Jezebel: Design

This Five-Year-Old Girl's Thoughts on Famous Logos Will Blow Your Mind

Cassie Murdoch — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:15:00 EST

Gifts For Your 'Design Snob' Best Friend

Whitney Jefferson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:40:00 EST

It's time for the holidays and you have almost everybody on your list checked off except for that one picky friend with seemingly exquisite taste that changes as fast as the seasons do. You can't walk by a store-front window without her making some kind of comment about how "last season" that is or how the look of the something is "on trend." (On what?) The kind of person you're just a little afraid to buy a gift for because even if she tells you that she loves it, you know she's secretly judging whatever you got her and will swiftly be placing it in the back of her closet never to be seen again. More »

Conceptual Contraception For The Cool Uterus

Jenna Sauers — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:15:00 EDT

Berlin-based designer Ronen Kadushin has come up with an open-source concept for a cheaper kind of IUD that incorporates a copper 1c coin. This IUD is not ready for market — IUDs must be collapsible, so they can pass through an un-dilated cervix during insertion, and Kadushin's is not — and there are obvious safety and usability issues with any attempt to redesign a medical device. But given so many women feel that current contraception options have room for improvement, and given that the pharmaceutical companies that control the IUD market in the U.S. charge hundreds of dollars for these tiny pieces of plastic and copper (Kadushin's prototype costs just €1.25), it's cool to see the IUD getting some attention in the design world. More »

Sexist Hollywood Movie Clichés Look Much Prettier In Well-Designed Chart Form

Whitney Jefferson — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:20:00 EDT

To promote the New York International Latino Film Festival, ad agency Wing New York came up with a slew of stereotypes in major motion pictures and designed the crap out of them. I guess the point of the ad campaign is to say that this film festival is above all of the following clichés? All I know is that I will cringe the next time I see a movie starring a down-on-her-luck maid, a girl trapped inside of her own car in a horror flick, or anytime a person utters the words "We've got company." More »

It's OK to Admit You Want to Live in Architect Barbie's Mansion

Kat Hannaford — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 10:24:22 EDT

Did you know Barbie's had over 120 careers since 1959? Along with dabbling in computer engineering, she's also planning a big move into architecture this fall—but obviously she'll need an eco-friendly cantilever mansion to call her own. More »

Courthouse's Glass Staircase Clearly Not Designed With Ladies' Skirts In Mind

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:18:00 EDT

Apple stores have brought plenty of good things, like free internet kiosks and the security that the dude declaring our pricey devices unfixable is a "genius." However, their futuristic, transparent design (as seen above in a New York store) may have created a monster. Thanks to an effort to emulate Apple's look, an Ohio courthouse now features a staircase that lets everyone peek up women's skirts. More »

Digital Eyeshadow Eliminates The Need For Those Pesky Brushes

Whitney Jefferson — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:50:00 EDT

Ding's digital eyeshadow design concept works by balancing a frame of insulated wires on the face against a weight she calls a "lilypad" that hangs down by your ear and keeps everything in place: More »

Fashion's Most Obnoxiously Privileged Designer

Jenna Sauers — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:00:00 EDT

What a thrill it is, every once in a while, to read a rip-roaring take-down! Today's specimen is Reed Krakoff, the Coach designer who launched his own super-expensive namesake brand last year, who is profiled by Ariel Levy in this week's New Yorker. Levy — whose last fashion profile was an exceptionally warm psychological portrait of Lanvin's Alber Elbaz — seems not to have been so taken with Krakoff. More »

Menstrual Cycles Inspire Artistic Flowcharts

Suzanne Labarre — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:45:00 EST

Modern reproductive medicine has freed women to have lots of hot sex without worrying about babies, but it has obscured their sense of their own fertility. To which some of us would respond: So freaking what? Not Brigitte Coremans. More »

Could Tampon Packaging Please Look Like This?

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:20:00 EDT

Design students Kyle Tolley & Sarah Graves were tasked with creating tampon packaging that makes the buyer, "confident of their purchase and not embarrassed." They suggested these folded, environmentally friendly boxes, but we'd feel even more courageous buying Blackbeard Brand. More »

An Expert Analysis Of Sarah Palin's New Cover Design

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:17:00 EDT

Harper Collins has released the cover for Palin's new book, America by Heart. It will be available to deface come November. For now, we have to satisfy ourselves with judging just the image - with some help from the experts. More »

Wedding Obsession Turns Normally Rational Woman Into Crazy Stereotype

Katy Kelleher — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:37:00 EDT

I've never been the type of girl you would really describe as girly - except for one thing: I'm obsessed with weddings. Please don't tell my boyfriend. More »

28 Days: Special Tampon Can Save Humanity

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:40:00 EDT

In February, at a panel about "embarrassing" products and women, someone mentioned that menstrual blood is rich with stem cells. Comedian Sarah Haskins quipped, "one day we'll all be living on period farms." Good news: That day is almost here. More »

Gisele's Legs Still Glued Together On Mag Covers; More Met Ball Gossip

Jenna Sauers — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:40:00 EDT

For the May Vogue Mexico cover, Gisele Bündchen pulled virtually the same pose that was captured on the April cover of American Vogue. [DesignScene]
Miley Cyrus wears a silver corset that costs $25,000 in her latest music video. [Us]

Only Words To Play With

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST

In 2007 John Bertram issued a challenge: design a cover for Nabokov's Lolita. The results run the gamut from horribly creepy to uncannily pretty. Check out the full library (and compare representations of pedophilia) here: [Flickr via BlackBook] More »

Selling Sexism: Smart Credit Card Concept Designs, Stupid Stereotypes

LatoyaPeterson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST

The prestigious Red Dot Awards designated the design concept "Live Checking Card" a winner in their productivity category for combining mobile banking and portability. But why are some tech sites using gender stereotypes to discuss the card's potential? More »

Just For Kicks

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:10:00 EDT

[Berlin, June 4. Images via Getty.]

Strange Brew

Sadie Stein — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:20:00 EDT

Since 1991, Emily the Strange has become an industry, popping up on 500 items a year. Explains one editor, "She's a very strong, distinct character...There's not a lot out there commercially for kids that really says to be yourself." [WSJ] More »

Seals Of Approval

Sadie Stein — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:20:00 EST

The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, which the Hearst-owned mag has awarded to quality products since 1909, is getting an overhaul. I More »

No Go Logos

Hortense Smith — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:20:00 EST

Logo Design Love has an interesting look at discarded Obama '08 campaign logos. Sol Sender, who led the design team, explains each logo and details how the final decision was made. [Logo Design Love] More »

Go Go Gadget Groceries

Hortense Smith — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT

For those of us who spent endless hours speeding around on the back of a shopping cart, playing "Supermarket Sweep" with our siblings as our parents shopped, Jaebeom Jeong's "Cartrider," a bicycle-shopping cart hybrid, is a dream come true. How awesome it would be to do all of your grocery shopping while cruising around on one of these bad boys? First one to the checkout lane gets 20% off on Cool Ranch Doritos! Ready, steady, go! [Designboom] via Neatorama. More »

Cellphone Pocket Included?

Sadie Stein — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:20:00 EDT

There's always a market for temperamental designers! Naomi Campbell is "rumored to have inked a deal with 284, a new clothing line from the Sao Paolo-based retailer Daslu." Nothing more is known about the serenity-challenged beauty's foray into the creative side, save that it's "made for strong women," which does that term a serious disservice. [FabSugar] More »

"My New Baby Is Cute, But She Doesn't Go With My Chairs"

Jennifer — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Last week's New York Times touched on mamas-to-be and home renovation projects, but in today's Independent focuses on décor. We're introduced to one Fiona Rattray, who writes, "My new baby is destroying my perfect designer home." How's a mid-century modern mecca of a home to survive something so, ugh, nouveau as a baby?! Angela Kinsey (who plays Angela on The Office) tells the Times that "being pregnant makes you crazy to get things done around the house." Rattray would probably agree with the idea that children can make one insane, though her motherhood madness has her on the verge of banishing her baby. Because high chairs do not match Eames chairs. More »