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This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

Some people think of graffiti as vandalism, I am not one of those people. The pioneering era of graffiti took place between 1969-1974. It began on the streets of Philadelphia as message-latent artistic expression by political activists and, notoriously, as territorial markings for gang members. What was once, and still sometimes is, considered defamation of property, is challenged by this:

When the Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989, ninety-some artists from around the world turned the wall into a symbol of artistic expression.

Over the past twenty years, the elements have eroded the wall. Recently, Berliners have made an effort to restore the East Side Gallery, a major tourist attraction, with 106 different paintings and graffiti. On November 4, the original artists returned to repaint their emotional renderings.

It's a well known fact that most kids hate to eat their vegetables, but what if they looked like this?

Another remarkable design innovation from the RCA's graduate show is the collapsable water bottle, by Amy Smith.

From this to that - full to flat!

The design community is packed with opportunities for self-promotion and brand expansion. The first annual Faces of Design Awards commence in 2010, as an opportunity for designers to have their work judged by a slew of talented professionals and gain some street cred (or fashion ave. cred?)

Once you've decided to redecorate your home, you need to choose a color palette on which you base your decisions. Sometimes you find the perfect color in an unusual place, and it's hard to find the correlating shade of paint, and other colors that compliment it.

A big thanks to David Hyde of DavidTheDesigner for fighting his cold to answer some questions for a big fan!

Lydia Slavutin: Why did you decide to start davidthedesigner.com?

This past Friday, I ventured to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to The Glass Door for a concert featuring Caspian, Beware of Safety, Down to a Sunless Sea, The American $, and Hadoken.

This week's interview is with Emily Johnston from Material Girls. Johnston is the founder, executive editor and Dallas contributor.

Lydia Slavutin:  Why did you decide to start/become involved with Material Girls?

The Wizard of OZ was my absolute favorite movie as a child. It is visually stunning, whimsically themed, and emotionally charged. Between Dorothy's ruby red shoes and the lovable lion who sought courage, I was hooked!

This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

For the first time ever, Jasper Johns prints will be featured as independent pieces of art.

This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

Seen the new Levi's commercials? The one's that give you chills, while simultaneously inspiring you to Go Forth and live your life with carefree abandon. If not, you must click here. Now you get!

Red Rocks is a geologically formed, open-air amphitheatre that is not seen anywhere else in the world.

With Mother Nature as the architect, how can you go wrong?

The Royal College of Art, in the UK, recently had a graduate show that featured an innovative creation by Min-Kyu Choi.

There is a huge market for eco-friendly, sustainable merchandise, buildings and products. Frankly, it's about time the world started to focus more of its inventive and creative energy solving a problem that will only get worse without our greatest efforts behind it. In my research on sustainability, I came across an article about the most sustainable office building in the world today, located right outside Zurich.

This week's interview is with a collective team from Remodelista: Sourcebook for the Considered Home.

Found art is a concept I am really starting to get behind; it is the term that describes art created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function.

This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Countless designers do their part to raise awareness by releasing limited-edition pink products, but this one is a doozy. 

Was Captain Planet the original Al Gore?

Captain Planet, he's our hero

Gonna take pollution down to zero!