Design and Wonder in the Everyday

Preternatural craftsmanship in a mobile phone

Friday, March 12th, 2010




This is the Remontage Papillon (butterfly rewinding), a cell phone that is a hybrid of micromechanics and microelectronics. That’s right, it is the world’s first micromechanical phone. Touted as having “high emotional value” the Papillon is a result of three years of development by the four-year-old French company Celsiuis X VI II. With a starting price of $275,000, the Papillon is undoubtedly a prestige item. Watchismo has the full run down of the phone, which is set to debut next week.

The Infomancer Michael Paukner raises facts from the dead

Friday, March 5th, 2010




Designer Michael Paukner is an infographic wizard level 25. We’ve seen his work before, but thanks to to a Fubiz feature on him, our interests have been rekindled to a height bordering fanboy love. Not only is Paukner a splendid designer, but he strums all the strings of our nerd love by illustrating cool concepts of astronomy, cosmologygeometry, epistemology and many other cool topics. He’s even kind enough to provide a free zipped download of iPhone compatible wallpapers of his artwork. If he were to sell his character (Infographic Wizard 25lv.) on Ebay, we would put up my house for it. Be sure to check out his online shop.

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

An incredible talk from this year’s TED.

“With endearing honesty and vulnerability, Raghava KK tells the colorful tale of how art has taken his life to new places, and how life experiences in turn have driven his multiple reincarnations as an artist — from cartoonist to painter, media darling to social outcast, and son to father.”

Sci-fi movie posters revisited

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Illustrator Travis Pitts is a fan of vintage design and sci-fi. He’s redone a few posters for some of his favorite movies and they look great. Click on and buy a few. Don’t forget to check out his illustrations and his Flickr page, you’ll probably recognize some of these splendid pieces floating around online.

Embrace Life PSA

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Thanks to Motiongrapher for calling attention to this great PSA for the Sussex Safer Road Partnership. Simple premise, big emotion.

Jules Verne book cover art redesigned

Saturday, February 20th, 2010





We had no intention of posting two book cover posts nearly back to back, but upon viewing designer Jim Tierney’s work, there was no avoiding it. These redesigns of Jules Verne book covers were part of Tierney’s thesis project for the University of the Arts. Visit Tierney’s walkthrough of his process on Faceout Books for more images and insights. View the video for the glory of the books’ transparency, die cuts, and pull-tab goodness.

My shelf awaits

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Coraline Bickford-Smith is the senior cover designer at Penguin Books, where she has gained notoriety for her clothbound covers. In a year starting off with a fervor over e-book readers, Bickford-Smith is making a strong case for the aesthetic and tactile benefits of ink on paper. Truly, these books are individual art pieces made to adorn the shelves of book lovers and anyone who appreciates good design.

Thanks to The 99 Percent for their interview with Bickford-Smith and for introducing me to her work.

Designing with the Force

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Graphic designer and illustrator Justin Van Genderen’s Star Wars posters have been making the rounds lately and they are certainly Agogo worthy. Be sure to check out his Tatooine and Bespin posters too!

Influencing this post is the fact that the wife and I attended a prom last night as chaperones and got our prom photo taken — Star Wars style! (No Storm Troopers were hurt in the taking of the photo.)

Data is our prison

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

The Visionaire Group’s work for the ELSE Mobile promotional campaign is motion graphic goodness.

Three color movie poster redesigns

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Illustrator and designer Chris Thornley has good taste in movies and a lot of pent up creative energy. At least it looks that way according to this great Flickr set of black, red, and off-white cult favorite movie posters. Makes me want to take out the old VHS.