Mayhem aside, as I watched the show and the awesome cakes that were produced, I began to wonder how Buddy comes up with this stuff. (Uh, hello zombie cake.) Cake decorators, are in essence, artists and designers. They not only have to take into account the aesthetics of the cake, but how it will be constructed and, most importantly, how it will taste.

Since Buddy seemed a little unavailable, I contacted a good friend of mine who’s in the cake design business to get some insight. Leibowit, meet Janna Worsham.

So Janna, you’ve made quite a range of cakes. How do you approach a new design project? Do you have a specific process that you like to use?

I try to approach each cake with fresh eyes. I never want to be that cake artist that continues to create the same three-tier cake and only changes up colors despite the client and their ideas. I always start by trying to really feel out what the client wants, and from there, I look at their ideas and their expectations and I begin weighing the options of how I can go beyond that. Sometimes a design comes to me right away but other times, I have to wait. Once an idea comes to me, I grab pencil and paper and sketch like mad! Usually somewhere in that mess comes my design!

Thanksgiving Cake (photo courtesy of Janna Worsham)

From where do you draw inspiration?

In college I watched a new, little show on food network called Ace of Cakes. I couldn’t believe the cakes they created as artists with no culinary background. Now, it seems every channel is marketing on the subject of cake art. It has exploded! While it is so exposed at the moment, it only reveals that we are just now scratching the surface of what can be done with the medium. I find it so exciting that I get so inspired just thinking about how far it can go! Knowing that there are no limits is an incredibly inspiring thought! However, if I ever feel a lack of drive on a particular project, there are numerous cake artists out there that I can look to for inspiration!  In the end, clients are a huge inspiration. When they come to me, they have something or someone they are planning on celebrating with a cake. I always want to excite them and go above and beyond what they are expecting!

The Shoe Cake (photo courtesy of Janna Worsham)

I’ve seen your infamous baked potato cake. How did you figure out how to construct that beast?!

It’s funny, that cake was the most last minute, random cake I have ever created. My parents were having a bible study at their house and the menu for the evening was a baked potato bar. At that point, I was looking for any excuse to create a cake just to challenge myself, play with my shiny new airbrush and get people to see (and taste) my work! When I heard about their baked potato bible study, I immediately offered them a cake for their evening. I took several layers of cake rounds and started slapping on the butter cream. What happened then was frightening as without any thought, I went at it with a knife. I guess my years of eating starchy potatoes paid off because I never even second-guessed how I would construct it, I just did it without thinking. That simple cake has turned out to be one of my ultimate and most memorable favorites!

The Baked Potato Cake (photo courtesy of Janna Worsham)

Any good advice for artists and designers who are looking to dive into a new medium?

While so many artists are known for being eccentric and bold, I think it is easy to get stuck in a rut. If you feel the urge to try something new, just jump in! Be fearless! Design is about your perspective so no one can tell you that what you are doing is wrong. Just enjoy playing with something new!

So there you have it, kids! Now, if you excuse me, I have to catch a train to Hoboken to see a man about a cake.

It makes sense—it’s tough to stand out on the streets of this city, especially when there are 5 other trucks fighting for the same corner.

One in particular that’s caught my eye in recent weeks is Kelvin Natural Slush Co. Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea of a truck selling slush in flavors like Blood Orange + Ginger or Mango + Citrus is pretty intriguing, but, for me, the food is not the main attraction. It never would have made me look if not for its clean, modern, very blue design and slab serif type.

If you’re anxious to try it out yourself, you can follow them on their blog and keep up with their current location on Twitter.

Photos from the Kelvin Facebook page.

Update: The folks at Kelvin let us know that Aaron Harowitz is the designer behind the Kelvin brand.

Plastic Pitcher of Salami, Eastern Europe (prohibited)

Contraband is a new book by Taryn Simon. The book is a collection of photographs taken over the course of five days in November of 2009 during which Simon lived at New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport. The book features photographs taken 24 hours a day of over 1,000 items that were either detained or seized from international passengers and mail coming in to the United States. The items range from the bizarre–a dead hawk carcass–to the illegal–counterfeit Disney DVDs and drugs.

It took several months of negotiations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to allow Simon to photograph all the incoming contraband over the five day time span. “I wanted the shoot to be somewhat of a performance piece, where my photographs were replicating the actual flow of goods during a very fixed period of time,” Simon said about the project.

The current New York Times Magazine features some of the photographs. There will also be an exhibition about the project that will opens at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills on September 22nd and at Lever House in New York on September 30th. To learn more about the project click here.

The hotel is located in Brussels, so if you’ve been itching to get to Belgium for some waffles, there’s no better time to go (or place to stay). Rooms are decorated in 7 different color palettes: Earthy/Rich (478 C), Daring/Fiery (200 C), Vibrant/Intense (137 C), Cheerful/Warm (1215 C), Captivating/Esteemed/Silky (238 C), Fresh/Eager (353 C), Tranquil/Aquatic/Exhilarating (298 C).

Pantone colored every detail of the hotel, down to the last drop. Enjoy cocktails with colors to fit your mood: Pink Champagne 12–1107, Lemon Drop 12–0736 and Daiquiri Green 12–0435. The hotel also boasts the most comprehensive collection of Pantone merchandise.

You can even ride a Pantone bike around the city.

The Lobby

The facade of the building

The Yellow Room

Click on each image for photo credit.

Please note, I’m focusing on the concepts as a whole versus the execution itself, and these are just my initial reactions to each. I linked to all the websites too, to see how the brands sync up on the digital side.

As you can see, the logo that I found on the Visit Puerto Rico site is relatively simple. I was unable to find it in too many other places (hence the poor image quality), but they use a custom typeface throughout the rest of the brand.

The Hawaii logo is textured, tropical and colorful, which is a good representation of the Hawaiian islands themselves. However, I’m not sure I like the style that much; it feels a little early 90s to me.

The Bermuda shorts seem like a pretty obvious choice for the mark on this logo, but it has an upscale but breezy feel, which is about right.

St. John is one of my absolute favorite places in the entire world. I’m not so sure about the multicolored man on stilts juggling stars (see website for animation), but the USVI logo certainly has an island flair to it.

One part of me is totally charmed by the obviously fun-loving Cayman Islands pirate turtle with a peg leg and sword. The other part of me desperately wants someone to redo this logo and bust “Sir Turtle” out of the 80s. (That’s his official name according to Kim, a longtime Cayman resident.)

I think the Bahamas logo and identity system by Duffy Partners is probably the most successful island identity out there. Everywhere you go in the Bahamas, you see this logo represented–brand loyalty is definitely not an issue for them. The concept is really strong–it mimics the actual islands themselves but isn’t so literal that it just feels like a drawing of islands. The patterns and colors are used effectively throughout different elements such as the website, brochures and even in animation. Brand New featured this identity as “One of the Most Relevant Identities of the Decade” and I agree wholeheartedly. Be sure to check out the TV commercial here.

In their effort to contribute to the oil spill in the Gulf, the talented (and very beardy) Jason Kernevich and Dusty Summers who make up The Heads of State have put together a series of limited edition travel posters. Half of each sale goes towards the Gulf cleanup, so along with your poster, you get a side order of the “warm fuzzies.” Not a bad deal for $30.

The posters are a wonderful nod to the tourism adverts of yesteryear, combined with the recognizable look and feel from The Heads of State. So, whether you’re West coast, East coast, or a newly transplanted Lebron fan, there is a poster for you. I ordered my New York City poster over the weekend… now I just have to find a space on my wall to hang it.

For all you Lebron fans… (Photo courtesy of The Heads of State)

If you’re into the desert… (Photo courtesy of The Heads of State)

And for all of our fellow New Yorkers, Lady Liberty. (Photo courtesy of The Heads of State)

Here is the actual boarding pass he used as a starting point:

And here is the redesign:

Clean, legible and stylish. Now, how amazing would it be if all boarding passes were as beautiful and highly functional as these?

It’s unlikely we’ll ever get to this point, as it would require a massive update to the systems used to create these passes. But Tyler’s design still proves that there is a ton of room for improvement and even taking a few small steps would help.

I love the modern but also slightly 70s feel of the map designs from These Are Things. The bright colors and large type would probably help me actually remember those Western states. Apparently the designers are currently working on a new set of posters, so I’ll be on the lookout for those!

I noticed Ork Posters a while back and I was pleased to see when I visited their site that they have expanded well beyond the Manhattan map that I liked in the first place.

At first glance these are fun looking posters using type, but if you look closely it really is a particularly impressive act of skilled typography, getting all those details and tiny neighborhoods accurately. The designs are also available in a variety of colors so you can pick what works best with your decor.

This is only a sampling of their work–other cities include Philadelphia, Seattle, and Chicago. They’ve even ventured into anatomy with a map of the human brain! Be sure to visit the site to look at these at a larger size so you can appreciate all the detail.

I started at Leibowitz last week and have already learned some valuable InDesign shortcuts (thanks Dana!) and about using a loop to see how colors were printed. Although I’ve had past “design” internships, this is my first at a design firm and it’s really great getting to see how they function.

Some more about me: I love all things design, especially architecture (Frank Lloyd Wright & Frank Gehry are among my favorites). I love to travel and have driven cross country 3 times (it’s a life goal to get to all 50 states). I’m also an animal lover — I have 6 dogs, 3 horses, and now 4 baby goats (all at one house except for one dog!).

I can already tell that this summer will be a great learning experience for me. I am anxious to see what else awaits me!

Being from Michigan, particularly outside of Detroit, I always have an interest in what is going on in that area. Detroit itself is a vanishing city; with the American car market tanking, the city has lost the majority of its population and jobs, and crime is up and tourism is down. A friend recently told me about an article in segdDESIGN (Society for Environmental Graphic Design’s publication) that focused on the new maps being used to describe Detroit and its immediate surrounding area. So I did little research and learned about the D Brand. The D Brand is the rebranding of Detroit as a tourist spot by Applied Storytelling and the basis of the brand are the D Maps. There is a lot of historical presence left in Detroit, as well as a music scene and a sports culture, but due to a nonexistent public transit system, lack of funding, and a poor public image the American public does not see Detroit as an enticing place to visit. Applied Storytelling addressed some of the main issues, one being the vast metropolis that makes up the city. Due to urban sprawl, many of the tourist locations are spread out. Applied Storytelling wanted to simplify the city in a way that did not overwhelm visitors and could be something that would remain an evolving tool for the city. Using colorful circles and clean graphics based off maps such as the London Underground and the New York City subway map they were able to highlight attractions in specific tourist destination districts in a series of maps. In the upper left hand corner of each map is an icon that shows where that specific district is located within the city as a whole.

And from the D Maps (the project’s key deliverable) grew the D Brand. The city itself still has a long way to go before it can become the iconic city and attraction it once was, but the D Maps and corresponding brand are the right steps in rebuilding the city. To learn more about the D Brand, check out the brand story and development here. To see more download the D Brand guidelines and additional maps.