because seven "ate" nine

We've been talking about the fun anomaly of the day: 12:34:56 7/8/9... Grab Veer's "numb3rs" wallpaper for your iPhone to celebrate the rareness of the occurrence.

Merde Il Pleut

Raindrops, a Toronto boutique which specializes in weather gear, is selling a "Merde Il Pleut" umbrella line. Translation from French, "Shit it's raining".

Boston, Dinner is served…

In collaboration with the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, we get to work on some pretty fun projects that help beautify neighborhoods in our historic city. Over the past 6 months or so, we've been working on two of our favorites, James Hook & Co. "a New England Tradition since 1925" located in the Financial District and Macys Liquor, a West Roxbury landmark. In their respective neighborhoods, these businesses are a testament to hard work and exceptional products and services. They continue to thrive even having endured changes in ownership (Macys) and even a tragic fire (James Hook). Even in an economic recession, we still need to eat—and drink and its cheaper than eating out.
We approached these projects with caution and finesse, and gave each business a modern facelift with the fabrication help of Barlo Signs (ML) and Metro Sign and Awning (JH), while still keeping their traditional integrity. If you're in Boston for the 4th, pick up a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc at Macy's and then head downtown to James Hook to grab some crab legs, put on your scarf and hat and fire up the grill. At Macys and James Hook its business as usual, they just look a little different.

SOWA recap…

Last month, we hosted Lara Vukson and Stella O, jewelry designer, in our studio for the SOWA Art Walk. Despite the dreary weather, people were out in full force in the South End and filling up our studio. I couldn't tell if they were coming in for the rosé and sugar wafers or the talented artists—either way, we were busy!
Both Stella and Lara's work was a huge hit amongst our visitors and Pinkergreen met quite a few potential clients throughout the weekend. Here are some of her shots from the weekend. If you missed the Art Walk, you should be sure to check out Open Studios this fall, September 19-20th.

Lyon typeface family

This month, NY Times Magazine unveiled a redesign to save on production costs. According to CoolHunting: The magazine is now "9 percent smaller—a little off the top, a little off the sides." Marzorati goes on, "...the Great Recession, coming at a time when newspapers and magazines were already struggling to adjust to the Internet age, has put tremendous pressure on print publications to find savings that do not threaten the essential things they offer their readers. Global demand for paper is high; thus the cost of the paper is high; thus using less paper in each issue we produce will save millions of dollars, money we can use to continue to pay for the long-form journalism and ambitious photography fill our pages with each week." In order to help make up for the loss in space a new exclusive typeface, Lyon Text, designed by Kai Bernau and Christian Schwartz, is used because it is unnoticeably more condensed. Little changes can translate to big savings!

Hot Diggity Dog…

We seem to have an on-going theme these past few weeks… where is our summer? Boston is cold, the heat came on in my house this morning. Its JUNE!!!! All chilliness aside, when I saw this commercial for Kayem Hot Dogs a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but feel that longing in my heart for a warm summer night, yet again. The reel is utterly Americana: backyards with the glow of string-lites, loving, laughing, partially un-clothed people… but it was really the song that caught my attention. We all know the impact a good commercial with a great song can have on an up-and-coming artist–think of all those iPod commercials!
I don't know anything about State Radio, except that they look like a bunch of curly-headed hippies and that I love their music. And while, I'm certainly not known for my excellent taste in music, I sincerely hope this band reaps the benefits of the iPod effect and makes it big like Feist and Yael Naim.
While I wait to see them rise to fame, I'm going to grill up a Kayem weiner on my pink grill in my winter hat and mittens.
Please summer… we're begging you…

Ilana Kohn

We've got some gloomy weather these days, and I'm loving Ilana Kohn's saturated palettes. She has a very distinct style. Saw Ilana's work highlighted on Fly last year and again recently on another blog... Not trying to be redundant here, but I just really like her stuff. Give me a reason to work with this woman!

2009 BoNE Show

We had a great time at the AIGA BoNE Show last night. As the Pinkergreen years go by, I realize how tightly knit the Boston Design community is. I swear, we either knew–or were acquainted with–half the attendees. My husband's firm won a BoNE. Many of our mentors were in the crowd, as were a lot of fresh faces.

I thought the event design for this year's show was pretty well executed. The deconstructed Green theme served as a sharp contrast to the lucky charm theme of the '07 exhibit. My favorite element was the bright green twine typography. I can only imagine how long it took to execute! Here's a nice behind the scenes look of setting up the show (via the BoNE Show blog).

Some of the impromptu talk boxes were hilarious. My favorite was the designer who wrote "B(hiring)" and taped up a bunch of their business cards. Whatever it takes, right?! "B(Arthur) r.i.p." took a close second.

Where is summer?

I don't know about anybody else, but I am sick and tired of this crap weather in June. I mean come'on already… IT'S JUNE!!!!! Which means its time for STICKY SUNSCREEN and NEW SUNGLASSES and BURGERS, and not this gloomy, foggy, cold weather we've been having in Boston. So while we wait a little longer for the sun to warm up, I'm going to cheat the season and snag one of these too cute grills in one of my two favorites hues. Maybe I can get a sunburn, but I sure know how to make my burgers crispy.

Clockwise above…
Barbie Pink Portable Barrel BBQ ($33)
Retromodern Mini Grill ($98) via Daily Candy
Bucket Grill ($25)
Weber Charcoal Grills One Touch Gold 22.5 Inch Charcoal Grill ($159)

Hayon's Showtime Chair

How great are these chairs by Jaime Hayon for Barcelona Designs?!
via SeeSaw

Ben

As designers we're constantly finding inspiration in our surroundings (hence the reason for this blog.) I've been inspired by the tile pattern on a bathroom floor, and texture in burnt rice on the bottom of a pan. Color is probably the most frequent inspiration though. Its everywhere and can often spark an idea for a color palette for a client's site or collateral. But how do you match it?

Benjamin Moore has developed an app for my non-existent iPhone to do just that. Catch-a-Color allows you to pull a color from a photo you've taken on your iPhone and narrows it down to the closest paint swatch for the job, from their trendy new acrylic-blend line, Ben®. Come on, Pantone… get on this technology already!

No Mas

They're smart. They're snarky. They're New Yorkers. No Mas has designed some great sports themed gear. Their latest T design "I'm Calling it Shea" is selling like crazy. Both NY baseball teams are settling into new digs amid serious grumblings from fans. Change, in this case anyway, is not always good. I also think their Finisher Bags – which are made of re-purposed Starter Jackets – are awesome. Even though mine was stolen out of my locker and I'm still pretty pissed about it, I might be pursuaded to get one.