High Five
Here’s our weekly round-up of favorite sites.
1. Unhappy Hipsters I wanted to post this yesterday when I discovered it but held off so it could top the list today. First, I am a huge fan of Dwell magazine and everything the magazine represents. I love it’s aesthetic, the writing, the houses they find. I completely relate to the people in their stories. But Unhappy Hipsters takes those earnest ‘at-home-with’ photographs from the pages of the magazine and turns them on their modernist heads. With one sharp, witty, damn hilarious line the writer (who is anonymous…I’ve emailed to see if I can get an interview) undermines all that is serious – and slightly dull – about these sort of shoots. All that earnestness and lack of irony is just begging for this kind of attention. And what do the guys at Dwell think? “Admittedly hilarious Dwell sendup,” says Dwell’s managing editor Michele Posner on her Twitter account. Where to start: Anywhere and everywhere – it’s all good. (And kudos to the editor for choosing a Tumblr blog – they are beautifully designed.) Via The Foodinista.
2. Unbeige The title of this mediabistro blog is just so good – there is certainly nothing beige about their design coverage. One minute your reading about a competition to name designer David Stark’s new puppy Droog and the next moment your immersed in a piece on Apple’s new iPad. The editors, Steve Delahoyde and Stephanie Murg, are tireless. And we all benefit from their hyperactivity. Where to start: At the top with the most recent post…it’s a news site after all.
3. T Magazine And while we are on news The New York Time’s T Magazine blog is always worth a look. As you would imagine, it is well written, and it’s T, so it’s stylish. It’s also a really nicely designed clean blog – lots of white, large graphic pics. And interesting stories. Where to start: If you’re like me you’ll go straight to the Design stories.
4. FFFOUND! This is a cool image sharing site. It works a bit like Pandora – you tag what you like and you’ll get more of that sort of stuff. Although, as far as I can tell, you can’t register anymore. But even as an ‘outsider’ you’re taken on a wonderful journey through curated images that would take you weeks to find otherwise. Where to start: Click on an image you like and scroll down to see others you may like … and just keep clicking.
5. The Patent Desk At heart aren’t we all design geeks? According Andrew Lynch – the site’s founder – “this is a celebration of the ideas and illustrations found on patents.” In amongst all the noisy, highly designed blogs out there The Patent Desk is the equivalent to a walk in the woods. It’s entirely in black and white, the typeface looks like a typewriter (American Typewriter Light is my guess) and the images are hand-drawn illustrations. It’s beautiful. Where to start: Check out the Eames patent for their leg splint.
