Super-Bastard Box Art Characters

Super-Bastard Box Art Characters are a set of paper toys created by Malaysian designer Undoboy. Extremely creative and well illustrated with well known characters amongst the set.
Consists of 16 unique toys in one set, with 4 unique characters on each face of the box. Collectors have an opportunity to collect all 16 toys/64 characters in the series. Each toy is individually placed in a sealed box (blind assortment).

They are produced in a limited edition with only 1000 copies of each toy on the market.

Each toy is made with heavy card stock plus matt lamination and stands 4” in height.

Characters include Uncle Sam, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Queen Elizabeth II, Mother Teresa, a mummy, a Japanese wrestler, a cave man, dominatrix and so on.

The head and pants are detachable, so you can mix and match the characters to create some hilarious outcomes!

Wake Me Up At...

"I Saw It First" have produced stickers which prey on the kindness of those in the vicinity to wake you up at your Tube station and save you waking up at completely the wrong end of the line.

Quite a quirky idea however sadly, as sometimes experienced, tube traveling is a solitary method of transportation, no one dare make eye-contact or heaven forbid approach someone and make small talk. In effect, these stickers may be a waste of your £4.

Love the little diagrams on the back of the packet though (image above). Perhaps worth purchasing just for that. Stumbling on to the tube, dreaming of juicy kebabs, wiping away the dribble as you exit. Funny stuff.

Certainly these stickers are a little more realistic than the Japanese subway sleep mask which didn't work and when you see the video, you'll realise why! The passengers let the poor guy sleep on, never waking him. At least these stickers will look a little less weird.

Product trickery

So there I am carrying out the weekly shop at Sainsbury's, perusing through the spice section in search of ground cinnamon that will be joining an array of ingredients later on that day - baking session. Debating whether to purchase the well known Schwartz brand, or indeed Sainsbury's own make.

Sainsbury's Ground Cinnamon: £0.79/unit......£0.17/10g

Schwartz Ground Cinnamon: £1.40/unit..........£0.42/10g

It was at this pinnacle point in the short story that a lady working in this section approached me and brashly stated - 'I used to work at the Schwartz factory and the spice in that Schwartz bottle is the same as the spice in that Sainsbury's bottle. They're identical. Schwartz handle Sainsbury's spices, they just slap on a different label and charge less.'.......I made a hmmming sound......'So buy Sainsbury's' she continued.

How has this become morally allowed...charging someone far more...just for a label? Fashion. Computers. Food. It exists in everything. Such greed.

The more I witness branding in this context, the more I dislike it. Branding to manipulate people in to forking out extortionate prices for an item of the same calibre less than half the price sitting right next to it.

I wonder if the fat-cats sitting in their watchtowers snigger down on our capitalist society, rubbing their hands together and planning their next move in an almost Mr Burns from the Simpsons type manner.

Perfectly Balanced

Nike Air Max ST ‘Perfectly Balanced’ campaign

Mark from Rosie Lee states; “The concept shows the original stability and cushioning by talking about balance, as an overall theme.”

The images were shot by the excellent Jason Tozer.

Jason has previously collaborated with brands such as Playstation, Gucci & Puma.

Definitely worth a browse through his portfolio as he has some immense photography.

Check out the Zero Project for DixonBaxi located;

www.jasontozer.com > 'People and Animals' > Bottom Right

Tango With Added Obscenity

Tango were in a tizzy after discovering their new limited edition 440ml can design spelt out a rude word. The problem emerged with the first letter of each word on slogan Tango With Added Tango.

The question at hand:

Purely accidental or in fact a well thought out marketing ploy?

Yauatcha Atelier collection by Bodo Sperlein. The Bodo Sperlin collection is the latest in a range of stylish tea accessories commissioned by Alan Yau to be produced for Yauatcha Atelier.

The Tea plant has captivated the world throughout history and is an integral part of everyday lives across the global communities. Produced in one of Germany’s oldest workshops established in the 18th Century, the collection aspires to continue the connection between food and design, function and form.

Play More

Trapped in Suburbia have released this fantastic self promotional notebook.

The notebook consists of one side with space to write on and on the other side ball patterns. Just crumble up an piece of paper and you can play soccer, or rugby, or throw a tennis ball in your waste basket. The idea behind it all was the want to get their clients moving behind their desks.

The young company have won a bronze medal for 'printed self promotion' in 2007 European Design Awards for this design.

Post-It-Note Fruit

Designed by:

Kok-design

'Crank' The Face Off That Type!

When you notice a small snippet of a design element, whether it be the passing glance of a book cover in the shop window or the brief glimpse of a fantastic packaging item in the trolley of a fleeting fellow supermarket shopper, you want more. You want to understand what it is, why it caught your attention, you want to buy in to its aesthetic attraction – at least I do.
During the regular morning peruse of design news and affiliated scanning of portfolios, I stumbled upon a full rebrand project carried out by the design studio 'Proud'. What caught my attention on this particular occasion was the typography.

Firstly, the 2D representation.

How fluid of a typeface is that...? Each individual letter flows smoothly in to the next. Just imagine placing a ball on the top arc of that 'S' - it would roll effortlessly on to the neighboring 'y'

The font is 'Crank 8', reworked to create the unique and bespoke typeface of 'Syfy'; a science-fiction channel.

The customised typeface is so beautifully balanced. If the letter distance were removed the sandwiched 'f' would just melt in between both 'y's'.

I thought it may be of use to highlight the letter dimensions for closer analysis.
The letter 'f' floats above the baseline, for personal reasoning I believe it allows for that floaty-like/light quality. Had the designers sat it on the baseline the word as a whole would appear heavier and grounded which moves against the ethos of the brief;

"The brief asked for an ownable and distinguishable brand identity; retaining the positive associations from the genre of science fiction, whilst appealing to a broader audience and embracing the benefits of imagination."

The 3D representation.

In context I do feel that the 3D outcome of the brand leans dangerously towards a copycat version of Channel 4's 'E4' brand but this is due to the amalgamation of associated 'E4' deep purple colour combined with the overlaying thick white text.

However, it is visually stunning and as a television ident it will no doubt be easily accepted and appreciated.