swissmiss

Radon Lamp

There's something about the Radon table and floor lamps, made of moulded materials and mounted with rubber feet so it stands firm.

Designy Crib: BRIO Sleep Cot

The BRIO Sleep cot had me look. It has removable sides so that it can be easily transformed into a toddler bed and a Junior Bed. From newborn to 6 years Available in white, yellow and natural wood finishes. Niiiice!

Manhattan Subway Map done in ascii Code

Manhattan subway map done in ascii.

(via sam potts twitter)

Dan Gilbert: Exploring the frontiers of happiness

Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.

Making Room for Miss Manners Is a Parenting Basic

“Every infant is born adorable but selfish and the center of the universe,” she replied. It’s a parent’s job to teach that “there are other people, and other people have feelings.” The conversations that every pediatrician has, over and over, about “limit setting” and “consistently praising good behavior” are conversations about manners. And when you are in the exam room with a child who seems to have none, you begin to wonder what is going on at home and at school, and questions of family dysfunction or neurodevelopmental problems begin to cross your mind.

Making Room for Miss Manners Is a Parenting Basic, by Perri Klass, M.D

Are You Raising a Douchebag?

Alas, convenient as it might be, we can't blame the children. "There's no such thing as a spoiled gene," says parenting expert Michele Borba, author of Don't Give Me That Attitude! "The brat factor is all learned." Which means that if you're the dad pushing Junior around in a limited-edition Bugaboo stroller by Bas Kosters ($2,000), carrying a Louis Vuitton diaper bag ($1,380), and checking in at a members-only parenting club like Citi-babes in Manhattan (annual membership: $2,000), your offspring are probably developing some serious entitlement issues. Just read the news. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the rise of sixth-grade "fashion bullies" who terrorize peers who don't wear Junior Dolce & Gabbana. Then there was the New York Times article on youngsters—4-year-olds!—who fancy themselves collectors of highly coveted works of art. Are You Raising a Douchebag? by David Hochman (thank you Keren)

Long Live Polaroid

How fabulous is this Camera Tee? Love Live Polaroid!

Live what you love

Live What You Love Letterpress Print in Black (16/27) by NYC based Hijiri.

This is where I live.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

(via edgar gonzalez)

Monogram Card Set

Hand printed card set featuring one big bold red letter on each card.

Web Development Project Estimator

The Web Development Project Estimator is a simple tool that allows web designers and site developers to quickly and thoroughly estimate the time and materials required for a proposed web project.

(thank you Nate, thank you coudal)

Prettyloaded.com - an homage to the flash preloader

BigSpaceship just pointed me to prettyloaded.com, an archive of preloaders. It's a tribute to a vanishing art form amid a constantly changing digital landscape. I just spent a good 20minutes going down 'preloader memory lane'! What a fantastic (and inspiring!) new archival resource. Make sure to keep checking back in as the preloarder archive will be growing steadily over time as they are going to open it for submissions soon. Congrats Michael!

Top 10 Countries by Robot Density

Now that's a graphic I would love to show and explain to Ella's 100 year old great-grandmother: Top 10 Countries by Robot Density

What's for dinner? Potato Flip Flops!

Purchase the Yummyfun Kooking DVD series here .

(a fantastic find by minordetails)

Dan Ariely: Tendencies of Irrational Behavior

Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University, presents examples of cognitive illusions that help illustrate why humans make predictably irrational decisions.



(Yay for having discovered fora.tv. Thank you Donna!)

History of the Internet

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

For more information about Melih Bilgil visit his blog.

(via enlarge your pen)

Question for my readers...

I am peparing for my AIGA/Apple Store presentation on february 11, 2009 and am wondering: What expectations would you have, assuming you would come out to this event? Is there anything specific you would want to ask me? (100 instant karma points for everyone that leaves a comment below!)

Crayon Physics

Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

(thanks for reminding me of this game, Tom)

Miniature Concrete Buildings

Miniature Concrete Buildings from Pull+Push. Fantastic!

(thank you anthony)

Don't Stop Me Now

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches

Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea. Interesting TimesOnline Article by Jonathan Leake and Richard Woods

UPDATE: Google disagrees.

(via jakehimself twitter)

For my German Readers: zehnseiten.de

zehnseiten.de (german only) is a fantastic site where you can enjoy videos of german authors reading ten pages out of their book. Brilliant! (thank you christian)

Best of Restaurant Graphics

An entire book filled with Restaurant Graphics? I want! I want!

Brooklyn Twitter Elite

Twitter.grader.com  helps you find your local 'Twitter Elite'. Here's the list of Brooklyn, New York. 

After Police Relent, Bloggers Get Press Credentials

Three bloggers who had sued New York City after the Police Department denied them press credentials because they work for online or nontraditional news outlets were issued credentials on Friday after the police relented, the bloggers’ lawyer, Norman Siegel, said.

“This step recognizes that bloggers are 21st-century journalists,” Mr. Siegel, a noted civil liberties lawyer who has announced plans to run for public advocate next year, said in a phone interview. “It’s an important first step, but only a first step, because we still need to address the constitutional problem of who gets press credentials in New York City. The Police Department should not be in the business of determining who’s a journalist.”

After Police Relent, Bloggers Get Press Credentials

Trade 10 Facebook Friends for a Whopper

Burger King has introduced a new Facebook application that is getting lots of attention – “Whopper Sacrifice.” The concept is essentially this: delete 10 of your Facebook friends and get a free Whopper. Each time you remove someone, that action is broadcast to your news feed – apparently, not a big deal to users so far, as more than 50,000 friends have already been sacrificed. Hilarious!

Today's CreativeMorning with Anjeli Sharma and Joey Roth

CreativeMornings continues! Today's talk from Anjeli Sharma, Sr. Strategist at Naked, introduced some of the main concepts of designing Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) for the Food and Drug Market (FDM). The discussion started off with the idea of "unboxing" as in once I buy the product, what is the experience of opening it? And continued on to the many points of how education (of clients), marketing, and testing processes all impact the final package design. It was a great chance to to think and talk about packaging and the role it plays in the perception of a product.

We also increased our interactions with our virtual skype guest. As Joey Roth, the man behind the Sorapot, contributed to this mornings talk and did his best to answer questions on the packaging for a product he designed.

You can see pictures of the event over at flickr, and ad your own to our group.

Big thanks to Naked for hosting this mornings event, what an amazing space they have! Also thanks to Iridesco, the creators of Harvest and Co-op, for sponsoring today's breakfast. If you're looking for a better way to communicate between your design team or would like a better way to keep track of your productivity definitely check out them out. And once again, thanks to NYC Tap'd for providing us with bottled water.

Next month's CreativeMornings will be on february 13, 2009. Matthew Waldman, will talk about his NOOKA empire. We are still looking for a space to host this event, please contact us if you'd be interested in opening your doors to a group of approx 50 creatives!

Vintage Travel Brochure Graphics

Travel brochure "Luzern - Das Zentrum des Auto-Tourismus - 50 Auto-Touren," circa 1932. Back cover. Unsigned. How beautiful is this? Check out the entire collection of Vintage Travel Brochure Graphics.

(thank you Leendert)

The Complex Grid

Pedro Monteiro posted an interesting article about "The Complex Grid". Karl Gerstner designed this grid for his work on the CAPITAL magazine. This is actually a six-column grid with a four-column grid superimposed. Karl suggests that this grid requires considerable study, and a designer would have to spend a great deal of time working with it before he could make free use of it in a creative sense.

Tri Forest by Nous Vous

'Tri Forest' by Leeds-based graphics and illustration collective Nous Vous (comprising of Nicolas Burrows, Jay Cover, William Edmonds and Thomas Hudson).

Savings Book

Savings Book: Cleverly conceal your savings or anything important with this bank disquised as a book. The top features a slot for bills or coins and slides open for easy access to savings. Made of maple wood with a cloth binding. Love it!

CrashTheInauguration.com

CrashTheInauguration.com, an online Inauguration guide created by AirBedAndBreakfast.com, is connecting last minute travelers with accommodations in Washington DC. Individuals or groups can easily rent an airbed, couch, private bedroom, or entire place for as little as $45/night. Already visitors from throughout the United States, and even European countries, are booking Inauguration accommodations directly online through the service. Over 800 local residents have listed rooms on the site for what’s being called the ‘Woodstock of Washington’.

Joe was so kind to make a special coupon for swissmiss readers. You can save $25 on your Inauguration room, if you book now through Jan 15 with coupon code "SWISSMISS".

Book Cover Archive

An Archive of over 800+ book covers and 180+ book cover designers? I just found heaven. BookCoverArchive.com

CreativeMornings: Anjeli Sharma on "The Role of Packaging Design" (only 30 spots available)

I am thrilled to announce the first CreativeMornings of 2009: On January 9th, 2009, Anjeli Sharma Sr. Strategist at Naked, will talk on how Packaging plays a crucial role in the communications mix, acting as the core essence of the brand, both on shelf and after purchase. Once at shelf, the package has less than three seconds to grab people’s attention, amidst a slew of competition, shelf talkers and sales prices. Despite it’s importance, the package becomes a means of slapping on extensive messaging, leaving it ineffective and confusing to people. This talk will explore the role of packaging design in communications planning and why it is so important to get it right!

The event is being generously hosted by Naked at 96 Greene Street #3 in Soho and opens up at 8:30am with the 10 minute talk starting at 9:00am, following a 20 minute disussion. Our virtual guest of the month will be Joey Roth, mastermind behind the fabulous Sorapot.

Interested in attending? Make sure to r.s.v.p via email as there are only 30 spots available. We are filling up quickly. Please tell us your name and what industry you're in. Sorry, but we are at full capacity already.

Can't attend? Don't worry, here's a list of our scheduled 2009 speakers: Matthew Waldman, Armin Vit, Allegra Burnette (Creative Director of Digital Media at The Museum of Modern Art) and Hillman Curtis.

Breakfast will be sponsored by Iridesco, the creators of Harvest, a web-based time-tracking and invoicing application and Co-op, a casual communication tool to help small teams work together better. Both of these apps have played a key role in helping creative businesses stay organized and work efficiently.

52 E-Commerce Stores on the iPhone

Tom Sullivan took screen shots of 52 of the top ecommerce sites on his iphone to see what the support was like. Only 6 of the 50 retailers redirect iPhone users to a mobile-optimized website: Amazon, Best Buy, Foot Locker, Target, Victoria’s Secret, and Walmart. (Ralph Lauren should be on this list, since they offer a mobile-optimized website, but the server doesn’t redirect iPhone visitors.) I am pretty sure this ratio will change quickly considering how important the iPhone has become.

(thank you Jon)

The _ Cards

I have seen The_Cards before but it didn't really click until Sam just pointed me to this site. Way cool! Fun to play around with the site as well. Yay!

Something just made me think of Miss Marple...

I could watch this for hours...

Found over at kylevanhorn.com.

OXO Guardian Nightlight

The OXO Candela Guardian is officially my new favorite gift for (new) parents. My lovely friend BB gave me one for my birthday last week, knowing that our little Ella still wakes up at least once a night. I love it. It's one of these products that I've looked at before but for some reason didn't end up buying. Little did I know that this little light gives off *just* the right amount of light for a little night-walking (or a potential diaper change) and lasts all night. Thank you BB!

An Apple A Day letterpress poster

Here's a quick and easy way to keep in tip top shape. Just peel the little variety sticker from every apple you eat and affix it to a square. Keep it interesting. Try a Belle De Boskoop, a Newtown Pippin, how about a Peasgood Nonsuch, or maybe a Turley Winesap. There's no shortage of combinations and imagine how good you'll feel, when, after a years time, you've filled each square with a colorful little sticker.

An Apple A Day letterpress poster