Blixt & Dunder

I have just had the pleasure of discovering a new husband and wife design team by the name of Blixt & Dunder, creatively based in my adopted home town, ‘wonderful’ Malmö, they specialise in branding, packaging design and concept development. Their first project, a rather splendid Bow Tie is available to buy on their very nice Dynamix themed WordPress site here.

Certainly one to keep an eye on.

The Genius of Design

Grab a coffee and watch episode one of the BBC’s reportedly excellent documentary The Genius of Design. I am looking forward to getting the full series on dvd in July.

Puma’s S-Index sustainable packaging

The PUMA S-INDEX challenges the company to uphold some serious environmental requirements. “The introduction of the S-Index for all products and packaging is a standard that serves as a production benchmark and communicates the products’ sustainable features to consumers. Consumers are becoming increasingly discerning in their purchasing choices and the PUMA S-Index will provide a seal of assurance. PUMA’s objective for the next phase of its long-term sustainability program is that 50% of its international product collections in footwear, apparel and accessories and 100% of its packaging are S-INDEX approved by 2015.”

Nice.

Visual Arts Data Service

Established in 1944, the Design Council was formed to educate the British public about good design and serve as strategic entity for the design community. Throughout the history of the Council, images have been collected to reinforce its aims. These archival slides have recently been digitized and are now available online. Some 13,000 images make up the current database (roughly two-thirds of the collection). A must for those searching for inspiration or simply just interest in the history of design.

Start your search here.

1 Dollar Note

The $1 bill today, no. 60 in one to keep an eye on, Guardian series “The Classics of Everyday Design.” Enough to make an American proud, Glancey breaks down the elements of the note, which has been in current form since 1957. A bit of education, and a lovely reminder of Gilbert Stuart’s role in the history of American portraiture.

The Classics of Everyday Design here.

Gabrielle Esperdy: Less Is More Again — A Manifesto

If you have 5 minutes, definitely worth a read. Here.

Killed Ideas

A website, then eventually a first volume book. Maybe now one of those ideas that deserved the light of day, but the client killed will get its chance..? Click here to learn more and maybe submit.

Advertising Industry / Porn Industry / Advertising Industry

“When people ask me what I do these days, I just tell them straight out: I make porn writes Gordon Comstock. Really it’s not that different to advertising I say, you still spend all day in a brightly lit room with someone you can barely stand, searching for variations on a creative act considered, up-to-now, unpalatable or just plain disgusting…”

A very interesting article about the world I am still not entirely comfortable in as a designer, over at the CR Blog.

Very good picture of Ron Jeremy and a few of his disciples too.

Calendreco

Calendreco is a perpetual wall calendar composed of one oversized board with the month’s numbers (1 – 31) and three additional headers with different weekday combinations. Depending on the month, the corresponding header is placed in front of the board to indicate the date. With one simple adjustment every month, the calendar can be used year after year.

Designed by Dessi Ivanova, you can read more about or buy it (like me) here.