Jezebel: design

Just For Kicks

Dodai — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:10:00 EDT

[Berlin, June 4. Images via Getty.]

A woman looks at a table football game using Barbie dolls can be seen at the International Design Festival in Berlin on June 4, 2009. Over 550 exhibitors are taking part in the festival. AFP PHOTO DDP / THEO HEIMANN GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read THEO HEIMANN/AFP/Getty Images)

Strange Brew

Sadie — 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]

Seals Of Approval

Sadie — 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

t's not its first: the seal has had seven redesigns in its life, and for a few years now has sported a loud red and blue 90's costume. Says graphic designer Louise Fili,'"The last one, that said everything about the ’90s. Nineties branding was the client breathing down your neck and saying, ‘Can you get the type bigger?’ You get the type bigger by having it burst out of the oval."' The new design, which the mag's editor describes as "a difficult design project, but a very juicy one” is clean and slightly retro - a more authoritative seal of approval for uncertain times. [NYT]

No Go Logos

hortense — 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]

Go Go Gadget Groceries

hortense — 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.

Cellphone Pocket Included?

Sadie — 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]

"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.

Somehow, someone, somewhere, forgot to give me the pill from the bottle whose label read: "You've just had a baby, from now on your aversion to all things cute, cuddly or smothered in teddy bear pattern will be forgotten. Go forth and spend a fortune on useless furnishings and ugly-coloured plastic items. Everything you thought you knew about how ' you wanted your home to look is wrong. Oh, and if it's a girl, prepare to like pink."

Sure, some mommies can get a little nuts stocking up on expensive shit: After all, a baby doesn't know the difference between Hermes and KMart. But Rattray doesn't want any baby crap. She's trying to skip getting what other people consider to be essentials. Like: A changing table. Um, where you gonna change those poopy diapers, Fiona? On your Saarinen dining room table from Design Within Reach ?

When Rattray's daughter was too big to be bathed in the sink? "I was tempted by the practical white number that sits on top of your bath. Unfortunately, in the flesh the object in question has all the elegance of a plastic garden pond. I'm not paying £20 to ruin one of my favourite rooms, so it's back to the sink and hope she doesn't grow any more." How realistic! And loving!

Ultimately, Rattray learns to tolerate her daughter. "Harper has discovered the art of bashing using a sweet little wooden [car] with red wheels. Trouble is, it's our Barber Osgerby Loop coffee table she's chosen to practice on. The plywood surface now has several deep dents on it..." (The car "mysteriously migrates" to another room.) But hey, Harper, when you get older, mommy might buy you a $33,000 Eames playhouse. Not that you'll be allowed to play with it.

My New Baby Is Destroying My Perfect Designer Home [Independent]
Nesting With A Vengeance (And a Deadline) [NY Times]
The £17,000 Wendy House: Why The Luxury Kids Market Is Booming [Times of London]