I really enjoyed the online portfolio of photographer Philip Toledano. His photography is very compelling. Each of his photographs is like a story in itself. I particularly liked his series called People, which he describes as wanting to be "as though you'd accidentally picked up the phone and caught the middle of a conversation". The site itself, designed by Megaphone, complements the photos by being very simple yet pretty.
OVX Studios was Friday's Adobe Site of the Day. It is a cute little interactive site to test your skills as a movie director. You get to choose your storyline, cast, scene order, and most significantly, the product placement you want to allow in your movie. The site is actually part of an advertising campaign by the Vermont Department of Health to raise awareness among teens about the roll of tobacco in Hollywood movies. I liked this site because it's a well thought out approach to getting a health message across. It's fun, well suited for the target audience, and it involves the user's decision making process about the message instead of just forcing the message on them.
My Moleskin is up for a Webby Award this year. The site is a collection of artwork by Fabio Iaschi. What I like about the site is that all the drawings are done in a Moleskin notebook and then scanned (presumably) into jpgs for the website, but it doesn't lose the feel of a sketchbook. An interesting website and nice artwork.
The heartbreak necklace, designed by Tjep for Chi ha paura...?, is made up a a fragile porcelain heart and an attached titanium hammer with which to break the heart. The heart is not as fragile as it might seem. It is easily cracked but will not break completely thanks to a layer of rubber behind the porcelain. This is meant to signify that "one will usually recover from a broken heart, the small cracks will inevitably add up and form who we are". (Found through MoCo Loco)
Paper Pilot cute little website that lets you design and test paper airplanes. Design your plane by using some standard models as starting points and then adjust the parameters to your liking. Test your airplane's performance on the practice field and then make any needed design adjustments. When you plane has been perfected, bring it to the challenge stadium to compete. Paper Pilot is a promotional site for SolidWorks DWGgateway (a converter to import AutoCAD files into Solidworks). I'm not entirely sure on what the connection between the two is, but who cares it's a fun idea.
I enjoyed this set of photos entitled Dreams of Flying taken by photographer Jan von Holleben. They capture the idea of imagination very well. It is also a nice simple Flash portfolio.
A Moment on Earth is a series of short films created to try and put some perspective on what any moment on Earth is like. On August 5, 2004 at 12:00pm GMT 60 filmmakers around the world recorded one minute of video showing what was happening where they were. The results give a small glimpse into how much is going on at any moment and emphasize the difference in people's situations around the globe. The website has an interesting Mosaic of stills from the different films that give a good summary of their subjects.
I like the design of this Babybett Suiko because similar to the Bloom Chair (see earlier post) it is intended to grow with your child. It changes from a bassinet to a crib with the addition of wheels, and then from a crib to a small bed by removing the side panels. (Found through Design Milk)
So, I realize that this may not be the most classy approach to wine, but you can't deny that it's a really good idea. Wine That Loves is a wine-for-dummies approach to wine. It is based on the philosophy that certain wines go better with certain foods, but that there are a lot of wine drinkers out there that don't know what these perfect combinations are. Wine That Love has make this really simple but just calling their wines appropriate names like Wine That Loves Grilled Steak or Wine That Loves Pizza. Great see a need - fill the gap product idea. (Found through The Cool Hunter)
Book 7 in the Harry Potter series isn't coming out until then end of July but it has already been at the top of Amazon's Bestsellers list for months due to pre-order sales backed by a release day delivery guarantee. With record release day sales expected it is no wonder that all the booksellers are trying to get in on the action. Check out this advertisement by Odyssey. (Found through Scary Ideas)
VIZcap is an interesting new bottle cap design that allows vitamins or other supplements to be added to water just before drinking in an effort to maintain potency. The supplement is kept in a moisture tight compartment at the top of the bottle. Once the safety seal is removed the supplement is released by simply hitting the top of the bottle. The website has some interesting video on the development process and how the final bottle works. The creators are looking to sell the idea to big beverage manufactures. They shouldn't have much problem. They have an attractive and easy to use design, complemented with clean graphics and a nice promotional website.
Mail Me Art is a collaborative art project created by Darren Di Lieto. The project invites wannabe artists to create a work of art on an envelope of parcel and mail it to the project's address in the UK. The end goal of the project is to show the submissions in London gallery where the pieces will be sold. Part of the money from the sale goes back the artist. The site also offers monthly prizes to keep the mailing momentum up. For more information on how to submit, visit www.mailmeart.com.
15x15 is a website that plays on Andy Warhol's theory that 'In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes'. The site constantly shows 15 boxes, each playing a 15 second video clip captured using mobile phones. The videos can be of any content, as long as it is not offensive. The variety of the clips is pretty entertaining. Clips can be submitted by anyone by uploading them from your computer or sending them directly from your phone using MMS.
A few people I know have bought Flor carpets lately. They make a lot of sense, especially if you are a renter or generally indecisive when it comes to interior design. The basic idea of Flor is that you purchase 50cm x 50cm carpet tiles that can be arranged to create whatever type of carpet fits your needs including wall to wall carpeting, area rugs, hall runners or outdoor carpets. The tiles come in many different colors, patterns, and textures which can be arranged any way you like. The advantages of Flor carpets are that they are highly customizable, the tiles can be changed out at any time, and they are really easy to install. Most of the tiles fall in the $10-$16 range and if you order online there are some good planning tools available that let you try out different tile combinations within your specified dimensions. The idea of Flor itself is very simple and interesting but combined with the execution (the online planning tools, the variety of styles and colors, and the trendy inspirational examples) it becomes a really great carpeting option that is growing in popularity for good reason.
It was dark and rainy here in New York today and it reminded me of the Sky Umbrella designed by Tibor Kalman. This umbrella lets you to carry around your own little piece of blue sky. Tibor Kalman was a co-founders of one of my favorite magazines, Benetton's Colors. This umbrella demonstrates Tibor Kalman's inspiring ability to make a statement through the use of images. The Sky Umbrella is available through the MoMA Store.
Oh, I really hope that someone did this on purpose! (Found through notcot.org)
I'm captivated by this Timeline clock by Anthony Dickens. It has made me think why the circular clock has become so accepted as the conventional interface used to portray time. A circular clock reflects the cyclical nature of the sun or daylight, conveniently divided in half for those of us who can't count to 24. I guess this works for the repetitive nature of most people's lives but it doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about the more general idea of time. This Timeline clock is a much more literal translation of how we perceive time. It shows past, present, and future in a linear manner, emphasizing the constant passing of time. Where can I buy one?
The Mammal Supertree is the most complete family tree of mammals to date. Based on fossil data and genetic analyses, a team of scientist mapped mammal groups back to one original ancestor. The data itself is very interesting but it was the organization of the information that really caught my eye. This isn't your usual family tree top down style chart. The data is arranged in a circle with time expanding from the center of the circle outwards. This seems like a much more natural way of arranging a family tree data because it grows outward in all directions instead of just one. (Found through Visual Complexity)
This weekend I came across the portfolio of Brazilian artist Cristiano Siqueira (a.k.a. CrisVector). All of his pieces are vector based digital artwork. His main creation tool is Illustrator; using reference pictures, hand sketches or Poser images as underlays. What I really like about Cris' work is his bold use of color, and the interesting place where most of his work exists (especially the Women series) somewhere between realism and comic.
Retrievr is a valiant attempt at a new way to search images. Just make a quick sketch of what you are searching for, using the tools provided, and Retrievr will search popular Flickr photos for matching images. The search works by using an algorithm that identifies similar rough shapes and colors. It's not perfect, but pretty amazing. The creators consider this an experiment and seem eager for any feedback. Try it out here.
