Old is Gold

So, I may have already blogged about this rad Flickr set, but its worth mentioning again. This set has over 100 posters from the 1950s and 60s, many of them focused on travel. My favorites have hand-drawn elements, and gorgeous abstractions of worldly travel paraphernalia. |DBK

The Font Conference

This video is hilarious. Oh, design humor... Thanks, Anik! |DBK

Bzzz. Swoosh. Vroom.

Canadian ad agency Dentsu has come up with some really clever advertising for Vespa Canada. They were inspired by the youthful and iconic symbol thatis Vespa. Each of these print ads evokes a certain era, and showing how Vespa was an integral part of that time. [via Veer: The Skinny] |DBK

Yum.. Vintage Labels

Have some fun with these customizable vintage labels from HP. [via How about Orange] |DBK

Shop by Numbers

If you hadn't already heard, West Elm is having an additional 20% off sale on already reduced items. I went a little throw-pillow crazy in their Metro Center store yesterday. Anyway, some of their office storage items were really nice. Too bad they weren't on sale. I especially liked their Numbers cotton canvas storage boxes. |DBK

Hot or Not?

Has everyone seen this site already? Am I the last one? Seriously, a website that allows you to rate websitesHot or Not. Pretty hilarious. Pretty ingenious. I love it. |DBK

Energy and Opinions All Around

British illustrator Andy Smith's work is fun and energetic, and full of beautiful type. His portfolio consists of both commercial work and personal projects. Take a look. [via ffffound!] |DBK

Douglas Wilson's Vernacular Typography

A wonderful collection of hand-painted signs and typography by Douglas Wilson. Right here. [via TypeNeu] |DBK

Details, Details

One of the quips on Speak Up today was a link to this time-lapse video of designing a magazine spread. I like it because it shows how much thought and detail goes into designing just one spread of an entire magazine. It also shows how flexible a designer has to be while still maintaining a consistent design style. I like to think of page layout as a puzzle that need to be put together, and once you have every piece in there just so, there seems to be no other way it could have been put together. |DBK

In the House

This Cast Iron Ampersand by House Industries is

More than just a pretty shelf sitter, these heavy ligatures can be deployed in a wide variety of household and office applications such as bookends, door stops, paperweights, dumbbells for power-walking or self-defense mechanisms

Very nice. |DBK

El Roadside Dino

I'm all about wrapping presents in the most colorful part of the Sunday comics. It's light-hearted, it's cheap and not tied to any particular holiday or season. But I think I could be persuaded to upgrade to this fun and irreverent wrapping paper by Ken Brown. For purchase at Kate's Paperie for just $2.50 a sheet... not much more than the price of the Sunday paper. |DBK

Wine and Again

In anticipation of my July 4th vineyard getaway, I thought I'd post a wine bottle design that made me laugh.
From the Pentagram blog [via subpar]:

Justus Oehler has designed a wine label for Message on the Bottle, a wine bottle and label design exhibition held as part of Design Festival Hamburg 2007, one of the highlights of Germany’s design calendar which is now in its 50th Year. In total there were 70 contributions to the exhibition from designers in 16 countries. Message on the bottle ran from the 5th to 20th of October 2007. |DBK

Slilghtly More Accurate than a Moodring

Looking for something to inspire you right before the long weekend? Moodstream™ by Getty Images might be the solution. A customizable palette sets the mood you're looking for with streaming video, music and images. You can even choose from one of their six presets (Intensity, Refresh, Excite, Inspire, Stabilize, and Simplify). A pretty fun and easy way to look for new sources of inspiration. |DBK

Parisian Decor

Parisian interior decor company Harmonie Intérieure has some nice additions for your home. I really like their sophisticated wall decals. They are much quieter and a little more adult-oriented than the wall decals at Blik(which I also love, but will give your room a completely different feel). |DBK