Sometimes a brand refresh can really just be taking a step back and returning to your roots. Nordstrom Rack is the most recent brand to undertake the retro rebrand trend (remember our article on Thorlo a couple of weeks ago?). However, theirs is a step further: the “new” logo they’ve adopted is an actual old logo from the 70s! With modernizing touches in the logo and color palettes, and very modern photography paired with them, this bold revisioning is a hit in our book.
Ok, this is one of the coolest things we’ve seen all week! It was probably only a matter of time, but street art has now gone full augmented reality. Instead of rattle cans and dodging police, street artists are taking to their laptops and making colorful, vibrant, and moving street art in AR. Check out some work by pioneering artists in this medium, and get ready to have your mind blown
Mobile phones have become so much more than that: they hold all of the internet in our pockets, plus so much more. They’re our cameras, our notepads, and our books and calculators. But somewhere along the way to becoming everything, they lost a little bit of their character. Most phone models these days are pretty similar: buttonless, glass-fronted rectangles. The Mobile Phone Museum is a project that recognized this and is attempting to document every model of mobile phone that has ever existed. You heard us! With over 2600 unique models in their collection, you’d think that might be all of them, but they’re on the lookout for donations of elusive models. Check out the archives and maybe yo’ve got one to help move the collection closer to completion!
Just because a brand isn’t “real” doesn’t mean it requires any less thought! Check out the Fictional Brands Archive…it’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s a sortable, alphabetical list (not yet comprehensive) of brands featured in popular works of fiction, whether those take the form of video games, movies, or tv shows. It may seem like a quirky collection of logos on the surface, but the Research section is where this site really shines. A brief Design 101 overview goes into the depth of how brands and stories are interrelated and inextricably linked, and just how far in history that relationship goes.
When an ad campaign involves AI AND Baz Luhrmann, you know it’s going to be something special! Bombay Sapphire gin and the prolific director joined forces last year for the #SawThisMadeThis campaign, where Bombay Sapphire aficionados submit creative pieces to the hashtag, running the gamut from photography and paintings, to music and sculpture, and beyond. This year, the duo is expanding on the campaign with the introduction of a humanoid, painting robot called Ai-Da who will create art from these submissions in real time at the exhibition in London. Afterwards, the artworks will be available to view online for everyone, no matter where in the world you drink your Bombay Sapphire.
Despite not technically being a designer, there’s no denying that Steve Jobs was a visionary design thinker. Many of us use products, or the descendents of products, he spearheaded every single day, and would frankly be lost without them. The Steve Jobs Archive, founded by Jobs widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jony Ive, and Tim Cook, has compiled a collection of correspondence, interviews, and writings from Steve Jobs and gives incredible insight into how his mind worked. The ebook, Make Something Wonderful, is free and sure to give inspiration!
