I’m really digging Graphic Birdwatching - a site dedicated to showcasing the amazing design work of women. Not only is the content on the site top-notch and absolutely inspiring, the organization behind the site is driven by a common cause to “connect and support female graphic designers everywhere”.
For in-depth coverage on the organization, its goals, and the women behind it, check out this interview of Ann-Kristina Simon by Eye Blog.
I’ve been digging Jan Kallwejt’s work for a while now. Especially his maps. A selection of them below…
The last map in the list appeared in the July edition of the iPad Wired app. My buddy Remon redesigned the map to incorporate some incredible motion. I’d love to see motion design applied to pretty much all of Jan’s graphic design - their chunkiness, discreetness, and bold color just seem fit for it.
Another hit from Pentagram, this time by from Michael Bierut. It’s a poster for the Artists for Obama initiative. If you want your own, and have an extra $625 that you didn’t lose in the market today, send an email to obamaposter [at] pentagram.com
Cymbolism is a new website that attempts to quantify the association between colors and words, making it simple for designers to choose the best colors for the desired emotional effect.
It would be interesting to integrate Cymbolism’s database into Kuler. There are so so many ways to consider color.
The site itself needs tons of work - I find it strangely heavy and why in heaven’s name did they include those tedious ads in the upper right corner - but the content is supreme.
Interesting - I found my buddies at 80/20 Studio as a featuredminimal site. Sometimes minimalism just occurs as a result of the need for speed.
One of my favorite graphic designers, Nick Felton, started a project/product to help people track their everyday data.
It’s called Daytum (incredible URL, btw), it seems to be based on the same concept behind Felton’s Annual Report, and I can’t wait for an invite into their beta program. Here’s a video of the concept:
Update: Seems like MIT has a similar personal data tracking project called Mycrocosm. Interesting stuff indeed.
As I advise new designers - content is king. Whenever creating sketches or mock-ups of application experiences, use compelling content that fits the tone and the spirit of the application that surrounds it. Especially when designing for finicky clients.
Enter Multicolr, a simple little web-app that lets you search Flickr images by color sets that you specify. So now when you set out to concept design the next greatest photo-centric experience, you can color coordinate your content.
The latest from the master, Yugo Nakamura. Once you get into the experience, note the nuance around every interaction with the characters. It’s so subtle, but powerful. Nakamura is truly a master at humanizing screen-based experiences.
I also appreciate the style of the work. Very reminiscent of the philosophy espoused by Kenya Hara in his book, Designing Design.
Ethan Eismann is an Experience Design Manager at Adobe Systems. This blog is about Flash, Flex, AIR, Flash Catalyst, RIAs, design management, and design writ large.
