This is spreading across the designers’ world like a virus, but it’s another example of huge companies rebranding themselves poorly, and in this case, using another company’s branding that’s already been established – and in practically the same industry! (albeit, the Yoplait logo is technically European)

The logos don’t even need my critique – just look at the photo, the similarities are undeniable. But really Kraft? You dropped your old, instantly recognizable, adequately designed logo for this?  As I read on another blog, it feels more like a daycare center logo than a food company – especially when you consider the foods that Kraft is mostly known for – oreos, macaroni and cheese, Kool-Aid, Cheez Whiz?  Come on, you’re not a mom n’ pop healthfood company distributed by Trader Joe’s – you’re Kraft – and now your logo looks like it’s trying to say “light, airy, healthy, active”. I don’t think it’s going to fool anyone.

Ultimately, you had a brand that was well known, felt like a master branded logo, and could be recognized by shape alone – nevermind the K-R-A-F-T – legibility ceased being an issue. I’m surprised that they would take something worth so much in equity, and just kick it to the curb.

Ultimately, it’s a huge corporation, and I couldn’t care less about how they brand themselves, but I can’t even begin to understand the mentality in “change for the sake of change” – stop doing that.

This isn’t news at all, but I want to get it off my chest anyway.

With the acquisition of Macromedia and the ultimate release of CS3, Adobe made the controversial decision to eliminate ImageReady in favor of the once deadly opponent, Fireworks.  I didn’t know how much I could agree with the decision, since it’s added a speedbump to my workflow with the removal of one simple element that ImageReady had, and Fireworks simply does not: Droplets.  These were tiny app’s that I could create easily to manage my redundant image optimization tasks, like creating groups of JPGs or resizing and optimizing, which was a regular task for me when prepping files for the frontend and backend developers.  Now, I know I can do batch processing in Fireworks, and save the script, but it’s still somehow different than being able to grab a group of files in the Finder, and open them with the droplet app — it just felt more like an OS-based action, rather than software. With Droplets, I never had to even directly open ImageReady, it essentially just ran in the background and I used it as Continue Reading »

I just finished watching this on NetFlix instant viewing, and it was well worth my two hours.  This was a really, really impressive film. The cinematography was fantastic, the acting was spot on, and the storyline flowed with such ease that the movie was over before I realized it. Kudos to director Shane Meadows.  I spent a bit of my high school years friends with a group of skins here in north Jersey, obviously not that I was by any means part of their crew, but I knew enough of them and listened to enough of the music to gain an understanding of what they were all about; I knew enough to say that this film got it right. They weren’t portrayed as a bunch of meathead racists running rampant through the streets, but Continue Reading »

I was just going through my bookmarks for some daily design motivation and felt that it was necessary to share the site of Casey Burns; an inspiration for music-related illustration and design.  I wanted to post an example and link to his site in case anyone is interested in discovering more about this outstanding artist. I aspire to be able to work with similar bands and create the material that he has for posters and record covers over the years.

Enjoy.

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Casey Burns

Another post I made recently on creativebits.org made me want to quickly share my thoughts on my longtime addiction to the Wacom Intuos3 tablet. I must say, that when I first got it, I was convinced that it was a bit frivolous and that it was something I would use strictly for retouching and Adobe Illustrator. Let me say this bluntly: I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The Wacom tablet (I have the 6″x11″, which is essential for my dual monitor setup) has become a complete replacement for the standard mouse. In fact, I’ve removed myself so far from the mouse, that it’s become awkward to use at this point—like trying to draw with my fingers taped together.  I don’t mean to make this too much of a sales pitch for Wacom, since I’m getting nothing for this, but I want to share my thoughts with other designers that may begin to read this blog.  There seems to be some wonder and apprehension associated with using a tablet as the main form of manipulation for just photoshop, let alone the rest of everyday activities on your computer, but let me tell you that after a day or two of using the tablet strictly, you will realize that it has become an extension of your hand. It’s astonishing how fluid and organic all my processes become on my machine—everything from using exposé to writing code becomes quicker, easier, and generally more natural of a process. Anything that brings more of a human touch to a generally restricting computer architecture is OK in my book.

Give it a shot, and if you decide you don’t like it, I think you’re doing something wrong.

Now that I’ve got your attention—maybe because you’re actually interested in vinyl, or maybe because you think I’m a total hipster for writing about this—let me make a prediction: The CD is slowly going the way of the buffalo, moving over for the ultimate takeover of the digital download, and our friendliest audiophile format is quickly experiencing a rebirth and a lifespan that will likely continue for longer than once thought. Designers should be rejoicing — This affords us the opportunity to once again look at the music layout as it was originally born: a 12”x12” canvas (ok, the cut dimensions are slightly different, just let me get away with that one), rather than the confined limits of a 4.75” x 4.75” (see, I got more specific) CD booklet.  The digipac offered us some expansion into the pseudo-vinyl packaging when it first appeared (i.e. Pearl Jam’s Vs. and Vitalogy), but as I’ve experienced – it’s nothing like designing for an LP release, which (un)fortunately is even a new format for my work. Continue Reading »

I’ve done it. I’ve made a blog. About design. About art. About…me? This is my first post. It’s not supposed to be excited, engaging, inquisitive, or even fun to read. I’m planning on making everything after this actually have some redeeming value, but for now, this is all I’ve got. Hope you had a blast!