Food Babies

At first glance, these might look a lot like the ultrasounds you've seen popping up where your friends' Facebook profile pictures used to be. The miracle of birth is interesting, sure, but these are actually way cooler. At Insides Insides, a blogger with access to an MRI machine had the brilliant idea to use it on your average fruits and vegetables— with awesome, hypnotizing results. Seriously, I want to get a drink with the guy who thought to do this and pick his brain. Click here to see the alien fruits and veggies in action. Thanks to Very Short List for sharing. ••••

Clothespins, Coasters, and Coin Wrappers: A Collection of Collections

For all you collectors out there (and among designers I know there are many), do I have a blog for you. A Collection a Day features illustrator Lisa Congdon's impressive number of oddball collections. So far, there are a whopping 112 posted. Most are vintage, others are everyday, and some are drawn. The collection of Aubrey Beardsley matchboxes she posted on day 80 makes me want to be her friend. Click here to see the rest. ••••

Three Bears Design

I was recently introduced to the very impressive portfolio of Three Bears Design, a creative collective with "caves" in both Pittsburgh and Northeast, Ohio. Three Bears does it all— from CD album covers, to logos, to t-shirts, to web design (and everything in between)— and to each job they bring a wonderful spark of originality. I especially liked the playful work they have done for bands (directly below, a t-shirt design for Arrah and the Ferns, and a poster for the singer/songwriter Jennie Devoe— some really exceptional illustration and hand-drawn typography!)
I was also enjoying their logo design and branding for Hope Runs, a non-profit group working to assist AIDs orphans in Africa.
And from my perspective, Three Bears' design sensibility seems especially suited to the making of CD covers— especially loved the distressed bar code on the 'Sospiri' CD for the Winston Jazz Routine above.

Oh, and be sure to check out their blog as well! ••••

Clever Banner Design

As you might have noticed in the past couple of weeks we have started rotating our banner image weekly. Past banners can be seen in our Banner Archive . Similarly, the creators of the design blog FormFiftyFive have clever banner imagery that refreshes continuously with each new click. I love the humorous approach of placing the three letters ("FFF" standing for FormFiftyFive) in unusual places and showcasing the photographs on their banner. The letters take on a personality and character while contributing to the branding of FormFiftyFive. Genius! I wonder where they'll show up next... ••••