Colour Lovers is my favorite source of colour inspiration. Today they featured colours from vintage Japanese Matchbox labels. The colour combinations are ones that you don't see very much any more, but are very beautiful. I'm looking forward to a chance to use these palettes on modern graphics.
Graphic Designer, Alison Haigh, has created this smile-worthy chart depicting the history of Crayola crayon colours. It shows how the original colours were added to over time. The chart has no timeline but you can almost fill in the gaps based on the new colour additions or the colour cuts. Fantastic representation of some colour history.
Artist Sebastian Campion currently has an interesting exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde, Denmark. Social Souvenir is an interactive exhibit reflective of current online trends. The museum is selling 300 t-shirts for 125 DKK each. The t-shirt is black with white text, forming a phrase inspired by one of the museum's artists. As each shirt is sold, they are removed from the tangible half of the exhibit and transitioned into the virtual half, a large map. The t-shirt owner's address are marked on the map. I like the evolution of the exhibit from offline to online. It's very reflective of our social interactions today.
Heifer International is a non-profit organization aimed at ending hunger. They encourage people to donate money that will go towards a tangible, meaningful gift of their choice. The gifts include training, animals or plants. They are given with the hope of making families in need more self-sufficient. You can donate a Heifer ($500), a trio of rabbits ($60), or a gift of honeybees ($30). Gifts range in price from $10 to $5000. The tangibility of the gifts makes your donation very real. It's a great way to teach your children about giving to charity. Who can you resist giving the gift of a flock of chicks? (Thanks Nicole).
For those who have little or no money in our society, homelessness is a big issue. Is there a place where design can help the homeless? Designboom hopes that there is. They sponsored this non-profit design competition called Shelter in a Cart. In all, 4247 designers from 95 countries contributed design ideas. Although the competition itself was judged as being a superficial approach to solving poverty and homelessness, I have a hard time considering that many people thinking deeply about homelessness a superficial activity. Judge the results for yourself.
One of my favorite contributions was this Tent Cart by Timo Niskanen of Finland. His design was also nominated for a 2007 Index Award. Hopefully you too will be inspired to work on non-profit designs.
I've previously written a post about Wants for Sale. Today I wanted to focus on the related charity site, Needs for Sale. The site features paintings by Christine Santora and Justin Gignac. Each painting features a subject representative of the charitable donation created by purchasing that painting. For example a painting of A Fish, valued at $100, leads to a $100 donation to City Harvest, a charity working to feed New York's hungry. Other paintings profits go to Toys for Tots, Heifer International, NY Cares Coat Drive, and Habitat for Humanity. All fantastic charities doing their part to help those around us who in, or close to poverty. Great effort Chistine and Justin.
So what do you do when an elephant keeps destroying your crops at harvest? You give him a SIM card, of course. In Ol Pejeta, Kenya, two of the most destructive wild elephants were equipped with SIM cards. Every time the elephants cross one of the town's virtual fences, the rangers are alerted via text message of the intrusion. The early warning allows the ranger's to scare the elephants off before they reach the fields. The tech savvy approach to wildlife regulation has greatly benefited the elephants and the community, reducing the destruction of both animals and crops. The elephants whereabouts can also be tracked by conservationists and internet users via Google maps.
Keane used photographer and artist Osang Gwon to create the artwork for their new album, Perfect Symmetry. Osang's style is to create 3D sculptures covered in thousands of photos of the subject, creating a semi-realistic likeness. It's kind of like a sculptural Photosynth. Great effect.
Some days it's best to set realistic expectations for yourself. (Found through Swissmiss).
I was in Starbucks this morning and I noticed this bite sized dose of GOOD Magazine. They promise fresh topics every Thursday. This is great advertising because to read GOOD is to love it. Are other magazines taking this taste test approach?
If you went to ABC.com yesterday you were temporarily faced with this mock 1973 version of their website. The network used the homepage to promote the premiere of their new show Life On Mars, a British series about a modern day cop who finds himself in 1973. Although I was momentarily freaked out by the homepage, it's nice to see some oldschool UI. It reminds me of how far software has come.
Sigh... I'm falling in love with Banksy all over again. I know this has been on all the blogs today but it's such a brilliant idea, that I couldn't pass over posting it here as well. Banksy's newest exhibit in New York comes in the form of a pet store. The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is now the home to a leopard print coat, hot dog hamsters, fish stick fish, chicken McNuggets drinking BBQ sauce, and my favorite, nesting CCTV cameras. All the "pets" are animated and viewable from within the small store, or from the street. Be sure to watch the videos for the full effect.
Banksy's comments on the exhibition were 'New Yorkers don't care about art, they care about pets. So I'm exhibiting them instead'. I'm swooning at the bad attitude. For more info check out Wooster Collective's coverage.
This Monopoly board, by french designer Florent Guerlain, is a contemporary reinterpretation of the classic board. It features the same competitive Monopoly content, just with sleeker, more minimalistic graphics and utilizing Helvetica fonts. I believe this is just a concept. Too bad... I would buy one.
Jonathan Harris is at the top of my People-I'd-Like-To-Take-Out-For-A-Beer list. I think he is one of the most interesting contemporary artists. If you are not familiar with his work, be sure to check out his website.
A few weeks ago I watched Jonathan's most recent TED talk. I think it has crossed my mind every day since then... so I thought I would share it with you. The talk speaks a little about his projects We Feel Fine and The Whale Hunt, but focuses mainly on a project-in-process about happiness. Jonathan traveled around Bhutan, a country that measures its success by Gross National Happiness. Through his travels he asks people to rate their happiness. Each person is photographed holding the number of balloons that reflects their happiness. They then write their greatest wish onto the balloon. Super interesting. Watch the talk!
Candy took notice of the fact that in most people's busy, lives one of the few times they have a moment to be alone with their thoughts is while they walk around the city. She points out that 'A routine trip can prompt reflections on everything from future goals to last night’s dinner conversation'. Candy created a project called Sidewalk Psychiatry to help pedestrians along with their deep thoughts. The project encourages self evaluation through sayings painted on city sidewalks. The sayings include 'Then why did you do it?' and 'And whose fault is that?'.
Oh no... I'm addicted to flicking through yet another endlessly interesting website. The one is called Google Knows. It's just a collection about funny things that Google knows. Most of them are classic questions based on old jokes (Google knows who's on first), others are social commentary (Google knows more than Sarah Palin), and yet others are based on lyrics or sayings (Google knows who started the fire). Each Google Knows statement is pretty funny on its own but what makes them really interesting is that most of them have some sort of appropriately named links such as 'wait, why is this funny?', or 'what does that even mean?' which takes you to a link containing the answer... very entertaining.
One Floor Up is 2 years old this week. I'm celebrating with a link to my very first blog post. It featured Valeria Miglioli & Barnaby Barford's Stamp Mugs. They still remain one of my favorite products featured on this blog and possibly my all time favorite example of turning a negative into a positive.
Electronic devices get such a bad rap for taking people out of the NOW. A new series of Xbox Ads, entitled Live Your Moment, embraces the immersive entertainment experience. The visually stunning ads start with a slow motion view of an emotion overcoming a person's face and then spin around to show the experience happening in their head. Very effective.
It's one of my favorite times of the year... time to vote for the Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Awards. The award features good everyday designs nominated and voted for by everyday people. The selection is always fascinating. It features the usual clean lined, modern plastic products, spattered with a combination of overlooked everyday designs. Some of my favorite nominees this year are; windshield wipers, the fedora, and the Barbapapas. Place your votes here.
