Hinge of Africa
One of my closest friends from growing up is heading to Burkina Faso this week through the Peace Corps. While setting up her blog, a fellow designer recommended Hinge Of Africa via Twitter. A web designer who writes a fantastic blog, and a blogger who has been featured on the Sundance channel for her site about planning green weddings, I feel like I can really relate with this couple traveling all the way to Cameroon to teach computer literacy. This is a feed I am really looking forward to following.

National Archives Digtial Archives
When I worked for the army, every once in a while they would send me out to the National Archives to find some photos. It is a fantastic facility with millions of photos, unfortunately over time, some get misplaced and others are very hard to find. This interactive experience is a tip of the ice burg… there should be some place online that attempts to catalog all of the amazing photography in our nations public domain. An entertaining and beautifully designed flash piece by Second Story, I find the overall user experience and method of navigation to be a little frustratingly.

Cooler & Lipster
I found Lipster via Cooler, both are female focused media outlets that have branded themselves without being overtly feminine. While I dig stuff targeted towards my gender, I am terribly turned off by anything branded to be that way (words like babes chicks and girls… yack!). Both are fresh, with great design and tons of personality that are relevant to what I am into. Lipster is a pop magazine for those who want to get the dirt with attitude, and Cooler is an awesome surf magazine.

Ampersand
I love the ampersand. Its a great typographical element that can jazz up just about any boring piece of text. A whole blog just about a symbol that stands for “and”. RAD.

Favrd
An extreme time suck, I will go to this site and find myself horribly at odds on whether to continue laughing so hard that my FIJI water spurts out my nose, or finally get back to doing something productive ( like… blogging. snap). Favrd takes some of the wittiest comments from Twitter and serves them up here for your enjoyment.. brevity surely is the soul of wit.

I know I know, I am so delinquent this time. I vow to do better next time, and please forgive me for being 11 days late on this post… the great outdoors has been calling my name.

Lucha Libre Posters
There is nothing that gets me more pumped about designing than some masked Mexican wrestlers running around in spandex. Just look at these poster designs, they are fantastic! If you are looking for intriguing visuals, fun uses of color, and some entertaining poster design just search “Lucha Libre Posters” on Flickr.

Urge the Boys
I love the jewelry being sold on this site as much as I love the logo. The mix of vintage and modern is what really gets me exited about these pieces of art. Too bad it has to be shipped all the way from Australia, but perhaps that is what supplies all the fantastic inspiration.

Book By Its Cover
An exquisit little blog that highlights interesting books and book illustration. I can just tab through here for hours, if not for ideas but for a little taste of nostalgia.

Cuban Poster Art
This blog highlights some very interesting examples of cuban poster art. I really enjoy the variation in styles and background on history.

Sweet Napa
Chocolate is an art. This blog really is delicious. I am not sure how long it will last in my feed reader, because it temps the crap out of me, but a great find none the less. I found this via KV’s post

What you see here folks, is the first time I have ever been severely delinquent on a “Choice Links” post. I apologize, I am sure you all just sit waiting by the feed reader for me to drop some delicious links on you (not), but I feel the need to apologize… you see I have developed a severe case of ridiculous blog guilt. In an effort to reinforce “blog guilt” ’s sheer ridiculousness I have made it a point to say “nice weather comes before the blog”… inspired by Chris Glass’s T-shirt pictured above. Now go on… get out of here… take a walk, ride your bike, or shred some on your longboard…. because you aren’t going to become a better designer rotting away in front of the internet on lovely days!

Evening Tweed
Four design students got together in 2006 and started this design collective. There is type that makes me drool dripping all over this site. They have nice taste… worth your time to check out.

A Texas Designer’s Map of the World
DJ Stout, a designer from Texas was asked to participate in illustrating a map which would include designers from all over the country to illustrate their respective areas:

“Of course I was given the Southwest,” says Stout “which includes the great state of Texas and a few other insignificant surrounding states.

Stout pulled off this vintage style with uncanny wit. Love me some nice poster design.

Logo Design Love
Clean, well designed, and all about logos. What is there not to dig on with this blog? I’m a big fan of Brand New, but Logo Design Love is actually throwing a bone to the web community featuring a lot of online-only brands.

Wear Palettes
Perhaps you are in a rut using Kuler and getting fairly similar results over and over? Try this blog… color combinations inspired by fashion photography. Great place for ideas.
Via ABF

GlenzTees
I’m an old-school fan of Threadless. GlennzTees is a threadless designer who has branched out on his own. I like his designs because they are funny and thoughtful.

Aisleone
Lately I can’t get enough clean design. Grids, whitespace, and sen-serif typefaces… this blog is chalked full ‘em. Nice source of inspiration.

God is a Designer T-Shirt
Yeah, I guess he is…. isn’t he? Once again , I love nerdy type tees… and this one gets you by being so obvious… you have to think twice.

Things I have Learned in my Life So Far
Stefan Sagmeister is a designer known for taking unusual risks in his work. He is often associated with a famous poster he made where he had someone carve the type into his body with an exacto knife. I cringe every time I see it ( so its not getting posted on this page). Also known for illustrating his statements through typographic expression, he has created this website that encourages people to personify their life lessons in type.

The Ministry of Type
A fantastic Typography blog with a perspective that comes from across the Atlantic. Every time I read “Arse” in a blog I start reading it in my head with an accent. Working on fixing this mental glich.

Print Pattern Blog
I am a total paper fiend. On my first trip to New York city I bought so much paper I couldn’t fit it all in my suitcase. I also have bags of printed fabric just waiting to be sewn into  totes and purses. This would be where laziness is bad for the soul. I hope to get on making some new bags after SXSW so I don’t end up like those poor fish… passed out in a heap of printed material. (They aren’t dead, BTW… they are just sleeping)

News, Notes, & Observations from Hoefler & Frere-Jones
Posts from the type designers who brought you Gotham, Hoefler Text, and Didot. This site is just stunning.

Grids Are Good For the Soul
A limited addition poster that sold out before I got to order. Total bummer… but a great example of how a little Design idea can go a long way.

WebStock
If flying to New Zealand wasn’t such a ridiculous way to spend my money on a web conference I would so be there. Luckily a few of the same speakers will be at South By Southwest. Beautifully designed site. Love the layers and typography.

This Ain’t No Disco
A Blog that features interior work environments from creative agencies all over the world. The more comfortable you are in your surroundings the more creative you can be, and this site features some really cool spaces.

Yahoo Design Pattern Library
Sometimes everyone who is involved in creating a website is not on the same page to what nomenclature should be used for web functionality. I had one client call everything that was a square an “iframe”. Web banners, and carousels were all iframes. This made communication difficult. This is the second more extensive pattern library I have seen and I recommend checking it out. The other is http://ui-patterns.com.

Disengage
Doug is one of my new colleagues at Viget, and and I really enjoy his Blog. My personal favorite post is called “Live Life as Doug: The Easy Way”. Both Doug and his blog are very witty and full of interesting information. His Flickr gallery with inspiration is fantastic.

10 Principles Of Effective Web Design
If you haven’t been to Smashing Magazine yet.. go there. Now. Don’t even finish reading this post. While many of Smashing’s articles can massive brain-dumps of obvious information they also have a lot of good stuff too. This article is a good one to bookmark.

PacMan Cupcakes
Need I say More?