I am fascinated by where grapics design is headed.  Enjoy!  PW

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August 29, 2008 4:00 AM PDT

Art design for the masses, chosen by the masses

  • Tim Roberts, founder of Infectious.com, standing next to his Audi wrapped in art called green bandana funk.(Credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET News)

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Tim Roberts' black Audi A3 has something called green bandana funk.

It's not slang for a mechanical problem or lingering bad smell, but rather, lime-green graffiti art in bandana patterns that dot the exterior of his otherwise shiny urban sedan. Roberts, a longtime tech executive who previously helped Twitter get off the ground, sometimes forgets the vinyl stickers are there, until they prompt a nearby driver to roll down a window and ask about his artwork. Once he even found a pack of young skateboarders surrounding his car in a parking lot taking pictures with their cell phones.

"It's this totally social experience," Roberts said from the office of Infectious.com in San Francisco's Mission District.

VC-backed Infectious.com is Roberts' newly launched Web site for buying car art from independent designers like Nico Berry, formerly of skate magazine Thrasher, and Apple Creative Director Andy Harding. The vinyl stickers, which range from Barack Obama logos to bubbly characters riding spaceships, adhere to any part of the car and can come off with the use of a blow dryer. For between $35 and a few hundred dollars, anyone can add some artistic flare to their wheels, Burning Man-style.

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