Leisure Suit Legends of the 80s

Fab Ciraolo, an illustrator based in Santiago, Chile, gives 1980s cartoon heroes a more laidback look. Can we all agree on how awesome this is? See the rest the pictures here.

Core77 and Crayons

Rich Brilliant Willing, a design team based in New York, designed Core77's first trophy for their Design Awards. You can read more about the Core77 Design Awards here.

“We were inspired by a ‘mold’ as an image and symbol of manufacturing and design. In our discussions with Core77, we came to realize that an inherent pitfall of the iconic trophy is that it is shared by a group, yet not literally divisible among that group. We wondered if an award could, in some way, recognize the various contributors, beyond symbolic meaning alone. Our solution for the inaugural Core77 Design Awards Trophy has a functional value: winning teams can create ingots from the trophy, and provide these cast facsimiles to their collaborators, clients and staff.”

Stripping Down

A2951 set out to reimagine certain international brands by stripping down their packaging to the bare essentials. The nutella one is my favorite! You can see a lot more on their site here.

Twitter Gets Bigger

The clip above shows all the new features Twitter has added to its short messaging service. A few of the improvements include showing pictures and videos within the stream instead of having to click a link. The new perks will definitely get me using Twitter a lot more.Watch the vid to get a closer look.

Discarded Dresser Treasures

I have always been fascinated by all things used or discarded; in particular, old drawers are just “my thing.” They are the mute servants that help us through our daily lives, containing all kinds of secret things or just bric-a-brac. Drawers that stand out for their attractive craftsmanship or else for their being slightly bizarre or telling us a story or two, reflecting life in all its facets. Our wish is to revive the very beauty of those things, the life they have lived — in a manner that is both fresh and simple.

You can read more about Entwurf-Direkt’s drawers and see additional pictures at Design-Milk. I would really like to make one of my own very soon.

Charlatan, Martyr, Hustler

Big fan of this print by Joey Roth. You can order your own 11"x17" here.

The Stanley Thermos: A Timeless Classic

My family and I used to take a lot of road trips when I was a kid. My dad was notorious for driving miles without stopping. He would fill his Stanely thermos with hot tea to help with the long drives. In case you're wondering, the green they use in all their products is called Hammertone Green. I just ordered mine and can't wait until it gets in. You can read about how the thermos came into existence on their website or this Wikipedia entry.
Bonus: Stanely flask

India Now Has A Rupee Symbol

Congrats to the designer, D Uday Kumar.

Italian Designed Space Saving Furniture

This isn't just your typical Murphy bed. Resource furniture has come out with some game changers. I think it's their emphasis on both engineering and design that sets them apart. I really like how you don't have to take anything off the shelves when you rearrange the furniture.

Flashback: OK Soda

OK Soda was a soft drink created by The Coca-Cola Company in 1993 that aggressively courted the Generation X demographic with unusual advertising tactics, including endorsements and even outright negative publicity. It did not sell well in select test markets and was officially declared out of production in 1995 before reaching nation-wide distribution. The drink's slogan was "Things are going to be OK." Wikipedia

The entire Wikipedia article covers the soda's inception, the different tactics used to promote the drink, and its early demise. I didn't really dig too deep into this; I just thought it was interesting. You can watch a YouTube clip that W+K did for the soda here. More background on the soda here.

Miller High Life Indeed

Every time I see a bottle of Miller's High Life I wish the beer inside it was a little better. I hope I'm not alone when I say this, but I've always had a soft spot for the design on those glass bottles. They always looked so classy to me. I guess if you're not going to improve the beer then improving the packaging is the next best thing. You can read about the redesign and see more pictures at The Dieline. Cheers to the champagne of beers, haha.

Meet The Team

What is the best way to present your team on your company's website? Smashing Magazine has compiled a list of a few layouts that stood out to them. There are a few other good examples linked in the comments below the article. To see the list visit the site here.

Nike's "Write The Future": Behind The Scenes

Since Nike's "Write the Future" spot came out last week, many in the industry have come down with a bad case of ad envy. The epic ad gets the behind-the-scenes treatment in the four-minute video below. It shows director Alejandro Iñárritu discussing the concept behind the video, and features interviews with Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba. The Wieden + Kennedy creative team don't get any screen time to tell how the idea originated or what kind of production budget it took to get it done. -Brian Morrissey

WWDC 2010

Here's a link to Engadet's coverage of Steve Job's entire keynote. There's tons of coverage over the new iPhone, but he also dropped a few other noteworthy updates as well (iAds, Netflix, PDF capabilities, etc).

A Pretty Rough Guide To Screen Printing

For those who just want to know. Amazing film direction. By Andrew Bell.

Letterpress Dice Prints

Amazing prints made with dice. The designs are incredible. I recommend visiting Paper Crave to see the process and all of the designs in full view to appreciate the detail. You can also order these prints off of Etsy.

Square: Wireless Payment App

Quite possibly one of the most useful apps I've seen. It's a great way to exchange money with friends and small businesses. I'm glad they give you have the option of using the card reader or manually typing in the card number for each transaction. I think the pilot program is closed, but it should be publicly available soon.

Super Bowl XLV 2011

My home, North Texas, will be hosting 2011's Super Bowl. You can read more about the logo and the design process for this one/previous Super Bowl logos at BrandNew.

Ketchup Packet Of The Future

"The Heinz Dip & Squeeze dual-function package gives ketchup lovers two ways to enjoy Heinz Ketchup: either peel back the lid for easy dipping, or tear off the tip to squeeze onto favorite foods…The new Heinz Dip & Squeeze product marks the first ketchup packet makeover for the foodservice industry in 42 years."

Just thought this was interesting. You can read more and watch a demo here

Photoshop Shortcuts

I don't really use photoshop that often, but I'm all about shortcuts. Smashing Magazine has a list of some uncommon, easy to read shortcuts for photoshop here.