For former urban planner Kathryn Clark, charts and statistics on foreclosures fail to convey the hardship so many families are facing. Her Foreclosure Quilts are delicate fabric collages that tell the story of our fraying neighborhoods.

On Sunday, Philadelphia announced it’d be the first American city to create “E-Lanes,” delineated Electronic Device Lanes reserved for those who chronically walk and text. John Metcalfe dubs it one of 2012’s best April Fool’s joke by a US city.

Mies van der Rohe, the architect known for the adage “God is in the details,” was born 126 years ago today, and to commemorate the modern architectural master, Google has created a “doodle” featuring his Crown Hall building.

In a conversation with the UK’s CRACK, Minneapolis-based designer and MCAD prof Erik Brandt discusses, among other topics, how living in Egypt, Cameroon, Germany, and Malawi affected his love of language and typography.

Inside/Out gives a tour of Lester Beall’s posters for the Rural Electrification Administration in the ‘30s and ‘40s: While nationalistic, the work highlights Beall’s “modernist design, which far outweighs the propagandist implications.”

Duplo, Lego, Lincoln Logs, K’Nex: Why can’t these disparate construction toys get along? Thanks to Free Universal Construction Kit by F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology) they can: these 80 pieces can connect up 10 popular toys.