(Dos) Creative Concepts

Ok, i dig the Puma "stick stick stick" ad. I thought it was a cool use of graphics to show what sport the shoe is for.

 Its colorful and complex but sorta simple at the same time with the white background and placement of the words and images.

The flow of the stick transitioning into the shoe leads you right to the logo of the product (puma) in the corner of the page.

(Uno) Creative Concepts

For the record, it is hard to take pictures of glossy magazines!!

Anywho, I thought this was a creative twist for an advertisement. The caption underneath the bottle says "The Stuff Inside Matters Most".

Usually, the label is the most important, because you want the product to be recognizable, but in this case, they diverted from that and threw it to the side in order to rest of the quality of the product.

I can dig!

Dig-InDesign

I was first introduced to InDesign in undergrad. For our final project, we designed a company newsletter from a template.

I thought it was GREAT! and I still do. It's fun to use and simple to figure out.

I learned InDesign with CS3 and I dig the changes in CS5, including the Gap Tool and the Smart Guide makes life a lot easier for alignment. 

The R in CRAP

This Nissan ad is a great example of REPITITION?!

 On the two page spread, the ad feature's the red X's in several different locations as a means of tying each idea they are presenting back to the attributes of the Nissan. These particular elements stand out in the ad because of the boldness of the color and the number of times they appear. CRAP?!

Figure in the Background....or vice versa?!

I just couldn't CHOOSE! Here are two interesting and different examples of figure and ground. The first is a painting I found of a man, shaded and blending into the black background. It's actually the white highlights that allow us to see that there is indeed a naked man there.

The second photo, a Forbes magazine advertisement, shows a gentlemen whose face actually becomes the cover of the magazine. I recognize it as background because he is a man, a part of the scene on the subway and at the point when his face becomes the cover of the magazine, he is figure.

Design Knows...or No's?!

This is the page in magazine's that everyone skips.

Lyrica is another libido fixer upper right? Nope, it relieves neuropathic pain. Who'd a THUNK it right?!

Anywho, the reason we skip this page is because there isn't anything DYNAMIC about it. Sure it says important facts, but the randomly (?!) arranged boxes of text make me sleepy.

This is Boring.

circa 1993 ...ish

Don't beat me up for this one?!

It took so much eye squinting effort to read this text. I certainly respect the desire to retain that scholastic, classical feel, but when people struggle to read it.....

While everything is balanced nicely, anchored by the institution's seal, they found another way to advertise, being that the school's name is MUCH bigger than the graduate's. 

p.s. thanks for letting me use your degree Mom

Design Does....or Do's?!

Check...Miss?!

Oh, to be clever.

 I respond positively to this design.

We understand that these chess pieces are the KING and QUEEN, with the latter checking her mate...and sporting the TACORI diamonds to prove it, hunteee!

Simple white background makes the important images POP. Even the small print that only I nobody reads.

No H8TE Ad

This looks familiar...

People will recognize this slogan and color scheme from President Obama's HOPE campaign. The Audacity!!

Using a recognizable image is a good (?!) tool to peak the audience's interests. Plus it's been slightly tweaked to include a rainbow, the iconic symbol of the gay community and their allies.  

Lastly, but not leastly, the advertisers use humor* to make their point. 

 A design Do?!

*stay tuned for Design Know No's....

What's First?!

Before I can get to What's Next?! let's establish, What's First?! This is my design blog-shout outs to UB!

First Assignments coming soon...