Cutesy Little Designs for Your Office

Today’s cutesy little designs were picked in honor of those who have to go back to school this month (and for the rest of us who are forever looking forward to another new week at the office.) Each of these little animal creatures will make your work experience a little lighter and brighter. And maybe even a little more productive at times.
Cutesy 1) Now you can bring your pet to work and not suffer the mess. These dog and cat staplers are eco-friendly office products from See Jane Work. Eco-friendly staplers? That’s a new concept to us as well. Apparently, the dog and cat stapler can attach up to four sheets of paper at a time without traditional staples. Once you slide your papers inside, the Staple Free Stapler punches through the sheets to create a tiny tab that holds the sheets together. Lightweight and portable, these little pets are perfect for your home, office, and school. $9
Cutesy 2) These animal critters are the latest toy craze in Japan. Called Hop Pops, your desk will instantly become more inviting once you have a cute duck, panda, frog, monkey, or bear sitting next to your computer. They bob their heads along with sounds and vibrations, making a tense work moment instantly lighter. Available for $17 each or $88 for all six.Cutesy 3) You don’t have to be a UNIX lover to adore these little penguins. What are they? A USB flash drive of course! The penguin head lifts up to reveal the jump stick underneath. At 1 GB of memory for $34, these adorable critters seem like a reasonably good deal. The only tricky part might be ordering one off the Japanese website. Cutesy 4) Our next find is a little more whimsical. A spider screen cleaner is probably not on top of your office supplies shopping list, but how could you smile at the concept? With soft velvet bellies, the spider, caterpillar, or fish attach directly onto your computer monitor. When you need to clean your screen, simply pull on the retractable cord and wipe the dirt away. $6.99
Cutesy 4) Our final cutesy find combines two workspace essentials: a pencil sharpener and a paper shredder. Granted, these little elephants can’t handle massive internal memos, but they’re just the right size for shredding credit card receipts and little pieces of important paper. They even have suction cup feet to hold them in place. $7.99

Cutesy Little Designs

Because every day needs a little bit of spunk, we’ve picked out our favorite oddities of the moment to share. Functional or not, there’s no reason design shouldn’t make you smile once in awhile. Here are our top four cutesies of the moment.
Cutesy 1) Emotibles has the most unique iPod accessory we’ve seen so far. These little doohickies look like a caps key crossed with a bag of tropical Skittles. Do they have a function? Sure they do (if fashion accessory counts as a function). They’re Emotibuds, plastic charms that grip your iPod headphones. At $4 a pair, they come in a huge array of stylish colors, and each one has a strange little face based on emoticons. With names like Frisky, Starry-eyed, Brilliant, and Befuddled, there are at least 16 little personalities to jazz up your pod. Also at Emotibles, check out the tees, free wallpaper, and custom ichat avatars.

Cutesy 2) If you ever thought geeks have no style, you’ve obviously never seen Mimo Bots. Perhaps marketed towards those of us who can’t live without storage sticks or perhaps geared towards those who just like nifty looking gagets (USB what?), the Mimo Bot has more personality than anything you’ve ever plugged in. Designed by toy studio vs consumer electronics brand Mimoco, these are USB flash drives with soul and style. The Mimo Bots run the full gamut from fairy to monster, depending on what mood your electronics normally take. Data storage has never had such attitude.
Cutesy 3) This might be the least functional of the batch, but who could resist? It’s Mr Tofu Robot! Apparently served fresh in a sealed package, Mr Tofu Robot comes from a favorite store of ours, Spicy Brown. Although we primarily like Spicy for their apparel, if you’re in the market for tofu gone gizmo, they’ve got you covered.
Cutesy 4) And finally, if you don’t Google, you should. Yes, iGoogle. The web dominators have several options for those search savvy followers who may get bored with the monotony of white day after day. We like the seasonal theme for our iGoogle. If office work has you down, give it a try. Functional? Yes. Efficient? Not so much. Office work is now more distracting than ever with customizable news bars, tips, horoscopes, and jokes. However, short of a coffee break, that may be exactly what you need.