Designamo Roundup: April Edition
What bubble?
We’re big fans of Silicon Valley around the office, and as we’re gearing up for the third season, we found this video that shows the cast trying to guess what startups with billion-dollar valuations actually do. The result is priceless, and very NSFW — so put headphones on!
Jetset
Not only do we love this smart luggage from Raden, we can’t get over just how beautiful their eCommerce site is. These bags are sure to make air travel suck just a little bit less.
Beer ye, beer ye!
Not to brag or anything, but we definitely know a thing or two about beer. Our office even started Beerstitution — a monthly meeting of the minds to taste and discuss beers. As such, we were delighted to find this colour-coded beer packaging by Bilbao designer Txaber that lets you know exactly what’s in the can. Pröst!
Sameness. By design.
The Blandly site by Post Typography pokes fun at the buzzword-ridden, strategy-starved state of design. With plenty of trademarks, icons, and content that says absolutely nothing, this site is a good comparison tool for how not to brand your studio or agency.
Now, you’re speaking our language
Lingo is the newest product by the Noun Project that aims to organize, share and showcase all of your visual assets in one place — on your desktop. Lingo syncs with Sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop, Keynote and Slack, so you can search and share your visuals between programs and teams. We’re sold.
Reaching the summit
We loved this microsite that Harry’s put together to launch their limited edition Jimmy Chin razor. The site is beautifully integrated and features powerful images offset against a simple grid and a bold palette. This is how to do microsites.
Method to the madness
This short primer on the evolution of web design is a great read. It cites clear takeaways and key examples of the design trends that shape the industry as it is today. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in terms of usability, accessibility and experience, but powerful to note how much of the basic fundamentals of UX can be seen emerging even from the earliest examples.
Put it on paper
There’s so much to love about this decidedly non-digital website by Somerset Printers. The site was actually made out of paper, and it’s refreshing to play around with the tearaways, scratch-offs and more.
More than meets the eye
We just had a really thoughtful, meaningful discussion at the office about how important diversity is in the workplace, so it was a pleasant surprise to find Techies: a portrait project focused on sharing stories of tech employees from the Valley, particularly those who may be under-represented: women, people of colour, LGBT, working parents, the disabled, and many more. Projects like this are so important for a variety of reasons: so that the products we create are relevant to a more varied demographic, so the world has a more comprehensive view of the people that are making the products we use every day, and to shed light on people in the industry whose stories have never been heard, considered or celebrated.
