Many of our favorite apps and websites started out as simple concept sketches on paper. And let's be honest — the best designers tend to be perfectionists. The Pixel Ruler ensures that those early sketches are perfectly aligned and scaled long before they ever make the transition to digital. This ruler is composed of stainless steel, providing markings scaled to 150 PPI…
Below The Boat is a collection of laser-cut, wood undersea maps. Starting with data from bathymetric charts, these artists use birch pieces to build a layered look at what's under the surface. Once complete, the maps are placed in solid-wood frames and protected with a sheet of ultra-transparent Plexiglas. The one pictured above is of the San Francisco bay. At 25x31 inches,…
Published in October 1997, Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group is a 288-page book that looks at the design languages Apple used up until that time. With 400 color photos, this coffe-table book documents the industrial design that even then was ahead of its time — and remember, this is before things like the iMac and iPhone came along.…
The Neu Year 2013 Calendar started as a Kickstarter project, and after being funded, is now for sale for $30. The calendar is two-in-one: it can fit on almost any desk horizontally, but can be used vertically to hang on a door. With no space between months, it focuses on the week, with plenty of room to write in events and deadlines.…
If you're working on a iOS app or mobile web app, having something well-designed is critical. Drawing is a lot cheaper and quicker than coding or mocking up in Photoshop. These notebooks come with iPhones printed on them, to scale, so you can see how your UI will flow without moving a pixel. In short, the UI Shape Sketchbook can help turn…
Coffee is always an adventure. Here at the Tools & Toys headquarters we prefer a coarsely-ground cup of Guatemalan coffee brewed in our trusty AeroPress. And every now and then we bust out the Espro Press. But even that just the tip of the proverbial coffee iceberg. From coffee grinders and the various coarseness of a bean grind, to coffee brewing methods…
Ask any guy or gal with a permanent tattoo (including yours truly) and they'll tell you that tattoos are addicting. They're painful, permanent, expensive, and you're always thinking about the next one you could get. And then there's the world of temporary tattoos, where most of the options are silly and childish. That's where Tattly comes in with their hip and "designy"…
And here is another fine typographic poster to adorn your wall. This one, The Letters Poster, is printed on an 18x24 sheet of 60# Black Licorice stock. It's 2-color screen printed with metallic gold and silver, and features original letterforms. Check out the silver edition too.
The Helvetica Exploded Poster is printed on eight individual Burgundy Keaykolour uncoated A5 cards using metallic silver ink. It's an outline of all ten numerals set in Helvetica Medium. It's a limited edition print run that would look great framed or as-is. Also available is an exploded poster set in Bodoni and one set in Cooper Black.
Wacom is well known for their tablets, which designers all across the globe use for creating digital sketches with their PCs. However, for those who draw and like to do creative work freehand, paper is the default medium. And the Wacom Inkling is a new device that brings the two together. A sensor clips on to the top of your page, and…
Heath Ceramics partnered with House Industries to bring Neutraface, a classy and clean typeface, to your home. Literally. Neutraface was originally designed as a headline typeface, based on the architecture and design savvy of Richard Neutra, and it looks fantastic on these 3x6 tiles.
The Big Red Fez by Seth Godin is the first book I ever read on website design. Yet it is so much more than just about pushing pixels and hypertext. This book is a very fast and fun read. Each spread offers a screenshot of a web page on one side, and an explanation of what is right or wrong about it…
Advertising is not a dirty word my friends. And this fun and entertaining (as well as award-winning) documentary is all about the power and importance of the creative professional. Designers and writers and photographers and editors are all vital contributors to a good marketing campaigns, and this film is all about them. If you have even the slightest interest in the creative…