Sometimes you have to be direct to get your message across. Like this beautiful bit of package design courtesy of the Hain Celestial Group:
Apparently organic foods and subtlety don’t go hand in hand. Although I suppose it is somewhat attention grabbing and effective, in an annoying sort of way. I’m fine with my rice crisps not having any attitude, thank you. Anyway…
Once again, I’m in the process of moving again, although just a few miles away this time – not half way across the country. So at the moment, I have no internet and no substantial time. Add to it the duties involved with showing a visiting friend around the area, and unfortunately the blog has fallen by the wayside. Dare I say it, I’m on a non-blogging staycation! (imagine regurgitation sounds here).
As many know, I hold a special place in my mind for restaurants and markets. That’s part of the reason that good design for food establishments makes me so happy.
All designed by Mucca Design for Brooklyn Fare, it’s simple, direct, and an absolutely perfect blend of crisp and ballsy copy with exceptionaly clean, almost modernist design (that kind of reminds me of the W+K work for The Guardian).
Eat Me Daily has an awesome write up with great info and an awesome video.
I’ve been meaning to post this up for a while now… I keep looking at and keep laughing, but somehow forget to post it. I myself am on the fence with most social media outlets (as most who try to keep in touch with me probably know). I understand them, but at the same time, I don’t. They make sense, and the advertising/social networking possibilities are huge. But this beautiful diagram kind of sums up the other side of my feelings.
Available as a t-shirt from Despair. And I have to say, there’s some beautiful irony in a social networking diagram on a t-shirt.
While the King Of Pop passing is quite the story, crippling the internet and captivating the 24 hour news channels, there’s another shocking loss to the world: the venerable king of the sales pitch, Billy Mays. His sudden death sent shockwaves through the infomercial circles and his enthusiasm and outside voice will be greatly missed. He’d just got into promoting his new Discovery channel show, Pitchmen.
While any of his many pitches would make a fitting tribute video, the following clip shows him in both an innocent and mischevious character that was rarely seen in his polished pitches.
Every now and again, a video blows my mind. This short film does just that, on many levels. As some of you may know, I’ve always been perssonally fascinated with Synesthesia: a neurological-based phenomenon that is essentially the blending of sensory experiences (i.e. hearing green or tasting a drum beat). The spectrum synesthesia is vast, yet somehow this video by acclaimed music video directors Terri Timely manages to encapsulate a neurological experience into a tangible and beautifully filmed short.
To see the video in higher resolution, go to the short film’s homepage, and for a bit more info on Directing duo Terri Timely, check out this Q & A at Director File. For a bit more on Synesthesia, check out Mixed Signals.
It looks like this has been around for a while, but somehow I’ve missed it until now. GOOD magazine has uploaded all of their Transparencies into a set on Flickr… pretty impressive collection of mind-blowing info-graphics. Kind of a shame they restrict the flickr images to small size, forcing you to click through to the GOOD website. But I’ve seen worse. Plus, their infographics are so amazing, I’ll let it slide.
Every now and then, there’s just one of this headlines… this morning was one of those days:
I feel bad for the police… and for the monkey. I also particularly enjoy some of the writing of the AP story…like
Salem Police Sgt. John Hardy says he is confident the man and his monkey, who was wearing a diaper, will be found.
And just to be clear, I also feel bad for the girl who was bitten by the monkey, and realize it’s a serious matter. but police looking for a monkey in a diaper just seems so Oregon. Fitting that it’s in the state capitol.
I’m all for a crazy billboard. but this one may be a bit far. I applaud the simple, easy to read copy. But I’m not sure what the message is. “Go humans go” could imply a few things… from extoling the laxative properties of oatmeal to proclaiming that the Quaker Oat guy is actually a cybernetic creature from the future coming to eradicate the planet of our species. Either way, the giant Quaker dude is freaking me out a bit. The Quaker Website sheds a bit of light on the subject, but fails to make the billboards any less creepy.
Sometimes, there’s a video/clip/animation that just blows me away. This is one of those times.
I’m a sucker for animation, diagrams, graphs, charts, etc. so this one already starts good. Through in the european techno and the retelling of one of the more bizarre and morbid fairy tales, and you’ve got a winner. Done by Tomas Nilsson, for a “School assignment to reinterpret the fairytale Little red riding hood.” The track is “Sponsored by Destiny” by Swedish electro-pop group Slagsmålsklubben(wiki here). Pretty amazing… And you should take the time to click through to either the vimeo page or the youtube page so you can watch it in HD – significantly more impressive.
I keep seeing this billboard on my way to work, and it bewilders me. Not necessarily clever enough for me to chuckle, it feels a bit contrived and a bit forced. Plus, it’s on the side of a highway in Beaverton, OR, home of Nike, Tektronix, etc… not exactly the urban basketball hot-spot… Then I see this:
I want to find it funny, but I just can’t quite. It just doesn’t go quite enough into the bizarre, and just kind of flounders around in some gray area between weird, funny, and boring. Other billboards, OOH, and commericals in the new “Snacklish” campaign include “Put Your Hunger in a Nougaplex” that will run as :05 TV bumpers during wrestling programming, and “Get a Degree in Snackanomics” in, yup, financial districts, and “ride four hourses of the satisfocalypse.” what?!? It all just feels a bit contrived and like first round ideas that somehow got pushed through. I’m still not sold… maybe I’ll change my mind with time. But personally, I miss Mr. T yelling “GET SOME NUTS! ARRGH!“
I feel bad for the police… and for the monkey. I also particularly enjoy some of the writing of the AP story…like
