Please tell me that these traffic sheep made you smile! Right? Designed by Christoph Machet.
The Animal Print Shop
I just had another peek at Sharon Montrose’s Animal Print Shop. It never fails to make me smile. My favorites are the Baby Procupine, the Bunny and the white goose.
I noticed that Sharon currently has a sale going on which ends Friday. If you’re in the market for an animal print, this is the time!
(On a personal note: I had the pleasure to meet Sharon two months ago when I kicked off the Los Angeles chapter for CreativeMornings. Sharon is just what I expected: Warm, bubbly and delightful.)
Luma
I had the pleasure to welcome Dan Rubin and Naomi Atkinson at the studio yesterday. As Dan walked in I noticed the supercool loop that was connected to his SLR camera. It’s called Luma Loop and unfortunately they are out of stock. Booo hoo!
Alphabet Tape
House Industrie’s Alphabet tape gets my thumbs up. Take an ordinary object, put type on it and magically a smile appears on my face.
Ugly Sweater T-Shirts
Last week I got a surprise visit at the studio by a young gentleman (insert name here) that dropped off some pretty cool Ugly Sweater T-Shirts. Perfect timing as we had an ugly sweater studiomates beerfriday planned.
What do you think of our studiomates models sporting them? From left to right: Jason, Rob, Chris and Jeremiah.
The picture was taken by wonderful Erin Sparlin. You can see all of the Ugly Sweater Portraits here.
And make sure to read Jessi’s fantastic recap of the night.
Oh, and the The Ugly Sweater T-Shirts can be bought over at Vardagen.
Designing Media
In a recent post Khoi points us to a new book called Designing Media by Bill Moggridge.
Moggridge is a renowned interaction designer and the director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. The book features interviews with thirty-seven people who have made significant creative contributions to the design and development of media, ranging from the publisher of the New York Times to the founder of Twitter. Read more about the book here.
You can watch videos of interviews here. And download 6 chapters as a PDF here.
Watch the interview with Ira Glass below. Ira explains how he has perfected the art of narrative, hooking the listeners with an idea and keeping them engaged by the flow of events.
(I finally know what Ira Glass looks like! Yay!)
And below is an interview with Chris Anderson in which he expresses his confidence that the magazine format is here to stay, as long as it makes the most of the unique attributes of magazine design, energetically pursuing luscious images, diagrams, and illustrations, with dramatic layout and rich production values.
Through a Hole
This clever music video for Atlanta based band, Vortex Park made me smile. Created by Alex Wolf. (Too bad for the ending though. They should have kept it in the browser window.)
(Thank you Matthew)
Fast Motion in Slow Motion
Graeme Taylor captures the world using a high-speed video camera on a fast-moving train. I agree with Capn Design, the results are really striking.
Cumulus Christmas Ball
Frequent readers of my blog know about my cloud obsession. So, this Cumulus Christmas Ball is of course making my heart jump. It’s mouth blown glass and oh-so-pretty!
(thank you Tina!)
Slow Down App
The free Slow Down App by Lucky Frame let’s you listen to your favourite music while driving but will alert you if you drive too fast or too slow. The magic happens with GPS. The app uses GPS to work out your driving speed. (Apparently continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.) Watch the video below:
The Slow Down App from OVK on Vimeo.
Keyboard Music
While I am not crazy about the design of this Keyboard Experiment, I must say, it’s fairly therapeutic. And yes, my kids will love this.
(thank you Jennifer)
Aristotle on Excellence
“We are repeatedly what we do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
— Aristotle
(via The Happiness Project)
20×200: Dice
Love this Dice print by (Lisa Congdon over at 20×200. On January 1, 2010, Lisa began a project that would span exactly one year, until December 31, 2010. For every day, she photographed or drew (and occasionally painted) one collection.)
Magic Holiday Elves
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked into the studio this morning. Some magic holiday elves came and decorated the studio! I was welcomed by a white christmas tree with red and white decorations. (White crosses on red background everywhere! Wheeee!) I also discovered garlands and custom made stockings (!) for every studiomate.
It didn’t take long to find out who was behind this lovely surprise. The elves are called Skylar, Josh and Aymie, our fellow studiomates. They sent me the photos of the making of and photos of all the individual stockings. I guess it’s pretty easy to guess which one is mine.
(One of our studiomates doesn’t really embrace this whole holiday extravaganza, so the elves hung this christmas ornament over his computer. Made me laugh.)
Skylar, Aymie, Josh, you are amazing. Consider this a big giant thank you hug. You all deserve a medal for your efforts. You have made my holiday season a really good one.
And yes, this has been the BEST monday morning surprise ever!
Matthew The Horse
There’s something wonderfully abstract and intruiging about this T-Shirt by Matthew The Horse.
LEGO Storage Box
Hands-down the coolest toy storage box I have seen so far: The Ogle Toy Box in the shape of a LEGO.
Pick And Mix String Lights
These String Lights had me look. Choose the colors you’d like from the palatte of 35 shown on the ‘color grid’ and make your own design. These look great around mirrors, on tables, in vases, redundant fireplaces or in a child’s bedroom as a gentle nightlight and they look as good lit as they do unlit.
Also check cableandcotton.uk
Boot Topper Kit
Here’s to all of you knitting fairies out there: A Boot Topper Kit. What a cool gift for a crafty-rainboot-loving-person.
(Wish I could make myself one in bright red, but I left my knitting knowledge in Switzerland, it seems.)
Olimpia Zagnoli | Small Talk
On November 10th, 2010, Olimpia Zagnoli was invited to give a lecture at AIGA/NY about her work and the sources of her inspiration. The below video is short version of what she talked about, for people who couldn’t make it to the NYC event.
This is fantastic, Olimpia! Thank you so much! I missed your talk that night!
PS: I am kinda bummed that I wasn’t born with a bump on my head!
swissmiss on The Happiness Project
I had the pleasure to meet lovely Gretchen Rubin a few weeks ago. She is the force behind the powerful Happiness Project.
She currently features a short “Happiness Interview” with me on her site.
Make sure to check out her Book and the Happiness Project Toolbox.
