This piece from The New York Times is incredible. It took me several hours over the course of a few days (It came out on Thursday) to read and interact with all of it. Multi-chapter writing, parallax, photography, video, sound bites, animated maps — it’s gorgeous. John Branch and his team did a great job of portraying a terrifying, awful story in a way that really makes someone think. This sort of long-form reporting could have happened in print, but NYT made a great use of web and multimedia resources to really do everything possible. The video at the end is fantastically done also. 

Additionally, this post from The Atlantic Wire discusses why this kind of storytelling is the future of online journalism and this post from The Atlantic discusses why it isn’t. I can see both sides, but I think I agree with the “against” side a bit more. I can’t wait to see more things like this, though, that’s for sure.

I love the concept behind #govote, a Tumblr blog that features non-partisan images by artists around the country to encourage others to find their polling locations and cast their ballots today. Here’s my quick contribution. So — go vote! 

Above: Mark Pernice & Kathleen Fitzgerald

I caught this article on Adweek earlier this week (and again today on The Daily What and on CoCreate, reminding me that I meant to post this before now) discussing a project by designer Meg Jannott to brand all 44 United States presidents on her blog. 

Anyone who has read this blog should know about my love for patriotic design*, so naturally you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that a million kittens were born out of my happiness when I saw Jannott’s project. Each of her quick design studies explores a president, offering a brand to the ones who didn’t have Adobe Illustrator at their fingertips. Jannott pairs historic imagery with iconography and typography to capture the essence of each Commander in Chief, sometimes adding in nicknames and subtle nuances and clues to their personalities — my favorite of which being the tiny teddy bear snuck into Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘R.’ Jannott is up to 40, and I can’t wait to see what she pulls together for the last four… or maybe five? Time will tell.  

*This goes right along with the Election Day Advent Calendar I bought on Kickstarter a few months back, which has resulted in an office-wide competition for who can correctly answer questions from the U.S. naturalization test on the calendar each day. Nerd alert.

No, this is not a planet. It is a soap bubble. Yes, really.

My mom forwarded me this awesome post from 2008 on Creative Review (whose use of Dala Floda as their logo is pretty nifty, if you ask me). Apparently Sony hired Jason Tozer to photograph planets, I mean bubbles, using Sony’s then-new Alpha 350 digital camera. All of the shots are totally gorgeous, though, and worth posting about again even if 2008 was really four years ago — if you believe what these candidates are saying, that is. (Thanks for the find, Mom!) 

Meanwhile, in recent news, some amateur astronomer sleuths discovered a new planet with four suns. Let’s hope their neighbors weren’t blowing bubbles at night…

Hanging art on your apartment walls can make a big difference — to the space and to someone else, thanks to Nuru Project. Named for the Swahili word for light, Nuru Project is an online shop that sells photojournalists’ prints to raise money for non-profits. The price of each print ranges from $50 to $1,000, and 50 percent of the proceeds benefit one of nine charities, including non-profit stars like Pencils of Promise and Kiva and lesser-known ones like Architecture for Humanity and Together for Girls. Half of the other 50 percent goes to the photographer and the rest to Nuru Project.

“Each of our non-profit partners was chosen for their empathy, enthusiasm, commitment and vision. We hope our photographs pique your curiosity about their work and motivate you to support them through a print purchase,” Nuru Project’s website says.

Buy prints here, and keep up with the photographs here. 

Thanks to my background in journalism, I love politics and elections, especially when they intersect with design. I’ll always remember working on my college newspaper with my dear friend Helen Dear on the night President Barack Obama was elected in 2008. It is this love that explains why I closely follow the news in election years.

And now I can count down to Election Day (which is Tuesday, Nov. 6 this year), thanks to this non-partisan Election Day Advent Calendar, a Kickstarter project by Gerrymander. In case the thought of Election Day evokes the same excitement as Santa Claus’ impending present-drop, like it does for me, you can now count down the days to the big vote. This year’s tabloid-sized calendar features an original painting by Chicago musician and artist, Jon Langford. And the best part? It’s date-less so you can re-use it, year after year. Worst part? Does not come with chocolates. 

In the spirit of nationalism (and to take a break from Olympic coverage), take a look at Fifty and Fifty, a project curated by Dan Cassaro. He asked 50 designers, one per state, to illustrate their state’s official motto, “creating something steeped in history but completely modern and unique: a kind of designer’s atlas.” Each motto is available for purchase here.

If you’ve read this blog at all, you’re probably aware of my love for all things both geographic and typographic, so you better believe that North Carolina print will soon be mine. What’s your favorite?

I’m really impressed with Medal Count, a website that helps Olympic enthusiasts keep track of medal procurement. Made by Animal New York, the website has the official schedule and a feed of featured articles. It will even make a little clinking metal sound every time a bookmarked country on your Watch List wins a medal. Awesome. 

The Olympics are about bringing nations together to compete in athletics, the marriage of brotherhood and sportsmanship. When I read about the four Independent Olympic Athletes who don’t have countries to represent, I was slightly saddened. (One comes from South Sudan, which, because it is so new, didn’t set up a National Olympic Committee in time. The other three hail from the Netherlands Antilles, which was disolved in 2010.) However, this group of IOAs seems awesome despite the stories of their political homelands.

Fast Co.Design’s Mark Wilson reported that Nike designed the uniforms for this group of “nationless” athletes. Three of the IOAs donned these crisp, white jackets at the Opening Ceremonies in stark contrast to many of the other flag-branded outfits at the Games. Buy the gear here. 

Wilson offered this: “Wouldn’t it be somewhat liberating for Olympic athletes to compete under a single uniform? Every four years, the world assembles in peace, only to duke it out through a highly regimented series of competitions. By so stringently swaddling our own players in national pride, aren’t we missing the bigger picture of world unity? Maybe we could use a few more IOAs.” Gold medal. 

Nervous System, one of my favorite jewelry designers, will again be featured on Fab.com today. Based in Massachusetts, Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg co-founded the studio in 2007 to create “modern jewelry inspired by nature.”

The two find inspiration in complex scientific forms and patterns, like cellular structures, leaf veins and algae and coral aggregations, then write computer programs to generate their unique designs in 3D-printed nylon, stainless steel and sterling silver. In addition to jewelry, Nervous System also makes puzzles and housewares, my favorite of which is the beautiful Hyphae lamp. They also have an Etsy shop as well as their own online store.

I own a handful of pieces from Nervous System, most of which I bought on Fab, and I always get tons of compliments when I wear them. If you’re thinking ahead for the holidays or just want something awesome for yourself, any of these would make lovely gifts for any special ladies.

I love color. I don’t discriminate: I love all hues, shades and tints. That’s probably why I love this still life series called “Accidental Archives” by Canadian photographer Sara Cwynar, who works for the New York Times Magazine. Her images of her own color-coded collections of ephemera are simply mesmerizing. Like the pages of “Where’s Waldo” and “I Spy” of my childhood, I find myself just looking at all the, well, stuff. Cwynar also has a Tumblr where she posts photos of in-progress work. Her work is on exhibition now at the Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto.

Last night I attended the second-ever Crop Meet-Up in Raleigh, which was hosted by Atlantic BT (and organized by its own creative director Eileen Allen and senior designer Corey Brinkmann). Though the purpose of the group is still evolving, each meeting focuses on a different design topic, technique or discussion.

Last month for the first meeting, Crafting Custom Textures, Brinkmann discussed making textures in Adobe Photoshop and Mark Riggan, also of Atlantic BT, talked about setting up retina display resolutions. And then last night for “I Love Color“ another Atlantic BTer, Nancy Jin, discussed the meanings behind colors for brands, basic color theory and making color palettes and Wray Bowling of Intuvoe talked about monitor color calibration. All of the lessons have been extremely insightful, even for experienced designers. 

Because Crop has only had two meetings, they’re very open to ideas for speakers or topics and suggestions in general. Overall, it’s a great way to meet other designers in the Raleigh-Durham area, enjoy some pizza and beer and learn some awesome new skills. Hope to see some new faces and learn some new skills in the months to come. 

Sometimes I like to peruse Behance to look for inspiration. Today I stumbled upon Canadian agency Chez Valois’ packaging for Montreal bakery Point G, a French word meaning “G Spot” — G for gourmet and gastronomy. Known for their macarons, the bakers wanted a saucier, more sensual identity rather than a more elitist one, according to Chez Valois. 

The new packaging features big, bold french verbs like lick (léchez), crunch (croquez), drink (buvez), share (partagez) and experiment (experimentez), that tell the consumer what to do with the contents of the packages. The words show the humorous yet subtle introduction of pleasure and indulgence in a true culinary experience. Paired with colorful knockout photographs of the delights, the words are “both catchy and intriguing, they surprise and titillate the imagination.”

I love anything that intersects French with English. Now, if only I could get my hands on/sink my teeth into one of those macarons…