We've sifted through Kickstarter to bring you the best projects to look out for and support.
There's all sorts of inspiration to be found on Kickstarter, with the popular crowdfunding site turning lots of dreams and passion projects into reality. But with a wealth of potential products just begging for our support, where should you direct your attention? We've rounded up five projects that have caught our eye and think deserve your attention.
Learn while you play with this typographic card deck
One of the most effective ways for the brain to pick up and retain information is to play, so it makes sense that graphic designer Ben Barrett-Forrest has turned the fundamentals of typography into a fully usable deck of cards.
This set picks up where his popular Design Deck left off, and gives players a crash course on typographic essentials. Covering everything from kerning to swashes, type rivers to ink traps, this set of cards will quickly get you up to speed with all things typographic. With one month left until the pledge ends, the project has just surpassed its funding target – but support it now to secure your own deck of informative cards.
We're taking a look to the future now with a project that hasn't even reached Kickstarter yet. Due to land on the crowdfunding site on 21 June, Faeries of the Faultlines is a gorgeous book that follows the daily sketches of Iris Compiet as she documents fairies of all kinds.
"Not the cute, pink kind with stripey socks but the 'real' ones, the spirits of nature, those who live just on the fringe of our reality," explains Compiet. "Those creatures that you somehow KNOW are there but are just out of reach. And perhaps... you dare not admit that you actually DO believe in faeries... but deep down inside you really fear that it's true, a faerie does die whenever someone says out loud 'I don't believe in faeries'."
Sign up to the Faeries of the Faultlines newsletter to be alerted when it goes live on Kickstarter, and help the fairies!
Creating an efficient and organised workspace is a challenge for a lot of creatives. Thankfully, My Drawing Board is here to keep your tools in place and your projects on track.
Describing itself as an 'ergonomic and functional drawing table', My Drawing Board is an adjustable work surface that's specially designed to store pens, erasers and sharpeners. Not only that, it keeps all your equipment in a ready to use position so you can focus on doing what you do best: creating! Pledge €149 or more to receive one My Drawing Board (discounted from the full retail price).
This notebook will keep your life in order and help you to achieve your dreams
It's no secret that we're huge notebook fans here at Creative Bloq. We've seen plenty of nifty notebooks that have made the most of technological innovations, but when it comes to organisation and productivity, this one looks hard to beat.
Dubbed The Perfect Notebook, this journal looks after all areas of your life, from work to play to personal ambitions. By breaking down your tasks into bitesize chunks, the Perfect Notebook helps users towards their goals step by step. And because it's a ring-bound physical notebook, you can drop in sheets to suit your needs. The Perfect Notebook has already smashed its fundraising goal, but there's still time to pledge and get an early copy.
This Kickstarter has a social cause attached to it. Guatemala’s Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (NuMu) is a kiosk-turned-micro-modern art gallery that is planning to go on tour, taking its pieces further afield. NuMu will feature work by Guatemalan composer Joaquín Orellana and Guatemalan performance artist Regina José Galindo.
The proposal is that the 2.5 x 2 metre gallery will travel almost 3,000 miles over two weeks, visiting "some of the most diverse and dynamic creative communities" in Guatemala, Mexico, and Southern California, ending at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Rewards for pledges include a map of the route, a tote bag, and postcards designed exclusively by someone in a community visited along the way.
Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.
