Design

The only thing that can top building something incredible with Legos is taking a good photo of it. Chris McVeigh does both.

The graphic and Web designer is a wizard with bricks and a lens. His latest creation marks the recent 29th anniversary of Steve Jobs' release of the original Apple Macintosh in January 1984. It's just too cute for school.

Based in Halifax, Canada, McVeigh has designed custom builds and images for Gizmodo, Esquire Malaysia, and Toronto magazine Spacing. When he first gets an idea for the classic Mac or, as seen in the gallery below, a vintage camera, he uses Lego's modeling app for designers, Lego Digital Designer.

'The advantage of starting off a project digitally is that I can play around with thousands of bricks without actually having them sitting out in front of me, which can be a problem when you have as many bricks as I do," says McVeigh, who gets his bricks from stores or online retailers. "But that said, I always seem to need bricks that I don't have with each new build." … Read more

Here in bike-friendly Portland, hipsters tend to stash their U-locks in their back pockets, which makes for an unfortunate view for the rest of us -- the heavy-duty locks can make even the skinniest of skinny jeans sag.

Enter the InterLock, which hides inside the bike frame itself and, with just a few days left on the clock, is nearly funded on Kickstarter. (As of this writing, more than 800 backers have pledged almost $37,000 of the $48,000 needed.)… Read more

Pools aren't just for swimming, you know. Brooklyn art studio Red Paper Heart made some pretty nifty art with a swimming hole and 65,000 ping-pong balls. Before you dismiss that as an exercise in lunacy, take a look at a clever interactive pool party experience for yourself in the video below.

Red Paper Heart created the mesmerizing show in conjunction with city guide Web site UrbanDaddy, all for a tequila promotional event in Hamptons, N.Y.. The art studio programmed some software (using C++) to control the projector-driven light show that reacts to music. To enhance the visuals, the group enlisted a team of synchronized swimmers and some tuxedo-clad scuba divers to class up the joint.… Read more

Everett Downing knows a thing or two about drawing. After all, he's a story artist for Pixar, and has worked on such classics as "Up," "Wall-E," and other major films.

Given how much drawing he does during work hours, it might surprise you that one of Downing's hobbies is even more drawing. Several years ago, Downing created a blog called 365 Supers, a site that would eventually house hundreds of his original superheroes. The goal? Overcome a creative rut, and have a little fun in the process. We took a moment to highlight a few of Downing's heroes (and heroines) for your pleasure.… Read more

People sometimes joke about pouring blood, sweat, and tears into their work. Iceland-based designer Sruli Recht put some actual skin into his.

The Forget Me Knot ring is mainly made of 24-carat gold, but instead of sporting a diamond or an emerald, it has a bit of human skin for embellishment. That skin came from a willing donor, the designer himself.

Recht had a 4 inch by 0.4 inch piece removed from his abdomen. The skin was tanned, complete with hair intact, and mounted to the ring. I think even Sauron would think twice about wearing it.… Read more

I love the one-upmanship going on in the word of 3D printing.

At CES 2013 I saw 3D-printed skateboards, flowers, and gear assemblies, and meanwhile there are now plans to print everything from body parts to buildings. So printing robots was only a matter of time.

InMoov is a full-size humanoid robot made from 3D-printed parts. Designed and built by Gael Langevin of Factices Ateliers in France, InMoov began last year as a hand, then an arm. It's now two arms and a head. … Read more

It's a new era for lightbulbs. Incandescents are well on their way to being obsolete. Compact fluorescents are reigning champs, but LEDs are rising through the ranks, looking to challenge CFLs with advancing technology and falling prices. As fast as the tech changes, we're still pretty hooked on the old-school incandescent shape. We still want our bulbs.

The NanoLight Kickstarter project wants to give us LEDs without sacrificing the traditional bulb shape and ability to shine light in all directions. The result is a bulb that looks like it was designed by a Cubist painter. The makers claim it is the most energy-efficient light bulb in the world.… Read more

Normally, you spend dinner over a hot bowl of instant ramen, silently weeping and watching your salty tears mix with the steaming broth. Banish that loneliness by sharing your meal with a companion that won't give you a hard time or ask when you're getting married. The anti-loneliness ramen bowl will hold your smartphone at the ready so you'll never eat alone again.

The bowl is the creation of design firm MisoSoupDesign. The bowl itself is very sculptural, but the highlight is the smartphone holder that keeps your favorite tech buddy at the ready while you're chowing down.… Read more

Bluetooth speakers are everywhere, so it's hard to come up with a way to distinguish a new design. An Indiegogo project called Petite Square is looking to stand out by building its enclosures out of ancient history. The speakers are crafted from 50,000-year-old wood excavated from bogs in New Zealand.

Ancient Kauri has been called the the oldest workable wood in the world. It's certainly easier to work with than petrified wood. The giant logs have to be raised out of prehistoric bogs, adding to the expense and rarity of the material. Still, there seems to be plenty available on the market for craftspeople to make musical instruments, carvings, and the Petite Square speakers.… Read more