Every once in a while a product comes along and POW!, the game has changed, the way we work and play… altered forever. The iArm is such a product. Of course it’s not real, just a box to put your real present inside to get a chortle this holiday. My personal favourite (and actually a fine idea for festival goers and sports fans): the beer beard.

Matt

Everyone in advertising has their ear to the ground for the next big thing. These chaps may just have found it…

Matt

Crazy talent from Villfane Studios in the uncrowded category of high-end pumpkin carving. Fantastic work.

The tracksuit. Loved, hated. Worn by the incredibly fit and the incredibly lazy. Most people have slipped into one at some time or another be it for school sports, fashion purposes or just because you’re hung-over and they’re comfortable. Rappers, athletes, Somali pirates; they’ve all had a go.

So what have we got here? This is a vast topic. Although the tracksuit is considered two piece, the runaway success of the pair is certainly the lower half. Referred to as sweatpants in the US the trouser section is also known as track suit bottoms or jogging bottoms in the UK and track pants or trackies in NZ and Australia.

Obviously the tracksuit was initially designed for sports folk to cover-up and keep warm after a game or work-out, but these days uses are varied. Fashion tracksuits (predominantly by Adidas) gained popularity through artists such as Snoop Dogg, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys. Tear-away pants, used by sportspeople for a quick exit, are a hit with strippers and climbing pants with their impossibly baggy crotch section and bonkers patterns seem to have found favor with body builders and MC Hammer.

TV and film have thrown up the occasional iconic tracksuit, most notably Bruce Lee’s yellow tracksuit from Game of Death (1978). This classic outfit has gained a nod in various other movies, referenced famously by Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill, Vol.1 (2003). Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man, kept it casual in a red tracksuit with matching trainers. Nice.

So Steve, the bionic astronaut, that’s a whole new blog post right there! Let’s see what Tim thinks about Lee Majors…

Matt

We’ve got a cracking day in Christchurch today with 26°C outside and a warm breeze. Summer’s here and as this is a long weekend the masses have headed down to New Brighton beach, where I can see (from a web cam) that our recent flat spell has ended and 2-3ft of summer swell is rolling in.

The coming of summer takes people back their childhoods; endless summer days, sandy ice creams and BBQ food. In your mind its probably always better than it was, unless the beaches happen to be those of Rio. These beautiful images from Brazilian photographer and editor of Soul Surf magazine, Beto Paes Leme, show summer as it lives in my mind…

Matt, hangin’ for a surf

Apart from the occasional trade show design or tour piece we graphic designers don’t often get to delve into the realms of interior architecture or space planning. Industrial design concepting also looks like a fantastic place to play, trying to match your mad scientist schemes to real world problems, and create something that looks awesome along the way.

Loving this three wheeled camper concept from German industrial designer Cornelius Comanns. Based around an existing Piaggio model, the ‘Bufalino‘ offers some great solutions for the individual traveler. Particularly like the washing line out back and the detailing on the fold down seat/bed. Stick a board rack on it and I’ll take one!

Matt

If you drool over a well executed pie graph, your heart races a little when you see a spectacular bar graph or your idea of a good-night-in is to pour over a centerfold of infographics then this is the website for you www.informationisbeautiful.net.

Kim

Apparently Facebook has ousted Google as the most popular site in the US according figures from web analysts Hitwise . For the week ending March 13 Facebook achieved higher visitor numbers than the search giant, accounting for 7.07% of US web traffic while Google reached 7.03%. There was no mention of the figures on Google’s Facebook page.

The Augmented Sculpture is an instillation piece jointly produced by German design agencies Grosse 8 and Lichtfront for the recent interior design showcase Imm Cologne 2010 (Cologne, Germany). Light and 2D patterns are projection mapped on to the structure’s 3D surface with beautiful effect.

Matt

Funny ads that made me chuckle this week, enjoy…

Matt