New York based web design studio Type/Code have designed the very minimalist It’s Almost countdown tool website. The concept is very simple. You enter an event name, large or small, regardless of its importance and set the date and time. It then generates a web address for you to return to and see the simple and elegantly styled countdown clock. Even if an event name is exactly the same, the web address will be unique. To establish what time zone it is in, simply hover over the countdown text. I love the look of this website, in particular the typeface and as a bit of fun, it works well.

Japanese designer, Tokujin Yoshioka designed an understated window display to feature iconic Hermés scarves—a timed video of a woman’s face, softly blowing at a scarf. The hanging scarf moves slightly with the help of hidden fans. Tokujin Yoshioka, the “designer of sensations,” is fond of accidental happenings. He simply suspends an iconic garment in the air, presents it as a real-life object and prepares you for the unexpected. “In this installation, I created a space where one can perceive someone behind the scarves as if life were breathed into them.” Think a gentle breath, the lightest of touches can move real things? Such lightness. Over-the-top fun.

Skin is the plane of contact between people and things. Traditionally, the skins of objects are passive and static. They were simply dead outer surfaces. However, recent advances in technology have made them more active and dynamic. Shade Pixel [video] is an interactive display that uses small depressions in its surface instead of a light source. It can be used as an ambient display for its peripherality; non-luminescent nature and simple appearance. The main difference from other displays is that Shade Pixel is applicable to the surfaces of everyday products or to the environment as an interactive skin. The project is another creation of the design media lab at korea advanced institute of science and technology, the creators of the crystal zoetrope table.