While we may have a taste for fine design and art, we certainly don’t have the budget to own much of it ourselves. Ask me what design I’m truly thankful for, and it would have to be the little things I enjoy using every day.

Here is my list of some affordable, unsung heroes that don’t often make the magazines and blogs, but are superstars to me nonetheless:

Pilot G-2 .07 Pens

They wouldn’t win any beauty contests and you can pick up six for five dollars, but these guys are my workhorses day in and day out. I don’t like to be caught without one. What sells me is the gel ink which glides across pages smoothly and at just the right width. Besides a solid clicking mechanism, their rubberized grips aren’t too shabby for a budget writing instrument. Moreover, you can actually buy replacement cartridges for them, provided someone doesn’t run off with your pen (or you lose it) before you run out of ink.

Read More...

Via

I love her use of bright colors and marker as a medium. The texture, combined with the repetition of shapes makes this series of illustrations simple, yet rich.

(This particular piece is my Twitter background, until I can find the time to make a huge version of the DLB guillotine)

Via.

Via.

Pull up on the cap to reveal the speaker and increase the volume. Lower it to reduce volume and turn the radio off. Twist the cap to change the station.

Natural mapping elevated to fine design. Bravo.

Via

Paul and I have discussed releasing a DLB icon pack in the near future, so I’ve been thinking a lot about icons lately. It’s interesting to consider the conventions of icon design, which, in some cases, haven’t changed much in 25 years (at least). In particular, I’ve pondered over the icon for “save” which, in most cases, is represented by a 3.5” floppy disk (most prominently, in Microsoft Office).

When you first think about it, it seems to violate the UI metaphor principle. I mean, the save-floppy represents something that barely anyone uses today. Children born ten years ago have probably never handled a floppy disk. Not to mention all those born later and yet to be born. It may as well be a picture of an 8-track tape.

Read More...

I was on campus today taking care of some business and I had occasion to indulge myself with a Red Bull. While I stood there drinking, I started to think about which direction the label was facing. I could say I did this because I’m a designer and I’m always thinking of such things, but the truth is that I was concerned with how I looked holding that can in my hand—I’m narcissistic like that. I mean, this is an expensive soft drink; movie stars drink Red Bull. So can people tell that I’m drinking it? Do I look cool?

In this case, the answer was no. The label was facing me, so people were getting an eyeful of Nutrition Facts. I thought to myself, “what a wasted opportunity”. But as I began to think about it, the problem was more complex than I’d first thought. It's a narrow can. There's only enough room for a label on one side. So which is more important? Having the label face the customer so it builds association from the shelf to the first drink? Or facing the label outward, to advertise to others that someone is drinking the brand? I think it’s a tough choice. Fish or cut bait, right?

As I quaffed my caffeinated corn syrup, I turned this problem over in my head, but I couldn’t come up with a solution that would satisfy both goals. Everything I thought of was too complicated. When I came back to the refrigerated case for more “research”, I stumbled upon a profound solution, Zen-like in its perfection.

Do nothing.

What I noticed, as I looked over the cans, is that the placement of the mouth is completely random. I assume this is just a quirk of the manufacturing process. On average, the label will face out half of the time and face the drinker half of the time. Pretty elegant, I must say.