Customer Reviews

IDEO Eyes Open: New York

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not just an unusually thoughtful collection of places you'll want to eat, shop, and play. IDEO's keen observations and photos spark curiosity about how our improvisations and adaptations shape public space. A hip crash course in the cultural anthropology of modern NY.

I'm posting similar reviews for this pair of Ideo Eyes Open guides, one for Ideo Eyes Open: New York and one for Ideo Eyes Open: London, because they were released at the same time and share a common approach, with some promise of more guides to follow in the series.

Ideo is a design and image consulting firm that has created this series incorporating some of its more general design approaches and hoping the reader will slow down and look at usual things in an unusual way: "It's really just a matter of getting out there and opening yourself up to it all." Both books are beautifully designed, handy in the back pack or purse, with some clever "for your comments" stickers to highlight your own favorites.

The firm made its name in designing products, including the Palm V, but more recently has focused on environment design. Fred Dust is team leader of Smart Space, the company's real estate division and the editor of this series. One of Dust's first projects was Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle designed in consultation with Scott Adams. It featured a boss monitor, an electronic window, a fold down Murphy chair, an Aquarium module and a roll up hammock.

In their projects, the team the starts with a "deep dive," during which "Smart Space designers, anthropologists and researchers spend days -- sometimes weeks -- shadowing people to observe how they live: when and where they eat, what time they go to bed, what their hobbies are, how they spend their money." The Eyes Open website and guide books follow the same approach: they publish unique experiences shared by IDEO staff and friends, and offering site visitors the opportunity to submit their own unique experiences in text and imagery.

Here are a couple of examples from the London guide of suggestions:

"Instead of taking high tea at a hotel lounge, go to Coffee@157. The light fixtures in this coffeehouse, as you can see, are made of to-go cups. Outside, a yellow vending machine dispenses artworks for less than 5 pounds each."

"Crumbs and Doilies is a boutique cupcake shop in the Sunday UpMarket, which is a spontaneous gathering of people selling arts and crafts and playing carom."

I'm not entirely sure who these guides will appeal to; there is precious little of the traditional guidebook information about prices, opening hours, travel directions, etc. But the goal is certainly worthy: opening yourself to your surroundings while traveling can be a wonderful experience. I remember once sitting in a shady cave high above a canyon in Utah one hot summer day enjoying the scenery. Suddenly, I realized my body fit the hollow perfectly, and saw to my surprise that the rock had been hollowed out to make a comfortable seat. All at once I was engulfed in a culture several hundred years old, re-living the life of sentries watching for approaching enemies.

These guidebooks promise the same flashes of discovery, and so far they have delivered on a couple of occasions in New York City. I can hardly wait to try out this edition in London later this year.

Robert C. Ross 2008

I picked this up because it was IDEO, but was disappointed. It's very slight on info about America's greatest city. I was hoping for one better that Richard Saul Wurman's ACCESS guides -- still the best design-savvy city guides for the design savvy.

This book is a fun way to see NYC in a different way. Many special places you'll never find in a standard tour book. The prose is engaging, the photos awesome. However, I cannot tell you how long it took me to scrape off that @#&@&* price sticker on the back. Yah, sure so just leave it on, right? Well, the cover is sorta your map to these places; ergo, the sticker must go. Oy vey, what a mess, thus 4 stars versus 3 as I am still scraping away the goo.

This book from Ideo authors shows a creative approach to exploring New York City. Some of the recommended visits are unusual and out-of-the-ordinary, but are ways of seeing the unusual. I look forward to similar reviews of other U.S. cities.