Sitemap - 2025 - Inconspicuous Consumption
Collection Agency: Crunching the Numbers with a Calculator Collector
What’s the Best Way to Slice a Cake?
What Is the Proper Number of Slices for a Pie?
A Very Simple Mechanism That Blew My Mind
Collection Agency: Tucker Viemeister’s Amazing Wall of Toothpaste Tubes
Stick Figures in Peril: Hospital Edition
Foot Notes (Or: The Agony of the Feet)
Setting Things Straight, Literally
America’s Most Inconspicuous Artist
The Most Inconspicuous Part of Your Bathroom
What Makes a Good Package Design Even Better?
When Is a Catalog More Than a Catalog?
The Pleasures of Decorator Colors
A Whole New Subcategory of Stick Figures in Peril!
Holy Mackerel: The Mystery of the Miracle Fish
The Most Inconspicuous Thing About the 2025 World Series
Some Thoughts About Making Lists
I Thought I Knew About the Poll Tax, but I Was Wrong
An Easily Overlooked Detail of Spatula Design
Go This Way — No, Wait, Go That Way!
In Which I Reach an Important Milestone, Literally
Show and Tell: Address-Based Infographic
The Humble Sign with a Hidden Superpower
Wanted: Your Stories About Maximizing Efficiency
In Which I Finally Land My White Whale ... Sort Of
Your Stories of Striving for Precision
A Shirt with a Very Unusual Backstory
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Completely Brilliant Art Project
A Close Look at Security Envelope Patterns
Wanted: Your Stories of Aiming for Precision
The Endless Comedy of Stick Figures in Peril
The Strange World of Tsunami Warning Signs
Little Stories: The Bogus Middle Initial
Two of a Kind: Inconspicuous Consumption Meets The Art of Noticing
Some Thoughts About Stripes vs. Solids
Some Thoughts About Odd Numbers and Even Numbers
Little Stories: The Special Fork
The Mind-Blowing Geometric Design of Diatomaceous Earth
We’ve Now Had a Full 12 Months of Inconspicuous Consumption
A Close Look at Auxiliary Prescription Labels
The Shift from “Passed Away” to “Passed”
A Close Look at Ticket-Punch Shapes
Some Fireworks-Related Content for the Fourth of July
Show and Tell: The Fisher-Price Donut
Boundary Issues, Day 5: Follow-Up Roundup!
Boundary Issues, Day 4: The Myth of Border Width
Boundary Issues, Day 3: State Line Towns and Roads
Boundary Issues, Day 2: Border Monuments
Welcome to Boundary Issues, a Weeklong Look at Territorial Borders
In Which I Learn a New Term for a Very Inconspicuous Type of Territory
A Common Design Error That’s Been Hiding in Plain Sight
FREE SHIPPING Deal Available on the Inconspicuous Product Line!
BOOM! An Explosive Art Project
A Very Satisfying Piece of Hardware Design
A Plastic Icon Transitions to Cardboard
A Really Fun Art Exhibit in a Really Unlikely Place
That’s a Paddlin’: A Mystery Train Tool with a Super-Specialized Function
My Favorite Industrial-Trespassing Artifact
The Curious Phenomenon of Faux Stitching
A Sample Catalog for Something You Probably Never Thought About
How a Hornets’ Nest Totally Blew My Mind
Solving the Great Potato Sticker Mystery
Show and Tell: A Very Special Hockey Puck
The Surprising Visual Pleasures of Tire Shops
Finally, a Museum Exhibit of Trade Catalogs!
Some Very Unusual Traffic Signs
The World’s Most Ridiculous Stop Sign
Little Stories: The Incriminating Matzo Butter Stain
A Completely Brilliant Video Project
The Torpedo Bat Is a Classically Inconspicuous Design Story
Toward a Unified Theory of Proper Egg Use
The Only Important Question About Eggs
A Visit to the New York Sign Museum
Little Stories: Rain on My Birthday
The Binder Clip: An Appreciation
Show and Tell: A Very Beautiful Magazine — in Braille
Is It “Baggage Claim” or “Bag Claim”?
The Strangest Artifacts I’ve Ever Saved
Let’s Check Out Some Cool Old Business Letters and Invoices
The Case of the Mysterious Bird Feeder Surprise
A Very Unusual Traffic Light, and Some Additional Roadway Oddities
A Friend Sends a Special Gift from Beyond the Grave
The Unusual Highway Signage of West Virginia
Do the Math: The Pleasures of Fractional Street Names
New York City’s Most Inconspicuous and Amusingly Named Avenue
The Amazing Variety of Parcheesi Board Designs
What If You Dislike Something That Everyone Else Loves?
Now Accepting “Ask Me Anything” Questions
My Completely Awesome Heirloom Toaster
Takeaways from the Inconspicuous Consumption Reader Survey
Strange Bedfellows: Furniture and Undertaking
Show and Tell: Brass Pneumatic Cylinder
What’s the Deal with “Both Phones”?
Please Take This Inconspicuous Consumption Survey
The Pleasures of Vintage Billheads
Some Extremely Inconspicuous Details About Tape Measures
How a Vintage Library Card Reconnected Me with an Old Friend