Kirby! (Kirbi! Kirbé!)
That’s right. I just made a Tony! Toni! Toné! reference.
There are times (from no fault of my own, mind you), where I come across extremely strange and mystical things. And some times they turn out to be awesomely inspiring. Today contained one of those times.
Thanks to my friend Nate, my eyes befell upon a real gem of unexpected inspiration: Kirby. Yes, Kirby; that weird-ass pink blob of a Nintendo game from the early 90’s. Apparently they have continued the obviously unstoppable legacy of Kirby in the form of a new Wii game, called Epic Yarn. Now the Wii game itself is not what I’m actually talking about. What I am talking about though, is the freakin’ awesome execution of the Kirby characters, as well as the overall good example it sets of how to use layers of texture on the web.
Here are some highlights
While you’re checking out kirbykirbykirby.com to see it’s textured awesomeness, make sure you watch the acid inspired storyline video. You’ll have nightmares of turning into yarn for nights to come.
Dogs in the Workplace: win-win.
Now normally I don’t post things that aren’t design related in some way. But Andy Levitt, founder of HealthTalker sent this article to me today. And being that I’m 100% for animal-friendly workplaces, I thought I should share it. Everywhere.
Now I (like most people), am of the mind that your dog should go everywhere with you. Including work - provided of course that you don’t work at a restaurant, or a hospital, or something like that. Most of the agencies I’ve worked at/with have allowed dogs, and it’s kind of a common (almost expected) thing amongst creative environments to see a pooch or two roaming around. Some of the larger companies in this article have really taken it to another level, having upwards to 10 dogs hanging out and keeping everyone happy and relaxed. I’m super stoked about how much traction it’s gaining, and even more stoked that big articles about it are getting into places like Business Insider.
So if you’re one of the decreasing number of people who runs a business and doesn’t allow dogs, I suggest you read this Business Insider article and change your ways.
Google Music!
I’m excited to report that I have successfully received my Google Music invite and got it rolling. Currently it’s automatically uploading my iTunes library, including playlists and album art. As you would expect from Google, the UI is form over function, and leaves much to be [aesthetically] desired.
But c’mon. Having all of your playlists available and up-to-date from any machine on the web… Who the hell cares what it looks like?
The Cassette Tape Insert Card
Cassette tape insert cards: We’ve all had them. We’ve also all ignored them. And We’ve also all throw them away, drew on them, put stickers all over them, set them on fire, and got annoyed at them every time they slipped out and wouldn’t go back in correctly unless you used the tape to push it down.
But I’m confident in saying that we haven’t done, is enjoyed them as pretty sweet design pieces with some awesome typography.
Well guess what folks, the time has come. This guy Jubu (mostly because of his awesomeness I assume), released a pretty rad set of 84 scanned cassette tape inserts on flickr.
Sonoran: not really the next Helvetica
I don’t know if anyone was paying attention, but idsgn had a fun little April fools joke for us this year. It was a slick new font family; Sonoran, and was going to replace Helvetica as the go-to hipster font. Obviously, this was not true (duh, no font can be more hipster than Helvetica). But I love font family sample graphics. I think they’re sexy. So even though this is actually Arial, it’s still awesome.
You Took My Name
Dorothy is working on a fun project that’s been catching a lot of well deserved web-buzz lately. They call it “stripping famous logos back to their basic graphic form,” I call it a fantastic experiment in brand recognition, and an affirmation of all the work that goes into something that seems so simple in the end: Color, and form.
Check out the rest of the pieces here: http://www.wearedorothy.com/news/you-took-my-name/
Colin Haley’s solo ascent of Aguja Guillaumet
Colin Haley’s solo ascent of Aguja Guillaumet in Patagonia.
