New Site Coming Soon
So, my goal of having a new site up by the end of summer isn’t going to happen. Classes start on Monday and I’m still in the ‘Why isn’t this working—all of the code looks correct’ phase of designing. Plus I have to make some choices regarding whether or not this blog stays or if I change it to something else. Regardless, there will be changes coming soon, I’m just not sure when.
August 21, 2010 at 11:03 am | Design, Random | No comment
Design and Ethics/Morality
If you haven’t seen this video of Aaron Draplin talking about why ‘America is F-cked’ then by all means, do so now. He is clearly on the side of ‘good’ design and a sane person can’t really argue with the example he uses as proof of the downward spiral of ‘professional’ design. It ends up posing a rather interesting question: is there a moral code by which designers and design professionals should practice? Partake in the awesomeness of Design and Ethics/Morality
November 13, 2009 at 1:59 am | Branding, Design | 1 comment
Fashion Shows and Random Old School Treadmill Thoughts
So, there’s a fashion show coming up, and I’m doing some design for it. Not fashion design, but designs for t-shirts and various other media (perhaps thongs, hats, cups, who knows). It should be a good time. Check out the sweet card artwork above. It’s on November 14th at the USF Tampa Marshall Center. Be there or be square.
And, randomly on the treadmill, I started thinking about really REALLY old stuff from 6th and 7th grade. I think it might be a sign as I start brainstorming my new site. But it was really random stuff, like Bilbo the Rabid Walrus and Newbus: the Dumbest Slug on Earth. I’m not even sure how they would play into my site. Yet.
Revisiting childhood sounds like a pretty good idea for a theme.
October 23, 2009 at 12:07 am | Art, Branding, Design, Random | No comment
Holiday Inn and the Life and Death of Rick Astley: Day 06
So, I’m not sure if Florida is just overly behind the times or what, but I noticed yesterday that one of the local Holiday Inns that I passed on the way home from work had a new sign, printed on a vinyl banner, wrapped around the old sign. To me, that said “New and in-progress” but after doing a little searching, it looks like this re-branding has been going on for quite some time. So, for some of you, this may be old news. For me, though, it was quite a shock. Partake in the awesomeness of Holiday Inn and the Life and Death of Rick Astley: Day 06
April 28, 2009 at 5:19 pm | Branding, Design, Random | No comment
U.S. and Gitmo: A Lesson In Branding Basics
So, after watching a discussion between a Democratic senator (or congresswoman) and a Republican senator (or—again—congressman) discuss their trip to Guantanamo Bay, I came to this conclusion: Gitmo is like the New Coke of the United States. It may be all fine and dandy, and in practice it might be a solid product, but externally, the consumers hate everything about it and it ends up tarnishing the brand. (In Coke’s case, that meant eventually going back to the original formula and branding the hell out of it as Coca Cola Classic to alleviate any concerns.)
Both of the politicians who spent time at Guantanamo Bay extolled the facilities and the treatment of the detainees. Both even said that the prison is successful and is fulfilling its duties with flying colors. However, the differing of opinions occurred when asked whether the base should be shut down or not. The Republican explained that since the base is doing its job and is not the human rights black hole that people think it is. The Democrat, on the other hand, countered that even though the prison is well-kept and the prisoners are taken care of, it is a spot on America’s global presence and thus its closing would help improve our standing in the world.
I have to admit, she’s got it right. But why? Why is image so important?
Let’s jump back to Coke as an example. If Coke were to go belly-up for some un-Godly reason, the worth of its tangible assets in April 2007 was roughly $25 billion. However, the estimated worth of the company at the same time? $117 billion. Holy crap.
Coke, as a brand, was worth roughly FIVE TIMES that of its tangible assets. That means that if every Coke plant were to mysteriously explode and every little bit of Coke paraphernalia currently on store shelves, billboards, product placements, etc. were to mysteriously disappear, it could be replaced for LESS than what the company is worth.
That brand leverage is currently being applied to the U.S. during this economic down turn. We’re in the crapper financially but we’re able to borrow from outside sources (not just tax payers) to (hopefully) pull ourselves out of this recession. For the most part, the sources lending money to the government are saying “Hey, you know what? You guys are in trouble, but we know your track record and we think you’ll be able to make us money in the long run.”
But how does Gitmo fit into this picture? Well, the prison is generally seen as tarnish on America’s reputation of fairness and opportunity, and as such, it sullies the brand. Although it might be doing its job and look good on paper, it’s also undermining the intangible brand value of the United States of America. If our “consumers” are not confident in our reputation, we’re worth even less financially; they stop giving us money and we spiral out of control financially.
A brand is not what the creator/owner says it is. A brand is what the consumer says it is.
In this situation, the people of the U.S. are the creators/owners of the brand; regardless of how we define American life the U.S. and its reputation and worth can only be defined by the rest of the world.
March 12, 2009 at 11:13 pm | Branding, Design | No comment
Random Technical Illustration 002
So, continuing my technical illustration kick, here’s my sweet slide-phone, complete with awesomeness.
March 12, 2009 at 10:58 pm | Design, Random | No comment
Super 8 WORLDWIDE
While most people probably hop onto the interstate and drive mindlessly between home and work, I tend to be acutely aware of new visual happenings and two weeks ago my acuity was well-rewarded.
So, on my daily, vehicular ritual I pass by the same two hotels on I-275 twice a day. To the east is a Super 8; to the west is a Days Inn (coincidentally the very same Days Inn that I consider to be my first Florida home). A couple weeks ago, I noticed something strange as I sat idling in stop-and-go traffic, my unreliable radio reliably delivering a mixture of NPR news snippets and incoherent static. It appeared to be…. Wait…. YES! Super 8 had installed a brand new sign complete with a brand new logo.
Now before I critique the logo, let me first make it clear that when I initially saw the sign, It did not register as a Super 8. I instead thought that the Super 8 had been replaced by a pawn shop. A pawn shop ran by some guy who’s sister’s brother-in-law does some desktop publishing in his spare time and was able to whip up a logo in Microsoft Word. Think I’m kidding?
“What’s wrong with it?” you may be asking yourself. Well, nothing, I guess. It definitely got my attention. However, the chain probably paid some designers a LOT of money who—against all of their morals—probably came up with the idea thusly:
Designer A: “So, this is what I came up with, you’ll see that the ’8′ has been sheared. Now it looks like it’s going fast, like their high-speed internet. And up here, this says ‘Super’ because it’s part of their name. It’s kind of laid-back, very humanist. Overall, it says that we’re real people who like fast things.”
Designer B: “Hmmm…. I like where you’re going. The bottom of the ’8′ almost fits in the bottom of the old crest and it gets really close to that far edge. I think that it fits JUST enough so that it creates an uneasy balance that is going to bother people, but they won’t know why exactly. But what about that lowercase ‘r’? Why does it look like it’s in cursive while the rest is a hand-written sans-serif?”
A: “Yeah, I don’t know. I couldn’t find a better typeface for the ‘Supe’ so I just went with it. Whoever designed the font should have made a better ‘r’.”
B: “True. That type designer clearly had no clue how to make a cohesive design. Regardless, I don’t know if I’m buying the idea that ‘Super’ and ’8′ are supposed to be connected. There seems to be too much contrast between the two. Is there some way that we can somehow make the two elements seem inseparable?”
A: “Wait, I’ve got it—when I add a curve swash to the top and bottom, it makes a circular thing happen. Now the viewers’ eyes will HAVE to connect the two together. I mean—come on! There are f*cking swashes physically connecting them. You can’t look at that and say that they DON’T go together now.”
B: “My God. You’re absolutely brilliant. That’s iron-clad logic. There doesn’t seem to be enough contrast between the text and the yellow background. Try adding a white drop shadow. Almost. Add a black drop shadow to the ’8′. Wait—keep the white shadow too. There! Perfect! Can MS Paint save a high enough resolution for this to fit onto a sign?”
A: “Oh, don’t worry. I used Word Art in PowerPoint. It’s totally scalable.”
In the end, it’s just a me complaining about something that looks like it was NOT designed by a professional, even though it more than likely was.
Oh, and to top it off: last week, while driving past those two hotels, I noticed that Days Inn has recently changed their logo as well. Is it good? It definitely looks contemporary with clean lines and gradients, but it kind of reminds me of canned fruit and the typeface will be out of style by the time you finish reading this blog. However, it’s definitely, hands-down, an improvement over the old 70s throwback. Well-played, Days Inn.
Super 8, however, shame on you.
February 3, 2009 at 12:37 am | Branding, Design | 1 comment
Chicken Wing Royalty
If any of you are in the know, Checkers and Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants in a small handful of cities have launched wings. To say that they have hit it big would be an understatement. They’ve been performing leaps and bounds above what anyone in the company had predicted and I got first-hand experience with this last night.
We threw a “Wing Party” for one of our friends who happens to love Checkers, to which I catered 55 wings in all “5 kickin’ flavors.” I ordered them at a Checkers that is near the apartment and was treated like I was actually a big deal. First, when I made the order, the girl ringing it up was cheering at the size of the order. Literally cheering. To the rest of the crew and the manager. Even when I gave her my employee discount card, she continued cheering because it was still a substantial order.
Next, as she worked on getting the order fully rang up, I asked her how wings were selling. She told me that they’ve been flying out the door since she got there earlier that day and that they were huge. I said, “That’s awesome. We’ve been working really hard on making them good,” thinking that since she had seen my card, she knew I was from corporate. Instead, she asked what store I was from. “I’m actually one of the graphic designers from Checkers,” I replied. To this she turned to the manager and said “Mamma, did you hear that? I’m privileged! Not only did I take this order, but he here is one a’ the graphic designers from Checkers! Right here! [turning back to me] How’m I doin’? How’m I doin’ with this order? ‘M I doin’ a great job?” Me: “You’re doing an AWESOME job.” Her (to the manager who had now walked over and stuck her hand out the window in order to shake my hand): “D’you hear that? Awesome. I’m doin’ an awesome job!”
All I can say is WOW. I’ve never been in a situation like that before. It was pretty mind-blowing to be treated like a rock star for a job that is so low on the corporate totem pole, especially since I have a great deal of respect for the in-store crews after spending two days learning the ins-and-outs of working the frier and making burgers at a store in St. Petersburg (my brush with fast-food).
Someday it will be like that everywhere, and random people on the street will acknowledge my greatness. Until then, though, I’ll hold on to that random night in January at a Checkers in Tampa.
February 1, 2009 at 10:40 am | Design, Random | No comment
Jobbing it
So, I’ve finally got a new job. Actually, “finally” is a bit of a hyperbolation—by Friday I’ll have finished up 13 days of working 9-5:30 and I’ll have a pretty big project under my belt.
The place I work for is Checkers Drive-In, Inc. and instead of working the fry line, I’m a corporate designer, commuting from the burbs to down-town and back; wearing slacks, button-up and collared shirts and shined shoes; and hanging out not in a cubicle, but still kind of a cubicle. Yep, that’s me!
Actually, in all honesty, it’s a pretty damn-sweet gig. I have the opportunity to go to food photo shoots from time to time, eventually I’ll get to try new sandwiches before they make it to the masses and right now I’m working on a super-secret project that I can’t tell you about yet, but will as soon as it launches.
On top of everything, there are two full-time designers and one “freelancer” in corporate, which means that I’ll have my hands in a lot of different projects. Plus my manager really wants our in-house department to shine (which I do too; we’re going straight to the top of the QSR chain) and so we’re going to be pushing for higher concept/creative.
The downside? We’ll forever be in the shadow of Rap Cat.