So I'm tooling around the 24 website, and it turns out that the main set designer is answering questions on a design blog about why President Weasel Logan's retreat looks as though they got the plans from a 1955 Popular Mechanics. They did. It turns out it's from something called "mid-century modern," which is supposed to be timeless, except that you immediately know what decade it's from. Sure, it's a better decade than this, but you'd think all that tax money would buy something a little more...distinctive.
In any case, it turns out that this site was merely the gateway to all sorts of design sites. Some of them will be permanent additions to the links. This site, for instance, devoted to typography. Except for the fact that they think Kerry lost in part because his campaign's typeface was too derivative. I think of that as a reflection of his whole persona.
MocoLoco is a blog devoted to modern design, is picture-heavy, and updated frequently. You know that Expedia commercial where the young couple is imagining their parents blundering their way through a way-too-modern Swedish hotel? This is the place.
IDFuel is apparently feeling the energy crunch, because it's not getting updated all that often. But the most recent posting is a field trip to one of my favorite companies, IDEO, so I'm hoping they'll rediscover the blog-spark.
The Vienna Public Library had furniture like this when I was growing up, including but not limited to the Men In Black test-taking egg-chair. Call it the Persistence of Banality.
Design Addict has a (somewhat thin) searchable database of design, but a really good links page to make up for it.
Red Dot is a German design site that runs an annual competition, with typically central-European self-important prose. Some of the stuff is cool. Other concepts make you understand why the Islamists are taking over.