Former coworker Barry Campbell recently finished this nicely detailed Steampunk Darth Vader mask and helmet. I’m not sure if this was a Halloween project or not, but posting this today seemed appropriate.

In case you’re interested, Barry is selling this item, and is also taking orders for custom projects. Contact him here.

I really like the concept and the sentiment behind Nathalie Stämpfli’s Soap Flakes, a bath device that easily dispenses shavings from soap bars. Stämpfli developed a wall-mounted version (pictured), as well as a pepper-grater-esque hand-held version. 

I always love to hear the designer’s individual stories and rationale behind interesting inventions like this. Among her motives for creating Soap Flakes, Stämpfli has a personal dislike for the “weird slippery” sensory experience of handling bar soap, yet she prefers the ecological efficiency of it to liquid soap. She explains further on the project page.

I also recommend browsing through Nathalie Stämpfli’s other design explorations.

This is how the world changes for the better: individuals taking experimental steps to extinguish their own personal annoyances and sharing their results. Mankind ends up reaping the benefits.

via Designspiration

Twenty-six years ago, I was an odd little eight-year-old, experiencing my first run-in with digital-aided art & design, the Helvetica typeface, and a strange little exotic input device called a “mouse.” All of these first encounters, I owe to Steve Jobs.

So early on, I was smitten by the realization that I had access to these tools, all within my own home, that could help me build creative projects that emulated the professionally-executed media that I admired out in the world… books, animations, logos, posters, songs, motion work, games, apps, and on, and on, and on… all thanks to our family Macintosh.

Not withholding any gravitas or sentimentality, it was directly because of Steve Jobs and his team of innovators at Apple (Bill Atkinson, Jef Raskin, et al.) that I was able to get a VERY early start on my creative education, and was able to explore my love of creativity in so many facets from such a young age. I was in grade school, designing and programming, with no comprehension that these experiences would benefit me greatly as an adult. Today, I see my children expressing their creativity through the technology that they have access to, and I’m filled with such gratitude that they have such advanced tools available to them; tools that have been marinating and fermenting sweetly in the years that have passed since I was their age, sitting in front of my family Mac’s black-and-white 9-inch screen, building and manifesting and learning and growing. Without Mr. Jobs, I would not have the professional experience and knowledge that I have today. Without Mr. Jobs, I would not so easily vent all the expressive runoff that has been spilling over within me since childhood. Without Mr. Jobs, I would not have that “I got this” confidence I feel when sitting down at my desk to start a new project.

For all of this, I am so very very thankful.

My sincerest condolences go out to Steve’s family, friends, and coworkers.

1982 photograph of Steve Jobs at home by Diana Walker

“Everything was beautiful. Nothing hurt.” Noticed Kurt Vonnegut’s desired epitaph chalked upon this wall organizer near the end of Gary Hustwit’s Objectified.

The Fukushima Plate, a concept by German designer Nils Ferber, is a kitchen plate with a built-in radioactive meter, visualizing your food’s level of contamination by lighting three OLED rings (representing three user-customized levels of radioactivity).

via Blonde Redhead

Matthew Ebisu of Cupertino, CA, modified a Game Boy Color (and some Gamecube bits) to build a working replica of the adorable Adventure Time character Beemo. Matthew shares a step-by-step guide and an expansive Flickr set on his process.

Note: this Beemo is NOT camera.

via Frederator Studios

Photographer Sacha Goldberger (probably best known for his superhero Mamika series) constructed an outdoor set in Bois de Boulogne park, Paris. There, he asked random joggers to pose immediately after an exhausting sprint. One week later, these same joggers arrived at Goldberger’s studio to pose the same way they had before, under the same lighting, sans the running fatigue. The resulting collection demonstrates an interesting physical contrast, showing both raw and unruffled extremes found within each individual.

Goldberger says, “I wanted to show the difference between our natural and brute side versus how we represent ourselves to society. The difference was very surprising.”

via @rands

Despite the painterly color and uncanny composition, the National Geographic Photo of the Day is, indeed, a photograph.

Photographer Franz Lanting captured this scene in Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. The bright orange background is a large sand dune, illuminated by the morning light. Camel thorn trees line the foreground, in the shadow of another dune.

via @nopattern