I love this fantastical illustration work done for the Vimeo home & login pages, by NYC artist Ian Higginbotham.

Remember the QLOCKTWO typographic clock by Biegert & Funk from almost three years ago? There is now a desktop/alarm incarnation, as well as a new wristwatch edition, which will be available Autumn 2012.

via NOTCOT

Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, by American artist Nina Katchadourian, from her Seat Assignment series. This is the kind of impulsive play that keeps us cognitively limber: seeing the unorthodox connections between objects, people, situations, and abstractions, no matter where you are, or how dull your surroundings. 

As explained by the artist:

While in the lavatory on a domestic flight in March 2010, I spontaneously put a tissue paper toilet cover seat cover over my head and took a picture in the mirror. The image evoked 15th-century Flemish portraiture. I decided to add more images made in this mode and planned to take advantage of a long-haul flight from San Francisco to Auckland, guessing that there were likely to be long periods of time when no one was using the lavatory on the 14-hour flight. I made several forays to the bathroom from my aisle seat, and by the time we landed I had a large group of new photographs entitled Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style. I was wearing a thin black scarf that I sometimes hung up on the wall behind me to create the deep black ground that is typical of these portraits. There is no special illumination in use other than the lavatory’s own lights and all the images are shot hand-held with the camera phone. At the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the photos were framed in faux-historical frames and hung on a deep red wall reminiscent of the painting galleries in museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

via @BibliOdyssey

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.