Last week, an article from Forbes.com caught my eye about the most unhealthy commutes in the United States.

It wasn’t difficult to guess which area of the lower 48 would top the charts — it’s a well known fact that LA is akin to a driving nightmare. The article says that not only do So-Cal commuters experience the worst pollution levels, they also have the highest rate of fatal auto accidents, and spend an average of 93 hours per year sitting in traffic.

Yikes.

Disclaimer: I have to admit that the typography on this gem was drawn at home.

It’s Monday (again already?!) and time for your weekly sneak peak into my inbox from the past 7 days. Net-a-Porter tops the charts with their gorgeous Parachute Silk imagery.

Image credits to the following: Works of Canvas: Piperlime; Parachute Silk: Net-a-Porter; Forms of Flattery: Piperlime; Garnished: Font Shop

I’ve got a secret. I kind of like ugly design.

Shockingly (or not), I don’t seem to be the only person in the design community who harbors this secret. In fact, a few months ago, Design Observer posted an article on How To Be Ugly. It was a controversial article that included 84 comments with varied responses.

You may laugh, but there is a definite difference between bad and ugly design. Bad design typically means the designer failed. Ugly design is intentional.

I’ve collected a few ugly sites that I love and want to hear feedback. Do you secretly love ugly too?

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Base Design
Let’s start off with an easy one. Base doesn’t classify as completely ugly. The structure and visual impact of the site is great but they’ve got a great start on ugly with the navigation.

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Toormix
I’m a sucker for yellow and black, so combine a little ugly with those colors and Toormix has me swooning. The hovers and navigation interaction on this site are genius.

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Irregular Choice
I gasped when I first saw this site, and it wasn’t just because of these shoes. Irregular Choice, a fairly high-end online store, took ugly to an entirely new level. Can you imagine trying to get something like this approved at Nine West? A totally different target market, but I digress.

I’ve finally tasted the only food smell I’ve had since my bike incident a week ago. Oddly enough, it’s quiche! Not sure, but I think I’ve found a favorite new food. (Or at least until this smell / taste deficiency goes away).

and hopefully many more of both to come!

Image credit: SFStation.com

This weekend, my husband and I marked our 5 year wedding anniversary. Being the traditional couple we are (not!) we celebrated by attending a cooking class on Friday evening. What a blast!

Image credit: SFStation.com

I can honestly say, I’ve never had so much fun spending 3 hours with 15-20 other people I’ve never met. Everyone had a great attitude and we even became fast friends with another couple who worked with us to make our portion of the dinner (Italian meatballs).

Whether you’re an amateur looking for a few cooking tips, or a seasoned professional, I highly recommend a cooking class. If nothing else, you’ll come away with a belly full of delicious food…right? You can see more of our fun evening at SFStation.com

Image credit: SFStation.com

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about how I’d been contemplating senses and how to trigger them through design. I look back now and find it even more interesting, because at some point during my collision with cars and San Francisco streets, I lost my sense of smell.

Piccino, a bakery / cafe near B’stro, and the site of my bike accident

At this point, we’re not completely sure if it’s temporary or not, but I’m quickly realizing just now important sense of smell is. Losing smell has been good, bad, and interesting. Good because stinky things are no longer stinky, but bad because most smells I used to love are completely absent. And some of those smells — like coffee — now make my stomach churn.

Because sense of smell directly affects your sense of taste, I’ve been disappointed to realize that very few things taste. So this weekend, my husband and I decided to find out what I can and can’t taste. As you may expect, less flavorful foods (bananas, beer and pasta) have zero taste, while flavorful things like garlic or spicy hot foods and very sweet foods (like Skittles) have claimed a minor stake on my taste buds. While it is a horribly sad thing not to be able to smell or taste bread, I’ve enjoyed finding new foods to try.

So here’s my challenge to you. What should I try next? Just tell me what it is and where I can find it. If it’s something I can make at home, post the recipe.

It’s Monday already and time for another Strike My Fancy, your weekly sneak peak into my inbox. This week’s email images are brought to you by Behance, The Zoe Report, Three Potato Four, ISO50, and Soia & Kyo.

Oh, and have you heard? E-mail is now email. Thank you AP Stylebook!

If you were wondering why there wasn’t a commute design post yesterday, it’s because I never got there. I rode my bike yesterday (sometimes I walk) and in the 1/2 mile between the train station and work I was the lucky example of what happens when bikes and cars mix.

The details are fuzzy, but to make a long, confusing story short, I thought I was door’ed (the thing that happens when a driver opens his/her door into a biker) but witness say I was hit from behind by an SUV. The SFPD is investigating.

I landed on my head and experienced a short concussion, so they took me to the ER to make sure my noggin was still intact. After checking out my head and a few other scrapes and bruises, they had me sit in the hallway for observation for a couple of hours.

Fun Fact: The ER in the hospital I was at is actually a pretty funny place on March 17. I had the pleasure to witness a guy insist to the ER staff that he didn’t need to wear clothes, and listened to the nurses sing Crack Kills to the tune of Love Hurts. It’s not cheap entertainment, but it is fun.

There are a few ironic pieces to this story 1) the guy opening his door was an plain-clothes policeman 2) the SUV was green. So why do I think that St. Patrick’s Day hates me? Last year on this same date, I was also in the hospital getting poked with needles because I had insanely high iron levels.

The good news from yesterday is that after delicious lunch and a nice long afternoon nap, we signed the lease to our new apartment in San Francisco. Now thats a good way to end a not-so-good day.

I’ve been collecting quotes on commuting that I find online, and they will slowly be finding their way into my designs for the next month or so.

This evening’s commute design comes to you from the 22nd Street Caltrain station and some guy named Gary Roberts. In our area, gas is nearly over $4.00 per gallon and even though we don’t need to fill our tank very often (thank you Nissan!), I still cringe a bit when we drive past a gas station.

A couple of years ago, I purchased the book How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy. Apart from TypoMundus 20, it’s probably the second best book purchase I’ve made.

I originally purchased it for one chapter — the first one — for my Senior Project students to read, but quickly realized the entire book was spot on. Since then, about once a year, I pull it out to read through it. Not only does it include insightful ideas for designers, there are interviews and thoughts from Stefan Sagmeister, Neville Brody, and countless other influential thinkers and doers in design.

Originally intended for design students, it’s a must-read for all designers at any stage. You can purchase it on Amazon for a mere $12 plus change.