This series was conceived by aquarium designer Karl-Oskar Ankarbergom (Karl-Oskar Ankarberg). The designer called the aquarium “arhikvariumami.” They resemble modern architecture than the aquarium. They are made of wood and glass, as well as in their manufacture are used minerals.

(source: uaquarium)

Ever wondered what a 12 million dollar home might look like? Well here is your chance to find out. This massive 9,236 square foot family home located in the hills of Los Angeles, California and developed by Dream Project LA(DPLA) was recently up for sale for $14 million, but actually sold with $12 million. The mansion features no less than six bedrooms and ten bathrooms, a three car garage and a stunning infinity edge pool. To top it all, the inhabitants enjoy unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains, making a regular swim a genuine relaxation experience. Here is a more detailed “inventory” from the official project description: “A state-of-the-art open floor-plan with grand open kitchen, family room and breakfast nook seating for 10, extensive private outdoor covered patio, fireplace and closets designed for today’s royalty. Formal dining for 20, home theater, piano room, 23′ grand foyer ceilings and high ceilings throughout, 3 exquisite staircases, 70′ quartz infinity pool spilling into a picture perfect view, remote controlled disappearing walls of glass seamlessly joining the outdoor living rooms and patios with the decadent grand rooms inside”. Be sure to check out the video at the end of the post for a virtual tour.

(source: freshome)

What can one say about Hemeroscopium House in Madrid, by Antón García- Abril? It was built in just seven days, out of seven massive structural elements. And yes, that thing cantilevering out the front on top is a swimming pool.

I suppose one can say that it proves that prefabrication can be used for good or evil ends.

A Hemeroscopium is evidently greek for the place where the sun sets, so they probably don't worry about unprotected floor to ceiling glass in Madrid. But it is crazy wonderful engineering; that pile of rock on top of the beam acts as a counterbalance to the cantilever of the beam. It might be nice if the beams were taken from some dismantled highway like the Big Dig house, but alas, they do not appear to be.

Amazing to watch the construction. Lots more pictures at Archinect

(via TreeHugger)

Red/Pink
In the red family we included cherry reds with both blue and yellow undertones, and deeper cabernet reds with hints of brown. With pink being popular and uplifting, we added a range from a soft Ballerina Pink to a vivacious Deep Rose with blue undertones.

Orange
With the orange family becoming more prominent we expanded our range to include more hot and radiant orange shades with red undertones such as Tangerine Tango as well a variety of some spicy and deeper oranges that display a dollop of brown with names like Cinnamon Stick and Marmalade.

Yellow
To enhance our selection of yellows, we brought in more true yellows in the light to mid-tone range
including Lemon Meringue and Solar Power and also some softer, warmer yellow hues reminiscent of Flan and Pear Sorbet.

Browns
In the brown family we brought in several of the delicious pure chocolate browns like Ganache and Chocolate Torte which are deeper and richer. With the taupe and khaki family ascending in popularity we also added in a variety of warmer and more classic taupes including a Toasted Coconut and Humus which display a golden base.

Greens
The rising importance of the green family led to the addition of a wide array of green hues ranging from the lush and deep true hunter greens like Climbing Ivy, to the gemstone influenced emerald greens such as Jolly Green and on to the more grayed down blue based greens like Belgian Block and Agave Green.

Blues
With a renewed emphasis on blue based shades, we added varying degrees of periwinkle blues including Paler Halogen and Chambray Blue, some more watery based teal and aquamarine blues with names like Mykonos Blue and Aqua Splash and 12 new navies including several red based navies, a true indigo and more classic navy shades like Night Sky and Evening Blue.

Purples
As purple hues continue to soar, we added some more vibrant red based purples such as Cherries Jubilee and Granite, several grayed down purples with blue undertones suggestive of a Mesa Rose and some more mystical smokey violet shades.

Mauves
We increased the variety of our blue based pinks from the palest rose to the deeper azalea tones.

Whites
Whites, the purest of the pure and that most classic of shades, were expanded in both warm and cool tones.

Grays
With grays more in demand, we added a wide range of grays in varying color depths including the more neutral blue based grays with names like Storm Front and Graphite, as well as some red based and green based grays.

Blacks
Black Bean and Tap Shoe are just two examples of the variety of new sleek and sophisticated black shades we added to round out our collection of blacks hues in our palette.

source: pantone

Today we want to show you collection of creative 3D types created by designer from United Kingdom Chris LaBrooy. Some of his works were used for covers of magazines. Chris creates not only high quality 3D types but also tries to find specific style for each type. For example, industrial architectural style with it’s rough cast concrete is a perfect fit for Helvetica. Have fun!

 

Source: Beautiful Life

When these "minimalist brands" started popping up on the A2591 blog a few weeks ago, they seemed like a fun design exercise. The designers simply reduced familiar packaging to its bare essentials, taking colors and graphics away in a dramatic, three-step reveal.

Some of the brands look especially sharp when reduced to a bare-bones execution; others are reduced to an almost unrecognizable state without their cascading milk falls or sides of sliced fruit.

These seem like products stocked in some fantasyland grocery store patronized exclusively by anal-retentive designers, but as I started to look at some recent rebranding stories, I'd argue that the minimal trend is actually infiltrating the market faster than we think.

Remember the outcry over the new Pepsi branding? Compared to a few years ago, heck, even compared to the other brands in its flock, that's about as streamlined of a design as you could get. If you walk down the soda aisle, Pepsi's wall of solid blue and silver definitely sticks out.

Method, the eco- and design-minded soap and cleanser company, has always taken the most minimal route when it comes to branding. Its candy-colored soaps and simple type have inspired more than a few copycats in the market.

And look at the branding of Canadian private label No Name we covered a few weeks back, or this extremely similar but slightly more elegant take for the new U.K. co-op The People's Supermarket. This simple, two-tone identity has been exalted by designers and consumers, who like the no-frills, no-spin packaging. And of course, there's another great example that popped up yesterday:

Compare A2591's minimalist exercise to the move that Starbucks has made with its recently-redesigned logo, and well ... it's almost uncanny.

What do you think: Will we see more of this more-is-less packaging in our slimmed-down future?

Disclaimer: GOOD partners with PepsiCo on the Refresh Project.

Source: Good

Japanese practice emmanuelle moureaux architecture + design has completed 'sugamo shinkin bank', a credit union located in shimura, japan. the design, an offset volume of rainbow-like layers, is the third branch designed by moureaux, with the first two located in tokiwadai and niiza.

Stacked slabs in twelve saturated colors dominate the exterior facade and contrast the stark white panels that enclose the building. looking to create a refreshing atmosphere with a palpable sense of nature, the colors gently transition until they disappear into the sky. softly reflected onto the white surfaces, the hues create a warm and diffused exterior which provide a sense of ease and solitude. At night, the layers are faintly illuminated, varying in accordance to weather and the season.

Upon entering the building, three elliptical skylights bathe the interior in a soft light. penetrating through each of the three levels, the clear, curving tubes carry light through them, introducing natural light into the depths of the structure while integrating interior and exterior environments.

On the main floor where the bank machines and teller windows are located, simple motifs and brightly colored furniture act as a connection to the characteristics evident on the exterior of the structure.

Source: Design Boom

 

We are always happy when design tools found another used. BrandSession used Pantone® chips to identify with a particular grape varietal.

"Design of a label for a multivarietal wine through the use of a meta-message: We use Pantone® chips with colors to identify with a particular grape varietal. Each time a varietal in the blend of this wine changes in the next vintage, the color of the chip changes.

The bottle is elegant with dark glass and square shoulders and slender and with great personality.The label is modern, clean and colorful, it reflects the plurality of grape varieties and anticipates the product features: fruits, intensity, vivacity... It incorporates the historic Osborne Bull while introducing a different -more modern- typography, consistent with the graphic presentation of the brand. Loyal to its concept of plurality, each year the label will reflect the changes of the grapes that will make up the assemblage of that vintage."

 

(via The Dieline)

Last month I learned about two beautiful typographic projects via FontShop BeNeLux (contrary to what some people think, that’s not me managing their social media). Both projects were created by Atipo, a small studio located in Gijón in Asturias in the north of Spain. It was set up by Raúl García del Pomar and Ismael González in the beginning of 2010. After working in other graphic design, web design, and branding studios, the two partners wanted to start a more personal venture. This new studio allows them to approach projects from different perspectives, freely combine all the disciplines they love, such as typography and type design, photography, illustration, video, and so on. The first project is Fontface, a series of posters merging the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design in honour of four outstanding typefaces.

 

fontface from atipo on Vimeo.

Where did you get the idea for this series of typographic posters?

“During the first year after setting up the new studio we investigated a lot in the field of typography. On the one hand we developed the serif face Calendas for one of our projects, and we are currently working on another type design which will be revealed in a few months. On the other hand we wanted to do a series of typographic posters celebrating four classic typefaces, but approaching them from an unexpected angle. We had the original idea when viewing the series Paradise portraits by Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf. This convinced us that the marriage of make-up and typography could produce beautiful and convincing results that would stir the typography world.”

How did the posters take shape?

“The entire series – from concept over make-up to photography and video – was executed by members of the studio. The characters were drawn directly on the model’s face, without digital projection or any other technical assistance, taking only reference from a sketch on the laptop monitor. We preferred the process to be gestural and organic, where the imperfections created by the act of painting by hand add to the expressiveness of the design.”

“The model is Laura; she is a graphic designer too. She loved the idea, and was very patient during the long sessions – make-up sessions lasted between 2 or 3 hours for each fontface, plus an hour or two to shoot the poster. The photo sessions were spread over time during the summer of 2010, but the posters only went public when our website went live last week.”

 

How did you select the characters?

“The series of posters features four typefaces designed by four outstanding designers. Through the combination of the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design, we made a brief journey through the history of typography. We started with an old style roman – the transitional face Caslon (William Caslon, 1725); passing via a slab serif – Clarendon (William Thorrowgood, 1845); a grotesque sans – Helvetica (Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann, 1957); to a fat face didone – Carousel (Gary Gillot, 1966). We selected characters that show the main features of each typeface; and, most importantly, functioned well as a mask on the model’s face.”

Is this series self-initiated or commissioned?

“We believe that to create without limitations is only truly possible with a self-initiated project, and Fontface is one of them. This series of posters allowed us to bring together different disciplines we feel passionate about: typography, painting, photography, and video. Furthermore, we wanted to create a series of posters to decorate our studio. This turned out to be more successful than we expected, because we’ve had many reactions from people asking us where to get the posters. Now we are planning to sell them in a limited edition.”

 

(via The Font Feed)

Pantone, the global authority on colour introduces Pantone Universe Colour Pencils.

A Modern Linear shape design pencil each identified with the colour name and number clearly written on it. As well Pantone provides three emotional cues for each colour in the collection allowing the consumer to better understand their individual colour preferences. For example Tomato indicates dramatic, impulsive, and daring, while Sulphur Spring is energizing, lively and trendy.

You can select colours based on the image or message that you wish to convey and also use this information to attain a greater understanding of colour and how it affects mood, thoughts, emotions and physical reactions.

Perfect for any design/colour enthusiast!

source: AGDA