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Always a proponent of repetition, I thought I’d share two examples where patterns steal the show online. The above banners on The Sydney Morning Herald illustrate the power of color and graphic detailing when paired alongside text. Your eye is immediately drawn to the advertising, even before the duck.

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J.Crew illustrates a similar technique in their online holiday sale. When paired with text, large shapes with relevant or abstract meaning can be a wonderful compliment.

ASTROPHONICA in collaboration with UTILE recently presented a video for Customtone by Fracture & Neptune, featuring Martin Fieber. The video morphs graphic geometry into compelling shapes, using a minimal palette and black hole-simulating texture. Created to celebrate the launch of the album ‘Retrospect’ – a Decade of Fracture & Neptune’, Emilski and Nick Duggins of UTILE take the viewer on a psychedelic journey into the Astrophonica universe. The results are mesmerizing- watch below:

Find out more about the album click here.

A few years ago, while sitting in a creative meeting at Renegade, a digital marketing agency here in New York, a design colleague gave a presentation on Sao Paulo’s no advertising policy, blowing all of our minds. We all thought, “how could that be? No ads, not anywhere?! Amazing.”

Fast forward, as this idea recently seeded a digital collaboration between great minds here in NY. Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me, The Barbarian Group and the creative team at Aviary made it their mission to create a website with the intent purpose of removing all visual advertising from Times Square, entitled No Ad NY.

While the advertising is arguably the kitsch appeal of this commercial hub, the idea is fun and inviting- so much so, that I took a few of my own patterns [...]

For those of you who are in habitual flux, sites like Gilt Groupe, One Kings Lane and Shelterpop are there to recommend high quality merchandise for eager e-com bargain hunters. Over the past few months, these sites have flirted with home-decorating gurus to bring a more cohesive look to the product, adding a curated theme to each sale. Today’s collaborative effort by Gilt Groupe and Shelterpop is a perfect example of a partnership done right. Sheets from John Robshaw are paired with Jardin du Jour vases beside Emu re-trouve chairs. The patchwork feel is harmonious and decorator approved. The first 5,000 members to sign up will also get a $10 Gilt credit.

Karem Ingram is a designer, artist and animator with an impressive skill set that spans the interactive sphere. As such, her work’s been showcased in Computer Arts Magazine and Flash Goddess in addition to donning t-shirts, bags, and wallets. Ingram’s an active member in the design & digital community as an editor at Kabiler 10000 and a crew member of Design is Kinky. She is also on the board of the SWSW Interactive Festival and has judged the web awards since 2001. With her feet straddled between both tangible and intangible worlds, her tweets offer a wide range of insight that run the gamut between technology, design and general interest. Follow her and you’ll feel fully informed!

I’m excited to introduce a new feature to the site called Twitter Influencers. Every week, I’ll be showcasing a new artist, designer or thinker that’s uping the online ante and driving conversation on the world wide web. Just as digital portfolios and blogrolls satiate our inspirational desires, so does twitter and it’s important to understand how this platform compliments other media outlets.

Today I’m kicking off with Deanne Cheuk, a true  star in the art and design world. Her mix of bold color and delicate line has played an integral role throughout her career, from Art Directing her first magazine at age 19 to countless freelance illustration and design projects. Her experience has given her killer insight into all things art, fashion, and culture and you’ll feel creatively fed after reading her daily tweets.

Ahh, the good ol’ school days where slapping someone on the back during recess gave them the opportunity to slap someone else. Well, tagging these days has matured from playgrounds to the web-interface, but it has maintained it’s most fundamental element: its social counsel.

What, you may ask? How did a semi-violent, super competitive child’s play transform into the Web 2.0 system of classification system? Truth be told, it didn’t; yet, the game of tag identifies someone as a leader of a social context (even if you were super fast in Pre-K and immediately purged yourself of being ‘it’) and tags today identify information as important through a social media context.

Tagging, which we have all come to know, love and ubiquitously use, is a Web 2.0 (or semantic web) ontological system of classification system. Yikes, that sounds scientific jargon heavy.  Basically, [...]

At my first job out of college, I worked as a pattern designer for women’s and children’s footwear. I think I must have churned out hundreds of patterns a year, and of that total, a good majority of those were filled with animals and insects . Kids love these little guys, as do parents, so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Wee Gallery‘s sample sale on One Kings Lane today. Surya Sajnani’s lino cut style is very trend forward and quite reminiscent of Hugo Guinness and Perla Anne‘s illustrations. The cards are half off, and perfect for framing or for just letting someone know they’re special.

We reported diamonds to be a shining motif in pattern design back in June and now the trend has officially crystallized.

We’ve seen the classic diamond shape shift to a crystal-like gem on works ranging from new Matt W. Moore murals to Chase Bank advertisements. The laser cut shapes are bold. Just check out these angular bangle bracelets by Patricia Field and this radiant Helena De Natalio clutch. The sassy accessories are the perfect way to flaunt some flash with a basic black get-up.

But these crystals don’t sparkle like their compressed coal predecessor. Instead, they catch eyes with their geometric shapes and powerful lines. Strong colors further emphasize their graphic feel, as evident in Phillip Low’s sculptures and Jen Kao’s angular FW10 debut. We can’t wait to [...]

Oh, the proverbial question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The debate can go around and around. Much like the debates of who inspired whom, what inspired what, and where on earth do ideas come from. And of course, how do they become adopted by society and wind up as trends.

Because, we think we called it via our Interior Design Takes a Spin feature: people, they like change. They also like pixels. And in this case, web cams. We recently spotted Pepsi’s Refresh Project, One People tv spot, where a variety of people on their web cams interact with one another. Each paper conveys a pixelated vibe, and as objects are “magically” passed between squares, the concept is unified as global sharing. Naturally, we delighted at the synchronicity to our fun interior finds. Of [...]