Mindbending Hotel Interior

The new Boscolo Hotel in Milan features a candyland of chrome and neon. Click the link for a virtual LSD trip.

It's Always Sunny

Brighten your day with this feel good mural series along the El train in Philadelphia. All done by Steven Powers aka ESPO, one of the true innovators in graffiti over the last 20 years.

It is About Time for Another Post...

For some Friday fun, check out Mark Weaver's portfolio. The portfolio has some fun retro-ish images from his "Make Something Cool Every Day" series. Enjoy! And while you visit PPP, make sure you post something.

Polaroid Eye Candy

This is one of those things that make me think "I wish I had thought of this first." Click here to see Grant Hamilton's portfolio of Polaroid photographs. A comment from Grant via Daily Tonic is included below:

“Although I felt like I was onto something, those images seemed sterile and lacked soul. I was introduced to Polaroid images through the internet and thought that the imperfections and characteristic colors perfectly suited the types of subjects I was interested in.[...] Through my photos, I strive to find beauty in the mundane. It is hard to describe to passers-by why, exactly, I am photographing the side of a bus or standing on a ladder on the side of a road, trying to reach a sign. Most of the time, however, people will see the beauty that I am seeing and will smile. Often they will remark that they never noticed that before.”

Summer Breeze

Another cool take on the interactive "video" installation:

Breeze reflection by Djeff @ "Mal au pixel" France from djeff on Vimeo.

(Personal) Identity Guidlines

Christopher Doyle takes branding standards to heart.

Packing meat, not in there please

I've got a little R&R time in New York coming up, so in preparation I was doing some research on the Meat Packing District, where I'll be staying. Found this really cool interactive map of the area, with lots of photos and things to see. (click the title to give it a go)

And, here's another super chic new restaurant in the area: http://www.nychighline.com/flash/highline_land.htm

GOOD Infographics

GOOD Magazine has a Flickr page containing their infographics - which, in my opinion, is the best part of the magazine. Check them all out, here.

Warmer, Fuzzier - The Refreshed Logo

From the NYTimes, an article on some refreshed logos that, according to the article have toned down type, friendly flourishes, and happier colors. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“A logo is to a company what a face is to a person,” said Michel Tuan Pham, a professor of marketing at the Columbia Business School. "It’s hard to memorize facts about a person when you only know their name but you haven’t seen their face.” So logos remind consumers about companies’ traits and pluck at emotions — “the glue that ties all the information about the brand name together," Mr. Pham said. The economy, environment, image repair — new logos may address all of these. They are also meant to stand out in a crowd, but there are striking similarities among recent redesigns.

You can find the full article here.

Architectural Interactive Sculpture Thing-A-Majig

I can't explain it, but it's awfully cool.

Business Development Rations

I wish people would use these at conferences and trade shows, so I could have an alternative to throwing them away. Come to think of it, all communications should be laser etched into beef jerky...

We start with 100% beef jerky, and SEAR your contact information into it with a 150 WATT CO2 LASER.

Screw die-cutting. Forget about foil, popups, or UV spot lamination. THESE business cards have two ingredients: MEAT AND LASERS.

James Jarvis and Nike

Onwards from akqa on Vimeo.

I found this video posted on PSFK. What can I say, other than it is a fun animation for a sunny Friday. Below are comments by James Jarvis regarding the inspiration for the video and how the "collaboration" with Nike worked, are included below:

"I had become interested in the idea of characters that were less referential and more iconic and abstract. I particularly wanted to do something with a potato-headed stick-man that I had been drawing at that time."

"The film was inspired by certain personal experiences in running – a favourite run over Blanchland moor in Northumberland, being attacked by a crow in Singapore – and also by the transcendent, almost psychedelic experience of the simple act of running."

"Rather than a marketing project inititated by Nike, the film was something proposed and produced by myself, and as such I hope represents a much more equal collaboration with a brand."

The coolest simple idea you'll see today (Day-Light Savings Related)

Commence kicking yourself.

How to Make a 7-Inch Single

I thought there might be at least one or two of you interested in this... Courtesy of the BBC.

The Lost Tribes of New York City

The Lost Tribes of New York City from Carolyn London on Vimeo.

Very clever and fun. Below is the description of those responsible.

"The latest short film from London Squared Productions. Urban Anthropologists, Andy and Carolyn London interview some of New York City's more overlooked citizens. "

Found via PSFK.

Skype Brand Book

Skype has made their brand book available for download along with logos and illustrations. It's definitely worth a peek if you have a few moments. You can download the files from here.

Writing On The Wall (NYC Libraries)

Sweet new mural series coordinated by Pentagram. An initiative to inspire young minds, and to revitalize and bring some consistency to NYC public school libraries. Murals were contributed by several well known artists and designers, including Charles Wilkin, a college instructor and mentor of mine. Click the title for the full story. 

Smallification Gone To Far?

Ooooo, a new Apple product, so sleek and small and simple. So sexy. This time a redesign of their micro-mp3 player the ipod Shuffle. Discuss amongst yourselves.

The up-side:

- Well, it's smaller. Yeah, I get it, but isn't there a cut-off where we don't really feel a difference between a product that weighs 1/8 oz. vs one that weighs a 1/16?

-They've incorporated a way to navigate different playlists, Ok, that's nice, in theory.

The down-side:

-All controls are incorporated into the  apple earbuds, which I guess a lot of people like, but I find them to be doodoo garbage.

-And a new voiceover feature seems weird and not really useful.

More on Rebranded Beverages...

Apparently there is a lot of updating going on and not just Pepsi products. Click here to see all of the Pepsi brand updates as well as some recent refreshes by Coke and the Dr. Pepper Snapple group. The article is from psfk.

Tropicana: Back to the Old Look

According to the NYTimes, Tropicana is going back to its previous packaging design. Below is an excerpt from the article, and is an example of rapid consumer feedback influencing not just the product itself but also how it looks:

The about-face comes after consumers complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls and clamored for a return of the original look. Some of those commenting described the new packaging as “ugly” or “stupid,” and resembling “a generic bargain brand” or a “store brand."

"Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?” the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. “Because I do, and the new cartons stink.” Others described the redesign as making it more difficult to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana or differentiate Tropicana from other orange juices. Such attention is becoming increasingly common as interactive technologies enable consumers to rapidly convey opinions to marketers.

And people say designers are the only ones that care about these things...

Even more on the New Pepsi logo

Humorous, albeit far less informational than Rich's post.

More on the New Pepsi Logo

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

More information on the new Pepsi logo has surfaced. It is interesting to see some of the process and development that led to the 3 new versions. Above is a promotional video for the new logo. The design brief can be viewed here. The Fast Company article on the subject can be found here.

Links are courtesy of PSFK.

I like this, 'cause it's weird...

Isn't that reason enough? Besides, it's been like two months since I've posted a music video.


Animal Collective "My Girls" from Chad von Nau on Vimeo.

Shepard Fairey On Art & Beautiful Mistakes

Video provided by PSFK Conference in Los Angeles. You can find the whole blog post with quotes here.

Type, Video, Constitution

Nice combination of the above mentioned elements by Andrew Sloat.


Article 2 (for BHO) from Andrew Sloat on Vimeo.

A Evironmentally Friendly Font?

Believe it or not, SPRANQ has created Ecofont, a typface that reduces ink-usage by 20% due to the addition of small circles. The font is available for free at their website. Green gone overboard? I don't know... What do you think?

The Buchstabenmuseum

Core77 has posted a photo gallery of images taken from The Buchstabenmuseum (aka Berlin Museum of Letters). Below is an introduction provided by Core77:

'Since May 2005, the Buchstabenmuseum organization has been rescuing typographic icons of our time. Today, the Buchstabenmuseum preserves an immense collection of historical letters from all over Berlin and beyond. Enjoy a visit yourself (by appointment only) or enjoy our sneak preview right now."

You can find the photo gallery here.
You can find the museum's website here.