Stephen Turbek: bubble wrap calendar,success in US

Stephen Turbek, a designer from New York, developed the bubble calendar that is a success in United States. Here's how it works. You pop a bubble to mark each day. And in the process, you reduce stress.

The calendar is a bubble wrap popper's dream. The 38-yea-old Turbek actually worked through a number of development and production issues before coming up with one that's ready for prime time.

Two different calendars are finally available; they come in both horizontal and vertical versions and are backed on clear acetate or on white paper. He has a great success in sales on line, selling the calendars for from between 30 and 50 dollars each, boasting customers in Australia, Korea and Japan. So far he's made versions in German and Japanese but he plans to produce some in additional languages for 2010.

The key of success is a universal attraction to bubble wrap

Turbek leads the user experience team at a premier financial services firm in New York, helping clients design solutions to complex software problems to create efficient and enjoyable experiences for their users.

The team supports software development teams across the firm with usability, interface design, and information architecture. As an internal consultancy, the team is able to deliver consistent best practices at an economical cost to project teams. Their background in technology enables them to design feasible software solutions. Projects have included web applications, portals, desktop software, mobile applications, and rich Internet applications.

Previously, he worked at Avenue A Razorfish for 11 years as a user experience director focusing on financial services clients. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Artforum, Wired, Web Techniques, BoxesandArrows.com, the books Deconstructing Web Graphics and Web Navigation, and in the SFMOMA, and the Eyebeam Foundation. Turbek was a visiting professor at the Pratt Institute and the New School. His work has won the Taka-Fugi International Design Competition and the Art Directors Club Interactive award.