While waiting for a freshly-made sandwich at a small market and deli, I spotted this product on the shelf. With inviting colors, a vintage feel reminiscent of purer days, a stand-up design, and the all-natural, deliciously-smelling soap peeking through the top, inviting sensory exploration, it was plainly clear: this is a successful package design.
As the story goes, Pleasant River soap started as a side project by a mom inspired to make natural soaps for her children, selling the product only seasonally (i.e. the holidays) at local craft fairs. When she eventually hired a professional design firm to revamp the logo, visual brand portfolio, and packaging, the company gained regional and national retail attention—overnight.Design by: Pulp + WireTime Machine in a Book
Inspired by the adventures in what many consider to be the first Russian Adventure Novel, Predki Kalimerosa: Aleksandr Filippovich Makedonskii, wherein the narrator travels to Ancient Greece with a travel device and journeys with Alexander the Great, this book-turned art piece features gold leaf, copper, clock gears, a glass lens, and a piano hinge, all conspicuously assembled to hide a secret feature in the spine.
To top it off, artist Elizabeth Beronick Sheets has included original watercolor illustrations that fold-out as part of this massively tactile, imagination-inducing piece.
This is beyond book design. The appropirately titled one-of-a-kind Time Machine can be teleshipped to its one lucky owner via The Odd Luminary—lucky indeed will its owner be.
Santa's Blood Boot
via leekiseung.com
A little design idea to encourage people to associate gift-giving season with blood donations—giving something that really matters to people that really need it, rather than the empty gift-giving of useless material objects. By Lee Ki Seung
Holiday Pantone Ornaments
Designers, rejoice in full Pantone splendor for the holidays.
Robo Lamps: Kozo
With magnetic arms to hold keys or other metal artifacts, the Kozo Man and its smaller companion, Kozo Kid, playfully shine light on your desk through their heads, in their full retro-mechanical rawness.
Available for purchase at Broodr.
Peeks into Designing Fonts
Wonderfull sketches from the font foundry, Playtype, illustrate the intricate, detailed studies that are part of the process of creating fonts.
Potato Letterpress
Alex Prior and David Weller get creative making an inexpensive, easy-to-carve letterpress set for a school fund-raising benefit. Carve, stamp, rinse letters, repeat.
Capriole—Architectural Fashion Collection
Iris Van Herpen's Capriole collection is inspired by contemporary architectural movements, compounded on a style that was influenced by her internship with ground-breaking designer Alexander McQueen. To achieve the highly sculptural effects in this collection, a technique mixing 3D printing with fabrics was employed. Notable in the bio-skeletalesque pieces, is the influence of renown Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
Sculptures from Recycled Tires—Yong Ho Ji
Not only is this a great recycling project, but Ho Ji's way of using tires for texture and for molding animal forms creates a thought-provoking juxtaposition between the world of machines (cars) and the natural world (or the mythical world, in some of his sculptures).
via gocarving.com
Steve Jobs: The Mistaken Assumption About Design
"Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's' the veneer—that the designers are handed this box and told, "Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."—Steve Jobs
Saul Bass' Complete Vertigo Branding Package
In 1958, Saul Bass created the entire visual package for Hitchcock's film, Vertigo, including title treatments, one sheets, half sheets, lobby posters, ads, trailer... the whole visual package for the film.
Via Annyas
Via Annyas
Minimalist Movie Hero Posters
Marco Manev's take on minimalistic, iconographic representations of comic book heroes, with the added texturization of well-loved posters.
Gorgeous Book Carvings of Su Blackwell
While there is quite a bit of beautiful and inspiring book carving art and paper art, the work of Su Blackwell has a particularly rich and endearing quality. Delicate carved detail, selected ink texture, diorama-like assemblage, and lighting combine to make pieces that suggest miniature, self-contained worlds.
Slide To The Train — The Pop-Up City
via popupcity.net
Brilliant. Isn't everyone always in a hurry to catch the train? What better way to address this than by the simple addition of an architectural feature along the staircase—the slide? A great example of simple design solutions with great benefit.
Wooden Keyboard, Hacoa
Beautiful wooden keyboards, by Hacoa, for those who like the touch of natural material, even in a digital world.
A Quick & Comprehensive Type Guide
via zubeta.com
A lovely guide filled with typographic tips and the assertion: "95% of design is Typography; Deal with it!" Designed by Noodior.
Monogram—Adding Stiches to Printed Cards
This is a wonderful example of the unbeatable experiences that can be delivered by print , and the fabrication of other tangible crafts. While web design may reign supreme in terms of easy, broad distribution of information, it cannot involve the sense of touch the way that the printed and fabricated piece can—something that engages people in a direct, arguably intimate, level.
This piece for Monogram Design showcases the studio's attention to elegance and detail.