[d]online

It isn’t the first time people have incorporated bar codes into the design of things. In fact, I believe I saw three different periodical covers last year that used this same technique. So the concept is far from original.

But Duane Reade—which, to New Yorkers, is synonymous with pharmacy—recently took this one step further by working their product bar codes into iconic metropolitan imagery. The Chinatown Delight—which I always thought was either a extra surprise at the end of a massage, or the revelation that she’s both my daughter and my sister (Don’t get my reference? Then forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown)—uses a subway train. The Honey Roasted Peanuts uses a NYC cityscape. The Blanched Roasted Peanuts uses the Statue of Liberty. So while the imagery and concept are New York at it’s tritest, the integration of both the bar code and symbolism into the main graphic elements on this packaging makes it pretty unique and beautiful.

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On a recent trip to Arthur’s Steaks in Hoboken, I noticed something funny in their restroom. The soap, paper towel and toilet paper dispensers all had my name on them.

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I really enjoy the product design work by I Love Dust. Take a look at the packaging for Breuckelen Distilling, a Brooklyn-based distillery, below.

I found this hilarious. Special thanks to Fischsticks for pointing it to my attention.

I don’t know if Dodge is a fan of the British electronica band, Faithless, or if they simply shop at the same stock audio store, but, as I tried to ignore their latest commercial during the CBS primetime line-up, something felt weirdly familiar.

I’ve liked Faithless since college and have found their Ir/Reverance disks to be the best. At the top of the list are the songs “Don’t Leave” and “Angeline“. The below sample clip was taken from Angeline.

Dodge Caravan Ad

Angeline – by Faithless

I consistently needed a standard vector scrollbar for the browser in UI/UX mock-ups in Adobe Illustrator as I got tired of creating screenshots and tweaking lengths in Photoshop. If you do, too, grab this zip. It includes the CS4 .AI, .EPS and .PDF version of both the horizontal and vertical scrollbar. You’re welcome. I’m also thinking that someday it might be beneficial to create a vector version of the mouse hand and arrow, though I’m debating whether I should keep the stair-stepping of pixelation at that size, and how best to handle the drop shadows. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know what you think.