design, innovation, mobile, social and emerging tech links for you
Out of the box – book from adrian333 on Vimeo.
One could argue that “No Manual” needed is the pinnacle of product design but if you’re going to make a “manual” you could do far worse than this. So much nicer to help people experience your product in order to learn rather than just telling them how it works. Just lovely. (ht @adamwohl)
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Both of these are a few weeks old but I still wanted to call them out because I like them so much, for different reasons.
Chiquita Bananas: A Beautiful Brand Refresh
What I love about this was that they took branding that was already iconic and took it in a new, playful, and ultimately really memorable, direction.
Chiquita will always remind me sharing an office with Dennis, who’d eat a banana a day and cover his laptop with the Chiquita stickers from said bananas. Clearly he’s not alone in that endeavor and Chiquita is showcasing that behavior on the new site in support of this new campaign.
Just look at these things. They’re so f*cking cute I want to collect them all and nom the crap out of them.
Think rebranding bananas isn’t exciting? Here’s a great quote on finding that angle to build on when helping brands rebuild their identities:
Many times as designers we are tasked to help brands build or rebuild their identities. We may initially think that a clean slate is required to achieve a better identity, and in some cases that can be true if the existing brand identity has little to no value. But in most cases, there is always something that can be built on, discovered, or championed with any brand. It really just requires spending as much time as you can with the product, immersing yourself in it. Like method designing, you just have to live it and the work will flow through you.
The Heinz ketchup packet : A User-centered product redesign
Heinz’s effort is impressive because it improved both form and function, making the brand feel newer visually as well as functionally, addressing their major use cases, referred to as the “dippers” and the “squeezers.”
This is a redesign that just makes so much sense you wonder how it took so long to get here. Technology wasn’t holding it back. It was a matter of really looking at the problem from a user’s point of view and then making a change. Bravo.
+ The Art Director responsible for the Chiquita redesign process did a great interview about the process.
+ Read more about the Heinz redesign here.
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The next time you need a third hand to hold your coffee cup while you dig around in your bag for something, just stick it to a streetlight with this ingenious hack.
I really love how simple and elegant this hack is though I wonder how deep the need really is. Either way, very nicely executed.
Check out more projects like this here.
Thanks to @chadsnuts for the tip.
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Candy Chang has designed a set of flash cards meant to demystify the often-confusing tenant laws in New York City. It’s great to see design and well-written copy serve a purpose that will educate and potentially greatly improve people’s lives. A perfect stocking for your friend, child, sibling planning on making the big move to NYC in 2010.
Now if only someone could make a set of these to make sense of the tax documents we have to deal with every year.
Many residents in New York are unfamiliar with their housing rights. What is my landlord required to repair? How does rent stabilization work? When can my landlord enter my apartment? Thanks to a generous grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter, Candy collaborated with non-profit group Tenants & Neighbors to develop and produce a boxed set of 30 flash cards on tenants’ rights. The flash cards translate New York’s official Tenants’ Rights Guide into a fun and friendly format that covers everything from security deposits and subletting to privacy and eviction so residents can enjoy good times while becoming empowered residents. The flash cards are available for $10 in Tenants & Neighbors’ online store and all profits go towards their good work. Buy one for yourself and all of your friends – a righteous gift for anyone in New York state!
Check them out in all their glory here.
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I’ve loved this packaging from Help Remedies since the first time I saw them. Not only are they great to look at but in a world where Duane Reade aisles have become a cacophony of products serving redundant needs, these containers manage to be refreshingly simple while still being very informative.
Follow the link to read about Help Remedies and 9 other great package designs.
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I recently ordered a new over-the-shouler bag called, ahem, the “Blogger” (nevermind my friends, the name makes me want to make fun of myself) from Timbuk2. The bag looks like this:
…and while this isn’t meant to be a bag review, let me say that this is one of the better bags I’ve owned (and I’ve owned quite a few, sister!).
Quick lightning review of the things I like:
All in all, I highly recommend this bag. That concludes our digression. Now back to the original purpose of this post…
Timbuk2 ships their bags in these plastic pouches with a map of San Francisco on it:
Always a lover of maps I thought it was a nice touch to have a custom bag for their merchandise. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was in fact a bike map of San Francisco (that happens to be waterproof thanks to the material it’s printed on) so not only did they create something visually appealing, very much on-brand for a company founded in San Francisco in 1989, and environmentally conscious, it’s also useful (for those that live in San Francisco).
Check out a closeup of the message. Note how the tone and copy (“…stop kicking mother nature in the nads…” – ha!) are spot on for the brand.
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