Via Design Related: Chiquita’s latest ad campaign imbues its audience with an instant sense of wonder. Using playful illustrations on stickers juxtaposed to the iconic Chiquita stickers, the product and brand become more engaging to the consumer—plus they just look cool. We got a chance to ask the Creative and Art Director, DJ Neff, some questions about the process of making bananas (even more) fun.
What can you tell us about creating this new campaign for Chiquita?
The process relied heavily in spending as much time with the product as possible. In this case it meant eating a bunch of bananas a day. Thankfully, I like bananas. In most of my work I like to immerse myself in the product and research as much as I can. In this case that emphasis was on the fruit and its cultural significance. After filling up on information, I let it all spill out in different ideas, drawings, sayings, photographs, then I start to figure out truths. It helps to start with the product and work outward, pulling from research and ideas to build upon the foundation.
The cornerstone of the campaign relied on the little blue stickers, the biggest icon for the brand. It wasn’t long before we had the idea to create the sticker characters. From there we thought about giving bananas personalities and how all bananas start out good but eventually go bad (and for consumers not to let that happen). When building the website we integrated this idea into its core. This gave the users opportunities to create their own banana personality and battle against bananas that have turned to the dark side.
Notion is an industrial design studio based in Dublin who developed the 
So, where would he take someone for a visit? Tofer humorously responded as follows:
Via 
From time to time products get re-worked, and then it becomes hard to believe we used to do things a certain way. Take squeezable mayonnaise for instance. Can you remember the days when mayonnaise used to come in glass jars, which required us to fish around with butter knives. In that same vein, squeezable ketchup in convenience, fridge door-friendly containers also succeeded glass bottles. Recently, we became aware of another advancement in ketchup delivery systems, specifically the new dip and squeeze container. 
Phrases on postcards such as wish you were here are cliché, heartwarming and sometimes loathsome. Nowadays, do people still send postcards? With Email, smart phones and other modern technologies, it’s a lot easier for one to snap a photo of the Eiffel Tower and send it to someone electronically, than take the time to actually sit back and pen a thoughtful message on a costly postcard. With the value of penned correspondence in mind, enter Beste Miray Dogan’s 
Who doesn’t love a fireplace? While condo boards and bank books might disapprove of installing a traditional wood burning fireplace, there are other options that require zero ventilation, less mess and so forth. While bio-ethanol fireplace’s are anything but new, today’s in-home feature is something you can take anywhere. Say you want to have a fireplace in your living room for a party, in the bathroom for a relaxing soak in the tub, or even on the patio for some summertime romance, 
Increasingly this e-waste is finding it’s way to West Africa and countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Traders bypass international laws by labelling the equipment as second hand goods or charity donations, but, in reality, as much as 80% of the computers send to Ghana are broken or obsolete. Their final resting place is Agbogloshie dump where they are broken apart, mostly by children, to salvage the copper, hard drives and other components that can be sold on.
The disposal of electronic goods in the West is a costly arraif and must be done in an environmentally responsible manner, however in places like Ghana there are no such regulations and as such toxic metals like lead, beryllium, cadmium and mercury are continuously being released causing untold damage to human health and the environment. For a real, and shocking look at this dumping ground, check 
How do you solve writers and/or designers block? If only there was a pill that could cure these ailments. This is the core concept behind 
The Ecorium Project comprises a 33,000 sq meter nature reserve including a large wild plant area and a wetland reserve. In the center of the park is a large system of interlinking wedge-shaped greenhouses. These greenhouses will feature advanced systems capable of adjusting the internal conditions based on the outside climatic conditions in order to minimize energy usage indoors. The exterior of each greenhouse is built out of metal panels, low-iron and low-e double glazing, as well as wood and plexiglass. Seen from above the greenhouses will appear as a sinuous river.
The purpose of the National Ecological Institute is to study nature’s converging eco-systems while ensuring the safety, stability and the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. A spokesperson for the NEI says:
Calvin and Hobbes has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts, but believe it or not, the iconic comic strip has been out of commission for nearly 15 years. There isn’t a lot out there as to why the comic’s creator, Bill Watterson, decided to pull the plug on the highly successful story. In fact, there isn’t a lot out there about Watterson at all. While some may say that he is a bit of a recluse, others would argue that he simply enjoys his privacy. And why shouldn’t he? Recently we located a rare interview where Watterson discussed his decision to stop writing Calvin and Hobbes, which he answered as follows:
For as long as I can remember, my household does not wrap presents. That’s not to say that we simply show up places with unwrapped gifts, rather, we are quite fond of reusable gift bags, boxes, and cloth alternatives. Aside from the ridiculous cost associated with wrapping presents, wrapping takes time and skill, while most varieties can’t be recycled. Recently, we managed to locate some eco-friendly gift wrap from 
Oftentimes the best products and designs offer slight twists and improvements on the original concept. When we witness such things out in the wild, we’re likely to have a bit of inventor’s envy. One of those why didn’t I think of that moments. Admittedly, we were both excited and jealous to see Map2, the zoomable map. What is it and how does it work you ask? 
It’s hard to believe it, but Spring is fast approaching. This got us thinking about how our vegetable garden would look in a few months time, and what we need to do to help it get there. While we produced a good crop last year, some of out plants did not fair so well as a result of too much rain. In any case, in the coming weeks, we’re going to be starting some of our plants off from seed, growing them in small containers that can be transplanted when the conditions are right. We’ll likely rely on empty milk cartons and yogurt containers, but if you’re the type of person who relies on designer awesomeness, you may be interested in 
Happy Valentines Day, if you celebrate that sort of thing. It really is one of those made up holidays, and technically speaking it’s not even a holiday. That is, unless you’re a hopeless 
Okay, if you’ve made it this far, I promise that we’re transitioning into less raunchy territory, but first we’re stopping on some street corner in an unknown corner of Australia. There, you’ll notice this (above left) playful cutout of a sexy lady dressed in lingerie, hanging upside down and wrapped around a street pole. On the backside, passersby will notice relevant information to sign up for pole dancing lessons just in time for Valentine’s Day. And finally, one of the classiest campaigns we noticed places Cupid’s arrow on the backs of chairs in a restaurant, coffee shop or food court. Obviously we can’t figure out who to give credit to on this one. To bad, because it truly is cute and heart warming.
Charles Clary, or Paper Extravaganza, creates amazing papercut shapes, as well as the sculptural topographic installations. Late in 2009, 
Milk Art asked the typical who would you have to dinner, and how would you explain your work to them questions. Thankfully, they managed to peak our interest by asking Charles to describe his dream studio:
Movies and merchandising deals have been around since ET got hooked on Reece’s Pieces. Nowadays, major movie franchises make more money on the back end than they do at the box office. From fast food royalties, to branded toiletries, and logo-ridden apparel, it’s all been done. Recently, Star Wars, a franchise not known for selling out, gave us a sneak peek their exciting new Adidas Originals Star Wars collection. Okay, fictitiousness aside, we are really digging some of these pieces.
A very basic description of Star Wars’ latest and greatest merchandising deal was provided by the 
Imagine if your local bus stop allowed you to check your e-mail, share community information on a digital message board or monitor the local air quality? And perhaps best of all, what if it could tell you the exact location of that bus that you’re waiting for? Admittedly, modern smart phones already have a lot of these features covered, but for those who don’t live on their phones, MIT SENSEable City Lab has developed 
The EyeStop is partially covered with touch-sensitive e-INK and screens, and features state-of-the art sensing technologies and a variety of interactive services. Riders can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, surf the Web, monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter. They can also post ads and community announcements to an electronic bulletin board at the bus stop, enhancing the EyeStop’s functionality as a community gathering space. The MIT SENSEable City Lab provides additional justification as follows:
On Office justifies the location of this initiative, and addresses opposition to their proposal as follows:
One of my pet peeves about living in the city is the prevalence of abandoned shopping carts that find their way onto my lawn. Shopping carts are not decorative lawn ornaments. Nowadays, newer grocery stores have installed cart retaining systems, which deter theft by locking the wheels once they wander too far from the parking lot. Even so, that does little for the fleet of stolen carts that are presently in circulation. That’s all to say, until today we had never seen anyone use shopping carts as a part of their artistic endeavours. Enter 
These pieces are unmistakable, and there’s no doubt that he’s used shopping carts to create his set, which includes a table, chair, lamp and swing. Ramon provides additional insight as to how this idea came to be, and what the project means to him.
Tokyo based designer 
The idea barrows from the world of graphic design, giving each coin an infographic form that corresponds to pie charts. A one dollar coin is a circle, while a two dollar coin is two. The smaller increments are segments of the circle or perforated to show what percentage they represents. While this idea wouldn’t work very well in things like vending machines, it makes you think about alternative ways we could design money.
We originally featured the work of Canadian artist 
Way back in March of 2006, we featured a far out transportation scheme for Toronto dubbed 
Angelov provided the full background on the origin of Kolelinia is as follows:
When I was a kid, I dreamt of eating futuristic foods such as meals in pill form as depicted in the Jetsons. Then came Back to the Future’s food hydration device, and the Matrix’s single-celled protein and amino acid colloid that had the same consistency as mucus. With any luck, none of these nutritional predictions will come to true, as they really don’t beat the real thing. With the future of our food in mind, today we’re featuring the 
With that in mind, whether you wanted to enjoy a Big Mac from McDonald’s, your Grandmother’s famous apple pie, or the Soup Nazi’s mulligatawny, Cornucopia could deliver. You would never have to leave your house! It really sounds to good to be true, however Coelho and Zoran provide additional insight into the actual process of how it works.
Here’s another project by 
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an unhealthy diet is amongst one of the leading causes of major non-communicable diseases. Can revamped packaging encourage people to rethink their relationship with healthy food, and ultimately balance their diets? Zheng’s series of food packaging was created through the observation of personal unhealthy, and self-destructive behaviours. By using recognizable, stereotypical packaging from the drug, tobacco and fast food industries, people are more physically and physiologically connected with the food therein. By giving the good food this slight make over, it could contribute to the popularity of healthy food and encourage people to make small changes to their daily lifestyle. Sadly, I strongly doubt that billion dollar corporations would allow such packaging into the market.
On the 6th of July 2008, we published the