sp11allaboutteamovingbrands

New Identity Design: ‘All About Tea’

The agency Moving Brands, created this new identity for “All About Tea” based in Portsmouth, UK. Their execution makes sense based on the brief: “Moving Brands were tasked with creating a new identity that would stand out in a “sea of sameness.” The identity needed to work effectively across their existing wholesale market, and enable them to grow into retail channels. It was also vital to communicate the founder’s passion for the art and intricacies of tea.” I think this new identity will definitely stand out from the typical deco-design style tea packaging that clutters the shelves. I like that…

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Information Design

Information design, AKA infographs, are getting increasingly popular every day, week, month, year. Personally I find them tough to do, basically because it is really easy to make them look cheesy. In this primarily image heavy post I am featuring the work of Christoph Almasy. His information design is unparalleled as far as I see it and I will definitely always reference him when it comes to designing this sort of project. Enjoy and check out Christoph at his site.

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Writing Your “About Me” Page

It’s a good idea to have some sort of online presence outside of Facebook.  A blog is an excellent way to showcase your unique tastes and talents. Every blog has (or should have) an About Me page. This allows users to get a quick insight into you and your background. Even if you don’t create a blog, chances are you’re going to have to define yourself some time in the near future. FreelanceWeekly recently wrote a great article on the art of the writing an About Me page. You can find the article in full detail HERE. Their seven rules…

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Facebook may help the dot.gay application

Have you heard about the .gay initiative? Scott Seitz, the CEO of dotGay, is planning to ask the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to approve .gay as ICANN’s application period begins. Facebook recently began offering the following options for ‘relationship status’: civil union and domestic partnership. This marks a milestone (perhaps just a small one) for the LGBT community online. You can “get involved”, support, or follow the news on the .gay initiative here.

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sp11activia

Activia Campaign by Young & Rubicam

Okay, so Activia has a new campaign that just launched, developed by Young & Rubicam. They are an agency based out of Prague, Czech Republic. I’m sure that they were going for a concept that they wanted to really spark an interest among society towards this apparent problem, I think they just pissed a few people off though. I like this style of in your face advertising to get a message across and to try and really push call to action. This one just doesn’t do it for me, any thoughts on it? Let’s start a discussion! CLICK ON IMAGES…

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Utilizing Ad Databases

I Stumble(d)Upon a great article the other day titled: 17 Outstanding Sources for Advertising Inspiration. The article was featured on a great design based website called Designm.ag Some of the entries I’m sure you’ve heard of (Ads of the World, Ad Forum) but others are hidden gems (Coloribus has over 2 million ads in it’s database). Looking at past and present advertising is a great way to motivate and inspire yourself. But it’s equally important to hone and perfect your own unique voice and style.

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Art & Copy: An Independent Lens

I watched something cool on PBS recently, that I think everyone will find to be very interesting! Check out “Art & Copy: An Independent Lens.” It’s an extremely interesting documentary about Advertising in which you “find out how they [the major faces in advertising] changed the way we see, feel, dream, buy. The story behind the real mad men and women; where they came from and where they’re taking us.” This film will be of especial interest to those of you who are communications majors, AND even those individuals who have nothing to do with advertising, but want to watch…

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Social Media Monopoly

The first word that came to my mind when I read the first sentence of an article on BiteDaily and saw the first image of this article was the word brilliant. This is not an exaggeration, I truly was just jealous of someone else being able to come up with such a good idea that I wish would have entered my mind at some point with all of this social media floating around in my personal world on a daily basis. “Race around the board picking up smartphones and computers but make sure you don’t get sent to MySpace or…

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Sexuality and Art: An often misunderstood, misguided part of history

I had the opportunity this afternoon to attend Jonathan Katz’s lecture at Tyler sponsored by the Department of Art History.* Dr. Jonathan Katz, co-curator of “Hide/Seek” and Chair, Visual Studies Doctoral Program, SUNY, Buffalo gave a lecture entitled “Eleven Seconds out of 113 Years:  An(ant)tomy of a Conflict.” The talk, which was followed by a question-and-answer session, addressed the stakes of our repeated cultural skirmishes over the depiction of same sex desire and why Katz now understands this latest flare up as an unprecedented, and definitive, victory. The ‘flare up’ surrounded the Hide/Seek exhibition in which an 11 second portion…

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My first two weeks

After two weeks of working at the National Museum of American Jewish History, I think I am really going to enjoy my experience and learn a lot. I was originally nervous about starting my placement, but my boss and his assistant, actually everyone at the museum seem really nice. My boss is great. He takes the time to explain everything and the reason why we have to do it, which is very helpful for someone who has no experience in the field. I am also included in meetings, asked if I have any questions and asked to actively participate in discussions. So far everything has been…

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The Story Behind the Logo

Neatorama wrote an article about the story and process behind the making of some of the most renowned logos we see today. From Heinz to Aunt Jemima, they have ten different stories on ten different trademarks that are nationally known. Click here to read the full article. Below are some process snippets if you aren’t much of a reader.

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Rebranding Breakfast

Through my supermarket travels, I’ve taken notice of an interesting trend that’s happening in the breakfast cereal aisle. Retro rebranding appears to be the newest strategy breakfast cereal manufacturers are employing to attract consumers. Other attempts–such as low sugar alternatives and high in fiber varieties–haven’t  helped stimulate growth in the marketplace. Over the last few years, sales have decreased significantly. The once prime demographic of consumers–young children–have been introduced to healthier alternatives, such as fruits and yogurts. By reverting to a nostalgic box design, cereal manufacturers hope they will strike a chord with adults who have fond memories of breakfast time with Cap’n Crunch. In effect, leading this target…

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