If you live in Berlin this is one exhibition definetly worth checking out. Yoshitaka Amano is having a solo exhibition in Michael Janssen gallery.

Amano, born in Shizuoka City, Japan, in 1952, who rose to fame via the creation of anime, manga and video game characters, began his career in Japan’s major cartoon studios in the mid 1970s. Since the 1980s he devoted himself to independent projects as a freelance artist. Yoshitaka Amano lives and works in Tokyo and New York. 
In addition to his work as the influential graphic developer and designer for the Gatchaman series (G-Force), the Final Fantasy Cycles and many other heroic epics for the animated cartoon and the then nascent video game industry, Amano's creations have also been displayed in solo and group exhibitions at diverse locations - Barbican Art Centre, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai and the Kunstverein Heilbronn (Heilbronn Arts Association).

19 Jan 2008 to 29 Feb 2008
Tue - Fri 10 - 6 pm, Sat 11 - 6 pm

Galerie Michael Janssen Berlin
Kochstrasse 60
D-10969
Berlin

(via www.we-make-money-not-art.com)

Jim Denevan is an artist from Santa Cruz, California, who uses beaches as his preferred media. He uses a stick he finds on the beach and draws huge, amazingly accurate patterns and shapes into the wet sand. He must have a brilliant spatial perception, as he doesn't use any measuring aids. After a while the tide comes in and washes everything away, which is a shame, really...

have a look...

Here is a really nice site to browse when you have a little too much time on your hands:

Command+Shift+3 = Best Designed Websites

Score sites via one2one battle to decide which ones are best designed. You can also upload your own and tag it with appropriate category. It will be automaticly be added to "tag" battles to decide best.

Whilst you're there, why not give Allmightys thumbs up (of course, thats it if you like it :))

Pixelpopulation.org is a site dedicated to populate Europe with pixel characters in the form of stickers. Founded in 2003 and resulting from using pixel design and working in public spaces, this project has now reached the second stage. The basic idea is that you can download a printfile of your favourite pixel character and stick it somewhere in your town. Then you take a photo and send it to these guys... there you go, you have  increased the pixelpopulation! Have a look if they have populated your country already.. :)

Check it out here...

Nicholas Feltron publishes this beautiful annual report and the 2007 version is now for sale in a printed edition for $5. He collects statistical information about virtually everything that comes with an everyday life, like listening to music, walking the streets, travelling, spending hours reading etc and turns this into visual info.

The result is a both amusing and interesting piece about all the statistical trivia that makes up 2007 for the people. Have a look here for more...

(via infosthetics.com)

The weekly Badge Review. The features from Monday 21 to Saturday 26 of January plus the spotlighted Sunday´s button badge. This week I was featuring badges made of materials such as candy and chop stick wrappers, book pages and even plush... This Sunday´s special featured artist is Michigan based"Jill N. Hamilton-Krawczyk aka BarrelOfMonkeys". 

Something fun for the weekend. Apparently if you are a sex offender in one of the states in the US (a court ruling) a judge can order you to wear a tshirt saying exactly that "Sex Offender".
This bunch of guys on ABC Australian television play with the idea and test people's reaction. Some of these include "Crack Dealer", "Handbag Snatcher", etc...Very funny....youtube

We have written about colourlovers.com before but in the recent months the site has really grown. I have not yet seen such a wonderful collection of colour swatches in one place.
As "I Am Thinking..." competition submission period is now on and you need some extra inspiration on what colours to use for your wonderful new designs, then why not check out colourlovers.com and take a pick. Some collections are really nice and the sheer variety definitely proves that there is a colour combo for everyone.

Check it! .. colourlovers.com

Here are some very nice recent additions. Also, don't forget, you can submit your own that get rated by the community.

Suck UK never dissapoints. Added to their collection of wonderfully simple and quirky products is the new Message Tape. Here is their product description:

"Black out the unwanted dots to create your own messages, The tape can be used to label boxes when you move house, to impress your date by re-naming entire streets after her or him within minutes..."

What I love about their products is that they are strangely very British. They remind me of that wonderful british irony in humor from Monty Python to the more recent Little Britain. Each one of their products tells a story, in a funny, ironic kind of way whilst at the same time being not only very cool but also very useful.

If you haven't seen their other stuff, make sure you also check out:
MixTape USB Stick
Smoking Mittens (for us brits with the recent Smoking Ban)
Emergency Break Glass Money Box

and many more here.

Popdeck.com are having a skateboard design contest. Basically they do the same as us but just for skateboards. So if you're an avid skateboarding fan and have some designs lying around that you think would look cool on a board, head over to popdeck.com and join. You can win 200 dollars and a board if you win a contest. I haven't found any dates on the page, but it looks like an ongoing competition...

We've covered USB sticks and their individual cases before, and here's a new addition to the list...

Check out these funky USB stick covers, that even interact with your laptop when in use. For Linux users there is a neat little penguin to choose :)
Unfortunately these covers are only available in Asia at this point in time, but hopefully they will be available in the rest of the world as well...

Check them out here...

There is now exactly 3 weeks left to submit designs. The submissions have been coming in daily and its great to see the variety. As you know, this is the first time since the launch of Allmightys back in January 2007 that we have a "no theme" competition. The turnout has been great and registrations are coming in like never before.

If you are new to Allmightys, we are now in the process of approving submissions on a 10 day cycle (since they are submitted). Of course as we get closer to the deadline these 10 days get reduced to 5 and in the last week they are approved/rejected daily. As always, we encourage designers to submit early so their designs can get feedback before they go into voting. If you submit on the last day, you risk your design being refused and you will have no time to re-submit and we don't want that to happen. Also, if your design has been rejected, don't worry, if you submit now you can always resubmit plenty more times before the deadline. Also, please feel free to comment the designs as off course, the comments are one of the major factors whether designs get approved or not. If there are no comments (we admit) we can be quite tough but that's because we want your designs to be the best they can be.

For the new members, don't forget about our "Submit Discussion" option if you would like to discuss your design with other members or just fancy getting some feedback before you actually make the final submission. Its a great way to get inspired by other members of the Allmightys community.

So, with 3 weeks left, now is the time to polish those wonderful designs of yours and submit today!!

The weekly Badge Review. The features from Monday 14th to Saturday 19th of January plus the spotlighted Sunday´s button badge. This week I found some really cool stuff, what do you think? The cutest squirrel I´ve ever seen on a button badge, limited edition "strawberry and crossbones" from Canada and even a German design magazine published and made out of pins solely. This Sunday´s special feature comes from the lovely planet "I´m smitten".

Something for the weekend:
A very nice site and some lovely work too by this studio in Seattle.
Def. worth checking out..

www.sectionseven.com

Here is today's animation, coming to you from maricor + maricar, a twin designer team.

Comments on youtube have compared this animation to the work of Monty Python's Terry Gilliam. Especially the somewhat robotic movement of the characters does remind you of the Python's short films, but these designers clearly show their own handwriting. I especially like the composition of the frames and the old school muppet string effect of the characters' surroundings, like the clouds.

Watch it here...

Check out these wonderful wooden toys by japanese designer Takeji Nakagawa.

take-g.com

You can also read an interview on hitspaper here: Take-G Toys

via: cpluv.com

Please apple, please, stop!! I don't have any more money!! I owned most of your products but now this realy has to end! I can not buy any of your products! For the last time....STOP!!

Say hello to Mac Book Air

(na, just joking, keep 'em coming apple...love it!)

Anyone else suffers from this addition?

We have just added a great new feature to the site and its all about you! Actually, it's not so much of a feature but rather an expansion of Member Pages (Other Allmightys) available previously in the My Allmightys section of the website.

Until now you have only been able to track the work of other members by visiting allmightys design forum and listing page after page. Now, all you need to do is either click on submitors name in the forum or on their comments. This will link you directly to their public "Members Page". Here you can see all of their their submissions, details, and scores. It also works the other way around; find the user, see more info about them and their submissions and once you click on any of the submissions this will take you directly to the forum.

In addition, you might have also noticed that your submissions in the MyAllmightys section now link back to the forum. This makes it easy to jump to the forum via your page to track latest comments.

Small but essential updates to make the site easier to navigate and more enjoyable. Hope you like them..

Now head over to member pages and click away.....
Also, don't forget to update your profile with new avatar and your city!

ps. Please note that these updates do not apply to already posted comments ..including your avatars in those comments.

The weekly Badge Review. The features from Monday 7th to Saturday 12th of January plus the spotlighted Sunday´s button badge: I was featuring the pin collection of the illustrous Jeremyville, what´s hip in the nurseries of Berlin and the badges of two angry Dubliners among others. This week´s spotlighted artist is UK based designer Tez Humphreys.

There is a real nice story over at ThingsMagazine about Penguin Books history and the way the book cover has undergone some very interesting changes over its lifetime. The post includes some great links, book reviews and their own Penguin Project.

Here is an excerpt:
....there is an undeniable visual unity when you're presented with a decade's worth of covers. The Penguin design story is straightforward, but much mythologised. As Robin Kinross notes in the Hyphen Press's excellent Journal, the company ultimately appears to have lost the plot, indulging in too much 'visual imitation and self-reference'. read more..

Here is a stop-motion animation by the artist BLU who we covered before in the blog.

It's interesting to see him using an entire room to have a series of characters walk along the walls.

Nicely done and well filmed!

Watch it here...

Few months ago we wrote quite a large post about RSS feeds + various newsreaders. The great news is that now all Newsgator RSS applications are free. These include NetNewsWire (my fav. mac newsreader) as well as FeedDemon (windows).

The great thing about NetNewsWire for Mac is also that it syncs with the NewsGator online reader so when you are on the go all the news you read on your desktop reader show as read on the online version...and vice versa.
They also have iPhone optimised version of their online reader so reading news on the go has never been easier ..and they stay in sync with your desktop.

Fantastic apps, definetly worth checking out: NewsGator

Also, don't forget to subscribe to Allmightys RSS feed to stay up to date with all the latest news from the blog.

Here is one very interesting and pretty usefull site if you are a web designer or a client.
Here is a little description:
It has long been common practise to use recurring solutions to solve common problems. Such solutions are also called design patterns. Collections of software design patterns are standard reference points for the experienced user interface designer. This website seeks to better the situation for the UI designer, who struggles with the same problems as many other UI designers have struggled with before him.

Very useful indeed: ui-patterns.com

Today is exactly 1 year since the day Allmightys.com launched. It has been a great first year for allmightys and we have grown to a community of designers we are very proud of. When we launched back in January last year we did it out of love for design and t-shirts. Today Allmighty has become a lot more than that. We have met wonderful people, some online, some offline, printed many of your artworks, donated money to charities and promoted much of your work. We are not only proud of where we are but also extremley excited about the year ahead. We would like to thank all of you for your support and hope that in the 2nd year of Allmightys and many more to come Allmighty.com will only grow to become the most wonderful online community of designers and t-shirt lovers!

Thank You!!
Happy Birthday Allmightys.com!!

To mark the anniversary we asked Yonil, our designers with most wins at Allmightys, to design the Anniversary Tee to mark this occasion. The result is: The Pencil Man

The design shows a pencil-man - a guy that has two pencils for hands and a pencil sharpener for a head. this is a metaphore basically for everyone whos ever created something concept driven. the sharpener symbolizes the mind and the pencils are the hands who actually make the art/design. this peticular pencilman represents us designers / artists / art lovers in our moments of struggle, sometimes when it's hard thinking of a good idea - just a little reminder that the end of the tunnel is right across the corner. always.

The Pencil Man will be available instore in two colours within few weeks.

For the first time since launch back in January 2007 we are launching an open ideas t-shirt design competition. To celebrate one year of Allmightys, the name of this new edition is: "I Am Thinking..". We want your ideas, about anything and everything. Show us what you are thinking, what interests you or what we should be thinking.

Important Dates:
Competition Announced: 7th January 2008
Submission Deadline: 11th February 2008, 23.00 GMT
Voting/Scoring Starts: 12th February 2008, AM GMT
Voting/Scoring Ends: 3rd March 2008, 23.00 GMT

SUBMIT DESIGNS!

New to T-Shirt Design? Why not check out our T-Shirt Design Guide.
Please also make sure you read the rules.

Competition Banner Artwork By: Joe Gonzalez

1 EUR from each "I Am Thinking.." t-shirt sale will be donated to Cancer Research UK.

About Cancer Research UK:
Carry out world-class research to improve our understanding of cancer and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer.
Ensure that the findings are used to improve the lives of all cancer patients.
Help people to understand cancer, the progress we are making and the choices each person can make.
Work in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer.

To find out more about Cancer Research UK, please visit their website.

The weekly Badge Review The features from Monday Dec. 31 to Saturday Jan. 5 plus the spotlighted Sunday´s button badge: 2007 ended with a friendly monster from the Netherlands and the new year began with a beautiful range of pins including works by Ian Wright and Anne-Julie Aubry, a french children´s book illustrator. This week´s spotlighted artist is UK based Joe Rogers aka Rudiger aka Colourbox.

Three months ago we wrote about Yahoo Innovation Team but did you know that Digg has its own innovation team? There isn't that much there but never the less very interesting to play around and read digg in a whole different way.

Check it out: labs.digg.com

"The labs provide a broader (and deeper) view of Digg. A lot of stuff gets submitted to Digg every day, so good things can sometimes fly right past you. Labs projects look beneath the surface of the Digg community's activities."

Looking for something special for yourself or your other half this winter? Why not check out a wonderful collection of hand made knitted garment by a friend of Allmightys MadeWithLovebyZoe on Etsy.

From crochets, scarfs, bags to beanies and arm warmers.

MadeWithLovebyZoe

New Year - New Price !!
All Allmightys Tees are now €21.00!! Thats a saving of 4 EURO on each tee you buy! In other words if you buy 5, not only that you get free shipping but now with the new price you actually get almost 5 tees for the old price of 4!! Shop Away!!

Happy New Year All!!

In preparation for new competition we have decided to make few changes to make your submissions better than ever!

First of them is the size increase of Voting Gallery images. We noticed that you guys wanted a little more space to show of your submissions and adding this extra space, we feel, will give you a lot more space to play around with. Voting Gallery Images are now 600x450 pixels, thats 115 pixels higher than the previous.

Second is the brand new template! The new template now includes a nicer tee illustration and the layers now include all tee colours. All you have to do now if drop your design and switch on/off layers to see how your design will fit on a tee.
You can download the new template here.

Third is that your design can be now A3+!!!! No more small A4 maximum size, you can now pretty much have your design spread over the whole front! Exciting!!

New competition coming any day now!! Are you ready?!! :)

Allmightys team would like to wish all our members, guest and customers a very happy new year!!

Thanks to everyone for continuing support and we promise to bring you even better allmightys.com in the new 2008! Watch out for new years announcements in the next week including a brand new competition!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!