Filed under: Good Stuff
If you didn’t receive this this week then you are totally out of the email chain. Illustrations come from this book.
I generally assume that serif typefaces are feminine, sans are masculine, but what exactly is a slab serif? I think they are a bit androgynous and because of that I tend to find them intriguing yet often a bit standoffish. But looking at Archer, a new face from HFJ, I just can’t decide. I feel like maybe it’s largely feminine but maybe it likes to work on cars. Whatever it is I might have a crush on it.
I only recognize this because every once in a while a girl needs some fancy shampoo. That girl being this 30-something year old guy.
Old
New
I appreciate that not only did they make the bottle uglier, but they also used a default pc Word font and applied a silver decal with the product logo. Way to go kiddies, a successful rebrand if ever there was one. The Trixie’esque font has always kind of bothered me, but applied to a faux-metallic sticker it makes it even worse.
Yes, all of TIGI’s products look very sexual, so they should have left it in the original bottle that was more nipple shaped. But probably none of their products are as sexually blatant as “After Party.” What an interesting bottle shape to go with that product name.
Yes, I used to have a hardcore JJ addiction. Ok, so maybe I still have a slight case of it. But really it’s extremely difficult to stay interested when everything she does recently just isn’t that interesting. So here’s the cover to her new album, Discipline. It’s a HAM if ever I’ve seen one, and if you don’t know, HAM= Hot Ass Mess. From the plastic hair (I have heard it referred to as the Rick James Superfreak do) to the photoshopped beyond belief face, it’s just a little too much to take. Don’t even get me started on the bellybutton that looks like it’s covered in cellophane. Add to that the fact that Madonna kind of did this same thing a few years back and it just compounds the overall discomfort of the cover. However, I think the logo that is being used (the smeared name written on the glove) is kind of interesting and a nice departure from what is being used on everyone else’s cds these days. Where I have seen it applied it seems to stand out, in a good or bad way I am uncertain.
I’ve read a few responses that the cover is supposed to be a “high fashion” look, sadly I think the people saying this consider high fashion to be what they see on America’s Next Top Model. And the loyal viewers of ANTM, myself included, know that those poor girls go on to do absolutely nothing high fashion, unless you consider Eva modeling for Nelly’s Apple Bottom jeans to be high fashion. Anyways, I don’t completely understand why an ugly picture of someone who can normally take attractive photographs seems to equate a high fashion shoot but for some reason I guess it does.
All of this being said I actually really like her new video for Feedback, by Saam, even if the song is totally safe and blends in with everything else out there. It has a kind of fun b-movie vibe.
Filed under: Misc. Crap
Print magazine and I had broken up for a while. It wasn’t a painful breakup, in fact it was quite a clean one. A see you later kind of thing. But over the holiday I was lured back into a relationship with the promise of a cheap subscription, and if there’s one way to my heart it’s definitely with a frugal offer. Now I kind of remember why we broke up though. To me Print just really isn’t that interesting these days. Somewhat like the design field in general it seems stagnant and in need of a good shake up. Though the information tries to be somewhat intriguing and cultural, for some reason it just tends to miss the mark. It feels a bit stuffy and corporate and doesn’t seem very progressive–a bit like a very constrictive jacket. A straightjacket like Britney will soon be wearing.
Check out these really cool paper sculptures that I found on the front door of WordPress because quite frankly I have nothing else to post this week. Is there really anything going on? January and all, just a bunch of busy work for the sake of being busy. January is bad, February is only worse than January, March is only worse than February, etc. etc. etc. Blah.
I don’t know who this Sia person is. Nor do I know why she has had a crazy Britney moment and drawn all over her face with Crayola markers. Nor do I know why they have used Kid Pix to create her logotype and the text for her album cover when in fact if she has used markers the text should look somewhat marker like and not digital based. Nor do I know why I’m strangely intrigued by it, but for some reason I really am and it has made me curious enough to want to listen to it.
Method
Softsoap
Looks like I’m not the only ones that appreciates the Method packaging.
And thanks to my expert sleuthing at Duane Reade I discovered that they even have the audacity to even sell it for the exact same price! The nerve. But hey, at least when they copied the design they inverted the bottle. And made it slightly shorter so it contains less product. Ingenious.
Here are the entries for Antville’s Best Videos of 07. Since it’s late and I’m feeling a bit lazy I can’t actually be bothered with verifying their choices, however I will go ahead and whole-heartedly endorse them based on this single video which I think I have previously posted:
Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries (Dir: Wade Shotter)
And really, who can argue with a banner featuring a waxed and buffed Michel? I know Grace can’t. This reminds me that I didn’t send out my bitchin’ tunes of 07 list this year. I really am slacking in my old age. I guess listing Paris Hilton last year probably ruined any credibility I may have had. Really that remix was kind of good though. Honest.
Filed under: It's all about the BRAND, Logos-a-go-go, Misc. Crap, Photoshop 101
Catherine was on the ball, literally, with this one. While I was sleeping away my day at work I totally snoozed on what was going down in “re-branding” world. The design world was crumbling below our little feet and in front of our designer frame glasses.
“Xerox Corp. unveiled a new logo Monday intended to scuttle its old image as a photocopier manufacturer and highlight its software, color printers and other technologically updated products.
“There has been a perception gap in the marketplace,” said Richard Wergan, vice president of worldwide brand marketing and advertising at the Norwalk-based office equipment manufacturer. “Xerox is still perceived incorrectly as a copier company. We do not make copiers.”
Old, Landor
Old old, Chermayeff
New
