Blog – Page 5 – Ayana Airakan-Mance

Tom’s Of Maine Changes Their Brand Also | Filed Under #disappointing.

So about a month or so before all this hoopla about GAP changing is classic, modern brand to, what I consider a mundane, nondescript one, I needed to buy toothpaste. Off I went to Trader Joe’s to purchase my Tom’s of Maine Natural Antiplaque & Whitening Gel. To my surprise and chagrin, I noticed that they had changed THEIR BRAND!

I buy the spearmint flavored paste and felt the leaves illustration at the head of the container visually conveyed what flavor I was purchasing. The new package has no illustration and is using a color palette purple, dull green, aquamarine blue, and blue (I think) used as the logo, which doesn’t visually relate at all the the product.The only element that may visually relate is the flavor name that is written in this horrible font. What were they thinking?

In addition, the logo has been redesigned in a way that has no connection what-so-ever to Tom’s of Maine’s long-standing brand. The typography is weak, and as a consumer, I have no idea what they are attempting to convey as their brand with this new design. I wonder if they crowdsourced this redesign.

Love to know your thoughts.

How To Be a Bad Ass Consultant

Thanking Rajesh Pancholi for sharing this post from Core77.

The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher

Great insight from one of the design profession’s lions.

Introducing Forza: A New Font from H&FJ

via typography.com.

David Carson on design + discovery

As I move into another semester of teaching design students, I am continuing to chronicle here design resources and sources of inspiration to share with them and expand my arsenal of great resources. In my research, I have logged a myriad of great Ted Talks given on the subjects of design and creativity.

I’m starting off my new quest in this vain with a 2003 Ted Talk by David Carson on design and discovery, What I like about Carson is the fact that he came into graphic design from a background in sociology and secondary education. (I taught high school government.) For me, having come to the design field without following the traditional training route gave him a clean slate with which to approach his work.

In this talk, he shares his process of discovery and its relationship to design. I will continue to feature talks by great designers as time goes on.

Enjoy!

Noted: Shades of Grey: Thoughts on Sketching

This article by Will Evans, Director, Experience Design for Semantic Foundry is quite insightful on the importance of sketching as part of the design process.

“In designing mostly interactive systems (spaces, processes, and artifacts for people to use), I must increasingly stretch the limits of communication tools to explore and document what it will be like to interact with the things I create. Artifacts used in communicating design create an inherent frame of experience between the subjective response of the person for whom I design, and my expectations of their response. There is a divergence of meaning in that the audience can only experience the communications artifact, not the object being communicated.” – Will Evans

Read the full article here: Shades of Grey: Thoughts on Sketching | UX Magazine.

Noted: YouTube Adds A Video Editor

I’m always pleased when I “find out” about “new” tools that allow people to work without having to expend lots of money, and I did that today (23 June 2010) when I read an article in Television Broadcast (TVB), about YouTube adding a video editor (Google video editor post).

This is great news not only for YouTube’s many users, but also for many new media (multimedia) design students who attend a community college or state university and have limited resources to purchase tools. This editor is a great service that Google, who owns YouTube is providing many users.

Cruisin’ in La Mission

Last week, I had the pleasure to “cruise” The Mission (La Mission) with my dear friend Nancy O. I so enjoyed re-experiencing the cultural richness of this once (and still in many instances) mainly Latino and culturally diverse community.

First, I began capturing the fading theater marquees on Mission Street. These will appear again with others in a later post.

Second, I just had to capture the uniqueness and richness of the clothing styles found in several storefronts. There are a lot of stores on Mission Street that focus on wedding attire. I was able to capture shots of the “mannequin couple” and my “fantasy wedding dress,” along with potential shoes and “reception” dresses.

I also was able to capture sidewalk stencils of prominent revolutionaries – Malcom X, Emiliano Zapata, Emma Goldman on the west side sidewalk of the Revolutionary Cafe.. I also shot the current state of the cafe’s controversial west side mural where someone sprayed “Stop The Culture Vulture” over the work of Simon Norris who painted over a long-standing mural by local artist SPIE. To read about the controversy go here: http://missionlocal.org/2010/06/mission-community-market-mural-vandalized.

Finally, I spied some beautiful Haitian figures at Casa Bonampak, a fair trade community store that carries traditional pieces from Mexico, specializing in the work of indigenous artists from the Central Mexico and the state of Chiapas. Great store!

That’s it for now. Looking forward to sharing more of my “trip” through this great neighborhood.

Spring 2010 Final Project: Nice Work Once Again From Multimedia Content + Form Class

This is my first time writing in depth about my Multimedia Content + Form students’ final project work here on the blog.

The Multimedia Content + Form class introduces the fundamental design process as it pertains to the creation of multimedia products/titles. Students will develop an understanding of the function and importance of visual elements and design principles in multimedia through handcrafted and computer exercises and projects. A survey of multimedia and its artistic and cultural relevancy will also be covered through lectures and student presentations.

Students gain an understanding of fundamental design principles and devices for expressing ideas visually. They learn technical, conceptual and problem-solving skills and how to constructively critique their own and others’ work. They are introduced to design processes, typographic and layout applications, print, and digital vocabulary. They learn about software and hardware applications in multimedia, and industry standards.

For the final project, students have the choice to design screens for a web site (12), or a DVD or Game title (8). They demonstrate an understanding of application of the design process using the design principles. In addition, they had to assemble their work in a process book where they showed their topic, visual and user profile research and their final screens. The students this semester, as those of previous semesters demonstrated great skill. Here are a few samples from this past semester’s, Spring 2010 Final Project work and process books:

Process Book Pages

shee-sketches-wireframes — © 2010 Sharla Hee

Screens: