First off, I was just browsing Vimeo and saw the this awesome, time-lapse styled montage of the Swisscom rebrand – it shows the process which is something that always intrigues me. Also here’s another collection of crumbs I wanted to share.

Book Cover Archive

I wrote a post a few weeks ago called Inspired by Book Covers, but only recently found this blog-esk archive of Book Covers – loads to choose from and a great source of inspiration.
via Google

Colour (& Design) in Vintage Advertising

A look at the colour schemes from vintage adverts (50’s & 60’s) but inspired / entertained me on loads of levels. Also if like me your just as interested in the adverts as the colour scheme, check out this post on Well Medicated
via Colour Lovers

Inspire UX

inspireUX is a mash-up of quotes from people who ‘understand the importance of a positive user experience’. Perhaps a bit of a pretentious introduction but if your passionate about UX then this will get you going!
via Twitter (I forgot who, sorry)

What the world eats

Not design related as such but this post really made me think, not just about what I eat but also about the ways in which it’s produced, disposed of and what I can do to better my own habits.
via Digg

Announcing Schmancy Box, a jQuery based LightBox plugin for Wordpress
Based on the jQuery plugin FancyBox.

I fell in love with the original FancyBox plugin when it first came out. It’s a refreshing, more stylish lightbox than many of the other variants. I do a lot of WordPress work for clients and thought it would be nice to have a One-Click install. Hence SchmancyBox.

This plugin was co-created with Jeremy Desvaux, an awesome, uber talented PHP / Zend developer. I’m more design lead and don’t have the tech skills to get the tech PHP, so a big thanks to him.

The current iteration does not offer control over every fancy box element, only over the controls I considered to be key (please feel free to scream and shout), the current feature set is

• Screenshot of the menu
• Div (id or class) for lightboxing e.g. gallery
• Default iFrame dimensions
• Overlay Show/Hide (background darkening)
• Overlay Opacity
• Hide Gallery on click

Download the entire plugin, including how-to (zip)

Download the How To Use guide

Update – 20th Feb 09: Now fully working with WordPress 2.7 and below.

Update – 25th Feb 09: Now on the official Wordpress.org PlugIn Database

In a bid to free up more spare time, this year I’m making a more conscious effort to get organised and stay on top of things. I’ve started using this amazing, letterpressed year calendar from Magma in Covent Garden as a visual heads up on what’s going on this month.

Also if your interested I’ve also recently purchased Things from Cultured Code, it’s a project management app for mac ($49.99). The UI is fantastic and the whole experience is really polished – every apple app should be this good! I think if we are being honest then this is what is really helping me get organised, but the calendar is beautiful!

Another beautiful Fifty People, One Question short. It’s a simple question but I was struggling with it – I think that’s one of the beauties of this series, something simple throws so many.

I have been following the One Question series on Vimeo for a while now. I really love the concept and they are always shot and edited nicely. You might remember that a while ago I posted about the New York one, well they just released a London short and I couldn’t not post it.

On a side note, this is a special post, No. 100 on the dot – thanks for reading guys & gals!

When i first started watching this video the English in me was saying “This chap is a bit OTT wouldn’t you say?” but Gary Vaynerchuk speaks an important message and by the end of the video I found myself shouting with him.

He has certainly got me thinking about video blogging/podcasting and i’m going to trial run an episode or two (don’t hold me to this) soon. Gary is a real inspiration and living proof that if your passionate about something, you want it enough and you are prepared to work for it, you can make it happen! “Clap this up, it’s the real shit!”.