14 posts tagged “advertising”
Grunge Design is a chaotic and abstract design style from the 1990’s arguably coined by David Carson, dubbed the ‘godfather of grunge.’ Ok, fast forward to 2008. Smashing Magazine.com posted an article last week which states: “Shiny and glossy design elements are now officially outdated. Just like retro is becoming trendy again, the grungy look appears to rapidly gain on [sic] popularity.”Is 90’s grunge design coming back? And how do designers feel about it?
One of our Art Directors here at Tuesday Creative, Andrew Seles, took particular umbrage with this from the Smashing post: “In our everyday environment we’re unlikely to find ideal geometric forms or pretty shadow effects as they are manifested by glorious web 2.0-designs.” Andrew’s response: “While this once was the case, it is increasingly less so. Not only is media sleek these days, but our environments are becoming more refined. Whether it’s the latest in architecture and environmental graphics, a new chair at Ikea or snacking at a boutique eatery like Pink Berry, the real world places we inhabit and the objects we interact with are more polished and highly designed than ever.”
Jennifer Murse, a designer at Tuesday said: I DON’T love the aesthetic when it’s done well, but I hate it when it’s done poorly.” Murse went on to cite these examples, which in her opinion, display well executed (Subdued.net), (Misprintedtype), (THS), (MindTwitch), Grunge Design, poor use of (Jeremy Zevin), (Satsu) it, and even some who claimed a grunge aesthetic, but were not successful (AJMiles), (WebDesigner) in pulling it off.
This co-opt of 90’s design is best captured with the following quote from Fresh Styles for Web Designers: Lo-Fi Grunge Style…
“If there is indeed ‘nothing new under the sun’ (as the author of
Ecclesiastes repeatedly asserts), one way to come up with a ‘fresh’
style is to go back in time a few decades, cut what you find, and paste
it into the present.” Today’s grunge design, however, is not nearly as
exciting as the 90’s not because ‘it’s been done’, but because the new
grunge no longer feels like a rebellious aesthetic. David Carson’s edgy
abrasive design and typographic art is now being appropriated to
resemble a scrap-book party rather than a military coup. On the
flipside, negative feedback from the public that the 90’s aesthetic was
illegible and confusing may have driven today’s designers to create a
more palatable and modern grunge. For better or worse, grunge has
officially returned!
Ironically, it may be a misnomer to call grunge retro. After all, did
it ever really go away? Take a look at distressed fashions and
splattered rock graphics of the last decade. Torn edges and weathered
textures might be as much a nod to the 1990’s as they are to the
1890’s. The steady recycling of yesterday’s styles may already have
lapped itself several times over. The grunge movement of the 1990’s was
itself a throwback to the counter-culture of the 60’s and early 70’s
(Woodstock II, anyone)? Have we reached a critical mass where the term
“retro” is an oversimplification? Perhaps, much of today’s work may at
best be “inspired by” or at worst grossly “derivative of” what came
before it.
- B. Juergens, C. Lin, A. Seles
Plans for a new zoological park in Vincennes, France show the use of what BLDG BLOG calls a simulated geology. Designed by Paris architects Beckmann N’Thepe, these beautiful renderings illustrate a massive artificial and simulated habitat for animals. Approximately 37 acres of the location will be comprised of six biozones employing partial solar power.
BLDG Blog asks the question: why not make college campuses or suburbs like this? Furthermore, why not bring the outdoor experience inside the workplace?
The possibilities could be really interesting ... dare we say ... endless ...
- C. LinAs yet another year yawns before us and we stare at the blank pages of 2008 wondering just what we’ll be adding to them in the months to come, we are reminded the ghosts of new years resolutions past and make it our resolve to, this year, really follow through. No, seriously. We really do mean it this time.
Honest.
So we’ve planted our tongue firmly in cheek and gathered a list of
resolutions that might well resonate with our neighbors in the design
community.
This year, we resolve that we …
… will pay for shareware instead of renewing every 30 days.
… will not write half-arsed code.
… will put down our iPhones while engaging in social activities.
… will rid our desktops of any icon ending in .dmg, .ttf, .pdf and .doc since we have no intention of opening them anyway. Ever.
… will read design magazines instead of ones containing words like “People” and “OK”.
… not judge a movie or TV show based on its billboard typography (or lack thereof).
… will start rating restaurants on their food, not their menu design.
… will get rid of all those bulky Adobe manuals not containing the letter “CS”.
… will give Facebook a rest and work on our real-world relationships for a change.
… will play less Guitar Hero on the Wii and go outside.
… will do the world a favor and drop pointless return variables in code.
… will stop taking unaccepted Linked-In invitations as personal insults to our character.
Please feel free to comment and add your own resolutions to the list we’ve started here … we’ve got a funny feeling we’re not alone in our sentiments here.
- Carley Johnson
‘Design View,’ a blog by Andy Rutledge of Unit Interactive, offers up his
opinions on poor web layout conventions which are still being implemented by
some of the most frequented and notably well-designed sites on the internet such
as Apple and Amazon. He dissects the common centered 3-column layout, an early
popular convention used by such sites, pointing out the flaws in design and
usability. Another typical convention many news sites make the mistake of doing
is mimicking old-school newsprint layout. According to Rutledge, these sites
fail to see that the difference between mediums (print vs. web) should be reason
enough to change die-hard habits of design and layout. His points are well taken
and it’s a surprise that even award winning sites Amazon and Apple are still
hanger-ons—especially in this Web 2.0 day in age.
Check out his
criticism and solutions to these design problems.
- Chy Lin
Just like the endless barrage of airbrushed cosmetic commercials advertising ‘new and improved must have products’ that are ‘guaranteed to change your life forever,’ it seems these days you can’t spend too much time online without encountering another ‘take charge of your life and get organized’ 2.0 GTD site. Seemingly endless in their availability, GTD 2.0 makes getting organized look ever so attractive and (dare we say it) fun, and are currently cluttering search engines everywhere.
For the uninitiated, GTD is not the name of a car as it certainly looks and sounds, but is an acronym for the rather straightforward (if not uninspired) methodology “Get Things Done.” This time management system, developed by David Allen, focuses on five key stages of … well … getting things done. Namely collection, processing, organizing, reviewing and then … doing. The idea behind GTD is to get as much of your tasks off your mind as possible and, by recording them elsewhere, enough memory space is freed up in your brain so you can then concentrate on actually getting those tasks done.
… and sometimes, ad nauseum.
I’m not saying that these sites don’t have their uses—I for one am a confirmed Backpacker. (And Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush did literally avert untold disaster on a recent holiday.) The GTD ideology is, likewise, not without its valid points. But like the products advertised in aggressive cosmeceutical marketing, It’s unlikely that any one of these sites will bring about the incredible changes in your life that you’re hoping for. The problem? For me, it’s the simple paradox that using these sites requires an ability to remember to use them—a skill which proves to be a problem for many a GTDer in the first place.
So is investing your time into the overabundance of Internet GTD apps a worthy endeavor or is it just a waste of your ruddy time? You decide. There’s certainly no shortage of sites to test out.
- Carley Johnson
According to a special run by Mike Pesca of NPR news, Barney’s New York, the high-end trendsetting retailer, is using its star power this holiday season to bring attention to the global warming issue with an exclusive collection of environmentally friendly fashions. But in a business built on the transience of popularity, are they really sending out the right kind of message?
It’s no secret that environmentalism has, in recent years, managed to work its way into the mainstream and, to quote NPR, Barney’s joining the go-green bandwagon is certainly a testament to the current popularity of environmentalism. The slogan for Barney’s 2007-holiday season is “Have a Green Holiday,” and the catalogue offers “gorgeous green gifts, fabulously fair-trade fashion, sensationally sustainable swag, orgasmic organic denim and cashmere, environmentally conscious tchotchkes of all descriptions and philanthropic gestures to warm the cockles of your heart.”
Aside from that nauseating misuse of alliteration, it certainly sounds like a godsend for the eco-conscious consumer. After all, this is the way shopping ought to be all the time, not just one season out of the year.
And therein lies the problem.
As stressed by Bill Chameides, Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, the environmental issue cannot—must not—become just another fashionable trend. Trends fade, and when a cause becomes a fad, its days are effectively numbered and it is then only a matter of time before people tire and loose interest.
No one doubts Barney’s good intentions, and indeed, any kind of effort to build awareness is well worth the time and effort! Here’s hoping that the current Go-Green Bandwagon riders stay on the wagon … and here’s also hoping that they realize it takes a lot more than wearing the right kind of t-shirt to save the planet.
- Carley Johnson
Kozyndan, the LA-based artists who also happen to be husband and wife, are perhaps best known for their whimsical city illustrations. Their New York City panoramas are particularly popular and “Uprisings,” the playfully tongue-in-cheek take on the famous “Great Wave Off Kana Gawa,” is perhaps Kozyndan’s most famous work.
It seems that the fine folks at Sony’s Passion Pictures are fans of these particular Kozyndan pieces as well.
Yesterday, a passionate blogger over at Gizmodo point-blank called Sony’s new TV spot for their Bravia HDTV’s a “rip off” of Kozyndan’s work. The ad is a toe-tapping, clever little spot that features stop motion claymation of the bright, multi-colored bunnies that run rampant in Kozyndan’s NYC panorama, climaxing in a tidal wave bursting with bunnies that’s straight out of “Uprisings.”
Over on the Kozyndan Livejournal, they admit that “Its hard to think that people at Passion Pictures did not have this early panoramic of ours in mind when they created this new spot for the SONY Bravia line.”
As it turns out, two years ago Passion Pictures requested samples of Kozyndan’s work and never followed up after the samples were sent.
The fact that over seven hundred days have passed since requesting those samples does much to suggest the Passion Pictures didn’t intentionally set out to … er … sample Kozyndan’s work specifically for their Bravia line.
But in the same way that Rolling Stones fans will immediately recognize that “She’s A Rainbow” is the song blaring over the TV spot, Kozyndan fans will certainly likewise recognize that those are unmistakably Kozyndan’s bunnies taking over the city… or at least their reincarnated counterparts. (And while the Stones will no doubt have been amply compensated for use of their song, Kozyndan will, sadly, emerge entirely empty-pocketed.)
So, are Passion Pictures guilty of a shameless rip-off or should Kozyndan be flattered by their creative inspiration?
Have
a look and decide for yourself
- Carley Johnson
And while the concept is highly engaging (little wonder since his firm is based more on concept than style anyway) the fascinating thing about the whole project is its ink blot effect: for example, two people can take his billboard declaring “trying to look good limits my life” and say ‘wow, what a great design’ while the other says ‘what a great piece of art.’ And the two will surely go to blows for about an hour arguing over what makes it a piece of installation art versus what makes it an example of graphic design (leading surely to the fundamental issue of really what is art and what is design.)
But that’s not exactly the point. The point is that the questions are even raised to begin with: obviously Sagmeister’s experimental projects are blurring previously very distinct lines between design and art.
But what Sagmeister’s work does do is communicate—the hallmark of all great art.
And design.
- Carley Johnson
If you’ve ever cruised Caveman’s crib, turned yourself into an M&M or have popped into one of the 7Eleven Simpson’s Kwik-E-Marts, you’ve experienced first hand the explosive new frontier of personalized advertising. As a matter of fact, all of us have become more than just the passive consumer. We are the key components of the 21st century advertising revolution.
Sure, from ‘name the new crayola color’ to ‘write our radio jingle,’ brands have always been big on consumer connection. But these days the roles have nearly done a 180 and instead of media controlling the masses, according to branding expert Rob Frankel, “the masses control the media.” Of course that is certainly not an unqualified statement, but the point is made nonetheless.
With traditional advertising outlets on the brink of extinction, Madison Avenue has embraced open-source software and social networking ideologies, allowing us to personalize their brand and turn it into something that we identify with. We may not be taking advantage of these brand sites in order to consciously propel the product, indeed most of it is done with the “hey, look at me aren’t I special” gratification so easily granted in this age of online interactivity. But the fact is, that’s exactly what we’re doing. And when you take into account that sites like Geico’s Caveman’s Crib have had nearly a million hits, we don’t seem to mind it at all.
Read more on the matter of Internet advertising in the Washington Post...
- Carley Johnson
I’m sure the fine people at London 2012 meant well when they began work on developing the brand for the 2012 Olympic Games. The hugely influential brand consultancy agency Wolif Owens surely had the highest of hopes on Monday as their top secret brand was unveiled after a year (yes, a year) of work. And the commercial sponsors were certainly excited to see exactly how their £400,000 had been invested.
But the British public and a score of designers the world over have wasted no time in voicing their cumulative shock horror at the brand logo. The electric colours and jagged acute angles that resemble a “cubist swastika” (as our own Chy Lin aptly put it) make up a disjointed, confusing mess—and not in a cool Georges Braques kind of way. More in a What-The-Heck-Were-You-Smoking kind of way.
The disjointed nature of the design makes it very difficult indeed to pull together exactly what the heck the logo is advertising. Several moments pass before the eye recognizes the word “London,” the Olympic symbol and finally the numbers “2012,” resulting in a delayed “Ohhhhh I get it…I think.”
And it’s typical. When it comes to design, we Brits can get so wrapped up in doing something new and exciting and modern that we end up on Mars somewhere. Sometimes the results are stunning (see the Tate Modern) and sometimes it backfires drastically (See the Millennium Dome disaster).
On the up side? Well… at least the design is brave and no one can argue it’s…er…eccentricity. It’s an energetic design which I suppose is fitting for an event like the Olympics, and I suppose if one wanted to get all Robert Hughes about it, one could argue that it even evokes images of a runner on a track. The almost graffiti–like quality of the graphics might (I said might) appeal to younger audiences, which is probably the goal, given the youth-geared TV ads for the 2012 games. And the design has certainly garnered the mass attention to London’s 2012 games that had hitherto been lacking, which is the ultimate goal anyway.
But in a city that gave birth to world turning and culture shifting movements like Pop Art, Elizabethan Poetry, Art Nouveau and Punk Rock, I guess we just expected something better from London.
Oh, and a warning to any viewers who may be prone to photo sensitive seizures: since the logo’s unveiling on TV spot ads, there have been at least six reported cases of epileptic seizures!
- Carley Johnson
