Design

Section

Animation Design Illustration

Delightful Paper Pop-Ups by Jenny Chen

Portland-based designer and art director Mengyu Chen is currently working on a new comic book and has mocked up some experimental pop-ups of her own design. The ideas and execution are really quite spectacular and I can’t wait to see the finished product. (via tuh dah)

Art Design

No Globes: A Smog-Filled Snow Globe that Highlights Climate Change

This limited edition snow globe titled No Globes was designed by UK firm Dorothy to protest the construction of several dirty coal-fired power stations in 2009. Instead of the idyllic miniature scene usually found inside a snow globe with an accompanying plume of white powder, Dorothy constructed a power plant spewing a disconcerting cloud of black particles.

 

Design

Recycled Plastic Bottles Partially Filled with Colored Water Used to Create a Parking Canopy

Designer Garth Britzman of Lincoln, Nebraska used recycled bottles filled with colored water to create stunning topographical shade canopy for a vehicle. I love how the natural shape of the plastic bottles makes the pooled water look like leaves. See more over on Behance. (via my amp goes to 11)

Art Design

British Birds Made of LEGO

I just stumbled onto this expertly crafted series of birds found in Britain by Thomas Poulsom. His use of color and perfect selection of bricks really bring these animals to life. You can see the entire series of six birds here, and apparently there are many more to come. (via lustik)

Update: Thomas mentions that if enough people vote for his designs, they might become actual sets.

Design Food

Piñata Anatomy

This made me smile hugely. Piñata Anatomy by Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch of Carmichael Collective. (via laughing squid)

Design

The Augmented Reality Sandbox

While I truly appreciate the need for any kid to get dirty in a sandbox or let their imagination run wild in a field of mud puddles (something I was doing myself only an hour ago), I love to see how technology like a Kinect 3D camera can create new interactive environments and games. Case in point this new augmented reality sandbox designed by Oliver Kreylos out of U.C. Davis that projects a real-time colored topographic map complete with contour lines onto the surface of the sand while you manipulate it. The system even allows you to pour virtual water on your creation and interact with it in real time. It’s not hard to imagine switching the entire system to volcano mode, or using the projection in some sort of three dimensional toy battlefield. Gah!

According to Krelos’ YouTube page, the project was funded by the National Science Foundation with the hopes of installing these systems as exhibits at science museums like the Lawrence Hall of Science or the Tahoe Environmental Research Center. See another demo of this 21st century sandbox here. (via reddit)