Blog Commentary: Week 3

Seth Godin: In search of value

Indeed, the stock market is in quite of a slump this week, with Wall Street seeing a sharp drop, AIG Auto Insurance in need of $40 billion to survive, and the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. However, one thing that my Global Studies professor mentioned on the topic is that this sort of activity can actually turn out to be a good thing, in a way, for particular groups of people. Houses will be much more affordable for buyers and ironically enough will lead to a great deal of jobs for Finance majors who will be needed to oversee the mass amount of financial activity in suffering companies.

Seth Godin: But you're not saying anything

In my personal opinion, the fact of having something like interchangeable logos (or interchangeable anything) is ultimately no excuse for relying on another factor that will make you "different" among your competition. Of course, you will want a logo that is "welcoming" to consumers, but having several aspects of your company relatively original can never go wrong.

Seth Godin: The small-minded vision of the technology elite

It's interesting to see in retrospect the very limited outlook of someone once so prominent in the computer industry like Ken Olsen, and how reaching beyond that outlook can greatly expand the prosperity of such an industry. I'm sure nobody really foresaw a company like Apple becoming such a dominant force in the industry as it is.

Nussbaum: Did Innovation Cause The Crisis on Wall Street?

I wouldn't necessarily say that innovation caused the crisis on Wall Street, but rather the inadequate testing of the new "innovative" practices by those businesses that caused it, as Nussbaum mentioned. This is the biggest keypoint of trying anything new, especially from a technological standpoint; to actually test it and evaluate it before actually putting it to practice and releasing it to the public. It's like if McDonald's shelled out frozen beef on their hamburgers...they have to be properly prepared for consumption.

International Vocabulary

Japanese

• kuro: black
• aikou: love
• san: sun / three

Portuguese

• amor: love
• negro / preto: black
• sol: sun

Afrikaans

• swart: black
• liefde: love
• son: sun

Logo Drafts

Blog Commentary: Week 2

Seth Godin: How often should you publish?

My answer is "just enough". This is highly subjective. Something like the New York Times needs to have out a new publication of news reports everyday. The most popular musician of the day? Not so much. Their music runs the risk of losing value. If you put out a new publication or product too rarely, people may tend to forget about you and will lose interest. Although if you're comeback is strong enough, that interest can certainly flock back in droves (i.e. Apple & the iPod). If you put out something new too often, you might also cause your fanbase to lose interest.

John McCain and Barack Obama--What Is Your Innovation Policy?
Obama's whole campaign seems to run off the idea of innovation. His own catchphrase has been that of "change", or running the country under a moderately different set of rules in opposition to what I assume is just the past eight years under the Bush administration. So far, he is doing a much better job of convincing people that he will bring about change than John McCain recently has been. In the realm of design, this is half the battle when picking up clients and jobs, simply convincing people that you truly have something to offer them as a designer.

Core77: Ecolab's bottle-in-a-bottle package design
Very economical thinking in the design of this container & bottle. The refill container has a space cut out to place the spray bottle, which could very well save money for the consumer as well as production costs for the manufacturer. This sort of economical thinking is where design excels as a driving force behind consumer products, and can go very far in other projects aside from spray bottles.

Logo & Video Proposal

Objective:

Produce a professional-level motion graphic video that works aesthetically at low resolution (Youtube) and high resolution (i.e., maximum quality on an iPhone size screen).  The need to make the motion graphic work at low resolution and a small size necessitates the need for clear, bold composition and the intelligent, selective use of color.

The three countries I've selected for the project are Japan, Brazil, and South Africa; each one was chosen solely out of having a personal interest in each for a long time.  My objective with the logo is to seamlessly (or even possibly subliminally) represent a significant piece or symbol of each respective culture through the use of one simple logo design.  Images from what I feel are the most recognizable from each country are already included in the earlier posts below.

Research Images: South Africa

Research Images: Japan

Research Images: Brazil

Blog Commentary: Week 1

Seth Godin: "Learning from a summer intern program"
In my personal opinion, Seth's tactic of using Facebook as a method of evaluating the personalities and capabilities of possible employees was a very intelligent move as part of his role as an employer. Moreover, his description of each group of these interns was even more interesting:

• The game-show contestants, quick on the trigger, who were searching for a quick yes or no. Most of them left.
• The lurkers. They were there, but we couldn't tell.
• The followers. They waited for someone to tell them what to do.
• The leaders. A few started conversations, directed initiatives and got to work.

It was interesting to evaluate these interns by their natural interactions with others as opposed to a basic interview, where an employer is more likely to become situated with each intern's "representative".

Seth Godin: Time

Time is a very important factor in any field, graphic design included. Specifically, meeting deadlines and simply getting things done in an organized fashion go a long way and will certainly be a deciding factor in how well your career fares as a designer.

Core77: Do You Matter? How great design will make people love your company, by Robert Brunner, Stewart Emery & Russ Hall

This is a book written in part by Robert Brunner, an industrial designer who has was worked on some of the most notable products for Apple. The book itself, judging by the cover, is one that certainly serves its purpose in grabbing people's attention with the orange color and oversized title print. It seems as though it would be an extremely book to have for any designer, whether you own a business or not.

Core77: 1 Hour Design Challenge: Back-to-school Bag Winners!

Although just a concept, the above and the other winning entries are a very interesting concept. For people such as myself who still prefer to carry belongings in a backpack rather than a messenger beg, a backpack with a section for belongings as well as a laptop sounds very promising. This very well could be a successful project were it to come into fruition.