There are few things as frustrating as a good idea getting forgotten or lost in the shuffle of a creative collaboration. Even worse, breakthrough ideas seem to always occur at the exact moment when you're furthest from your workspace or team. Sticky Storm is a new note taking app from MINIMAL that was designed with creative collaboration in mind. Similar to jotting down ideas on napkin scraps and the backs of envelopes, the app is based around a series of shareable and arrangeable digital "paper" notes that let your team collect ideas in just about any form, from sketches, to text, and even images from the Internet. The app has features for inviting team members to collaborate and contribute ideas during brainstorming sessions, and most importantly, a built-in export feature to transfer your project back to a workstation using services like Dropbox.
While Sticky Storm is not yet available, you can learn more about the concept on Behance.
Quayores is a collaborative illustration project organized by French illustrators Antoine Marchalot, Ophélie Bernaud, and Quentin Duckit. Their mission statement: "A picture, you click it, it's explained." Each post features a titled illustration, and clicking the image takes you to the French Wiktionary entry for the word.
But there's much more at work here than a charming illustrated dictionary. Each image incorporates surprising parts of each definition. For example, the "gastronomy" illustration depicts a solider attacking an enemy in the stomach with a bayonet, playing on the definition of the word broken down as "stomach," with a -tomy suffix, which originally meant "to cut." We've seen a similar project in the past from the Illustrated Etymology project, who also took a humorous look at word origins.
Follow Quayores on Tumblr.
This may just be one of the most bad-ass rocker/designer collaborations ever. In partnership with record label Drag City, NYC-based jewelry designer Pamela Love and artist/musician Jennifer Herrema (Black Bananas, Royal Trux) have joined forces as Feathered Fish. What does this mean? The pair will produce four American-made, limited-edition artifacts each year, à la effortlessly cool jewelry, art objects, and clothing. Just for you.
The company’s name, inspired by a 1966 song by Arthur Lee of the L.A. psych band Love, speaks to the ultra-cool duo’s style similarities—both are Pisces and both rock a trademark look that’s a fantastic collision of classic Americana, rock 'n' roll, and ethereal glamour all at once.
First up is a remake of the Royal Trux skull ring in sterling silver, adorned with a traditional tribal motif and crossed arrows to replace the original version’s crossbones.
You can buy the Native American/RTX-inspired skull ring on the Feathered Fish website. But you better hurry, only 40 rings will be made.
Did you know the word "cataract" first appeared in the 15th century as a term for a waterfall? Any ideas about "average"? Turns out around the same time it was used to describe the financial loss when goods were damaged in transit.
Illustrated Etymology is a collaborative illustration project that tasks artists to create new works by interpreting unexpected word origins. To make sure their etymologies were factually sound, the group first reached out to Douglas Harper for permission to use his Online Etymology Dictionary. Harper gladly agreed.
Despite being a collaboration between artists of different backgrounds—some work primarily in branding and advertising, and others specialize in printmaking and fine arts—the collection is still cohesive. The project manages to represent a variety of aesthetics by unifying the works with a general light-hearted tone and the simple request that each image should serve a descriptive or informative function. The results look great on the site, but we can't help but think they're onto an amazing book idea.
The project is currently looking for submissions of both words and illustrations. So if you're sitting on a great etymology or you like the sound of the assignment, be sure to get in touch.