Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated., – Paul Rand
I should watch (and listen to this) more often.
(via mcculleydesign)
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Sometimes it’s all in the name. I love solutions that look obvious, but were obviously creative genius. From Thursday Design (yes, it’s even the right day) Sydney, Australia. 
It reminded me of something Blake Lagneaux sent me last year…. (I have plans for it)
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As a former (although you never quite recover) packaging designer, I was excited to come across these (free) vector packaging templates from DezignUs – I can imagine these being the starting point for some great ideas.
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Design phrase posters by Anneke Short – these make me smile (knowingly).
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A friend posted this very clever loyalty card on Facebook yesterday and started me thinking… (Thanks John) This is for London coffee house, Tapped & Packed and the rubber stamp that puts the man on the bicycle just makes me grin (via famousfivestyle). Perfect. I have photos from this place last year when I was in London (my home town) and can’t believe I missed such a wonderful piece of clever design. I’ll just have to go back.
This loyalty card for Chocolate Bar (left) plays on their regular clients’ sweet tooth. I’m not sure I would love the constant dental reminder but it’s definitely clever. From Greynyc, via Ads of the world.
I like this card (right) for La Latina, a tapas bar in Perth, Australia (my father’s home town) – it’s sweet and I love that you have to try a whole range of things to get your free Paella (mmmmm) from natalija.com (who also designed it).
The Awful Waffle went for pure beauty – I’m not sure I would want to give this card up although if their waffles taste as good as this card looks I’d probably be persuaded. Via Rowley Press
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I came across this mini print (4 x 6″) from Brett Wilson on Etsy and thought it was perfect. Letterpressed on recycled pulp board and only $2.50 – it’s a great reminder and a great gift for the creative in your life. Find it here
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This made me grin. Wonderful announcement that the Manchester Evening News is moving. Designed by The Chase -A design company that includes many people from the wonderful University of Central Lancashire (yes, I went there) – It’s where my idea obsession started.
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I love the new Design Sojourn post about their own branding and the decisions they made in the process. I have just started a similar process myself (I will reveal my new business cards later this week) and (as always) was fascinated by the questions that arose. I love that the logo is all about connecting the dots… that’s what counts. That’s where clever happens. Read their process here, and learn from it.
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I just came across this at Fahernhiet212 and, although it’s from last year, I thought it was very interesting (and beautiful) and wanted to share it with you. Rethinking Design Thinking… Read it below. I have just found Fahrentheit 212 and am fascinated by them and what they do… I love clever and they do clever well.
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This made me grin – Pantone Tarts from French food designer Emilie de Griottes for a feature for french culinary magazine Fricote – They say we eat with our eyes first and I think this would make my eyes very hungry. via Pixellogo – this would go great with the Pantone Cookies I wrote about back in December.
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I have a crush on a blog (is that cheating?). Although I don’t live in a big city at the moment, I am (and always will be) a big city girl so I still love clever furniture that works in small spaces. ShoeBox Dwelling “talks about simplicity, space-saving, efficiency and beauty of human thought behind the objects” like the ‘murphy table’ above – I think Natalia Repolovsky and I would be good friends (at least I like to imagine cool people like that would be friends with me- don’t disillusion me). If you are lucky enough to live in a city where apartments are small or just love clever design and cool blogs go and visit.
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Today I’m feeling turquoise is a beautifully produced book by Pentagram (it was created as their 2011/12 holiday card).. and I must admit I’m feeling a little bit green that I didn’t get sent one. (one day when this blog grows into a much bigger blog I will be on the list for things like this).
“Because everyone knows that red means anger, green envy, and blue misery. But who knew that olive was the colour of deja-vu, brown the colour of indifference, or pink of laughing on the outside, crying on the inside?” – take a look at a few more pages below and find out more over at Pentagram (if anyone has one of these they can send I will do something crazy in return)
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Spend today looking at what isn’t there. Negative space can have just as much impact as positive space, and when used well can add clever to anything. Look at things differently – you may find clever lurking in there.
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Beautifully designed bathtub inspired by watching people enter a waterpark slide and based on the principles of a seesaw. I love that is works for those who physically struggle to take a bath and those who don’t – that’s good thinking. This is inspired, practical and beautiful – all the things clever should be Read more about it and see more pictures here – from Yanko Design. Thank you Cindy for sending me this.
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I just signed up for this – a simple cloud based collaboration tool from Skylar Challand – I’m going to be testing it over the next few days, but I’m quite excited about the possibilities. According to SwissMiss :
“At its core, Dropmark is a simple was to organize and collaborate with anyone in the cloud. They managed to make it simple enough that anyone could use it.
You can drag any types of files right from your desktop (or the web) into these collections—documents, website links, images, audio, video, text, anything.
Some surprisingly magical stuff happens when you start combining these together.
Let’s say you want to send a friend a few links to look at. Instead of sending an e-mail and pasting in a bunch of links, you can create a Dropmark collection and instantly have one short link that you can send instead. And the collection and be updated at any time.”
Dropmark is technically in beta until Mar. 1st, but they’ve created an invite code for swissmiss readers: Sign up here and use”swissmiss”. The invite code gets early access + 1 GB free storage if used before March 1st 2012.
Thanks SwissMiss for another great find – you rock!
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Beautiful stationery from Feb Design, building on the communication between customer and client and setting the tone for the relationship. Yes, I’m in love… see more here.
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I love these simple messages from FreshWordsMarket on Etsy – we all need reminders of these things, and it helps if they are beautiful. (Thank you to Kelli Smith for showing me these.) Go about your day today and don’t forget to be awesome.
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Ever since I was a kid I’ve looked at objects and wondered why they were designed that way. According to my mother I’ve asked questions about design since I was 3 years old. I’m still fascinated by it.
Today I will make time to read “The Design of Everyday Things”* by Donald A Norman. I’ve heard it’s good, but I haven’t even snuck a peak yet.
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