Summer Days are Coming to an End

Hopefully their readers are not looking at this magazine at night!

The end of summer is almost here...can you tell I've been busy? I haven't done a new blog entry in ages (oops!). I have had a lot of quality time indoors this summer...when you live in Antelope Valley where temps in the 100s are the norm, you learn very quickly to stay out of the sun.

However, you need the sun to appreciate this magazine ad...it is solar activated (how cool is that?!?). I don't know what inks/paper they use to pull this off, but it is really cool.

Just make sure you are wearing sunscreen when you are looking at it!

Benchmarks

If I was anywhere near New York City, I would definitely attend!

June 10th - Aug. 15th

Watch Out Mac Users!!

It was a normal morning. I was drinking my tea while checking my email, and then a screen popped up claiming that I had viruses and I needed to do something about it. Whoa, I've never seen anything like this on my Mac...and I could tell something was up because it didn't look quite right....

They must've uses some advanced Javascript or something, because it appeared to actually be "scanning" my computer.

Whatever you do, do not click on it!!!

Did this happen to anyone else? It looked like it was my mail program, but was actually a spyware program running through Safari. I guess Macs are not immune to threats, just be careful what you click on, and your computer will be fine!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Tax Day Art

What should you do with all of the leftover paper after filing your taxes? Turn it into a work of art! (Hey, if you have to keep these records for seven years, they might as well serve a purpose and look pretty).

Check out these paper sculptures from Nava Lubelski:

Cool.

This piece is titled "1997 Tax File". I wish doing my taxes was this beautiful.

Like Movies?? Play this Fun Game!

I got a link to this game in an email newsletter from Veer. My final score was 38 out of 50. There were some I thought that I knew, but I just couldn't think of the title!! Click here to try your luck (I bet you can't beat me!)

Ok, here are the rules: You get 60 second to guess a movie title based on three shock photos having to do with the plot. It sounds easy, but some of them are pretty difficult.

Here are a few examples:

"Hello Clarice..." Can you figure out this one?

If you get this one correct, I'll do the truffle shuffle.

I couldn't figure this one out...any suggestions??

April Fools!

Happy April Fool's Day!

Check out this funny (and dorky) prank toy from Think Geek...

Haha! So many kids would want this toy! I like the mini iPads :)

Think About This...

This video is really well done, and raises many questions about life in the digital age. It is a little old (2007), but I think the message still applies today. Take a look, and leave a comment telling me what you think!

So Cool!!!

If Cirque du Soleil did a show on typography, this is what the makeup would look like.

I would like to start March off right, with an awesome idea: melding photography, typography and painting. The Spanish studio, atipo, is responsible for these posters, see more here. The website is a little difficult to navigate (my slow internet connection is probably not helping), but the content is really interesting.

Check out this well-made video showing the artist's process, I wonder how long it took??

fontface from atipo on Vimeo.

A Little Redundant...

It's a gun!...made of other guns.

I saw a large ad for this movie the last time I went to the theater, and I must admit, it did catch my eye. It is very visually striking...but a little boring, c'mon a gun, made of other guns?? Couldn't they think of something more creative? I wonder how many guns are in the film?

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Illustration courtesy of iStockphoto)

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I hope you are all having a fun day! My husband and I celebrated on Sunday, a day early. He took me to see The King's Speech (great movie, by the way), out to dinner and to Cold Stone (yum!). I had a great early Vday. Love to you all!!!

That's Using Your Head!

This is a great example of an eye-catching advertisement. The minimal type with plenty of white space makes it easy to read (and the play on words is really cute). I also like how they overlaid the x-ray of the skull over the Spartan logo, genius!

I was recently back in Michigan and I saw a well designed billboard advertising the location of Michigan State University's new medical education and research center. This is the best use of a collegiate logo that I have seen in a long time...good job State! Read more about it here.

7 Billion

I just LOVE the typography in this video, and it is interesting too...could 7 billion people really fit into LA? It is a big city, but I didn't know it was that big. You learn something new every day!

New Minimalist Logo

Starbucks is the next company to jump on the minimalist bandwagon. Beginning in March 2011 (coinciding with their 40th anniversary) you will see this new logo at your local Starbucks. They have stripped away almost everything, leaving only the smiling siren in their signature green color. Their new logo has been receiving a lot of praise (unlike Gap, who tried to redesign their logo in 2010, met harsh criticism, and ultimately retracted the change... more).

"The brand is now evolving to a point where coffee association is too confining and restrictive. Starbucks is fundamentally selling an experience, but by no means is coffee the only part of the experience. It is important that they not have a logo that is too confining."

- John Quelch, marketing professor, Harvard Business School

Starbucks has joined the big boys, they no longer need their company name or what they do included in their logo. I like the change, I think it looks updated without going over the top.

Here are some other companies that have done the same thing...some more successful than others...

Ok, I know you guys don't play music on your channel anymore...but did you have to go and chop off the bottom of the logo? Maybe they just put a white rectangle over the words, I guess they didn't care that they cut into the rest of the logo.

The ultimate example of brand identity using no words...just a swoosh.

This one is not so bad either...you don't need to include the word apple, it's obvious.

In my opinion, the before logo is WAY better. The after logo doesn't really read "organic farming"...more like "green space ship, powered by plant material".

Merry Christmas!

Candy Cane Lane, Lancaster, California

They don't have snow out here in the desert...but they know how to make up for it by making their houses extra festive! The whole street looked like this!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! I had a wonderful day yesterday here in Palmdale, CA with my family. We saw the famous Candy Cane Lane in Lancaster, decorated cookies, went to church then out to dinner, exchanged presents (I got Adobe CS5, woo hoo!), and took the dogs to the park (it was 60 degrees and sunny, very different from the Michigan blizzards that I'm used to).

I saved some images of some Christmas Tree themed emails that I got that I thought were cool:

This email from Anthopologie was super cute, each underlined gift idea directed you to that product on their website. I also like how it helps you decide what to get for the people on your list.

This image from an email from Apple caught my eye immediately. It is very creative and visually stimulating...I'll take one of each of the products featured on that tree! :)

Sugar Overload!!! Here is one of the cookies that I decorated this year, yum!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was great this year! It was our first west coast Thanksgiving dinner, and I think it knocked the socks off of our east coast tradition. :) My friends from San Francisco came to visit, adding two more to the 10 people who came to dinner. We had a full house! Here are some pics:

You can't have Thanksgiving without the excess of tasty food!

We rented a table and chairs from a local rental place, this was the BEST decision because everyone could sit at the same table! (and it looked good too).

This plastic silverware looked so real, and it made clean up a snap.

I got some cool appetizer plates and napkins from Target, I loved the design so much I might use the leftovers again next year!

Information is Beautiful

We are inundated with information every day, but how much of it is visually pleasing to the eye? Not very much, but David McCandless is out to change this using pictograms of data to illustrate issues facing the world today in beautiful ways. Click on the video below to view him in action (it is about 20 min. long, but it is worth it).

Here is one of his pictograms showing the differences between the two political sides. The data and information is organized in a very interesting and visually stimulating way. The reflective way that he designed it depicts the pluses and minuses of both ways of thinking.

For more visualizations: click here

Packaging Spotlight - Justin's Almond Butter

I found this product in the health food isle of my local grocery store. It is called Justin's Almond Butter, and it is amazing!! I love the design of the packaging, and the taste of the product is just as good. Another plus is that it comes in small 1 oz. packages, so you can try it before you buy it (the full size product is kinda pricy at $12.00 for a 16 oz. jar). If you like peanut butter, I dare you to try this product!

Proof that simple packaging works, especially with all-natural food items. The packaging design makes me think that there isn't a lot of nonsense and fillers in this product, and I'm right! There are only 4 ingredients, and 2 (almonds & maple sugar) are featured in the clever illustration. It has been my favorite snack lately...on celery sticks, apples, and by itself!

Cool Halloween Poster

I saw this poser in downtown LA while I was shopping. I made my husband take a picture of it with his iPhone because I wanted to share it with you guys! I think the way they connect Halloween costumes and their logo is ingenious! Goodwill did a good job!

This poster definitely made me look twice, it is so cute! It is a perfect example of a large company being playful with their logo (Google also does this). It would've been fun to work on this project and decide which "costumes" the Goodwill guy would dress up in. The werewolf is my favorite! :)

Who Says a Band Needs Musical Instruments...

Has the iPhone made musical instruments obsolete?? Check out this cool video of Atomic Tom playing an inpromptu concert on a New York subway...using only their talent, iPhones, and an amp. So cool!!!