This three minute commercial from Nike will truly make anyone into a soccer fan…wonder if soccer’s popularity in America is like Apple: Not burning hot, until…the pendulum swings in it’s favor, and it’s reign gets stronger, no stopping it.
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Nike Soccer Commercial: Epic
Posted by Christian Messer on May 21st, 2010TRON vs. Saul Bass…so delicious
Posted by Christian Messer on March 31st, 2010Saul Bass is an icon in my world of design. He created so many iconic symbols (read: Logos) of our lives: AT&T, Quaker food & beverages, Girl Scouts, Kleenex, Untied Way, United Airlines, YWCA, Warner Bros., and Exxon to name just a few. He created an extensions of films by capturing the essence of a film, in just a few short minutes, the opening credits gave us a peek at what we were about to experience – movies like Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and the more modern fare of Good fellas, and cape Fear.
Below is someone’s rendition of what Bass would have done, had he created the TRON opening credits – but I reckon he would have done it without being notified of the actual content – it simply doesn’t match TRON, but it’s still delicious!
Tron vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.
Great Logo Execution Begins With The Name
Posted by Christian Messer on March 17th, 2010
I had a client the other day contact me to get my opinions of a logo that a business colleague of his was finalizing. He e-mailed me the 11 choices that had made the final round. In my haste to knock out some of the contenders and “vote” for my favorites and to give my professional opinion, I skipped past one of the most important first steps, and proceeded to give my critique.
Several of them were very cliche ideas and icons that have been overdone to extreme. Lightbulbs will never be a good idea for a company that is service based, though there are some rare exceptions. Fire and flames have become a bit cliche as well, unless, the name requires it and truly makes since. I continued on and on about all the ways a logo can and will be used, from the obvious to the extreme (can it be reproduced on a football field?)
He replied to my e-mail with his picks and then proceeded to tell me that he didn’t think any of the contenders matched the company’s name. Doh! Boy was he right…and I just assumed that this was already covered in the beginning of the project. I mean, really, that is the starting gate first step isn’t it? It is. Take my company’s name: Whiplash Design. I knew once I had the name, I could move forward to understand what I would want the logo to do.
What I had envisioned was something fluid and conveyed movement…hence the arrival at the word Whiplash. I must have brainstormed thousands of words to get the one that stuck. Now, why does it work? Because, once paired with Design, it implies design that makes one stop suddenly and notice, but hopefully not dangerously enough to involve a neck brace. For me it was perfect, the pieces began to fall right into place. Coming up with the icon or logo was an entirely different story.
I was never satisfied with any of the ideas I came up with. A tornado didn’t work, a bull whip cued images of a dominatrix and all the others were just not right. I was on that journey for a very long time. Did I finally succeed? Nope. I instead stumbled upon a solution that is rare. A typographical logo with a series of photos that met my requirement of fluid motion: fruit flying through water. Because I just happened to find a series of the “flying fruit” I was able to give people at networking events a choice of what business card they wanted: strawberries, two different kinds of apples, and a couple of oranges. The photography is stunning and therefore reflects my vision.
As you can see, it all started with the name. If a logo doesn’t convey the name of a company, then it isn’t doing its job. You can nix that rule if you’re a technology company or a huge fortune 500 company, otherwise, you need your mark to be instantly recognizable, and it must conjure up your entire brand experience. Target is a good example, you know when you see their logo, you automatically think, “Low Prices.”
Evernote…Never Forget
I’m Gonna Let Y’All Get Dissed An’ Ev’rything, But KAOS Had One of the Best Productions of All Time
Posted by admin on January 23rd, 2010
I’m Gonna Let Y’All Get Dissed An’ Ev’rything, But KAOS Had One of the Best Productions of All Time
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk
Brilliant art work…possibly illegal…yet still brilliant
Brilliant: Batman Logo Evolution
Posted by admin on January 19th, 2010The video just says it all
Social Media ROI = Socialnomics
Posted by admin on December 3rd, 2009Seriously Pink! Package Design of the day…
Posted by admin on December 2nd, 2009
Photo from Lovely Package
“Seriously Pink is the first rosé coloured liqueur to be made in Australia. For the wine maker, achieving the right colour was just as important as the end result. Its first release completely sold out in just one month.”
Packaging of the day – Jack Daniels
Posted by admin on November 30th, 2009I saw this pristine example of packaging at one of my favorite packaging blogs, Lovely Package. Not sure if this is actual, or a student design – but I’ll take a gamble say it is for real. Lovely isn’t it?
images courtesy of Lovely Package
Entrepreneurs Can Change the World
Posted by admin on July 9th, 2009Feel Like Giving Up? This Gives You Hope…
Posted by Christian on December 9th, 2008We all have those moments in life and business where we just feel so down and out, that we just feel like giving up. Lately, there have been a few obstacles in my life that have pushed me in this direction. However, I just happened to take a look at Michel Fortin’s blog in my RSS reader and found this video. You will be challenged to NOT well up.