Beyond Typography

Whassup?

Remember this? A great ad for a not so great product: 

Reminds me of the greetings on a Friday night in the pub! Anyway, check this out, it's the same guys 8 years later. A great ad for a [potentially] great proposal...

Branding bollocks

Good morning, Creative Review announces a new identity – make sure you read to the end, then click on the link in the update!

It is my job

I checked out the blog of Paul Kurzeja, one of the panelists at Tuesday's Big Debate. Some really interesting posts if you're into the future of publishing and marketing. A couple of posts caught my eye: this one, from June, about content and the way it is marketed. The other is more recent and is a speech made by Chad Hurley, one of the You Tube co-founders.

What is apparent from both is that more free content, distributed in an appropriate way, can actually build loyalties to a brand, publication or tv network. Also, that the traditional centralized distribution hub is on its way out. I like the statement:

“There is no old media. There is no new media. There is one media with one common purpose; to inform, move and inspire the world through information, art and entertainment.” – Chad Hurley, co-founder You Tube,  16 October 2008

I think these are exciting times to be a designer in publishing. It's like being back at art college where you get a chance to do a bit of everything – video, photography, graphics, illustration, etc. For years I've thought that the role has been in a straightjacket. Modern technology is now allowing us to participate, on a professional level, in what a lot of us do in our spare time. We, as trained and educated professionals in visual skills, can now start to influence the look and feel of a magazine beyond the printed page. We can now say how the content should be looking on the web, and how the pictures, vids, audio, etc will interact. The role of the designer will become more important as more visual elements are used, not just for layout, but to maintain the visual identity of the publication brand.

The only things holding us back are work colleagues who don't see it as part of our role (journalists deciding how best to crop images or edit video, or marketing people deciding which fonts to use!?), or us – designers, art editors, art directors – in the classic phrase "it's not my job."

Why colour matters

I was looking for some info to back up an argument about how colour affects perception of a brand, and I directed to these sites via the excellent Swiss Miss blog:

The first site is called Color Matters. It is a great site covering all aspects of colour and colour theory;

The second site, actually post, was A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand, on the Usability Post site.

 

50 Golden Brands

After my little tirade against marketing people the other day, I found out it is the 50th anniversary of the UK’s Marketing Society. To celebrate they have selected their top 50 brands, year by year. They also have the tv ads of the brands.

Here's the classic Hamlet cigar ad...

Baby car logos

So this is how the classic marques looked when they were babies! This series of images was created by the Dentsu agency of Japan for Minichamps, the German manufacturer of high-quality die-cast model cars.

And here's how they look all grown up!

Via Fubiz

UPDATED: How un-Cuil and unfair

Apparently a new Google-killing, super search engine was launched this week. The only problem is, it can't even find it's own name! It is called Cuil, a Gaelic word for knowledge. Read the article here.

I tried using it for a couple of terms (my name and this blog's name) and there were no results. I did try looking for Cuil and it came up with a lot of other things … except it's own service. At least if type Google or Yahoo into the respective searches you get a full list of services. 

Does anybody know if there is a way to replace the Google search bar in Safari with a Yahoo one? I have it on good authority that the Yahoo search engine is a lot better than the Google one.

Via Quipsologies

UPDATE: I have been sent this link about Asda, the UK supermarket chain. Apparently they want two pages of free advertising in each magazine in return for selling them in their stores.

Thanks to Soo.

Metro logos

A website devoted to Metro (aka underground, tube, subway, lrt). This page has the Metro logos from around the world.

Via Quipsologies

Marketing message

I attended a marketing department meeting the other day. All members of the department are required to attend. I was there because the Creative Services department, where I've been doing a job shadow for the past couple of weeks, come under the marketing jurisdiction. 

I didn't realise how many marketing people there were in the company. ScaRY!

Being marketing all the presenters were very good at public speaking and their presentations were equally as good. There was a howler that NOBODY ELSE NOTICED. An e-direct marketing person made a presentation and began by saying that everybody should have received an email entry for a prize draw, but unfortunately they used the wrong list so not everybody would have received it. WAHAHAHAHAHA! I couldn't believe it!

If you've ever been briefed by a marketing person, you'll appreciate the following vid. I first saw this last night sitting on a (delayed) train on my iPhone on the Debbie Millman blog. Hilarious.

A quick one today as I've got a load of stuff to do before attending day two of an Advanced Flash Course. Yesterday was day one and we covered a lot of ground. I hope to make use of a lot of it.

I downloaded the new Firefox on Tuesday night. Seems slicker than the previous version – although I had to change the browser theme from the default hideous Firelight.

But what is even better is the PicLens add-on from CoolIris and is available for most browsers. When you look at Flickr or YouTube, or search Google, Yahoo, etc, instead of displaying the results as thumbnails on pages, it displays them in a 3D wall (this feature doesn't work in Safari!). Makes searching so much quicker.

Also, Portsmouth is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century (architecturally speaking, anyway) with the announcement of the new stadium for Portsmouth Football Club. So what? It's been designed by Herzog and de Meuron and looks fantastic. This adds to the already iconic Spinnaker Tower. I hope it gets the required planning permission. Portsmouth had some really nice architecture before being flattened during WW2, or demolished in an attempt to modernise during the 1960s and 70s. One really bold move was to commission the Tricorn Centre, which, when opened won an international design award. The problem was, the local council didn't have the courage of their convictions and the moaners started to knock it until it was voted ugliest building before being torn down to be replaced by an impersonal, identikit shopping mall with no character. The past few years has seen a resurrection of good design in Portsmouth.

And finally, this. Country tourism brands. S'funny how most adopt a "hand-painted" feel...