WES JUNG IL

so, architecture critic oliver wainwright was allowed to tour north korea. how? i do not know. but he found pastel colors, quirky architecture, and kind of amazing design. wes anderson, can ya hear me? 

he wrote a piece on it for the guardian:

“In every refurbished building we visit, there is a peculiarly consistent style of preschool colour schemes and shiny synthetic surfaces, the pastel palettes and axial symmetry giving an eerie feeling of walking into a Wes Anderson film set, or a life-size Polly Pocket toy… kindergarten kitsch is the logical next step for a regime intent on projecting an image of carefree prosperity. It is architecture as anaesthetic, a powerful tool for the state to infantilise its people.”

more here.

via, my friend emma!

PERIODIC TABLE OF DESIGN

back to the basics! i love this beautifully organized (and color coded) piece from brent summers of digital telepathy. they give us the various tools, elements, and disciplines of design, all neatly conveyed in one place.

more here.

via design taxi

CUTE DO

illustrator daniel frost has always had a fascination with the interesting people and situations of east london. so, he decided to create a book that "illustrated east london" and captured something about the people and their trends. take a look at a few pages from "haircuts of hackney," his illustrated collection of the hairstyles of east london. the colors feel retro, the design feels modern and the overall vibe is just clean and cool. 

more here.

and here.

via creative boom

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

i wanted to share studio baer’s gorgeously designed book featuring thomas lohr’s abstract photographs of birds.

the photos are beautiful and the design of the book really takes them to another level. as i've said before, context is everything and layout can truly make or break how you engage with and feel about an image.

more here.

via it's nice that

DESIGN REFRESH

a nice little infographic for you today! this overview of the basic elements of design is a good one to bookmark. and if you don't have a design background at all, try looking at some of the things i've posted through the lens of one of these elements.

more here.

via design taxi

FLOWER POWER

love these flower ladies from emily isabella. kinda remind me of these ladies.

more here.

via designlovefest

COLOR BLOCK BABY

loving the color-filled work of french photographer matthieu venot. he uses color and angle to turn images of buildings into beautiful abstractions. love these minimalist and architectural images.

more here.

via it's nice that

ON YOUR MARKS

great branding often comes from unexpected places. in fact, the best branding i've seen this year was at a wedding! more on that soon.

today i wanted to share a beautiful branding project from an unexpected source: a cyclist.

this spring mark beaumont will be riding from cairo to capetown in the hopes of setting a cycling world record - a 100,000 kilometer-long ride. the proceeds from this ride, which he is calling africa solo, will go to orkidstudio, an organization that works to benefit kids and communities through innovative design and construction.

beaumont asked design studio o street to design a logo that could capture the spirit of this amazing undertaking. take a look at the process and sketches below and the inspired idea to combine mark's profile and the continent of africa into the branding of this amazing adventure.

more on the design here.

more on mark beaumont here.

via logodesignlove

UN PETITE PEAU

i love the gorgeous and playful illustrated packaging of french chocolate company le chocolat des francais. the company worked with french illustrators and artists to showcase french heritage and give the products a proud and playful and tres francais feel.

also love the use of red, white and blue throughout the branding (to further convey the french pride at the core of the product) and the use of that amazing frog logo. so good.

via creative boom

AROUND THE WORLD WITH AN ALPHABET

introducing: rebecca mah. for her senior thesis in art school, rebecca designed the series below, titled culture caps. she created an alphabet of capital letters that pulls styles, patterns and shapes from different regions of the world. each of the letters feels so specific and special, but rebecca also managed to give the entire series a consistency that is really beautiful.

and then she created a book about it. and that's really when this whole thing goes to another level for me. the design and thoughtfulness and execution of the book is truly exceptional.

more here.

via designworklife

DESIGNCRUSH

today i'm sharing a couple of design pieces that have caught my eye recently. this week i'm crushing on these combinations of photography and illustrated paint strokes. also, #pink.

more here: 1 / 2 / 3

PERFECTION

remember this post about why we are attracted to certain images? well, here is part two: a master class from wes anderson, appropriately called centered, compiled by kogonada. when i am in need of design inspiration, wes anderson is often the answer. wes anderson movies and looking at the costume design of cirque du soleil productions. works every time!

more here.

p.s. part three of this master class is just to watch all of the grand budapest hotel.

INTROJI: AN EMOJI FOR INTROVERTS

emjoi are definitely one of my favorite methods of communication. but as an introvert, sometimes i need an emoji to say: it's quiet time. designer rebecca evie lynch felt the same way so she created introji, emoji designed to help introverts communicate introverted needs. to which i say, amen.

i'm charging.

fully charged!

out of power.

happy in my bubble.

no talking.

alone together.

more here.

DESIGNCRUSH: BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

sharing a couple of examples of smart design that have caught my eye recently. this week i'm crushing on a couple of beautiful, minimalistic book covers that use graphic fonts and strategic touches of color to make a big and beautiful impact.

more here: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY

one of the beautiful things about twitter is that every now and then as you *scrollscrollscroll* something will make you pause and think or smile. even if it's fleeting, every now and then a tweet creates an opportunity for insight or connection or levity in your day. but it's fleeting!

enter onehundredforty. this is an awesome "art experiment" that merges art and design and technology. the way it works is that you select a tweet and they design and print a poster based on your tweet. "designs are made up of several different components, and a set of rules determines how these components are to be combined, including a grid system which adapts to the length of any tweet. if you’re not pleased with the result, you can simply click refresh and see a new design for your tweet." there are 50 original artworks to chose from.

i love this line from their description of the project "we saw twitter as an interesting way to bridge the digital world with the analog. to preserve something that at the moment is just being lost among the 500,000,000 new tweets produced each day."

one of the things that really resonated with me about this project is the idea of bringing the online offline. i've talk about this before, but with the massive amount of content and sharing that happens online i think we need more people and more brands thinking about how to bridge the online and offline, how to connect online sharing with physical experiences.

cool, right? get yourself over to their kickstarter. 

via miss moss

PORTRAIT OF A PATTERN

i recently came across the work of photographer omar victor diop and was immediately blown away. i spent almost an hour going through his work trying to narrow it down to just a couple of favorites to share with you. born in (and inspired by) senegal, he mixes his photography with other forms of art and design - interiors, costume, graphics. he says he hopes to capture the diversity of modern african societies and lifestyles.

my favorites are his portraits. his use of color, pattern and texture is stunning.

more here.

COLOR BLOCKING SCARFACE

oh man. these are so good.

this brilliant, minimalist series from tano veron captures the essence of famous movies with just blocks of color. crazy good!

made me think about how i would do this with some of my favorite movies.

more here.

BOOKNITURE

talk about design that does a lot with a little. these moleskine-like books unfold into tables and stools!

more on their kickstarter.

MAKING AIRPORT DESIGN FLY

take a look at this very cool rebrand of london luton airport (LLA) from atipo (who i actually wrote about in this post!) and ICO design. as i said in this post, i love when people bring color and thoughtful design into spaces that are typically just focused on utility (read: grey and beige). here's what the design house said about the project:

"rebranding an airport is no easy task. following the approval of a major development at LLA, we were approached to create a brand that would redefine the airport in the london market and inform its future direction as a passenger-focused airport. working closely with the key stakeholders led to four core values that will inform all aspects of the brand. these are expressed in the simplicity and dynamism of the new visual identity which is a clear statement of intent of the airport’s bold ambition for the future. the identity includes a specially commissioned typeface and icon set designed by atipo." 

more about the rebrand here.

more from atipo here.

GET WITH THE TIMES, NEW ROMAN!

these graphic design pun cards from sara heffernen made me laugh. she uses type to play with the perfectionist, *slightly* OCD tendencies that make designers great.

more here.