Roman Mars
TED Talks
Hayward, CA, United States
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Past articles by Roman:
Roman Mars: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed
Roman Mars is obsessed with flags -- and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology -- the study of flags -- Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about… → Read More
7 fantastic flags that break every design rule
These flags violate the five basic principles for designing a great flag. The results are epic. → Read More
Roman Mars: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed
Roman Mars is obsessed with flags -- and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology -- the study of flags -- Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about… → Read More
In 1851, A Man Picked Two Unpickable Locks and Changed Security Forever
The pursuit of lock picking is as old as the lock, which is itself as old as civilization. But in the entire history of the world, there was only one brief moment, lasting about 70 years, where you could put something under lock and key—a chest, a safe, your home—and have complete, unwavering certainty that no intruder could get to it. → Read More
How the Quest for a Perfectly Rational Calendar Created a 13th Month
A month is hardly a unit of measurement. It can start on any day of the week and last anywhere from 28 to 31 days. Sometimes a month is four weeks long, sometimes five, sometimes six. You have to buy a new calendar with new dates every single year. It’s a strange design. → Read More
Barbed Wire's Dark, Deadly History
In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in the 1850s, he remarked that the plains looked like a sea of grasses that moved "in swells after a great storm." Massive herds of buffalo wandered the plains. Cowboys shepherded cattle across long stretches of no man's land. It was truly the wild and unmanaged… → Read More
Roman Mars: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed
Roman Mars is obsessed with flags -- and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology -- the study of flags -- Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about… → Read More
The Creepy, Surreal Apocalypse of The Sims Online
A few months before the end of the world, everyone was saying their goodbyes. → Read More
How One Fed-Up Dude Fixed an Awful Highway Sign Himself
At some point in your life you've probably encountered a problem in the built world where the fix was obvious to you. Maybe a door that opened the wrong way, or poorly painted marker on the road. Mostly, when we see these things, we grumble on the inside, and then do nothing. → Read More
Why Penn Station Sucks
New Yorkers are known to disagree about a lot of things. Who's got the best pizza? What's the fastest subway route? Yankees or Mets? But all 8.5 million New Yorkers are likely to agree on one thing: Penn Station sucks. → Read More
Before the Hashtag, There Was the Octothorpe
If you want to follow conversation threads relating to this show on social mediaâwhether Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, Tumblrâyou know to look for the hashtag: #99pi. In our current digital age, the hashtag identifies movements, events, happenings, brandsâtopics of all kinds. The "#" didn't always have this meaning, though. → Read More
The Factories That Churn Out America's Most Iconic Trophies
There's a little trophy shop called Aardvark Laser Engraving down the street from our office in Oakland. It's small but bustling, and its windows are stuffed to the brim with awards made of all kinds of materials and in any shape you can imagine: chalices, orbs, golfers, gavels, apples, and plaques. Plenty of plaques. They are engraved to award the Club DJ of the Year, the newest member of a… → Read More
The Problem With the Chair
"A Chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier." â Mies van der Rohe. → Read More
Why We Still Havenât Killed Off the High Heel
As a fashion object and symbol, the high heel shoe is weighted with meaning. It's also weighted with the wearer's entire body weight. The stiletto might be one of the only designs that is physically painful but has somehow has persisted for centuries. → Read More
Why the City of Oakland Finally Legalized Pinball Machines
Everyone has tried it at some point. The authorities started turning a blind eye years ago, but it wasn't officially legalized until the summer of 2014. Finally, after more than 80 years of illegitimacy, the City of Oakland has legalizedâ¦pinball machines. → Read More
This Mysterious NYC Castle Was Actually America's First Cancer Hospital
On the southwest corner of Central Park West and 106th Street in New York City, there's an enormous castle. It takes up the whole east end of the block, with its red brick cylindrical turrets topped with gleaming silver cones. The stained glass windows and intricate stonework make the building look like something out of a fairytale. → Read More
The Stubborn "Nail Houses" That Refuse to Get Demolished
In 1914, the government of New York City took ownership of a Manhattan apartment building belonging to one David Hess. The city used a legal power called eminent domain, allowing governments to seize private property for public useâin this case they wanted to expand the subway system. Hess fought them and lost, and when all was said and done, his building was torn down, and he was left with a triangle… → Read More
The City Pipes and Stairways That Get Left Behind and Lead to Nowhere
Cities, like living things, evolve slowly over time. Buildings and structures get added and renovated and removed, and in this process, bits and pieces that get left behind. Vestiges. Just as humans have tailbones and whales have pelvic bones, cities have doors that open into a limb-breaking drop, segments of fences that anyone can walk around, and pipes that carry nothing at all. → Read More
The Secret Ways Airports Tell Us Where to Go
As humans have developed cities and built environments, we have also needed to develop ways to find our way through them. Signage goes back at least as far as the Roman Empire where they constructed "milestones" along their roadways. → Read More
The Weird, Eerie World of China's Knockoff Cities
The best knock-offs in the world are in China. There are plenty of fake designer handbags and Rolexes but China's knock-offs go way beyond fashion. → Read More