When we grew tired of sending email after email of inspirational finds back and forth, we thought there had to be an easier way to share things with our friends. The Donut Project was created as a place for us to share inspirational, cool, hilarious, unconventional and interesting links with each other. Shortly thereafter, The Donut Project was released to the masses – with the mentality that if we found these links interesting, chances are that other people would too.

Why’d we call it The Donut Project? Each one of us graduated from the Kent State University’s Visual Communication Design program, where the first project consists of inking, by hand, a precise 8 inch square with hairlines bisecting it horizontally, vertically and diagonally, with a thick donut shaped circle in the middle of the square. This iconically Swiss design was the first of many tests of precision, craft and sanity. Its reputation for weeding out students was legendary due to the high precision and harsh grading. Because of the thick circle in the middle and lack of an actual name, the project was nicknamed ‘The Donut Project.’ Mention this project to most Kent grads, and usually you’ll hear a moan, followed by “I got a C-minus on that stupid thing.” It bonds us all and we felt it was the perfect thing to name this site after.

On The Donut Project, we will post anything that inspires us, makes us laugh, makes us think or pisses us off. Design is not only about literal design, and this site won’t be either. If we like it, whatever it may be, it’ll be here. Stick around, subscribe to the RSS feed, see the current contributors and take a second to say hello or send us something worth sharing.

We hope you enjoy.