For our annual Halloween party I created a black light bar and made drinks that glow in a black light. Tonic water glows well under a black light because of the quinine in it, so I made “Gin & Bubonic” and tonic water ice cubes. I also had “Dr. Rotten’s Ultimate Embalming Fluid” (Tampico blueberry juice and tonic water) and Toxic Waste (Mountain Dew). Our guests loved it…but were scared to walk past the haunt that hovered over the bar (me).
Of course, I would fall straight away for this lovely business card design from Matt Briner on istockphoto.
For years Celestial Seasonings tea had the same staid design on their tea boxes, but I was pleased to see a new warm and beautiful design for their African rooibos and honeybush teas. I am usually a green tea drinker, but I have become hooked on the deep flavor and smell of rooibos and I love that it is caffeine free. It’s a nice feeling to know that I am drinking tea from the leaves of an exotic bush that grows in beautiful Africa. It helps to ease, but not cure, some raunchy traveling withdrawals.
For the past few holidays, instead of giving people stuff, I have given money in their name to a beautiful organization called Heifer International. With the way the world is today, sustainability and the gift of self-reliance can make a huge difference in the life of someone who is living in poverty. Heifer does this with gifts of various forms of livestock and instruction on how to care for, breed and raise the animals. I love to see the faces of both the animals and the people and how much they love and depend on each other.
You have to be a big movie buff to understand most of these T-shirts, but the Last Exit to Nowhere website has some excellent designs of your favorite flicks. Haven’t you always wanted a T-shirt from the Nostromo, Shawshank State Prison or the lovely Amity Island? I am a bit partial to the M41A Pulse Rifle tee myself.
Jay Hilger of bittbox fame is creating a font from the collaboration of other designers: each designer picks and creates their own letter. I will do some doodling today and give it a shot. Hmmm…the C is calling me.
I have been watching V for Vendetta again on cable this week, and the images and colors really are striking. The red of the logo and the black and white of V’s mask lend themselves to a stark, brutal propraganda style that can be eye-catching in the movie posters. I am going to take a stab (no pun intended) at designing a red scare type poster for Christmas or another holiday. Halloween?
Last night I went all giggly and cuddly over the Organic Cotton Joobles Collection from Fair Indigo. I love the giraffe sweater with the little green horns. I don’t have children, but I want one of the little stuffed animals to sit next to my computer and smile at me all day.
The lovely Michelle Kaufmann has a nice blog about creating beautiful green items for your home. I have admired this very cool woman for several years now and her business has really taken off. I still dream about visiting (and living in) a Glidehouse or the Lotus.
The beauty of design does not always have to be visual. The beauty of words can have an even stronger effect. Leo of Zen Habits has written a glorious post on the way the work world is changing and evolving. Many of his rules for work have become part of my life instantly, like a religion. His prose flows like a musical river of comprehension, and the ideas we have all had, but have never put on paper (or digitally), come together succinctly.
