![Yago Hortal Creates Paintings With Breathtaking Color Smears [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/article_feature/KF7.%20Acrylic%20on%20canvas.%2060x45cm.%202010.jpg "Yago Hortal Creates Paintings With Breathtaking Color Smears [Slideshow]")
As we try to do most Friday afternoons, we offer you a little eye candy -- a brief reprieve from design-related matters as you head off into the weekend. This week, it's in the form of Yago Hortal's lusciously vibrant paintings of explosive color.
![Lang/Baumann Create Literal Stairways To Heaven [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/article_feature/Beautiful-Steps-Lede.jpg "Lang/Baumann Create Literal Stairways To Heaven [Slideshow]")
We've seen lots of exotic staircases in our day, but the Beautiful Steps you see here, by Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann, trump them all.
![Finally, A Bar Where Ladies Can Drink In Style Instead Of Gloom [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/article_feature/Mikkeler-Interi0r_7421.jpg "Finally, A Bar Where Ladies Can Drink In Style Instead Of Gloom [Slideshow]")
Ever stay at a bar until closing time, when the fluorescents are turned on, only to reveal the beer puddles and sallow complexions of you and your friends? Yeah, us neither. But we imagine it to be a pretty dispiriting experience. Most watering holes -- emphasis on "holes" -- are like that: low-lit, cavelike spaces that disguise all the drawbacks of the setting and the person you might find yourself snogging (again, a purely hypothetical scenario).
![Tiny Details Add Up To Stunning Effect, In This Swiss Office [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/article_feature/ECA-14.4.11_006bis_01.jpg "Tiny Details Add Up To Stunning Effect, In This Swiss Office [Slideshow]")
There are two things Switzerland does better than anyone else: minimalism and milk chocolate. The slick, glassy office building you see here is proof positive of the former in the town that gave the world the latter.
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![Wanted: Poppin Elevates Office Supplies To Pop Art [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/article_feature/stapler_2%20copy_0.jpg "Wanted: Poppin Elevates Office Supplies To Pop Art [Slideshow]")
What do you get a new graduate with no job and no clue? Besides, of course, a job, or a clue? Start with these desk set bundles by New York-based office products company Poppin, which some magazines have likened to Office Depot with Steve Jobsian flair. We're not fans of Apple comparisons, but the philosophy is indeed the same: make work tools beautiful, and people will stare at them until productivity strikes.
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and forgotten the gift." -- Albert Einstein
Given how many folks are looking for work these days (and desperate for their resumes to stand out in the pile), a startup like Vizualize.me was inevitable. Its algorithms and templates take your boring, vanilla C.V. and automagically transform it into a Feltron-esque personal infographic at the push of a button.
You might not know Imaginary Forces' name, but you've seen its work --the bleeding-edge creative agency/production company has designed eye-exploding visuals for movie trailers like Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon and Minority Report, plus every awesome video game released in the past decade.
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