Side Salad: How To Tell Your Kids Their Art Stinks
June 2, 2026
Good morning from Dieline’s editor-in-chief, Bill McCool. Here’s your daily side serving of design news, short musings, brand stuff, and forgotten ephemera.
I get that the Coca-Cola bottle has maybe one of the most memorable bottle silhouettes around, but if you saw chopsticks shaped like the bottle’s contour, would you actually recognize them as Coke-shaped? I’m not sure anyone would, “iconic” or not. That said, great beginner chopsticks for kids!
David’s protein-packed ice cream has officially launched with four flavors. Not sure about those pints though...
Studio Mol makes a pretty compelling argument for “framing” your kids’ artwork, and I suppose there’s a good idea buried in here about giving a window into their creative musings and “elevating a portion of it” through a geometric paper scheme. That said, I think if I were 7 years old and you didn’t show off the WHOLE-ASS picture I drew, I would probably be a little peeved that you were selectively editing my work (”MOMMY AND DADDY LOVE YOUR PAINTING, BILLY...BUT ESPECIALLY THIS 1” X 2” PORTION!”) Anyway, I believe kids are fully arrived artists from the jump; their creative instincts are very much present. Show off your kids’ pictures, not just a segment of them, guys.
Abraham Lule has a few prints for sale, and if I weren’t maxed out on buying used Blu-rays on eBay, I would 100% buy one of these.
You want a cool Japanese book from 1990 on packaging, too, yes?
Brooklyn designer duo Wade and Leta made a kinetic sculpture/see-saw in Australia dubbed “There, Now, Here.”
Of course, you would love a live rip of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings running through 2 hours worth of Dead covers, right?
Ta-ta for now.
Bill