Nice logo design

Designed by Morvil Design Group, this logo is for Talk, a marketing, advertising and PR firm.

The name stemmed from the idea that they get people talking about their clients’ businesses.

If, at first glance, you don't see the logo icon as quote marks, you may see it a mask, a martini glass, or maybe even a mouth, but whatever you see, it's great fun,and a clever logo.

See more clever logo designs here.

Drop-dead design

Take a look at the stunning work of French graphic designer, Fabien Barral. There is a real sensitivity to his work.

Adobe Illustrator CS4 review

Top line new features include multiple Artboards (essentially multi-page documents) and transparency in gradients.
Click here for a complete Illustrator CS4 review.

Adobe InDesign CS4 review

Every release of InDesign has brought new and improved features, but none have brought more than Adobe’s latest offering of its flagship page layout application. New features include a new graphical user interface, rotatation of page views, smart layout features, Flash export, and more. Read on for a complete review.

TouchType makes iPhone email better with landscape mode

For whatever reason, Apple decided not to allow “landscape mode” on iPhone email. If you want to turn the phone when the web browser is open and get the larger keyboard that makes two thumb typing realistic, no problem. But the email app is portrait only.

Now a new iPhone application called TouchType fixes the problem. When you open the application you get a landscape mode keypad. type an email, press the send button and it goes through the Mail application for dispatch

The application costs £0.59 / $.99 from iTunes (iTunes link here)

Worst music video ever?

Thanks to Justin for this truly inspired music video.

Great vector resource

A really classy stock library of vector images - perfect for graphic designers. Many of them are free to download.

Bookmark it now: www.iheartvector.com

Great web design

I think the design of this website is spot-on. It is for Tibits - a new vegetarian restaurant, bar and food-to-go venue that opened in London this week.

It is the first British outpost of this Swiss chain which explains the excellent site design. It is by famed Swiss design agency, Feinheit (which incidentally means 'elegancy' in German).

Wedge-proof underwear

A designer at Saddletrout Studios has invented some really weird and wacky mechanisms like these wedge-proof pants.

"This simple, yet effective, device prevents "wedging" of undergarments. It is effective for all types of "wedging", from natural "ride-up" to sudden bully-induced trauma wedging.

Fully adjustable and machine washable, wedge-proof underwear lets you stroll confidently, even when there are large groups of dim-witted, attention seeking bullies lurking about.

Surely the TV Dragons won't be able to resist sinking their cash into these.

Scrabulous has been reincarnated as Lexulous

So one of my lovemarks, Scrabulous, has already been axed...

First it was removed from Facebook but I managed to overcome the situation by continuing games with my two deadliest opponents via email Scrabulous.

Then, without prior notice, a week ago the website came down and was replaced with a GoDaddy.com placeholder page, as a result of the ruling by Delhi High Court. It was ruled that the Agarwalla brothers retain the right to post their word game online, but are not allowed to use Scrabulous, Scrabble or any other “similar sounding” name.

So now we have www.lexulous.com, that is exactly like that game we won’t ever mention in the same breath.

Oh the joy!

I have to say though, I think the new site could do with a bit of a design spruce-up... it's looking a little uninspiring. I hope those brothers know where to come for some design direction!

Web designs for Marks & Spencer

Ladies and gentlemen of the world - buy some key pieces from M&S courtesy of some of my new editorial page designs for marksandspencer.com . Women - click here. Men - go for it here!

3+ = the coolest gig in town

Here's my design for the flyer for my dad's forthcoming gig in October. It's at a very cool venue - Hugo's in Queen's Park - and it should be a really entertaining night.

Tag Galaxy image search tool... out of this world?

Tag Galaxy is a tool that allows you to explore photos on Flickr. It is literally a galaxy of tags, where subjects take the form of planets. This is what I got when I searched for Union Jack

On the down side, I think the photos themselves are a little hidden, but it's an interesting navigation tool.

Woops

Perhaps the team behind this cover for a parenting magazine had just found out they were all out of a job - otherwise it's kind of hard to understand quite how the above made it off the printing press.

More amusing 'fails' - like 'rivet fail' - at failblog.org

My perfect birthday cupcakes (no hint intended)

Thanks to Ben Catchpole for this piece of ipod cupcake heaven.

Lazy web design tools

Great time-saving tools - very useful to generate quick backgrounds, tabs and reflections:

- Stripe Generator
- Tartan Maker
- Image Reflection Maker
- Tabs Generator

Lovemarks

What makes some brands inspirational, while others struggle?

The answer is Lovemarks - a term to coin brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason.

"Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately."

My Lovemarks are: New York City, everything Apple, Scrabulous, Whole Earth Peanut Butter, Google, Hawaii Conditioner, Laurent-Perrier Pink Champagne and of course Cinnamon Creative!

What are your Lovemarks?

Warmth and privacy while using your laptop

"These 'Body-Technology Interfaces,' (BTIs) in the form of hand-knitted custom wrappers for personal electronic devices, will reflect salient interaction behaviours between the participant and their chosen device."

One for the Dragon's Den?..

I don't think so.

Review: Tim Walker at the Design Museum

Above: Erin O’Connor, Jacquetta Wheeler and Lily Cole, Colchester, Essex, England, 2004, British Vogue

Ladies jumping out of books, coloured cats, a garden in a bathroom, a hanging model and the most stylish messy room. All from the imagination of Tim Walker, a fashion photographer with an amazing eye for absurd detail whose images are witty and playful yet sufficiently sophisticated for his high fashion clients.

His creations are daring, theatrical and full of a magic that has rightly earned him his place in the high ranks of fashion photography stardom, and a Vogue master lineage, at only 37 years of age.

Glam, decay, fantasy, impressive lighting - it's all there - and well worth seeing, at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, London,  SE1 2YD, until 28th September 2008.

Gates vs Jobs: The Game

Give it a go... Jobs to win!

I have a rival in the construction industry

Photographed by Mark - he saw this in Belsize Park!

Review: The bloke who does blotches and scribbles: Cy Twombly at the Tate Modern

'Cycles and Seasons' spotlights an artist who hasn't put a foot wrong in a 60-year career; he takes the casual, and makes it monumental"
Charles Darwent, The Independent, June 2008

Darwent has written an excellent review of the exhibition so I'm best to direct you there, but let me just say that I found this to be a stunning exhibition. Most attention-grabbing was Twombly's Four Seasons ("Quattro Stagioni") series created between 1993 and '94, pictured above.

...Did you also know that Twombly was in the news recently because a French woman kissed one of his paintings in a museum in Marseilles, France? She was wearing bright red lipstick, which stained the snowy white canvas. The painting was valued at over $2million, and the woman was charged with damaging the masterpiece.

Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons is at the Tate Modern, Bankside. London SE1 9TG, until September 14th.

More funny-because-they-are-true-isms

Web Without Sense is a gallery of common place website design/layout/marketing/general annoyances on the Internet. Equally, it is a bit of a sarcastic dialogue aimed to get a message across while being frank and outward. Check it out.

Spot on

Go to www.businessguysonbusinesstrips.com for more of these very funny-because-they-are-true-isms

This makes my heart melt...

This ad just puts a smile on my face. I LOVE IT!

You've seen Sony Bravia's first advert with the bouncing balls, and the second one featuring a big grey tower block with splashes of paint thrown at it, but this is the third, and best, in my opinion. Thanks to Tom Sheahan for sharing the wonderfulness of it with me.

Sony claim that this - the Play Doh advert - is the 'most ambitious piece of stop-motion animation ever undertaken', and that they used 2.5 tonnes of plasticine for the three weeks filming took in New York. Take a look and judge for yourself, but I'm going on record saying this is definitely their best yet. How can you not wuv the cute widdle wabbits, aaaaaah.

Web usability

Jakob Nielsen is considered to be the guru of web usability. His expertise is based on human factors engineering, but he has received criticism from many graphic designers for not succeeding to balance the importance of other user experience considerations such as eye appeal.

In any case I find his knowledge very useful and his findings balance out my design eye.

He has written many interesting articles - one of the most useful is Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design. Notice how ugly the design of the page is...

European Design Awards 2008

Check out the the results of the European Design Awards 2008 by clicking here.

Review: Psycho Buildings (Artists take on Architecture) at The Hayward Gallery

Psycho Buildings invites us to engross ourselves in a series of ten captivating and disconcerting installations that combine 2 and 3D design with the use of light, colour and smell to encourage viewers to become adventurous participants, and question what architecture means to us.

The installations that I really enjoyed experiencing included a roof top lake, designed like an infinity pool, looking like you could row yourself (or even throw yourself) right over the edge; a steel-plated “Life Tunnel”; a miniature outdoor cinema made of plywood and PVC; a red fabric staircase and an inflated transparent fabric sphere where visitors interact by climbing a staircase to the roof and then rolling and bouncing around while observers below enjoy the view.

Without a doubt, Psycho Buildings is an exhibition which has succeeded in getting people to re-examine and explore their relationship with their surroundings. It's a really fun exhibition that deserves to be the highlight of The Hayward’s 40th anniversary season,

Psycho Buildings is at The Hayward, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1, until August 25th.

Everyday Illustration

I came across the drawings of Royal College of Art student Tom Judd who has completed the massive task of illustrating everyday for a year in what looks like the same sketchbook. Astonishingly this isn’t the first time Tom has completed the challenge having decided to take up this year-on year-off schedule throughout his entire life.

Check out www.tomjudd.co.uk/everyday

The Colours of Web 2.0

Looks to me like blue is in the lead...

Check out the World Clock...

Right here.

Some fascinating facts.

Please vote. Your designer needs you!

I have entered a design competition jointly with fellow designer, Tom Keane, and we have made it into the select Design Gallery . Please click here and vote for our Milk in a Can design!

Latest Work for Marks & Spencer

Lots of new projects created this last month for the High St giant

Branding new womenswear collections such as Denim Boutique, Saint Maxim, Exotic Island and Modern Smartwear, as well as new lingerie collections: Shanghai Blossom and Flowerpress

Lingerie Branding

Two new collections branded for Marks & Spencer: Flowerpress and Shanghai Blossom. Moodboards below.

What the font?

How well do you know your fonts? Try this test to find out.

Facebook In Reality

What would it be like if Facebook was actually played out in real life?

from www.idiotsofants.com.

Latest Work: the 'Seventies Summer' branding for Marks & Spencer

Latest project is now live: the branding of a funky new retro-style lingerie range from the UK High Street giant:

See the branding featured on the Marks & Spencer website here.

...And another for the M&S series

Further to this post, the latest in the series of the 'What's Hot' designs commissioned for www.marksandspencer.com appears online this week.

The live link is here.

Need inspiration for fashion design websites?

Then take a look at the website of CreateThe Agency, , an interactive agency for luxury, fashion and retails brands. Lots of absolutely gorgeous work dahling.

FOUND

www.FFFFOUND.com is a fabulous imagebookmarking site that's consistently inspirational.

Invitations to participate and post images are rare, which keeps the quality of the images high.

Still on the 'found' theme, for all the voyeurs out there, www.foundmagazine.com collects found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - you get the idea - basically anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Interesting stuff, and again, a good source of inspiration for creative thinkers.

Jonathan Barnbrook

The man is a typographical God

Latest Design Work: Hot Trends for M&S

Here is one of a series of brand new designs commissioned for www.marksandspencer.com for the 'What's Hot' section of their e-commerce site.

The bold and funky design has generated approximately 10,000 clicks in the one week it's been live, with a conversion rate of 2.7%, and it will now form the basis of the new template for all the 'What's Hot' pages in the coming weeks.

The world's 50 most powerful blogs

"Blogging has never been bigger. It can help elect presidents and take down attorney generals while simultaneously celebrating the minutiae of our everyday obsessions.
Here are the 50 best reasons to log on"

Courtesy of The Observer Technology Section

Printable paper rulers

Just for you, some paper rulers you can print out for when you don't have a conventional ruler to hand.

Bless the Web.

Review: Vanity Fair Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery

Vanity Fair was launched in 1913 by Condé Nast, whose vision was to produce an insightful magazine reflecting the era’s vibrant culture

Now 150 portraits of artistic, literary, sporting, fashion and high-society leading lights, photographed by legends from Cecil Beaton and Man Ray to Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz,have been gleaned from its glossy pages to the walls of the National Portrait Gallery

In the early selection from 1913-1936, artists, dancers, writers, and scientists, such as Claude Monet, Albert Einstein, and Charlie Chaplin, hang next to society beauties such as Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo.

 Publication of Vanity Fair was suspended in 1936, owing to the Depression and stormy global events, but it relaunched again in the 1980s. The contemporary photos are more venturesome and we are treated to the likes of Tom Cruise, Keira Knightley, Madonna and George Clooney. And of course who can forget that front cover of a heavily pregnant Demi Moore.

If you're seriously interested in photography you shouldn't miss the Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2, £8-£10, until May 26th. I thoroughly recommend it.

Facebook for Freelancers

Workology.com is a new social networking site for freelancers and SME’s where amongst other things you can create your own Mini Site to showcase your expertise, skills and services, and also connect and share advice with others in the freelance world.

02/04/08 UPDATE: And here's another one which actually sounds even better.

These babies are springing up all over the place.

Another Great Website

Take some time out to explore this Flash-based website - it's really something:

www.camper.com

It's Camper's site for their Spring/Summer 08 Collection

Any thoughts.. Or any others to add?

Completely Brilliant Ad

Click here...

Ski time!

What a week! Thanks Bernard, for a magnificent week's ski-ing.