Design

Zen Table

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[caption id="attachment_19728" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="Zen Table"][/caption] The Zen Table:

Imagine a Japanese Zen Garden built into a beautifully-crafted, glass-topped table. The body of the table encapsulates electronics and robotics, that sculpt geometric patterns and images into a field of microscopic silicone beads beneath a glass top. The effect is mesmerizing and magical; it is truly Zen-like to watch ever-changing patterns and images appear in the sand.

Do not watch the video! It will hypnotize you and you’ll find yourself thinking, “Hey – $5,000 isn’t that much to pay for an sand table Etch-A-Sketch.”

Horrible Cards from The Oatmeal

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The Oatmeal is a very funny web site, skewering all aspects of life, tech and otherwise.

In (dubious) honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day, The Oatmeal serves up a selection of cards that, after some sober reflection, you should think very hard about your relationship before you buy/send these.

“If I were trapped in a blizzard…”

Vintage erasers

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Brings back memories for me. Do kids even use these anymore?

Kaleidolism

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This is kind of cool. Load an image — or use one of the default images — and have a little fun. After the image has loaded, click on the page and then move your mouse around.

Minimalist Web design

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DesignModo:

The role of minimalism is very strong in web design with the help of companies like Apple. Apple has helped expose minimalism in to the 20th century by the way their website, branding and devices were stripped down to show only its necessary elements, the less is more statement has never been so popular.

Clearly I’m a big fan of minimalist designs, but I like functionality and coolness too.

Nestle’s focus on packaging design

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Dexigner:

Nestle is the first food and beverage company to adopt this method following its partnership with the university in 2009. Inclusive Design is a process which seeks to develop product design to meet the needs of more people. Companies can use a number of specialist Inclusive Design tools to determine how they can make products easier to use.

Interesting article on how product design is helping people with arthritis and other physical problems.

CSS3 image styles

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If you click the “view demo” button, you can see how they will look. I like the cutout style.

Boxx electric moped

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Jamie Keene, The Verge:

A new electric scooter concept was on show for the first time at the Portland Auto Show last week, and it’s unlike any motorbike we’ve seen before. The Boxx stands at a meter tall and less than 30cm wide, making it easy to store inside your apartment, though the 120lb (about 55kg) weight might make getting it up the stairs a challenge.While the Boxx website is currently taking orders for $3,995 apiece, there’s no shipping date given.

Have you ever wanted to jump on your Mac Pro tower and ride it around town? This moped looks kinda like that. [caption id="attachment_19462" align="aligncenter" width="470" caption="From The Verge"][/caption]

Tips for designers when choosing a CMS

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Tyler Herman:

Don’t just go with the easiest one to configure without taking in some other considerations. A one-click install is nice, but should not be a deciding factor.

A power outlet with USB ports built in

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New York Times:

There are a lot of approaches to getting rid of wall-warts, those blocky power transformers that let you plug your low-voltage, battery-powered USB products into the wall to charge.But this one is a little more elegant than most.Newer Technology has designed a two receptacle in-wall outlet called “Power2U” that also has two USB receptacles arranged so you can use all four simultaneously.

Clever idea but we may need vendors to start making USB cables even longer.

Startup caught stealing from 37signals

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Jolie O’Dell:

Evidence shows that not only did the Curebit team copy 37signals; they’re serving some assets right from 37signals’ original site.

Not cool.

PID-controlled Espresso machine

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Gleb Polyakov and Igor Zamlinsky are Kickstarting this project: We’re making a commercial-quality espresso machine at a consumer-friendly price. There are basically two kinds of home espresso machines on the market today. The affordable models have no good mechanism of … Continued

James Bond cars on display in the UK

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From the National Motor Museum in the UK: 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. What better way to celebrate than with the biggest exhibition of James Bond vehicles ever staged? Alongside the most famous vehicles … Continued

Das Keyboard Model S Professional for Mac

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Do the words, “gold-plated, German-engineered, mechanical key switches” mean anything to you? If they do, you’re going to love Das Keyboard’s “Model S Professional for Mac” keyboard. Those of us old enough to remember the wonderfully tactile and ridiculously loud … Continued

Nearly transparent Apple store planned for France

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From ifoapplestore:

One of the most unusual and amazing architectural designs for an Apple store will reportedly appear in Aix en Provence (France), featuring a nearly all-glass structure enabled by new technology developed by Apple’s glass suppliers. A rendering posted…shows a one-level structure set back on a broad stone plaza, with a tan-colored rear wall, and all other encompassing walls made of glass.

Apple loves pushing the envelope when it comes to the design of their stores and this one looks like it will be amazing visually.

Reflecting

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Alex Brooks:

The site I want to read doesn’t churn out the same news and rumours that thousands of other sites have, the site I want to read doesn’t post fanatical rumours from idiotic sources. To make matters worse this churn effect often comes with a form of chinese whispers, led mainly by eccentric, traffic seeking asshole bloggers who are unable to distinguish fact and fiction, unable to pick up the phone to a public relations team to check a detail or more unbelievably spend the time to produce something thoughtful.

Good luck with the changes.

Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 2

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Boardwalk Empire is an Emmy nominated HBO show about the life and times of Nucky Thompson, a fictional Atlantic City gangster. Watching the show, you don’t realize just how much of it is computer generated special effects. The people at Brainstorm Digital have a reel of before and after footage from the show  that will blow your mind when you see how much of 1920s Atlantic City is all in the computer. […]

Subtle texture use in Web design

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Line25:

Textures are used in web design to avoid the cold/fake/digital appearance of flat solid colours, to instead add an element of realism and that sense of something real.

I’m a fan of subtle textures. Some people take it too far for my tastes though.

Letterpress business cards

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Just before the holidays I decided to order new business cards, but instead of the traditional type of cards, I went for something a little different. I wanted letterpress business cards. I contacted Evan Calkins at Hoban Press and he did them for me. I’m really impressed with the quality of the work, the price and how fast Evan was able to get them to me.

If you need some letterpress work done, I highly recommend contacting Evan.

FontShop’s best typefaces of 2011

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To celebrate the end of another exciting year in type, our type experts put their heads together to compile our annual “Best Of” list, highlighting the typefaces that surprised, impressed, and delighted us.

Designing for your target audience

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Your business and your clients depend on the visuals you make—if they end up being non-effective, that tends to be a direct reflection of your work. Once again, you want to make sure you are working smart (by doing your research and utilizing it), rather than working hard (creating a bunch of blind visuals hoping someone picks it up).