Filed under: design (and branding) | Tags: cincinnati, cincinnati logo, maple knoll village
Today Cincinnati.com reported on the city of Cincinnati unveiling their new logo.
Upon seeing it I had 2 thoughts. First, that it was nice to see a good logo developed for a city that seems so stuck in the 1970s… at least the local Baby Boomers are. This city deserves better – deserves something that reflects how rich it is in diversity of arts, entertainment, food, and people. It really is a great city to live in.
My second thought, however, was… I know I’ve seen that before! And it appears I was slightly wrong. The logo I thought of isn’t an exact match (I know I can expect as much from LPK), but it’s… how should I put it… inspired. Heavily inspired.
Take a look:
The reason I knew I’d seen this logo is because I used to pass by Maple Knoll Village every day to and from work on Rt. 4 in Springdale (or is it Glendale… one of the -dales). It’s in an area with several retirement / assisted living villages, and I have always found it odd how clustered they are put together. It was and still does seem rather industrial.
Anyway, I’m not saying that LPK stole the Maple Knoll Village logo, or even knew about it. I just thought it was a bit odd that the City of Cincinnati paid $75k for a logo that looks really similar to another logo within a few miles of the City limits. I still think the new Cincinnati logo is good…just wish it wasn’t soooo close to Maple Knoll’s.
EDIT/UPDATE: For what it’s worth, I noted this because I am a graphic designer, and these things stand out to me 
See some of my business’ work here, or my older work here.
This will be short.
Just read a blog over at Brand New that combines two of my loves in life: Metallica and Branding.
Filed under: design (and branding) | Tags: cheating, graphic designers, morality
Today I saw a web banner on one of my “frequented sites” that featured a shiny button promoting an event. I think the shiny button was a “NEW!” button or something like it.
Anyway, this button stood out to me because it’s FREE on one of the many design resource websites that offer free vectors with the “Web 2.0″ shiny aesthetic.
I’d just like to ask that any designer whom is tempted to drop one of these freebies into their design to please reconsider your decision. I don’t ask that you not use free vectors, but at least change the freaking color… or some kind of tweak to make the freebie your own… or at least change it to be aligned with the brand being promoted!
I’m seeing more and more of this, and it’s troubling. Is it really so different than using cheesy glitter graphics? Is morality now based on aesthetics according to designers?! I hope not.
Finally: I pray for the well-being of any designer I one day employ who tries to do (or does) what I’m talking about. I hope this person doesn’t have a family depending on them for a check because they will be very quickly unemployed. There must be some kind of standard to what we do as designers, and what I saw today on the web banner is unacceptable – especially since it’s on such a prominent site. It is a hack-job, and someone needed to call it out.
</rant>
Decided to head to our new IKEA – the only one in Ohio, and only 7 miles from our house! – this morning, and take the plunge in buying a new work chair.
Since I started out on my own, I have been sitting in my work chair for LONG hours… sometimes 10 or more hours per day. My bony ass had made little work of the well-worn leather in our existing chair, one that is still comfortable up to five hours, so I knew this was going to happen sooner rather than later.
I spotted the chair I wanted during our first visit to IKEA, but it was totally out of stock. So when we went back today, I had one of the associates open a new pallet and get one for me because once again the shelves were bare for this chair.
And here it is…
For $79.99 it sure is comfy, and has the mesh back for my long hours at the Mac.
I just took a break to put it together, and to take the pieces out of the box, assemble, and fine-tune the sitting positions to my preferences took a grand total of 30 minutes. All it took was a small wrench included with the box. It’s the genius of good design.
So I sit here in this new contraption, and had to write about it.
IKEA used to pose a juxtaposition for me because of my adoration of Fight Club. This is something Tyler Durdin wouldn’t do.
But the thing with me is that I am a geek when it comes to Design History. On my book shelves sit books about the Bauhaus, Walter Gropius, and other design movements related to how Design has evolved over time. Not just graphic design, but all design – product, packaging, graphic, and overall branding. It’s fascinating to me. That’s where IKEA comes in – it is a living, breathing extension of the great Design thinking. I’m sure I am guilty of Consumerism on some level, but it’s not mindless.
Filed under: business, design (and branding), happenings | Tags: climate change, design (and branding), global warming, ohio floods
We moved into our house July 2006. Since then we have experienced:
- An ice storm
- Severe Drought
- Blizzard
- Severe Flooding
My basement is wet. Streams of water are flowing toward the center main drain. This house was built in 1944, and it’s a solid as a rock. The rain seems to have overcome our sump pump (our second one since moving in), but when the pump pit over flows, the water streams directly into the drain. This wetness – hard to call it “flooding” – caused me to realize that the drain cover is partially rusted. I guess this has been an issue for a long, long time. The tile-on-concrete floor is doing well, too. Though last night we were taken aback when we saw 4 perfect spouts of water flowing the bottom of one wall, forming a solid stream that ran directly to the main drain. Unseen until last night, these holes are perfect 1/4″ holes apparently drilled to relieve pressure on one wall when it’s really wet. The more I get to know this house, the more amazed I am by it’s simple-yet-efficient design!Unlike my hand-wringing Leftist pals, I do not think this is the result of man-made Global Warming/Cooling or the so-simple-it’s-silly phrase now being thrown around, “Climate Change” (seriously – Climate Change??? who thinks of this? soon Sun Setting will be a global concern).
To me, it is quite pompous to say that the weather is the result of people when weather records only go back 100 years or so. Who’s to say that the last 1,000 years haven’t been a hiccup in what is really ideal on Earth? Make no mistake: The snake oil of people-caused Global Warming or whatever is bunk.
But it is also entertaining, even in the skeptic’s seat. On one hand, new Green Initiatives in corporate America have drummed up new business opportunities in design and branding. Trying find renewable materials to use in packaging or printed pieces just makes design projects more interesting. Though I do get a kick out of proposing the options of virgin paper versus recycled paper for a project, and virgin paper is picked almost every time because the ink will “pop” more when the package is on-shelf. Depends on the product, I suppose…
I was in a Target store a few months ago and saw an end-cap with “green” electronics. The packaging was designed and printed on uncoated stock, matte colors, very flat from a design perspective. Flat is also seen as “simple” a la most Target packaging. It is not good or bad design – I don’t believe in good or bad design, it’s all relative to the client and their goals. Anyway, I saw these “green” electronics products, and laughed aloud saying “God bless capitalism.” I mean, here is a situation where someone realized that they could sell more widgets if they tweaked production a way or two, redesign the packaging, and leave the consumer believing they just did a little something to save the planet!
Personally and professionally, I have no problems with Green Initiatives so long as the Koolaide isn’t forced down anyone’s throat. Let the free market figure out sustainable ways, and who knows – maybe Green production methods will result in better ROI for everyone!
Filed under: design (and branding)
I thought it would be interesting to list what’s in my doc, and hear what is in other people’s docs.
For the non-Mac follk: The doc is is a Mac thing. It’s where we launch our programs from. You can place your doc at the bottom, left or right side, and it can always be present or only appear when you mouse-over the area. Also, there is a magnification setting that causes the program icon to enlarge as you mouse-over each icon. I don’t do that, but it’s there if you want it.
So… to start, here’s a pic of my doc:
Here’s a list of what’s here:
- Finder
- iCal
- Firefox
- Safari
- CyberDuck (FTP Client)
- iChat
- Adobe Illustrator CS3
- Adobe Photoshop CS3
- Adobe InDesign CS3
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
- Adobe Flash CS3
- Adobe Acrobat CS3
- Preview
- iPhoto
- PhotoBooth
- Linotype FontExplorer X (a free font management utility!)
- MS Word
- MS Excel
- MS Powerpoint
- VLC (a free video player, lets you take screen grabs – iDVD does not.)
- TextEdit
- Address Book
- Printer Utility
- System Preferences
- Disk Utility
- SafeEyes
- Time Machine
Anyone else care to show? Is there something like this on a Windows machine? If not, why not get a Mac?!?
