DESIGN CHATTER
Nordstrom Rack Undertakes a Brand Re(tro)fresh
Apr 28, 2023
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.
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This Graffitti Doesn’t Need Washing Off!
Apr 26, 2023
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
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Mobile Phones Through the Years
Apr 21, 2023
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.
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Archive of Fictional Brands
Apr 19, 2023
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,
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AI Art on the Spot
Apr 14, 2023
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.
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Inside Steve Jobs’ Mind
Apr 12, 2023
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.
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