I bought some disposable Dixie Insulair® hot cups last night. But cool insulation-themed name aside, they didn't feel insulated (read: blazing hot) with coffee inside. So, I began digging around in the cupboards for a cup cozy or some other cup I could use.
I spied these fire-engine-red Chinet cups, which I picked up a Costco some time back. I put my hot cup of coffee inside. It worked! The ridged walls help to insulate and keep my hands cool. All it needed was a better fit, which was easily accomplished by cutting off the base of the cup.
Any similar cup should probably work, too. Experiment with any large plastic cup that has some sort of texture or ridges in the walls and see what works best.
Now that it's spring, there have been lots of around-the-house projects begging for attention. I've also been looking at a lot of fresh inspiration. Here's a collection of things I've been working on and cool things I thought you might enjoy seeing.
I saw these awesome wine bottle illustrations by Lydia Nichols over at The Dieline. Speaking of The Dieline, the Package Design Conference in Boston is around the corner. I plan to be there with Yael (she's speaking on Sunday).
I decided I needed a second pair of glasses. I do a lot of work outdoors and in the workshop, so I need a second pair so I don't screw up the one I have. I was looking at a bunch of styles over at Warby Parker.
They must be pretty popular because I'm still waiting for a bunch of styles to become available for Home Try-On. Which style do you think I should get?
Our studio, Miller Creative, just completed the redesign for Cybele Pascal's blog. I think it looks pretty awesome.
I finally got brave and started my trial of Basecamp, which is a project management tool. Unlike Yael, I am very slow to embrace something new. Basecamp seriously rocks. It's perfect for managing our projects. All I need now is something useful to manage clients and potential clients.
We recently had the opportunity to recommend Keef for video production for one of our clients. They're the creative genius behind the video for Breukelen Distilling. As a suprise gesture of thanks they sent us a bottle of Breuklelen's Glorious Gin (seen above). The video kinda makes you want to get up and create something. [Branding and packaging by I Love Dust]
Volkswagen used crowdsourcing to supply ideas for a futuristic concept car. They then turned the top ideas into these amazing concept videos. You can see the video here.
There's nothing like cute salt and pepper shakers to make an ordinary meal on an ordinary seem a little brighter. Above, Koziol of Germany created these birds on a tree salt and pepper shaker set. You can buy it here.
More salty-and-peppery cuteness after the jump.
Monkey Business, an Israel-based design studio created Rainshakers, shaped like rain clouds. Designed by Sooda Mayer. Buy them here.
The famed Italian design house, Alessi, makes these fun, toy-like salt and pepper shakers with a little toothpick-holder critter to finish off the table top scene. Buy the set.
Can you roll me the salt please? Troika (Markus Gläser/Michael Kibler) designed Fastfood, a ceramic egg-shaped car salt shaker on wheels. Passing the salt was never so easy (or fun!) Buy it here.
It also comes in a really cute egg-box package.
Pepper and Salt are also the initials in the Adobe Photoshop software icon (Ps). Designed by Frack Design.
A beauty from Charles & Mary. This set look like pebbles stacked one on top of the other for a real zen atmosphere.
Myan Duong designed salt and pepper shakes that look uncannilly like cigarettes. Interesting idea, but I don't know if I'd feel great shaking this into food.
We end off with the Brooklyn studio, Domestic Aesthetic's natural materials shaker set (probably my favorite!), available for purchase at Branch.
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that we’ve got a fresh new look for the blog. After a lot of coding, tweaking and generally making a mess of CSS, I’ve managed to get it to look half-decent (let me know what you think of it!) It still remains a work-in-progress. The goal of this redesign was to make it easier to get around and add some more color. After all, you know we’re suckers for color!
Last but not least, our large header incorporates the work of a featured artist. We’ll be featuring different artists in that space and rotating them over time to keep things interesting. This isn’t a sponsored spot, but rather a testament to our support of great artists. Our first feature is of the brilliant and witty Simon Oxley, one of our all-time favorites.
Want to know the top design blogs according to Alexa? Well, we’ve compiled all 90 of them. I have no clue how they come up with these rankings, but hey, these are great sites to check out and bookmark! (ReubenMiller ranks 24 – not bad.)
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
