This is a completely genius promotional video for the coming relaunch of NPR.org featuring the voice — and face! — of their marquee broadcaster Scott Simon experiencing the redesigned site for the first time. There’s nothing revolutionary in these three minutes and six seconds, but the simple, elegant use of their core storytelling strengths combined with the demonstrative power of the screencast format is just really, really smart. It’s a rare example of an ‘old media brand’ doing something genuinely surprising in a new medium.

A review of Yahoo’s new home page design, currently available as an opt-in beta. “After spending some time trolling around the new Yahoo.com, I think there’s a strong possibility that the redesigned home page will fall short of its lofty goal of being the ‘center of people’s online lives.’”

At least I think that’s what this is. It’s posted on a site, This Recording, that has no shortage of interesting content covering the pop cultural landscape, but is sorely lacking for just a little bit of explanation about what it is they’re trying to do with it — and they could use a little bit of design help making each bit of content more readable, too. I had a good time clicking through the site, but I have no idea what it is.

I just got around to watching this tongue-in-cheek, movie trailer-style promotional for a forthcoming new release of the behemoth productivity suite. Its surprisingly high production values and not so surprisingly embarrassing action movie conceits belie the core truth about anything Microsoft does: they have more money than they have sense. Or rather, they have more money than they have taste.

Two decades of changes to the corner made famous by the cover of The Beastie Boys’ much-heralded second album, as seen through photographs submitted by fans. Now nearly unrecognizable, maybe the most interesting thing to note is how unremarkable the change has been — the original ’Paul’s Boutique’ was a completely unassuming sporting goods store, and today it’s a completely unassuming shawarma and falafel joint named Three Monkeys.

“Current technology can break Web type free from the Georgia/Verdana prison, but getting all the stakeholders — Web designers, type designers, font vendors, and browser vendors — to agree on a standard may be a bigger challenge than the technology.” Good overview of where things stand today.

The Times architecture critic makes an impassioned case for preserving this exemplar of the postwar Metabolism school of Japanese architecture. Nakagin Tower is fascinating at least as one of the most fully-realized expressions of modern design’s love affair with modularity: “Each of the concrete capsules was assembled in a factory, including details like carpeting and bathroom fixtures. They were then shipped to the site and bolted, one by one, onto the concrete and steel cores that housed the building’s elevators, stairs and mechanical systems.” However, over the years, it has decayed from disuse and impracticality, which leaves me conflicted on whether even architectural failures deserve preservation. On the other hand, in photographs at least, Nagakin Tower has an unearthly, almost perverse beauty like few others buildings, and what a shame it would be to lose that forever.

“After beating the drum for giveaways throughout most of his book, Mr. Anderson eventually acknowledges that his idea is in fact not viable. Such are the perils of his sloppily constructed sweeping argument.”

A brief appraisal of the design environment at the Bronx Bombers’ newly minted home. “The new Yankee stadium… like most retro stadiums, bears the burden of being faux, a recreation, like a Disney version of reality. It works and it doesn’t.”

Gold mine of a discussion between two giants, from 1986.