Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips & Tricks from Japan

i picked this up at the paper source yesterday. the cover pretty much says it all. there are some really interesting solutions in here that are inventive and innovative, i.e., picking up broken glass with a piece of bread and wearing wet socks to lower a fever – that's them being smart. not only does it give you the answers but it also gives brief explanations as to why their way works – that's you getting smarter! oh boy, i love learning!

because i am a design nerd (in this sense, print design), i just need to say that the layout is a bit obnoxious – the print is all red and everything is relatively the same weight. it's just annoying to read for a long time. what about that sick green as an accent throughout? huh?? okee. off soap box.

BecauseWeCan: Three Rings Design office project

I'm insanely jealous of the people that work at Three Rings Design, a video game company located in San Francisco. Of course, if you work in an office with that architecture, you deserve to be envied. Who wouldn't want to have a giant tentacle squid couch sitting in the middle of their game room?

BecauseWeCan (Oakland, CA) is an architectural studio that designs office furniture and work environments. Unlike other firms, they actually build the stuff they create (rather than hiring contractors to build for them), hence lowering costs, but providing the highest quality design and materials for their clients. Plus, they come up with creative, affordable solutions to what would otherwise be an expensive problem (see lighting).


What they've done for Three Rings is pure genius and beauty. They've converted an entirely blank, boring, square office space into something teeming with life and three-dimensionality (hell, let's thrown in an extra five-dimensions because it's that freakin' awesome). The office has a style and personality all its own, and it's quite obvious that it was a mutual labor of love from both the clients and the contractors.

Links to photos of their work in progress:
Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 // Finished Product // Flickr

Creative Design/Hacking + Cost-Effectiveness + Eco-friendly = SMART.

Also, that squirrelly Tree Stump coffee table is too cute for words.

our first photo friday

@ japonaise bakery in brookline

flickr mosaic fun tool makes thumbnail thursdays super easy!

forehead and aboriginal art

website: erwin bauer

Erwin Bauer KEG - Designbüro für Konzept & Gestaltung
http://www.erwinbauer.com/

super cool click and drag interface. it can be a pain not to be able to use your mouse wheel but i think you quickly get over that. i love how they bring the element of print into the layout and i think it's very smart of them, animation-wise, to give reference points when moving to another part of the site. quickly, the viewer gets a sense of how this website works and how to navigate through it. can anyone shed some light on how they made this? it's not flash, is it?

this austrian studio has really awesome work! make sure to take a look at their environmental and exhibit stuff and their original typefaces. really gorgeous design solutions, here -- i'm kinda drooly. actually, take a really good look at everything, haha.

edit: i was just thinking that wednesday is probably a really good day for me since i don't really look at websites. so this is forcing me to see what's out there. i feel better about this blog already, haha.

(l)mao

he feels more confident about his appearance now.

Nagi Noda's Hair Hats

Hair Hats @ Uchu-Country.com (Flash required)



(Edit: OK, so originally this post was supposed to be about toupees and hair hats, but after doing a little internet research, it has turned into a Nagi Noda tribute links post.)

Nagi Noda is a designer/auteur with a creative flair of all things "WTF?!?". She makes things that probably belong in some upscale Giant Robot store. Or on display in a museum. Of Jurassic design.

Related Links:
Biography [Partizan.com]
Big Eyeballs
Hanpanda.com
Mariko Takahashi's Fitness Video For Being Appraised as an Ex-Fat Girl

type in motion: square

edits still need to be made. comment for any concerns or suggestions, please! (unless it's about the crappy compression -- can't help that.)

turn on, yes?