daily design discoveries

vintage ads for Herman Miller (above Timeline advertisement, c....

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:18:00 -0400

(above Timeline advertisement, c. 1960)

street art made of frosting and sugar Artist Shelley Miller...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:47:00 -0400

street art made of frosting and sugar

Artist Shelley Miller created an impressive azulejos-inspired sugar mural in Victoria, British Columbia. The Stained mural was installed on an a public exterior wall and left up until the rain takes its toll.

“Miller’s use of sugar goes beyond just the novelty of a using a confection in an outdoor art installation. The artist also uses sugar to draw parallels between the history of the sugar industry and its remnants. For an ongoing project in Brazil, the artist decorated several dilapidated buildings with faux-Portuguese tiles. Brazil, once a booming industry leader in the sugar industry, is now faced with extreme poverty in many areas and echoes of the slave labor that fueled the industry. Ironically, sugar is now considered a luxury in many of these areas, so local children have been known to break off samples of Miller’s art installations to nibble on them.” —Inhabitat

While Mortals Sleep by Kurt Vonnegut, book cover design by Lynn...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:39:00 -0400

While Mortals Sleep by Kurt Vonnegut, book cover design by Lynn Buckley

After Carin Goldberg’s strong, iconic branding system for Vonnegut classics in the late 1980s, it was likely an exciting challenge for a cover designer to repackage the backlist again. Lynn Buckley established a new paperback series design for the books in 2009, which extends to previously unpublished works.

IKEA’s Cardboard Digital Camera “The camera will shoot up to 40...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:55:00 -0400

IKEA’s Cardboard Digital Camera

“The camera will shoot up to 40 exposures, and these can then be transferred to the device of your choice via USB (via the flip-out plug). As you can see from the photo, the camera runs on a pair of AA batteries, and the internal memory is purged by inserting a paper clip into the trash-hole.”
—Cult of Mac

(photograph by zoffy, given out in a press kit at Milan’s Fuorisalone design show)

Record Sleeves arranged by color and photographed by George...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:41:00 -0400

Record Sleeves arranged by color and photographed by George Benson

“…The series purely looks at the colour of the record sleeves grouping music by colour alone, mixing rich cross genres of sound together. The unseen collection of music, avoids the need to name or identify to influence or be known. Instead the photographs create a rhythm of colour, light and shade that resonates with its musical content.”
—George Benson on “Colour of Music” series

(via Feature Shot)

Cuban postage stamps for Mayo 1, 1964

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:16:00 -0400

Cuban postage stamps for Mayo 1, 1964

design evolution of the 3M logo (above c. 1961, via retronaut)

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:08:00 -0400

design evolution of the 3M logo

(above c. 1961, via retronaut)

Ruined Polaroids William Miller photographed the Ruined...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:59:00 -0400

Ruined Polaroids

William Miller photographed the Ruined Polaroids series using a broken Polaroid-SX-70 camera.

(via Design Bureau via Triangulation)

Mr. Chocolate For the Chocolat Factory, Diego Ramos...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:28:00 -0400

Mr. Chocolate

For the Chocolat Factory, Diego Ramos (Ruiz+company) designed “Mr. Chocolate” packaging for 6 different moustache variations. The packaging fun is carried throughout the Chocolat Factory’s line of chocolate products.

(via The Dieline)

N is for “No Regrets” (via W+K 12.8 / Abecedarium)

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:45:00 -0400

N is for “No Regrets”

(via W+K 12.8 / Abecedarium)

The Art of Film & TV Title Design (via PBS Off Book series)

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The Art of Film & TV Title Design (via PBS Off Book series)

The three volume, Vintage paperback boxed set for Haruki...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:38:00 -0400

The three volume, Vintage paperback boxed set for Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, designed by John Gall, publishes on May 15th, 2012.

photographs of dust by Klaus Pichler (first discovered via...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:43:04 -0400

photographs of dust by Klaus Pichler

(first discovered via feature shot)

coverjunkie: Metropoli (Spain) New La Luna de Metrópoli...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:09:00 -0400

coverjunkie:

Metropoli (Spain)

New La Luna de Metrópoli magazine, the weekly supplement of Spanish newspaper El Mundo

Ace art direction by Rodrigo Sánchez, read here about his favorite covers on this special Coverjunkie post and here about his exhibition at La Casa Encendida museum last year in Madrid

Half a Million Books Gerda Babiedaite (student at Brighton...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:59:00 -0500

Half a Million Books

Gerda Babiedaite (student at Brighton University) made a short and sweet documentary about the history and longevity of Camilla’s Bookshop, sellers of second-hand & antiquarian books.

“…I found the place absolutely fascinating and wondered about who would own such a shop. It was heartening to see so many browsers in the place, especially at a time when new and second-hand books are easy and generally cheap to buy online and the number of e-readers is on the rise. Although, it is sadly pointed out in the film that Camilla’s is the last of 5 second-hand bookshops that were in the town at one time…” —Gerda Babiedaite, A Fiction Habit

(first discovered via Tattered Cover)

kidrobot x Matt Groening vinyl toy “…Created by legendary...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:26:00 -0500

kidrobot x Matt Groening vinyl toy

“…Created by legendary “Life is Hell” cartoonist Matt Groening, THE SIMPSONS is celebrating its 500th episode in February 2012, and Kidrobot is honoring the father of primetime animation in the only way we know how: making him into a 6-inch vinyl toy!

Complete with goatee and glasses, director’s jacket, and pad and pencil accessories, it is the first EVER Simpsons Matt Groening toy…” —kidrobot

minimal Mad Men teaser billboard ads for Season Five The above...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:24:00 -0500

minimal Mad Men teaser billboard ads for Season Five

The above variation of the “falling man” makes good use of white space on the side of the Andaz Hotel on Sunset Boulevard instead of a traditional billboard shape.

Mad Men Season 5 premieres on March 25th, 2012 on AMC.

(photographs of campaign via Daily Billboard)

Pentax K-01 camera designed by Marc Newson “…Newson...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:32:00 -0500

Pentax K-01 camera designed by Marc Newson

“…Newson always incorporates thoughtful proportions. In this case, he not only worked with Pentax on the camera body, but also on the 40mm F2.8 kit lens that comes with it. The pancake lens is impossibly thin, measuring in at .36 inches—just enough room for a manual focus ring, and that’s about it. The K-01 uses the standard K-mount so it’s compatible with every lens Pentax has made over the years. Removing the viewfinder and the mirror from the equation also gave Newson more creative flexibility…”
—Josh Rubin, Cool Hunting

I usually shy away from bright yellow fashion accessories or gadgets. But, this new Pentax K-01 designed by Marc Newson, makes it to my too pricey wishlist.

The Joy of Books At night the books from the shelves of Type...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:02:14 -0500

The Joy of Books

At night the books from the shelves of Type bookstore in Toronto come to life in a fun, stop-motion animated video.

said the shower curtain to Dave Eggers… Text becomes...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:37:18 -0500

said the shower curtain to Dave Eggers…

Text becomes another object for issue #16 of the form shifting THE THING Quarterly.

“Published on a shower curtain, with the idea that one would read it while showering, this issue is a monologue told to Dave Eggers by his shower curtain. It was produced in collaboration with Izola and is printed on a 72x72 inch PEVA (PVC Free) shower curtain.” —THE THING

(first discovered via Junk Culture)