The Heads of State

I absolutely love nearly all the work in The Heads of State's portfolio. I took a look at their website after seeing it featured on a few different websites this week and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
Their gig posters, illustrations, and general design work are not only aesthetically pleasing and unique-looking, but also well thought out and conceptually sound. It was tough choosing some examples for this post, and the captions explaining the concepts behind the illustrations make the work that much better, so be sure to check out their website.

Poster for Portland Film Festival
Identity for a blog about living in Brooklyn on the cheap

Illustration for an article on the effects of crystal meth

Illustration for an article about workplace bullies

Goin' back to Cali

I'm California-bound today, so I'll be light on the posting for the next week...


...enjoy what's left of Summer.

Wine-ding staircase?

Amazing wine cellar.

Cut along dotted line

Brilliant business card for Glammer Education Institute of Hair Design. So very clever.


(via Swissmiss)

Portland or bust.

Here are some pictures from my trip to Portland last week. I especially loved the old industrial parts of the city that have been left intact: old type on brick walls, peeling paint, and decaying structures. These leftovers contrast with all the new apartment buildings, leaving a bit of flavor and keeping the city from looking too bland and new.

Chest of drawers used for fortune-telling at the Chinese Gardens.
After randomly picking a numbered stick from a cup, you open the
drawer corresponding to your number and read the fortune inside.

Best bike "basket" ever.

Delicious coffee from Stumptown.

Next to Normal

Last night I saw Next To Normal and was blown away.
The Broadway show, about mental illness and a dysfunctional family, is definitely not your typical musical; it's dark and depressing with nary a jazz hand to be seen. It won three Tony awards, was nominated for more, and is by the director of Rent.
If this sounds like your cup of tea, please go see it immediately.

Vintage vantage

Some things I'm loving lately on Three Potato Four:

None of Your Business Cards

These "None of Your Business Cards" from Mauseth Design made me laugh. The cards, printed by Studio on Fire, feature fake (and humorous) names for when you're not so into the person talking to you.

Splish splash

So much rain lately! Calls for some nice, simple, riding boot-esque wellies.



(By Aigle, from Martin + Osa)

Fruit Bats: The Ruminant Band

The new Fruit Bats album, The Ruminant Band, came out yesterday, and it sounds pretty good at first listen. Check it out here. If you're not familiar with the Fruit Bats, it's the band of The Shins's sideman Eric Johnson and is worth giving a listen!

Polite Umbrella

I'm a little slow in posting this (it's already made the blog rounds to some degree), but what a brilliant little idea: the Polite Umbrella by Joo Youn Paek, perfect for strolling down the busy NY streets...and not hitting someone in the eye with your umbrella.


(via A Cup of Jo)

How different groups spend their day

The New York Times has had some really impressive interactive infographics lately. Check out this one on how different groups spend their day. You can choose certain sectors of the population (based on gender, education level, employment status, race, or number of children) and watch the graph change accordingly. Similarly, you can drag your mouse across the graph from left to right to see what percentage of people are doing each activity at certain times of the day.



(via SwissMiss)

Digital Design projects

I just finished my second summer semester...and I'm exhausted.
Below are the title sequence and movie based on The High Line that I created for class. For this assignment, we were instructed to choose a (non-touristy) place of visual and cultural interest in NY and show it using a somewhat abstract narrative.

*Please note that the "clicks" (i.e., "click screen to...") won't work in this file format—the interactivity only works in Flash, which I can't post on Blogger. However, use your imagination and trust my word that the interactivity works on a Flash site and links the two videos together!

Wanderlust: Title Sequence from callie on Vimeo.

Wanderlust: A Trip to the High Line from callie on Vimeo.

Brooklyn Bridge

Last weekend, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (which I somehow had never done before). Here are some of the shots I took while walking.

Fringe Alchemy

The packaging for Fringe Alchemy's soaps is so very pretty (Anthropologie does it yet again)





(via the Dieline)