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Picture books and so much more by Oliver Jeffers

britt — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:20:52 +0000

Oliver Jeffers has come out with a new picture book, The Heart and the Bottle.

Once there was a girl who was full of wonderment at how the world worked. She shared all her dreams and excitement with her father, who always had the answer to every question. That is until one day when his chair was empty, not to be filled again – how would the girl ever find meaning from her life again?
— HarperCollinsCanada

Jeffers creates beautiful stories with his work, which are not contained just to the picture books he has done… the storytelling can be seen throughout is art and making process. If I could spend a day in that studio of his, I’d probably never want to leave.

oil painting, GILDING THE LILY (AN HOMAGE TO FERDINAND BAUER), image from oliverjeffers.com

sketchbook, United Airlines, image from oliverjeffers.com

BRAND NEW’s V-day Redesign

britt — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:38:22 +0000

Valentine's Day Rebranding (via BRAND NEW)

Today over at BRAND NEW (a fabulous site that shows before and afters, as well as sharing of opinions of corporate re-branding efforts) there is a great post about Valentines Day. If you live in one of the countries that celebrates this holiday with all the pink, red, chocolates, and roses… You’ve seen some tasteful Valentines “things” but moreso MANY untasteful, ugly, and tacky Valentines things.

A few of the writers of BRAND NEW took on the challenge of Redesigning Valentine’s day. They tackled the Heart as an icon, the color pallette, as well as Cupid.

Below are the new “Cupids”…

Love Puppy by Jessica Hische (via BRAND NEW)

Chief Valentine Officer by Amanda Woodward (via BRAND NEW)

Heart Worm by Von Glitschka (via BRAND NEW)

What do you think about their effort? Like it or hate it, cast your vote here!

Cut Paper Inspiration

britt — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:02:54 +0000

Today is one of those days, where just a little pretty inspiration is needed. Below are a few pretty cut paper things to check out..

Beautiful Cut Paper video made for NZ Book Council (via Paper Crave)

Artwork “Looking back” (2006. Acid free A4 115 gsm paper and glue) by Danish artist, Peter Callesen (via OK Great)

photo from petercallesen.com

Lastly, an installation, “Corner Forest” by Yuken Teruya using toilet paper rolls (via Design*Sponge, via mandr, via swissmiss, via lushlee)

photo from yukenteruyastudio.com

Top 50 Design Blogs named by The London Times

britt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:51:23 +0000

Yesterday, The London Times named their list of top 50 Design Blogs. Of the millions of blogs out in www land, the blogs chosen have focus’ on interior, product, and graphic design. Check them out for last minute Christmas gift/decorating inspiration or just for the need to see new and beautiful things and places.

Some of my personal favorite blogs made the list including…

#40 Chez Larsson a Swedish blog written by Benita Larsson on Design/Organizing/DIY blog

#36 Oh So Beautiful Paper Invitation/Stationary/Everything else paper blog written by Nole in Washington, DC

#31 Making it Lovely Chicagoan Nicole Balch, a woman who LOVES pink everything, writes about her house to home renovation style & journey

#2 Design*Sponge Brooklyn writer Grace Bonney features reader projects, artists home interiors and so much more

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today nominated for 3 Grammys

britt — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:47:11 +0000

Last night the nomination list for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards was announced. The album by David Byrne & Brian Eno “Everything that Happens will Happen Today” has received 3 nominations. The nominations were for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.

Gamil Design worked with Stefan Sagmeister to bring to life the deluxe CD package for the album. Check out our post (with video of the package) and our writeup on the project.

below is a full list of the nominations per category:

Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
David Byrne & Brian Eno [Yep Roc Records]

The Open Door
Death Cab For Cutie [Atlantic]

Sounds Of The Universe
Depeche Mode [Capitol]

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix [Loyaute/Glassnote Records]

It’s Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs [DGC Records/Interscope]

Best Recording Package

Back From The Dead
Brian Porizek, art director (Spinal Tap) [The Label Industry/Artist2Market Distribution]

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Stefan Sagmeister, art director (David Byrne & Brian Eno) [Todomundo/Opal]

Middle Cyclone
Neko Case & Judge, art directors (Neko Case) [ANTI]

Splitting Adam
Jeff Harrison, art director (Splitting Adam) [Independent]

Tathagata
Szu Wei Cheng & Hui Chen Huang, art directors (Various Artists) [Wind Music]

Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package

A Cabinet Of Curiosities
Mathieu Bitton & Scott Webber, art directors (Jane’s Addiction) [Warner Bros./Rhino]

The Clifford Ball
Masaki Koike, art director (Phish) [Rhino]

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Stefan Sagmeister, art director (David Byrne & Brian Eno) [Todomundo/Opal]

Lost In The Sound Of Separation (Deluxe Edition)
Jordan Butcher, art director (Underoath) [Tooth & Nail Records]

Neil Young Archives Vol. I (1963–1972)
Gary Burden, Jenice Heo & Neil Young, art directors (Neil Young) [Reprise]

WordPress Open Source CMS Wins Award

britt — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:15 +0000

A couple weeks ago, WordPress (WP) was awarded the Overall Best Open Source CMS Award from the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. You can read WP’s response to the award on their blog here.

We Joined the WP train a couple years ago when we started blog Gamil, and have since learned how powerful it can be as a CMS system. Congratulations WP we agree, you’re awesome!

Below are a few sites we designed with WordPress CMS.

ABOVE: Our portfolio site is powered by WordPress

ABOVE: With WordPress SPARKcon festival website was able to organize 50+ events & details leading up to and during the festival

ABOVE: WordPress was chosen for Triange Technology Executives Council website, because it is a great Open Source CMS

ABOVE: We chose WordPress for Blue Flame Tattoo’s website because of the ease to update the artists galleries

Auto Tune the News

beth — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:20:34 +0000

…defies description. Just watch, and then wait for the next one to come out…

Plants can Twitter

britt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:27:51 +0000

Wouldn’t it be awesome if your plant could tell you if it were thirsty, or drowning? With this little DIY Plant Twitter Kit from botanicals, you can give your plants a voice through their own personal twitter account! Check out @pothos on twitter!

Botanicalls is an ongoing collaborative project about communication between plants and people started by 4 former graduate students of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Last fall (September 2008), Kati London (one of those 4 former graduate students) participated in an Ignite show, Pecha Kucha styled presentations, in NYC.

Lizzy House’ Fabric and Heather Ross’ Smocked Sundress

britt — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:26:53 +0000

Here is a beautiful new fabric collection from Lizzy House called Red Letter Day. I’ve been on a sewing kick lately, and think that one of these prints would be perfect for the Smocked Sundress pattern from Heather Ross‘ book Weekend Sewing! A little over a week ago, Heather was on the Martha Stewart Show making this sundress. Check out that video here!

ICFF 2009 Wraps Up Today

britt — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:02:10 +0000

The 21st annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) wraps up today in NYC. I have never had the oppertunity to go to the show, but have enjoyed living vicariously through those that have. Two bloggers I follow regularly, Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge and Jennifer Ward of Minor Details, went to the show this past weekend, and had great posts up on their blogs yesterday of some of their favorite finds.

Check out the Grace’s posts on ICFF here and Jennifer’s posts on ICFF here.

Wallpaper Pattern by chato & co. Image from Design*Sponge

Desk/Chair named Sola by Talitha James. Image from Minor Details.