Rebinder

Each year, over 500 metric tons of toxic PVC ends up in landfills as the result of vinyl binders that people use. That’s where Rebinder comes in. They believe that products should be made in our country, with our workers, out of responsible materials with the intention that no landfill be required. ReBinder meets that demand.

According to their site, ReBinder is the only true zero waste office supply manufacturer and the brand of choice for customers looking for sustainable, quality office supplies. Assembled by a local, AbilityOne certified disabled workforce, all ReBinder product materials are sourced from responsibly managed forests and verified FSC and SFI certified sources.

I am using some of their products and can honestly give them a two-swissmiss-thumbs-up! Hat tip to creators behind Rebinder.

Alarm Dock

Jonas Damon’s Alarm Dock turns your iPhone into an old-school looking alarm clock. All you need is a flip clock app and you’re set. Made me smile.

(via BBlinks)

Hugo the Wild Boar

Hugo the Wild Boar won my heart.

Jigsaw

Jigsaw is a modular coffee table designed by Belgian designer Linde Hermans for Mooz. Four independent angular pieces that can be arranged into different configurations or placed separately around your home. Fun!

(via shoeboxdwelling)

Planking

UPDATE: Some of my readers pointed me to a very unfortunate planking accident involving a young Australian man. It was in no way my intention to upset anyone with this post. I simply thought it was humorous in its absurd nature. Of course, I would never endorse any dangerous ‘planking’. My heart goes out to the Australian family that lost their son.

(via devour)

Felt Mouse

I am super excited aboutJoey Roth visiting Studiomates today. I remember two years ago when Joey first mentioned his idea of a felt computer mouse. And today he brought in his first prototype. It adds such a wonderfully surprising tactile feel to the world of computers. Joey’s plan is that it will be wireless and that you’ll be able to put the entire mouse in the washing machine, if a cleaning becomes necessary. Talk about rethinking an existing product.

It’s people like Joey that I admire! A young entrepreneur with a vision and drive. You’ve seen his ceramic speakers and his teapot, right?

A logo for Human Rights

Did you know there is no globally recognized logo for human rights? That’s what humanrightslogo.net is trying to change. The Human Rights Logo Challenge is a global competition to solve the greatest imaginable creative task: find a universally recognized logo for human rights.

The winning logo will be made available in the public domain, free to be used by anyone, anywhere.

How can you take part? Upload your logo on to humanrightslogo.net. Discuss and assess the logo competition entries with people from all over the world, supported by a team of experts. The jury, of which I am a member of, will make a pre-selection from all the entries. In a global public online ballot, the winner will be chosen from among the top 10.

Submit your designs, you have until July 31st, 2011.

99% Conference 2011: Key Insights on Idea Execution

Image: Julian Mackler / MACKME.COM

Last week’s 99% Conference was fantastic. Inspiring and insightful, as always. The folks over at Behance know what they’re doing. And now they just uploaded a massive (!) recap of the conference.

Here are some of my favorite quotes of the day:

“What gets projects done for me is not inspiration. It’s curiosity and rigor.”
– Andrew Zuckerman

“The ‘Ok Plateau’ is the point when we turn on autopilot and stop getting better at a certain thing.”
– Joshua Foer

“Geeking out is extraordinarily useful.”
– Joshua Foer

“If you find something that you feel you belong to, become a groupie and a fan, and then a critic.”
– Starlee Kine

Read the full conference recap here.

Reliquarium Art

taxidermy pigeon with party hat constructed of paper, yarn, and acrylic paint

found bottle on wooden stand containing instructions on how to build a ship in a bottle

Cheetoe resembling a mountain climber at the summit of a mountain enclosed in a custom frame constucted of wood, gold leaf, and glass with a metal plate bearing the title

Pigeon Footprint Found in Snow, 2008

My lovely friend BB was visiting over the weekend and stumbled upon this humorous art gem over at the Brooklyn Flea: Reliquarium Art. The Pigeon Foot Print Found in Snow made me laugh out loud. Hat tip to Jackie Mock!

Place for Trace

Merchant no. 4 sells this beauty of a product called Place for Trace. It celebrates the good old roll of trace that has long adorned architect’s desks. Often they wind up in a drawer, only to succumb to marks and tearing. O’Brian Muehleisen Architecture Studio have designed this simple yet ingenious wood trace holder to solve the problem. Able to hold a standard roll of trace, with room for up to 15 pens and pencils, Place for Trace is beautifully executed in Walnut, Beech or White Oak. What to do if you love Place for Trace but aren’t an architect? Use it as a handy ‘Catch All’ tool for your desk. It works great holding keys, spare change and pens.

The Lost Type Co-Op

The Lost Type Co-Op is a Pay-What-You-Want Type foundry, founded by Riley Cran and Tyler Galpin.

What originally was meant to be a 24-hour adventure to distribute a single typeface, has blossomed into a full-fledged foundry, distributing fonts from designers all over the world. Users have the opportunity to pay whatever they like for a font, you can even type in ‘$0’ for a free download.

The Burning House

Foster Huntington reached out to friends and acquaintances asking them each to submit a photo and list of items they would take if they’re house was burning. He’s showcasing the responses on a site called The Burning House. Hmm… What would I take?

(via ignant)

Startup Quote

People will pay for something they like because they want to ensure its future.

– Marco Arment

(via Amrit / startupquote)

♥ / SemiBig

A big thank you to SemiBig for sponsoring another week of our RSS Feed.

SemiBig Creative Industries, the designers behind PopSlice, are a semi-disciplined design studio in the San Francisco Bay Area that specializes in branding and UI design for websites and web applications. SemiBig enjoys collaborating with fellow start-ups, and have also worked in the past with ginormous companies like Cisco and Intuit. Wes and John also had coffee with me here at the studio, and they appear to have really nice manners… at least when it comes to drinking my homemade brew.

(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)

Famous Creators on the Fear of Failure

Check out this fantastic Brain Pickings post on The Fear of Failure. I especially enjoyed Milton Glaser’s and Stefan Sagmeister’s thoughts on the topic:

Milton Glaser – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

Stefan Sagmeister – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

Check Maria’s Full Post. By the way, did you notice her lovely redesign?

90 Days of Art

“90 Days of Art” is an online Art Journal and Gallery for charity. John Beck McConnico will produce an average of one sketch, doodle, or art nugget every day, for a 90-day period. Each item will be available for sale as a greeting card, limited-edition print, or framed piece of art.

90daysofart.com

Cloud Day

How adorable is this Cloud Day Desktop Wallpaper?

You can download it over on Simple Desktops, a collection of desktop wallpapers curated by Tom Watson.

(Thank you Chris)

World of Alice AC Apapter

This AC Adapter designed by Imamura Ken Nozomi Miyatake made me smile. Available on iiDA (Japanese only)

(via blstrawberry)

SLR Camera Simulator!

Want to play around with SLR Camera settings and see how it affects your photo, but without actually using an SLR? Well, you can do just that with the Online SLR Camera Simulator. This simple application allows you to choose the lighting, ISO, shutter speed and aperture. A great tool to teach someone the basics of photography.

(Thank you Jamie)

Letterpress

Letterpress from Naomie Ross on Vimeo.

(Thank you Chesley, who found it over at designworklife )

White Collection

The WHITE Light Collection by Ville Kokkonen designed for Artek is making me swoon. WHITE is an outcome of Artek Studio’s in-depth research on the use of light fittings in domestic, office and public spaces.

The collection consists of a, light-therapy certified bright light table lamp, a standing and wall light, a suspended light and a table light.

(via Minimalissimo)

The Designer’s Train Table

I gasped at the sight of this train table. I want one for my kids and then also a conference room sized one for my studio. Oh, the fun that could be had! Designed by Tomm Velthius.

(via Jennifer)

Sparked

Sparked.com is an interesting microvolunteering network. It connectes volunteers with over 2,000 nonprofits that need design, branding, and copy writing help. These nonprofits actually use the work — which ends up in newspapers, websites, etc. If I was a student, I’d most definitely appreciate such exposure. Students can develop their portfolio, and yes, of course, it’s not the same as paid work, but it’s for worthy causes.

Sparked.com, is designed specifically to do good and serve the community. They’re funded by the United Nations WYSA and the Knight Foundation. Interesting!

(Thank you Jacob)

Apple Cores

These Apple Core Cable Tamers are brilliant! I will have to order a few. Thank you for the tip, Gabrielle!