technically speaking

Logorama – more then Oscar worthy

Rob — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:35:08 +0000

I saw this a few months back, loved it. Last night I happened to flip to the Oscars and caught the animated short category and saw that this was not only nominated but won. As good as it was I never would have thought it was politically correct enough or wouldn’t be sued to oblivion by all the brand owners of the logos used in the film. Created by the H5 group out of France, including directors François Alaux & Herve de Crecy. During their thank you speech they mentioned it too 6 years to make this 6 minute masterpiece. Followed by the hope to return in 36 years with a full length film.

This is one to be watched multiple times just to soak in all the nuances. Truly an impressive animation with an excess of personality and sass.

official site

BBC shares their design logic

Rob — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:20:24 +0000

Good design is transparent. Same is true with technology; the end user doesn’t care how it works just that it does. Unless you’re a designer or a techie you don’t pay attention to how a site works or it’s design beyond it’s basic aesthetics. Being both I love how the BBC is offering a behind the scenes peek at how they developed their new Global Visual Language 2.0. There is some really good thinking in there that could benefit many, many sites.

The guide really demonstrates their focus on form, function and the interconnected nature of the two. The use of typography as a design element; a grid that’s both vertical and horizontal; strict use of color as an accent; all common place in the print world but often forgotten in online designs.

The BBC is not alone in the brining classic design principles to the web, though some of the more impressive works have been coming from the news industry. I’m referencing the New York Times and Reuters; both have embraced online/interactive design and what can be done with it while keeping true to the rules of design that still matter…but I’ll save that for another post.

Organizing Photos on Flickr

Rob — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:11:41 +0000

Currently I have 1,500 photos on Flickr and the stream has become a mishmash of photos. Some are quick snapshots. Some are from my cellphone. Others are photos of events or places I’ve traveled to share with friends and family. Lastly there are my good photos. Combined everything starts looking a little snapshot’ish. To limit this confusion I now post most of my quick cellphone photos to Twitpic, Pegshot or Facebook. Still, I’m sure there is more that can be done.

I’ve been thinking about re-organizing everything. With thoughts ranging from creating a new Fickr account just for the better stuff, to reworking the folders and sets. I can’t be the only one with this issue, any suggestions?

Plants Using Humans for World Domination

Rob — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:48:26 +0000

Darwinian theory suggest that the strong survive, but how does this relate to a flower? Based on Michael Pollan’s book, PBS’s new series The Botany of Desire presents a new way to look at the plants all around us and how they work the Darwinian rules for success of the species.

Jawbox Perform Savory on Jimmy Fallon

Rob — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:59:39 +0000

Last night Jawbox performed for the first time together since 1997. They did one song, Savory, live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in support of the re-issue of For Your Own Special Sweetheart. Great band. Great song. Would love to see more but Jawbox were very adamant that the reunion was one and done.

Update:
Seems they did a few more songs just not for broadcast.

68 (Fallon – web exclusive)

FF = 66 (Fallon – web exclusive)

Using Social Media and a Beard

Rob — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:51:55 +0000

Sites using social media as a cheap method to both promote and host their videos/photos/etc has been done before, Skittles and Boone Oakley are two mentioned here previously. Celebrities taking jabs at their image is also not new….but using James Lipton and his beard for PSA’s on mobile harassment is pure genius. The Give It A Ponder campaign, sponsored by LG, is a mix of TV, print and web promotions all revolving around James’ beard and thinking before texting.

The videos (featuring James Lipton) are campy, creepy, funny and to the point. The imagery and quirkiness leaves a lasting impression and the copy is so Lipton’esque that everything seems normal yet far from it at the same time.

Carlos is Angry

Stephan and Zoe

Tracy and her beard

The print campaign is also humorous though not as powerful and may be confusing as to what it’s actually for. Still they’re eye catching and well related to the TV/Videos and Web experience.

The Virgin

Peanut Butter Muffin

Junk Drawers

Source:
AdFreak
Bee

Organic/Viral Marketing

Rob — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:41:34 +0000

Putting Mother Nature to work for your promotional needs is brilliant. Keeping PETA happy in the mix is even more impressive. Before I say more…

In case you skipped the video Eichborn, a book publisher, used flies as moving billboards to promote their exhibit space at the Frankfurt Book Fair. They glued (via a light wax) ultra-light banners to 200 files and set them out into the wilds of the book fair. Ingenious in so many ways.

91 Centimeters

Rob — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:10:38 +0000

A beautiful short film about a man coping with the repercussions of being hit by a meteor. I love all the details and the aged moody feeling.

Dreams vs. Nightmares

Rob — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:30:50 +0000

We all dream, but what do they mean? What makes a dream a nightmare? How do we use dreams in the waking world? What about dreams of what we want?

Honda visits the idea of dreams and their meanings to our day-to-day through the words and stories of Clive Barker, Deepak Chopra, and various talents within Honda. It’s something to inspire thought which lies at the backbone of the entire Dream the Impossible series.

Links:
Dreams vs, Nightmares
Honda’s Dream the Impossible

We’ve come a long way since 1977

Rob — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:44:19 +0000

In 1977 computers were far from personal. They offered 40/80 lines of green or amber text. Around that time I got my first computer, the Commodore Pet. It was all metal, big and heavy with a giant stand alone hard drive that held nothing in today’s standards. There was also a separate cassette player for loading/unloading programs. It’s graphics were limited to that classic shade of green and the alternate characters displayed on each of the keys of the keyboard. I would spend hours either drawing pictures with those alternate characters or writing programs in BASIC and saving them on my cassette drive. Even the highest end systems of the day were less capable then my iPhone.

Also in 1977 Star Wars was released. Star Wars is a classic film. I was too young to see it in theaters or remember much of it even if I had. Still, as a child I loved the original trilogy and always loved it’s visuals. For the time and may years after it’s visual effects were still some of the best. George Lucas and team did amazing things with film to create all those special effects. Computer generated EFX wasn’t even an option back then. Well, I stand corrected. The computer projections of the Death Star were actually done on a computer. Below is a eye opening video of both their process and the technology that was available at the time.