LIFE AS A FREELANCER

A few months back I came across the work of artist, illustrator, and comic creator N.C. Winters while surfing freelanceswitch.com. Freelance Freedom, a weekly comic strip by Winters, is uber-relatable for freelancers making a living through blood, sweat, tears & creativity (all the while working in their jammies).



















Beyond the strip Winters creates all kinds of stunning paintings, drawings . . .etc. Click here to see more of Winters' work.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM DESIGN IS YUMMY

Thanks to all in cyberspace who take the time to read this blog. Wishing you & yours a happy holiday season!

PIGEON: IMPOSSIBLE

Writer/director Lucas Martell's first attempt at animation. The film took almost 5 years to complete and is the result of nearly one-hundred talented volunteer artists and musicians.

ANOTHER HOT BEEF INJECTION?

I hope you all got the Simpsons reference. If you didn't, watch the BBQ episode- one of my favorites.

I digress....Welcome to the sterile-looking restaurant Hospitalis in Riga, Latvia where patrons are treated like patients and taken care of by the leggy waitresses in nurse uniforms. The food is served in operating room trays and fittingly the restaurant is owned by local doctors.

ECO-SLEEK

Eco-friendly materials are in. A week or so ago I posted about the sleek Padouk Wood Business Card Case by Masakage Tanno and now I bring to your attention Brando's bamboo mouse and keyboard.

Here are the specs:

• 106 keys office keyboard
• Optical Scroll-wheel Mouse
• Keyboard and Mouse are made by bamboo
• Support Window 2000/XP/Vista and Linux
• Dimension: 395 x 155 x 20mm (approx.)(Keyboard)
• Dimension: 102 x 62 x 25mm (approx.)(Mouse)
• Weight: 842g (Keyboard)
• Weight: 87g (Mouse)
  

The keyboard and mouse combo retails for $52.00 US. Click here to get your own.

Where's the Mac love Brando?

CAUTION MUSIC LOVERS: READ AT OWN RISK

Introducing the world's most powerful iPod speaker. Measuring over 3' x 4' the Wall of Sound iPod speaker contains 28 individual speakers, has a frequency response of 40 Hz-20,000 kHz and is powered by 125 watts. The first generation of the WOS is sold out, but you can pre-order Gen2 for $4,495 USD + shipping by clicking here.

My birthday's coming up in January...anyone?

WOODEN BUSINESS CARD CASE

Meet the Padouk Wood Business Card Case by Masakage Tanno. It's elegant and held shut by a magnet. The price tag is a bit rich for my blood at $82 USD, but it's still a beautiful piece. Click here to get yours.

ASCII-LICIOUS

Designed by Nieke Sybrandy, these beautiful ASCII (American Standard code for Information Interchange) curtains would style up any geek-chic decor. I'm thoroughly impressed at how organic the tree branches look from a distance. Nice work!

MANIPULATED REALITY

UK photographer Alastair Levy describes his work as "a quiet subversion of the everyday".

Click here to see more of Levy's work on his website.

MEATY CARDS

Back in July 08' I blogged about forward-thinking business card concepts I'd spotted. I came across this meat business card recently and thought it made a nice addition. Created by meatcards.com, the card is created by searing contact information onto 100% beef jerky with a laser.

WINTER JUST GOT A LOT MORE FUN

Snow Shorts are pull-on snowsuit over-shorts with a foam-padded PVC seat fused to the butt. This ridged plastic butt-plate allows you to slide down any snowy slope. Gone are the days of lugging a sled up a hill!

Snow shorts retail for $35 and don't you worry- they come in adult sizes too. Click here to get your own.

A STOP-MOTION LOVE STORY

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Carlos Lascano is an illustrator, photographer, writer, animator and director from Madrid, Spain.

His unique style mixes digital tools and real objects bringing an organic quality to his animations. Click here to visit Carlos' website.

DREAMY PHOTOGRAPHY

Dreamers series-

Photography project from the summer 09' semester at the University of Wiesbaden (Hochschule Rhein-Main) in Germany.

The team consisted of Mohammed Amine Nasseri, Natalie Borger, Magda Klukowski and Elisabet Frau-Trullen under the direction of professor Frau Meike Becker-Lacour.

HALLOWEEN CREATIVITY

FRED PERRY BRAND

Tennis champ = tennis apparel + 100 years = Styling website

BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL

Brendt Barbur founded the Bicycle Film Festival in 2001 after being hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York City. This experience inspired him to create a festival to celebrate the bicycle through music, art, and film. The festival is held in 39 cities worldwide. This trailer was directer by Marco Mucig.

DESIGN INSPIRATIONS

I met today with a design agency to discuss the potential of working together. All was going smoothly until the creative director asked me to list some design influences. A simple enough question, right? My brain farted and I muttered something along the lines of "usafgsh."

Fuck.

If you are ever faced with this question and your noggin' lets you down....here is a short list of designers and websites that inspire me to help you out. Friends don't let friends look stupid.

Tim Gough, Graphic designer & illustrator [traditional print style]
Sébastien Nikolaou, Greek graphic designer & illustrator [flyer work]
Julien de Repentigny, Graphic designer and artistic director [3Deelicious]
Zeptonn, Graphic designer, illustrator & art director Jan Willem Wennekes/ Zeptonn [creative creatures]
Iain Crawford, photographer [texture]
Bloomsberry & Co., New Zealand based designer chocolate bar company [packaging & company branding]
The Die Line, Packaging designs from around the globe [packaging]
FFFFound, web service that allows users to post their favorite images found on the web and dynamically recommends inspirational imagery [blogging resource]
Geekologie, Gadgets & gizmos galore [blogging resource]
ILoveTypography Typography, Fonts & Typfaces [blogging resource]

I also regularly visit:
http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/
http://freelanceswitch.com/

COLLABORATIVE SKETCHBOOK

For 36 weeks Brooklyn artists Mac Premo & Duke Riley and Belfast artists Oliver Jeffers & Rory Jeffers collaborated on Book. The sketchbook was sent back and forth traveling over sixty thousand miles between the artists who took turns creating the beautiful pages. The artists created their sketches as a response to the content the previous artist had created. Book is now on display in Belfast at Laganside's Tunnel Under the Weir.

DIRTY SIGNS

I spotted this truck on the way home from a trip to O-Town for Thanksgiving. 10 points for creativity.

When you need to wash your truck Bradley, give me a call . . . I can hook you up with something a bit more permanent.

IS THAT RADIATION IN YOUR POCKET?

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. I've been full steam ahead with Design Is Yummy business for the past month now that I'm freelancing full time. It's hectic, but I'm loving it!

Enough about me...let's learn about germs.

Flu season is back and this time it brought a friend- H1N1. Hand sanitizer dispensers are popping up all over, but what do you do when a coworker accidentally sneezes all over your keyboard?

Introducing an ultra-violet radiation emitting wand you can pass over electronics that kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. Pass it over contaminated objects for 10 seconds and it eliminates germs. These types of wands are available in various sizes for different uses- from disinfecting electronics to getting rid of bed bugs.

UV germ killing wands retail for $79.99- $129.99 and can be purchased on ThinkGeek.

MAPTOR

Designed by Korean students, Jin-Sun Park and Seon-keun Park, Maptor is a portable combination map/projector. By downloading a map to the device, a user can project maps onto various surface such as the wall, ground, or a hand.

Maptor has integrated GPS so your position on the map is marked and tracked with a big red arrow making navigating easier. It's also made from environmentally friendly biodegradable plastic PLA (polylactic acid). Thumbs up to the Parks for making this cool device green!

Maptor is a concept device, so I'm not sure when/if it will become available for purchase, what the battery life is like, or the price. I also don't know how clear the maps appear in daylight.

The Maptor certainly has nerd potential...and this travel geek wants one.

THE WORLD IS APP CRAZY

Apps are big business. From gas calculators to dorky light sabers (complete with sound effects) there's an app for practically everything and everyone.

Apple, Palm, and Google have all staked a claim in the lucrative mobile application business, but what about Microsoft?

In addition to developing an upcoming mobile application store, a recent case study on the icrosoft Developer Network website details the process of running a complex iPhone app onto the Windows Mobile platform.

TIME SWITCH

Time Switch [2009] is a concept LED switch plate clock by New York's Harc Lee. The concept arose from working with tight deadlines and the notion of being "on the clock." When you turn on the light, the time is displayed.

Click here to view more details about the artist and project.

CREATIVE DIY REPAIRS

Thereifixedit.com has some creative photo posts of diy home improvement from around the globe. The site is new to the web- the oldest post was in May of this year. I'm sure there will be more adventures in duct tape posted as the site spreads.

Click here to visit the There I Fixed It website.

WEAR YOUR SUPPORT

You can now purchase the breast cancer bracelets I designed last summer for Aquabrass on my blog. Breast cancer awareness month is fast approaching, so . . . Wear your support!

Select Type

Hope $5.00 Tri-Life $5.00 Communiity $5.00 Perseverance $5.00 Double Strength $5.00 Set of 5 $25.00

Blogging has been a cinch lately thanks to readers sending me tips for all kinds of art and design to write about. A big THANKS to all those who've been pointing me in interesting directions!

One recommendation I received recently was to check out thinkgeek.com. While browsing nerd inventions (some too nerdy even for this geekette), I came across The Freeloader Portable Solar Charger.

The Freeloader powers up from its solar panels or a charging cable that plugs into a computer USB port. Once charged, the internal Li-Ion battery can power any number of different hand held devices such as an iPod for 18hours, a cell phone for 44 hours . . . etc. Once charged, it can store a battery life for up to 3 months! This awesome gadget can be yours for the very reasonable price of $49.99 USD.

USB MICROWAVE

Meet the Beanzawave. This prototype is the world's smallest microwave measuring 7.4 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide and 5.9 inches deep.

The Beanzawave works by using mobile phone radio frequencies to create heat enough to cook food products in under a minute! (It certainly brings up issues of what phone frequencies must be doing to our brains.)

How did this project all start? Heinz asked microwave expert Gordon Andrews and industrial design authority Stephen Frazer to develop this portable USB powered microwave to promote their Snap Pots. Andrews, the managing director of GAMA Microwave Technology, stated that users can 'tune' the radio-frequencies to provide best results.

'It is possible to heat a pie, a burger, a cup of soup or tea in quick time,' Andrews said.

There is talk of making it usable with lithium batteries, meaning the Beanzawave would become a microwave on the go.

Want one? Hold onto your spoons for now fellow nerds, Heinz hasn't released it yet. They might for around $160 if consumer feedback is positive.

PAPER ART

Some examples of paper art.




















Fall, 2008
210 x 240 x 70 cm
140 gsm acid free paper, and glue
by Peter Callesen



















Afterglow, 2007
12" x 12"hand cut cardstock paper
by Jen Stark




















Rundtreppe und Raum, 2008
100 x 75 cm
by Simon Schubert

Book Autopsies, 2008
by Brian Dettmer

Japanese art director and pop-artist Nagi Noda was the creative mind behind this and other such hair hat animal creations.

Noda has created ads for Nike and Coca-cola,album covers and music videos for artists ranging from Hikaru Utada to the Scissor Sisters. Sadly, she died on September 7, 2008 , at the young age of 35, after surgical complications arose from injuries sustained in a traffic accident the previous year.

CRAFT WITH JACKIE

craftwithjackie.com is a site for DIY craft lovers. Although the site has only been up for a couple of months (I know, because I worked on the design), it's already a great resource for those wanting to update their wardrobe on a budget. Jackie's projects are well documented, not to mention adorable. I'm a big fan of the above "Blair Waldorf" inspired headband.

3D CONCRETE

The above image entitled Crevasse is by 3D street artist Edgar Müller. His creations transform everyday surroundings into fantastical scenes. This pavement art piece was created in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland as part of the Festival of World Culture in August 2008. It's 250-square metres and took five days to paint!


Click here or here to see more of Müller's art.

COVERT WEAPON

This simple baseball cap is actually a deadly weapon. The Sap Cap features a pocket on the back that has a "unique impact material that is 110% the density of lead and will not rust." This impact material is designed especially for whacking people on the head for protection. The instructions are to grab the bill of the cap and swing away. The Sap Cap retails for $30 USD.

I'm all for self-defense and feeling safe to walk in your hood, but to me this product screams "BAD IDEA!" I'm not sure who came up with the concept or who produces it, but I'll never sit comfortably at a sporting event again.

NEW FIREKITES VIDEO

Firekites are an indie rock group from Newcastle, Australia. Autumn Story is from their debut album ‘The Bowery’, out now on Spunk Records. Yanni Kronenberg and Lucinda Schreiber directed this beautiful chalk animation video for their single Autumn Story. The video has been out less than a week and already it's highly blogged about putting Firekites as a group to watch for on this music junkie's radar.

PUTTING THE "FUN" BACK IN "DYSFUNCTIONAL"

Chairs for the Dysfunctional are a series of seats designed to illustrate different social sitting habits. More than that, they question the way we interact with inanimate objects in our daily lives. The chairs were designed by Alice Wang; a recent graduate of MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art.












I particularly like the above work that allows you to update your status on the back of your chair. It brings to light the ridiculous behavior of letting the world know what we're up to or what kind of mood we're in at all times. This chair will be shown at the Salone Satellite at the Milan Furniture Fair (22-27 April, 2009) next week.

There's also the chair that equalizes heights


















and the fart amplifying chair.



















Click here to read more about this and other Alice Wang projects.

PANTONE

I forgot about this one! A post I wrote in January and forgot to publish. Better late than never . . .

To understand why this post is cool it helps if you have a basic idea of what Pantone is. If you’re in the know just skip the next paragraph and get to the good stuff quicker.

Pantone Inc. is a U.S. corporation that is best known for its PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® (Yes, that’s PMS for short…some marketing director was asleep in that meeting). PMS is a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric and plastics. The idea behind PMS is to allow designers to 'color match' specific colors when a design enters production stage—regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers, reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now.

Pantone seems to be creeping into fashion, household products, office supplies...just about everything. Below are some fun Pantone projects for your viewing pleasure.
















[Pantone handbags from Mango in the UK]















[Pantone carpet from The Mohawk Group]















[Pantone glasses from Arm One]















[Pantone flight stool from British design team Barber Osgerby. Pantone decided to sell a limited edition of these stools on their website and Lawrence Herbert, founder and innovator of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, has signed 20 of them! Click here to get your own flight stool!]

WATER-INSPIRED SINKS

Since doing design work for a high-end bathroom/kitchen faucet company, I find myself noticing bathroom fixtures around town more than I care to admit. Recently I came (virtually) across the Ocean sink from Bandini. With ceiling mounted faucets, this sculptural, yet entirely functional piece is an eye-catching organic form. The Ocean wash basin is available in black and white, and two sizes which can be combined into different formations due to their modular nature. It's f'n cool!