We love flags every day of the year, but UnBeige HQ devolves into full-on drapeaux-mania come June 14, also known as Flag Day. So imagine our delight when a fellow design-minded flag lover popped over this afternoon with a selection of festive flag-topped cupcakes (unable to resist cobalt frosting, we opted for Sweden—delicious, and not a trace of herring) and an article clipped from this month’s issue of Maxim. Turns out the lad mag also has a thing for flags and took it upon themselves to get vexillological with a diverse crew of talking heads. Our favorite comments concerned the flags of Saudi Arabia (below left) and Argentina (right). “Makes me feel like my mother is yelling at me so loudly that I can’t understand a word she’s saying,” said Elle‘s Anne Slowey of Saudi Arabia’s green monster. “But it doesn’t matter because she is about to lop my head off with that sword.” Things were rosier in Argentina, whose flag comedian Jim Norton deconstructed beautifully. “This looks like the Pan Am logo,” he explained. “The pained expression on the sun’s face reminds me of a 10-year-old playing a sunflower in the school play.” Want more flag fun? We’ve posted Saturday Night Live‘s fine “Flags of the World” sketch below for your viewing pleasure.

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This writer is headed off to Norway this afternoon on a press trip to check out the country’s ongoing National Tourists Routes Project, an effort by the government to create “experiences” along their scenic driving routes by way of architecture and design (Peter Zumthor, Louise Bourgeois, and Snohetta have all been involved thus far). Assuming we don’t fall into a fjord or wear ourselves out jetting across the country, we’ll be checking in from the road next week, and likely posting once we get back about the trip (which we need to mention is being funded by the country’s Consulate General office in New York and the Innovation Norway organization). Have any tips on what not to miss while we’re there, drop us a line in the comments.

And just one final reminder before this writer heads out: our Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect Giveaway ends tomorrow night. Get your entries in! We’ll announce a winner on Monday.

Whether you’ll be welcoming 2010 in a chalet in the Swiss Alps, New York’s Times Square, the comfort of your own home, a flair-fueled gathering at the local T.G.I. Friday’s, or the disco/art museum/pet shop that you manage on Second Life, we at UnBeige wish you good cheer and great design. We were told that sending a bottle of champagne to each and every UnBeige reader was “cost-prohibitive” (among other adjectives), and so we’ve put together a selection of favorite festive images from the holiday cards that landed in our virtual and actual mailboxes this season. Enjoy!

From Howard Greenberg Gallery: Dan Weiner‘s “New Years Eve – Times Square,” c. 1956.

From Friends of the High Line: a vintage wine coneflower planted along the High Line and photographed by Anastasia Courtney.

From—you guessed it—New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

From M Z Wallace, our favorite purveyor of handbags and accessories (and consistently delicious graphic design).

At left, from Printed Matter, Jack Pierson‘s “Slow,” 2009, and at right, season’s greetings from The Architect’s Newspaper.

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If you’ve been an UnBeige reader over the years, you’re likely familiar with our annual trend of being excited about year-end lists and then, come sometime around mid-January, after one ending wave after another, being utterly and completely tired of them. But this year, still only in early December, we’re already worn out because we just started realizing that not only will it be a billion year-end lists, it will also be a billion decade-end lists. But while we might not yet be happy about the upcoming the flood, the trickle at the beginning is certainly starting strong. First, a nice behind the scenes look at the creation of the two covers for New York‘s upcoming “The 00′s” issue (by Todd St. John and Fellow Designers), as well as some of the others they’d commissioned but didn’t wind up using, by the likes of David Carson and Marian Bantjes. Second comes an interesting read and the first of what’s likely to be a big trend: Jonathan Glancey‘s overview of architecture in the 2000s, from the dud that was the Millennium Dome to preparing to open the world’s new tallest building, the Burj Dubai. So, at the start of the season, both of those are interesting and not riddled with filler. Let’s do everyone a favor and keep it like those through these coming long days, okay internet?

When we posted our Special Black Friday edition last Friday, we were remiss to include one of our other favorites: Core77‘s annual picks for the best things to get those design crazed folk on your holiday buying list. And unlike A Daily Dose‘s Holiday Gift Books guide, Core77′s Gift Guide branches out in a variety of directions, from t-shirts to even, weirdly, the entire Star Wars collection. Though excluding the latter, the them this year is do pick items that are good for the world (which one you could argue that screenings of Star Wars still fits that bill). Plus, you won’t just be buying picks thought up by a couple of the site’s editors. Nope, this year you’ll have a creme of the crop of personal shoppers for you:

This year’s giftguide contributors are Alissa Walker, Rob Walker, John Thackara, Glen Jackson Taylor, Lisa Smith, Bethany Shorb, Emily Pilloton, Rain Noe, Jen van der Meer, Lunchbreath, Eric Ludlum, Jessica Helfand, Bill Hanff, FueledByCoffee, Allan Chochinov, Valerie Casey, Victoria Brown, and Emilie Baltz.

Welcome back to the internet. We hoped you’ve regained your vision after gorging yourself up to your eyeballs in food yesterday. We are finding it difficult to type, finding ourselves running out of breath just from hitting these few keys to write these sentences. But here we are, back on the job for you. And since it’s Black Friday today, we thought we’d make this post about buying stuff. First up, A Daily Dose of Architecture is back at it again with one of our favorite things of the season: their Holiday Gift Books guide. It’s one book selection from 50 separate publishers and if you haven’t completely maxed out all your credit cards by the end and forgotten to buy gifts for anyone else but yourself, then we don’t know who you are anymore. We think you’ll also find it’s a great resource to send to those family members who never know what to get you, thus sparing them them search and you another incorrectly-sized bit of wardrobe. And speaking of ill-sized, we turn to number two in this special consumer-focused post. Millions of dollars and man hours were presumably spent designing Motorola‘s attempted-iPhone-killer Droid phone, but the one thing the gadget’s box “don’t do” is actually hold the product well. Consumerist reports that the packaging design is atrocious, leading the phone to fall to the ground and possibly being damaged as soon as its unpacked. And it’s reportedly happened to lots of people. So while it may seem like such a minor thing, packaging isn’t something to take lightly.

(Photo: Associated Press/Ron Edmonds)

Here at UnBeige HQ, we’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in our usual way: by reading aloud choice passages from the novels of James Joyce, stuffing ourselves with artfully sprinkled green cupcakes, and making collages inspired by the work of our favorite Irish designer, Eileen Gray. But our festivities pale in comparison to those of the White House, which for the first time in history has dyed the water in its fountains green to mark Ireland’s national holiday. The Associated Press reports that it was the idea of First Lady Michelle Obama, perhaps pining for the temporarily green waters of the Chicago River (which today appears practically radioactive, thanks to 40 pounds of dye and members of the city’s Journeymen Plumbers Union). As for the White House fountains, “The green hue will stay until the dye runs out,” notes the AP.

As you—designers and the people who love them—prepare to sit down (in all manner of interesting chairs) to Thanksgiving dinner, during which you’ll again struggle to explain to family and friends exactly what it is that you do, we got to thinking what we’re thankful for this year. All it took was a look through some recent posts to remind us. Below, a very non-exhaustive list:

What do you get the designer or design buff who has everything (besides another Pentagram calendar)? No, really, what do you get them? We’re asking because we’ve decided to assemble the first ever UnBeige Holiday Gift Guide, a round-up of design-minded gift ideas—or just plain nifty things. So what are you giving or hoping to get this Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and/or Voodoo Day? Let us know by e-mailing your ideas to unbeige AT mediabistro.com with “gift guide” in the subject line. You’ve got until Thanksgiving, at which point we’ll be making our list, checking it twice—oh, you get the picture.

The new(ish) New York Times building isn’t just pretty to look at (and fun to climb), it’s also exceeding expectations when it comes to energy efficiency. Designed by Renzo Piano in association with FXFOWLE Architects, the 52-story, 1.6-million-square-foot tower won’t leave the light on for you—or anyone else for that matter. Lighting for the entire building is controlled by a cutting-edge light management system (Lutron Electronics‘ Quantum), and it has achieved a whopping 70% energy savings compared to the building’s already ambitious benchmark for energy efficiency.

“We designed our building to use 1.28 Watts per square foot of lighting power. With Quantum, it’s using only 0.38,” said Glenn Hughes, director of construction for The New York Times Company during the design, installation, and commissioning of the building, in a press release issued by Lutron. “The energy usage savings is stunning.” The system works by setting the appropriate target light level for each space, automatically dimming electric lights when enough daylight is present, and turning lights off when space is vacant. It’s estimated that the savings in lighting energy usage will mean an annual savings of about $315,000 for the Times Company—a sum equivalent to the price of 78,750 copies of the Sunday paper. Click “continued…” for a look inside the building, although be warned that the photos will make your office jealous.

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