Spend a Couple Minutes »Tattly

tattlyGreat Temporary Tattoos

“After applying many bad-clip-art tattoos on her daughter, swissmiss decided to stop complaining and take matters into her own hands. Tattly was born.”

Tattly is not only inspiring in a DIY business sense, but their temporary tattoos are fantastic. Not cheap, exactly, but fantastic.

Design super star Tina Roth Eisenberg has asked artists to contribute their art to fun, inventive, beautiful images you can wear on your person (and the quality is equally impressive too).

Van has had a great time with the Menagerie Set designed by Amy Blay and while it is currently sold out, new designs are added often.

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Posted on January 6, 2013

Web Sites »Title Scream

Type + Graphic Inspiration from 8-bit Games

Welcome to 8-bit nostalgia heaven video gamer nerds!

Title Scream includes many of your favorites and some that might not be so memorable but certainly leave me wanting to know more.

Anyone out there ever play Monty by Gremlin Graphics? It looks insane!!!!!

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Posted on October 19, 2011

Web Sites »Brain Pickings

Curating eclectic interestingness from culture’s collective brain

And look! Already my first great discovery via Twitter, the fascinating Brain Pickings blog, brain child of writer Maria Popova.

Within the eclectic collection of interesting articles you’ll find lovely design, must read books, interesting thoughts, provocative photography and lots of lovely maps. It’s an amazing hodgepodge of all sorts of things I love.

Most lovable about the site though, is that in a sea of snark, it retains a real sense of wonder at the world. Nothing’s worse than someone who is bored by things, and Popova and her team find inspiration everywhere. I dare you to scroll one page without joining in their enthusiasm and stopping to read more.

BP also distinguishes itself from many sites by offering unique finds and information that hasn’t been re-linked from a million other places.

I’ve only browsed a portion of the archives, because doing too much more would be ignoring the life I have to lead today. Definitely be prepared to be sucked in to the awesomeness.

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Posted on October 1, 2011

Web Sites »Grain Edit

Modern Graphic Design Inspiration Blog

Great graphic inspiration blogs are aplenty, but you’ll find fewer as well maintained, interesting, and informed as Grain Edit.

From children’s books, to bottle labels, from calendars to maps the Grain Edit team tracks down the greatest stuff to inflame the creative mind.

The site is constantly updated with newness and the archives could take days to explore – but it is worth the time, so start digging and enjoy!

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Posted on August 14, 2011

Web Sites »The Art of the Title Sequence

A Compendium and Leading Web Resource of Film and Television Title Design

Whether it’s for a work of genius or Inner Space, you can find a comprehensive exploration of title sequence at the aptly named website, Art of the Title Sequence.

They include collages and information from films old and new, television series domestic and foreign.

Not only is there lots of images and videos, but often they will really get into the hows and whys with the sequence creators.

I discovered the site while looking up the most excellent titles to the less than excellent Gentlemen Broncos and found an involved interview with the director and photos of how they made it. (A photo of the books used in the sequence is after the jump).

There’s lots to go through and browsing will be a joy for anyone equally obsessed with what is sometimes the best part about a show or movie.

Click here for the rest of The Art of the Title Sequence

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Posted on July 24, 2011

Web Sites »The Office of Kate Bingaman Burt

Daily Purchase Drawings, Etc.

The idea of seeing one person’s daily purchases may sound a bit boring, but with the whimsical hand of Kate Bingaman Burt, it’s enchanting. Even corporate logos look interesting when hand drawn, plus it makes you think about your own consumption and will inspire you to draw more.

Her project was published as a book called Obsessive Consumption and her unique style has graced the advertising of companies like Target and Madewell. She’s at the forefront of the handmade mini revolution.

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Posted on March 9, 2011

Web Sites »Paris vs New York

A Visual Comparison

Paris vs New York is such a simple and lovely visual comparison between two of the world’s most amazing cities. They are from the creative mind of Vahram Muratyan, a Paris based graphic designer and art director. I found the link on Refinery 29.

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Posted on October 30, 2010

Web Sites »French Book Covers

A Lovely Collection

While I can’t read any of the information on the lovely French Book Covers website, the gallery of images ranging from sci-fi to noir, classic literature to smut is intriguing to browse through. I’ve added a few favorites here, but any lover of design should take a look at the extensive (and growing) site. I only wish there were more.

Click here for the rest of French Book Covers

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Posted on October 10, 2010

Spend a Couple Hours »Brooklyn Museum: American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection

200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

I don’t know why the trek to the Brooklyn Museum seemed so insurmountable that I kept putting off my trip to see the American High Style exhibit. In truth it only takes about and hour and is more than worth it. If the sister exhibit at the Met is the dolled up, flashy younger sister boasting pop music, glitzy styled head pieces and films, this one is the calm, dignified older sister. It’s far larger and more spaced out than the other exhibit and features some incredible fanning Charles James, well preserved and embellished Worths, a huge amount of shoes, and more stunning prints, draping, and colors than any fashion lover could want for.

I’d heard great things about the exhibit, so was not surprised to be delighted. I was surprised, however at what a great museum it is over all. I spent most of the day on the 4th floor where they have huge recreations of old homesteads and interior design through the decades (recreated interiors are a favorite of mine in any museum). Also currently on exhibit is an inspiring Kiki Smith retrospective, the famous Judy Chicago “The Dinner Party”, a show of the jewelry of Art Smith that had my head swimming with want (many of the awesome pieces reminded me of what Grace Jones would wear), and he vibrant exhibition called Extended Family that includes work from sculptor Nick Cave, Nina Chanel Abnay, and Vadis Turner.

So, lovers of decorative arts take the 2/3 train and prepare to spend a day on the 4th floor in pure happiness. Plus! They allow non flash photography!

Click here for the rest of Brooklyn Museum: American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection

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Posted on June 27, 2010

Web Sites »brittanyhague.com

That’s Me!

It may be shameless self promotion but I am very excited about my new online portfolio, Brittany Hague dot com, a collection of a few of the textile, graphic, and poster designs I’ve been making for the past many years. As some of you know, I recently decided to go freelance so if you are looking for anyone to do art, take a look and think of me!

Jim put the site together – thanks Jim!

Click here for the rest of brittanyhague.com

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Posted on June 6, 2010

Laughs »If TV’s LOST was a 1987 point-and-click computer game

by Penney Design

I am seriously kind of jealous of my friends that are watching LOST from the beginning for the first time (they are blissfully ignorant hug fest horror of the final scenes) and only just saw the numbers on the hatch (remember how cool that was?) But this Penney Design faux video game is a great, really well done inside joke fix for fans. Sadly, I can’t get the animated version to load, but the screen shots are priceless. Other modern films and shows the design team has worked up in faux 70’s and 80’s style video cartridges are Wall E, Snakes on a Plane, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

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Posted on June 6, 2010

Books »Woodstock Handmade Houses

by Robert Haney and David Ballentine (1974)

I have Ivanhoe Books to thank for introducing me to the incredible photo book Woodstock Handmade Houses. Each page has an image of the kind of quirky, bohemian interiors that pepper my wildest dreams: geodesic domes, reconstructed barns, stained glass, and Hobbit-like huts… there’s so much here to love and inspire flights of fancy of moving to deep into the woods and building my own home.

Authors Haney and Ballantine searched winding roads and hidden lots to find these amazing houses that represent a new kind of lifestyle that was popping up on the edges of society. Many images are below/after the jump for your enjoyment.

Click here for the rest of Woodstock Handmade Houses

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Posted on March 14, 2010

Spend a Couple Minutes »Ivanhoe Books

1618 Silverlake Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Right next door to the La Mill Coffee shop is Ivanhoe Books, an art and design specialty store filled with tons of great stuff. We had a lovely time browsing the collection of design, fashion, and art books and, while we were hesitant to bring any over-sized books back in our luggage, the shop introduced me to a book called Handmade Woodstock Houses that I couldn’t get out of my head and ended up finding on eBay.

While some of the books they offer can be purchased for slightly less online if you’re willing to shop around for awhile, others (like the Ossie Clark book that I really want) are priced better than other book sites. You can find some selections from their very select and tasteful collection on their site as well as on their blog which just informed me of a Soho Deborah Tubeville exhibit that I’ll try to swing by on my lunch hour next week.

Click here for the rest of Ivanhoe Books

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Posted on March 14, 2010

Spend a Couple Minutes »Quicktake Rodarte Exhibit

at Cooper Hewitt

Some things just have to be seen in person to be believed and appreciated, and the incredibly intricate and textured work of Rodarte definitely falls under that category. On display in one of my favorite spots in the city, The Cooper Hewitt, the exhibit  Quicktake: Rodarte consists of selected pieces from their recent seasons and each offers another reason to gasp and fawn. The tooled leather, the hidden gems, the dip dyed silk, the knitted tights, the claw belt clasps… sigh.

The only complaint is that they weren’t joking when they called it a “quick take”. There are only three sections of clothes, with about six on display each. I want more, more, more!!

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Posted on February 21, 2010

TV Shows »Project Runway

Project Runway Even though this is a reality TV show, it's not a guilty pleasure because it's good… great–excellent in fact. I was first worried there would be no season two, then worried it wouldn't be as good as season one. I was wrong on both counts, thank goodness!

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Posted on December 18, 2005