Ecole Maternelle Pajol is a four-classroom kindergarten in Paris’s 18th arrondissement that joyfully showcases how colour and education are a true dream team. I love how Parisian architects Palatre & Leclère restored the 1940′s building. The front retains its vintage brick beauty while the back explodes with vibrant patterns and colourful activities. The interiors are equally joyful with bold hallways, bright furniture/building materials and a dotted ceiling I just love. Even the washroom features fabulous streamlined colour and animal details (love those dividers!) This kindergarten must be one magical place to learn and play…

(spotted on the cool hunter)

Check out this extraordinary piece by shadow artist Kumi Yamashita created for the American Express office lobby in Tribeca, New York. Kumi asked American Express employees to take a photo of their profile and selected 22 images for the wall installation. Using carefully creased origami paper and a single light source, she effectively sculpted shadow to reveal the profiles on the wall. The power of light, colour and paper never ceases to astound me…

(spotted on my modern met)

My love for modern, typography-focused neon grows daily it seems. This once-of-a-kind neon sign by Adam Garcia is a perfect example of why. Oy, how I would love to put this wise and handsome gem on a studio wall…

(spotted on colossal)

I just spotted prototype shots of a simply beautiful weather app called ‘Brisk‘ and it has put a stop to all my complaining about the sad weather icons that dominate technology. Designed by Eddie Lobanovskiy of Two Solid, the app works like a regular thermometer with temperatures moving up and down bars. It looks like there will be local forecast and detailed weather info too. Of course, I am most smitten with the gorgeous colour coded bars depicting heat levels. Instinctual and clever. I can’t wait to see how Brisk will develop. Colour coded weather is just better…

(sign up here if you want to know when Brisk makes its way to the App store)

Oh, how I love sport photography (especially when it is downright artful). This shot by Peter Svoboda of cross-country skiers in the Austrian Alps is a sublime example. Beautiful geometry/angles and crispy textured tracks…

(photograph by peter svoboda)

Yes, I am a broken record of coloured smoke gushing (see here, here and here). I admit I am a tad obsessed. There is just something beautiful about an eyesore or neutral landscape suddenly bursting with colour. Until now, I have admired this mini-movement in still images only but then I spied this sublime video by New York based studio floto+warner (photography/director team Jeremy Floto and Cassandra Warner). The photographs are gorgeous but the video captures the dreamy way coloured smoke suddenly and vibrantly fills spaces while dancing and dispersing in the wind. I sure hope I see a fuchsia plume of smoke cross my path one day…

(photographs and video via floto+warner)

I saw Swedish designer Pernilla Jansson’s ‘A New Proposal’ for the first time yesterday and have completely fallen in love with it. Building on a desire to “disturb the established order”, Pernilla lets the standard office fluorescent light become a playful installation of beautiful neon. Simple and so very beautiful. I would love to see an office embrace this idea. One hanging over a reception desk or main studio table would certainly showcase a culture of breaking through the standard way of doing things…

(images via pernilla jansson and dezeen; spotted on rena tom’s pinterest)

Photographer Joshua Scott created this fantastic toy typography for a youth-focused feature in BULLETT Magazine. The layers of vibrant objects create a playful yet artful texture that works wonderfully with the modern type shapes (the result of perfectly selected colour, shape and scale). I always knew something brilliant could be done with those bright Barbie brushes…

I am mesmerized by ‘Bubblegum‘, a whimsical and colourful installation by Merijn Hos and Renée Reijnders. The piece features 50 balloons around one metre in diameter that “shine, float and bubble” across the large water expanse Weerwater in Almere, Netherlands. At night, LED lights are inserted into the balloons to create a magical hue-filled glow. I love that no photograph of this installation will ever be the same twice as the balloons dance across the water in a million different ways…

(photographs via merijn hos and renée reijnders)

A beautiful campaign for Artisan Make Up Paris captured by French photographer Ludovic Taillandier. Fingers crossed the campaign expands with more images as I just love the burst of brilliant powder against a face with neutral make-up. Colourful cosmetics are a rather inspiring medium, don’t you think? If only this was how they were applied on a daily basis…

(photographs via ludovic taillandier)

I love this exuberant branding for Dan Arisa, a Spanish musician and per­cus­sion­ist. Barcelona-based designer Alex Dalmau created the sherbet-hued identity and I think the exclamation point fits just perfectly for a drummer. Like a typographical “hi hat” perhaps? Love the branded drum sticks and musical noises on the letterhead too. More musicians need fabulous personal collateral methinks…

(photographs via alex dalmau, spotted on designworklife)

Spanish photographer Lola Guerrera created her series ‘Nebula Humilis’ in the deserts of Mexico and I love the juxtaposition of harsh, neutral rock formations and soft, vibrant plumes of coloured smoke. The red image really feels like a magical volcano, don’t you think? (p.s. I am a huge fan of this coloured smoke movement in art. Take a look at my other two postings on the subject here and here).

(photographs via lola guerrera)