April is coming to an end, and so is our tenure as guest editors for Coudal Partners. It was super fun to speak through their channel, and they were exceedingly gracious hosts. Thumbs up to them, and muchas grassy-ass. However, there were a handful of links that, as of our last day, they opted not [...]

This weekend one of our loyal readers asked us this question: why don’t we show a portfolio ? Actually, we do. You’re lookin at part of it. And then there’s our manifesto series, Written on the City, all the stuff on this here inspiration feed, among others. Of course, our reader didn’t mean this kind [...]

It’s seventy degrees outside, and sunny, with very little wind. It’s play time… Have a kick-ass weekend!

On Saturday night, I attended a party with my girlfriend’s extended family, some of whom I’d never met. I don’t have much problem talking to new people but still, starting conversation is hard. It’s hard because when you don’t know someone, you don’t know what you want to talk to them about, and when strangers [...]

This morning we found this ad in The Onion. And it seems like the Vertical Response marketing team figured that since their ad was gonna run in The Onion, they should be funny and irreverent. That was a good impulse. But here’s the problem: For adults, merely saying “balls” isn’t really that funny. Unless you’re [...]

Here’s a good New Yorker article on a beautiful emerging sport called parkour, which is the art of moving fluidly over any terrain. Parkour, a made-up word, cousin to the French parcours, which means “route,” is a quasi commando system of leaps, vaults, rolls, and landings designed to help a person avoid or surmount whatever [...]

Even though I’m over 30, I still pride myself on being able to make a mean and delicious condiment supper. Hell, if I had this collection, I’d eat like a king for years. You can sort by sauce or brand, and you can submit your own.

This weekend, when I asked my friend and trainer Alexis why she doesn’t have a big mirror in her dance and bodywork studio, I got a meaty response: “Dancers,” she said, “are often so concerned about looking like a human that they forget how to be one. Blech. It’s the main reason so few dancers [...]

Yesterday Josh and I went back to school. We packed a lunch, complete with Capri Suns and note from Mom telling us we were her special boys. Actually, we’d been invited to be guests in Christopher Simmons‘ Graphic Design 2 class at CCA. “Professor” Simmons had given them the raw text from our manifestos (Dear [...]

I’ve got a friend who’s the new marketing director at a big downtown company. After his second week in the suit and tie, he called me sounding super-frustrated. Dude, he said, our creative department sucks. They have no vision, and they don’t want to make the changes I keep asking for. How do I get [...]

In thinking about negativity in brainstorms, I had an idea: Negative reactions can be useful if they lead to new directions, new ideas, and good times. So what if—for your next project—you planned two brainstorms, one for negativity, and one for positivity. And plan them in the same week. Start with the negative brain storm—for [...]

Vinchen, an artist who has contributed to our Written on the City project, now has this piece displayed at an Ohio Hilton, though they don’t know it. The body copy reads: For over 60 years, the Hilton name has been synonymous with elegance and class. A tradition that continues today. Via Wooster

A few weeks ago, Axel’s mom called him an “aging hippie.” And then Richard Oliver called us hippies. So we got to thinking about the values that the hippies espoused and how we use them to make life and work better. That, after all, is all the hippies really wanted. That, and good free drugs. [...]

They’re boring. They don’t spark conversation. They don’t ask questions worth answering. They most often sound like this: “the new logo we created for (client name here) uses powerful diagonal lines to symbolize (generic brand values here).” Fucking kill me. Okay, okay: I’ll back up a little. We’re in a business that deals with the [...]

Georgia Russell makes gorgeous, gorgeous, books. More here.

Made by Andrea Galvani.

This is a picture I did not take of a prostitute in front of four men on a street corner at dawn, asking them a question with her hands out, to which the men replied in unison, like a choreographed dance troupe, by pulling the lining of their pockets inside-out to show they had no [...]

Oooh. These are coooooool. Handblown glass mushrooms that hold a cup of water and deliver it at the rootmass via a long spike. But that’s not all, folks! In true mushroom fashion, there’s another layer of work going on: These little guys have phosphorescent chips in the glass, so they soak up light all day [...]

To continue the conversation: What if every brainstorm began with a meditation on impossibility, failure, stupidity, shame, etc? It might do wonders to get all that stuff over with before the brainstorming begins. Yes! And here’s why: Idea generation sessions are often mistaken as idea selection sessions. There’s an expectation that part of the job [...]