Trench signs and Inspiration

Trench Signs
On noisy decent graphics this week I found a posting about trench signs at the Imperial War Museum. This one's my favorite:

I know that the holes aren't part of the original design, but it adds to the design–and the sign's warning!

Concept Inspiration
I was flipping through a textbook back from my graphic design class, Graphic Design Solutions and I came across the 1980 Volkswagen ad that inspired me to become a designer many years ago. I don't even remember where I first saw the ad, but after I saw how creative and clever it was, I knew that I wanted to be a designer of some kind. The concept is just brilliant to me, so I wanted to share and maybe help inspire others to continue to create beautiful designs!

Large scale crossword puzzles and tsunami coverage

Larger than life crossword puzzle

This is a fun way to use design to encourage tourism! Noisy decent graphics posted a link to a story that The Telegraph posted on the world's largest crossword puzzle. It's home is the Ukraine in a city called Lvov. Clues for the 100 ft high puzzle are scattered around the city's major landmarks, and tourists are encouraged to see the city and collect clues as they go.

Once the clues are collected, they can begin to guess the answers to the puzzle and come back to the building where the answered are lit by fluorescent lights to see if they were correct. Not only does this puzzle look fun but it also encourages people to visit the city, or for those who already live there, it gives a fun reason to go exercise for the day to find the clues.

Coverage of Japanese Tsunami
I am so saddened by the devastation that this earthquake and Tsunami have caused over the last couple of days, and I can't imagine how I would feel if my loved ones were there when it happened.

Tsunamis are natural disasters that are hard for many people to understand. I am one of those people who were confused by what exactly causes Tsunamis to take place. CNN had a pretty neat animation on their site that illustrated what happens when a tsunami takes place. It is really simple, but I think it really helped me to understand the process from the earthquake to the tsunami. There's also a basic definition of a tsunami and an infographic showing where and when some of the worst recorded ones took place. I can't seem to figure out how to post the animation directly onto my blog, but make sure you check out the link!

Gross food labels and pirate bedrooms

Gross Food Labels

Noisy decent graphics finally had a new post this week. It's some really gross food with very interesting labels. I think the labels are simple, and the jars are clear, allowing what's inside to "do the talking." It sort of reminds me of the Harry Potter jelly beans. 

Pirate-themed bedroom design

I want this room! This is so fun, and I'm sure there's a lot of planning that went into it. I found it on Spot Cool Stuff, and it sure is cool. Everything from the sharks on the walls to the ship and the slide just make it a dream room for any kid. It looks like something that would be designed on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Make sure to check out the link to see more photos.

Gum walls and... did she just get eaten by a bus?

Gum Walls
Once again I went digging through the archives on the blog I'm following, noisy decent graphics, and I found this fun wall of gum. I really hate when people don't properly dispose of their gum, but maybe if it's used as art it wouldn't be that bad. I wonder how long this took?

 

Did she just get eaten by a bus? 

So I found the funniest bus advertisement in the world (well I think so at least) on coolopticalillusions.com. It's an ad for National Geographic, and every time someone gets onto this bus it looks like they've just been eaten by a shark! I think this is a really creative ad. In a way it interacts with people, and I will definitely remember this. It takes a fresh idea to keep people interested; something they haven't seen before or in a while, which I think is as true for design as it is for advertising. History is important; we should never forget those who came before us and we should continue to be inspired by the things that people have done in the past, but it's also really important to make your own fresh statement.