We had the pleasure of working on a number of User Profile and Achievement illustrations for the brand-spankin' new Xbox One, which happens to be out today. IC was commissioned by Xbox to create 30 gamerpics for users to choose from on the new system. Monsters, space scenes, animals, objects and more. We were also asked to create 5 achievement illustrations that would be displayed once a user accomplishes a specific challenge. 10 Hours Of TV, 25 Hours Of Movies, etc.

This project was a blast, and it's exciting to see some of our gamerpics end up in the Xbox One: Invitation spot (see below). Big thanks to our A.D.'s Ramiro Torres and Michael Guss for the opportunity. Now I just to need to get my hands on one ...

We had the great privilege and honor of speaking at LEGO's internal Design Camp last week - a day away from the office for the creative team in beautiful Enfield, Connecticut. Scott Decoteau, along with the talented and generous crew at LEGO, were gracious hosts during our time in New England. Highlights of the trip included the LEGO HQ tour (wow), dangerously delicious indian food, bowling and sharing sentimental stories about the infamous drawstring denim LEGO bag.

To commemorate our talk, we decided to make some things. One of them being a poster of us creating our new mark out of 4,236 bricks - flown in from all over the world. After 2 hot days, 1 broken mallet (don't ask), 6 iced coffees and 3 blisters, the mosaic came to life. Extra special thanks to LEGO for supplying the baseplates.

Unfortunately these posters and prints are not for sale, but who knows - we may throw some in future IC poster orders ...

Spring has sprung! Well, maybe not quite yet ... but the 2012 Lawn & Patio seasonal display at Target has. These ginormous faux birch trees were a blast to create  -- and definitely worth checking out in person. As usual, this project wouldn't have been possible without the amazing design team at Target, lead by our talented (and hilarious) A.D., Jon Erickson. Oh, and please don't attempt to climb the trees, unless you plan on feeding the squirrels. Typefaces used: Giza and Neutraface.

Well, The Spit Swap has come and gone. The 2-night stint with yours truly in Portland and Mr. Draplin laying it down in Seattle was one for the record books. Portland, I can't thank you enough for cruising out to The Ace to watch me sweat it out up there as I attempted to tell our scattered story. It was a fun night of sharing great conversations with real folks. I had a blast. And Portland - your art, design and illustration community is one to be envied. Hats off to you nice people ... Massive high-fives to Eric Hillerns for the hospitality and for dreaming this baby up. Seriously. Aaron Draplin (and family!) for the obvious reasons. The man has talent in about a zillion areas, including the English language. But you guys knew that.

And of course The Ace Hotel, Lloyd Winter, Duane King, 52 Limited, Always With Honor, Portland AIGA, Fort Port ... the list goes on. Thanks to everyone who helped out, brought beer, food, tweeted, you name it. THANK YOU!

A few rad shots of the night, courtesy of long-time broseph Mr. Arges:

We stopped by the mighty W+K to visit one helluva guy Lloyd Winter and to apparently have our socks knocked off by the sheer awesomeness in that building. Wow.

"Yup, that's a bear"

Before the gig started, we stopped by Instrument's new spot to see our buds and visit the infamous teepees. Incredible space. Incredible talent.

J.D. and Vince giving us the tour ...

"Is this thing on?"

We meet at last ...

Tyler and Elsa from Always With Honor with a touching and funny introduction ... thanks again, guys.

Zac strong-arming folks into buying paper and sticky things ...

"It's just a theory" ... Duane, Josh and a few others hear me out regarding my thoughts on relativity.

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Anyways, it was a rad night. Thanks again, Portland.

We'll have 100 of these 3-color silk-screened posters for sale at our Spit Swap gig this Wednesday. Printed by the fine folks at Seizure Palace right there in PDX. Oh, and we've seen Draplin's poster. Get ready, Washingtonians.

It's 100% official and tickets are now available. Draplin and I will be riding the rails and corrupting each other's respective cities October 19th & 20th.

Something awesome is unraveling. IC vs. DDC. Portland and Seattle. October 19th and 20th.

Our buddy Josh surprised us with a nice little gift last Saturday in San Diego. Killer engraving by Garrett Patz.

Last year, our buddy Josh Higgins asked if we'd cruise down to his city sometime to tell our story and flash some .jpg's on a big screen. We happily agreed, so here we are. We're excited to bring our dog and pony show to the beautiful city of San Diego on April 2nd. We'll be speaking at the legendary Casbah club, but what we're most excited about is The Black Heart Procession will be joining us to shut down the evening. Oh, and a little bonus for you early birds: The first 200 folks through the door get an 18" x 24" silk-screened poster, namely the one you see above. Tickets are $10 advance/$12 day of show and you can purchase them here.

Can you tell we love our new printer? Two new prints added to the shop today. Isle Of This Town & The Lonely King are available for your Aunt Nadine's living room, right above the '76 Magnavox.

'Time Will Tell' and 'Prized Possessions' are now (finally) available exclusively through Velocity! Each print is a whopping 17" x 22" (with a 1" border for framing) and is printed on beautiful German Etching Hahnenmühle Fine Art paper. Hand signed, limited edition run of 50.

Apartment Therapy just posted an article about an antique store called Hunt & Gather in Minneapolis, MN. I'm currently searching for airfare as we speak.

Not really, but this looks like some sort of paradise.

These images of the Ijburg house by Dutch architect Marc Koehler is making my Monday morning a bit better.

Via Contemporist

Bookmark time! Apartment Therapy just posted an article featuring the 'Top Ten' online shops for vintage furniture and accessories. Now you know what to do this weekend.

Anna-Maria Sviatko from Canberra, Australia may have created a dollhouse or two that my daughter and I would actually have to arm wrestle over. And yes, dollhouses are METAL!

Urban Outfitters is now selling Nate Williams pillows. Sleeping never looked so good.

Love the environment and have heaps of cash (doesn't that go hand in hand)? Well, if you do, you can now strive for a LEED platinum rating (which is actually a really cool thing). The Margarido House is the first home in Northern California to do so, and it's obviously breathtaking.

Loving Anna Weiss' home AND blog!

The 2nd season of Top Design starts tonight on Bravo. Todd + company are back for more interior design mayhem. I'm hoping it's better than the current season of Project Runway, which is (without a doubt) the worst season yet. OK, OK ... Suede is kinda cool, although I think Joe is going to take it.

Richard Neutra's Maxwell house (built in 1941 for $6,750) recently moved from Brentwood to Angelino Heights.

LA Times: "Saving the house has become a labor of love -- some say obsession -- of the owner, developer Barbara Behm, who does business under the name Princess Bovlana. She plans to restore the house "from top to bottom, and everything in between," before selling it."

See the amazing pictures here. Many thanks to Barbara for realizing this home was worth saving - can't wait to see it finished.