Magic Potion

Put your logo love and your hue I.Q. to the test with Brandseen, a new brand identification game created by students Kevin Xu, Cathy Lee, and Ari Weinstein at last weekend's Greylock Hackfest in San Francisco. It sounds simple enough: Select the color you associate with each iconic logo and then click "Compare" to see how close, on a scale of 1-100, the shade you chose is to the actual one. At the end, you'll learn how your ability to pinpoint Coca-Cola red -- and the signature hues of eight other megabrands -- stacks up with that of others (we hear the score to beat is an impressive 96 percent average accuracy). Be sure to bookmark Brandseen for future visits, as the developers plan to add multicolor logo challenges in the months to come.

It's no secret that the covetable creations of Apple's Jony Ive have been influenced by the sleek, function-forward aesthetic of Dieter Rams, and now there's an app that's worthy of these two masters: WTHR. Developed by Miami-based visual designer David Elgena according to Rams' ten principles of good design, this utilty offers a less-is-more approach to the weather. One glance at the elegant interface (an homage to a Rams-designed dial) tells you the current local weather as well as a seven-day forecast. But the app comes with a warning. "Daily use of the WTHR app may cause bouts of joy, happiness, and in some extreme and severe cases, audible gratitude from your eyeballs," cautions Elgena. "In some case studies users also gained acute symptoms of good design choices and a bias towards well-made things."

Feeling oppressed by conventional greeting cards, with their clichéd messages, cringeworthy imagery and flimsy paper stock? Stock up on Say Anything notes from Poketo. These sturdy postcards are letterpress-printed with word search-style letter fields that conceal greetings for any occasion. Grab a pen and find your desired sentiment, such as "Happy Birthday," "Thank You," "You're Invited," and/or "I Messed Up." (A cheat sheet is included to help you find the right words.) French and Spanish versions are also available. Meanwhile, you can elaborate on your chosen greeting in message space on the back of the card -- or simply leave the recipient puzzling.

It's a magazine! It's wrapping paper! Stop, you're both right, because it's Wrap, a large-format illustration and design magazine that doubles as gorgeous wrapping paper. Held together in a hard cover with a jumbo rubber band rather than staples, each page has a print on the reverse and is easily pulled out and re-used to wrap gifts. Brits Chris Harrison and Polly Glass founded the publication-cum-product with the aim of developing a platform to work with and help to promote new and established illustrators and artists. The latest issue of Wrap is the North American-themed "Quick on the Draw," which features contributions by the likes of Jessica Fortner, Josh Evans, and Primitive Press.

Wish there was a simpler way to sell your old stuff? Kick it to the Krrb, a new online classifieds platform that prides itself on being both "hyper-local" and "mega-global." Interactive agency Area 17 launched the site last year to facilitate local selling (and buying and trading) in the vast market for secondhand and vintage stuff, and has already attracted users in 704 cities and 65 countries. The design twist? The fledgling platform recently signed on its first major partner, Apartment Therapy, which now features Krrb-powered classifieds for everything from a "Mies van der Rohe-esque" chair to Morse code earrings. So is Krrb a Craiglist killer? "We're not looking to kill," say the founders with a wink, "just maim a little."

The golden age of air travel may be behind us, but today's ultra-connected world has its advantages. Fasten your seat belt for Air Lines, an art project that translates worldwide airliner routes into a stunning map. Every scheduled flight on any given day is represented by a fine line from its point of origin to its port of destination. Together they form a webby approximation of the world, with hubs (JFK, FRA, or DXB, for example) represented as dark knots where lines meet. Prints are available in three sizes. Needless to say, they ship worldwide.