I’ve been on a cooking and baking trip for a while trying out new recipes and finding new produce that I’ve never tried and giving it a shot in some concoction I’ve made. But there’s always one thing that stops me from trying out new recipes. If it has about a zillion steps and ingredients, I want to make stuff that’s fun and easy and that uses things I already have in my pantry.  This is why I love this new blog I found called Fresh 365. Besides the food sounding yummy the photography is so good that you start hearing your tummy grumble just by looking at them.

Savory Blackberry Tart

Champagne Cocktail with Mint & Lemon Sorbet

Spring Peas Soup

Flatbread with Gorgonzola, Caramelized Onions & Arugula

Posted on June 30, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

With the recent loss of Michael Jackson a Los Angeles artist designed a new Pepsi can (that was submitted to The Dieline) to honor Jackson. But is it borderline exploit? I can honestly say that when I first saw this can I thought it was so cool and an honor to have a big corporate company pay respect to an icon. But there is the other side where this will be considered a design to boost sales. Because of the his death people are running out to buy any CD’s and vinyl records of anything Jackson and this can be seen as another thing to purchase. But with this being just an idea we don’t know if it will ever hit the stores. What do you think? Will you be more inclined to buy this just because of the design or will you just pick your usual thirst quenching product?

Posted on June 29, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

Before

After

Mozilla’s Firefox has a new look! It’s so cool and different, not! While the new look isn’t better or worst I don’t see the reason for the change in the first place. The differences are so minor that I just think it’s a waste of time, money and creativity that could have been used to make something really different.  I understand making a change with some logo’s where they don’t want to totally change from the original look and just giving it a “spring cleaning” is enough, but I don’t think users of Firefox will even notice the different look. Some logos that I think get this idea of “spring cleaning” are…

Chipotle

Before

After

Sur La Table

Before

After

Pitchfork

Before

After

Posted on June 26, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

Deadline is the senior project of Bang-Yao Liu, student at Savannah College of Art and Design. More than 6,000 Post-It notes in all kinds of different colors were used to produce a life-size pixel animation on the wall. Not only does he have the final product but also the making of which took 3 months.

Posted on June 24, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

I came across this blog and like the idea these two brothers have of discussing web stuff and little tricks to help you out and posting them as videos. They do tend to babble a bit about random stuff from the few episodes I’ve seen, but guess its part of their charm.

About the Show
‘From the Couch’ is an Online Video show, hosted by us brothers Marc and David Perel, which covers everything web orientated. We show you CSS tips, how to create websites from nothing and also chat about news in the web world.

We started a web company 5 years ago and have never looked back since, we have followed the top bloggers around and have learnt a great deal in application development and web design.
Towards the end of 2008 we decided to start a blog to share our thoughts and knowledge of the web. Two months later, while working on a Sunday afternoon we had an epiphany… Why not create an online Web TV Show?

The result is what you see here, From the Couch.
So, what will you see on From the Couch?
• Interviews
• Site Reviews
• Theme Reviews
• News about OBOX
• Tutorials
• The reality of running a small web company
• Random mentions of Motorsport and Cycling
• Tonnes more…

From the Couch

Posted on June 23, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

I don’t know if I like this packaging because I’ve been reading a book called Eat, Pray, Love and the first section is about Italy and the people there, but the images on these products just make me smile. They bring genuine human emotion with each product you buy instead of the fake images of a prefect family or a smiling image of a model enjoying a bowl of cereal. It automatically reminded of my family and how the women sharing a sweet treat are my aunts and the old man with the bottle of wine is my uncle. Not to mention the colors and type style used are almost second to the images but still have enough of a presence that they are not overshadowed.  Hopefully they keep this look of a long time before deciding to change it too quickly.

Visit the Designers: http://www.uniteddsn.com

Posted on June 22, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

A design firm I love that not only makes logos but great band posters that I thought I’d share.  I’ve always wanted (and will accept presents, thank you) some of these posters that are for sale. These are just some that I really like.

Visit them: http://www.aestheticapparatus.com/

Posted on June 19, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

If you haven’t noticed yet I really love packaging design. I think part of the reason is you have a different object to design for like boxes, bags, and bottles. If you’re like me I usually buy stuff based on how they look. This is also how I pick my wine. I’ll stroll the isles until a label catches my eye, and if it’s not too pricy I’ll take a bottle and try it out with a couple friends. This is how I got most of my favorite wines. I just wanted to give some shout outs to some labels I thought needed some special love.

Mont Tauch

I like how they all have their own little look while still being a collection. They played with the type and imagery to help distinguish each flavor.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/06/mont-tauch.html

Lunar Vine

Color, I love the color of these. Playing off the color of the wine and making the slight changes in the illustration is enough to make them different yet a full collection.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/03/lunar-vine.html

Let It Grow

I can see myself buying the bottles just to use as a vase after I’m done. Not only did they design a cool idea for the packaging (vacuum sealed for freshness) they also went ahead a just designed the bottles.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/03/wine-bottles-by-let-it-grow.html

Mollydooker Wines

Retro coo! I love the look of retro images and these are just too fun to ignore. I only wish they decided on black and white images only and use color in the pattern and texture.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/02/mollydooker-wines.html

Shefa (profusion)Wine

I would call these the gothic version of wine packaging. They have that cut out which reminds me like blood dripping down. I also like the switch up from a square sticker to a round one. In both shapes the look still works.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/02/shefa-profusion-wine.html

ASDA California Wines

Pretty and modern floral’s. This makes wine less intimidating to new comers and it has a refreshing appeal to it. I can for sure see women buying these for a girls night.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/12/yiying-lu-asda.html

DolceVita Wine

This look is so clean, modern and bold. The bright colors on black with the type being elegantly chosen and laid out. Not only are the bottles cool but the wine in a box version is something I would not be ashamed of having in my fridge.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/12/dolcevita-wine.html

Luchador Wine

These are just fun and were really made for the young, adult male demographic.  And why won’t they love them? Mexican wrestlers and wine really don’t have a connection but I’m sure happy they made this happen.

Read More: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/12/luchador-wine.html

What I learned: Packaging is a whole world that I want to experience more of.

Posted on June 18, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

If you’re currently a student at a design school and are on the path of having to find an internship for experience you might feel a little anxiety, okay maybe a lot. You’re just the new cattle brought in to see what you got and to actually realize if you have the talent, time and tenaciousness to become a designer. Nobody knows this more like Andy Chen, a young designer interning at Pentagram under a group of designers that work with Paula Scher (if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say Pentagram or Paula Scher you need to open up a designer book or get to Goggling right away).

Battle Scars - Andy Chen
I am always wary of new beginnings because I have a hard time starting from zero. After five years of proving myself at Princeton, I finally felt like I had established a sense of belonging. Starting a new chapter of anything is not easy for me. Naturally, then, my first week at Pentagram was marked by feelings of tremendous humility and timidity. I don’t think I have felt so very small and insignificant since my freshman year of college.

Read More: http://www.andychendesign.com/blog/?p=530
What I learned: I only wish I had the chance to intern at Pentagram. Only for the fact that I might meet one of the great designers that work there.

Posted on June 17, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink

As you might now know Polaroids are gonna no longer exist so getting your Polaroid fix will soon end. Unless, you use Polodroid. This website lets you download an application where you can dump your images into a Polaroid looking camera and it will spit out the image right on your desktop. You can also give it a shake to develop faster and it will save the image with the Polaroid frame in a folder. No need to by anything or luge around a chunky Polaroid camera!

Get it quick: http://www.poladroid.net/

Posted on June 12, 2009 by debra   |   Permalink