Help Remedies + bone marrow registry

Filed under brilliant ideas, Help Remedies has partnered with Graham Douglas of droga5 to create an easy way to sign up for the bone marrow registry. As a result of their collaboration, packages of "help: I've cut myself" bandages now contain sign-up kits to enter the bone marrow registry.

Bone marrow matches are notoriously difficult to find, but can often save the lives of those suffering from cancer. Douglas aims to make signing up for the donor registry as easy as possible. Someone cuts his finger, goes to find a bandage, and before applying one, can swab a bit of his blood and send it to the lab in the enclosed envelope. He's then registered, without having to visit a doctor or have blood drawn unnecessarily.

It doesn't hurt that the product is well designed and looks good on the shelf. The collaboration is a great example of design thinking + aesthetics to help the greater good.

Read more about the project here.

Classical Greek Hipsters

Designer Alexis Persani and photographer Leo Caillard photoshopped modern clothes onto photographs of classical sculptures for their project Street Stone. The resulting looks would be right at home on Bedford Ave. Turns out, hipsters and classic Greeks have more in common than one might think—namely, facial hair and indifferent expressions. The only problem is that no hipster would ever be this muscular...and maybe for a bit more authenticity, those photographs should have been taken using Instagram.

(via Artlog) 

A Picture's Worth One Long, Strange Word

I'm loving Project Twins' A–Z of Unusual Words, in which the Irish designers illustrate unusual words. The collection of prints was shown at the MadArt Gallery in Dublin. What a lovely combination of words, wit, and illustration.

Cacodemonomania
The pathological belief that one is inhabited by an evil spirit.

ktenology
The science of putting people to death.

Tarantism

A disorder characterised by an uncontrollable urge to dance.

Yonderly
Mentally or emotionally distant; absent-minded.

Acersecomic
A person whose hair has never been cut.

Noegenesis
Production of knowledge.

Scripturient
Possessing a violent desire to write.

(via Brain Pickings)

Hot Knife

Fiona Apple was one of my high school faves, and now she's back with a whole new album of angstiness. My favorite track thus far is "Hot Knife."

Can't. Stop. Listening.

Origami Invite

WOW—this origami invitation to the opening of a Louis Vuitton store in Japan is awesome. Designed by Happycentro.

 

(via Design Work Life)

blacknegative

blacknegative's site is one of the coolest I've seen in a while. I had a lot of fun playing around with it (photos don't do it justice—go to the site to get the full interactivity!)—and their work is great, too.

35mm

Here's something I haven't seen before...

Luke Evans and Josh Lake, two students from Kingston University, swallowed 35mm film. After the film passed through their digestive systems, they were excreted in a dark room and washed (!). Josh & Luke used a scanning electron microscope to blow the damaged film emulsion up to large-scale black and white prints. They are showing the prints in an installation, called "I Turn Myself Inside Out," which will be on display at Hoxton Gallery in London, UK on June 12th–13th. I must say, they are kinda strangely cool looking.

(via How To Start A Fire)

The Funnel

How fun is this project by NEVERCREW? They proposed this idea for the renewal of the Lugano-Besso pedestrian tunnel. Commuters could draw on the walls with chalk, while observers could view from benches across the tunnel. Looks like fun to me.

You Are Not Special

If you haven't seen it yet, this was a great speech. And while you're at it, so was this, from my alma mater.

mediaPro brochure by SAWDUST

Great paper choice by SAWDUST in their brochure for mediaPro—not just because it looks pretty, but also because it furthers the meaning they're trying to convey.

We Want Steve (Nash)

The Time My Dad Started All of US Airways Center in a Chant of "We Want Steve":
a.k.a. his proudest accomplishment. 



(Backstory: Amid rumors that the two-time MVP and much beloved Sun won't be returning to Phoenix next season, the fans—especially my dad, a diehard Suns fan—have been disappointed, to say the least.  With 5 minutes left in the Suns' last game of the season [no playoffs for them...sad], Steve Nash wasn't on the court. My dad stood up and started chanting, "We want Steve!" Soon, all 18,000+ fans were on their feet chanting for Nash, and eventually, he was put back in the game to uproarious applause. Articles surfaced covering the possible goodbye. Steve Nash commented,

"It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support," Nash said. "It's very special because it's not something I asked for or imagined. To get that kind of reaction means it's authentic, the relationship I thought we had. It really feels special. The fans have been phenomenal and it's meant a lot to me to play in a city like this as long as I have and to feel important to the fans and community. I just feel like a very lucky guy."

I'm fairly sure this event pleased my dad and evoked more pride in him than my college graduation, grad school degree, future wedding, or impending children did/will. I kid, I kid...)

Planet Earth, narrated by kids

I love this promo for BBC's Planet Earth, narrated by kids. Especially the part where the kid can't seem to put on her earphones correctly.



("Planet Earth - Narrated by Kids!" by Joe Sabia, Josh Ruben, Vincent Peone, and Matt McCorkle)

Obsession has its place

Great ads for the 2012 Dallas Addys by TM Advertising.

Weather or not...

Ladies and gentlemen: the prettiest weather site you ever did see.

This site uses images of weather crafted out of paper and lightbulbs when providing your forecast. Yes, please!

Luminaris

I'm admittedly a bit tired of how trendy stop-motion has become, but this video by Juan Pablo Zaramella is very well done.

Zoe Williams - letterhead

Clever and well-designed letterhead for a writer and journalist, Zoe Williams, designed by Maddison Graphic.



(via Lovely Stationery)

Voice Your Opinions

I wrote about the Girl Effect here and here, and now I'm loving the ads that DDB, Lagos created for their newest project, Girl Hub. Girl Hub is the environment that drives the Girl Effect by communicating with girls and educating society about relevant issues. The ads combine girls with speech bubbles for faces combined with the captions, "Give them your voice" and "Speechless, no longer."

Find out more here.




(via The Daily Heller)

Exposed

Florian Imgrund's series of photographs, entitled In Thoughts, is beautiful.

Off the Wall

Fun times: Yuksek's video for Off the Wall.

BIG ❤s for V-Day

I love the concept behind BIG Design's Valentine's heart sculpture. From the description:

For four years, Times Square has hosted an annual heart sculpture to celebrate Valentine’s Day, selecting a special architect to design a romantic public art installation in Times Square for all to enjoy.

This year’s 2012 Times Square Valentine heart sculpture is “BIG ❤ NYC” by BIG Design, which utilizes the flow of people, air and movement to bring its heart to life. More people = more love. A BIG red heart pulses with glowing light in a grove of glass rods. Bigger crowds make the heart burn brighter.

A single person can activate the beating heart, but joining hands with others will make the heart beat even faster to create a brightly burning heart.

The 10-foot tall glowing sculpture consists of 400 transparent, LED lit, acrylic tubes that form a cube around a suspended red heart. The transparent tubes refract the lights of Times Square, creating a cluster of condensed city lights around the heart.

(Photos by christiNYCa)

Tissue Series

Lisa Nilsson uses paper and the gilded edges of old books to create these beautiful anatomical illustrations in her Tissue Series. Stunning...and must be very time-consuming.