skip to main |
skip to sidebar
So this came to my attention a couple of days ago. We have a new logo to represent our current recovery "stimulus" package. The first thing I noticed was how bad it is. I instantly thought of the logo for the National Recovery Administration from the 1930's. Take a good look at both of them. From a design standpoint there is no challenge (especially when you add in the 75 year difference) the NRA logo wins hands down.
Of course we have the obvious stars, what's up with the 2 stars that are bastardized bleeding off the blue? The gears that represent work, haven't we come a little further in 75 years? And the tilted green ghost, oh wait I guess that's a plant representing "green" growth - I get it...
This stamp was created to mark every project of the "stimulus" package of 2009. I saw the question raised yesterday - how do we mark the pig odor research in Iowa - does each pig get the new stamp branded on them? And since the logo itself was a government project that I sure taxpayers payed too much for, shouldn't it have a stamp on itself? I have great concerns about where this idea of branding government money will take us as a nation.
Do a little research on the National Recovery Administration of the 1930's and you'll realize that the government used the symbol to try and halt free business. They tried to control prices and most importantly if you resisted to display the logo or wear the logo as a worker the administration actually campaigned for the public to boycott you.
We are all in this regardless of how much money each of us puts into the recovery, do we really need a clip art created logo to tell us that our government is working for us? Maybe every politician in DC should be wearing the new logo on their lapels. Maybe it would remind them they represent the public where they reside. I believe this logo will be short lived - even the NRA only lasted 2 years before being put out of business by the supreme court in 1935.
I wanted to do a brief post about a great site called Card Observer. The idea behind the site is to basically feature really well designed and produced business cards. The thing I love about sites like this is they really inspire everyone to want something better. The production techniques highlighted range from letterpress, die cutting, screen printing to special ink techniques.
Check it out and get inspired. It's one thing to observe and another to inspire and be inspired. Just in case you were looking for a particularly well done card check out the entry from 2.28.09. It's one of my favorites.
So on the heals of the Tropicana debacle I was shopping this last weekend and noticed another terrible mistake being made by a huge food manufacturer. This time it's Kraft. They recently had changed their corporate logo, which frankly I payed little attention to since it was really more of a corporate internal change at this point. You can see the trusty hexagon shape that's been around forever and the new flowery butterfly thing that they have now. I can't understand why they would move in this direction. It's not like there is any element of this new logo that can replace the current (before) Kraft logo that stills occupies all of their packaging.
Let me get back to what got me to this point. I was in the cheese section (this is where I spend a large amount of time in the store - cheese is awesome) looking for some shredded cheese and noticed this awful package (above). Kraft seems to think that it's now necessary to put pictures of big blocks of cheese on there shredded cheese packages. This is insane. Who needs to see what cheese looks like when "hello" it's right there in the see through package.
To me this packaging really starts to take on the look of a generic brand, too bad it's not priced that way. Honestly I can't say I really cared for the old blue Kraft Cheese packaging. I never purchased it - I was always drawn to the Sargento packaging. I guess if I'm going to pay $4 for cheese I don't want it to look generic. My personal fear is that all brands will start down this road. I would love to know what the thought is behind these changes. Maybe someday we will find out. What do you think?
OK, so I've been seeing the new Pepsi logo floating around and had pretty much passed it off as crap, but the other day I saw something that really got me. It was a document that explained the process of the tweak that was made to the logo and why at this link. Take a read and see if you buy it. As a designer I have no doubt that people in the creative industry shovel BS, but this is beyond belief. If they spent as much time working on the rebrand as they did to justify it, Pepsi might have a new unique logo. Of course I really question Pepsi more for buying the whole load.
Anyway the thing that got me looking at this whole rebranding fiasco was when we were in the store 2 weeks ago and my wife was looking for her normal Tropicana OJ. After 30 seconds of examination, we realized that it was now branded to look like a generic (at least that was my opinion). A huge stockphotoish glass of OJ on the box with the name turned sideways (strangely like the new pepsi bottles). The amazing thing is this ended up being a topic of conversation between me and my wife for the next half hour (btw she's not a creative). We talked about how could they lose their custom logo type as well as the orange with the straw stuck into it representing freshness.
Yesterday I read how Tropicana spent $35 million on the rebrand and that it was a huge mistake. Obviously they had been getting a lot of feedback about how much their rebranding failed. So you guessed it, they are going back to their old packaging (bravo). Here is the kicker I find that Tropicana is owned by Pepsi Co and imagine to my surprise both brands were rebranded by the Arnell Group. Huh - somebody at Pepsi Co might be out of a job soon. Oh yeah and just to let you know Peter Arnell (of the Arnell Group) recently spoke at an event hosted by Pepsi Co and explained, "consumers needed to be able to visualize the juice inside the orange. ” Because us little consumers don't know what orange juice looks like.
There are several things I love about winter, but the main thing is the rush of annual reports that start up. A lot of designers would tell you how much they hate annual reports, how constrained they are, how uncreative they allow you to be and most of all how little of a budget they have to produce an amazing piece. All of those things can be true, but I think with a little work designers can show their clients how a creative and engaging annual report can benefit them and hopefully in the process excite their client about the report as well.
Above is my latest completed report. It's for a metropolitan planning organization, which on the surface sounds pretty basic and dry, but in reality has a lot of interesting angles to concept an annual report around. I started working with this organization 6 years ago and since the beginning things have changed a lot. The organization has come to see how valuable of a PR piece a well produced report is to them. And personally I love working with this client on their report because for the last several years they have been taking ownership. Every year now they are thinking ahead and on the look out for ideas to make their report even better then before. They are excited about their own annual repor, what more can you ask for.
Maybe I'm different because I want the client to be involved in the process, I want them to think about paper and ask what they can do to make something work even better. I prefer to do work with my clients instead of do work for my clients. As a designer I always take ownership of the work I do (even though sometimes I would prefer not to), but having clients that are willing to take ownership makes the work I do that much more valuable.
Every year since I started this crazy company I've been doing some sort of handmade ornament for my clients and vendors for Christmas. I know, it's not really politically correct, but I love Christmas ornaments and I think a large majority of other people do too.
This year I had been talking to a local pottery artist in Greenville and decided it would be great to work with her on this years ornament. Her name is Lily Stratton and her website is http://www.lilypottery.com/. I did a sketch and told her to add her own little touch - after all she is an artist. After a couple of little tweaks of color and minor design changes the final outcome is the porcelain bird above. It turned out amazing.
After I decided what I was producing for the ornament it was time to turn to the actual design of the card and package. Since the great illustrator Charley Harper died last year I wanted to do a tribute to him in his style - which really works great for letterpress. So the next step was to find the perfect person to do the letterpressing. Having worked with Porridge Papers in Lincoln Nebraska a couple of times I contacted them. After some plotting on how to best setup the file to letterpress correctly the job was sent to Nebraska to return as a beautiful set of cards. One card was then applied to a aluminum CD tin and the bird was inserted along with the Christmas card and some tissue. Overall it was a daunting project for a little gift for clients, but every year I hear how much these gems are loved.
Out of all the items I design and produce my Christmas ornaments are the ones that make it out of storage every year and back on to a beloved tree. I can only hope that they will be around long after I'm gone. To check out ornaments from past years check out my website under the misc. section of the portfolio section.
So a couple of weeks ago I was out enjoying the change of seasons and I happened across this amazing photo. It really highlights the interaction of man and nature. It got me to thinking about how much are we willing to pay to be "green". With the economy in a major downturn and the pending "change" coming to the world how much are we really willing to spend?
My personal opinion is that this commercialized push to be green will be relatively short lived. Most corporations have jumped on this band wagon as a way to get good PR, not necessarily because they want to change the world. The one thing it has done is drawn attention to every aspects of our lives. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to cut the TP down to 3 sheets per use like some have suggested. I work hard for my money and I would like to spend it myself. The last thing I want the government to do is dictate to me what I can and can't buy. I'm not saying that I don't believe in being green - I just would prefer to not be told that I have to be green in every aspect of my life.
I'm not into organic, but I'm into buying local - you go figure the difference. I don't mind recycling, but I'm not going to start piling my garage with garbage. I conserve on gas by running to several places all at once, but I don't want to drive a car that looks like a golf cart. Now the real question - how much are you willing to pay to be green? Are you really willing to pay 10 times the amount you pay now for your electricity? Are you really willing to pay $4 a gallon for gas? Are you willing to pay $3 for 1 organically grown avocado? Why shouldn't the free economy be allowed to sort these things out. Maybe there are enough people out there that will be willing to pay extra for these things, but don't force it on us. Between taxes and the necessities of life I'm tapped already. Just like that photo above, nature seems to do a pretty good job recovering from our obsessions. Yeah, it's going to be a little scarred, but over time it will bounce back just fine. I think it's more important for us to be responsible than it is to be fanatical.
Posts
