color career counselor

30 March 2010   //     13 comments   //   color, thought provoking

Found this amazing quiz over at How About Orange today. It is utter witchcraft, I tell you.

You pick the colors you like (and don’t like), and it tells you what career you should have. And it works! So much so that it completely picked up on my inner Aries/Taurus chaos by suggesting that I am first a Creator and second an Organizer. (Hello Right Brain? Meet Left Brain. Now be friends.)

What should you be when you grow up? Take the test and let me know!

PS. It doesn’t appear to like Safari, but Firefox worked great.

(Thanks Jessica!)

infinite usb

29 March 2010   //     2 comments   //   clever, design, form + function, tools

The Infinite USB — designed by Gonglue Jiang and winner of the iF Concept Award for 2010. Brilliant and beautiful. Can’t wait to get one and get rid of the ugly USB hub hiding sheepishly behind my computer.

(Thanks Design Milk)

cutout billboard

29 March 2010   //     4 comments   //   advertising, clever, color

Amazing billboard created by Leo Burnett for Koleston Naturals hair color. Strategically placed against a beautiful (and natural) sea/sky backdrop, the die-cut hair changes color throughout the day. Brilliant.

It would be fun to think of other settings that would provide unique results for a campaign like this. Like against a giant, healthy Sugar Maple that dramatically changes colors throughout the year. What else?

(Thanks Keith.)

paper pot

24 March 2010   //     3 comments   //   caught my eye, clever, design

Just spotted the best looking tissue box I’ve ever seen. Actually, probably the only good looking tissue box I’ve ever seen. But regardless of its lack of competition, isn’t it fabulous?

It even comes in colors! I would take that shiny blue one and put it in an all white bathroom and be happy as a clam.

(Found at the always dependable MollaSpace)

m pete inc

24 March 2010   //     0 comments   //   design, leap work

We just launched a new website that we’re extremely proud of and I thought I’d share it with you.

Our good friends over at M Pete Inc. were looking to establish their first online presence and we were thrilled to be able to help. Their Design + Build work is clean, modern and smart, and they wanted their website to reflect this.

They already had the circle logo, so we decided that more circles could only be a good thing, right?

Check out the full site here.

sharon dowell

22 March 2010   //     0 comments   //   color, fine arts

Sharon Dowell - Object #2

Sharon Dowell - Power Lines - Orange

Sharon Dowell - Interim

I’m obsessing over these paintings by Sharon Dowell. Love the colors. Love the layers. Love the perspective. Love.

And she’s from Charlotte! Rad.

See more of her stuff here.

(Thanks Susan!)

let there be mud

19 March 2010   //     7 comments   //   happy, kids, nature, play

It’s officially Spring here. Time for crazy days at the park.

Have a great weekend friends!

alexa meade

19 March 2010   //     2 comments   //   caught my eye, fine arts, photography

Julie

I cannot stop looking at these photographs. Painter and photographer Alexa Meade’s canvas is the human body. Each of these photos is of a real person, painted to look like a painting. Breathtaking.

See more here.

(Thanks Photojojo)

muses: lisa albrecht

14 March 2010   //     5 comments   //   design, happy, muses, save the world

earrings
yellow glass
Laundry Tree earrings


Way back in 2008 I met someone who changed my life for the better.

Kirtsy was throwing a party with Guy Kawasaki, at his house. We had spent the past 3 days toiling in the sun, stuffing swag bags, arranging tables, organizing shuttles and managing preparations for a party that was as grand as any of our weddings. Finally we all disappeared into the hidden corners of Guy’s house to change into our party clothes. The transformation when we all emerged was glorious. Everyone was sun-kissed, flushed with excitement and beautiful. As we walked around reveling in our creation, I found myself in front of Lisa Albrecht and Adrienne Adair (Laura’s favorite art director), both of whom I had met just that day. When I complimented Lisa on her amazing earrings, I never expected what came next: she took them off and gave them to me.

Turns out her dad makes them. By the hundreds. Gorgeous, hand-blown, colorful glass discs, suspended on long, slender, silver rectangles. They are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Despite Lisa’s pleading with her dad, he won’t sell them. Instead he gives them all to her to wear. Their deal is, whenever someone compliments her on them, she gives the earrings to that person. Have you ever heard of anything that exuded such good karma? I hadn’t either.

I was so shocked that I actually accepted them.

Then, holding my own earrings in my hand, I started feeling bad. Here she is at this huge party with gorgeous earrings and now she has nothing. So I offered her mine. They paled in comparison to the candy-like drops she had given me, but it felt better. Then we went off and partied and didn’t see each other again.

Every time I wore my new earrings, which I did often, I got complimented on them. (But I never give mine away. Sorry.)

Then one day I got a box in the mail. Inside was the entire contents of the picture above, including a letterpressed Thank You note. It was from Lisa (and her father). Thanking me for giving her my earrings. Does that make any sense to you? She gives me gorgeous earrings that cause everyone who sees them to notice them, I give her an old pair of earrings that no-one even notices anymore. And she sends me a thank you present?

To this day, my heart leaps for joy whenever I see her.

And I want you to know her. In addition to giver of beautiful earrings, she is the brains and brawn behind the amazing LaundryTree, purveyor of Soap Nuts.

LaundryTree.com Soap Nuts

Don’t know about SoapNuts? Dude, they are a fruit. That gets your laundry clean. And they totally work. And they’re completely, unadornedly, all natural. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

Mom 2.0 2010
Beautiful Lisa being painted by the lovely Katherine Center.

So go check Lisa out. And if you meet her, be sure to compliment her on her earrings. And tell her how much I adore her.

the rules of a gentleman

11 March 2010   //     3 comments   //   clever, design, information

Speaking as a lady (by genetics if not by behavior), I have to admit that I honestly appreciate a kind show of Gentlemanliness. Not that I need men to fall all over themselves fawning over me, but a door opened, nonchalantly but purposefully? Truly lovely.

So when I stumbled today upon The Rules of a Gentleman, I was instantly charmed. One tip per day. So minimal. So well-designed with classic, old newspaper typography and styles. And so well written, straightforward, with a funny aside for each one. Enchanting. Please share with all the Gentlemen you know.

And for what it’s worth, I totally fail at the particular instruction above. Back when I started wearing a watch in earnest, in 9th grade, I had a cast on my left arm. So I put the watch (a Swatch of course) on my right wrist and have worn it there ever since. And on top of that, the watch is inverted, so the face is on my inner arm rather than my outer. What a mess.

(Found at Minimal Exhibit)

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