Famed literary critic Lionel Trilling once described Henry James as a “social twitterer.” Sure, he meant it as an insult, but it makes us feel better about having signed up to twitter ourselves. Look to the UnBeige Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute newsbites, event snippets, links of interest, design trivia, and our exclusive photo of Rem Koolhaas in mid-ponder (it makes for smashing smartphone wallpaper). The mediabistro.com tech wizards have added to the sidebar at right a handful of our most recent word bursts, but you can sign up to follow all of our twittering, and start twittering yourself at twitter.com.

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times: “I could tell you this Big Design News, but then I’d have to kill you.” Now you can give us the scoop and skip the messy task of plotting murder, thanks to our handy “Anonymous Tips” box nestled in the menu bar at right, below the search box. Simply type in your news—design happenings, movements of the Revolving Door, a bit of gossip, a designer’s hidden talent, or any newsy, design-y morsel—and click “Send.” And for those not inclined to clandestine tipping, we’re still just an e-mail away.

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times: “I could tell you this Big Design News, but then I’d have to kill you.” Now you can give us the scoop and skip the messy murder plot, thanks to our “Anonymous Tips” box, which the Mediabistro tech wizards have placed at the top right of this page. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Type in your news—design happenings, gossip, movements of the Revolving Door, a designer’s hidden talent, or any newsy, design-y morsel—and click “send.” We’ll get the news, you’ll retain your air of mystery.

As you put the finishing touches on your Frank Gehry-inspired gingerbread house and continue to pretend to buy gifts for others while really shopping for yourself, we wanted to take this opportunity to ask you, dear UnBeige readers, to keep us updated with your design happenings now and well into 2013.

We’re always thrilled to receive reader tips (that’s us pictured at right, mulling over a recent e-mail with the help of our newly purchased “holiday fedoras”), whether about a Revolving Door item (who’s leaving? who has just arrived?), an event, a bit of gossip, a designer’s hidden talent, or any newsy, design-y morsel. We’re just an e-mail away at unbeige AT mediabistro DOT com.

“Pies,” a 1961 painting by Wayne Thiebaud.

Before we return to our seasonal mission of preparing pies to resemble this delicious Wayne Thiebaud canvas, we offer up a giant slice of banana-cream thanks to you, dear readers, for joining us through another year of news, events, books, films, and curiosities in the world of design, art, and visual culture. May your Thanksgiving be restful, well-designed, and full of pie. And while you go about your own holiday preparations–redoing the placecards that your well-meaning aunt chose to print in Comic Sans, switching out the pilgrim-themed Ziggy napkins, discussing why the term “doorbuster” is not to be uttered in your presence–be sure to keep one eye on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which this year debuts a balloon designed by KAWS.

Macy’s tapped the New Jersey-born artist, also known as Brian Donnelly, to create the new addition to its “Blue Sky Gallery” series that has sent aloft the work of artists such as Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Tom Otterness. Donnelly saw his “Companion” character, the first toy he ever made, as ripe for transformation into 40 feet of inflatable, urethane-coated nylon. “I like taking an image and reworking it and having it made in new ways and materials, and communicating in different ways,” he told us earlier this year. And Donnelly is already thinking about the bashful balloon’s future. “Macy’s archives all of the balloons. They have every one that they’ve made since the 1930s, at least those that haven’t totally deteriorated,” he said. “My hope is that in ten or fifteen years, they do something where they show all of the artists’ balloons together.”

(Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images North America)

Famed literary critic Lionel Trilling once described Henry James as a “social twitterer.” Sure, he meant it as an insult, but it makes us feel better about having signed up to twitter ourselves. Look to the official UnBeige Twitter feed, for up-to-the-minute newsbites, event snippets, links of interest, design trivia, and free candy (OK, we’re still working on the physics of that last one). The mediabistro.com tech wizards have added to the sidebar at right a handful of our most recent word bursts (limited to 140 characters), but you can sign up to follow all of our twittering, and start twittering yourself at twitter.com.

It’s that time of year: when we stuff our vintage suitcases with periodicals, sunblock, and versatile silk scarves; load up on Design Matters podcasts; and hit the road for a week of offline adventures. Not to worry, as we leave you in the capable, well-moisturized hands of Steve Delahoyde. And speaking of our talented co-editor, we would like to take this opportunity to make sure that you have had the pleasure of viewing the short film Copy Goes Here, for which we continue to badger the Academy to give Steve some sort of special Oscar. A bientot!

As everything in print is now also going the way of the iPad, why not design annuals as well? The Society of Publication Designers has just launched an iPad version of its latest, SPD 45, “featuring the best in editorial design, photography and illustration in print and digital.” The app itself is $19.99, which seems expensive, but maybe not so much when compared to the $50 you’d usually have to shell out for the hardcover. Sure, this electronic version won’t look nearly as nice on your shelf, but what can you do? Here’s the eSPD in action:

If you’re a designer with a great idea for something online, now’s the time to strike while the iron is hot. Enrique Allen, founder of the incubator and investment fund 500 Startups, has announced the launch of The Designer Fund. Saying that designers don’t have as easy of a route to launch new web-based companies as programmers with technical know-how do, the fund’s goal is to “invest in startups that are founded by designers,” citing outlets like Flickr, Vimeo and Tumblr as all companies that were originally established up by designers.

If architecture is your more your speed, this Sunday marks the start of National Architecture Week, running from April 10th to the 16th. The American Institute of Architects is, per usual, the face behind the week of celebrating the business of building and have a number of things planned, from a Twitter sweepstakes to events held by local AIA chapters. They have a full listing of the latter here, but check with your local outlet as well, as we’re sure there’s more planned across the country.

Last, if you’re a designer wanting to get in on that Designer Fund cash or an aspiring architect inspired by next week’s events, but don’t own your own computer, why not just finally succumb to those criminal urges and break into an Apple Store and take one? Following a recent string of robberies at the company’s retail outlets across the country, NBC Chicago writes that the design of the stores, typically all-glass storefronts, could be too “enticing” for thieves to pass up. An official in the story, commenting on the theft of $30,000 worth of equipment at a suburban Chicago store, says he has talked to Apple about hiring guards or making the store generally more difficult to break into, but the company reportedly doesn’t seem very interested.

We’re not quite sure what to make of two design-related, minor celebrity-attached items, so we’re just going to tell you about them and force you to do the heavy brain lifting. First is the announcement that the company HoodieBuddie, which makes sweaters with earbud headphones doubling as the drawstrings, has formed a licensing partnership with actress Betty White. The company has made four hoodies, each with a different pop-culture parody featuring Ms. White front and center (Warhol, a Sex Pistols’ album cover, a nod to Miami Vice with the “White Heat” model). The last is what got us thinking: it’s a take-off of Shepard Fairey‘s second most familiar piece: the Andre the Giant “Obey” image. Of course this time, it’s Betty White and the type underneath says “Betty.” Even as a parody, it’s a distant relative to cleverness and originality, as you’ve likely seen a million take-offs of the particular Fairey work. Although he, now seeming a bit short sided, complained a bit about copycats during the 2008 election, it made us feel a little more sympathy for Fairey, having to see his piece (even if the original was a rip-off itself) lazily taken, again and again, almost to the level of the “Got Milk?” campaign. This also makes this writer think that all this ironic Betty White hoopla might finally over.

Our second rant after the jump.

Read more