First Weblog

Now that we have American Inventor, it might be worthwhile to go back to the totally absurd inventions site (where you can study such things as the neck fanny pack and the sled pants, among many others).

Lately there is a lot of effort to be found surrounding "maternity design", and now you can even have fun playing dress up.

Read the numbers on your fruit, they actually mean something.

In her new book, Branding for Nonprofits: Developing Identity with Integrity, DK Holland demystifies the branding and design process for nonprofits large and small and shows how you can use both to enhance the effectiveness of your organization.

An assortment of images:
electrical wire art
sleepy...
signage
banana art

Redaction, a new graphic design publication. that presents "works of design educators and periphery practioners striving to create new paradigms in design practice and design writing." [Thanks to Maya for the link]

Plagiarism spotted in Iceland. And not so good plagiarism at that. Male hairlines as metaphor for business graphs? Top image is the copy by Glitnir bank in Iceland, bottom image is "original" by Fokus Bank in Norway. [Thanks to Thorri for the story]

Many thanks to the various folks who have written in pointing to the Make $100,000 as a Desktop Graphic Designer web page. There is also a more mommy-endorsed version here.

What do you put between No and Spec? You put an exclamation point, that's what: NO!SPEC.

A pair of high-speed internet-averse turtles, created by Goodby Silverstein for Comcast, The Slowskys, now have a blog of their own, created by NY-based Honest.

Put those empty FedEx boxes to good use.

A very extensive collection of record covers by Mr. Saville. [Via Coudal]

To celebrate her 90 years Sun-Maid Girl goes, well, baba boom. [Via Los Apuntes Gráficos]

I'm really in the wrong profession. Last week a John Chamberlain sculpture of a roundish ball of aluminum sold at Christie's New York for $38,400. Yes, a ball of foil — just like the kind you make when cleaning up after your burrito delivery.

That's right. Perhaps I should just give up... because design only gets in the way.

Besides, the whole "originality" thing is just a construct we've made in order to hide our nodes of inspiration.

Thankfully the world is full with reminders of one's inspirations. For example: the cover for the paperback edition of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, above. Thirty years on, I still have vivid memories of seeing this cover in shopping malls, drug stores, window displays… pretty much everywhere. Yesterday was her birthday, and while she may be perceived as a one-book author — see the zipless zipper motif on the above right cover — she's a wonderful, vulgar treasure. Also, her website has a scheduled appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher" this Friday.

With the inevitable death of print and television advertising (at least that's what everyone tells me) comes the growth of "out-of-home" innovation, as documented on Billboardom — an OOH blog.

Do we need TV in public spaces? Anyone who's had to sit at Newark Liberty (Apple-Pie Patriot Eagle Bible) Airport while being blasted by CNN at top volume, would probably say "No."

How to fake a UFO photograph.