Dan Markham

Malcolm Gladwell, in a typically wide-ranging talk, spoke at, of all places, an AIGA sponsored design conference on the lessons, in creativity, one can glean from the music careers of Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles. Oh yeah, he also has a new book out.

Architecture firm Sagan Piechota’s renovated office (and “salon” space as well, apparently) on Linden Lane provides the space for Blue Bottle Coffee’s seminal “bricks and mortar” retail outlet and hopefully, soon, right out front, a nice little alley renovation that will make sipping one’s finely crafted espresso beverage just that much more enjoyable.

Products as disturbing as the people, places and events that inspired them: America the Gift Shop

If I was the modern day jet-setter of my dreams I would most definitely be planning a trip out to The Big Apple for the MOMA’s celebration of the modern pre-fab, “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling”. The modern-day pre-fab is a far cry from the staid, pre-built, vanilla, wanna-be ranch house from back in the day. Today, the focus is on sustainability, quality workmanship and modern design principles. There are some ultra-chic pre-fabs out there.

Twistori: Love. Hate. Think. Believe. Feel. Wish.

A Mr. Axel Peemoeller created this incredible directional signage system for a parking garage in Melbourne. The signage is only readable when the viewer is in the proper viewing location wherein the utility of the designs become readily apparent.
Tip ‘o’ the hat to the Fireball

“Fly Flower” by The Small Stakes for the band Grizzly Bear

The Small Stakes is a design studio in Oakland, California that has produced artwork for a number of independent bands over the years.

Insound sells everything related to independent music.

Jason Munn, of the Small Stakes, and Insound have gotten together and produced art for twenty bands. The project is called Insound 20 and there is some very cool stuff in here for some very cool bands. As luck would have it my favorite is for a band of which I have very little knowledge.

In Kiss of Death, a designer says goodbye to his cherished design treatment.

Holger Struppek, formerly of Pentagon Design in San Francisco, writes about the decisions that went into re-designing the look, feel and operation of Wells Fargo’s new touch-screen based ATM interface.

Boring, you say? I say, Fascinating! (via Kottke)

Right on the heels of a redesigned five dollar bill a U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that U.S. paper money discriminates against the blind because there is no way to tell bills of different denominations apart purely by feel. Sounds like an excellent design challenge to me.

Movie poster for Taxi to the Dark Side

John Gruber says that this poster has been “banned”. Must be the hood.

“Banned” or “Rejected“? If I can see the poster online (or in any other way or venue) is it really “banned”?

Read more about it on the Variety web site.