2K Shirts

At Pool I was able to say hello to Yoshi of 2K. His booth was very busy and he was kind enough to say hello and talk and look at shirts for a moment.

One of many 2K designs..here's a beauty by designer Andy Mueller...Keep on the Sunnyside

Pool and Magic Trade Shows

We'll be dropping in on Pool and the Magic High Five Campground today in Las Vegas. We'll report the findings on the latest styles and trends during the week. Drop me a line if you are at the shows and want to chat, show us your new goods or preview the new Mister Shape line. Thanks for those of you who have been waiting for new stuff this Summer season, we've pushed it back to Fall, here's another preview...



Tags: Pool Trade Show, T-Shirt, Mister Shape

Shape Signatures

Stamford rail conductors use unique shapes to identify themselves.

The Stamford Advocate Reports:

"I think mine looks like a little airplane," conductor Tom Wnek says. "We're guaranteed that no two conductors have the same one."

That's because a conductor's hole punch is a vital form of identification for the railroad. Conductors use the punches to track tickets they've checked. If a passenger says they've already had their ticket punched, but the shape left behind doesn't belong to anyone working the train, he'll know someone is trying to cheat the railroad, Wyen says.

The railroad's revenue accounting department also keeps a record of the shapes issued to each conductor. That way, the punch mark can provide evidence in case of employee misconduct.

Ticket punching began in the 1860s and is unique to railroads in the United States, Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said. Once conductors were able to request punch marks, but now they are issued at random.

Ensuring each punch is unique is a challenge for the die-maker, Brucker said. Once the common shapes, such as diamonds, hearts and spades, were distributed, the manufacturer had to tweak some of the shapes in minuscule yet identifiable ways.

Conductors develop an attachment to their punches, which they use almost 2,000 times a day. Wnek has had his mini-airplane for eight years and doesn't plan to turn it in for a new one.

Thanks to AD for the tips this week!

Super Buttons

Chris Bishop continues to dazzle us with his keen 1" art products. Behold the power of...Super Buttons!

The Shape of Colour

The Shape of Colour, cataloging a color field art exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. on sale at YouWorkForThem.

Desert Living Tip #26: The Horseshoe

This could qualify as the Shape of the Week, as well as a Desert Living Tip, if we hadn't already had one and if you count the horseshoe as a shape. Close counts with horseshoes and handgranades so consider this a bonus.



As if the Grand Canyon wasn't impressive enough, soon you'll be able to walk out on a 70 foot glass horseshoe and stare straight down 4,000 feet to the bottom of the canyon below your feet. You can get your Wile E. Coyote on and not have to be concerned with his inevitable demise.

Bubblegum

Shape of the Week honors go to the classic Gum Ball and artist Ben Harben...check out his gallery.

The New Shapes

New band, great name! The New Shapes.

Desert Living Tip #8: Biosphere 2

Like Sci-fi? Like science? Weird enclosed habitats? Shapes? Visiting AZ anytime soon? Take a trip to Biosphere 2. The best part is looking at enclosed trees that haven't had the benefit of wind to shape their personality.

Mathematical Shape Models

Can you identify them all?

Tetrahedron, Cube, Octahedron, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron, Cuboctahedron, Icosidodecahedron and my favorite, Rhombitruncated Cuboctahedron. Order your own set...from Pedagoguery Software.

Thanks to JP at for the tip!

Target Takeover

Print advertisement for Target Corporation, Design: Me Company, 2005

Every New Yorker is a target (or every New Yorker loves cirles...tens of thousands of them). The latest issue of New Yorker is all-Target, all the time. Interesting discussion going on over at Design Observer...

As Michael Bierut observes:

The all-Target New Yorker is the product of more nakedly mercenary world where advertisers no longer need conceal their aims. There's nothing subliminal about it: I counted over 200 Target logos in the first 19 pages alone, and there were still eleven ads left to go when I gave up. The illustrators acquit themselves well: Robert Risko turns in a funny image of a substantial construction worker perched on a typically un-ergonomic modern cafe stool with a single logo on his back-pocket handkerchief; Yoko Shimizu turns in a spirited biker chick crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with the logo rising before her. Best of all is Me Company's vertiginous computer-generated cityscape, the last ad inside the magazine, which surely pushes the logo count well into four figures, if not five.

Target has long upheld design as the differentiator. It's their business. It's their brand. Why not allow Target to celebrate (and fund) illustration and design in such a great way? Not many brands could be credible doing this.

On a personal note, anyone who is willing to fund Me Company's design and illustration experimentation and get it out to the masses, like Bjork and Erasure before them, deserves applause.

3D Shape Wallpaper

Mio's V2 3-D Wallpaper.

Modular V2 tiles are made from 100 percent recycled waste paper at Mio, a small Philadelphia company.



V2 tiles can be rotated to create an infinite variety of geometric patterns and shapes. They are affixed permanently to walls with regular wallpaper paste. For temporary installations, double-sided tape, thumbtacks or staples can be used.

Shape Builders

Playing with shapes (in this case blocks) has always been a great way to teach kids balance. Some kids never get out of this stage..



F. Geary, Guggenheim Museum, Balboa

S.H.A.P.E.

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Now there's an acronym we weren't expecting to be associated with shapes.

From the Wikipedia:

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the central command of NATO military forces. It is located at Casteau north of the Belgian city of Mons.
Initially SHAPE was headquarters of operational forces in the European theatre (Allied Command Europe, ACE), but from 2003 SHAPE is the headquarters of Allied Command Operations (ACO) controlling all allied operations worldwide. The former Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia was simultaneously converted into headquarters for the new Allied Command Transformation (ACT) responsible for transformation and training of NATO forces. SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe although the geographical scope of its activities were extended in 2003. The commanding officer of Allied Command Operations has also retained the title "Supreme Allied Commander Europe" (SACEUR), and continues to be a U.S. four star general with the dual-hatted role of Commander, U.S. European Command.
The main (political) headquarters of NATO is located in the Evere area of the Brussels-Capital Region about 80 km (50 miles) from SHAPE.

Digital Document T-Shirt

SimpleBits not only brings a great T-Shirt, Dan Cederholm's CSS book is pretty nice too..

Tags: tshirt, t-shirt

Fishing T-Shirt

Predicament, by Andy Weitzel available at Threadless.

Tags: tshirt, t-shirt

Picostco!

What do you get when you cross a famed artist's work and a sale at a big box store? Picostco.

"Atelier De Cannes" by Pablo Picasso, original crayon drawing, 1958. $129,999.99 at Costco.

[Link via Metacool]

Tags: picasso, art, costco

Water Talkies

Summertime Special Shape of the Week. Honors go to this fine triangular lo-fi device for communicating under water.

[Link via Arkitip]

Tags: shape, pools

Is your team in shape?

Compare your alma matter's football team outlook with famous rappers. Hillarious...

WETA Weapons Gallery

Like Frodo’s sword Sting (pictured above) from Lord of the Rings? Need one of your own? WETA provides a weapons service, with a master swordsmith on staff. Check out the weapon gallery. Beautiful detailing.

Cardiac T-Shirt at Threadless

Over at Threadless..be heart smart, learn the cardiac transportation routes.

Tags: tshirt, t-shirt

TV Shapes

We love to stare at shapes, some friends love to stare at the tube..maybe we can get together more often..get ready for the invasion of oddly shaped LCD TVs by Hannspree:

...Each sleek emporium will showcase sets designed to appeal to both adults and kids-- models are shaped like everything from flowerpots to fire trucks -- with prices
ranging from $400 to $1,200. "Chiao wanted to create a product lineup different from
any other LCDs," explains Michael Amkreutz, vice president for product marketing at
Hannspree. He says the company plans to spend nearly $100 million to break into the
U.S. market and hopes to eventually be carried by Amazon (AMZN) and Macy's. Already,
Hannspree has inked one distribution deal with Disney (DIS) and another with Major
League Baseball, which will peddle leather baseball-shaped TVs with red stitching
through its website and retail stores. It may be America's pastime, but the name,
finally, will be Taiwanese.