swissmiss

swissmiss is moving!

Swissmiss is moving to a new home! For almost 4 years, Typepad has been my host and blogging platform. They have been nothing but wonderful to me and I am not leaving Typepad out of being an unsatisfied customer. Not at all. It just so happens that I had some very custom UI features in mind for swissmiss 2.0 and my fabulous developer John Ford is Wordpress Guru Extraordinnaire. Starting tomorrow, all new posts will go live over at swiss-miss.com. Please update your bookmarks!

Goodbye Typepad! You have been wonderful to me!

Blue the hue of creativity? Red for detail?

"The subconscious effect of color is a hot area of psychology research, in part because marketers try to use color to hook us on whatever they're trying to sell. And the newest research, published Thursday by the journal Science, suggests they'd better be careful — because red or blue can spark very different brain reactions depending on the task involved."

Blue the hue of creativity? Red for detail?, By Lauran Neergaard

Polaroid Mirror

Polaroid Mirror by Colin O'Dowd. Lovely.

(thank you grant)

Crossing the Line: Gone

Crossing The Line: Gone from Nick Bennett on Vimeo.

(via nookastyle)

Wool Scarves made from old Sweaters

Kelley makes fantastic one-of-a-kind wool scarves from old sweaters. They are all sold out. Boohooo.

Aesthetic Apparatus Studio Tour

The Post Family visits Aesthetic Apparatus. Read the interview.

Cautious.

Illustration by Canada based illustrator Alanna Cavanagh.

Fight indoor pollution with plants

"At its culmination in 1989, NASA’s two-year research into sustainable methods of indoor atmospheric cleansing in space stations revealed that many common houseplants and blooming potted plants help fight pollution indoors, making the air safer for humans. Certain plants that thrive in apartments eat carbon and other ‘off-gases’, such as formaldehyde and benzene, the way that monstrous shrub from the Little Shop of Horrors ate its owner’s enemies."

What about some "Metaphys indoor grass planters"?

(thank you keren)

Would you like Bacon on that website?

Thanks for the Bacon Laugh, Anne. Go and put bacon on your site.

EnjoysThin.gs

A place to save and share things you enjoy, whether that's a whole web page or you a specific photo on that page: EnjoysThin.gs.


enjoysthin.gs - The Basics from Ted Roden on Vimeo.

(via ehub)

The Vignelli Canon

Massimo Vignelli has published an amazing 96 page book on better understanding typography in graphic design. Wonderful! The book is available for free online in PDF format. Thank you Massimo!

(via aisleone)

Pins belong on a Hanger

I was always wondering what I should do with all those pins I have laying around at home. Voila. (Image by Aumayya Alsenan)

A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web

“A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web aims to teach you techniques for designing your website using the principles of graphic design. Featuring five sections, each covering a core aspect of graphic design: Getting Started, Research, Typography, Colour, and Layout. Learn solid graphic design theory that you can simply apply to your designs, making the difference from a good design to a great one.”

Mark Boulton’s Five Simple Steps: A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web is available in PDF format for £12.

(via AisleOne)

Anyone Can Swiss

www.anyonecanswiss.com

(thank you moncef)

H&M starting a home line

H&M is launching a home line! It won't be sold until february, and then it will only be online and possibly only in Europe. YAY!

Who said this is for the garden?

This piece by Kilian Schindler is supposed to be used for the garden, but hey, I'd like this in my entrance way!

(via athomeathome)

Alec Soth on Limitation and Creativity

"If limitation spawns creativity, is the limitless resource of the Internet a good thing? Does it do more harm than good to read all these blogs?”
— Alec Soth

(via glass)

Made me smile!

Check out how WGN-TV Chicago Weekend Anchors spend their time in their broadcast's first commercial break



(via glass)

Your blog as a Book?

Have anyone of you tried to make Books out of your blog? I've just seen over on blurb that they offer such a service:

If you use LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad or Blogger, simply select your book size (support for 5x8 B/W Text book coming in next release), select "blog to book," choose your blogging platform and slurp away! Wondering how hundreds of pages of blog fodder might be translated into a book? Check out Mike Workman's "Wisdom, Wisecracks & Weener Dogs" (pictured above) to see how great a blog can look in print.

Anyone tried this? If so, what's the verdict?

swissmiss on dwell blog

Laure Joliet of Dwell Blog asked me 8 questions. What an honor to be featured on their site. Thank you Laure!

NYTimes Announcing the Article Search API

NYTimes.com just released the article search API with data from over 2.8 million articles from 1981-today. WOW! Go build something!

The Smart Growth Manifesto

Here are the four pillars of smart growth manifesto:

1. Outcomes, not income
2. Connections, not transactions
3. People, not product
4. Creativity, not productivity


(via JensHoffmann)

Design by Committee

A camel is a horse designed by a committee" - Sir Alec Issigonis quotes

Introducing Ubiquity for Firefox, and experiment in connecting the Web with language.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

(thank you razvan)

Letraset Penguin

Marc Fischer and I share two things: Love for Penguins and Letraset. Now combine the two and you get an instant YAY from me.

(thank you Jon)

Rattan Pouf

Hello there, lovely Rattan Pouf. How are you today?

This is Agostina

“This is Agostina” is a video to promote the font Agostina which was designed by Michael Cina.


This is Agostina from YouWorkForThem on Vimeo.

(via todayandtomorrow)

House Industries Alexander Girard Memory Game

Alexander Girard originally created the images used in this memory game for his environmental enrichment panels that he designed to spice up Herman Miller’s Action Office plan. Each game comes with 72 pieces and a limited-edition wooden box. Made in the USA out of replenishable basswood and printed with child-safe non-toxic inks. Wonderful. Make sure to also check out the building blocks. Our little Ella is coo-coo about them! And then the dolls, they make me smile!

(thank you andy)

Tooby*Doo

Tooby*Doo is a new childrenswear lifestyle design label founded in New York. How cool are those rainboots?

The difference between a Designer and Developer...

The difference between a Designer and Developer, when it comes to design skills, is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it. — Scott Hanselman

UPDATE: Calm down everyone, I didn't mean to be snoddy. This quote also works the other way around, at least what I am concerned regarding my development skills. And of course, there are developers out there that are fantastic designers. I was taking this quote much lighter than most of you. I just thought it was a funny analogy.

Online Lost-and-Found for Transit

New York City Transit is trying to make it easier for subway and bus riders to retrieve lost items, by creating a Web page where they can fill out an online claim form describing their missing property.

I LEGO N.Y.

During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, Christoph Niemann spends a lot of time with his boys in their room. And as he looks at the toys scattered on the floor, his mind inevitably wanders back to New York. I LEGO N.Y.





(thank you james)

Richard Serra sculptures seen on Google Maps!

Richard Serra sculptures seen on Google Maps!

(via twittering MoMA)

Forbes calls designers snooty

Forbes magazine recently published this article: The Creativity of Crowds, which opens with the following subtitle: “CrowdSpring aims to slash the cost of graphic design work — and democratize a snooty business.”

This article is ludicrious. I have no words.

(via davidairey)

Googles Search turns more personal

Google is now changing is algorithms on how rankings work on Google. For the first 6 months in 2009 you will start to notice alot of changes with your rankings (Google dancing) as they are currently experimenting new algorithms to cut down on spam and the way results are displayed for users. Googles Search turns more personal, changing the way SEO works 2009 (via iA)

Kids Kraft Weekly - a regular dose of crafty goodness for young kids

I subscribe to countless e-mail newsletters. There's only a handfull though that I will *always* look at the minute I see them appear in my inbox. One of them is Kids Kraft Weekly, a site run by Amber Carvan based in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Each issue of the Kids Craft Weekly newsletter contains a selection of craft ideas – organised by theme – that are cheap, educational, child-friendly and fun. Amber is craft godess extraordinnaire. Her ideas are simple, yet stunning. If you have little ones and are into crafty projects, check out Kids Craft Weekly, subscribe to Amber's newsletter, and donate a small amount (donate button at the bottom of her newsletter). This woman pours so much love into this wonderful project, she deserves a token of appreciation.

Forget All The Rules You Ever Learned About Graphic Design

Forget All The Rules You Ever Learned About Graphic Design by Bob Gill.

British Design Classics

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today: A lovely set of Royal Mail stamp collection featuring British Design classics. Thank you Claire!

Thelonius Monk’s advice to saxophonist Steve Lacy (1960)

A Genius is the one most like himself. - Thelonius Monk

Thelonius Monk’s advice to saxophonist Steve Lacy (1960)

Hold on to a good web developer!

This coming weekend will be a big moment for swissmiss! My wonderful developer and friend John Ford and I are hard at work 'packing boxes' to finally move the site to my own server and reveal the much needed design overhaul. Some of the new functionality inlcudes: a much needed search, better filtering options and even a choice in how you'll access the posts.

On a personal and 'appreciation note': I have never before worked with a developer that is as organized, zen and pleasant to deal with as John. He would actually challenge my designs and say: "Com'on, make it a little harder for me. We can do more than that!" Here's my advice to anyone who works with developers: If you find a developer gem like John, treat them nice, send them gifts, don't ever let them get away!

Only five more days until the big move! Hooray! John, you are the best!