Word Puzzle universal wrapping paper was designed by Fabio Milito and Francesca Guidotti. Wrap your gift and then simply locate the holiday you need, circle it, and you’re all set. Made me smile!
(via Design Milk)
Core77 Awards
Core77 just launched their Core77 Design Awards.
They’ve include several long-over-due categories of design effort. In addition to the usual suspects, they’ve added Service Design, Design for Social Impact, Educational Initiatives, DIY (with a reduced price that will leave you enough change left for a pocketful of LEDs), and their favorite, “Never Saw the Light of Day,” honoring projects completed, but killed, in 2010. Core77 has always paid a special attention to students, so they haven’t thrown them all into the same bucket. Rather, each of the 15 categories has its own student section. 15 categories, 30 trophies. All well-earned.
Designers are great at showing and tell, so Core77 wants to provide them the opportunity to share their “real story”…beyond static jpegs and entry form text (they’ve simplified and sharpened that up too). This is your chance to make a personal connection with the jury using a low-tech, honest, look-into-the-webcam piece of documentation.
Letter March
My studiomate Aymie is carving a linocut letter a day for the month of march. Chosen typeface: Champion Gothic by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Lightweight was chosen based on a deep rooted affection with its ampersand. I can’t wait to see the posters she’ll be cooking up with these!
People Finder
Google deploys People Finder to help Japanese quake victims. The tool is an easy registry creator to help victims and loved ones communicate during emergencies.
Personal Note: I was worried about John Boardley of IloveTypography and looked him up. He checked into the site and apparently is unharmed. Whew.
dropmark
Introducing Dropmark from oak on Vimeo.
My studiomate Skylar is the brilliant mind behind dropmark. It let’s you drop files right from your computer, or the web, to create organized collections. Watch the above video and join me in being completely blown away.
Dropmark let’s you invite friends or co-workers to collaborate and edit your Dropmarks in real-time. They are private and secure, unless you choose to share them (each collection has a handy short URL).
Access your Dropmarks via the web and RSS, or get nerdy with their API—it’s your data after all, use it however you want. It’s not about “social media” (they won’t ask you to “follow” anyone), it’s about organizing and sharing your ideas in the easiest way possible.
Major, major hat tip off to Skylar! dropmark is nothing short of revolutionary!
EDC London
EDCLondon is a London based contempary furniture store that I’d love to see in person. Check out these two fantastic items below:
Horizontals Cabinet, by Shigeru Uchiday
Totem Unit by Pastoe
(via norisdesign)
Modular Fish Hotel
Now here’s what I call a modern take on the good old fishbowl: Modular Fish Hotel.
LookTel Money Reader
LookTel Money Reader – amazing optical recognition iPhone app allows the blind to identify and count currency:
(via Nick Bilton / via curiositycounts)
March 2011 CreativeMornings
Here’s an overview of the upcoming March CreativeMornings in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. (Zurich’s next CM is in april! Daniel is speedy!)
N E W Y O R K
Date: March 31st, 2011 <-- THURSDAY Morning!
Speaker: Ji Lee, Creative Director Google Labs
Host: Galapagos Art Space
Sponsors: Mailchimp and Freshbooks
Organizer: swissmiss
More info and rsvp at creativemornings.eventbrite.com
L O S A N G E L E S
Date: March 18, 2011
Speaker: Blik Co-Founder Scott Flora
Host: TBA
Sponsor: TBA
Organizer: Jon Setzen
More info and rsvp at losangelescreativemornings.eventbrite.com
S A N F R A N C I S C O
Date: March 25, 2011
Speaker: Mule Design Founder Mike Monteiro
Host: The glorious Typekit headquarters
Sponsors: Happy Cog and Typekit
Organizer: Greg Storey
More info and rsvp at sfcreativemornings.eventbrite.com
Z U R I C H
Date: April 8, 2011
Speaker: Memonic Co-Founder Dr. Dorian Delz
Host: TBA
Sponsor: rtp Agency
Organizer: Daniel Frei
Check out our site creativemornings.com for more info and for links taped talks.
Giant Ant Hill excavated
Absolutely Stunning. Fantastic find by James. Hat tip!
Tense Table
If I had to be reborn as a table in my next life, I would want to be the one above by by Piergiorgio Cazzanica. (I would kindly put in a request for renaming it though, it’s currently called Tense.)
The OCD Chef
Leave it up to Fred&Friends to come up with new products that put a smile on your face. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw this OCD Chef Cutting Board. And the AppKins. (They don’t seem to be listed in the product pages yet, but are announced on the homepage.) I am so getting the AppKins for our office..
Crossword Puzzle Tote Bag
Another fantastic find by BLTD: The Crossword Puzzle Tote Bag.
Minimal Firewood Holder
It doesn’t get much more minimal than this Firewood Holder. It’s made from one strip of steel and features pine runners along the bottom to protect the floor. Available from Iron Design Company. (It comes with a hefty price tag of $360. Gulp!)
(via bltd)
Camera Pencil Sharpener
What looks like a vintage camera is actually a pencil sharpener. Fun!
Public Speaking
“When I was a child it was called talking back, now it’s called Public Speaking. It’s really all the same!”
Quote from the Public Speaking Trailer, below:
(via KrisLane)
How film titles have evolved
My studiomate Skylar wrote an interesting post about How film titles have evolved.
29 Things that All Young Designers Need to Know
To help you make the shift from design student to design professional easier Doug Bartow, principal of id29, and his colleagues put together this article listing 29 things they think all new designers need to know.
Read the 29 things all designers need to know.
(via idsgn)
What your email domain says about you
Here’s an interesting Hunch article discussing what your email domain says about you. I am totally guilty of stereotyping people by their email addresses: A friend recently recommended an accountant. When I saw his email address, I called up my friend and said: “I don’t want to hurt your feelings but I want you to realize that I will never hire anyone that has an aol email address. This person and I live in different solar systems.”
Here’s the link to the article. Make sure to check out the interactive version of the report.
(via @cshapiro)
Chris Glass and his Barber
This Barber Shop Sign post is a prime example of just how awesome (and talented) my friend Chris Glass is.
Chris needed a haircut and his barber needed a new sign in the window. So, he designed one. Check it out on his site for rollover before/after effect.
Fellow designers, let’s follow Chris’ lead and make the world a more beautiful – typographically speaking – space! What sign are you taking on?
The Wind Knitting Machine
There’s certain inventions that just make you smile and there’s no deeper reason for them to exist. But the fact that it made me smile in the first place, was worth it being created. This Wind Knitting Machine is a perfect example: With the power of the wind, a knitting machine knits from the outside towards the inside of a building. The knitted material is harvested from time to time and rounded-off in individually packaged scarves. Each scarf has its own label which tells you in how much time it has been knitted and on which date.
(via tweeting Justus Bruns)
Today is International Women’s Day
Do you know who Melitta Bentz was? Or Ida Forbes? Or Ruth Wakefield? No? Then watch and learn.
This four and a half minute video is the third in an ongoing series by XPLANE and Kronos. View the first two at the links below and learn more about today’s International Women’s day here.