Jessica.kaar

NeSpoon is a street artist from Warsaw, Poland. We love seeing her beautifully intricate designs created in multiple forms--paint, yarn and cement.  Enjoy!

The hard wood ruler by Atypyk takes the shape of a gun! Carrying the "gun" is not only leg..(Read...)

Established in 2010 and hundreds of millions of photographs ago, Instagram is a "fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures". Obviously, that's an understatement. For its 100 million users, Instagram is as much part of life as texting and e-mailing and Facebook (who we all know paid a cool billion dollars to acquire Instagram in April of 2012 — who's laughing now?) and its filters have established a new lingua franca for documenting food, clouds, and POV of places you are not in. Point being: Instagram is big. And important. Small changes are big changes. And its latest update, version 3.5, brought along with it a redesigned wordmark crafted by Denver, CO-based Mackey Saturday.

It was always essential that the design maintained everything that we've all grown to know and love about Instagram while creating a logotype that was more refined, durable, and that positioned the brand for expansion. Looking to the past to inspire the future, the script connects with the nostalgia that Instagram was built from, maintains the important character of the original typeface, and places the brand in a unique and prominent position both in the current and future landscape.
— Dribbble shot

Mackey Saturday at work.

Vector-y details.

The previous wordmark was typeset out of the box using Billabong. Not the most horrible of 1950s script typefaces but also not necessarily the best one, especially that capital "I". I always appreciate a company dropping a stock font in exchange for a custom-drawn one. Even more so when it's well done. The change here is a wonderful evolution that transforms the well-known wordmark into something that feels similar but definitely looks (and reads) better, even keeping the quirkiness of the "I". The new upright script flows perfectly from character to character and then has enough for one last little kick in the flourish of the "m". This might seem like a small, meaningless change but it lifts Instagram from one-hit-wonder app to what it actually is, a lifestyle brand.

Testing the new wordmark with its own filters.

Thanks to Bradford Barron for first tip.

This Month in Photo of the Day: Travel Photos

Masters of disguise. The eastern screech owl is seen here doing what they do best. You better have a sharp eye to spot these little birds of prey. Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, U.S.A.

This photo and caption were submitted to the 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Have photos of your own travels you would like to submit? Enter today!

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Stockholm-based illustrator Danilo Agutoli has created “Unlikely Opponents,” a series of illustrations that pits superheroes, movie characters, and famous historical figures against one another in unlikely match-ups. Who would win in a fight: Superman or the Pope?

images via Danilo Agutoli

via Ian Brooks

Adriane artiste et propriétaire de cette maison explique « Le bâtiment était une usine de cintres vide lorsque je l’ai acheté il y a 12 ans et je continue à la faire évoluer, la plupart de mes meubles sont d’origine locale ou rapportés  de mes voyages

Industrial style in an old warehouse in Melbourne

Adriane artist and owner of this house explains  “The building was an empty coathanger factory when i bought it 12 years ago and i’m still working on it, most of my pieces are sourced locally or on my travels.”

source : Homelife

Packaging and identity for Evansville, Indiana’s Tin Man Brewing Company.

It only took a few thousand years, but someone has finally reinvented the wheel—and it actually works better than the original. Skateboarder David Patrick’s crazy SharkWheel was discovered by chance while he was creating a cube out of six soft pieces of piping. Patrick dropped the cube by accident, and to his amazement, the piece started rolling and it didn’t stop.

Read the rest of The Wheel of the Future is Here and It’s Shaped Like a Cube

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Post tags: David Patrick, eco design, green design, reinventing the wheel, SharkWheels, skateboarding wheels, Square Wheels, sustainable design

Consider me intrigued by the bioscope, a project by Jon Stam & Simon de Bakker. It was inspired by an early movie projector of the same name and is a medium to experience memories in relative time. By rotating the handle, the digital (or digitized home) movie is animated frame by frame, forward or in reverse, relative to the speed and direction that is used to turn the dial.

More info.

(via kidsroomzoom)

Après avoir présenté 3D Printed Record en décembre 2012, Amanda Ghassaei a développé une technique facilitant la fabrication de disques avec « laser cutter », permettant d’utiliser des matériaux tels que le bois ou le papier pour créer des disques. A découvrir en détails dans la suite en vidéo.

Treading a fine line between art and design, Maricor/Maricar are two sisters who know how to make a mean embroidery. Rather than making graphics or illustrations with more traditional tools, these two have turned to needle and thread as way of expressing themselves.

I love all the brightly colored, geometric shapes that fill their work. Or the fact that they can spell the word “Delicious” with a crab claw and a chocolate chip cookie (see below). There’s so much playful invention in their work that you’re immediately drawn in and are left wanting much, much more. You can see more of their work by clicking here.

At FanimeCon 2013 in San Jose, California, photographer David Ngo captured a shot of a cosplayer..(Read...)

“Shaped on all Six Sides” is a fascinating mini documentary on the philosophy and craft of wooden boat carpentry, as told by boat carpenter Andy Stewart of Emerald Marine in Anucortes, Washington. The film was directed by Kat Gardiner.

via Vimeo Staff Picks

At the age of 14 Johan Scherft made his first papercraft bird which he colored with a pencil, modeled after the flying paper models of english artist of Malcolm Topp. His self-created models along with his drawings gained him admittance to the royal academy of arts in The Hague where he perfected his painting and sculptural techniques. Nearly 30 years later the Dutch artist has become a master of the medium creating a wide variety of objects including dinosaurs, animals, boats, and especially birds. Scherft uses a computer to aid in the initial steps of creating the paper blueprints but everything else is done by hand, a painstaking process that can take several days and occasionally up to a full month to complete.

If you want to explore a bit more head over to his Facebook page and read a bit more about his process on My Modern Met. Scherft also keeps an active YouTube channel where he’s filmed numerous tutorials; don’t miss his solar-powered hummingbird.

“It was in Peru, where I spent 40 days learning to surf, that I realized my life has changed 100% since I’ve become a full-time Etsy seller.”

This is how Sol Maldonado reflects on her life and her profession as a traveling entrepreneur who splits time between her two home bases of Brazil and Argentina, and other parts of South America for vacations.

In 2012, she traveled all year with her computer, camera, needles, and hooks — the primary tools for running her two downloadable pattern tutorial shops, bySol and Soles. “I got inspired, visited wool markets, met incredible knitters, learned new techniques, and prepared new patterns,” she says.

Here, Sol talks about how she’s carved out a distinctive corner of the Etsy seller-sphere by selling digital items and recalls her learning curve on the road to success.

Why do you operate two shops and move between countries?
I keep bySol and Soles separate for better organization, so I can manage traffic more easily and focus on stats for each set of items. My family lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and my boyfriend lives in Florianopolis, Brazil, so I move between the two cities, usually for two months at a time. I also travel often to North Brazil, Itacaré, in Salvador de Bahia, to visit friends.

bySol (above left) is stocked with crochet and knit PDF patterns, and Soles (above right) features floral fabric and sewing patterns.

How do you manage your shops while traveling?
I buy yarns, fabrics, and thread wherever I go. My base studio is in Argentina; I make most of the tutorials there, then edit and compose PDFs while traveling.
 My advice is to be very organized and have a lot of determination — there are days that I obligate myself to stay inside and work; it’s not an endless holiday.

“In Brazil and Argentina, there’s a big culture for making things yourself,” Sol says. “Everyone knows how to repair things, and sewing is very common.
”

You’re using the new Digital Items tool, which allows customers to download your files directly from your shop. What do you think of the tool, and how did you sell your PDF pattern files before the Digital Items tool existed?

It’s amazing, because I no longer waste time filling orders by sending PDFs via email. I can now be totally focused on creating new patterns and stop worrying about whether my customers received the files I emailed them.

Before the Digital Items tool, there were huge problems with sending emails that contained large attachments. Some of my customers weren’t able to receive the files because they were sometimes perceived to be spam by some of my customers’ email programs. I used DropBox for a while, but that confused my customers. Now, we digital Etsy sellers can sleep in peace.

What did you do before you quit your day job to become a full-time Etsy seller?
I worked as a craft artist for a publishing company in Argentina for many years, designing for magazines such as Ediciones Evia. At that time, searching for craft trends and handmade products and patterns on the web, I always ended up on Etsy looking at an item or a pattern. Finally one day I asked myself, “Why don’t I sell on Etsy?”

What new skills did you need to grow your shops?
After I opened my shops in 2009, I realized that I needed much more layout knowledge to make quality instruction manuals. I took some time off from selling and began to study web design: graphic design programs, HTML, SEO, etc. After three years of sitting in front of my computer, preparing myself and gaining confidence in my web skills, I reopened my shops in 2011.

Sol’s Fabric Flower Tutorial is sold as a downloadable PDF and includes 17 pages with instructions and step by step photo tutorials.

What’s your biggest strength as a seller?
The high-quality directions that I create. It’s important to have good patterns, but the biggest strength of a tutorial is in how clearly you teach a specific project and technique. Photos, text, and page layout are very important. I think my web design study has helped me present each product clearly, in a way that’s easy for the crafter to follow.

Both the “Happy Garland” and “Ice Cream Toy” patterns are rated at the easy/beginner skill level and have variations for customization included in the instructions.

It’s good for business not to sell patterns that 20 other people are already offering. Every time I have an idea for a new pattern, I run to my computer and take a few days searching Etsy, Google, Pinterest, and other craft sites in case there’s something similar to what I’m thinking of. When I’m sure there’s nothing like it, I create my own unique pattern.

What’s your advice to new Etsy sellers?
1. Take a photo course if you don’t know how to take great pictures, because what really sells your product is the images.

2. Describe your item really well. Include all the information a buyer wants to know, but be brief because people have short attention spans.

3. Be yourself. Find yourself in each of your items, try not to copy others, and your shop will develop a unique style.

“I include lots of photos, text instructions, diagrams — plenty of everything I consider necessary to transmit instructions,” Sol says.

What do you love most about your work?
Thanks to Etsy, I’ve grown in many ways, as a professional, a crafter, an e-commerce business owner, a designer, artist, photographer, teacher, seller, and English speaker — and I’m still learning. Etsy has changed my life, and I’m so grateful for my freedom; I hope it never ends.
 The freedom of being in a faraway place and having fun while working is the most exciting part of running my Etsy shops.

Seller Handbook Best-Of Archives | Quit Your Day Job Series

Coup de cœur pour cette superbe vidéo réalisée par Gnarly Bay, a propos de l’artiste Sarah DiNardo et de ses œuvres. En effet, elle réalise des créations à l’aide de rouleaux autocollants qu’elle enroule et accumule. De belles images à découvrir en vidéo avec « Tape Artist » disponible dans la suite de l’article.

Can you think of a bad hairdo? or a hair DON’T? Upload your ideas here!

Daehyun Kim is a graphic artist from Seoul in South Korea. Since 2008 he has been working on a series called moonassi drawing. These are mostly small sized pictures which are painted in black and white using pen, marker and occasionally brush. Daehyun studied fine arts at a university that specialized in Traditional East-Asian Art and Painting and it’s clear to see that this traditional practice has gone on to influence his work.

I love the simplicity of Daehyun’s style. His black and white drawings seem to nearly always depict people and highlight their interactions. Often these interactions are contracting and the characters in his work can be interpreted as representing opposing situations, different minds and different ideas.

Daehyun Kim unique style has appeared in a number of places including exhibitions in New York and Seoul. He’s also had a book published by studio fnt and even had his artwork inspire a dance choreographed by Julia Cost. Recently Daehyun worked at Lomography in Vienna where he was given the opportunity to design two fantastic ‘Moonassi Editions’ of their La Sardina camera (above).

You can go check out more of Daehyun Kim’s work by visiting his site here.

"The chair can be used in the garden or at home, as a rocking chair or as a chair with a leg re..(Read...)

Dog and cat owners already know this, but dressing your pet up in fashionable clothes is perhaps the best entertainment you’ll have. Yago Partal takes a cue from these pet owners and transfers it to something a little more exotic, the zoo. His recent series Zoo Portraits, sees creatures from giraffes to wolves getting spiffed up in trendy clothes; from suits to Hawaiian shirts. It’s one ridiculously fashionable menagerie.

See Also Nature vs Man: Cross Section Diagrams of the Future

The Barcelona based Partal mostly creates mature work, like a photo series from his journey to Cuba, or photo manipulations removing portions of his model’s body. It’s only in this series that he gets a little wild and goofy, producing something funny and wildly entertaining. Some of the pictures are spot-on believable, others miss the mark a bit… but all are worth a gander. See more in the series at Zoo Portraits, or find more from Yago Partal on his personal site.

Via randommization