Last month, Smashing Magazine announced a CSS Design Contest encouraging designers to put their creative powers to work and publish experimental CSS3 projects. For judging, Smashing took into consideration the originality of the technique and its uniqueness. To the judges, “The idea mattered more than the execution.”

The winning entry was a colorful pie chart (swappable to pyramid format via slider) illustrating the global usage share of web browsers over the past 6 quarters. My only issue had to do with the UI: the catfish navigation — which looked almost too integrated with the design — failed to resemble any kind of traditional CTA. Not a bad thing for more savvy users, but most may not realize these are buttons that control the morphing effect of on the graph.

Take a look at some of the other winners, all of which are pleasing indications of the great things to come with the impending adoption of CSS3. Keep in mind that the following pieces of awesomeness are very experimental and may not work or look the same across different browsers.

First place: CSS3 Charts [preview]

Second place: CSS3 Rubik’s Cube [preview]

Third place: CSS3D [preview]

Fourth place: CSS3 Monster Blob [preview]

Fifth place: A Rift In Time [preview]

Click here to see even more »

I have no immediate plans to visit the UK but when I do I’ll know exactly where to go to see some of the city’s most impressive graffiti. The savvy web folks at Bristol Street Art have put together a lovely interactive map that allows users to browse locations of the city’s pieces via Google Maps.

The app also lets you to filter the results by status (active vs. buffed), time period, type and artist. For traveling artists, the app may be useful for getting a lay of the land and quickly finding work from their favorite UK artists but I am a little worried this information would give Joe Law a good idea of frequently hit walls. Not to mention giving away the geo-specific location of Bristol’s best hidden spots.

Bristol Street Art Map »

For the past 13 years, life in Great Britain has been relatively good under the rule of their self described ‘Democratic Socialist’ Labour party. A closer look uncovers some interesting bits of information. These superb infographics from the talented designers at Propspect Magazine focus on immigration, health, technology, economics, lifestyle and education and show that, while more indebted and heavier drinkers, Brits are more educated, better connected through technology and living much longer lives.

After studying these graphics and learning more than I cared to about the changes undergone in our transatlantic, first world counterparts, I found the set to be very well done. They offer subtle yet effective iconography and incorporate a monotone palette with bursts of complementary color queues that keep the data interesting, even when it was explaining numbers that didn’t jump off the page at first glance.

In case you missed the link above, you can see the goods here: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/how-britain-has-changed-since-1997/

The New York Times continues to impress with their ability to integrate elegant and useful tools into their ever-evolving index page. Tonight, they displayed a Twitter ticker below the featured story showing Reader’s Reactions to President Obama’s speech on the Gulf oil spill.

I find this to be a wonderful example of a traditional media company breaking away from traditional UI practices to experiment with the user behavior of their audience. I can only guess that most users visiting the index while this was rolling felt as though they had more information, from an extended source of contributors in real time. It’s a pretty amazing way to incorporate the opinions of captain random alongside the musings of rock-star, online journalists.

The times they are a-changin’.

I recently posted some thoughts on music videos that I felt went above and beyond what’s generally expected in terms of aesthetics. Here’s another I recently came across thanks to my new go-to girl on good music, Robin. Click the thumbnail to play.

The video takes advantage of trendy retro style 3D elements via Cinema 4D while the the artist, La Roux, dishes out clever, catchy lyrics against tracks for those in need of dance inspiration. The song is uber popular as of late, but I should point out that Robin first introduced me to this red-haired maven of melodies months ago. I haven’t been able to stop listening ever since.

More awesome jQuery plug-ins just keep on coming. This time I happen to come across a very handy plug-in called Cloud Zoom that rivals commercial image zoom products already standard for many tier 1 online retailers. It’s lean, mean and is impressively browser compatible.

Other useful features include: adding colored tints over the small image on hover (shown above), placing zoom position inside the smaller image (useful if you want to keep the zoom area from obscuring other content) and the ability to apply a subtle, fuzzy blur over the original while zooming.

Peep and download it here.

Just a garage door, you say? Nay! Much like how the garage itself is a bastion for creative types capable of churning out amazing bands, inventions and even start up companies, your garage door should be treated as a canvas for showing the world (or at least your neighbors) the inner beauty of your soul.

Click a thumbnail below to view slideshow. And please contact your HOA and request approval prior destroying your garage.

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It’s not often that I sit back and admire minimalist design — outside of architecture, that is. Works from prominent minimalist artists like Kazimir Malevich or Piet Mondrian never struck a chord with me and, frankly, studying the minimalist movement of the early 20th century in college was by far my least favorite design-related course.

As of late, however, both established and up-and-coming web and print designers have been producing beautiful and clever minimalist poster designs. Based on what I’ve seen over the past few months, I can’t help but appreciate the sleek, clean shapes and color thrown together in such a quiet, subtle way that yields such powerful compositions with concise messaging.

Two of my recent favorites are the movie and street fighter posters you see below. Click for larger views.

Want to see some more minimalist awesomeness? Check out these poster designs brought to life using CSS3. Love it. Example 1 |  Example 2 |  Example 3

Seattle’s Best Coffee has been around since 1970, kicking things off in the city that was to become the mecca U.S. coffee culture: Seattle, WA. Over the past 10 years or so, Seattle’s best has even become a fixture for Colorado coffee zombies with their beans available in most grocery stores, shops inside all Borders bookstores and even two standalone stores in the metro area. Seattle’s best is also the nation’s second largest coffee roaster behind Starbuck. Interestingly enough, Starbucks bought Seattle’s Best back in 2003.

Today, Seattle’s Best announced a major push in its distribution by adding their coffee to the menus of other retailers like Subway, Burger King and AMC Entertainment. In tandem, they’ve also unveiled a radically new logo, designed by Seattle ad agency Creature.

The approach to the design seems to gel with the business plan — solidifying Seattle’s Best as the go-to vending machine coffee brand. That might sound a bit harsh, but it’s actually true. In addition to the new distribution partnerships, Seattle’s Best is indeed planning to offer their brew via cafeteria style, coin-operated contraptions. Does that make the brand more approachable? Maybe. But I also think the new logo has a sterile feel that, aside from making me want to donate blood, feels too generic.

I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but those that I’ve polled said the quality of Seattle’s Best is not accurately represented by such a simple, contemporary design. The more detailed, classic label-style logo from yesterday speaks to a more established company offering coffee with a refined flavor which, in their opinion, rivals that of Daddy Starbucks’.

As I start the day (and anxiously wait for Stueben’s to open) I thought I’d share some fantastically fashioned birthday cakes. Bakers/Designers like Duff Goldman are, in my opinion, amazing craftsmen who’s artistry have inspired on so many fronts. Mostly on the eating front, but also on showing us the delights of playful designs that help keep us young at heart.

Also awesome? Jennifer’s birthday cakes! And today I’ll be enjoying a lovely chocolate peanut butter and jelly cake that’s going to force me to spend the rest of my birthday weekend at the gym. Totes worth it.