same cinema poster with the two faces of the main actors side by side, how depressing.

How do you see the film poster of the future?

Interactive will start to dominate our physical landscape. As that happens, everything displayed on them will become more interactive. The design of the film poster will not end at the designer. The designer will keep in mind that other people will be able to interact with his/her design, a very exciting prospect.

Lets tell about your creative process. Can you describe it with regard to Inception, for example?

The interesting thing about the creative process with that film, is during the first time watching it while in the theatre, I got the idea half way through the movie. It was amazing, I was so excited to go home and start executing it. That is an exception though. Normally my process involves watching the movie in a very unique manner of play.pause.rewind.play.etc. In some instances I can spend weeks thinking of the film poster concept before even working on the computer. Idea is above everything.

I also deal with taking symbols and cues from films and I repeatedly sketch them over and over again until I can form something thought provoking and insightful.

Please tell about your best works - its ideas, style - all you can say about.

My 2 favorite pieces are consperience, a concert poster I did for a progressive acid jazz fusion band based out of Cairo. It really shows the feeling and warmth of being on the banks of the Nile (where the concert was held). I played around with textures and warm, cold colours to give that feeling of the perfect moment.

The second, is the poster Death Proof, for Quentin Tarantino. I really spent a lot of time on this poster, the final result is the yin yang shape of two cars chasing each other, which also happens to be in the shape of a steering wheel. I think this is my best form of film illustration yet.

What are your plans for the future?

Film posters aside, I'm obsessed with colour. I believe it is the future of communication, day after day, I try to find out more about it in terms of how it can be relevant to improving communication between human beings from different races and creeds.

Только я могу пойти в ночной клуб, а по дороге уложить спать одного ребенка и спасти другого #julia_only

Итак, читайте очередную историю из области фантастики и моей жизни одновременно.
Собрала я значит подруг в клуб, достала им бесплатные билеты (ну, чтоб все пошли и не было отговорок типа «денег нет»). Вот только пока они собирались, мылись, красились, завивались, я успела найти себе приключение :) надо было сказать, что бесплатный вход только до 12, чтобы шустрее собирались)
Машка попросила уложить ее сына спать.. только сначала его нужно было отвести домой к ее подруге, что я и сделала в начале первого ночи (благо, живут недалеко от друга). Я детей очень люблю, поэтому никогда не отказываюсь помочь) благополучно справившись с задачей, я было направилась в клуб.. но возле соседнего с подругой подъезда стоял очаровательный мальчик.. лет пяти.. на роликах! Привлек ли он мое внимание в час ночи, спросите вы? Однозначно привлек. Еще и тем, что душераздирающе ревел. Я, конечно, не могла пройти мимо и спросила, что случилось. Он сквозь слезы ответил, что не может попасть домой, потому что дверь закрыта.. фамилию он свою не знает, зовут Вова, маму зовут Алена, и он точно живет в этом подъезде, но не знает, на каком этаже. Меня аж заколотило. Я лихорадочно стала звонить в домофон, перебирая один за другим номера квартир. Никто не открывал. Он ревел и ревел, я просила его успокоиться, и вот наконец дверь нам открыли.. не помню, кто, знаю только, что кто-то с первого этажа (видимо, слышали, как ревел Вова). Мы зашли в подъезд.. на первом этаже свою дверь он не узнал, поднимаемся на второй, тот же результат, и уже на подходе к третьему выбежала из двери худенькая отбеленная девушка и начала причитать: «Вовааа, как ты успел выйти, Вовааа, где ты был??». Было бы у меня побольше времени, я бы как минимум выспросила мамашу, как ребенок в час ночи на роликовых коньках оказался на улице, как максимум — вызвала б полицию, обратилась в инспекцию по делам несовершеннолетних, и стукнула чем-нибудь тяжелым горе-родительницу. Но тут у ребенка от перенесенного шока началась рвота.. Я просто ушла. Не могу смотреть, как страдают дети от халатности родителей. И вид-то был у них приличный, но как такое могло случиться? Ну и хотя бы «спасибо» почему мне нельзя было сказать?
Ребенка жалко. Вот я сейчас уснуть не могу, мне все его плач слышится. Берегите детей, это самое дорогое, что у нас есть! А не можете беречь, не рожайте, умоляю(

Мой прадед был гладильщиком белья и шпионил в пользу японской разведки

Все началось с того, что я откопала старенькую видеокамеру, выигранную 10 лет назад в каком-то проекте ТРК «Братск». Жаль, на сегодняшнем сайте ТРК нет архива новостей 2001 года, но я обязательно найду ту видеокассету с выпуском «Факта» и оцифрую для истории. Рассказав тогда о вкладе своего деда в строительство Братска, я умудрилась выиграть это чудо техники в лототроне (ну, иногда мне очень везет).

Фото: мой дед, позже расскажу о нем поподробнее.

О своем отце мой дед знал мало: он китаец и был репрессирован Сталиным в 1938 году. В 2003 году мы ввели фамилию деда — Пын-бин-юн — в поисковик и нашли вот это:
ПЫН-Бин-Юн, 1889, м.р.: Китай, пров.Шаньдун. Расстр. 10.09.38.

Сегодня я хотела отыскать ту новость на сайте ТРК «Братск», но нашла кое-что поинтереснее:

Оказывается, о моем прадеде уже столько всего известно! Он был реабилитирован спустя какую-то сотню лет :(
Более того, по сегодняшнему рассказу бабушки, сестра матери моего деда тоже была замужем за китайцем. По всей видимости, Пын Цзын-Тян — это он и есть!

Мой прадед был шпионом :) это невероятно! Вот как бы и когда бы я об этом узнала? К глубочайшему сожалению, деда не стало 3 года назад, и он об этом так и не узнал..

#julia_books

Я сейчас параллельно читаю 4 книжки :) чтобы не забыть важное и не запутаться, записываю в twitter по хэштегу #julia_books основные и интересные моменты. В начале твита всегда идет условное обозначение книги:
1. Элина Слободянюк. Настольная книга копирайтера, назовем ее Hand copywriter book.
2. Марк Гоулстон. Я слышу вас насквозь. Эффективная техника переговоров, в оригинале — Just listen.
3. Джордж Оруэлл. 1984. Скотный двор, называем просто: 1984.
4. Алан Купер. Психбольница в руках пациентов, сокращаем название до Inmates&Asylum.
Когда прочитаю, соединю все твиты — получится краткий конспект по каждой книге :)