Wow, it has been a long long time since I blogged about anything. Probably because I don't have anything interesting to say. Hmmm...
I'm reading this, that's my random thought for the day.




Maybe more to post later

new cd release poster I did for the barbarian horde. check them out in march in ny

Hadn't blogged in a bit, so here's a gratuitous shout-out to myself

Our new puppy Ella, She has mange and fleas, but she'll be ok soon says our vet.

As much as I wanted to, it looks like I couldn't make it out to typecon this year, last years was great and saw and learned so much. I guess there is always 2007.

On the flip side, my birthday is tomorrow and I start a new job on Monday and I am excited.

Yay me.

Label I designed for the most current bottled beer we brewed. It's an american styled ale.

Well it's our third batch, so far so good. We used my old shelf as a 3-tiered sparge rig - it works great. You would almost think we know what we are doing. (Scott shot this and put on his flickr)

Last night CSCA presented branding superstar Steff Geissbuhler to speak on "branding" - I quotation that since he seemed to have an issue with the word, saying it's over used and over done (or something to that effect).

Well here are a couple interesting concepts I carried away from the speech on branding, some are pretty obvious but worth mentioning anyways.

• Logos are the visual representation of the reduction of ideas encompassing the said brand
• The convetional is the familiar and will usually be the (safe) choice; average people (& CEOs) will gravitate toward the conventional/familiar/boring when making logo/branding choices - designers should challenge that
• "You cannot be innovative and new while staying conventional"
• When presenting initial logo designs to clients, don't show them as polished computer renderings - show the process with sketches, then move to the computer once the client OKs
• Be aware of the cultural bias when creating brand imagery - make sure it's appropriate to the subject matter and/or culture

He seemed very methodical and took a long time to develop concepts on branding; this seems the antithesis of Paula Scher's take on branding, watch this, she seems very whatever-comes-off-of-the-top-of-her-head about it, and is very sharp on her discussion of the citi bank logo.

Brilliant culture jam. Found via Wooster


http://www.areyougeneric.org/confessions/

This makes me sick. This isn't surprising or new, but sustained marketing to kids is used to control future purchases as adults and influences parental spending. Here are some ammassed facts.

"...It is all about establishing a relationship early," Paul Kurnit, the president of a marketing firm called KidShop, told the conference on opening day..."Children are important because they not only represent a significant percentage of our customers," a Burger King spokesman said, "but they also have an incredible influence on what fast food restaurant their parents will choose." ...The latest scientific research is also being used to make kids buy things...to make children remember a company's ads and create "brand stickiness"...research has found that one way to make a lasting imprint on a child's mind is to run the same advertisement over and over again. Repeating the same ad for a product is more effective than running a variety of different ads. The more times a child sees exactly the same ad, the more likely he or she will remember the product... "The key to attracting kids," one marketing publication says, "is toys, toys, toys..." ¹

According to Berkeley, Calif., psychologist Allen D. Kanner, PhD

"...the result is not only an epidemic of materialistic values among children, but also something he calls "narcissistic wounding" of children. Thanks to advertising, he says, children have become convinced that they're inferior if they don't have an endless array of new products..." ²

In 1999 James U. McNeal, PhD, author of The Kids Market: Myths and Realities,states:

"Children also influence another $249 billion spent by their parents." ²

Tim Kasser, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., states:

"Psychologists who help advertisers are essentially helping them manipulate children to believe in the capitalistic message, when all the evidence shows that believing in that message is bad for people...That's unethical." ²

Sources
¹ http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1759888,00.html?gusrc=rss
² http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep00/advertising.html
Related Links
http://www.thecorporation.com/
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/schlosser.html

Label I designed for my first beer I ever brewed. It's a nut brown pale esb...

It's such a great DIY project!

A quick thought. I should make a screen of this, to be more of a preachy veg.

So I designed this up for a home brewing beer label contest - hope I win. I have to get it in the mail bright and early so it will be at BYO Magazine by Friday!

This may seem a premature label, since it is for my October pumpkin ale, but I thought it was worth sending in.I kind of like the headless horseman story and thought it would be a good image for a pumpkin ale.