Japan, Saturn, and Mice
And trolleybuses too!
Hello! 👋
I hope you’ve had a pleasant summer (with apologies to the three readers from the Southern Hemisphere). Here are some cool arty and designy things that I’ve found this month 👇
Japan has amazing drain covers 🇯🇵
The clue’s in the title, really. This Flickr album contains a comprehensive overview of the decorative drain (manhole) covers you’ll find all over Japan.
The story behind them started around 50 years ago. Decorative designs based on local landmarks, emblems, or symbols adorned the covers of Japan’s new sewage systems (in an attempt to make them an appealing use of public money).
Design-wise, it’s usually the work of a local artist, commissioned by the municipality. Sometimes the decision is down to public vote, like Osaka’s sakura-laden design from 1994.
The final covers are often hand-painted with colourful resins, producing many of the bright designs you’ll see today. Check out the full album for more 🌸
Honk Beep Vroom Clack 🏙️
Trams! Buses! Trolleybuses! All these things and more are celebrated in the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden. While I know with absolute certainty that one person reading this loves trains and the colour yellow, there’s hopefully a broader appeal here, too.
Kit Studio refreshed LTM’s packaging by gathering the iconic symbols and patterns of London’s transport history and applying them to a modular, cohesive design language (pardon the buzzwords, there).
There's a strong sustainability push behind this kraft paper design, including removing plastic windows and lamination from the packaging. While single-colour printing could have been an interesting alternative, the vibrant spot colours undoubtedly make the packaging more enticing on a shelf. It's part of that tricky balance between eco-friendliness and visual appeal, and Kit Studio seem to have found a sweet spot that works.
Public domain inspiration 🪐
Public.work is a small project from Cosmos (it’s like hipster Pinterest). And as a little marketing offshoot, it’s absolutely fantastic! You can browse through a bunch of public domain images; mostly vintage and ‘museum archive’ in nature.
In yet another daring move of self-expression, here’s a poster I made from an awesome, free, and high-resolution illustration of Saturn.
I used AI to make the poster mockup, by the way. Gone are the days of paying for a 500MB Photoshop file to create a virtual poster. The future is now.
TinyPod 🎵
Completely ditching our phones seems unthinkable – they've become our wallets, cameras, membership cards, and even car keys.
So that’s what TinyPod aims to counter — it’s ultimately just a case for an Apple Watch, but it adds a nostalgic iPod-style click wheel. The concept is clever: stay connected to the essential services you use without the full functionality (and temptations) of a smartphone.
While I'm not personally endorsing an unreleased product (let’s face it, any cellular smartwatch could offer a similar experience), I do find the concept — and its flashy website — compelling.
But do we really need yet another thing promising to make life simpler? For me, I’d prefer to find ways to step away from tech, rather than adding yet another ‘fix’ to the mix.
Lastly, a mouse-wizard 🐭
This incredible piece of art was created by someone I know that says “I can’t draw” quite often. But honestly, it’s the darnedest most wizardy mouse I’ve ever seen, and I hope it brings you joy too.
Thanks for reading, and until next time,
Tom 🐢
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Those drain covers 😍 thanks for sharing! Happily subscribed.