No Fun League

So, the NFL did a rebranding exercise. I think they did an ok job, but the bottom of the letters and the bottom of the shield bother me – the angular type to the curves of the sheild look really off. Thoughts? Am I being waaaay to anal?

Ready for the Big Meeting

Found this on Agency Tart (very funny site for those in the ad biz) Now check out the commercial – we all have worked (or have been) the people on this team – enjoy.

The Longest Illustration I Have Ever Seen

Thanks to my boy Jay for showing me this site zenvironments.com The illustration/artwork is by Zach Johnson and I think he has tired fingers.

Do you feel dirty?

Quick post today, since I am still slammed at the office. I found these ads on adsoftheworld.com and thought they were cool as hell. (who knew hyundai could look cool)

Deadlines

Have caught up with me this week. I won’t bore you with the details or bad posts – be back next week.

Socially Distorted Strengths

So, I promise that this is not becoming a music site. That being said, I saw Social Distortion last night and they kicked ass. Mike Ness is just an awesome front man. His voice is as good live as it is on record. They played a great tune off their greatest hits album Far Behind:

Now between writing about them and De la Soul yesterday, it made me think about career longevity. How do you keep yourself going in a work environment, creative or otherwise. I came across a great article by Susie Wee of HP:

Use your weekend strengths at work

…An additional tip that I gave was: Use your weekend strengths at work.

My advice here is to think about the things that you do on your weekends and in your free time when you’re with your family and friends. Chances are that you’re spending your free time doing things that you love to do. Chances are that these things use your natural strengths, i.e., your weekends strengths. And, chances are that your weekend strengths can be used at work! Read more.

Now what the hell does this article have to do with either of the band I have posted about in the past 2 days? Well, what better weekend strengths are there than playing music for a bunch of people. Its adapting a party to your job. Now, most of us can’t do that, but I bet there is something that you do outside of work that can help you inside (and no, flasks don’t count).

Advice on Marriage

Ok, I was not planning on a second post today, but I read Advice on Marriage on thedenveregotist.com and thought it was funny as hell. For all you married creatives out there I am posting a taste (you’ll have to visit their site for the rest, since I am using their content)

I have landed the gig of my dreams working as an Art Director at [agency name removed]. Everyone here is pretty much expected to work serious overtime and my wife is starting to get seriously pissed off about it. I love my job, but I also love my wife. Part of me expects her to be more understanding and supportive of my situation, what should I do?

Yours in desperation,
Jacob Limpic

Dear Mr. Limpic,
I hear this problem a lot. Who among us in the creative industries hasn’t found themselves toiling away at work night after night and spending less and less time with their loved ones as their career takes off? The divorce rate at advertising agencies is one of the highest in the nation. I suspect the same holds true at design firms, but I couldn’t find any statistics for civil unions so I can’t be sure.

Do we work like this to make humanity a better place and maybe save some lives? Of course not! We do it because we hate our spouses or because our Creative Director just got transferred to our office from NYC and he doesn’t know anyone here or have anything better to do than work all the time… Read more

Hitting the digital wall

So, as an interactive designer you always want to come up with innovative ways for a viewer to be able to play and use your content. Adobe has come up with an execution that uses the motion of a persons body to interact with the content on the screen via infrared sensors. First – I want that kind of budget for my next project. Second, I think that it is pretty damn cool and a glimpse of things to come. Again I defer to a better writer to offer more info:

Maria Aspen of the New York Times writes:

Adobe will unveil an interactive wall of projected animation this morning in Union Square, along the 14th Street side of the Virgin Megastore. As pedestrians walk past the wall, infrared sensors will lock on to the person closest to the wall, who will then be able to control a projected slider button at the bottom of the wall.

As the selected pedestrian continues walking and moves the slider along, the wall will start displaying colorful animation and playing music, effects that will grow or recede at the pace that the person advances or retreats. When each selected pedestrian reaches the end of the wall, his or her design will be in full blossom, above the campaign’s message: “Creative license: take as much as you want.” Read More .

See the wall in action:

Designer, Artist, Hybrid?

Joshua Davis is a designer that gets to do the work other designers would love to do. I have never met him, but I have seen him speak at a few conferences. He is an engaging speaker that makes you look at your own process of idea development. I know this project for BMW is not his latest work, but between the video and the final product, this project gives good insight into his creative process. The picture below is of the three styles of the prints.

Now for how he got to that point:

For more on Joshua Davis go here.

Yours handles better than mine.

It’s Friday, so I am going to try to set up the weekend a little bit. Mini has done a bunch of clever advertising, but this ‘interactive’ urinal ad is one of their best. What guy would not take his car through the paces on this course? I would not want to be the person who has to set up or tear down these cones…