What do ants, art, fashion and social media have in common? We’ve been asking that very question ever since reading Noah Brier’s fascinating take on the power of colonization and it’s relation to the internet. The idea that “ants don’t really ever exist on their own, all their power comes from their ability to organize themselves in groups,” directly parallels social media’s impact online, particularly in relation to traffic, viral marketing and cross pollination.

The use of ant farms to contextualize larger societal microcosms have been popping up in every media form, from literal depictions in Mad Men to more abstract print parallels, such as this Hermès map of Paris. Toying with the idea of national identity and cross pollination, Japanese artist, Yukinori Yanagi brilliantly displays the world through the eyes of  the ant in his 1990 [...]

I was recently alerted to Stripe Generator while perusing facebook updates this morning.  Noah Brier, a friend and fellow blogger, posted this stripe-making website to his list of running favorites.  Though I immediately laughed at the idea of designers needing assistance in pairing lines together, my dismissal was quickly silenced by the seemless usability of the toolset.  Spacing, color, background and direction can all be manipulated, similar to iPhoto’s editing capabilities.  Once I played around a bit and made a few patterns, I clicked through to Tartan Maker, an equally impressive site for designers not privy to Pointcarré.