The 2008 Webby Awards have been released. Check out the interesting interface. Here is one I came across that i think is pretty cute... How we met
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The 2008 Webby Awards have been released. Check out the interesting interface. Here is one I came across that i think is pretty cute... How we met
A collection of vintage logos put together by Eric Carl . It's interesting to see the common characteristics between them and the difference between the logos that are being created at present. We seem to have moved on to a more textured logo nowdays as well as logos that contain spatial elements with 3D styles, hmm interesting.
I just came across these divine illustrations created for an interiors business called Harmonie- Interieure created by Fabien Barral. Even though the floral flourish is just abotu every where you look at the moment, these deserve some praise and attention. Here also are some of her pics on flickr.
And incase you are still interested in more...here is a link to Fabiens blog and Graphic Exchange website.
Nice website and not a bad logo...Hersan Iluminacion
Another 'world' approach which seeems to be becoming quite popular as a format for websites lately. The detail Toyota website is really nice.
Zube Journey features a unique illustration style and a nice concept for the navigation.
A very novel approach for a website that promotes a patisserie. The Pastileria Escriba is located in Barcelona, Spain.
And some more info about it here.
Barcelona based illustrator Charuca designs a whole range of characters similar in style to those cutesy characters created in china and japan. Really cute!
Students take heed...your cv needs just as much loving attention as your portfolio. I've seen way too many word templates formated or i should say unformated in 12pt times new roman, ugh! Here are some simple and effective ideas for laying out your cvs.
The Color Chart Exhibition at the MOMA features an interesting navigation style.
Awesome animation by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.
It's good to see that newspapers such as The New York Times are pushing the boundaries of presenting info and news online. This video interview features not just the interview but also the transcript, a quick click to sections of interview and a transcript analyser which I thought was also very cool!
Maybe the magazine industry can gain some inspiration and start pushing the boundaries a little.
Yipee! i can finally download my favourite music clips from YouTUbe. TubeTV is a freeware app that lets you save and convert YouTube and flash videos on to your ipod or iphone.
And here is one that I've admired for a long time...
Just came across this highly useful and informative resource called Slideshare. In the true web2.0 style it a website that allows users to share and view powerpoint presentations on a variety of topics. Here are some notable ones that i just viewed...
> Logic + emotion; VIsual thinking archive
The first issue of this ezine created by Design for Mankind covers the topic inspiration. Features lots of creative moodboards, its a pity that the format is a PDF rather than an online version. It's a real shame that people are still creating the same old same old formats when depicting magazines online. I havent come across any magazines that really push the boundaries of interaction.
Bring bad design to justice with the Design Police...
Whats.My.Browser.com is a useful tool for finding out what you or your clients are using in regards to plug ins and also browser size. The AnyBrowser site is also useful for seeing a site within different browser window sizes.
Nice site for wine label....The Spanish Quarter
Really cool video on youTube, check it out...
I just came across an interesting article about the design of RSS feed icons. It also discusses the best placement within a web page.
Last year it was gold this year's 2008 colour forecast is iris...
source: dwell
Duval Guilllaume agency has created this clever shopping bag for GAIA animal rights.
Xerox has unveiled the redesign of their logo created by Interbrand. I don't think i like it, well not yet anyway. I guess some logos just have to grow on you.
>The NSW Police has released a print campaign created by DDB to raise awareness about the dangers of walking across the road whilst listening to music. I wonder how Apple feels about the use of their product in these ads. Check them out....
nice interactive interface and i also love the hand drawings and text for prps
...and some more inspiration from the russian constructivism era. Just enter russian in the keyword search and be prepared to immerse yourself in the strong graphical shapes of the early 1900's.
Sometimes inspiration can be found in the past. These vintage posters are interesting from all perspectives: concept, style of illustration, use of colour and specially the creative use of typography.
A useful size guide for designers who are creating banner adverts can be found in the Interactive Advertising Bureau
WUFO is useful website for designers who create forms...
The Web2.0 directory features every conceavable web application that you could imagine, in one click. Also good resource for logos in case you need some inspiration.
Innovative products by Salakauppa . My personal favourite is below...
Design for the good of peoplekind....Rosa Loves is website in which you can purchase some beautifully designed t-shirts. The money for the t-shirts goes directly to help people in need. The site features their stories. Lovely website and wonderful idea.
Really nice looking blog by Nick La featuring 30 top flash websites and 30 top artistic websites.
I'm not entirely sure what this site is about (maybe fashion?) but i love it, well at least from a visual and explorative point of view. So many details; each section is different and full of little vectorised animated surprises.
Explore the vector park and its intricate, surreal animations.
Beautiful graphics and a beautiful interface.
Lovely site and gorgeous clothes by Brazilian designer Anunciacao
Ever wondered why red is the international colour for stop? Why is pink for girl and blue for boy? Why is black the colour of death? Why are road signs green? Why is envy a green monster? Why is purple the royal colour?
Find out by reading the 11 great colour legends & also the sequel titled 13 great colour legends
Charming little site with lovely little details. The about section is entertaining and not at all boring unlike many other websites which occupy cyberspace.
Paul Robinson takes an innovative approach to showcasing his portfolio
I was just about to purchase some images for a client when I stumbled upon this sumptious, typographical, visual feast.
Just came across an interesting article by Armin on Speak Up titled "100 unused logos and what they reveal about my design inclinations". Armin analyses various design elements, such as use of iconography, typefaces, shapes, etc. I've had the pleasurable task of designing quite a few logos in the last months and I must admit whilst I don’t necessarily see a style or trend running through the variety of designs there most definitely would be if I was to analyse them in the way the Armin has. It sometimes makes me sad to see all those unwanted logos tucked away in archives never to be used, seen or appreciated.
/p>
Colour trends for winter 2007-2008
Are you designing a busienss card? Need some inspiration? Check out this flickr site that features a lovely collection of more than 400 business cards.
If you're using a Mac IE NetRenderer allows you to check how a website appears on a PC and how it's rendered by Internet Explorer 7, 6 or 5.5.
Lovely flash animations created by Jonathan Yuen
Great ads created by Leo Burnett for the Belgian Government. Photographed by Frieke Janssens
Just came across some really cool business cards...
LG teamed up with Designers Guild to create a new range of eye catching Steam Washing Machines that brake away from the traditional white goods appearance.
The limited edition Steam Direct Drive range each feature four stylish prints: Cloisonné – striking dark flowers on a black background, Imperial Flower – a regal red floral design on white, the light green on white airy floral Sevilla and a modern geometric design Ribailagua.
Pepsi has recently launched a series of can designs...view the pepsi can gallery.
Check out the nice pins from Stereohype...
Nike always seems to come up with visually creative and interactice sites, here is yet another...Nike ACG.
I like the vertical navigation up that takes you up and down the mountain the 'Trail' section.
Colorium features some lovely illustrations by Argentinian illustrator/designer Florencia Kohan.
Meomi the talented artists behind projects like Monkey Pow! are publishing a gorgeous childrens book called 'The Octonauts' Can't wait to buy it! I absolutely love the illustrations!
True artistry by LovePixel. I never tire of looking at his pixel illustrations!
Eric Fengs illustrations are a beautifully detailed; he creates surreal images that fuse both natural and mechanical elements in the one image.
Cute flash games by Orisinal
The Mercedes-Benz Museum traces the historical highlights of the brand right back to its beginning. A beautifully designed website with one of the best timelines that I have ever seen
One of thousand insightful morsels from one of my favourite books "The Art of Looking Sideways' by Alan Fletcher...
" If you're in a hole don't keep digging - look around. Then get the bits and pieces into some kind of order so as to point up the problem. Sometimes it comes easy, other times it's like confining jelly with a rubber band.
Anyway, once achieved, the next move is to head off along the most promising route. The solution may become evident or you can end up in an exasperating period of hiatus when, despite trying this and that, the answer remains elusive.
Hopefully the germ of an idea eventually peeps through, but before leaping on it with relief let it incubate for a while. Here the mind works on the idea in some mysterious way.
Either the potential evaporates, in which case you have to start all over again, or it emerges [said henry james] with a firm iridescent surface, and a notable increase in weight'. Designing looks easy if you don't know how, difficult if you do."
I just stumbled across Ad*Access features a collection of advertisements dating back to 1915! The subject categories cover beatury and hygiene, radio and television, transportation and World War II.
It's interesting to see just how much content these ads featured, it just goes to show how much more time people had in those days. These days with the constant overload of information thrown at us, we hardly have time to read the main headline.
If you're interested in seeing other ads from the 50s, 60s, 80s abd 90s check out Adflip
Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Googgle news aggregator. Apparently it uses what is known as a "treemap visualization algorith" ...way too technical for my left sided brain but it sounds good to me! I really like the way that it has redefined the way in which we read news, I particularly like the way in which you can select news categories by colour allowing you to view only your personal interests.
Kind of reminds me a little of Negropontes prediction concerning the customisation of information for the individual. Not that I totally agree with the complete customisation of information for individuals. I believe that a customised view of the world might be restricting and create a narrow minded approach to life, not to mention the wonderful things that they might miss out on if you only get exposed to what you like and know. Where would the element of surprise be? Anyway enough ranting nJoy! news map.
Ever wanted to see all the absolut adverts in one place? well now you can ... Absolut Ad Gallery
A very nice self promotional website for Cobra Creative
The Digital Design Museum is part of The Design Museum in London.
Lovely Vintage Wallpaper Gallery
Microsoft Live Labshave created 'PhotoSynth' an amazing tool which redefines the way in which we look at images.
Interesting article about the design of the Google logo, and the way in which they change the look of it to suit different occasions.
It raises an important question...How far should we go to retain the integrity of a logo? Personally I think that the majority of people place too much concern over a logo identities representation.
This is especially true when a brand that has been predominantly used for print makes an entrance on to the digital world. Most people try to apply and firmly abide with the logos guidelines, no matter what and at the expense of creativity. Sure it's important to maintain the integrity of the brand, I of all people know how important that is. However I have a strong belief that the brand should also be flexible enough so that it can be represented to its full potential across all mediums. There are particular stylistic effects and styles that work well in print and not necessarily online and vice versa.
I really like the way that Google plays around with its logo. The logo changes but you can see that it still retains its identity no matter what the treatment. And I think that that is the key; push the limits, explore the boundaries of the medium but retain the essence of the identity.
I wish that more brand custodians allowed their logo identities a little more freedom. Actually Billabong also applies different treatments to their logo in almost everything they do. 
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Select Flavor features the illustrations of various upcoming artists the project is a creative collaboration between Flavorpill and Budweiser Select.
Gorgeous illustrations by Badrak
Havianas website is the creation of Adhemas Batista a very talented designer/illustrator based in brazil. Gorgeous illustrations! check out some of her other work also.
Alannah Hill is one of those fashion designers who is truly unique, her own personal style is completely in sync with her creations and her label isn't constrained to this or that seasons latest fashion trend.
Alannah Hills fashion is exuberant, intricate, saturated in feminity and timeless in style. The attention to detail that goes into each item is overwhelming, even each article of clothing features a clever name that gives it a personality of its own.
Unfortunately my financial status doesn't allow me to splurge very often on her label, but the few pieces that I have purchased over the years are destined to be part of my wardrobe for ever or be passed on to my daughter. It's the kind of clothes that could never be tossed in a vinnies bag and if it was it would be a crime!
Anyway I have been waiting patiently for her to launch a website and in true Allanah Hill style the site is gorgeous and visually stunning.
Addmagazine.be is a free magazine about belgian design for designers by designers. To download free pdf click on 'order a copy'
Covers is dedicated to the appreciation of book cover design.
DQ Books features a lovely book like interface and some luscious illustrations.
Volkswagon recently launched a special edition Beetle called Luna in which users are able to customise their Beetle with the artwork of several well known artists. Cute idea! But lets hope that it doesn't get out of hand and we end up with semi- naked babes in fantasty landscapes air-brushed on cars like we did back in the 70s.
A marketing phenomenon has been occuring over the last year or so. In the spirit of 'reality tv' as well as the increase of do-it-yourself multimedia gadgets and software that have blurred the line between 'professional' and 'amateur'. 'We' the consumers of advertising have been asked to create advertising. It's often done through a competition and the results seem to be win win win for all.
The marketing department doesn't have to hire an expensive ad agency to come up with the concepts and create the advertisements, the audience who participates in the creative process always finds the challenge fun even if they don't win and the passive audience often enjoys the promotion more than a traditional advertisement because usually the results are more interesting and innovative to watch.
The biggest advantage of this sort of advertising (to the brand) is that it often ends up becoming a viral campaign that creates more hype and interest than most conventional advertisements.
Some of the brands to create this sort of hype include BMW, Converse, Virgin, Jones Soda and the list goes on. It almost seems as though it's becoming a trend in advertising
A question pops into my head when ever I see these sort of promotions... Now that the creative process is being handed over to the 'amateur' is the designers role being devalued? After all if anyone can do it, why invest your time and money in a tertiary education? Hmm not sure, I'm still debating the answers in my mind. It may not be a win, win, win for all after all.
I like Cerberoleso's unique approach to the design of his portfolio website, the text is quite comical and gives us a hint of what he might be like as a person. I think that this is some thing that most of us forget to add to our websites, I think we get so caught up in showcasing the work that we forget to showcase ourselves.
Also check out this querky little animation that he created as part of the Converse Gallery competition.
As I was cleaning up my bookmarks I went to revisit an old favourite that I haven't been back to in quite some time. I don't like chat rooms, and I've never really participated in one, but I do like to browse around the different rooms in Habbo because its just so beautifully created.
I'm reading a fantastic book at the moment Virginia Postrels "The Substance of Style" even though it was published some time ago, I only came across it a few months ago while I was listen to my favourite Podcast by Debbie Millman. So I went off to borders and ordered it finally arrived and now I'm fully engrossed within its insightful observations about our aesthetic developments as an ever-increasing visually sensitive society. I guess its only natural that as we are bombarded by information and advertisements from everywhere and anywhere that we are driven to beautiful things that are well designed. Anyway in her book she speaks about the humble toilet brush. An implement whose function hasn't changed much since it was invented yet the diversity of shapes and colours is quite amazing; anyway I wont try to explain it here is a quote from her book (pg57):
" The toilet brush is an unusually pure example of aesthetic demands. Who can seriously ascribe the desire for a pleasing brush caddy to the status-craving drive to impress the neighbours? Stainless-steel appliances, beautifully tailored clothes, or cool cars may (or may not) mask such other -directed motivations. But a brush hidden in the corner of the bathroom, a bathroom your neighbour will quite likely never see, is surely just a brush, an object acquired for its own sake. And what sort of prestige could possibly accrue to a tool for cleaning toilets, however lovely or expensive its case might be? The look and feel of your toilet brush are just that - sensory pleasures, expressions of what you find appealing.
How, then, do people come to believe that their lives would be a little better, their surroundings a bit more enjoyable, if they could store their cleaning tools in an attractive or expressive case? Toilet brushes are, after all, rarely advertised. They have to speak for themselves, with no talking frogs or pop tunes to promote them. Toilet brushes are usually minor purchases made without deep analysis, and each brush cleans pretty much as well as the next. So the immediate sensory appeal of the brush set on the shelf is decisive. We buy aesthetic models because we like what we see and feel. Exposure, not manipulation, creates demand."
And here is a collection that I put together (I collected these as part of the lecture that I was teaching this week...just in case you think that I am developing an unhealthy obsession with toilet brushes!)
Getty have collaborated with several leading designers including Tomato to create 10 ways which features a series of interactive pieces that showcases Gettys images. Some of the more notables include Greatwork which lets you combine several images to create a short story and my favourite by Sumona called 'information' in which you select different areas of aphotograph and you are taken deeper and deeper into a series of never ending images.
BubbleSoap by Jotto
Another couple of handy tools: Set my browser size and what's my browser size . And for those who are interested it also feature the global stats of browser usage 1024 x 768 is by far the most used and rates at 57%.
I just came across a very clever little tool that creates a favicon in a matter of seconds. You can download the favicon in two sizes as well as the code that you have to type in your webpage and also an animated favicon. Great time saver!
Time Magazine has always been able to capture the essence of a particular time in history through its covers. The site has a great feature which allows you to go back and take a look at all the covers throughout history.
Looking for some inspiration? this might be useful...
Annual Reports.com features just about every annual report that you would ever want to find. Some feature some really nice designs, they're listed by industry, company and alphabetically.
The British Library features an online gallery called 'Turning the pages" it features books such as 'Sketches by Leonardo', 'Mozarts musical diary', my favourite 'The Original Alice' plus many more.
The books are interactive and the pages are turned like a real book, it's the most realistic example of turning pages in a book that I have seen so far.
Dream Anatomy traces the history of anotomical illustration since the invention of the printing press. The intricate nature of the illustrations is just beautiful. If you're not interested in reading you can click directly to the gallery.
A few more links:
Historical anatomies on the web