Australian by way of UK designer Timba Smits is doing some really interesting stuff with vintage style and textures, mixed with contemporary street taste. The retro/kitsch thing can get a little old, but Timba seems to find ways to keep it fresh by going even MORE retro than most designers do. He is employing lots of texture and hand-drawn elements which give his work an authenticity that is beyond just being retro-ish. I'm way impressed and more than a little envious of his formidable skills. Must be all the Vegemite.

> See WAY MORE of Timba's stuff

London's I LOVE DUST is at it again, building amazing looks with type and space. Check out their site. They are so good it hurts.

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via Gizmodo

GGRP, a wonderful sound production studio I've had the honor of working with in the past, released maybe the coolest, buzziest self-promo piece I've seen all year. It's pretty genius, really. The package transforms into a record player, with which, you can play the enclosed demo. Awesome. It does make you wonder...what other things around your house would act as a record player if you stuck an needle on it?

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Botanical Bakery has completed an incredible rebrand with the help of DBD International. They've slyly used the implied lips from the logo to playfully give the product title a sense of action, each in their own colorful voice bubble. The design is whimsically bohemian, mixing vibrant hand drawn art elements with sophisticated typography. But the real brilliance is that the design is fully dependent upon you seeing and interpreting their new logo. And when you are re-branding, any additional looks at the logo are like coins in the meter of the customer's mind.

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Moxie Sozo presents a stunning line soap packaging for Leap Organics, featuring the dynamic illustrations of Charles Bloom. The typography perfectly complements the colorful and evocative environments and creatures depicted. Truly, one of the best packaging lines this year, as featured on TheDieLine.com.

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New York designer Louise Fili brings us a brilliant work of sweeping vertical design. The details present here are breathtaking: from the sweeping glass that is tinted delicately by the liquor to almost read as steel in certain light, to the delightful foil flourishes, to the floral pattern on the reverse side of each label, each element is with purpose and beauty.

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Courtesy The Die Line

Student designer Jess McGeachin brings us a transcendent design courtesy of lovelypackage.com.

Designer Jess McGeachin says it best:

“Westmalle Tripel is a Belgium beer brewed by monks of the Westmalle Abbey. It is sold as a not-for-profit product with all surplus donated to charity.

My concept behind this packaging was very much driven by religious imagery, inspired by the Abbey that the beer is made in. The iconic arch of a stained-glass window is reflected in the typography, bottle and carry pack of the product. The packaging is designed to allow light through to further emphasize the intended aesthetic.”

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In one of the finest examples of design I've seen this year, the fine folks at Proximo Spirits have truly created something that dredges up an ancient, mythical feeling: excitement. This media kit, photos courtesy of consistently satisfying dieline.com, proves that top-to-bottom excellence in branding consistency not only exists, but thrives in deep, dark places of the creative collective. Bravo.

I can't begin to tell you how stoked I was to see this one. Designed by Alex Creamer, a student at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, this amazing package for NYC Spaghetti is just plain brilliant. Which is why, of course, I loathe him.

courtesy dieline.com 

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More fantastic student work. How do these guys do this? Seriously.

Mikey Burton's thesis project while at Kent State, these book covers are pretty amazing, capturing the spirit of the stories in fresh ways.

"An integrated branding campaign based around the illustrative reinterpretation of classic book covers directed toward junior-high-school students. You can check out more of the bits and pieces here. Done while at Kent State." - Mikey Burton

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 This is just scary good for a design student. Joao Ricardo Machado is the kid responsible for this little bit of yumminess. What are they feeding these kids?

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"The New York Times’ T Magazine often comissions artists to create their own version of the iconic T that is the magazine’s logo. There’s a great collection of the work over at the T Magazine blog featuring some of the standouts. Interesting to see so many fresh takes on the same theme, they should make a coffee table book out of these if they haven’t already. My personal favorite is that first ceramic one; the negative space is so perfect. Unfortunately, whoever did the type layout decided that neon green in the title would somehow work with the vibe. Clearly it didn’t." - Scott @ ISO50

> go

Custom decorated vinyl toys are a delight, and this collection amounts to the Super Bowl of Munny decorating. Entries range from simple sharpie jobs, to full on re-casts with custom applications and moldings, and vary from cute to disquieting. Check it out, and you will leave amazed and amused in equal measure. > GO!

While many of you are probably familiar with the work of Jeff Soto, it still bears pointing out that he is probably my favorite current artist. His mix of the fanciful with urban blight creates a rich mixture of colorful and sublimely modeled imagery. Like many modern "street" artists, his background in graffiti art is right up front and gives the work a political undertone that is actually worth exploring.

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A beutiful Pepsi bottle? No way. Yes way. No more uncle sam red, white and ews. Now it's the simplicity of white on the elegant bottle design which echos the product's pitch: ditching everything artificial.

>by Ziggurat Brands