ridiculousdesignrules.com

"Like it or love it, we all have rules that help us at work. "Leave it until the last minute." "Never use a PC." They make sense because they work for you, and you alone. When you try and make someone else follow them, they stop working and become a joke. The problem is that every rule related to, or governing, design is ultimately ridiculous. Ridiculousdesignrules.com decided to give you a place where you could unload those pretentious sound bites about design you've heard from colleagues, clients or anyone else who thinks they know more than you. Designers don’t need anybody else to make us laugh, when we do it so well ourselves."

Bullring Bull turns silver

New Silver look Bull

Old bronze statue

Unveiling

As a Brummy, I thought it only appropriate to add a patriotic post about my beloved hometown....!!! As the Bullring celebrates five successful years in Birmingham, the original bronze bull statue - all five tonnes of it - has been given a makeover in the form of a slick of silver paint.

I guess unless you are from Birmingham, and walk past this huge momument every day, like I do, you may not apprecaite this! I quite like the new look bull, although there has been mixed reviews with many stating that the statue now looks tacky and no longer unique. Fans of the original bronze incarnation of the bull need not worry, the silver paint is not permanent and will only be temporary!

Has the LHC destroyed the earth?

Haha, this made me laugh.....even if it is a tad pointless!

Thanks again to Luke

Ryan McLennan

'Ripe' 30" x 22"

'Haul' 130" x 44"

The haunting works of Ryan McLennan. Much more on his website.

The Next Generation House

The Next Generation House, by Sou Fujimoto Architects, is a weekend house overlooking the River Kuma in Kumakura, Japan. Approximately a 13’x13’x13’ cube. Kinda looks like a giant jenga game, don't you think?

Inspiration Breaks

To promote Robert Harris Coffee Roasters, ten artists were commissioned to create thirty original works of art from coffee napkins. Under the theme "Every break should be inspirational," the art pieces are exhibited in successive bus shelters, creating an outdoor art gallery for people forced to wait for the next bus. Clever idea from DRAFTFCB, Auckland, New Zealand.

Cookie Loves Milk

Cookie Loves Milk Print by illustrator Jess Fink

Baileys Home & Garden

Baileys makes simple home and gardening products. The packaged products highlight their simple approach to everything they do with sketchy hand-drawn illustrations and lettering that simply and clearly tell you what the product is. I think their packaging is the perfect definition of 'less is more'.

The above image is taken in a Terrain store - check out some other products found there including a shelving display. You can also see more images of product in the Terrain store after the jump, and on Flickr.

Tall Tales Logo

I love this logo for Tall Tales restaurant concept, which will be located in Gander Mountain retail stores (USA). The first location will be opening soon in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Notice the goose and fish in the antlers? Very cool. More great work from Duffy & Partners.

Hellovon

By the looks of things Von has been a busy man! A beautiful Creative Review Monograph to his name this month that’s well worth a buy if you’re into his work. The London based illustrator has also recently completed this piece, Migration.

‘Migration will take place in two parts, in two cities, in two months. A flock of abstracted birds will be seen first at the Truman Brewery, London in late August. In September the birds will reappear in New York flocking towards the billboard on the side of the Espeis Gallery in Willamsburg — the project inheriting the migrational nature of it’s content.’

www.hellovon.com/migration

I want a house like this......

Steven Burke

A T-shirt for the great T-post company.

Steven Burke is a french illustrator who lives & works in Bordeaux, France. He updates his site regularly, there's some really good stuff on there..... and possibly the best models I’ve seen all year.

Cutting Books

Artist Noriko Ambe creates her amazing pieces by cutting precise holes in books and other bound publications. Born and educated in Japan, Ambe currently lives in New York City. Check out a list of her upcoming exhibits right here.

Jennifer Maestre's Sea Urchins

Jennifer Maestre creates amazing sea urchin sculptures out of sharpened color pencils. Check out how she uses various pencil shades to create the intricate coloring. Many more can be seen here.

Stones' tongue sold to V&A museum

The original design was in black and white

The original artwork for The Rolling Stones' iconic lips and tongue symbol has been bought by London's Victoria and Albert Museum. The logo, originally designed in 1970 and used by the rock band ever since, sold in the US for $92,500 (£51,375). Half the cost was met by charity The Art Fund, which called the work "one of the most visually dynamic logos ever"...and I agree! Even my little sister has a t-shirt adorned with this famous logo, and she doesn't even know who the Rolling Stones are! I think this is quite a shame in some respects, how this logo has been over used, it somewhat devalues it in my opinion, especially when it is no longer immediately related to the Rolling Stones by younger generations.

Artist John Pasche, who sold the artwork, was originally paid £50 for creating the design.

Post Secret

My work colleague (and award winning web developer!!!) Luke, has just shown me this fantabulous site, that I simply had to share straight away!!!

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. All genuine too. Some cards inparticular are very emotional. I think that this is a great outlet for all those things that would never tell anyone unless you could remain anonymous....maybe I'll send a few in.

Below are a few of my favourites:









Thanks Luke!

Photoshop Disaster

"Smile for the camera baby.... yeah!..... Don't worry about the shark...... Smile.... yeah..... the camera loves you baby! ............lean a bit darling.......... nah the sharks going away....... What?..... it bit your leg off? .......Really? .............Well lets try doing something with a surfboard, hope nobody notices. Lovely!"

I love this blog: via photoshopdisasters.com

Alphabet Truck

Kids and parents often resort to playing the Alphabet Game to avoid complete boredom during long car journeys. Photographer Eric Tabuchi has taken the idea a couple steps further in his cool, limited edition artist's book, Alphabet Truck.

Mythbusters Paint Mona Lisa In One Go With 1,100-Barrel Paint Gun

"Leonardo Da Vinci might have worked painstakingly on the Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile but the crowd at Mythbusters managed their own version in less than a second at nVidia's NVISION event this week.

Of course, the duo of Adam and Jamie were going to have to pull it off in style, if they wanted to demonstrate the difference between single-core CPUs and multi-core graphics processing units (GPUs). And that they did, with the help of an 1100-barrel paint gun that fired all the paint simultaneously."

One word.....WOW!!!

Fossil Washbasin

Ammonite concrete washbasin. Available here.

Saltimbanque: Paul Ruiz

Saltimbanque, 2008, oil on linen, 20 x 15 cm

Absolutely love this painitng, by Paul Ruiz. The original has sold, but I'm keeping my eye out for prints......as if I could afford it anyway!! Lots more on the website.

Women

Women is an art project by 28mm that’s raising awareness about violence against women. The above pictures are of an installation in Rio. I think that this is such an important issue and I'm really glad that a greater awareness is being raised. Great visual impact too.

Yu Tsai: Photographer

Yu Tsai is really an amazing photographer. Have a look at his portfolio; all the photographs are beautiful. The above 3 from the Chanel Paris Collection.

a favorite design

I love the letterpress work of amber favorite of a. favorite design...so cheery and happy.

The Mossenger Project

Great concept...Anna Garforth's 'Mossenger' project' will use moss to create type for the verse of a poem written by poet Elly Stevens as part of YCN LIVE.

"Being interested in public art and ecology, it led me to thinking about sustainable graffii. I collected a common moss that grows well on brick walls and glued it to the wall using a mixture of natural (bio active) yoghurt and sugar. I will be experimenting with type and illustration to create further messages using this mossy medium"