Man, I wish I had thought of this. Jason Sadler is a genius.

Jason runs the website I Wear Your Shirt. Jason is selling himself (well, his ability to wear a t-shirt) for a pretty penny and in return he markets your business. I Wear Your Shirt is the latest, greatest money-maker.

In his words: “Well it’s a pretty simple idea and I’m a pretty simple guy. For 2009, I am selling the upper-half of my wardrobe (shirts). I am selling every day of the year at face value, so January 1 is $1 and December 31 is $365. I will be selling all 365 days without exception!

So what do you get for the day(s) you purchased? Well I’m glad you asked. You mail me your shirt (size: X-Large) and you get:

• Daily Video on YouTube & Ustream.tv
• Daily Photos on the blog & Flickr
• Daily Posts on the blog & Twitter
• Calendar (You/Your Company’s Logo & Website)
• All of these with me wearing your shirt and information about you, your company and/or your product.

If you have something fun to send, feel free to include with your shirt: ie - other items of clothing, your company branded stress ball or even your custom bedazzled iPhone case! Also, I’ve got a very flexible schedule, so if you are interested in having me come to you or your place of business email me, I’ll bring my video camera and document the entire trip.

It is no secret, I am not a rock star, professional athlete, male model or anything internet spectacular. But I do have a passion for marketing, I find myself to be a pretty active guy and like achieving interesting goals.”

Sounds simple and almost juvenile, but he’s sold out through July already! Check it out!

I’m absolutely smitten with the website of graphic designer Ben Barry. So colorful, so simple, so informative!

After you are greeted and assured, “Yes We’re Open,” you can have a look at Ben’s extensive portfolio, his resume and a nice collection of links.

In all seriousness: the way in which you can navigate through his portfolio brings a tear to my eye. A gem, indeed.

Some mind-boggling illustration in the portfolio of Stefan Venbroek. Check out the Riverside illustration below. It’s a layered, collaged, super-detailed work of art.

You can get lost in work like Stefan’s.

I’ve seen plenty of posts about ZERO PER ZERO’s City Railway System projects. I’m glad folks led me to the ZPZ website, but mainly I’m glad that via the ZPZ site I found the illustrations of Jin Sol.

Sol is half of the ZPZ team (the other half is Kim Ji-Hwan) and a stellar artist on her own. Check out the drawings below and make sure you take a peek at her own website.

My favorites are the drawings of cities featuring major roadways and important landmarks, like the California image above.

Check out this packaging design by Patrick McKeever. A little bit of conversation going on over at Dieline.com, but aside from the funky shape of the box and its disadvantage to stocking grocery shelves, the idea to turn control portion size with the box-top is simply genius.

What do you think? Did Patrick miss the boat when he created the unique, angular box? Is he right on the money? Would his design be on every shelf if he had just stuck with the old-standard, rectangular cereal box and implemented his portion-controlled top?

Okay, I’m torn.

I am in love with Tommaso Ceschi’s overall concept: creative packaging that echoes something inherent about a brand and can also be reused (instead of thrown away). Mr. Clean, associated with “strength and physical power concepts, well represented by the famous bald muscle man logo.”

The packaging is colorful, fresh and new. It encourages exercise, praises strength (especially in women, based on the illustrations that accompany the product).

But.

In the same breath that encourages something progressive with activity, exercise and strength…you can’t help but notice the stereotype still embedded with the design. Why are all the illustrations of women? Why is every person using the packaging as a dumbbell a woman?

Men can’t clean, too? Men can’t benefit from the package’s reuse? I think not. How difficult would it have been to include an illustration of a man working his triceps?

Sigh. I love the packaging, I do. But push the envelope. Break a stereotype. We no longer live in the world our parents and grandparents grew up in. Advertising and packaging and everything else should include a more progressive spin. This concept for me is great, but it could have easily been excellent.

An amazing lecture at TED.com from the well-known designer Paula Scher.

Do you identify with her comparison of serious vs. solemn work?

Such a clever idea and eye-catching poster!

A personal study of the a-holes by Alberto Garcia (NOMO) is a treat!

Also worth mentioning: the unhole e’s

via SwissMiss

via GraphicHug

What is a print anyway? The answer to this question and many others that beginning graphic designers likely have is wrapped neatly into this site, sponsored by MOMA.

Learn how Woodcut, Lithography, Etching and Screenprinting methods are achieved. Get a quick glance at the history and pioneers of each method. Watch play-by-play printing examples and then take a look at a gallery including prints completed via each printing technique.

This site will teach you a lot in a little time and is a clever little presentation of information. Check it out!

Be warned that the site is Flash intensive–you’ll need a Flash player.

via BOOOOOOOM!

Today I found a collection of oil paintings from NY Academy of Art graduate Amy Bennett. Her paintings depict engaging, realistic scenes that look like photographs.

The stories behind her pieces are nearly as fascinating as the pieces themselves. From her Web site:

“Two years ago, I constructed a 1:87 scale model neighborhood, a fictitious cluster of eleven houses depicted through model railroading miniatures, Styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic, complete with string telephone wires and working lights. The process of designing and assembling the setting over several months triggered my imagination to develop characters to populate the place along with a loose time line of events that would culminate in the neighborhood’s history. I considered who lived in each home, their family dramas, and the way their private lives might spill into view of their neighbors. The model became a stage on which to develop the psychological implications of belonging to a particular family, with all of its dramas, struggles and familiar routines. I thought: this tree will be taken down after an old man crashes into it; a father will transform this lawn into an ice skating rink; this house will be abandoned after its residents are scandalized on the evening news.

The paintings are glimpses of a scene or fragments of a narrative. Some of the images are conceived of sequentially. While the images don’t necessarily need to be “read” in order, I am interested in storytelling over time through repeated depictions of the same house or car or person, seasonal changes, and shifting vantage points. Like the disturbing difficulty of trying to put rolls of film in order several years after the pictures have been taken, I hope the collective images suggest a known past that is just beyond reach. I intend for the tiny scale to enhance an urge for more information. Similar to a memory, they are fictional constructions of significant moments and distillations of experience. One of my challenges is to invite the viewer to form his or her own connection and narrative so that he may empathize with the occupants’ seemingly mundane existence.”

Bennett has seized upon a clever intersection between narrative and art–would one call her an artjournalist?