Loving this site because I wasn’t sure if I was the only person that did stuff like this when I was bored/frustrated at the status quo of information design. Best part is the resulting visual conversation that emerged from the widely acknowledged need for the boarding pass overhaul, which is surprisingly carrier agnostic. I love how the process is revealed from rough sketches to finished design to someone adding the most personal of touches (necessary with a crowded market of identical offerings) below. Via Core77.
I would love to see using 3D objects as templates for printing as an emerging trend because on it’s own I wasn’t as impressed with the print above until I saw the image below. This got me thinking about my college printmaking class and how this would have been the ultimate low-input/high-output approach to a final project. Little effort compared to intaglio process, cheap, easy to alter, making it perfect for a series.
All that needs to be done in order to pull these off (no pun intended) is a slight adjustment in the distance between the roller and the print bed underneath, and a variance in the pressure applied to make sure the dice themselves don’t crack. Either way, it’s labor intensive as hell compared to a typical offset three color print but worth the effort. Get your own from each 100 print run of various patterns ($100-250) here. Via TodayAndTomorrow.
Spanish artist Gianmarco Magnani recently cut a series of prints featuring vintage motorcycles, half of which are profile line art (not sure if vector-based) but it’s the other half that are worth note. The hand drawn illustrations are clean and have a refined style that keeps the color minimal. My only issue is that they tend to wash out given the outlines aren’t pronounced enough to make the shapes ‘pop.’ Other than that these are perfect. Get them for about $400 a pop for an uber-limited edition of 10 here. Via BikeExf.
I present to you: The ultimate useless papercraft. Download here.
I hate to be a smartass but I really hope it didn’t rain on thsi guy. I doubt we will see that many costumes trying to become this next year due to sheer effort involved but he pulled this off perfectly. Inspired by ‘big head’ modes of late 90s video games and their immature polygon rendering and bitmapping this takes both papercraft and halloween to new levels. Check out the process, which is well mapped on the head’s owner’s website here. Via Giz.
Master Shake. 
Drunk on Inflation.
Rolling with Lincoln.
These & much more ‘Moneygami’ can be found via Funfever.
Feeling like killing some time this Friday and happen to have some thicker stock paper and a killer printer? Hit up Cubecraft for the full size template in order to build yourself a vintage NES controller. Bonus is that you could layer it over some thin cardboard or chipboard, score it lightly and make a nifty little box to put stuff into. If you happen to feel crafty, that is.
I really heart it to see how people like Filippo Perin throw stuff like this together out of respect for the shoes. Sure, this guy might have a bit too much time on his hands but nothing spells devotion like fans cranking out Papercraft homages of your product. Nice hand crafting doesn’t hurt either.
Above is the reissued Dunk ‘09, which I definitely dig on, although I would ditch those blue laces for a red pair straight out of the gates. I like the softer, less aggressive feel and visually neutral gray as opposed to the bright white which is impossible to keep clean. The colorways can get a little out control and contrasty when it comes to color application so I would be in favor of uniform color but with differentiation in regards to material type, texture, or perforation. Either way, hi-tops are back, Velcro is en route, and thankfully, tight-rolling is still out. For now, via Solejunkies.
Don’t ask why but Yamaha, yes that manufacturer of motorcycles/components/audio equipment has ton of various paper craft designs ranging from Rare Animals to Motorcyles to……Seasonal Scenes of Japan? Anyways if you are bored this afternoon and happen to have access to a color printer and decent paper fold away. The results speak for themselves. Instructions are here.
I don’t know why they named their company as such but I have to say I am a huge fan of their work….which as usual I cannot afford. I like how you really can’t tell what is and what is not considered a concept piece, which keeps you guessing a bit. The reason why this works so well is due to the fact that they aren’t afraid to take risks and explore the potential for a product could be as opposed to being tied of up in what is possible given existing constraints. Case in point is the ‘Syrofoam Turntable’ below.
Designed as a DIY Kit (and you know i heart that sentiment) the basic idea behind the project was to ‘design and engineer a low-cost do-it-yourself Turntable kit made out of high density styrofoam (Think styrofoam MDF!)’. Not sure if that means high density foamboard or porous MDF but either way it’s something worth looking into since ‘The design is straightforward with same measurements as an LP cover and the turntable base has the natural color of white styrofoam. The arm is CNC:d out of orange styrofoam.’ So instead of working from the top down with a rigid housing that had to be extremely shock-proof and had to withstand x# of cycles they built from the bottom up in order to create something lightweight and low cost. Plus the color/material/finish is nicely put together.
Above is a nicely adjustable task lamp with hot-swappable lamp components that allow you to substitute a different sized bulb or shad depending on your needs. Below is their operator/synthesizer. Not sure what it does but I like the nod to the 80’s in terms of color details and the bare-bones treatment of every aspect of the form. Plus analog/digital hybrid interfaces are hawt as hell right , for good reason.
Below Turntable details are here. Lamp details are here. Op-1 is here.