Curiouser and Curiouser...

Hey y'all! Time to indulge in my AIW obsession once again.





The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen, the Loyal Subjects of the White Queen, and the Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter are all building armies on Facebook. The fan page with the biggest army at 7PM EST on Thursday, July 23 will get to see an exclusive new trailer from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland before anyone else. Here is the link where you can pick your page and see some pretty character portraits.

Of course I cheated and became fans of all three, which led me to the main Alice in Wonderland Facebook page where I stole these lovely new promotional posters:







It's a ridiculously simple and smart way to engage crazy kids like me and get free promotion (I twittered the link and passed it on to some other fans I know on Facebook). Thanks again to my favorite enabler, MM. :)

A New Design Direction

I had to get off the island today for a little bit to stock up on food and supplies. My preferred suppliers are Publix and Target. I've been a fan of Publix's generic product design forever and apparently Target is too because they just relaunched their store brand as "Up & Up." The packaging is so similar - simple, clean sans-serif and monochromatic with generous white space. I mean, these generic packages look better than the branded ones that they're competing with. Better Design AND Better Price. Everyone wins! Yay!



It's hard to find much about it yet since the brand literally launched last month, but according to Reuters, they have about 730 products available right now and will have close to 800 by the end of this year. And according to this press release,

"By re-launching Target brand as up & up, we’re able to create a unique identity for this powerful owned brand. The new packaging incorporates an element of design, giving us the opportunity to deliver on both the ‘expect more’ and ‘pay less’ sides of our brand promise."

Target consistently reevaluates its owned brands to ensure they meet guest expectations. Before introducing up & up, Target reviewed more than 4,000 guest comments on the quality and performance of its store-brand products. This resulted in the reformulation or enhancement of more than 130 products in the line.

Like I said, the design is really similar to my favorite generic grocery brand, but unlike Publix, the Up & Up brand doesn't have a website for fans of its packaging...yet.



(Even though it hasn't been updated in almost two years, LoL. Guess they weren't THAT big of fans.) Here's a cute, more current website that encourages you to get into a "Green Routine."

Monday Mirecommendations Vol VI

Today's theme is design, both visual and audible.
I'm sure most of you have heard of Pandora by now. I used it for a while and still have the iPhone app, but I've moved on to Last.fm. It features a wider variety, doesn't repeat the same songs so much and features more non-mainstream music. It's actually where I discovered my new favorite audio-artist, Celldweller.




I'm a huge fan of hybrid music that mixes genres, and Klayton has pretty much mastered this art. The main course is usually a high energy rock/metal vibe with side dishes of everything from rap to electro to orchestra. All together it's quite a tasty musical meal. His work is featured in lots of movies and he also co-produced and cameos in Criss Angel's theme song for his Mindfreak show.



Here's a couple of other notable songs:


Ok that video is a little weird. Is he wearing a skirt? Erroneous!



On to the visual part. I'm getting a new apartment soon and fully intend on utilizing some Blyk wall graphics. Don't have the time or talent to customize your walls? They have tons of options to fit any wallspace, taste or mood and some of them are re-stickable! You can match the t-shirt you just bought from Threadless, recreate your favorite scene from Super Mario Brothers, or display some more famous designs, like those of Charles and Ray Eames. (You may have heard of their chairs.)

Babies Are Back in Style

For some reason, I've been finding a lot of cool baby stuff lately...

Ran across this super cool/cute website called Rattle and Roll. Who doesn't want their kid to be a little rockstar?. They also dabble in graduation and birthday announcements.






And speaking of babies, I love this new Huggies commercial! It's one of the first diaper commercials I've seen that (I'm pretty sure) targets guys and uses humor, rather than a bunch of babies crawling around or being coddled. According to Brandweek, it was done by JWT New York.



Geez! Another cool baby thing! Stumbled across this on the Lovely Package blog. Wry Baby decided you shouldn't have to wait to find out what your kid is going to be when he/she grows up. For just $12.95 Mysterio will send you future-telling t-shirt.

Coffee Copy

So having an internship is a lot alike and lot different from school at the same time. It's the same in that I still have homework. Which I am hopefully finishing soon. It's different in the fact that you have a ton more restrictions, i.e. clients, superiors, budgets, brand guidelines, etc. And the fact that I have to get up way earlier, commute, and am at an office all day... which reminds me that I still need to decorate my cubicle.

Anyways, I have a ton of stuff I've been meaning to post but haven't had the time. I don't even really have time now, but I don't want to disappoint my fan(s?). Do I have more than one? LoL

Here are some cool long copy ads for the Ugly Mug Coffee Co. Cute Name, and I like the gritty, earthy design. Everything fits together like a puzzle. It's like Starbucks for hippies and non-pretentious college students.







On the way back to the beach today, I was rocking out to this new song called Something in your Mouth. The lyrics are oh so suggestive yet hilarious and I thought it was Theory of a Deadman at first, but it turned out to be Nickelback. I hate to admit that I still kind of liked it. Ahh!

I also recently heard the Black Eyed Peas' new track, Boom, Boom, Pow. A hybrid of hip hop and techno? I bet this song is super popular in Europe. "I'm so 3000 and 8, you're so 2000 and late." LMAO It makes me think of the matrix mixed with cirque du soleil on acid and appears to be an extended commercial for HP.

Monday Mirecommendations Vol III

It's Monday again already?! Well I have good news and more good news. The monologue went well, kind of. I got "nearly an A+" for content (not bad for an art director) but a B- for presentation because I can't freakin' quit laughing. But it's hard for me not to laugh when other people are laughing, which is the whole point of stand-up. So it's a mixed bag.

Last week for the class we had to sit in front of the class and be thoroughly yet anonymously judged by our peers. G Michael typed everything up and read us our alphabetical results this week.

Here were some of my favorites:
"Sunshine"
"Sweet Bangs"
"Piercing Fest"
"Cheerful person portrayed by clean wardrobe"
"Looks like she came from a plantation"
"Needs to do something or she may lose it and go nuts"
"Easily Amused" and "Easter colored"
And the two adjectives that apparently describe me best are "tan"and "blonde." No surprise there.

So onto the recommendation. I found this sweet pair of chopsticks in the desk drawer at my cubicle today. They were for this local restaurant called Sushi Maki which comes highly recommended by my co-workers. Partly because the sushi is good and because it is open late and delivers when you are trying to meet a deadline. I take their word about the quality part. I think sushi tastes like sea barf.

FUN WITH CHOPSTICKS -or- (WHAT NOT TO DO ON A DATE)









[The Walrus, El Diablo, The Fu Manchu, The Donkey, My Favorite Martian]

On the reverse side:

WARNING: Professional Chopstick Stunt People were used for the drawings above. In real life, chop sticks are dangerous - even lethal in a ninja warrior's hands. You could poke your eye out, or tear your rotator cuff or something. So our lawyers tell us that we have to warn you that they can be dangerous and cause serious physical harm if you use them for anything but eating. Sushi Maki is not liable for any damage or harm that may come to you from the improper handling of these utensils. Parents, watch your children closely and please exercise caution. Or just ask for a fork. Which could be dangerous too, we guess. Eating with your hands would be safe, but messy. Good luck.

Proof that you can make anything creative; even packaging for a mundane pair of Asian eating tools. I'm kind of infatuated with the copy. And the design isn't bad either. The website is very nice and check out this Get out of hunger free card:

Self Secrets

So although MAS has a schoolwide paperless policy, I was still required to print two books for Ron's Brand Called You class. The first was just a compilation of all the random projects we had to do for the class and the other was a book of poems; one written and illustrated for each year of our lives, so I had 24.
I'm not really into rhyming or long written narratives, so I decided to do mine Post Secret style. I mean if haikus count as poetry, then this style does too!
Here's a few of my favorites:








I highly recommend blurb for all your personal publishing needs!

Hollywood meets Bollywood

I know I'm a laggard in the product life cycle of Slumdog Millionaire, but I finally saw it tonight and it was amazing! Cinematography, plot, editing, acting, everything was fantastic!



It totally deserved the 8 Oscars it won:
"Best Achievement in Cinematography"
"Best Achievement in Directing"
"Best Achievement in Editing"
"Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score"
"Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song"
"Best Achievement in Sound"
"Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published"
and most importantly
"Best Motion Picture of the Year"

It was awesome to see so much into Indian culture, especially right after our guest speaker a few weeks ago, Richard Monturo, made such a big deal about BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) Pop. He mentioned Bollywood as one of the most recognizable aspects of Indian pop culture, which is a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry.

I loved the full-cast choreography during the end credits, which Aman told me is pretty much a staple in Bollywood films. The subtitles were exceptionally well designed and placed. M.I.A. was a brilliant addition to the soundtrack. And Dev Patel, who plays the main character Jamal, reminds me of an Indian version of my close friend's little brother.



Not as big a fan of the movie poster. The only other time I have ever seen (default-gradient-overlayed) 'cracked' used as a typeface may have been for a forgettable low-budget action flick that spent its entire budget on not-so-special effects and had no money left to hire a designer so they made an intern do it for free.
Again, a design that doesn't do the movie justice.

Half-Blood, Half-Assed

Just read MM's blog and got super excited about Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, supposedly hitting theaters in July. I feel like I need to reread the book to refresh my memory. Anyways, I found the teaser poster and I have to say it's got some pretty bad typography, among other things.


It just doesn't do the movie justice!

Photoshop Fail

This screencap has been sitting idle on my desktop for a while. I saw this ad on Pandora and probably didn't even need to save it because the images are so bad that they are forever burned into my subconscious.



It's pretty much one of the worst design jobs I have ever seen! The mohawk and glasses are masked really horribly and the type kind of makes me want to gag. It's a big random mess of vector and rasterized images that don't go together at all. And you gotta love the default photoshop brush action and fake-blur effects. The thing that irks me the most is that there are like 3 different logos battling it out.

I could keep going and going and going on about how bad this ad is, but obviously the image speaks for itself.

Quiltface Army

I randomly found these promo posters on the graphic design forum for this group called Quiltface Army. The Army is 4 guys from Pennsylvania conquering the world with their sick graphic design skills. You can see more work on their myspace page.