Brian Singer’s San Francisco studio Altitude never fails to produce smart, thought-provoking design that’s often witty and always fun. Take a look at Altitude’s latest creation — packaging for a snack food with a cinematic dimension and a suspicious ingredient list (at least in Original Recipe).

Arianna Orland of Paper Jam Press recently took us on a tour of her virtual studio. Now we’re excited to welcome her as guest curator this week of Felt & Wire Shop. She has put together a collection of select items from the shop that make excellent use of space by using bold, graphic and visually simplistic design. Arianna believes that when you incorporate these elements, a little goes a long way — which shows in her own design. [MD]

So, here’s your challenge. Try writing just one letter. You could write to a friend simply to tell how happy you are to have them in your life, or perhaps to someone in need of cheer. In your letter, ask them to write back — the old fashioned way — and embrace what it feels like to give and receive something that costs only 44 cents. At first it might seem a bit strange, and likely your hand will hurt just a bit. But you’ll find that something special unfolds.

As if this summer’s release of Design*Sponge at Home wasn’t enough, design blogger extraordinaire Grace Bonny has hit us with big news yet again. This week Design*Sponge launched its first ever newspaper. Bonny says she and her team enjoyed their move from computer screen to printing press. “We’re used to being trapped in a narrow, vertical column, so we loved getting to work with larger images and play around with text placement.”