Liquid Treat

Shepard Fairey's "Obey Giant" street art campaign is the stuff of legend, and now it's the subject of a narrative film by Julian Marshall, a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (Fairey's alma mater). The narrative short, which debuts online on Monday, April 15, is based on the true story of Fairey's first act of street art, making it something of a cinematic portrait of the artist as a young skate punk challenging a big-city mayor (the oleaginous Buddy Cianci) and the powers that be at art school. Visit UnBeige.com on Monday to read a Q&A with Marshall, who raised $65,000 in funding for the ambitious project via Kickstarter.

Still crunching numbers for your tax return? Make math a lot more pleasant with a Draw It Yourself Calculator ($12.99 from Perpetual Kid). The solar-powered gizmo arrives resembling a blank sheet of looseleaf paper. Grab some Sharpies and sketch in your very own versions of numerals (Roman?), operations (x or *?) and other button functions (what does "MR" do again?). Follow the included template to avoid calculation confusion.

On Sunday, April 28th, take a break from your digital devices to spread the unusual beauty of a historical photographic process as the world celebrates Pinhole Photography Day. Now in its thirteenth year, the event celebrates and promotes the lenless method that dates from the 10th century. Join thousands of people (pinheads?) from around the globe in the simple act of making a pinhole photograph by adapting an existing camera or making your own out of a light-tight container, such as a box or a can, with a tiny hole in one side. Leave your perfectionist tendencies at home with your digital camera, because, according to Pinhole Photography Day organizers, "This is the photography of patience, of meditation, no more anguish for a 'badly turned out' photo."

Translating your photos from analog to digital is a snap with Lomography's Smartphone Film Scanner. Turn on the portable device's backlight, feed in your 35mm film (remember that?), take a photo of it using your smartphone, and then use your phone's camera or the specially-developed app (iPhone and Android versions available) to edit and share the freshly digitized images. At $59, it's an affordable and speedy solution to film scanning that works for color negative, color slide and black & white films.

We love classic Post-It notes, developed by a 3M researcher who saw opportunity in a chemist colleague's flimsy adhesive, but they're no good for larger tasks -- sticky signs, charts, long lists, bookmarks for giant books. 3M has come to the rescue with Post-It Big Pads, a new line of jumbo sticky notes that top out at a comically large 22 inches square. Part conversation piece, part makeshift whiteboard, these supersized pads are sure to surprise and delight at home and at the office, or wherever a lot of stick–to–itiveness is required.

A 192-member jury of leading creatives and designers gets down to the business of judging the 51st D&AD Awards on April 15, so it's the perfect time to look back on the first five decades of excellence in visual thinking with D&AD 50, new from Taschen. The anniversary tome spotlights the best in design and advertising through the eyes of D&AD presidents and other key figures who each share his or her favorites from one of the last 50 years, from the birth of TV advertising in the '60s through the digital revolution and smartphone-optimized world of today.