Thoughts about life, gadgets, and design
Poseidon Underwater Hotel
Hotelicopter
Icehotel, located 200 km above the Arctic Circle
Exploranter Hotel on wheels that tours South America
Drain Pipe Hotel in Austria
Safariland Tree House Resort in India
To find more unique hotels, check out Unusual Hotels of the World.
With design always on my mind, it’s hard not to scour the Internet for home decor. Here are a few modern pieces that I managed to find (click on image for more information). Feel free to link to your favorite pieces in the comments section!
Thanks to Forbes, they recently released a fabulous article: “Marketers Have Makeover Madness: Brands get bright new looks in dark times.” They’ve included before & after pictures of branding identities. One of the biggest trends I’m noticing is the use of more white space. If done tastefully, it can be very effective. Here are a few examples of products that have undergone a facelift:
Snapple
Trix Cereal
Check out the changes in the full photo essay at Forbes.com.
Check out this comprehensive photo compilation of more before & after logos of major national brands over at WeFunction.com.
Photo caption credit goes to: Lawrence Yang '09
When Pepsi revealed their new logo in 2008, the general public had something to say about it. Many have speculated that Pepsi is taking Apple’s approach with the logo coming across as airy, crisp, and simple. PepsiCo has done a great job of re-branding the Pepsi logo over the years and should be thankful that it has not faced backlash like their Tropicana orange-juice brand. However, I, as well as many others feel that the product packaging of PepsiCo’s soda beverage market could be better designed, but I’ve already expressed my discontentment with that. I do know that Pepsi’s logo does not rub me the wrong way like Kraft foods’ new corporate logo. Overall, I’m okay with the stand-alone logo without the “pepsi” text. What’s your opinion?
Check out the very informative and interesting article by John McWade: “Does Pepsi’s New Logo Work?” hosted on DesignTalk over at Before & After: How to Design Cool Stuff. He talks about how Pepsi measures up to Coca-Cola’s success over the decades.
Home decor at an extreme? These individually hand-made temperature-sensitive glass tiles are a new item on the market. Colors vary according to the temperature of whatever comes into contact with it (ie. your hand, water, air temperature). Think mood rings.
It utilizes Moving Color™ technology and can be purchased online through Inventables. A single 4x4x3/8” tile runs roughly $16 and a square foot runs about $150. Have a specific size, design, or color in mind? You can have tiles custom-made according to your taste. It is also a green product and uses 20 – 80% recycled glass. They are marketed for use on floors, walls, and countertops. Take a look:
Thanks to bookofjoe for his original post. I’m a big fan design-wise, but realistically speaking? I think it’s too pricey of a product. What are your thoughts?
As a follow up to the post about construction paper art, here is the amazing crayon art of Christian Faur as discovered on the Telegraph.co.uk website. Apparently this creative father was inspired by his daughter’s box of crayons back in 2005 and has been doing it ever since.
Check out more at Christian Faur’s website.
What do 200 calories look like?
Visiting with my boyfriend’s parents this weekend tempted me to revisit the portion control post from back in December 2008. His mother and I talked about the sobering reality of an American portion size. Here’s a visual representation from author Liz Monte of DivineCaroline.com of what a portion used to be twenty years ago versus now:
Pizza
Cup of Coffee
Popcorn
Bagel
Soda/Pop
In the wake of insurance giant AIG announcing today that they lost $61.7 billion dollars in the fourth quarter alone, the DOW closed at below 7,000 points. What I never quite got was why the government should bail them out. ABC World News reported tonight that it’s simply because AIG has so many customers worldwide: 74 million to be precise. Apparently us tax payers own 80% of the company. But, perhaps the best analogy I’ve heard yet is that AIG is like a casino. AIG took too big of a gamble on the housing market and when the bubble burst, the house lost. The company simply did not have enough money to pay out, hence the government bailout.
On a lighter note, check out the irony of this AIG advertisement from September of ’08.
Refined Designer // Casual, inspired, creative. 
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