I’m not much of a Vodka man. Generic vodka requires sugary mixers to remove the medicine-like taste from it while most good vodkas are too harsh to sip neat and require a Bond-like martini and a tux to make you look like you’re not an alcoholic for drinking vodka straight.

Little did I know that sitting in the back of my fiancée’s freezer lied a beautiful Icelandic small-batch Vodka from the distillers of The Balvenie, Reyka Vodka. Not only does it have a clean, sweet taste but it’s also a ‘green’ vodka — in both senses of the word.

From the About.com review:

Amidst the clean air of the village of Borgarnes in western Iceland, sits the distillery where Reyka comes together. The entire operation is run by the abundant geothermal heat of the land, a factor that led to the naming of the spirit as Reyka (Ray-kuh) is an ancient Icelandic word for steam or smoke…Reyka has a strong “green” aspect to it. A delightful nose of sweet rose and fresh cut hay fills the senses with clarity.

I couldn’t agree more with this description. There is a muted sweetness to this vodka that makes it not only a pleasure to sip but abhorring to mix with anything else.

Photos courtesy of Lovely Package

I’m usually the last to say this about anything Microsoft but, from an information architecture perspective, it isn’t quite bad at all. It’s easy to visually parse and it strips our a lot of information bloat without sacrificing key content.

I do wonder what MSN’s very mainstream audience will think about the very stark and minimal aesthetic though.

Now

Soon

via ArchDaily

For the upcoming Wired issue, Khoi Vinh and a couple of his crew from NYTimes.com put their spin on Craigslist. Just don’t call it a redesign:

Any truly serious redesign of Craigslist would inherently look very different from what we produced, and we kept that in mind from the very beginning. And, yes we took some artistic license, too, which is why it’s probably more accurate to call this a re-imagining than a redesign.

Craigslist has been awesome for me over the years – I’ve used it to sell my car, look for a job, buy vintage furniture and everything in between (except the adult listings). It’s clear that the new design takes into account how to make user flows like that even easier.

Hopefully, Khoi’s ideas can seed a refresh of this great tool.

More proof that low-budget, high-design makes for big profits. Motel 6 is projecting a 100% increase in bookings next year thanks to a down economy and a great redesign from the creator of Virgin Airline’s airplane cabins.

Read more at Dwell

More pics and details at Arch Daily

Headed by it’s principal designer, Dror Benshetrit, Studio Dror’s work seems to sway back and forth from sublimely artistic to coldly functional, yet equally attractive. The Folding Table (above) is something I’d personally love to have in my collection.

I’ve been meaning to post about Theory since I came back from my trip to New York earlier this month. Established in New York in 1997, Theory set out to produce comfortable, minimal clothing for women. Their mens line launched in 1999 and their accessories line followed a few years later.

I was first drawn to Theory’s flagship store walking around NYC’s Meatpacking district. Pictured above, the understated building features a retail store on the first floor with corporate offices above. Other stores in London and Tokyo, below, also feature a minimal aesthetic with expansive glass windows and exposed concrete. (With a touch of wood and white paint, you might think you walked into an Apple store).

While the mens line at Theory didn’t immediately strike a chord with me, I soon realized that it wasn’t supposed to. A lot of brands strive to be the stand out piece in your wardrobe but Theory’s goal seems to be creating the comfortable, timeless piece you accessorize overtop of.

Their accessories and eyewear line are also understated but caught my eye because the sunglasses fit me perfectly. Most brands focused on slim-cut, smaller sizes don’t appropriately size their accessories but Theory seemed to pay attention to this detail. (At 5′ 9″, it’s not like I’m going to have a head that’ll fit into an 8″ New Era.) I regret not picking up the eyewear I tried on but I know I’ll be back to visit next time I’m down in New York.

Check out Theory yourself the next time you happen to visit London, Tokyo or NYC. If you do visit, get me these shades, please.

Previous design

Live now

Some Background

• As an Associate Interaction Architect during my time at Blast Radius the team I worked with on Crate included John Fairley (Lead Interaction Architect), Jeremy Bell (Creative Director) and the incomparable Sam Dallyn (Art DIrection) and Brendan Lynch (Lead Interface Developer).
• Together we worked with some very enthusiastic and creative folks from Crate & Barrel including recent Senior Art Director Jamie Dihiansan, who’s now Lead Designer at 37 Signals
• The big problem was that the initial site was incredibly well done from a usability perspective. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by working on projects that have such terrible sites to begin with, but this was the first time I really felt challenged trying to improve what existed. 
• The critical design eye and deep care for usability the team at Crate & Barrel had were present throughout the planning, design and development process. At times that pressure made seemingly simple design choices painstaking but I believe overall it produced diamonds instead of busting pipes

In all honesty, not everything we initially designed made it live but what did make it was exceptionally executed from the dev team and still puts Crate above par with their counterparts. The new design is not going to shake up e-commerce design but I believe the humble little housewares store that opened in Illinois over 40 years ago would’ve never intended it to.

• The Olympics – NYTimes.com created this great tool to track all your favorite events here
• Bell Canada rebrands and relaunches
• Pantry, a local gourmet-to-go kitchen, grocery and coffee shop owned and operated by my friend Greg Bolton gets some love from blogTO
• Greg Washington, the visual god behind inqmnd, joins the crew at teehan+lax and promptly launches a new blog, anotherfaceinthecrowd
• The Salvation Army of Ontario is looking for men’s shirts and pants, please help
• Three words. Scooters. Fatties. Info.
• Are you a Redesigner or a Realigner?
• Ride the Pineapple Express. You will not be disappointed.
• Meant to post this a while ago: The Sartorialist captures Kanye and his fiancee
• EA Skate is coming to the Wii