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Talking Head Designs Bike Rack

Posted by: Tim Halbur

13 August 2008 - 10:00am

David Byrne, an avid cyclist in Manhattan, was asked to judge a bike rack design contest. Instead, he made his own designs, which have quickly gone up around the city.

"They were simple shapes to define different neighborhoods around the city: a dollar sign for Wall Street; an electric guitar for Williamsburg, Brooklyn; a car — “The Jersey” — for the area near the Lincoln Tunnel. “I said, ‘Well, this disqualifies me as a judge,’ ” he recalled, “but I just doodled them out and sent them in.” He figured maybe they’d be used to decorate the contest Web site, nycityracks.wordpress.com.

Instead, much as when George W. Bush asked Dick Cheney to find him a vice president, Mr. Byrne ended up landing the job for which he was leading the search team. Well, almost: the competition for new standard racks is still on, but on Friday nine racks made from his own whimsical designs were installed around the city. 'They immediately responded, saying, 'If you can get these made, we’ll put them through,'' he recalled. 'I was kind of shocked.'"

Full Story: David Byrne, Cultural Omnivore, Raises Cycling Rack to an Art Form
Source: The New York Times, August 12, 2008
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So, what can planners do to make best use of the ACS without succumbing to its pitfalls? We need to become more sophisticated communicators of the quality of the data we present, not just its apparent meaning.
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