Coastermatic

Saw this on the swissmiss design blog, but had to share it here. Coastermatic prints your instagram photos onto sandstone coasters (4 for $25)!

Summer Icon with a DIY twist

To me, nothing says summer like a Chocolate-dipped Mister Softee. The truck at Bleecker and Broadway sports a panel with a charming DIY twist: hand-made cone art atop toweling and phonetic spelling. "Sprinks" wrks as an abbrev.

Covering Philadelphia

Philadelphia's Independence Hall is having a little work done. Its temporary veil is sheer (and oddly chic). On the opposite site of coverage, this knit tree a few cobbled stone's-throws away brings a nice DIY moment to the city.

The last bit of coverage is about something defunct: Lit Brothers Department store, which covered its facade in more than one spot with "Hats Trimmed Free of Charge." Gone are the days.


For information about another issue that's getting a lot of coverage on the news (and interpretation by DIY constitutionalists), The National Constitution Center is wonderfully informative, with an impressive and inspiring introductory show.

Class

An incredibly talented photographer client phoned to say her conversations with other photographers yielded feedback that her website needs to include more work, show it bigger, and update it more often (BiggerBetterFasterMore!). So, having heard about sites developed by a company that caters to photographers and produces photo books, she checked out cost-efficient templates. Apologetically, she blurted that she was telling me—before she went live—that her daughter redid her website using templates from Visual Server.

First: what thoughtfulness and class. Many clients would have simply gone live. Like any expert collaborator, I want respect. At bottom, my (former) client owed me nothing; but she was decent and gave notice.

Second: In a fast, digital, DIY world, good design means something that's easy for the client to do him/her/itself. Heck; our Designerbs diablog is a template you adapted. Another Heck: Paula Scher did letterhead templates for HP. I regret the end of the particular project, BUT I understand the need for a smooth way for a client to control fate in a money-challenged world. I hope the designers and programmers of the Visual Server make some money/residuals from their formats.

Third: The client also paid her daughter (a college student and a photographer) for her time, which makes the client double decent.

All the above said, I do feel wistful. I'm not sure whether I'm sad because the client was so stressed about delivering her bad news to me or because she let BTD go. I'll post the link to her great work once the new site is live.

A battery of DIY Type

I can't begin to imagine how many watches needed batteries replaced or how long it took to make this sign for battery replacements. "Watch battery change" has a certain imperative quality to it as well! This Bleecker Street (between Broadway and Crosby) shoe repair shop has been around so long that the sign was (hand) painted before area codes were necessary.