[…] a complex pattern created from simple, repeated, geometric steps defined by elementary equations. It’s this easily generated, difficult to reproduce intricacy that has led to a guilloche appearing in some form on most of the world’s currency.

Fascinating and delightful. And I did not know that the ‘command’ symbol (⌘) was meant to be a castle as viewed from above.

A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

Read the backstory on Smashing.

I’ve always loved Georgia. The new ‘pro’ version looks like a beautiful update.

Some experts say that rectangles with rounded corners are easier on the eyes than a rectangle with sharp edges because they take less cognitive effort to visually process. The fovea is fastest at processing circles. Processing edges involve more “neuronal image tools” in the brain. Thus, rectangles with rounded corners are easier process because they look closer to a circle than a regular rectangle.

(Via Tools & Toys)

My favourite part is this quote from Paul Rand:

The designer who voluntarily presents his client with a batch of layouts does so not out prolificacy, but out of uncertainty or fear. He thus encourages the client to assume the role of referee.

Although there are a bunch out there, Marshall Bock’s iPhone PSD template is the best I’ve come across. Not only is it constructed from vector artwork but it contains every combination of iPhone 4, 4S, black, white, portrait and landscape you could ever want.

Brilliant.

The exponential rise of inventories coupled to fragile economic conditions have pushed ad agencies to ask more (space) for less money. And, for the creativity, the encephalogram remains desperately flat.

The challenge of digital advertising on news sites is something that fascinates me. I can’t help feeling that there’s a better, more effective way of generating revenue for these sites. A multitude of gaudy adverts, bolted on to the outside of the content doesn’t appear — outwardly, at least — to be the most effective solution, yet it’s what most sites seem to do. Is it because it’s the only thing that works? Surely there’s a better way? (I ask those questions in a positive way — I do not pretend for one moment to understand all the pressures & restrictions facing purveyors of digital news.)

The only part of Filloux’s article that I’m not sure about concerns how the increase in mobile device usage will affect this trend:

Thanks to the rise of mobile internet, the pendulum is likely to swing back: smaller screens will result in fewer ads carrying more value.

There’s nothing in today’s digital news landscape that makes me believe this will be true. At the very least, it’s going to take some time to get here — news sites are still going to try & shoehorn adverts into their mobile offerings.

Take the CNN news iPhone app as an example. The main reason I don’t use it is that they interrupt the flow of the content — surely a cardinal sin — with a banner ad. Every story has the same, interruptive advertisement smack bang in the middle of the flow.

The pendulum for advertising within mobile digital news offerings would appear to be over the ‘interruptive’ end of the spectrum at the moment. Hopefully it’ll swing back — both for mobile and desktop — in time.