graphic design

Being that we are what we eat, trained architect and interior designer Valentina Raffaelli developed a project that aims to share the nutritional and health benefits of certain foods. The project, Herbarium taste, includes technical drawings with facts of these foods in hopes of educating people in a simplified, easy-to-understand way.

While I try (I said try) really hard be on the side where the glass is half full (it doesn't always happen), sometimes it's easy to go to the dark side. You know, that dark, "woe is me" kind of mood that we have to go to from time to time it get it out of our systems. Written by Nick Asbury, designed by Hat-trick Design, and published by Asbury & Asbury, the Disappointments Diary 2013 is perfect for the inner pessimist in all of us.

Maps have always been a fun way to decorate your walls but have you ever wanted a more personal map, like one specifically for your town or zip code? Wallpapered creates just that - custom wallpaper maps for any spot on the globe that means something to you.

Sometimes you're having a rough day and you need a pick-me-up or a reason to smile. Thank goodness for Megs Senk, a graphic designer who is helping us on days like that with her new website, Emergency Compliment. With witty sayings like "Keep walking around naked. Your neighbors are into it." and "Your prom date still thinks about you all the time."

New York-based Craig Ward is an award-winning designer (multiple times over), as well as a TED speaker, and he's compiled his years of design knowledge into the upcoming book, Popular Lies About Graphic Design. There are no hard and fast rules with design, although some people would like you to think that there are, so Ward has taken on the task of clearing up the misconceptions.

You've probably seen the work of Oren Sherman and not even realized it, with designs for companies like Hermes, Pepsi, Disney, Visa, etc., under his belt. But, it's his Mid-Century Modern prints that really caught our eye. We can't (okay, *I*) hide our devotion to mid-century modern design, so these prints are right up our (*my*) design-loving alley.

The UK-based design firm Dorothy created a vintage-y litho print map of Los Angeles that features film titles. Film Map includes over 900 film titles in the place of actual LA streets and sites, like Lost Highway, Forrest Gump, Nightmare on Elm Street, Jurassic Park, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The map also features an alphabetized key at the bottom that lists all of the films and their release dates and directors.

UK-based artist Jack Addis is what I'd call a digital portraitist. From what I can tell he takes portraits and digitally distorts them with layers of all kinds of colors and geometric shapes. They're full of chaos and energy and it's like a fun test to try to figure out who each subject is.

Nothing has made me want to bust out my markers and crayons more than this Bill Murray coloring book. Belly Kids sought out 24 illustrators to design images of the beloved Bill Murray and compiled them into this ridiculously fun coloring book entitled Thrill Murray.