For the avid followers of the blog from its early stages, which definitely extends to me and my mum, you may remember a company I blogged about called HELP. HELP were making products that were, in short, simple solutions for simple health problems. Being at medschool, the product caught my eye and made me want to look into it more and after delving deeper into what HELP was, that was when the real amazement kicked in.

From product design, brand management, use of colour, medical relevance, environmental awareness, the product was immaculate. It was a company and a product waiting to explode.

The brains behind the brand are Richard Fine and Nathan Frank, who both bring different qualities to the table. Richard was brought up in medicine after being born into a family of doctors, and worked early on in product design. Nathan brings a hatred of going to the doctors, and also the minor talent of being a celebrated copywriter for many NYC advertising agencies. No mean feat.

In the world of commercial medication, where unbranded ibuprofen/paracetamol costs 23p and neurophen costs £2.99 and the pharmacological difference is nada it shows a world run by advertising and hype. Over time, as the customer gets more educated, truely great product will show through. HELP with its simple descriptions and information will only push this forward.

So finally, here are some pics from their latest information, so take a read and make sure you take the link and get some HELP, whilst also seeing if you pass the OCD test. HELP, we love you and RISE needs HELP in its life.

Every so often, I see something that I use every day completely redesigned with face-palming excellence, and this folding UK plug design is such an item… One look at it and you’ll wonder why every single plug isn’t already like this.

We are going to be posting more on album art over the next weeks hopefully.  Mixing both our love for music and art into one big pot, and coming up with some reports on the hottest, and maybe the nottest around.  In this case, we have intricate illustration and design for the latest album from Polish rap artist Abradab, by Jan Kallwejt based in Warsaw, with creative assistance from Kobas Laksa.  Nice.

Here is a sick design by Zoran Konjarski (Design student at Melbourne’s RMIT)…the concept was to package beer like pharmaceuticals…and i reckon the boy done good. Big props.

Turner Duckworth’s design for ‘Death Magnetic’ by Metallica has been nominated for a Grammy in the ‘Best Recording Package’ category. The London consultancy had apparently no knowledge of the entry which was made by Warner Brothers, Metallica’s label.Read the full article over at Design Week.

With a huge rebrand, pepsi have changed the packaging of all of their supplements. The choice of the next generation…

It’s supposed to resemble a smiling face……so diet pepsi is less smiling i guess.

limited edition by Jacques Chassaing  and Markus Thaler.

It is hard to tell from the pictures … could be plastic, could be plastic-corrugated.
The box has a hinge lid and a pull out drawer containing information on the shoe.

Not your every day shoe box.

Every Christmas holiday, Evian taps a designer to deco/design packaging. 2008 brings us Jean Paul Gaultier.


The bottle has ice crystals that are hopefully etched on the glass and not a print of label.


From the site:


Where youth, heart and spirit find their source…


By playing on both the infinitely small and the infinitely large, Jean Paul Gaultier invites us to capture the ineffable in this exceptional water, pure and precious, like the simplest expression of timeless modernity.


Jean Paul Gaultier uses two unique creations – a ‘Prêt-à-porter’ and an ‘Haute Couture’ version – to crystallise the very essence of Evian water with his wonted talent.


“Prêt-à-porter” Creation


Simply pure…


With giant crystals revealing a shimmering gown, oversized letters generously enveloping the bottle and a play on transparency and optical illusions… this special edition Evian bottle offers an extravagant celebration of the simplicity of pure beauty.


Magnified by a unique colour so very much his own, the majestic blue that offers a subtle reminder of a famous marinière, the Evian Prêt-à-porter version by Jean Paul Gaultier is already widely coveted and will soon be gracing every table.


To be appreciated alone or as a pair, these playful and lively objects emphasise the clearness of the meeting between the designer and his source of inspiration, Evian natural mineral water.

Eye Candy is a company that makes an unusual experimental product using cutting edge Sensory Substitution Technology to transmit vivid emotive images into your mind’s eye. Lollipop-like sensor embedded objects (that look like lollipops) are put in the mouth to elicit specific responses or moods in a person. It’s a sort of therapy.

What’s I found really notable about the product is the packaging. Clever use of of a transparent printed overlay/sleeve allows new meaning to be conveyed as the sleeve is moved across the package.

Packaging was designed jointly by Joe Malia and The Play Coalition. The graphics, branding and packaging concept was developed by Joe Malia, while Dane Whitehurst and Neil Usher designed the construction of the box itself.

In Joe’s words: “The look and feel that I targeted sat somewhere between a 1950s Candy Shop and modern electronic printed circuit boards. The moire effect came about through research into optical illusions and enabled us to create the hide/reveal effect on the branding that can be seen in the final product.” [dieline]

I was going to write individual blogs on a couple of these things…but there’s a couple of random cool stuff that I want to tell you about so i thought maybe just punch it all into one blog and see what happens. fun times.

The Architect’s bird feeder

8 interlocking bulletproof glass pieces

no tools or fasteners for assembly

Fun to put together, easy to refill, clean and eco-friendly, and looks like a bird feeder from the future, which makes it a nice change from the standard……bird, tree, birdseed

Luxery lab linens

http://luxurylablinens.com/index.html

I love these

And last but not least…Re:vision Camera cuffs

The coolest bracelets i’ve seen

http://www.oyemodern.com/designers/re-vision/