Moolah

[click on images to enlarge]

I received this little milk carton in the mail yesterday. On top of being cute, Moolah is "Melamine Free" and requires "no refrigeration, stays on top in all economic times". In case you can't read it clearly (I apologise for the poor lighting), one side of it reads--

INGREDIENTS: 

Loose change, cash, leftover coins from overseas trips, hongbao fillings, 10% bonus

NUTRITIONAL FACTS: Per servings

M: Mint money in the new year 888kcal

O: Outperform your competition 9.8g

O: Optimise your resources 10.8g

L: Lead in the marketplace 68g

A: Advance towards your goals 10mg

H: Head for the stars 107mg

BEST USED:

During economic crisis

It's actually a marketing material by a local brand consultancy, A. S. Louken Group. Isn't it great how they pay attention to all the details on a typical milk carton and give it a twist? Creative, witty and cute!

The Magic Faraway Tree

[images from Krisatomic via Soon Lee]

Check out these treehouses nestled in the rich green woods and beside a calm river. Do they call to mind anything? They certainly do for me! And bring with them a sense of nostalgia too.

I grew up on a staple diet of Enid Blyton book. As soon as I stepped into a bookstore, I would loosen my hand from my mum’s grip and dive for the Enid Blyton book shelves. I would disappear into the fantastical world of The Enchanted Woods, Magic Faraway Tree, wonder why I neither go to a boarding school nor get to enjoy midnight feasts, and I partook in the endless adventures of the Famous Five. These books definitely added much colour and excitement to my childhood.

Aren't these old book cover designs simply lovely? Were you a little Enid Blyton fan too?

[images from The Enid Blyton Society]

Judging a Book by its Cover

Remember the days back in school when studying literature meant reading lots of classical works? The common perception is that classics are boring and heavy. So ingrained are these notions that I find these books repulsive even before flipping the covers open. This is reinforced by the look of the book which often screams "dullsville". I am sure many of you agree with me on that. Being aesthetic people, we are not sorry to judge a book by its cover. Much as I love reading, I was always behind time in lit class with these books and sometimes resort to reading the simplified versions as the exam dates drew near.

Oh, but times sure have changed. I spotted these lovely book covers over at Penguin Classics. Aren't they inviting? I hear their calls to enjoy the British countryside.

More beautiful English journeys here. 

[images from Penguin Classics]

Little Purple Book

This is a booklet I created for my company. We are a small but growing company and needed an employee handbook to document our human resource policies. After some discussion, we decided that we wanted to relate the company's beginnings to new members as well. Knowing our roots and passion of the pioneers would help establish a sense of identity. Hence being the radicals that we are, we wanted our handbook to read like a story book. Yours truly was then tasked with seeing the book to fruition.

With the partnership of another colleague, I somehow managed to present the story of our beginnings, our family work culture, brand and human resource matters in the form of a book. Instead of titling it "The Employee Handbook", we gave it an interesting title, aligned with our quest to be the Purple Cow.

The printing was done in-house (thank goodness the printer didn't die on me). I would have bound it differently but we had to manage the cost.

SILNT

Gorgeous design by SILNT (found via Casual Poet). I love how understated it is. SiLNT was commissioned by the National Arts Council of Singapore to design this book for Noise Singapore 2009 (an arts festival for young people, by young people, dedicated to creating noise about the creative young talents in Singapore). Founded in 2005, SILNT is a local design studio that works on a diverse range of projects from art direction and design, brand development and campaign services to curatorial direction etc.

More pictures of the book here.

Animal Rubber Bands

Aren't these adorable? Rubber bands are no longer dull! These animal rubber bands stay in shape. So, imagine the little surprise your receiver gets upon untying them. They are accompanied by cute descriptions too. Found on +d. Check out their other cute products as well.