2011 Year in Review: Best of Home Furnishings. Much of what we do here at Design Milk is source the newest and coolest products to hit the shelves and design fairs. This year’s batch of home furnishings are innovative, cool, and highly covetable. From a hauntingly beautiful carafe to an über-practical seating system, we bring you the best accessories we found. Sculptural Bike Storage Quarterre designed three sculptural bike storage solutions –- Hood, Branchline, and Shadow –- to support everyday life on two wheels. The pieces are not only useful and good-looking, they elevate the bike to a work of art.
Inlay The Inlay collection, comprised of a dining room cupboard and a chest of drawers, was designed by Front for Porro, The surface is covered with squares, rectangles, and other geometric shapes done in different shades of oak. Human Heart Carafe Drawing on the design world’s current fascination with anatomy, the Cuore (Heart) carafe, designed by Liviana Osti, is composed of two carafes nestled in the form of a human heart. 589217_scale_of_universe_enhanced.
ColorTheory_Screen_White.jpg (JPEG Image, 1224x792 pixels) Chemistry Love Print Our Molecules will Always by TheWallaroo. 13 Cool Plastic Shopping Bags. Apparently the U.S. is lagging way behind Europe when it comes to witty shopping bag design. These 13 were spotted on an interesting site called BoredPanda.com, which calls itself “a highly visual oddities magazine dedicated to showcasing the world’s most creative artworks, offbeat products and everything that’s really weird or wonderful.” A perfect fit for the _floss, I’d say! As always, let us know your favorite in the comments below. Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color - Smashing Magazine. 50 Beautiful and Effective Package Designs. When choosing one product over another, the design of the packaging probably influences your decision far more than you realize.
Effective packaging design breaks away from the standard rules and conventions that we are accustomed to, giving the product a unique edge to stand out from the rest. The packaging should appeal to your target market. It’s also vital to ensure that you’re conveying the necessary information about the contents and quality of the product, while triggering the desired emotion in your customer.
Here are 50 beautifully designed packages that you can draw inspiration from.