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Ok ok, we aren’t ALL snobs, but we know what we like and there isn’t anything wrong with that. We enjoy well designed products and we get giddy when we see beautiful & functional accessories. We like things that look good on our desk, next to our bed, travel with us or just look downright damn good on us.

Ok kids, pull out your wallets and don’t forget to tack on some extra for shipping if you need it before the 25th. You know you’re a slacker, that’s why you clicked on this post.

The D.I.Y. Mighty Wallet, $15

Be Creative, Be Mighty! The D.I.Y. Mighty Wallet has a writable surface you can draw on with pens and permanent markers to personalize it and make it your own or to give it to someone special as a one of a kind gift.

BUY IT NOW.

Glif, $20

The Glif is an iPhone 4/4S accessory with two primary functions: mounting your iPhone onto a tripod and propping up your iPhone at various angles. Our goal was to create something small, simple, and elegant. But out of this simple design emerges countless uses. Mount your iPhone to a tripod for taking great pictures or making movies. Prop your iPhone up for hands-­free FaceTiming or to watch videos.

BUY IT NOW or BUY THE WHOLE SET.

Plus Pack for the Glif, $12

The +Pack is for those that already own a Glif, but want the Serif and Ligature add-ons. It’s the “+” part in Glif+.

The Serif is designed to keep your iPhone incredibly secure on the tripod. While the Glif is great for normal use, the Serif will keep your phone safe in more extreme situations. And, when you are not using the Serif, it fits snuggly inside the Glif, making it very compact.

BUY IT NOW or BUY THE WHOLE SET.

Places on Earth (print w/pins), $180

Signed screen printed on black Somerset 280gsm and limited to an edition of 250. Size: 34.5″ x 26.25″

Each print comes with 52 pins, 50 are orange, 1 is red and 1 is blue. Red is for headquarters, blue if for your next target.

Created exclusively for the Royal We by Oliver Jeffers, this limited edition signed print is a hand drawn map of the world. The whole world. With pins. But it isn’t to scale, because that would be very hard to ship. Screen printed in Brooklyn using white ink on black paper.

BUY IT NOW.

Roll Up Travel Charger, $34

This portable charger minimizes cable clutter and maximizes style by placing multiple charging outlets on a single bar that rolls up into a slip-proof, polyurethane mat. You can refuel up to 4 devices simultaneously while occupying just a single wall outlet.

BUY IT NOW.

iPhone Minidock, $24

The MiniDock by Blue Lounge keeps your iPod/iPhone off the floor. It plugs right into your original power adapter (not included) to create a wall mounted charger docking station with no trailing cables. Exclusively for the iPhone and iPod.

BUY IT NOW.

PlugBug, $35

One accessory lets you charge two devices at once.

PlugBug is made exclusively for all MacBook Power Adapters, including current and previous models. Snap PlugBug onto your MacBook Power Adapter and you now have the first ever device that lets you charge your MacBook + iPad or iPhone simultaneously, from one wall outlet.

BUY IT NOW.

Grid-It (Medium), $22

The Grid-It organization system is a unique weave of rubberized elastic bands made specifically to hold personal objects firmly in place. Designed to provide endless configurations of digital devices and personal effects. Slim design and conveniently sized for your current laptop bag or travel case, lets you easily find what you need. Features rear zippered pocket for additional storage.

BUY IT NOW.

Lux Delux – Cups, $18 each

Might as well look good while you’re drinking your coffee or tea.

BUY IT NOW.

Mute Watch, $260

GLOW, SWIPE AND VIBRATE

The Mutewatch is designed to be simple and intuitive. Just tap the flat surface and the touch screen lights up, then swipe through the functions clock, alarm and timer.

You set the time for your alarms by tapping directly on the digits – tap on the top of the digit for a higher number or on the bottom of the digit for a lower one. When you want to erase an alarm, simply pinch the touch screen.

The Mutewatch also features a built-in motion sensor that registers your movement and automatically adjusts the strength of the vibrations. So, whether you’re sleeping, on stage giving a presentation or doing your work out, the Mutewatch will keep you updated on your next step.

BUY IT NOW.

Nixon Watch – The Chalet, (3 color choices) $200

MOVEMENT: 3 hand Japanese quartz. CASE: Custom 30 meter stainless steel with hardened mineral crystal, real wood, or enamel inlay and double gasket crown. BAND: Custom solid stainless steel with real wood, or enamel inlay and butterfly closure.

BUY IT NOW.

Poster Clips, $10

Nickel-plated display clips for hanging your posters, art prints and other cherished ephemera with style and ease.

BUY IT NOW.

Incase – Snapcase, Warhol Collection, $40

As a cutting-edge visual artist, Andy Warhol understood and embraced technology and saw it as the future of contemporary culture and the arts. The Warhol edition Snap Case for iPhone 4 features some of the artist’s most beloved works along with the same reliable protection and easy attachment of our standard Snap Case.

BUY IT NOW.

Burning Love Desk Pad, € 50.00

Classic Felt deskpad of Burning Love from Wiesbaden. A leather strip on the side brings order to your desk and it looks great. The soft material requires no additional mouse pad. 100% felt and a leather patch with blind embossing on Burning Love 75 x 75 cm.

BUY IT NOW.

Book Holder, € 14.90

A bookmark for the wall. Beside the bed….Material: steel powder coated. Dimensions: 4.5 x 22.5 cm. Color: black, white.

BUY IT NOW.

Desk-It Weekly Calendar, $10

The Desk-It is a combination of sticky note and calendar. You can write down your to-dos for the week then tack up the sheet on your computer or wall as a reminder. You can stick it to the refrigerator for weekly menu planning or grocery list. Once you’re done, just tear it off and enjoy your sense of accomplishment.

BUY IT NOW.

Camera Table Dolly, $90

You know that nauseous feeling you get while watching your family’s shaky home videos? The one that you always blame on your parents’ stunning fashion choices? The Camera Table Dolly is here to make sure your videos don’t come with a side effect of nausea. While it won’t teach your parents how to dress, it will give your videos a smooth, professional look.

BUY IT NOW.

Headphone Stand, $59

This versatile headphone stand will be your best companion to protect, showcase and organize your favorite headphones. Featuring an adjustable height arm bar, it is suitable for almost any headphones in any size and shape. Its stylish and heavy-duty design is made for daily use for years to come.

BUY IT NOW.

Jawbone Jambox, $150

BUY IT NOW.

Marshall Heaphones – Major, $119

The Major encloses vast amounts of the massive Marshall legacy. The exterior of the headband is made out of the same vinyl used in Marshall amplifiers and it bears the original Marshall texture. Besides being straight up dazzling.

The Major is a solid workhorse with great stamina, designed with non-stop, all-day listening in mind.

BUY IT NOW.

Fab.com Gift Guide

If you don’t find something that fits your fancy on our list, be sure to grab up some last minute gifts from my favorite store fab.com!

There’s still time to pick up some amazing design gifts for the holidays. Think whimsical scrubbers, hanging planters, fabulous handbags, futuristic watches, and talking clocks.

CHECK IT OUT.

and…if you’re not sure what to pick….

Who doesn’t need a scrubber ducky?

BUY IT NOW.

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FITC Amsterdam has played host to a program focused on design, technology and cool shit for the last four years, and 2012 is no exception. Featuring the best and brightest in the digital space, FITC Amsterdam showcases work which is shaping the future of the digital interactive industry.

2012 has a line-up featuring the best and brightest in the digital space including Hoogerbrugge, Aram Bartholl, Lee Brimelow, Golan Levin, Andreas Müller and many more.

FITC Amsterdam has a history of selling out and 2012 is on track to as well. The combination of unbelievable international presenters, incredible networking opportunities and the infamous FITC parties, all with the amazing backdrop of the city of Amsterdam, creates a stage for the unexpected.

There are a limited number of tickets which sell out fast, so register early to reserve your spot!

Discount

Use discount code Fuel for 10% off all FITC Amsterdam 2012 tickets until event day. The super early bird deadline ends November 25, so register soon to get the best rate!

For more information visit www.fitc.ca/amsterdam

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Is there a better way to discover new foods than through a clean interface with full-paged pictures? No? Meet Gojee. Gojee recommends top quality, hand curated recipes by using basic fundamentals. Part of Gojee’s appeal is it’s beautiful visual experience which entices the user into their beautifully presented dishes. Gojee doesn’t stop there… To make sure that their recipes are the cream of the crop they hunt down the webs best food bloggers,  and get’s to know them intimately. Apparently, even “pillow-talk O-M-GEE, no way, I like long walks on the beach” intimate.

Then all that tasty information is crushed into the Gojee tasting lab. Where, all of these easy dishes are tested by real humans to make sure that these are indeed the best. Basically, Gojee makes sure that they bring you the best of the best so your aural experience will be nothing short of mind-blowing. And if you’re a NYC resident and shop at D’Agostino, Gojee automagically links to your rewards card and tells you the ingredients that you already have.

In-case you weren’t sold, the interface of the site is clean, crisp and on-point. There’s only the needed functionality that helps you, the short order cook, get your cook on. Gojee is fantastically fun and easy to use. By allowing users to like/dislike foods and add foods based on categories you have or want to cook with, you’re able to find something anyone is able to eat.

Need more Gojee?

Site
Twitter
Facebook

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The Hello Bar is a fun, unobtrusive yet highly visible bar that sits at the top of your website and is a great way to engage users and get them to take immediate action. User attention spans are shorter than ever, and with more content to sift through users are less and less likely to find what you really want them to see. Enter Hello Bar. Users like Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferris use Hello Bar to promote the most important message and call to action.

With this Pro release, we’ve focused on empowering our users to increase their clickthrough rates and improve their message with A/B testing and advanced statistics. We also want to encourage users to keep their Hello Bar messages fresh to avoid user fatigue. The idea is that a user will always check a websites Hello Bar to see what is latest and greatest on the site.

New Pro Features Include:

- A/B Testing (message, link, colors…etc)

- Advanced stats (all date ranges, A/B results)

- Dynamic Hello Bars (from RSS feeds)

- No Branding or link to Hello Bar

- Up to 10 Hello Bars (Free = 3)

- Always on top (Hello Bar stays on top when you scroll)

- Lots more features to come – this is just the beginning

The Details on Winning

We’ll be picking 25 people to get a free invite to the Pro Plan. Comment to win and we’ll handle the rest! Winners will be announced Thursday 6/19. Good luck!

Winners

If your name is on the list below please e-mail: chad@fuelyourcreativity.com and we’ll take care of the rest!

1. Clyde Smith
2. Mitch Garcia
3. Dieo
4. Kel
5. Glenn Sewell
6. Zak Morris
7. Peter Dedene
8. Marius
9. Frank
10. Arun
11. David Brier
12. Charlie Curve
13. Melanie
14. Alex Leeson-Brown
15. Conor
16. Juarez P. A. Filho
17. Tyrale
18. Keri
19. Laura Tetrault
20. Gian
21. Colleen C
22. Jason Calleiro
23. Kumi
24. Kathleen
25. Justin Dela Cruz

Advertise here via BSA

PRODUCT

Mountains by UGMONK

An awesome print from the always talented Ugmonk. (Jeff Sheldon) The majesty of mountains – Ugmonk style.

NEWS

Redesign, Wanderlists, and Facebook power Wanderfly 2.0

A half-year after our official launch we have overhauled the entire destination page on Wanderfly to help you get going on your next Wanderfly adventure. It is now easier and more fun to browse destinations, share trips, and connect with friends. Powering the redesign is the ability to create and share awesome lists (Wanderlists) of destinations and the option to connect and chat with friends to get advice, offer travel tips, and chat about your favorite places. At Wanderfly, we’ve always wanted you to find inspiration from our recommendations, and now with these improvements, there are plenty of new ways to do just that – make lists and join the conversation at Wanderfly now.

LucidChart Launches Any-Time, Any-Where Access to Web-based Visual Communication App With Full Offline Version

LucidChart, the top paid app in the Chrome App Store, announced full offline functionality of their web-based visual communication and diagramming app, and I’d like to work with you on a story about this news.

LucidChart offers users a quick and easy way to organize and communication information through attractive and easy-to-understand visual aids, and the new offline functionality allows users to stay productive even when they don’t have web access.

This release is significant in that they’re among the first to offer such a powerful product in full version format that keeps users connected even when they’re not online  - LucidChart is part of the general trend of improvements in web apps that are now outperforming desktop software.

INSPIRATION

4 Things we’d LOVE to see in the next iOS

When we have an idea about something we really like, we simply can’t keep our hands off it. The iPhone is great, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get a little better…..right?

VinylLove™ for iPad
Play it, Feel it, LOVE it!
colormonkey.se/​vinyllove

Color Monkey is an Interactive Design Studio with an exciting mix of talented designers in a creative environment in which ideas and products come to life.

Visit us at colormonkey.se

iOS 5 Lion-Style Dashboard Concept

Another concept of widgets — this time to mirror the dashboard setup in Mac OS X. The implementation is similar to my other widget video. However, in this concept, widgets and apps are separated.

Basically, you can consider this layout as having two sides. You have your apps and folders where they have been. But when you slide over to the old Spotlight Search screen, the wallpaper shifts and you’re taken into a Dashboard screen similar to the kind found in Mac OS X. You can have many pages of widgets (exactly the same way as the app home screens, but in the opposite direction). Widgets can come with downloaded applications and can be different sizes. Shown are my designed widgets for Facebook and Twitter.

What 9,000 TV Channel Logos Looks Like

There are thousands upon thousands of TV channels available to watch worldwide.

Unfortunately it’s nearly impossible to fully grasp the absolutely massive number of television channels out there today because we only ever see them on our TV guides or randomly around the internet. For each channel, there’s a logo design that is easily recognizable and often memorable. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are more than 9,000 TV channel logos.

Of course, because some channels use identical logos across different stations and countries, some duplication has occurred (so we’re just going to round down to 9,000 even). You can even see a high resolution version of these logos starting here, but be warned: the large versions will take some time to load.

MUST READ

Long Live the Redesign by iamFinch

In a nutshell, the concept he put forward is: Great designers adjust an existing work with little disruption of the foundational design for a goal or purpose. The end result is a modification to the design that improves the user experience. Good designers, on the other hand, recreate existing work focusing on the aesthetic, with a misunderstood notion that it will always improve it. However they end up disrupting and/or damaging the user’s experience making no real impact with the effort.

Design Professionalism by Andy Rutledge

The designer’s guide to taking back your profession.

Each year enthusiastic and passionate design students enter the industry they’ve long admired—one that they’ve worked hard to prepare for and have strived to be worthy of—in time only to meet with disillusionment. Why?…

Sustainable, Not Pixel Perfect

We were approached by Zappos (read our case study) to reskin their “Zeta” site (basically a living wireframe). Our brief was to redesign the pages without bringing new thinking to the structure of the page, functionality, or interaction. Our job was to interpret what they had already built and to align the design with the Zappos brand; it is something they had struggled to do for several years.

Don’t redesign on spec by Yaron Schoen

Art, by nature, is not utilitarian. It does not concern itself with descriptions but leaves its viewer with the option to develop his/her own interpretation of what he/she sees. Art is its own means to an end, it does not solve problems for its viewer and it is without a specific goal. It is a reaction to an observation made by the artist that is sometimes processed through an emotional filter and sometimes remains in pure documentation form.

WORKSPACE

Office Productivity

Nice little setup that you could come in daily and grind out some work. I like it.

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

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Behance ProSite: Fully Customized Portfolio Websites, No Coding Required, Massive Exposure

Behance launched ProSite.com, a new service that allows creative people and teams to create fully customized portfolio websites through a revolutionary drag-and-drop interface.

How will ProSite revolutionize the online portfolio space in the creative industry?

Endless Customization, No Coding Required

In contrast to other portfolio site providers, ProSite does not require any programming knowledge to access a full range of customization options. You can design a website using sliders, color pickers, and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface in a matter of minutes. Check out a few example ProSites.

A “Connected” Portfolio, In-Sync With Behance, LinkedIn, & More

ProSite syncs your online portfolio with the Behance Network and other portfolio display applications on LinkedIn, AIGA, AdWeek, plus more networks and galleries around the web. You can create a customized website on your own domain name, and then manage your entire online creative presence from one central place.

Powered By Behance’s Growing Platform

ProSite is built upon the Behance Network, the leading platform for creative professionals. Hundreds of thousands of creative professionals use Behance.net to display their work on Behance as well as LinkedIn and other exclusive curated galleries around the web, including the award winning collection of Served sites.

Millions of creative enthusiasts visit Behance sites every month to watch and follow the latest and greatest work by creative professionals across industries. Top creative companies around the world use Behance to find incredible talent. In the past 30 days, Behance’s sites collectively received over 50 million pageviews and growth is in the double-digits.

ProSite launches this week and is free to sign up at ProSite.com.

Premium service includes unlimited media, personal domain mapping, hosting and support for just $11/month (or $99/year).

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Check out the 90-Second Launch Video For Behance ProSite: http://prosite.com

5 Examples of ProSite Customization & Connection With Behance

Official Classic

ProSite: http://officialclassiceps.prosite.com/
Behance Profile: http://be.net/officialclassiceps

Felix Ng

ProSite: http://work.felixng.co
Behance Profile: http://be.net/silnt

Jonas Nyström

ProSite: http://jonasfilm.com/
Behance Profile: http://be.net/jnystrom

Jack Radcliffe

ProSite: http://jackradcliffe.prosite.com
Behance Profile: http://www.behance.net/JackRadcliffe

Anthony Neil Dart

ProSite: http://anthonyneildart.tv
Behance Profile: http://www.behance.net/DARTA

Mauro Hernandez

ProSite: http://mahebo.com/
AdWeek: http://talent.adweek.com/mahebo
Behance Profile: http://be.net/Mahebo

More Examples: http://prosite.com/home/examples
_____

About Behance

Behance is a NYC-based company with a mission to organize and empower the careers of creative professionals. Behance oversees Behance.net, the leading online platform for creative professionals; The 99%, Behance’s think tank and annual conference devoted to execution in the creative world; and Action Method, a popular online/mobile productivity application and line of organizational paper products for creative people and teams.
http://behance.com

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Mojo Themes just recently re-designed their site (which we covered here) and they also turned one year old! (Happy Birthday to you!) Now, what’s that mean for you? They are giving away three (3) of their bundles to FYC readers for tweeting this statement:

I want to win a free Anniversary bundle from Mojo Themes http://t.co/RO4ONU1 #fuelcreativity

Details:

The MOJO Themes Anniversary Bundle is taking place for 7 days only between the dates of April 18^th (Monday) to April 24^th (Sunday).

The Bundle will include some of our most popular items within the marketplace.  You can get your hands on $442 worth of items for only $25.

WordPress: (10)

$32 Signal 8

One of the longest top sellers on MOJO Themes, the Signal 8 WordPress theme delivers a sleek & fun feel but is still packed with tons of features. It offers a premium magazine/news formatted homepage. Featured articles or posts display on the homepage slider.

$32 Lambert

Lambert is a high customizable theme for WordPress with a unique and creative design to make you stand out. With this theme you can play with the latest cms features likes the menus, thumbnails and the background manager.

$35 Pride & Joy

Pride & Joy is a beautiful, minimalist, clean looking WordPress theme, with easy to customize color scheme, typography, graphic header and background. This theme comes with 6 color schemes, more than 10 Cufon fonts, 9 widget area, 50+ theme options, WP3 new features ( Custom Menu, Header, Background), localisation support, Shortcodes, and many more.

$32  Cleaner

This theme is currently a MOJO best selling item from MOJO’s current top seller. The Cleaner premium WordPress theme has been designed for those looking to create a very clean and minimalistic website to show off their business or personal portfolio.

$37 FolioStudio

FolioStudio is the perfect blend of Wordpress goodness. Experience everything with FolioStudio, from a sophisticated portfolio, detailed magazine, or professional business layout all wrapped up with a fresh design.

$32 Stereotype

Stereotype WordPress theme is a clean and simple one page portfolio theme. The extensive and beautifully styled options page lets you control every aspect of the theme and is very well documented with how-to videos for each section.

$35 Granity

Granity is a clean and simple corporate wordpress theme, it include an extensive list of features and styles, you would expect in a premium theme. Pack with 20+ shortcodes, 4 sliders, 6 custom widgets and much more!

$37 Universalistic

Universalistic is a highly-customizable premium WordPress template that can be used for company presentation, personal blog or portfolio. It provides simple administration panel, making Universalistic configuration as easy as possible.

$35 WordShaft

Wordshaft is a great WordPress theme for community or personal blogger with clean design and neat code. The rich theme admin panel and widgets enable you to control your content, manage your advertisement, show your latest tweet, video, photos and much more.

$32 Advanced

Advanced Portfolio is the best WordPress to showcase for your work. This theme is widget ready, nivo slider, 3 skins and more!

WordPress Plugins: (2)

$37 WP Mobile

The WP Mobile Detector allows you to display a mobile theme on WordPress sites to mobile devices in minutes. Simply install the WordPress plugin and activate it. WP Mobile Detector is a WordPress plugin that detects mobile devices and displays a mobile optimized theme specifically for each mobile device.

$37 WP Auctions

WP Auctions is a plugin that lets anyone with a WordPress powered blog or site host their own auctions. You can use it to sell anyting you like to your readers in an auction format.

Tumblr: (2)

$12 Altered Perspective

Designed especially for photographers and the creative type, the Altered Perspective Tumblr theme features a custom javascript photography headerand a unique left to right scrolling/post feature. Nothing says creativity like being different. That’s what this theme is – different.

$14 Veen

The Veen Tumblr theme is perfect for creative writer’s, thinker’s and doer’s. This theme has a quiet boldness, which instantly gives uniqueness to your website, so you can standout.

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PRODUCT

Miniot iPad 2 wood cover

Thanks to it’s built-in magnet arrays the Miniot Cover nests firmly on the glass surface, perfectly aligned with your iPad 2. The ultrasuede microfiber lining offers great scratch protection. And at just 100 grams and 3mm thick it’s pleasantly light and slim.

NEWS

Cloud Player is a free web and Android application. All customers start with 5 GB of free Cloud Drive storage and you can upgrade to 20 GB of Cloud Drive storage with an MP3 album purchase (learn more about this offer). All new Amazon MP3 purchases saved to Cloud Drive do not count against your storage quota. Amazon also offers a variety of Cloud Drive storage plans to meet all of your data storage needs. Find out about Cloud Drive storage plans.

Google +1’s

Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible. But relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages. That’s why we recentlystarted to include more information from people you know—stuff they’ve shared on Twitter, Flickr and other sites—in Google search results.

INSPIRATION

Elektra Luxx – Art of the Title Sequence

In the title sequence for Sebastian Gutierrez’s Elektra Luxx, a psychedelic melange of bullets, guns, and art deco ornaments materialize around the nude silhouette of the title character. As Elektra teases the audience with her own bawdy burlesque, she reprises her various adult film roles wearing next to nothing.

With our latest entry, Moises Arancibia of SMOG outlines how he and his Chilean supergroup used a bucket of paint and 3D software to make sure that Elektra lived up to her titillating reputation.

Media Queries

An awesome site that shows how some great looking web designs look across multiple platforms. (Large monitor, small, iPad, iPhone etc.) A beautiful gallery of responsive web design.

Dogboarding

A hilarious new take on skateboarding.

Charlie Sheens Brain – Vacation on Wanderfly

While the town mayor claims “You couldn’t take 5 seconds in Charlie Sheen’s Brain” (because of its, ahem, other-terrestrialness), plenty of travelers are up for the challenge! A town that has a very different constitution to the rest of the country, Charlie Sheen’s Brain truly does have a different mind and heart compared to neighboring towns. Stroll along the canals (like vein…

MUST READ

Worlds Most Influential Designers

Not only is “influential” difficult to measure, but “design” is also nigh on impossible to define neatly. Nonetheless, we decided to put together a list of some of the design world’s most influential movers and shakers. From design thinkers to hands-on design doers in industries from graphics to industrial to auto design, our chosen 27 luminaries represent a diverse cross-section of design disciplines. But all those selected have one thing in common: They are in some way responsible for shaping the world around us.

Can the Mobile Wallet Beat the Hype? – Teehan+Lax

Depending on your level of involvement in the digital industry, you might not have heard of near field communication (NFC) or you’ve heard so much of it you’re starting to wonder if it’s all hype.

NFC relies on an underlying technology that wirelessly identifies objects from a short distance through tags that are inserted into pretty much anything. The benefit of NFC over something you’re probably more familiar with like RFID, which is used in key fobs and current forms of electronic payment like PayPass, is that it can send and receive information two ways, where RFID is limited to sending information just one way.

Clueless – Elliot Jay Stocks

To state that the UK government is clueless hardly requires a blog post, but in this particular instance, I refer to startupbritain.org: a site purportedly dispensing advice to entrepreneurs who are looking to start a new business. Besides the fact that the content is essentially one big list of links, some of the advice given is not only poor, it’s also potentially damaging to our industry.

Tim Van Damme – Interview

Tim talks about his role at Gowalla as well as various questions relating to the design & implementation of Gowallas’ beautiful apps and web presence.

KICKSTARTER

Through Their Eyes

Since the first time I heard Michael speak I was captivated by his story. Now I am traveling to Southern Sudan to document the building of the Jalle School, one of the first schools being built since the Referendum in January. As I prepared for this trip I began thinking about the local people there in Jalle and I decided I really wanted to give them an opportunity to document this important moment for themselves. The idea was conceived out of a desire that my documentation wouldn’t just have my perspective, but be a collaboration of my work and the work of the participants in this project. In addition, I am creating a short documentary film on the experience of this project; how the participants respond to this experiment and being able to capture images.

WORKSPACE

Dark and Moody

I’m not entirely sure what kind of awesome work you could do in the stellar environment but, when there are high ceilings and light pouring in count me in…

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

Advertise here via BSA

PRODUCT

Stadler Form – Q Fan

If you’re a typography nut, this one is for you. You’ve got 12 type posters on your wall and letterforms on your desk but, do you have a fan? Q is an object and it is a fan! Unmistakably, Q bears the hallmark of the well known Swiss designer and artist, Carlo Borer.

• Q is a work of art, since it was developed over many years until it became possible to combine the stylistic requirements of the designer with the quality requirements of technology.
• Intensive research was also required before the complex manufacturing steps were ready for production.

INSPIRATION

Bassano Hard Soda – Lovely Package

A new, vodka-based refreshment beverage inspired by classic Italian sodas of the 1920s, Bassano Hard Soda was developed to evoke the feel of Prohibition within a contemporary context. dossier created the name, proposition and look to communicate an integrated story that would be disruptive on shelf. The identity pays homage to the classic script logotypes of the era, while the closed 4-pack has a small window to reveal the bottles, alluding to something illicit and underground.

La Bubbly – by Fuzzco

A labor of love that answers to the name La Bubbly. Working on the La Bubbly project was a blast. We developed the brand, collateral, packaging, tone and copywriting, website and created a series of videos to help launch the venture. The future of La Bubbly is great; look for more where this came from. In the meantime, look out for La Bubbly in watering holes near you, watch the videos and seek out the Sparkle-Goat in you. Special thanks to Ben Jack for cinemato-graphing our moving pictures and to Hello Telescope for collaborating on the moving sounds.

MUST READ

The Virtual Designer

While watching the show a few weeks ago, I was thinking that it would be super neat if in 150 years my great great grandson would get one of my designs appraised. But after giving it another moment of thought, I realized that this could never really happen. I can count on one hand the number of site designs that have lived more than 10 years without a re-design (which usually completely overwrites the original.) A 150 year old design for the web just seems impossible.

Are you Making Something?

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Webbys Go Live on MLB

“If you’re not a big baseball fan you probably don’t know that they have close to a half-billion dollar business enabling people to watch baseball games all year long from anywhere in the country on practically any device,” says IADAS Executive Director David-Michel Davies. “You can watch a game on your iPhone without the streams skipping, which you don’t see anywhere else.”

KICKSTARTER

LetterMPress: A Virtual Letterpress for  your iPad

LetterMpress™ will be a virtual letterpress environment—released first on the iPad—that will allow anyone to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints. The design process is the same as the letterpress process—you place and arrange type and cuts on a press bed, lock the type, ink the type, and print. You will be able to create unlimited designs, with multiple colors, using authentic vintage wood type and art cuts. And you can print your design directly from LetterMpress or save it as an image for import it into other applications.

WORKSPACE

Upstairs Workspace

This is a pretty slick picture, the grid and composition are amazing. I know it’s not very usable in it’s current state but, the photo screams to me.

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

Advertise here via BSA

Copper is a project management software tool that helps you and your team manage projects, tasks, clients, contacts, and documents online. Thousands of businesses in over 50 countries and across numerous industries choose Copper as their preferred PM tool.

Copper is made for teams that need to plan and execute their projects quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. It’s like having a full time project manager keeping you and your team on track.

If you run any kind of design or web-related business, an internal marketing team, ad agency, medical team, education department, or any other special project team, once you’ve used Copper you’ll wonder how you ever did without it

Features Include:

• Manage Clients, Projects & Tasks
• Drag & Drop Timeline (This tool allows you to create and manage your project timelines, in seconds)
• Allocating People and Booking Time & Resources
• Logging Hours and Comments
• Storing Files & Folders Pertaining to Specific Projects
• Tracking and Managing your budgets & Invoices
• Importing and Exporting Data (including your MS Project XML files, Syncronization of your Outlook or iCal calendars, Import and export of your Contacts via vCard, CSV & PDF exporting of Reports, Quotes and Invoices, or full backup & restore of your entire Copper database via the Admin console.)
• Project Timesheet Reports
• Plus Many More (take a full tour here)

“What do we think of Copper? Its super!!! Currently our whole creative team (online and offline), our data/crm dept, and our client service team use it. We’re now working with Ben and the crew at Element Software to tailor the product to suit our unique requirements, what other software company is so responsive?” – Yannis Piperakis-Papadakis, CIO OgilvyOne Worldwide

“We have a complex creative pipeline that includes everything from commercial shoots to software development and Copper is flexible enough to handle it all. The tools are intuitive, very well thought out, and best of all backed by developers who are committed to supporting their customers. It’s great!” – Neil McBean Rival Schools

The Goods

20 Free Copper Accounts

How To Win

Tell us the reason you think you deserve a free account. We love real answers. “I really need this account to further my design career by helping me keep track of my work”. Something like that is always a winner over “OMFG I NEED THIS STUFF NAOWZ”.

When Will I Know

Winners will be chosen next Monday (March 28th 2011)

The Winners

1. QubeSys Tech
2. Aura
3. Cisco
4. Troy Bowman
5. Greg
6. demogar
7. jeffrey
8. brian
9. Tony
10. Aleksey
11. Megan
12. Jean-Paul de Jong
13. Samantha Prinsloo
14. Vasco
15. Chanelle Henry
16. Helene Bowman
17. RJ
18. Marty White
19. Susan
20. George Edwards

If your name is on the winner list please contact me at chad(at)fuelyourcreativity.com to get your free account!!

Advertise here via BSA

We covered the launch of Wanderfly in October 2010 in Wanderfly – Re-inventing travel through design. Wanderfly recently received $1 million in funding. The funding round was led by investors from Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Boston and Florida, including Charles River Ventures, Jason Calacanis, StartupAngel, James Bailey and Roger Dickey.

The financing will be used for:

Advertise here via BSA

PRODUCT

iPad 2

Apple rocked the world yesterday with it’s new iPad announcement. It’s a really slick device now. It received some awesome upgrades. It’s thinner, faster, has new apps and a lot of other stuff packed in. But, who I am kidding… You probably streamed the keynote live on your second display and know more than I do.

Once you pick up iPad 2, it’ll be hard to put down. That’s the idea behind the all-new design. It’s 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter, so it feels even more comfortable in your hands.² And it makes surfing the web, checking email, watching movies, and reading books so natural, you might forget there’s incredible technology under your fingers.

INSPIRATION

A Matchbook Made in Heaven – Studio On Fire

We designed this wedding invitation for the lucky couple that won our giveaway with Martha Stewart. It’s only too fitting that the couple we chose to work with will be jumping fires on their wedding night. Besides complimenting our studio name, their scheduled wedding night activities (get your mind out of the gutter) lends perfectly to the orange and white color palette featured by Martha Stewart.

Apple iPad: Year One

There’s never been anything like iPad. It changes the way students learn and teachers teach. It transforms how businesses do business. It helps doctors take better care of patients. And it’s a whole new way to see the world.

FONTS

Type Specimen for iPad

Type Specimen is the first font viewer for iPad, revolutionizing the way digital fonts are presented today. It’s an ideal tool for people who need to select fonts for projects – be it magazine design, corporate identity design, web applications, or book typesetting. Type Specimen is a quick and easy way to navigate the type foundry, containing over two hundred original font styles. Type Specimen allows you to categorize individual fonts, make comparisons, or see details of specific glyphs. All of this for free of course.

MUST READ

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

For me, the only way to heal is to use the moments that knock us down in the same way as the moments that build us up. Whether it be death or life, it seems to take me in the same direction. It seems to end at the same place- the desire to create. It’s the way I choose to face each of them head on. Some artists look for inspiration in movies, books, etc.. and they are all good ways to achieve the end goal.

KICKSTARTER

Blimpus, an inflatable character

As designers we pretty much want to put graphics on EVERYTHING. We’ve done t-shirts, posters, skateboards, and anything flat and easy to print on. But now we want to explore beyond flatland and into the round, bulbous world of inflatable characters as custom, collectible art. What we’ve created is a blank, inflatable canvas with a big silly head to paint on and feet to stand on. They’re a bit over two feet tall, with stubby legs and they’re made of an ink-receptive PVC vinyl.

WORKSPACE

MFA Studio

This work space oozes creativity. Art supplies: Check. Paint: Check. Mac: Check. Inspiration: Check. The basis are covered.

INSPIRATION

Scrabble – Designer Edition

The A-1 Scrabble designer edition. The purpose of this project was to revive an old, but loved game: Scrabble. The idea was to excite people about typography by giving them the ability to choose what font their scrabble set would come in. The set would come in the font of your choice or with an assorted font pack. The scrabble board and interior box are made out of solid walnut, and the exterior box is made from birch. Each of the 6 board pieces is magnetized to fit together perfectly and each piece slides nicely into its respective slot in the box and is secured by interior magnets as well. The interior of the exterior box as well as the bottoms of the 6 board pieces are lined with cork, to protect them while in use.

FedEx – Change Commercial

A wonderfully created spot with comic genius. I would love to see more of this in advertising.

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

Advertise here via BSA

PRODUCT

Noteslate

Noteslate is low cost tablet device with true one colour display, real paper look design, long life battery (180h !), together with very handy usage and very simple and helpful interface for pen and paper. This easy, compact and portable gadget is used anywhere you want to make any notes, drafts, sketches, any ideas for future reference. Paper for everyone! Write a note and check it later, save it, or delete it. Maybe send it after. Just one colour is enough to express the basics. Keep your life simple. You will love it.

INSPIRATION

Fav Work

Favwork is open to anyone who has creative work they want to share. Web designers, logo designers, typographists, illlustrators, artists, and so on. There is no ‘invite only’ pre-requisite or exclusivity for joining, anyone can join and your work will appear on the home page if you get enough likes.

50 and 50 – State Mottos Project

50 and 50 is a collective, curated project where fifty designers are invited to represent their state by illustrating its motto. A new piece will be posted every week day.

FONTS

Design Trumps Content in launch of first major news tablet

Founded by the world’s most notorious media magnate, preceded by months of speculation and fanfare, and backed with unusually strong support from Apple, The Daily is the most anticipated digital publication since publications went digital. It claims to be the first daily newspaper designed specifically for the iPad. This is not an adaptation of an existing print publication, but an entirely new operation, built from the ground up within the age of digital delivery. So what does that mean for The Daily’s typography? Let’s take a look.

MUST READ

Profit, Lies, Theft, and Idiocy Andy Rutledge

“As a student of history, economics, psychology, and a 20-year businessman, I know a few things about how human commerce does and does not work well. In an effort to ward off widespread indulgence in bad business, I want to help educate and offer some advice to my peers.”

Writing vs. Writing

Shawn writes an awesome post about doing vs. thinking about doing. I also found that you could interchange the word writing for: designing, coding, creating or whatever pertains to you. Well written words we should all try and take to heart.

The Game Just Completely Changed

Something insane is happening in the creative industry and all of you need to know about it. Two recent events have completely changed the career prospects for Web Designers and Developers: 1) Frank Chimero’s Kickstarter project and 2) Natasha Wescoat’s live painting sessions.

KICKSTARTER

The Manual – Project by Andy McMillian

The Manual is a new limited-run print magazine published three times a year. Each issue will have six substantial, beautifully illustrated feature articles, along with additional rich and unexpected bonuses. Challenging, contemplative, playful, and visionary, the articles focus on bringing a greater depth and maturity to our craft and profession: design on the web.

The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero

Hi. My name’s Frank Chimero. I’ve spent the better part of the last two years writing and speaking on design and thinking about the topics that orbit the practice: storytelling, concept, craft, and improvisation. I want to take all of the ideas I’ve had and connected these past few months and capture them in a book format.

WORKSPACE

Jon Hume

Super slick minimal desk setup. The mac fanatic in me is jumping up and down. The product design lover in me is loving the clean, screens and silver trim on all the matching products. Well done Jon, well done.

TUTORIAL

Illustrator Eraser Tool Veerle

Like with any software, if you work in it for many years you develop certain habits and working methods. Sometimes because of this you tend to make the mistake to overlook, or simply neglect some of the new features, not realizing that certain actions can be done in less steps. To give you an example, the Eraser Tool in Illustrator is a tool I never used much, and so because of this, and because of this I never paid much attention to it. Big mistake! Here is why…

SITE DESIGN

Beer Camp SXSW

Inception in a website. Yes, I know it’s hard to wrap your head around that idea but, visit the site and “just scroll”. All your questions will be answered young grasshoppah’.

DotVita

“We strive to de-mystify the wonders of the web and make them enjoyable to everyone. Like in the early days of aviation, we want you to feel at ease when you’re up in the cloud.”

A beautiful site design with some wonderful little touches to play into the airline feel. Have a look around. You won’t be disappointed.

MUSIC

Shiny Toy Guns

Shiny Toy Guns is back, with an amazing teaser for their new album as well as having some previous members back in the group. The video is an awesome calling card for their new album.

VIDEO

Old Spice – Scent Vacation

Old Spice is back again with another amazing commercial. I’m wagering a bet this commercial is one continuous shot like the last one. I’m trying to figure it out in my brain and it hurts.

Chrysler Super Bowl Commercial – Imported from Detroit

With rebuilding, comes challenges… Chrysler has been faced with no shortage of them in the last few years. As a self proclaimed auto connoisseur I love the message and the feeling evoked from this spot. I’ve never been a fan of domestic cars but, this one really hit home with me. Someone did their homework and for that, I applaud you Chrysler. It’s also good to see some star power in the city getting behind a “rebuilding” message. (Their new Chrysler stamp on the car isn’t too shabby either!)

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

Advertise here via BSA

NEWS

The Internet’s Top 5 Challenges In The Next 5 Years: IADAS

As the Internet enters its fourth decade, the IADAS believes the next five years must see improvements in privacy protection, copyright law, net neutrality, the open web and Internet security.

Take a look through our slideshow (below) explaining each of these challenges, their implications, and directions that some have already taken on the road to constructive solutions that promote a vibrant Web. Vote for the issue you find the most pressing, and share your thoughts for creative solutions in the comments.

AD CAMPAIGN

Adios LA

You can slip out the back Jack or you can put up five 10 x 23 foot billboards in your neighborhood. Adios LA is a visual goodbye to the city Jon Jackson has called home for years as the artist heads east making New York his new home. Not wanting to string LA along, he has decided to firmly break it off through a graphic billboard series posted on the famous streets of his first love. Most take Mr. Simon’s advice when leaving town, but if you want a city with benefits you better do more than make a new plan Stan.

PACKAGING

Stranger & Stranger Christmas Absinthe

Whats better than ornate lettering? Ornate lettering, stamped in gold and letterpress on an alcohol bottle that’s what. This bottle is a beautiful piece of design work…

MUST READ

The Art of the Design Critique

“…Despite its value to the outcome of the design process, it’s far too often avoided like a trip to the dentist because we subconsciously feel criticism of our work is not just a reflection on our design, but is a spotlight upon our personal shortcomings. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Proper design criticism focus on goals, outcomes, and the needs of the users. …”

WORKSPACE

Garrett Murray

Garrett Murray’s ultra clean temporary setup in New Jersey. We need to get our hands on some Herman Miller stuff, STAT!

TYPE

Cool Font Pairings – Fontfuse

Choosing the right font pairing is an art that requires passion and skill. Introducing FontFuse, the font pairing design resource driven by quality fonts from the best type foundries and your limitless creativity. Take the plunge into FontFuse!

SITE REDESIGN

Apple

Apple made some site tweaks this week which made came with some oohs, aahs, and GASPS. I would wager that in a few weeks they’ll turn to loves & inspirations.

MUSIC

Foo Fighters Tease

The Foo Fighters have been on our radar for a while with their new album but, they released this fantastic tease that already has 500K plays on soundcloud… This album is going to be on repeat for a long time when it comes out.

VIDEO

House Industries Trailer

House Industries showcases their amazing work archive, that show why, they rock as much as they do. Watch it over and over.

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’

Advertise here via BSA

NEWS

W3C Rocks a new logo

The W3C hopes to rally HTML5 & CSS3 and other things behind the new HTML5 shield.

GEAR

Neve Inspired

Neve Inspired, an online boutique for innovative children’s clothing by Charleston, S.C. based design team Kris and Bob Galmarini. Each piece is born from their passion to create, do what they love, while working together, and dressing their kids and yours in clothes as fun and hip as they are.

STYLE

On the Scene… Military Shirts, Florence & Milano

Military shirts are in this year. An awesome photo from The Sartorialist. This guys glasses rock.

FROM GITHUB

The Personal Page

This simple one-page website from Naz Hamid (weightshift)is a way for people to have a very quick and easy personable website that aggregates your activity and positions a simple logo, a portrait and some description text in a nicely-formatted manner. This is licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses.

WORKSPACE

The Heads of State – From the desk of…

An awesome inside look a the workspace of The Heads of State. “Our office is on the second floor of an old storefront building in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. We’re surrounded by Ben Franklin impersonators giving walking tours of the Betsy Ross house and Independence Hall. The studio is pretty jammed packed with our books and paper scraps and ephemera. We have all sorts of design objects around including presidential busts, globes, old books, and a vintage blue collar thermos collection. We also run our online store from this space so our poster and print archive is stored here as well as our mail room. It gets pretty chaotic at times but it has the great organized chaos of a workshop.”

TYPE

Should I Work For Free? Jessica Hische

An awesome little way to know if you should work for free or not on your next project from the wonderful Jessica Hische.

SITE REDESIGN

IWC Schaffhausen

The site marks another excellent partnership with our friends at Undercurrent and has resulted in a beautiful experience that aims to set a new standard for luxury online. With rich interactive features, editorial content presented in clean, concise layouts and extraordinary attention to each watch, IWC.com offers fans everything they expect from the brand. Further details on the project are available on odopod.com here.

HAVE A TIP?

Feel free to send us a tip if you think you’ve got the hot stuff. ‘hotlist@fuelyourcreativity.com’