Face Your Pockets is a Russian blog that invites you to show the world what is in your pockets. Just empty your pockets onto a scanner, insert your face, and scan. The result is a strange little glimpse into people's lives. Apparently 50% of people carry a band aid in their pocket... who knew. (Found through Core 77).
These temporary tattoos for the elderly made me giggle. They feature sayings like 'Who's your grand daddy' and 'Really old school' as well as some humorous graphics like a snake wrapped around a pill organizer. It's nice to see that some people have a good sense of humor about aging. Available for purchase through The Spoon Sisters.
Climate Cars are a new fleet of eco-friendly taxis in London. They drive hybrid cars and offset their emissions using The Carbon Neutral Company. What is interesting about Climate Cars is their Bike Rescue service. All of their cars carry bike racks. So if your eco-friendly self chose to ride a bike to work but then later questioned your commitment to climate change when it started pouring rain at the end of the day, you can still get a ride home from Climate Cars (complete with bike and a guilt-free conscious). (Found through Springwise).
These Cut and Carve chopping boards by Joseph Joseph are a nice twist on the traditional. Designed with Danish designer John Brauer, these cutting boards have a slanted work surface to allow liquid or crumbs to be collected on one side while still maintaining a level edge on the other side for easy transfer of food. The boards are two sided. One side features and grip area to assist with carving. Available for purchase through the Joseph Joseph site or Delight.com.
I saw the Transformers movie on the 4th and I thought it was totally awesome. If you are a fan of the original Transformers, a connoisseur of CGI, or just an action movie lover you should definitely see this film at the theater. The visual effects are were done by Industrial Light & Magic, and they are close to flawless. I think Michael Bay and team did a great job of modernizing Transformers without losing their original character and appeal.
If you haven't already done so, check out these high res renderings of the Transformers on Michael Bay's site and this Popular Mechanics Article about the movie's special effects.
I like this inventive new line of jewelry from Sarah Hood called Landscape. It is made out of model train landscape elements. There is something about the size distortion and the material combinations that really works for me.
Are you looking through your fireworks photos this morning and wondering 'What was I thinking trying to take photos in the dark without a tripod'? Well before you hit the Delete button on those blurry, out of focus and misdirected photos, check out this new blog called Deleted Images. It's a collection of to-be-deleted images which on their own are just examples of bad photography, but together as a collection become something very artistic.
Check out some of this video footage of Diesel's Spring/Summer 08 catwalk show last week. They used animated holograms to make underwater creatures and graphics swim the runway along with the models. It is a pretty amazing overall effect. For more information read this article on the Creative Review Blog.
The Vitamin Water section of the Glaceau website has been making me laugh. They have come up with funny 'Try It' sayings for each flavor to attempt to explain the effect of the drink. For example 'Try swimming the Atlantic when you've just swam the Atlantic. Try Revive. Try it.' or 'Try kissing a poison dart frog until it turns into a prince. Try Endurance. Try it.' You can also create your own sayings using the Try It Creator and then post the custom advertisement to your blog or myspace page. I find this very interesting because on the one hand they are giving up control over what their advertisement says, but on the other hand the ads that people come up with are probably even more relevant to the readers.
Looking for stylish ways to reduce your carbon footprint? How about raising chickens for eggs in this gorgeous chicken 'Eglo' by Omlet? This product was designed by four Royal College of Art students a few years back (I actually first saw it at their grad show!). Since then they have founded Omlet which sells this Eglu and the larger Eglu cube for housing chickens, rabbits or guinea pigs. Their site also has tons of great info about being an urban chicken owner. (Found through Trend Watching)
Check out these tinted contact lenses from Nike Vision. They give you the advantage of sunglasses without the glare, fogging or frame obstruction. On one hand these seem super futuristic, and on the other hand I can't help but wonder what took them so long?. Available in prescription or non prescription variations, Nike claims that in addition to providing distortion free optics, these lenses also enhance your sense of contrast and make details appear clearer. Plus they cover the entire pupil giving a green or amber glow around the eye which makes you look totally bad-ass. What more could an athlete want? (Found through one of my favorite new blogs, Colour Lovers)
I'm in love with a bag (yes, again)! The School bag is just one of 3 customizable bags from Australia's Ecsotype. Designers Sabine and Christian Pound have created a sort of co-design experience with consumers by allowing them to customize the bags using their online store. In the case of this School bag, you can assign the colors black, brown, red or ivory to each half of the leather bag, the straps and the accent rope, as well as choosing the handle type. The idea behind all the options is that the bag becomes more of a long-term purchase because it is something personal to your tastes instead of just something you found momentarily stylish. Interesting thinking for the traditionally seasonal world of bag design. Unfortunately at just over $400 this bag is a little out of my price range, even for a "long-term" investment. I'll just have to stick to drooling.
In an effort to raise awareness about global warming, the city of London turned out its lights last week. The voluntary blackout happened on June 21 between 9pm and 10pm and included many notable building such as Tower Bridge, Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. Piccadilly Circus also participated turning out its advertising lights for the first time since World War II. London isn't the first city to do this. They follow in the footsteps of Sydney, Paris and Hong Kong. London estimates that they collectively turned out 2 million lights saving 750 MWh of electricity in 1 hour. I like this idea because turning out lights is such a simple thing, but the effect of seeing such well known attractions in darkness has quite an impact. It would be great to see some more permanent energy savings come out of this.
This playground fence by dutch designer Tejo Remy reminded me of Demakersvan's lace fence (see previous post). The design turns a fairly utilitarian object into something fun. The fence was designed with playgrounds in mind. It features bends and surfaces to sit and play on. I like that the benches and play areas are on both sides of the fence. Fences are normally used to separate space, whereas this invites both sides to interact with each other. (Found through Inhabitat)
I was in the Dayton airport yesterday and I purchased a book at the Paradies Shop. When I was paying for the book the cashier said to me, "Don't forget to return it when you're done". At which point I must have given her a puzzled look because she proceeded to tell me about the store's Read and Return Policy. Any book that you purchase from the store can be returned after you are done reading it (as long as you have the receipt and it is within 6 months of purchase) and they will give you back half the cost of the book. Books that are returned in good condition are resold at half their price and books in poor condition are given to local charities. Apparently they have been doing this since 2003. Are their other bookstores that do this?
I was enjoying the work of digital artist and designer Eric Oosterhof today. (Found through Computerlove)
I found this website for the new Mercedes C-Class kind of interesting. They have come up with some keywords to describe the C-Class; energy, simplicity, balance, space, interaction, confidence. To get across the meaning of each of these concepts they have created little interactive activities to allow you to experience the meaning of each word for yourselves. For example the 'Interaction' demo asks you to navigate an invisible maze. The maze is just trial and error until the navigation assistance kicks in, then it is easy. These simple activities are a very effective way of getting across the key messages. (Found through FWA)
Ok, so imagine that you are the owner of an art gallery and people aren't coming to see your paintings. What do you do? You bring the paintings to the people (of course)! For the next 12 weeks the National Gallery in London England is displaying some of their most famous paintings on the streets of London. Art lovers - don't be alarmed, they are only replicas. The exhibit is called The Grand Tour. You can go to their website and download maps and audio tours to help guide you through the paintings. Or if you are just walking the streets of London and come across a painting, simply use your mobile phone to dial the number displayed and hear the museum's description of the piece. I think this is such a brilliant idea. To see more images of the paintings on display, check out this Flickr gallery. (Found through Noisy Decent Graphics)
It's funny because it's true. I like the angle that Oogmerk Opticians took with this advertising campaign. It's all about what glasses could do for your image. And they didn't hold back. Variants on the ad include butcher to artist, easy to hard, and truck driver to dr professor. (Found through Scary Ideas)
I'm drooling over this showreel of Mark Coleran's work. He is a visual designer who specializes in futuristic on-screen graphics for television and movies. His interfaces have been featured in movies such as The Island, Mr and Mrs Smith, The World is Not Enough, The Bourne Identity, and many more. What a fun job! Check it out here. (Found through the always spectacular Core77)
