Make Better Mistakes
“Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow. Let’s scratch our heads and give up and wake up and try it again. Let’s fail at digging the well the first three times to get it right the fourth. Let’s build faster horses, and then strap rocket ships onto them. Let’s start a company, let’s watch it fail, and then let’s start another one.
Animation for the Broken-Hearted
A heart-wrenchingly beautiful animation, Thought of You is the work Ryan Woodward centered around the all-too-common anguish born from close relationships.
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Dance, dance…otherwise we are lost.
Ride ‘em Cowgirl!
‘Horsey’ by Eungi Kim from Korea is one of the shortlisted design entries from more than 3000 participants in the recent design contest, ‘Seoul Cycle Design Competition 2010‘, organized in collaboration with Seoul Design Foundation.
Designer’s own words:
‘Horsey’ is an attachable bicycle ornament/accessory which makes one’s bicycle look horsey! The ‘horsey’ package includes wooden ornaments (horsey shape body), metal parts, and screws. The manual is very simple so that anyone can easily arrange it according to one’s needs. Through this ‘horsey’ project I wanted to give a special look to bicycles so that people would care about cycling not only as transportation but also as a lovely pet.
(via designboom)
Design Your Own Good Time
If you’re tiring of the cliché Made in China version of your go-to bed buddy, look no further. A new online store allowing users to customize their very own sex toys has just opened. With names like the Ripple, Pearl and Hourglass, Made to Pleasure allows you to tailor width, length and even ridge placement. Puts my sad little rabbit to shame.
The Most Powerful Logo Colors on the Web
Color and design forecasting site, COLOURlovers recently looked at the web’s most successful 100 companies to see which colors were dominating our internet lives. And the winner is…..blue! Blue? Yes, despite what we’ve thought for ages about red and orange rocking our graphic world, blue, in it’s various shades, has become the most popular color used for company branding on the web. For the complete breakdown visit their site. (via Your Digital Space)
Vicodin Ring – Just Lick and Relax
I spied this jewelry on the web awhile ago and have been chomping at the bit to have a piece of my very own. A clever take on American pill-popping excess, Canadian designers Stern Lab can’t seem to keep these little devils in stock. Hmmm….
Vicodin Ring Directions:
1. Stick finger in mouth.
2. Suck.
3. Ahhhhhh.
Finally, instructions we can all get on board with.
Waiting For “Superman”
A trailer created entirely in infographics for Waiting For “Superman”, the recent documentary by Davis Guggenheim that explores the American public school system and its failures.
The animation was created by BUCK, the NY/LA motion studio also responsible for the information design and animation on Guggenheim’s last documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
(via Design Observer)
Do You Have PSD?
The imaginative designers at Hyperakt just sailed past 500,000 views of their video “I have PSD” on Vimeo and YouTube, cheered along by Photoshop lovers who share their inability to imagine a world without PSD (a.k.a. Photoshop Dexterity).
“Photoshop dexterity (PSD) is a skillset acquired by proficient users of Adobe Photoshop, the world’s most ubiquitous digital tool for creating visual ideas. Qualities of PSD include supernatural powers of imagination and an overwhelming desire to constantly make the world more beautiful. PSD affects people from different walks of life. In fact, there is a high probability that you have PSD.”
To celebrate, Hyperakt has designed 20 variations on the PSD t-shirts featured in their video and are inviting you to vote on your favorites. If you want to share the video with friends and family, you’ll be entered into Hyperakt’s contest for a chance to be one of 150 lucky Fans who will receive a limited edition t-shirt with one of the three most popular designs printed on it.
To enter, first watch Hyperakt’s “I have PSD” video, next vote on your favorite t-shirt designs and finally Retweet “I have PSD and I want one of these shirts: http://bit.ly/amf4HB @ihavepsd via @hyperakt on Twitter. That’s it. Now you’re in the running for a chance to be one of only 150 people in the world (plus the hyperactive creative team at Hyperakt of course) with the I Have PSD t-shirt.
Shot in stop-motion style by the folks at Brooklyn design office Hyperakt. via Adobe
Starck Naked – Inside the Designer’s Home
By Erin Feher
I love Philippe Starck, but I have to say I never thought much about his sex life. I mean, usually he’d cross my mind somewhere between “Who can I bribe to drive me to drive me to Daly City” and “Where the fuck are the Brita filters,” while wandering the aisles at Target. That is until I got a sneak peak into his home through the brilliant lens of The Selby. Now, I can’t stop thinking about Philippe Starck’s sex life. 
Firstly, his wife is a fox. Like in that brown hair, olive skin, big tits and easy smile way that Italian women who drink and eat and do god-knows-what-else with reckless abandon are (and her name is Jasmine, come on). Secondly, their house is filled with taxidermy, which is weird, but it hardly qualifies as the weirdest shit that takes up residence in there. That might be the wig collection, glass eyeballs or refrigerator filled entirely with cakes. 
But whatever the verdict is on that, it’s quite clear that the Starcks get it on and get it on good. And it probably involves good champagne, their amazing silver soaking tub, gourmet honey, their wig collection and a stuffed polar bear. Think on that next time you’re in Target.
The Desk
A great little short by Imaginary Forces, The Desk examines the relationship and habits between artists and their desks. Directed by Mark Gardner, it includes interviews with design writer/critic Alice Twemlow, legendary graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, illustrator David Miller, product designer Søren Kjær, and novelist Kurt Andersen.
The Desk is part of Lines, a web series of mini-documentaries “highlighting the beauty and importance of the architecture in everyday objects, and how the design and structure of these objects affect and reflect our lifestyles. These objects range from parking structures to high heel shoes.”
Stella Artois by Wes Anderson
A new TV ad for the Belgian beer brand, this spot is titled Apartomatic and plays like a live-action Quagmire scene. Shot by Wes Anderson (a collaboration with Roman Coppola) in his signature style – sharp, perfectly framed, and with just enough quirk to keep things humorous.
(via Creative Review)
Gap’s Logo Debacle
Too bland? Too modern? Too, um, American Apparel? Gap’s new logo is being bashed from all sides in a marketing debacle akin to 1985s New Coke fiasco. CEO Marka Hansen defended the change in a recent Huffington Post editorial stating, “Our brand and our clothes are changing and rethinking our logo is part of aligning with that. We want our customers to take notice of Gap and see what it stands for today.”
Created by New York agency Laird & Partners, the logo was intended to be “a long-term commitment for the brand with a nod to the future.” Clearly the public did not see it that way. Amidst insane social media backlash, GAP announced they will be returning to the old standby. Either way, you have to give them props for inspiring a few days of rousing internet debate and publicity you couldn’t pay for. (via Brand New)
Let’s Get Busy Here – Teeny Tiny Hotels
Traveling is awesome. Traveling to the world’s destination cities is even better. Traveling to awesome cities and having to dip into your child’s college fund for a hotel room you only sleep in, not so much. In an effort to save our cash and provide us with the oh-so-photographic novelty of touching all four sides of our hotel room at once, The Arch Group has designed Sleep Box. A mobile cube (2m (l) x 1.4m (w) x 2.3m (h)) made of wood and MDF, SleepBox was designed to “allow very efficient use of available space and, if necessary, a quick change of layout”, making it perfect for places where demand dictates need. The hostel-specific SleepBox features bunk beds, flip-out tables and sockets for computers or phone chargers and not much else.
These tiny cubicles are already gracing the airports and train stations of Europe allowing for a safe and cheap alternative to the big city hotels. They’ve become such a hit that Japanese government officials are in talks to provide all public train stations in Tokyo with a few – proving once again that size doesn’t matter.
Life in 182 Square Feet
By Ike Edeani of Task
Boeing engineer Steve Sauer spent 7 years turning his 182-square-foot basement condo in Seattle into a compact, hyper efficient, three-level loft.
What I really wanted was one place with exactly what I needed and wanted. Quality is more important than quantity for me, and extra space only a problem. I tend to like things in their place.
The space contains two beds, a bathroom with a shower, a soaking tub (set into the floor underneath the entrance doorway), a full kitchen with a dishwasher, dining table, storage for two bikes, and a TV lounge. Sort of a low-tech (and even smaller) version of Gary Chang’s Domestic Transformer in Hong Kong, this type of dwelling might become the norm as more and more people move to already crowded cities around the world.
Architectural Striptease – It’s a Dry Heat
By Erin Feher
For most folks, rain may inspire getting cozy under the sheets with company, but for me there’s nothing like the dry, scorching heat of the desert to get my blood boiling, especially if I was camped out in this gold-plated modernist mansion wearing nothing but 24-karat aviators.
Acido Dorado is the realization of architect Robert Stone’s psychedelicvision. The architecture itself: extra-deep steps that slow your pace,exterior walls that open up completely to the vast nothingness beyond, desert modernism reincarnated with futuristic details toys with the visitor’s state of mind.
But Stone isn’t one for foreplay, so he painted every inch of the structure a glittering gold, instantly hypnotizing anyone who comes upon it. The thing is, like anything wild, willing and completely worth it, it’s not that easy to stumble upon. Located just east of Joshua Tree National Park, the mostly undeveloped land and the architectural jewels Stone continues to construct on it has been dubbed “Pretty Vacant Properties“, by its owner (Sid Vicious would know why).
As you would expect of a house dressed in gold down to its bedcovers, its luxurious offerings extend well beyond its color palette. And, while I may be able to scrape up the cash for the gold aviators, I think I’ll have to hold off on the sweaty, sandy weekend getaway: The house is available for rental (http://prettyvacantproperties.com ) at $440$460 per night.
If you are more leather-and-emo than glitter-and-disco, get dibs on Stone’s other property, Rosa Muerta, Acido Dorado’s black sheep of a sibling.
The World’s Most Expensive Hotel
Brought to you by people who have more money that Scrooge McDuck comes Singapore’s latest $8 billion dollar tourist attraction, The Marina Bay Sands hotel. Three towers standing 55 stories tall and connected at the top by a huge cruise-ship shaped “Sky Park”, the new hotel aims to put Las Vegas excess to shame. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the hotel has 2,560 rooms starting at $500 a night, an infinity pool three times the size of an Olympic pool with death-defying views and art comissioned by some of the world’s most well-known artists. The hotel charges $75 a person just for the pleasure of walking around inside and expects to attract an astonishing 70,000 visitors a day.
