Pattern Pulp

Snail Mail + Analog Data + Art




DearData

There’s something romantic about writing a postcard, even if it’s filled with data points and undecipherable sketches. Dear Data, a project by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec really struck a chord, as their UK – US written correspondence is an interesting window into the world of a data thinker.

Both women live parallel lives in that they’re the same age, only children, transplants in a new country and work in data using a hand-crafted illustrative approach. Have a look to explore – the drawings have a beautiful morse code feeling to them and share more than meets the eye. Would you ever correspond with a likeminded pen pal?

Digesting & Designing Data




DataDesign

I’m a complete nerd when it comes to data design. It holds such high importance in communicating real-time facts, that it’s hard to ignore the visual trends of the category. If you take a gander at Pinterest, you’ll see endless styles that have emerged, to decipher the numerical chaos. This past weekend, Benedict Carey of The New York Times devoted a significant analysis to the topic, in relation to perceptual learning:

And so it is in many fields, whether predicting climate, flagging potential terrorists or making economic forecasts. The information is all there, great expanding mountain ranges of it. What’s lacking is the tracker’s instinct for picking up a trail, the human gut feeling for where to start looking to find patterns and meaning.

As we become more attuned to mapping data and translating it for the masses, we’ll be more equipped to embrace and evolve into the future. Never before has the art of tracking patterns been this important.

Patterns in Educational App Design




Home_app_tinybop_patterns

Tinybop‘s tagline reads, Toys for Tomorrow. Ever since this Brooklyn-based app company launched as an interactive learning platform, I’ve been really impressed with their mission, their gaming categories, and of course, their elegant graphics.

If you’ve visited their site before, you’re probably familiar with the Human Body app – which teaches kids how their bodies operate through playful touch and grab challenges. Today though, I wanted to showcase their new Homes app, which lets you play with weather, interact with your neighbors, and navigate 20+ heavily patterned spaces. Illustrated meticulously by artist, Tuesday Bassen, Tinybop continues to strive high with this latest endeavor, following the success of past creative collaborations – a refreshing step for the gaming world.

Has anyone tried it out yet? Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Branding: Examining Trunk Club




3trunk club1trunk club2trunk clubIn New York, you move a lot. I’ve packed my bags eight times in the past 12 years. It’s sort of funny, every time I look at my credit report, I oddly get nostalgic. The list of addresses laid out ever so clearly, mark the timeline of my personal and professional evolution. With moving, comes mail. Lots of mail. Your mail, past tenant’s packages, your neighbor’s coupons… I’m actually amazed that everything important (except for a tax return or two) has found it’s way to me over the years.

Yesterday, I got a mailer from Trunk Club – which was addressed to the previous tenant. Before tossing it into recycling, as I don’t typically don’t shop for men’s clothing, I was drawn to the pattern, and, to the velvet-smooth paper stock.

Trunk Club as a brand is an interesting concept, one that a few players are experimenting with these days. I listened to a bit about it on NPR two weeks ago, and was amused by the feedback from the male office reporters. Women have softened to the concept of clothing showing up weekly through Rent the Runway and same day shipping from Net-a-Porter and M.M. Lafleur, but this idea of a stylist sending you items that will most likely fit is a cool time saver.

The heritage look and feel of the pattern is great- the imperfect dotted line drew me in. It’s also an innovative way to play up the box’s strengths. I’m down with this packaging and curious who’s behind it- does anyone know?

 

Blackberry & Banner Art




blackberry_banner_letter_pattern

This banner isn’t fresh, per say, but when I took a screen shot of it, I thought the design progression was quite clever and worth sharing. So, here we go. Blackberry for Sprint shares their message with an onslaught of mail. It’s highly effective and a nice reminder that one letter may seem like no big deal, but when you’re overwhelmed, it can be suffocating. Much like the hanger display for Anthropologie, small things in mass make a big impact. Bravo on what could have been a banal banner design.

 

Celebrating John Venn with Google




john_venn_google art

Who else loves Google’s celebratory search designs? Today they’re highlighting John Venn‘s 180th birthday with adorable textures and vector patterns reminiscent of his influential work. Venn was an English logician and philosopher noted for introducing the Venn diagram, used in the fields of set theory, probability, logic, statistics and computer science. Before you hit enter on the tab bar today, explore and enjoy learning  about this important historical figure!

 

Tracking Repetitive + Awesome.
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