When it rains it pours...in a cute dress

Sometimes its sad when they take your pickle away but hey, they have been shrinking it for years.

Have you seen my gherkin?

Sometimes it gets to modern for my tastes… too san-serif-euro not enough juice.

too Madison Ave not enough Indian River...

and I never have liked Pepsi and now it has a loose end. What does it men when your yin/yang gets ‘young’.

Change we wont drink.

The pain reliever, Motrin, lost a major bonding opportunity by poking fun at new moms who use baby slings and other “close to the body” carriers. A new online and magazine ad was pulled Monday with an apology on their home page due to thousands and thousands of twitter comments by outraged moms and blogs around the world analyzing the intent of the ad. From there, the big guys then had to pay attention and report on it as well. Check out Advertising Age article on it.

Designed by Taxi to possibly follow (or knock off) the look and humor of “The Baby Owner’s Manual,” the ad, instead sounds like a snide and snarky “I’m too cool to be a mom, but I do have a baby,” woman who generally looks down on the very idea of bonding or closeness. One line in the ad even uses the “s” word, the one word definition of cynicism: “Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience…”

I’d bet too that Motrin has incured the ire of every baby carrier brand out there, as the ad is flat out insulting to them. We all know many many ergonomic studies are done, safety studies and R&D development in order to design baby slings and alleviate or reduce fatigue and pain from repetitive hours of carrying a baby (a wriggling extra 10-20lbs) each day. The ad negates that honest intention and declares the slings themselves as the reason for back pain.

And, yes, Mom’s are “supposedly” a huge market. But the ad could only appeal to that niche market segment, as motherhood is everything to mothers but not really an empathetic or understood state of being for others. So the only people who truly understand the ad are pissed off. AND, the ad was supposed to coincide with International baby wearing month! Now that’s funny.

Ultimately, it’s an interesting study— what makes sense to a design team might not hit the target market the same way. And the incredible power of social media will amplify the resulting consumer tantrum to a level that makes the ad agency wish they’d never left the house.

rolling stones logo

This is a story about how student designers rarely make money from their work…they do it for the exposure. This is also a story about how designers rarely make money from designing for the music industry…they do it for the love of the band and the fun of the project…and the exposure.

But 38 years after the project was completed, John Pasche finally saw some real money from a logo design he did as a student in 1970: the lips and tongue icon for The Rolling Stones.

John Pasche was a student at London’s Royal College of Art when he created and sold the design to The Rolling Stones for 50 British pounds in 1970. The Stones used it first on their Sticky Fingers album of 1971. In 1972, they expressed their appreciation of the logo by giving Mr. Pasche another 200 pounds.

The logo, though, could have easily faded into obscurity after the Sticky Fingers album. It was The Stones branding savvy that kept the icon alive. They have used it continously and consistently ever since, making it one of the most recognizable music icons in the world.

That branding savvy, combined with Pasche’s savvy (or luck) to keep the original artwork in pristine condition, allowed Pasche to sell the original work to the Victoria and Albert Museum for 51, 375 British pounds ($92, 500 US) last week.

I guess you never really can throw anything away if your a designer, because theiir’s a chance you will make some money off of it before you’re dead.

BBC Story

mascots of 2008 Beijing Olympics

I read a lot about the FUWA when they were first unveiled as the 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots about a year ago. Thought now, on this opening day might be a good time to review how the mascots came to be.

According to the Olympic site, each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China: Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together — Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni — they say “Welcome to Beijing.”

Beibei: fish and water are symbols of prosperity and harvest, as well as having a surplus for a good year and good life. According to the site, “Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.”

Jingjing: a symbol of happpiness. The Panda is loved and protected throughout China. He and the lotus’s on his head symbolize the lush green of the Panda’s environment and the desire to protect nature’s gifts. “Jingjing is charmingly naïve and optimistic. He is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.”

Huanhuan: “In the intimate circle of Fuwa, Huanhuan is the big brother. He is a child of fire, symbolizing the Olympic Flame and the passion of sport. Huanhuan is outgoing and enthusiastic. He excels at all the ball games and represents the red Olympic ring.”

Yingying: a fast and agile antelope, she symbolizes China’s great and huge landscape. “Strong in track and field events, Yingying is a quick-witted and agile boy who represents the yellow Olympic ring.”

Nini: represents the golden winged swallow – the most popular kite design in China. “Nini is as innocent and joyful as a swallow. She is strong in gymnastics and represents the green Olympic ring.

Han Meilin designed the mascots, went through many renditions (bureacracy is everywhere, after all), and infused the mascots with meaning and depth. they are not just a bunch of cute little dolls. He got his original idea from the five factors making up the world, including gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

Han Meilin was given an original concept by another person involved with the Olympics. His design team came up with over 4000 iterations of the characters and over 60 changes to the prototypes

Here is a sampling of what some of the other mascot ideas were:

Read this great interview with Han Meilin from the China Daily about how he came up with the characters.
Or see the Official Olympics Site to get more details about the mascots and their final meanings.

Snow machine + soapy stuff + helium = flogos.

Sure we design a lot of logos but none of us believe that they could be good enough to float in front of celestial bodies. I mean is this branding’s final frontier?

More importantly, would this lead to our kids laying in the grass saying, “hey if you squint real hard, that logo looks like a cloud”…

In case you think it’s bunk, this technical drawing should convince you…

Saw the news at NewRaleigh.com that the GRCVB (Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau) went and got itself a new brand. In fact, they went all the way to Toronto to get it! Wow. I guess all the local agencies and firms just aren’t as talented, economical or in touch with what’s great about our city as an agency in Toronto would be…

I do like the name, visitRaleigh. It definitely rolls off the tongue better than “The GRCVB.”

huh? visitRaleigh and the Toronto experts highlight some funny things:

• Raleigh Concerts and Live Music: KoKa Booth Amphitheatre is the main highlighted image (it’s in Cary)
• Festivals: Lazy Daze Festival is the main highlighted image on home page and Festivals page (it’s in Cary)
• Meeting Planners Info: the only highlighted hotel image is The Umstead (in Cary)

uh-huh. yeah.  visitRaleigh.com

I couldn’t remember the url to this site about the new TOTO Washlet toilet, but I googled “toto ass face” and immediately found it. The above pic doesn’t do the site justice…We are talking about toilets here and a buncha smiley-face bums literally turn into smiling faces. Is that the most disturbing possible transition for a message about “clean?”

The site is the most horrifying cultish brain-washlet thing I have ever seen.

“welcome to clean is happy”
“the washlet elevates the process to a whole nutha level”
“what is ordinarily an ordinary activity is turned into an opportunity to refresh yourself, to restore yourself, to pamper yourself”
“I never thought my toilet could be an oasis of happiness.”
“clean is comfortable. clean is confident. clean is happy.”

Will they still be there watching you when you use the Washlet? That old dude is especially creepy…”How’s it goin?” he asks- and hold your mouse over him to see his Porky’s “I-can-see-girls-going-to -the-bathroom” leer…

I think the only way these people could be this “happy” about their toilet is that they stopped by their medicine cabinet before they sat down…

See the new Louis Vuitton store at the Brooklyn Museum, IN THE GALLERY.
Pop-art, Pop-branding, Brand-art or Art-cute. My favorite part is the
counter-counterfeiting that was on the street with actors playing hustlers selling
the real thing (@ real prices, $1500 ) at the gala… The art of business, the new war zone,
Sun Tzu would be proud, along with Kanye West, Frank Gehry, Marc Jacobs, Nobu
and the rest of the brand-©hallenged. Scary cute.

What is the big deal? Looking at the companies product line, I find Tata a more interesting brand. Practical with style meets old money. Jaguar has been a tired line for years. Maybe Tata will bring some needed color.

Ford was certainly doing nothing interesting with these cars. East takes west! It is about time. I’m sure Indians have had enough of boring ol’ stiff upper lipped Range Rovers trashing their back country…

1. Keen was trying to make a human connection with their footwear via a message called “hybrid life.” Hybrid seemed to mean lots of things when you got down to it, so it came off more as a hybrid message. But still some distinct footwear is emerging from that “brand with the big toe.”

2. Ariat, originating from Equestrian wear, had some nice detailing that crossed-over well to urban style.

3. Taos clogs were just too compelling to go unnoticed.

4. But Best in Show has got to go to a beautiful collection from Columbia called Sergio Tomani. I’ve never seen this brand before but these shoes were stunning in person and these pics don’t do them justice. You can get multi views here.