Fill/Stroke.com
Incspring needed a rebranding?
If you’re a long time reader you know of my disdain for the self-misrepresenting Incspring which claims to be a “branding” website, but is in fact nothing more than a logo site that’s taken advantage of consumers and reduced the credibility & understanding of what “branding” really is.
In fact, Incspring is so oblivious to its own misunderstanding of the idea of “branding” that it changed its logo within the first month of being open and now has changed its name completely to Brandstack. Claiming to soon be adding new features and still lying with the tagline of “Worlds Biggest Brand Marketplace”, they praise themselves in a recent blog post for adjusting a common looking logo from their site and throwing on the new name.
The new logo isn’t anything special and in fact reminds me of this ending from a lot of 80s TV shows where the guy throws paper from his typewriter. Not to mention it looks like about 10 other logos on the site.
Now, I think this goes without saying, but 3 redesigns in a year, including a complete name change, sounds like something that could have been avoided had they gone through the complete branding process, where they evaluate their targets, their goals, what they want the company to become (instead of just what it is) and all the tiny nuanced details that go into branding that IncStack has demeaned into nothing more than a logo, a website and some letterheads.
I cannot say it enough: This site is garbage.
No comments. Posted by md in branding, interwebs, opinion, rant, ridiculous on 15 June 2009.
There are plenty of reasons to celebrate a day like today, after all, it is April 20th. I wonder how many of you celebrated with one of these, and also wonder how many others only thought of Hitler.
Instead of thinking of Hitler, a wanna be painter, I suggest you raise your glass to a real artist, Joan Miró. He was a Spanish (Catalan) painter, sculptor, and ceramist born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and an important figure in the Surrealist movement.
No comments. Posted by adria in art, opinion on 20 April 2009.
American Psycho: Business Card Scene
American Psycho Business Card Scene from Baran Akkus on Vimeo.
After all the scenes in Helvetica with Erik Spiekermann, this particular scene from American Psycho is hands down one of my favorites. I like to think we can all appreciate moments like this.
5 comments. Posted by adria in movie, opinion on 20 April 2009.
The Beast is a Buffalo based magazine/newsletter that I have been a fan of for over a year. This years end of the year post is just as great as last years, and I can’t help but wishing I could move out there and meet them. Some gems of hilarious writing in this piece;
If Satan were real, and had a severely chapped anus from a fortnight of angry, unlubricated gay sex with an evil moon-dragon, we imagine it’d look a lot like Monson’s disturbingly weathered face.
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43. You
Charges: You think it’s your patriotic duty to spend money you don’t have on crap you don’t need. You think Hillary lost because of sexism, when it’s actually because she’s just a bad liar. You think Iraq is better off now than before we invaded, and don’t understand why they’re so ungrateful. You think Tim Russert was a great journalist. You’re hopping mad about an auto industry bailout that cost a squirt of piss compared to a Wall Street heist of galactic dimensions, due to a housing crash you somehow have blamed on minorities. It took you six years to figure out what a tool Bush is, but you think Obama will make it all better. You deem it hunky dory that we conduct national policy debates via 8-second clips from “The View.” You think God zapped humans into existence a few thousand years ago, although your appendix and wisdom teeth disagree. You like watching vicious assholes insult each other on TV. You support gun rights, because firing one gives you a chubby. You cuddle falsehoods and resent enlightenment. You think the fact that 43% of whites could stomach voting for an incredibly charismatic and eloquent light-skinned black guy who was raised by white people means racism is over. You think progressive taxation is socialism. 1 in 100 of you are in jail, and you think it should be more. You are shallow, inconsiderate, afraid, brand-conscious, sedentary, and totally self-obsessed. You are American.
Exhibit A: You’re more upset by Miley Cyrus’s glamour shots than the fact that you are a grown adult who is upset about Miley Cyrus.
Sentence: Invaded and occupied by Canada; all military units busy overseas without enough fuel to get back.
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40. Free Credit Report.com guy
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Palin had the beneficial effect of splitting her party between her admirers and people who can read.
For the whole list: 50 Most Loathsome People of 2008 and yes, Obama is on there. Great stuff.
No comments. Posted by md in comedy, news, opinion, politics, rant on 9 February 2009.
The above image reminds me of the importance of context within design. I honestly believe the general population feels they are looking past the issue of race in this election. However, its another ballgame when you get the opportunity to see Obama in the context of a white man and McCain in the context of a black man.
Mr Miessler wonders “would Obama even be noteworthy if he were white? Would McCain be in the race at all if he were a black 72-year-old”? I know your response; it wouldn’t matter to you because you’re above that kind of thinking. But, I want you to really consider the above renderings before you answer. Think of the candidates and where they stand on issues that matter to you, as you take it in.
Context is incredibly powerful, and this is an extremely good example of that.
Here’s some information on the renderings; from thecoolhunter.net:
Created by creative director – Tor Myhren from Grey NYC, the posters slice through the race issue between candidates – acknowledging that much of this campaign has predictably but stupidly been re-cast as a battle between black and white. Myhren’s powerful imagery rightly implies that this is all just distraction, seeking to refocus our attention onto what really matters – the issues.
1 comment. Posted by tanner in opinion, politics, social change on 2 November 2008.
I’m starting to realize that there is a large population of graphic designers that only design in preparation. They are knowledgeable about emerging trends, know all the new styles, the new techniques, the new visual language of the design world. They read all the trades, they read all the blogs and they soak it all in, and wait. They wait til they can apply it to their own projects, til they can find a way to make it marketable, til they can use the abundance of the “emerging” style as evidence of being “cutting edge” and “ahead of the curve”. They don’t set trends, they don’t take any chances, they wait.
I am going to coin this anticipatory design. Its the idea of people who watch all the great, experimental, risky design and then wait until its been hashed out across the cusp of the design world. Then they adopt the style, hawking it to clients as if they’re being original. Peddling off others ideas, feeling as if they are being creative and risky.
It’s not imitation, its not copying. Its market research done by others. Its the reason flourished decoration, vector circles, and grunge backgrounds are so popular and rampant in designs today.
What I think is most interesting about this though, is my theory of the origins of the designs. Who are being the most experimental, the most willing to take risks, try things and put them out there for the world to see?
4 comments. Posted by md in advice, opinion on 7 October 2008.
Reason 3/30 to vote Obama by Milton Glaser
30 Reasons is a 30-day email and internet campaign to encourage people to vote for Barack Obama.
Our goal is simple: Use design to build a logical, multi-faceted argument for Obama and make it easy to share each reason with another person.
They have enlisted 30 graphic designers to create posters that represent a reason to vote for Obama. Today’s poster comes from Milton Glaser.
Full image after the jump Read more. →
1 comment. Posted by tanner in opinion, politics, poster, social change on 7 October 2008.
Palin’s response when asked what the worst thing Dick Cheney has done as Vice President.
@1:11 The worse thing, I guess that woulda been the duck hunting accident, um (laughs) where uh, ya know, that was, that was an accident and, um, that was, uh, i think made into a caricature of him, and that was kind of unfortunate.
Enough said.
3 comments. Posted by tanner in opinion, politics on 4 October 2008.
Just in case you were wondering:
Cuil still sucks.
No comments. Posted by md in opinion on 2 October 2008.
