The fact that it’s December feels like we’re at the end of something–a big milestone that we call a year. I put pressure on myself to get things done. It’s fabricated. There are no implications if I don’t post this. If I don’t create another Phase post (I did this last night–better late than never). No one cares but me. When January rolls around, there will be more fake deadlines. Artists, designers, and creative folks in general need deadlines (real or not) to get things out the door. If I don’t make up a deadline, I’ll just noodle on it forever. I’ve got seventeen more projects to wrap up before the year ends, lemme get back to it. Enjoy the links.
Animation
Sword of the Sea: Animating The Wraith
By Joel Finney, Lead Animator at Giant Squid
When Your Workouts Turn Into a Work of Art
Using the maps from his daily runs, Duncan McCabe took the Strava art trend to new heights by creating an animated stickman that has become an online sensation.
Branding/Packaging
Coolhaus by &Walsh
Coolhaus, a range of ice creams and other frozen treats that looks to inspire other female and LGBT+ founders. For those thinking, ‘what, like Rem Koolhaas?’ – yes, you’re right.
Photography
NASA spacecraft captures stunning new images of Jupiter
The photos highlight the gas giant’s chaotic weather patterns and colorful bands.
Gary Wagner’s Photos Illuminate Rugged Icelandic Fjords and Shorelines
Working exclusively in black-and-white, Gary Wagner’s striking photos pare dramatic landscapes down to their essential shapes, lines, and tones.
Experience Design
WAVESTELLAR
A new cocktail bar experience from Kaohsiung. Developed by Bito’s lab, Bitween, in collaboration with the restaurant group YONSHIN, it seamlessly blends tap-style drink service with screen-based media, creating an innovative and immersive drinking experience.
Web Design/UX/UI
The root causes for the dev-design mismatch
Designers use an unconstrained canvas tool to design for rule-based interactive systems, hoping the devs will perfect everything in production. This causes misalignment between designers and devs.
How to Unlock Product Success Through Growth Design
Growth design blends product design with growth strategy, creating product experiences that drive user acquisition, activation, and retention. It serves as the bridge between UX and business goals.
Ebay’s clean new interface is designed to court Gen Z and millennials
A facelift to Ebay’s UX inspired a new brand that’s less cluttered and more human.
Art
Concentric Forms Escape the Confines of the Ceramic Vessel in Matthew Chambers’s Sculptures
Hypnotic and seemingly endless, the dynamic works appear like vast portals that descend into relatively small vessels.
Industrial Design
DEKO
From the sister and brother founders at The Kickback, the DEKO turntable is fresh, accessibly priced, and intends on shaking up the market. You can connect to Bluetooth or use the RCA inputs to connect to your Hi-Fi system.
The Intersection of Nature and Design: Maison Forestier’s Philosophy on Lighting
The Parisian lighting brand has – since its topiary-inspired inception by Bernard Forestier in 1992 – carved a beatific niche in its industry, uniting passion, freedom and discovery to fashion radiant wares that meld unique aesthetics with keen functionality, to suit a diverse range of settings.
Architecture
SHED Revives a Mid-Century House in Portland With Japanese Minimalism
Originally designed in 1963 by Saul Zaik, a revered figure in Pacific Northwest architecture, this home has been thoughtfully reimagined by SHED Architecture & Design to meet the aesthetic and functional needs of its new owners.