House Blend

Ever wished that combining photos into a single seamless image didn’t require hours hunched over Photoshop and abundant skill? Students at Tsinghua University in Beijing may have found just the solution with Sketch2Photo, a new method that composes a realistic picture from a simple freehand sketch annotated with text labels—meaning that one could create a convincing family portrait from solo photos of Mom, Dad, and Junior along with a simple drawing of where each person should be positioned in the montage. We were sure that magic was involved, but it’s actually oodles of algorithms. Luckily, knowledge of Poisson blending operations is not needed to appreciate the power of Sketch2Photo, which should be available for online demo shortly. In the meantime, check out the video of the system at work.

What’s werewolf-proof, lighter than air, and filled with more treasures than a dragon’s lair?” So begins another edition of Veer’s activity book for creatives. The sixth annual edition is the first to be distributed exclusively in PDF form, and it’s worth a download. Forty-two pages worth of puzzles and brain-teasers will test your knowledge of everything from Photoshop filters (match the effect to the image) and typefaces (can you spot Courier in a line-up of serifed impersonators?) to reality TV shows (their titles are presented for your unscrambling) and cowboy terms (hidden in a word search, partner). Those in no mood for games can turn to the back of the book, which offers printable templates for a helper elf, a paper fortune teller, and an origami airplane—the “Miedinger Airvetica”—emblazoned with a certain Swiss font.

In our ongoing quest for office supplies that are both functional and inspirational, we have discovered Stickytape, a hefty roll of clear packing tape printed with quotations and advice from leading designers. The adhesive-backed, sans-serif wisdom ranges from practical suggestions (“Think first before you put anything on paper or computer,” recommends Wim Crouwel) and affirmations (“Trust your eyes”) to terse directives (“Focus”) and management tips (Adrian Shaughnessy’s “Always employ people who are better than you”). Meanwhile, Daniel Eatock is out to save lives, warning “Never tie your shoe in a revolving door.” Designed by James Greenfield for British creative hub Blanka, the tape proves that good advice sticks.

Is it a cheese? Is it a font? You decide in a new online game that presents players with a procession of names to categorize as the province of the dairy case or the type foundry. Sounds simple, right? You know your Goudy from your Gouda and would never set a block of text in Manchego nor snack on a block of Helvetica. But watch out for the trickier ones: Rudelsberg, Gabriel, and Beaumarchais have emerged as particularly challenging. Click to see how your skills stack up against the site’s approximately 180,000 visitors so far who have made three million guesses—about 57 percent of them correct.

Forget the message t-shirt. Today the reusable shopping bag is the method of choice for broadcasting one’s point of view to anyone who cares to read it. Seattle-based novelty purveyor Archie McPhee has the goods. Among the newest items at the self-described “world’s greatest weird store” are a series of bright green “faux canvas” bags printed with slogans that are sure to raise eyebrows in the checkout lane. Feeling superior? Grab the one that tells the world “My reusable bag makes me better than you.” In the mood to confess? Opt for the bag that reveals “I usually leave this bag in my car.” Our favorite is of two minds, proclaiming “Buy Locally / Made in China.”

“What’s werewolf-proof, lighter than air, and filled with more treasures than a dragon’s lair?” So begins another edition of Veer’s activity book for creatives. The sixth annual edition is the first to be distributed exclusively in PDF form, and it’s worth a download. Forty-two pages worth of puzzles and brain-teasers will test your knowledge of everything from Photoshop filters (match the effect to the image) and typefaces (can you spot Courier in a line-up of serifed impersonators?) to reality TV shows (their titles are presented for your unscrambling) and cowboy terms (hidden in a word search, partner). Those in no mood for games can turn to the back of the book, which offers printable templates for a helper elf, a paper fortune teller, and an origami airplane—the “Miedinger Airvetica”—emblazoned with a certain Swiss font.