Liquid Treat

Gain insight into the history of design across the pond with a trip through the online slide collection of the Design Council, established by the British government in 1944 “to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry.” The approximately 13,000 images are dominated by products, from furniture and tableware to wallpaper and toys, but dig around and you’ll find areas such as graphic design, fashion, and architecture represented. We were particularly intrigued by the many corporate identity and packaging design projects, including luggage tags and soft drink labels. And while the focus is British design from 1945 to 1990, other countries and earlier periods have also made it into the collection.

With the holiday season approaching, do your part to avoid clichéd, and downright tragic, memories with the help of Awkward Family Photos. The hilarious photo blog was created earlier this year by a couple of childhood friends who compile cringeworthy snapshots from far and wide. Click through the growing cache of awkwardness to see families posing in the bathtub (Dad pulls up a chair on the toilet), with a raccoon, in matching karate outfits, in front of a burning barn, and while clutching various semi-automatic weapons. The good-natured captions only add to the fun. One shot of an unsmiling family arrayed stiffly in vacation mode is accompanied by the observation, “Something tells us an itinerary is involved here.”

Here’s one for your holiday wish list: Alex Steinweiss: Creator of the Modern Album Cover. Out next week from Taschen, this lushly illustrated coffee table book celebrates the career of Steinweiss, now 92, who revolutionized the way music was packaged and marketed. As Columbia Records’ first art director, he created colorful, whimsical combinations of illustration and typography that helped to boost album sales for the likes of Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, and Henny Goodman, while breathing new life into the works of classical composers with albums covers he approached like vibrant miniature posters. In addition to Steinweiss’ personal recollections and previously unpublished work, the book includes an essay by design historian Steven Heller and a foreword by Grammy Award-winning art director Kevin Reagan.

Ready for a visually stimulating autumn road trip? There’s always room for Jell-O -- specifically the Jell-O Gallery, located in Le Roy, New York, once home to General Foods’ Jell-O factory. Open every day through December 31, the Jell-O Gallery welcomes you to its website with, "If you haven't been to LeRoy recently, please do so!" and from there details what you can expect to see, including “a large new exhibit that reflects Bill Cosby's influence over 30 years.” And don’t miss the gift shop, which offers keepsakes such as Jell-O-emblazoned molds, thimbles, and, um, boxer shorts, although we're not sure what to make of this online description of them: "A great gift for the man in your life, or wear them as shorts (they don't have a fly)."

When a Web site defies both logic and easy description, you know you're in for a treat, and so it is with the "I Can Read Movies" Series by Mitch "Spacesick" Ansara. The growing collection of film-based book covers designed with a Saul Bass/Alvin Lustig flair imagines "novelizations of major pictures" such as Ernest Goes to Camp, Space Jam, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- in Japanese (English subtitle: "Mr. Wonka! Just Punisher of Coddled Children"). Click on each cover for a bonus comment/film quote.

Peek inside the heads of seven Trollbäck + Company designers at one of the most unguarded times of the day: right before they fall asleep. These short films take you on a surreal journey behind heavy eyelids. You'll be mesmerized by bursting drops of brightly colored paint, shopping lists that come alive and morphing fields of light ... all executed with the same strength of concept and attention to detail as Trollbäck's client work. And don't say we didn't warn you: There's a scary clown.

by Michelle Taute