TheDopeFiend

XLR8R Facelift

XLR8R has given their website a facelift! For years now I have been a huge fan of this magazine. Being out of the country for the past year, and not having access to the print ‘zine, I have also become very impressed with their online presence. It is simply the best all-around resource for music and culture media that I know of. One could spend hours browsing the content on XLR8R’s website. With three frequently updated podcasts, free MP3s updated weekly, daily music videos, event listings, photo blog, album reviews and a huge archive of all of the above I would say that XLR8R’s website had better be on your list daily visits.

DESIGNFLOOD

DESIGNFLOOD is essentially the web designer’s version of the infamous Hot or Not website (or any of those other rating website people use to try and boost their egos). In this case people post screenshots and links to their websites. This is a great place to find inspiration, or just browse cool websites. However, I am not sure I would ever post a website here. It seems there must be too many design snob members who rate most of these sites much lower than what they deserve. I have checked out many well designed sites so far, and only one has had a score over seven.

S.O.V. VS Zoo York

Since the first time I posted about Lady Sovereign I knew this girl wasn’t going to be just a flavor of the week. Whether you like her or not, she is here to stay. Projects like the new Zoo York/Lady Sovereign skate deck only help support the case. The deck, inspired by S.O.V.’s fashion sense, has an old school feel along with her cute little face displayed right in the middle. Zoo York is only producing 340 of these limited edition decks, so check Ebay for highly priced wood and paint. I would also recommend checking out Zoo York’s second round of Artist Series decks.

[via::Hypebeast]

Flavorpill/Budweiser

Large corporate companies such as Budwieser pay millions upon millions in advertising every year. Much of Budwieser’s ads with the large breasted women and post-frat guys partying with beer in hand would go right over my head, but I have to hand it to them for their colab with webzine Flavorpill. The colab has featured seven new up-and-coming artists do design banners and desktops that are not only amazing artworks, but also double as Budwieser Select’s ad campaign in Flavorpill’s ezine. At the end of the campaign readers will select the artist they feel it the best, and their artwork will be used on Budwieser Select billboards throughout the entire nation. This type of advertising is not only cheaper than traditional advertising, but it also gives exposure to young artists and reaches an audience they normally wouldn’t. Props to the agency who came up with this idea. See the artwork here.

The Big Yellow Book

I would be willing to say that typeface design is one of the oldest forms of design. For ages people have scratched symbols and words into rocks, made their marks on paper and now creating digital typefaces. I have great respect for those who create fonts and typefaces. Obviously so do the creators of the book, simply titled, Font Book. With 1,760 pages and 32,000 font samples, the Font Book is the largest font reference in the world. If you are a designer, desktop publisher, typographer or simply just like fonts, the Font Book is a must have.

Cut & Paste Design Contest

The Cut & Paste design contest is an amazing concept that was held for the first time in NYC last year. 8 designers selected from a pool of entries test their skills as they battle each other through 15-minute, single elimination rounds. The last designer/illustrator standing is crowned the Cut & Paste champion. This year the competition is being held in 4 cities across the country, and is currently calling all of you creatives to submit entries. So if you think you stand a chance going up against some of the world’s top talent, being judged by artists including Deanne Cheuk (former Art Director at Tokion), Jeff Staple (Staple Design), Sascha Lewis (Flavorpill), Victor Newman (Freestyle Collective), Buffmonster, Eric Nakamura (Giant Robot), Melissa & Robert von Bjal (Red Car), Chuck Anderson (NoPattern), and Charles Krausz aka Emit (The Firm Graphics), then you’d better sign-up for your chance to go home with a brand spankin’ new Apple MacBook.

Pictoplasma’s Encyclopedia

Pictoplasma is a website that archives the world’s character artists and the characters they create. Pictoplasma has recently released their latest publication entitled “Pictoplasma – The Character Encyclopedia“. This book has combined thousands of characters and artists and sorted, clustered, cross-referenced and inter-linked them all. Making for the world’s first complete character encyclopedia.

Naked & Angry Wallpaper

Well SkinnyCorp has done it again. The same people who brought us Threadless, 15 Megs of Fame, and Extratasty, have now released the Naked & Angry wallpaper series. Designs are submitted by users and then voted upon by fellow members. The designs with the most votes are then hand printed and ready to be purchased and hung on your wall. The 50 square foot rolls are $60 each and there are currently five different designs, Field of Daisies being my personal favorite.

[via: Josh Spear]

Muji Cardboard Speakers

Forget those overpriced iPod speakers with all the fancy-shmancy bells and whistles. When traveling all I really want is some speakers that are very portable, and sound decent. The MUJI cardboard speakers are just that. The cardboard boxes make for a very lightweight, compact speaker. And at $42 a pair, the price is great too. I mean when traveling it’s too easy to lose stuff, and the less expensive, the less you worry. Not to mention they just look cool.

[via: Popgadget]

The Designers Mixtape

In one of the new HP Notebook ads (which are all done very well by the way), master producer Pharrell says “art is like music for your eyes”, I completely agree. Musicians tend to have a keen eye for art, and artists for music. That’s why I thing The Designers Mixtape is such a cool idea. Brought to you by Nitrocorpz Design, The Designers Mixtape asks designers from all around the globe to put together a playlist of the music that inspires them. The playlists are posted and available for listening. I think it’s really interesting to see the different genres designers use for inspiration.

New Toki Doki Goods

If you don’t know by now, I have somewhat of a “thing” for pretty much anything Japan. So it’s no big surprise that one of my favorite artists, Italy’s own Simone Legno AKA Toki Doki, has the same obsession. The latest addition to Toy2R’s Artists Collection series features an 8″ TokiDoki Qee in addition to a bonus 2.5″ Qee modeled after Simone himself. The Qee stays consistant with TokiDoki’s cactus theme that he uses in many of his other designs and figures, as well as his hot nurse everyone loves so much. The release of this awesome little number is scheduled for September or October for $80, and will be limited to 500 pieces. I have got to get my hands on one of these.

[More photos @ Vinyl Pulse]

Toothjuice!

Honestly, as a designer going by the name of Toothjuice, how could your shit not be cool? Josh Clancy is a designer out of Minneapolis, Minnesota and his portfolio is full of good work. Having done work for the Plain White Tees, Hawthorne Heights and Beautiful Decay, Josh seems to be making quite the name for himself. I am particularly fond of his t-shirt designs, keep up the good work.

VW Beetle Art

I have always found myself attracted to Volkswagens. I am not sure what it is about them, but it seems there is almost a cultish group of artists, designers and creative people who own VWs their entire lives. I think one of the reasons may be the company’s ability to really step outside the box and try something no other car company is willing to do. VW has recently launched their Beetle Art website that allows you to design your own decals to be printed and applied to your new beetle. I think the idea of giving the consumer more power to customize their products is very appealing, especially for a company that already appeals to so many creative people.

$10 Sale @ Sodium Apparel

Just a quick note to let everyone know Sodium Apparel is getting rid of the rest of their current designs in preparation for more limited edition designs to be released. This means the rest of the current designs are on sale for only TEN SMACKAROOS! Get ‘em while they last peeps.

DForm1 Motion Graphics

Founded in 1997 by Denmark native Anders Schroder, DForm1 is a design and motion graphics firm working for clients all over the world. For nearly 8 years Ander’s amazing motion graphics skills have been used by clients such as Gatorade, VH1, MTV and the US Airforce. It takes a certain kind of person to take beautiful pictures and art and make them move in such amazing ways. Ander is definitely one of these people, and I am sure it is only going to get better.