American Airlines' Modern Rebranding

For the first time in 40 years, American Airlines has rebranded itself. With an abstracted take on its iconic eagle, American Airlines and their creative partners Futurebrand have pushed the airline into 2013. The facelift isn't just a logo change -- everything from the interiors of the planes to external marketing and branding have been updated. While we always applaud modern, fresh design, there has been much discussion about whether or not it was actually needed. With the struggles of the airline industry over the past years, skyrocketing fees, and general consumer disappointment, will a fresh coat of paint really smooth things over? Could the money used for this giant rebranding project have been better apportioned? The jury's still out, but it does appear that American Airlines has luckily avoided an iconic logo fiasco à la The Gap.

Router Font by Jeremy Mickel

Typeface design takes talent, time, and patience. Luckily, there are skilled professionals who are willing to put forth their efforts and talents in order to create beautiful typefaces. Jeremy Mickel, a prolific and talented typographer is one such example. Router is one of his most successful fonts. According to Jeremy, Router is "inspired by the movement of a rotating engraver carving plastic. When the router starts or stops, there can be a slight swelling of the stroke – a feature I exaggerated and made the central feature of the typeface." You may see other examples of Jeremy's work here.

Tereasa Surratt & David Hernandez - Tree House at Camp Wandawega

Many children dream of having their own tree house but Tereasa Surratt & David Hernandez managed to build their own as adults. Built out of reclaimed wood and designed with vintage materials and flea market treasures, the structure is absolutely gorgeous. The treehouse is located at Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

Steve Jobs

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Nathan Danials - Modern Bird Houses

Nathan Danials, a designer from Golden Valley, Minnesota, has made a business out of "creating modern shelters for our fine, feathered friends." Made from reclaimed wood and recycled materials, his modern bird houses are simply beautiful. We absolutely love them; every yard should have one. They're available in numerous styles and colors here.

BitBike - Stylish balance bike for the newly born

No secret, the owner of jhchoi is a bike enthusiast and with a toddler on the way, he's been on the hunt for the perfect first bike. The BitBike is a sleek, stylish balance bike for trailblazers aged 18 months to 3 years. Simple, vibrant and compact. Can't wait to get our hands on one.

New Tom Dixon Etch Lighting

The new Tom Dixon lighting is absolutely gorgeous. British designer, Tom Dixon will be launching all new lighting at The Dock for the London Design Festival, 17-25 September, 2011. The Etch Light inspired by the logic of pure mathematics is made up of 0.4mm etched metal sheet that when lit, cast an amazing, gorgeous shadow.

Art of the Menu

The design watchdogs over at UnderConsideration launched a new blog this week. They are calling it Art of the Menu and it's specifically dedicated to "cataloguing the underrated creativity of menus around the world." We're excited to view this blog as more content gets added and were glad to hear about this spotlight on a usually overlooked design medium.

Lettermark Furniture by Mark Matcham Design

UK-based designer Mark Matcham has created a set of furniture based on typographic lettermarks. The two prototypes shown here use the Univers A and the Bembo T. Made out of birch ply and metal fixings, the table and stool were produced to be packaged in the "flat-pack" style of IKEA.
We are interested to see if Matcham will take this concept further into production!

Klara Collection by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso

One of our favorite designers Patricia Urquiola explores the notion of territory in her recent collection for the Italian furniture company Moroso. The collection called Klara is based on clean and very modern lines with a craft-made look.