I've been working on a website redesign job for the past few months and in the process have realized that while I have my process and references for brainstorming print projects, I don't have a reliable resource for interesting web design solutions. Enter MephoBox, which allows you to view samples curated from the web by specific category (Login, Navigation, Headers, Buttons, etc.) and check out complete sites which have been selected for their overall coolness. It's a growing collection, aided by user submissions, and the content has a global feel to it. The only downside for me is that I didn't discover it sooner!

Check out MephoBox here: http://box.mepholio.com

This week the United States officially got a bit closer to changing its healthcare system for the better. Next on the agenda: Hospital Gown Reform. The Universal Gown—part of the UK Design Council's "Design for Patient Dignity" initiative—could put an end to unintended bum exposure for good. Now that's a bipartisan goal, if I've ever heard one...

Universal Gown from Design Council on Vimeo.

Learn more about "Design for Patient Dignity" here: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Design-Council/Files/Landing-pages/Design-for...

Just one of many clever gifs from the growing collection "I'm Not An Artist: An animated gif paranoia about nonstop design workers" commissioned by the Elisava School of Design in Barcelona. See them all and submit your own here: http://www.iamnotanartist.org

The NYT did an interesting interactive story about the poster for the revival of La Cage aux Follies, which starts previews in early April. In it, Drew Hodges, the founder of SpotCo, the agency hired for the campaign, discusses seven drafts which ultimately developed into the eighth (and final) version. I always appreciate it when designers open up the creative process by revealing "failed" ideas since ultimately these drafts aren't failures but rather necessary stages in the development of a well-honed final product.

Listen to Hodges' audio commentary on each of the posters pictured above here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/21/theater/20100321-lacage-interac...

This Core77 "core-toon" is both hilarious and available as a limited edition poster.

Purchase info & more here.

As a print designer in my core, I hate to see business cards becoming obsolete; on the other hand, I have a rolodex stuffed full of random cards I never consult so I understand the popularity of electronic substitutes like the iPhone/Android App "Bump" which swaps selected info with another phone when the two owners bump knuckles. Plus this handy (no pun intended) technology means the end of digit stage fright when called upon to spontaneously enter someone's contact info into your phone. I hope there will always be a niche for physical biz cards, but this is a nice (and free) option for less formal introductions.

Today I came across the work of artist Rosemarie Fiore who seems frequently compelled to visualize the energy and patterns generated by mechanical objects, from windshield wipers to lawnmowers and waffle irons. The large scale pieces that make up the "Scrambler Drawings" series track the motion of a Scrambler (the often puke-inducing fair ride) which Fiore customized to dispense paint through the bottom of its seats as it rotated.

Fiore's more recent "Pyrotechnics" drawings (one of which graced the cover of Flaunt) capture the trace of different fireworks as they under go a guided explosion of sorts across the canvas, resulting in mesmerizing, dimensional images. In this way Fiore makes an ephemeral event permanent through a clever and yet almost head-slappingly simple technique: she allows the fireworks to be not only the subject, but also the medium.

"Good-Time Mix Machine: Scramble Drawings" 2004

"Firework Drawing #7" 2009

"Pyrotechnics" Process Photo, 2009

"Waffle Iron Painting #10" 2000

Browse Rosemarie Fiore's complete work here: http://www.rosemariefiore.com

And in the design category, the ASME nominates ...

Winners will be announced April 22. Click here for a complete list of categories and finalists.

Last month President Obama presented a 2009 National Medals in Arts and Humanities to Milton Glaser who accepted his medal "for a lifetime of improving the way people communicate through innovation in graphic design and memorable visual artifacts that challenge contemporary artists and delight all Americans." (Other honorees included Maya Lin, Frank Stella, the School of American Ballet, Jesse Norman, Elie Wiesel and John Williams.)

In his opening remarks, Obama quoted George Washington, who once wrote that "to encourage literature and the arts is a duty every good citizen owes to his country." The video is long, but I found the recognition of the arts inspiring, plus it's kind of fun to watch the honorees interact with the President (and the First Lady who is seated in the front row).

The poster for the new Robert Pattinson & Emilie de Ravin film "Remember Me" is currently plastered all over bus shelters and billboards in LA. The first time I saw it, I thought the featured image successfully captured an effortlessly romantic vibe and managed to look more interesting than your standard promo shot.

I must have been at a red light because then my mind wandered to the process of selecting a publicity image and what sort of crazy poster design testing potentially goes on behind the scenes, etc., when I realized that the composition actually made reference to something much more fundamental (art historically speaking) than tween preferences. Together, the two faces (one in profile, one in 3/4 view) are perfectly aligned to make a complete face—much like Picasso's technique of depicting a single face through multiple perspectives—and perhaps this, albeit wonky, symmetry appeals to our brains on a subconscious level. Plus the concept of two people merging into one, presumably through love, in turn reinforces the uber-romantic messaging of the film (person who finds this poster detestable, here's your cue to say this theory is total bunk).

So kudos to the design team at Summit Entertainment; the movie may bomb but at least the poster prompted a satisfying arm chair analysis.

[Images: Picasso's "Girl Before a Mirror" (detail), "Head of a Woman," "Large Head"]

It's hard to be bored by videos of Rube Goldberg machines, especially when they're set to music, as is the case in OK Go's latest video for the song "This Too Shall Pass." This particular machine was assembled here in LA in an abandoned building with the help of a team the band found on a "nerd board" according to the equally interesting and funny behind-the-scenes clips.

Making of #1

Making of #2

Making of #3

Making of #4

Final Product!