It has been a while since I have written about branding but Branch Creative caught my attention. Their solid color choices with minimal lines and typography kept me focused and interested in what they were displaying.

Here is a little bit about Branch Creative:

Branch Creative is an executive production and advertising house that represents a pool of photographers, illustrators and commercial directors from around the world. We created a sophisticated identity system with a playful typography treatment.

See more of their branding material on Behance.

How many speakers do you have around your house that you wished were wireless with your phone? With Beep ($149) you now do not need to go and replace all the speakers you've accumulated around your house. Beep is a small Wi-Fi enabled devices that connects to any stereo or speaker system with  an RCA jacks, auxiliary input, or optical input. You will now be able to play music to any connected speaker or group of speakers from your iOS or Android phone. Beep also gives you the ability to synchronize music across a range of Beeps, you can play your music throughout your place, or choose different music for different beeps.  It currently at this time only supports Pandora but they are working to add other app's. Check out the site to get more information.

Google recently launched “Google Play Newsstand”, a new application for Android enabled devices ( also knows as Google  Currents for IOs devices) that allows you to read all your favorite news sources in one experience. Newsstand puts the news you care about most front and center and presents stories that interest you based on your tastes.

With this news application users can subscribe to magazines, newspapers, blogs and news sites and the newsstand will  format and optimize them all for an enhanced reading experience on their tablet or phone.

In that being said I would like to let you all know that "The Collective Loop" is now on Google Currents and Google Newsstands.  It took a little bit of work but it's so worth it.

Please click the link below to Subscribe to: The Collective Loop.  

Now take TCL wherever you go!

If you are a website/blog owner and you want to add your content to Google Newsstand you can via Google Producer tool.

UPDATE 07/20/18: Google Current and Google Newsstand has been replaced by Google News now.

SOND™ ($95) by VOID watches is a unique timekeeper. This injection molded one single piece watch has an innovative locking mechanism that uses the watch itself to secure the nylon watchband. This not only greatly reduces the number of moving parts but also creates an interesting contrast of colors and materials and makes the strap easy to change and adjust.  Total number of pieces is 4 but don't worry it comes in eight different colors and can create over 500 unique color combinations without any tools or training.  Check out the watches over at VOID.

The SOND™ is waterproofed to 3ATM (30m), it measures 38x44x11mm (WxHxT) and the nylon watchband is 22mm wide.

So we all know that Valentines is coming soon, so why not give your man something personal but useful. All men need to shave, well at least most men need to shave.

Harry's which offers a great shave for a fair price has a lineup of products that include: expertly designed handles, their own high-grade German steel blades, and natural shave cream.  The high end of products is the  Engraved Winston ($40) - a sleek, aluminum handle engraved with your initials or whatever you want that you can think of for 3 letters.   You can also setup different types of auto-refills to fit your man shaving needs.  They do offer different options for products, so if this package doesn't work, check out their other offers.

Welcome to Playlist-58 the second new playlist of 2014.  In this installment I want to bring in the new with a whole new selection of artists.  We have new music by Liam Back, Lincoln Jesser and Little India.

Click Play and have at it! If you want to check out any of the other Playlist then click on Archived Playlist in this post or on the right hand side of this blog or in the menu.


Cover Art by: Damion Schweizer

Tracklist

French architects Betillon/Dorval Bory designed this tiny studio apartment that was renovated and converted into a modern living space that is big enough for two people. This apartment defenitly demonstrates the efficient use of space.  Different sections of the apartment are separated by colorful lighting.  So check it out. Would you be cool with climbing up on your counter to get to your tiny bedroom?

If you're like me and not much of a football fan, but are always surrounded by it, then this video is for you. It will teach you the basics of what you need to know about NFL football. This animated video was created by Fraser Davidson and voiced over by the guys over at Adventures in Design podcast (aidpodcast.com). So go ahead and start the learning process because why not?

Josh Ln is the creator and designer of these Hero-Glyphics. This illustrator got his creative poster idea from Egyptian hieroglyphics featuring superheroes and fictional characters from modern comic books, movies, and TV shows.   Check out more of Josh Ln work and also check out his store.  You could even get pillows made out of these.

Power Rangers

Ninja Turtles

Spiderman 

Xmen