These posts follow a simple formula. But, each week delivers different results and I don’t plan themes or focus areas. I take in what comes from suggestions (yes, I’m open to suggestions–thanks Don for sharing the great animation), my collected sources that I still read via RSS, email newsletters, and friends. I obviously don’t share it all. I curate the hell out of all that I take in. I have a few general rules. I try not to go too deep on any one discipline. This means no more than 3 (sometimes 4 if it’s just too good). I want to have a broad mix–not too much pure digital, some commerce, some art. I also try to find something fun (or random) to wrap it up and end on a lighter note. OK, now you know the secrets. Enjoy the result.
Graphic Design/Branding
The Asda rebrand features fruit stickers and an unexpected approach to typography
Working with Colophon foundry, Havas has opted for a totally unicase headline typeface, and pinched the crossbar of the pound sign to indicate pence.
Industrial Design
Fantastic Industrial Design Student Work: “How Long Should Objects Last?”
Conditional Longevity, by Charlie Humble-Thomas at the RCA
What telephones can tell you about good design
The story of touch-tone keypads
Animation
Form Play’s title sequence for The Art Department festival shows us the beauty of creative mistakes
Channelling the mystery and humour of The Pink Panther, the Brighton-based studio showcases the ebbs and flows of creativity.
Web Design/UX/UI
It’s Time We Seriously Talk About Users and Experiences
What’s missing is that we never discuss specific users and their detailed experiences. What are the users’ names?
The Agentic Era of UX
The future of digital experience is here—but it’s being minced into microscopic use cases
Netflix’s head of design answers every question you ever had about Netflix
In this rare and extended Q&A, Netflix VP of design Steve Johnson reveals how the streaming service designs its system, and what he thinks about gaming, the Vision Pro, and generative AI.
Art/Sculpture
Susanna Bauer’s Intricately Crocheted Leaves Celebrate the Elegance and Ephemerality of Nature
Working with a range of foraged species, the artist meticulously stitches around the edges or fills in tiny incisions, creating intricate lacework compositions.
Tara Donovan Layers 200,000 CDs into Twisting Totems of Physical Data
For Stratagems, she bought about 500,000 CDs from eBay, sorted them by color, and glued two together so just the reflective areas were visible.
Photography
Spectacular Abstract-Winning Photos Of The Drone Photo Awards
These award-winning photos highlight the expansive potential of aerial photography to inspire and broaden our perception of beauty in both nature and urban environments.
Random
The Forged Apple Employee Badge
Here’s a quick and cautionary tale