Whoo Graphic Design!

Okay my little blog buddies I know I've been a way for a while but I hope you haven't forgot all about me and me blog just yet.

Prior to my restful and lenghthy vacation I and some fellow graphic design enthusiasts attended a graphic design competition entitled Cut and Paste. See the link below for more info or to see the work:

www.cutandpaste.cc/sf.html


Apparently people are calling it the "Iron Chef of graphic design." And I think that is an appropriate description. In terms of the whole event I thought it was basically awesome. To see so many people interested in design huddled together in a room cheering on designers working diligently at their computers was pretty cool. Not to mention the free drink ticket and free tshirt. I now have a tshirt with blue bars that says "monochromatic" on it. I mean, how cool is that?

In terms of the work I felt like it could have been better. That said, they only had 15 minutes and the work that they did in 15 minutes was pretty awesome. My criticism is aimed more at the way the event was structured than at the designers themselves who were clearly all pretty talented. They did 2 elimination rounds with four designers each round, eliminating two each round. Then they did a semi final and then a final. Had they only picked one winner from each round and gone straight to the final where they had maybe 30 minutes instead of 15 I think then perhaps the work would have been of a higher quality without making the event that much longer. But hey thats just my 2 cents. Either way it was still really great to watch and I had an awesome time.

Happy Birthday Mary!

jetta= car crash

Basically, the new jetta commercials are terrible for two reasons:

1) From a design standpoint they are not effective. After watching those commercials I associate jetta with car crash NOT with safety.

2) From a personal perspective these commercials bring back very painful memories and I am sure I am not the only one. These commercials are tv shockart and they are irresponsible . Whenever they come on at my house my roommates and I change the channel to avoid watching the ending.

If you've been living under a rock here is one of the commercials below.

i hate star wars.

okay, lets hear it. do your worst.

green is NOT brown.

Okay, has everyone seen those green is brown, yellow, blue, etc ads at bus stops in the city? What the hell are those for?

Last time I checked green was green and the complete lack of any brand identity on these ads has me wondering what the hell are these for? I'm utterly confused.

Now, that said, they did catch my attention and they do have me wondering what is that, which is a definite plus. They are on my mind, I see them everywhere and I rack my brain trying to figure out what they are saying. Alas the problem being that I am not associating these thoughts with any kind of product or event which is bad. Had these adds had some kind of small tag line explaining what it was about (that you could read after the large "green is brown" text caught your attention) that would have been an excellent ad. It gets you thinking, its weird and it has big type(my personal favorite).

Now, that said, I'm going to google this phrase and see if I come up with any campaign and then see if that changes my mind.

Okay, so lots of stuff came up but I don't think any of it had anything to do with the ads. Double plus bonus to anyone who finds something about the ads online for me!! :)

oh apple, no not the pie...

I absolutely love the mac commercials:
http://www.apple.com/getamac/

They are so clever, they have a clear message and they are memorable.
This dude, however, calls them meanspirited and says they aren't effective:
http://www.slate.com/id/2143810/

"My problem with these ads begins with the casting. As the Mac character, Justin Long (who was in the forgettable movie Dodgeball and the forgettabler TV show Ed) is just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast. He's perfect. Too perfect. It's like Apple is parodying its own image while also cementing it. If the idea was to reach out to new types of consumers (the kind who aren't already evangelizing for Macs), they ought to have used a different type of actor."

Come on, first of all, we all know that everyone wants to be the cool hoodie-wearing hipster, even if they don't admit it, and second of all the person represents the mac itself not neccessarily the consumers who buy it so to pick a less perfect actor for the part would be misleading and not representative of the product, and third of all, they use the commercials to show that macs can expand their usage, like the one where he is dressed in suit and has just come from a "meeting."

And his second point:

"The final straw, for me, is that the spots make unconvincing claims. The one titled "Network" has a funny bit where "that new digital camera from Japan" is represented by a Japanese woman in a minidress. While Hodgman has trouble talking with the woman, Long speaks Japanese and shares giggles with her because "everything just kind of works with a Mac." Now, I happen to have a digital camera from Japan, and it works just fine with my PC. It did from the moment I connected it. Similarly, the spot titled "Out of the Box" (again, a very funny visual metaphor, with Hodgman and Long crouching in cardboard boxes) suggests that new PCs require tons of attention and alteration when you first fire them up. But I bought a new ThinkPad notebook just a few months ago, and it ran on all cylinders pretty much straight out of the gate. Why insult my intelligence by telling me something that I know isn't true?"

But it is true, I grew up as a PC user and was converted as a senior in high school to Macs. When I went to collge I bought my first Mac and I will never go back. No more installing drivers or oh no i lost the software to that so I can't hook it up. Not to mention that mac interfaces are a lot more intuitive and user friendy. There are fewer cords, it doesn't even all have to be color coded as PC cords are, because its all so damn easy. Basically Macs rule!!

This has nothing to do with anything but...

Tonight, I was blanking on how to spell the word prayer and I looked to my roommate and said I can't remember how to spell prayer, does that mean I'm going to hell? And she looked at me and said, emphatically, p-r-a-y-e-r, i'm going to heaven!!! It was really one of those you had to be there moments but I started cracking up. Seriously it was the funniest thing ever.

The End.

This guy's stuff makes me want to jump off a bridge its so good...

http://www.00one.com/

Okay, here is someone with a similar amount of experience to myself, a little older, little more schooling, but not much and his work is basically awesome. And I am way jealous. Why am I not this awesome? No fair. I fire myself.

Which bridge is closer to the Wharf? Bay or Golden?

"Whats my girlfriend doing in your five? You don't give another man's girl a foot massage and you definitely don't put her in your five"

Alrighty peoples, this is my new blog. Get ready for exciting graphic design tidbits and television commercial critiques coupled with the occasional post from a guest blogger about the design of the new mall.

okay, so lets start out on a happy note:

My favorite commercial, the T moble commercial with the fav five and the girlfriend stealing douche bag.

"Whats my girlfriend doing in your five? You don't give another man's girl a foot massage and you definitely don't put her in your five"

This commercial is fabulous, I thought it was brilliant even before I understood the reference to Pulp Fiction (I've never seen the movie, yes I know, i know, i've been living under a rock--don't worry my friend sara filled me in while she was dressed as a pirate waiting for a pizza).

Anyway, back to the commercial...from an advertising standpoint they did a great job. They created this new "thing" but incorporated it into the commercial as if it was already a part of the new cell phone culture and there were already rules to coincide with it. Then they top it off with the hilarious and completely over the top and obvious "Secret Lovers" ring tone.

Most importantly, the entire commercial just cracks me up. Basically it makes my life. Other thoughts?