Compare and Contrast: Generic-Brand vs. Name-Brand

Comparing and contrasting generic brand products and name brand products is simple, but the major question of why do consumers buy more name brand products. When you look at the products you can tell immediately which product is which. The most important aspect of this major question is that consumers can recognize the packaging of a name brand product and know that it "works", so they would naturally go with that particular product. I have heard every excuse and the most popular being, "it works better." This excuese is only to justify their purchase without looking at the ingredients label or active ingredients. If you look at both products you will notice that they contain the same exact things. When it comes to food, however, there may be a slight difference in taste, but that doesnt change the fact that the products are vertually the same. The major aspect that sets these products apart are the logos and the packaging. Even between different name-brand products packaging design is what catches the consumers eye. Some packaging designs look similar to name brand products, but will sometimes instead have the store logo or colors printed on the boxes, bottles, and wrappers. Through television, billboards, and advertisments name brand logos are ingraved into our brains so much that when it is time to make that big purchase, consumers buy what they know, what they have seen.

Here is some information on the differences between products: http://www.life123.com/career-money/frugal-living/ways-to-save/generic-versus-brand-name-nonsense.shtml
Here is an artical with a great photo example and suggestions on when to buy generic or name brand products: http://www.freeshipping.org/blog/generic-vs-name-brand-products-19-recommendations/
Here is the site where I got my photo for this blog: http://www.walletpop.com/specials/generic-vs-brand-name-products/

Logos....Then and Now, Good and Bad

Logos are a great design idea to make your business know and easy to recognize. Logos are supposed to be a way for the public to recognize who your company is and what your business is all about. For example, the rainbow colored apple with a bite taken out of it is a symbol for Macintosh (or Mac for short) computers. Macintosh being a type of apple it only seeemed perfect, but instead of going with the traditional red for the apple, they decided to use a rainbow to set it aside from a fruit stand selling apples. Some logos are even more simplistic than that, just using the name of the company and a simple typeface. Like the Gap logo, that had a very simple logo, eveyone loved how simple yet upscale it looked. It was only recently that Gap had changed their logo, and the public was so upset from the changes that the company decided to go back to their origanal logo within a few hours after releasing the new one. This is a perfect example of how important logos are to a company.
Some logos on the other hand can be poorly designed and give the public a completley different interpritation of your business. The intension to create something origanal and effective for a business is in every logo design, however the effectiveness is not always one that is achived. For example, the logo for this Junior Jazz Dance Class shows two people dancing, one male and one female. However, when you look at the bigger picture it becomes an image not suited for any dance class. However, these designs are not usually sent out into the public, many different people review the design before it is released to the client.
Then there are some logos that are perfect and have been with the company for such a long period of time that the public can recognize such an image. For example, the one logo that has been imbeded into out culture is the famous yellow McDonald's "M", so much to the point of young children recognizing the giant "M" and assosiating that with hambergers and french fries. Even through the years famous logos need little teaks and changes to update their look and continue to be in the current "hip" century. To go back to the Macintosh logo design, the new logo for the 21st century is the same bitten-into apple, but instead of the rainbow design, it now looks more matallic with a little starburst shine.
To check out the then and now logos and see the apple "now and then" image: http://theroxor.com/2009/03/26/old-vs-new-great-logo-redesigns/
To check out the poorly designed logos: http://www.artistmike.com/Bad-Logos/BadLogos.html (WARNING: most of these are sexual related)
And to see examples of cleaver logo designs: http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/

Design IS a Conversation

Design is supposed to convay a message in a way that is quick and easy to understand...sometimes. Sometimes, there is no intended message, in the case of our Stone Soup Day, and at other times the message is one that simply makes the interpreter think. In any case, design is a method of communication, a language, between the designer and the public. It is a way of taking the viewer through a journey of understanding everything from what is beauty, to where to turn, to apritiation. We use design to communicate everyday just by deciding what to wear. Whether you know it or not, every morning when you get up, you make a decision on what message you want to send out by the pieces of clothing you choose to wear together. Even graphic tees with messages on them tell others, whether it is true or not, that you believe what your shirt says is ture. Even if your clothing does not have writing on them, you are still giving out a message with the style you choose to wear. You can also change your message just by adding different accecories to your atire. This gives a person a little flexability and can give individuality or a seprate identity from others with similar or even identical accecories. Without having to tell someone directly, design communicates a message directly, indirectly, or even delivers a message that is up for interpritation. Any way you look at it, design is a language that is visualy pleasing to viewers while sending a message, however important it is. Photo link: http://www.balconyshirts.co.uk/Womens-T-Shirts/Local-Celebrity-T-Shirts/p5028_sc1407.aspx(By the way, I do own a shirt that has this saying...and it is true)

Stummbling Upon Creativity...

A few days ago, while going through old papers, I stummbled upon some notes I had written for a photography class for a presentation on night photography. I had remembered trying to get the perfect night photography pictures which were difficult considering you had to "try it out" before you knew what you wanted to take a picture of. I had know the basic rules and went to experiment in my own front yard. Until I had gotten the pictures onto a larger screen, I had not know how beautiful my front yard was at night, until I had taken those pictures. I had also, earlier today, stummbled upon a book at had purchased on different activities with photography. One in particular that I had found was on finding a adjective and going out into the world to take photos that describe that adjective. I thought, "What a great way to explore outside yourself. You would have to 'search' for things to discribe an adjective." I have decided that I will go out with my camera and set out on a random adjective quest. If you would like to suggest an adjective, do so in the comments or let me know personally. I hope to update this post with a slideshow on flikr. I will ask random people to suggest a adjective to me to search for creative photos to best discribe each adjective. Updates coming soon...hopefully.
Here is a link to how to create night photography: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/night-photography-tips-for-dslr-users (watch the video)
Here is a link to the book with this cleaver idea: http://www.amazon.com/Photojojo-Insanely-Great-Photo-Projects/dp/0307451429
For more updated photo ideas: http://content.photojojo.com/
The photo is one that I took at about 9:15pm last year. I was experementing outside and took this really cool picture. By the way, it was pitch black outside even though it does not look like it in this photo.

Creativity From Without

I remember last year I had a calander with several art pieces in nature and some from everyday life. The front cover had a beautiful design of a huge nest made just from the metierals found in nature. Nils-Udo, a Bavarian artist, created this piece from what he found around him. He had begun like most artists do, creating pieces that came from within the artist, pieces that matter to the artist. He eventually ventured out into the open, into nature, and started to create pieces that inspiered him. Like Andy Goldsworthy, he would set out with no goal in mind, but would rather venture out to have his work find him. For him to just be in nature and look around him helps to inspire the art he has created. Once Nils-Udo begins his work, he uses his senses to souround himself within his work. He remebers the smells and the sounds, how each branch or stone feels, and how he works each tiny detail into his main ephemeral desgin. I will never forget his piece The Nest because I have kept the beautiful calander (although at this point in time I am unsure of it's exact location) and it has also inspired me to look into nature for insperation, even if I am unsure of what exactly I am looking for. (If only that would work to help me find this calander...) Here are a few links including one on his book.

http://greenmuseum.org/content/artist_index/artist_id-36__nosplit-z.html

http://www.amazon.com/Nils-Udo-Art-Nature-Nils-Udo/dp/2080108913

Images provided by: http://www.global-ecovillage.com/2009/03/eco-artnils-udo-turning-nature-into-art.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Udo

Stone Soup...Design Style!

On Tuesday October 5, 2010, in my Design 001 class, each student was told to bring items from home to "create" with and to use the Stone Soup concept to make something, anything. Our group brought everything from paper, to buttons, to bottle caps, to paint, to string, and much more. We used everything we could, including collections of other media found around the area we worked. We at first started slowly, trying to figure out what to use and in what way, however once we came up with one idea, it seemed to snowball into a collection of wonderful ideas that came together to create a beautiful design. It took everyones imput and everyones ideas to create this wonderful "Stone Soup" design style. By collecting not only our different meterials, but also our ideas, we were able to create something from almost "nothing." We did not think of a purpose for our design, we just simply created and we had found a purpose through the process. We were able to have not only other groups, but other students passing by between classes stop and look at what we had created. We were all very proud our work and kept adding to our "tree" until we realized that class was over and we had to clean up our creation. I think that by using this exercise through out our design carrer and beyond we can come up with new ideas and expand our knowledge of the creative process. Try this with others and decide for yourself if you think the "Stone Soup" theory works. It was a major success for our group. Here is a link to more photos of our piece if you missed it or if you were not at UC Davis last Tuesday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26643781@N04/sets/72157624999142491/

Virtual Windows?

After completing my last post I decided to check out some sites on different ceiling designs. The one that I found the most interesting is a site where a company called "The Sky Factory" designs windows and ceiling panels that depict nature in different was. Some of their designs include animations of clouds going by and even waves upon the shore. I thought their ideas were so creative that I would share the link. The Sky Factory's design target are customers who have a passion for nature and strive to expereinse it within their home or business. Nature, which is not considered part of design, is the main focus to create images so perfect that the windows and ceiling panels look as though they were NOT designed. A great quote from their site to discribe their purpose for their designs in our society: "It is our opinion that Sky Factory SkyCeilings™ and SkyV™ are not just pretty pictures. They are not just innovative or stylish design elements. In the deepest sense, they are not even about the sky. We think of our work as technology - an artistic technology - whose purpose is to introduce the power and purity of nature into human environments."
Here is the site:
http://www.theskyfactory.com/products/?gclid=CNKwqfDwuqQCFSQEiQodJgc4ww
Check out their portfolio too, these are some pretty talented people and partners.
http://www.telovation.com/articles/winscape-virtual-window.html- image of a virtual window

Look Up...

Have you ever been standing in a long line or waiting for help and just decided to look at the ceiling? While I was standing in line at the finacial aid office something told me to look up. I noticed that the lamps had such an interesting design that it reminded me of the beach. Each lamp was unique and individually designed to look like a plant that grows in the ocean. I almost half expected to see a shadow of a fish swim by and it got me thinking about what was the purpose of putting such a design in an office that deals with finances and money? Is it supposed to take the student away from the everyday running around campus and have them dream of being on the beach? The first to come up with this clever design was Michelangelo who painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This brings up one of the "big questions" of design. What is the purpose of having such a design in a building dealing with finances? Another question we can ask from this discovery (this is my first quarter at Davis...so sorry if this is old news to everyone) is why put designs on the ceiling?

Childhood Memories of Design

When you hear the words “sock monkey” your mind instantly takes you to the days of your childhood and a little plush friend with a big red smile. To think this wonderful little friend was once just a pair of socks and some stuffing is surprising to young children, but this friendly creation is so much more than a childhood toy. The sock monkey has changed over the years, but the same basic elements are present to identify each variation as a descendant of the once gray, white and red socks.

The original sock monkey, at least from when I was a child, was made from gray Rockford socks complete with red heels and what ever stuffing or “fluff” was in the sewing room. The classic red heel is what created such a memorable feature for this childhood toy. Over time the reproduction of sock monkeys in different forms still carried with it a large, if not red, smile. Another feature that is present in variations of sock monkeys are the simple tube-shaped limbs, although not all sock monkeys carry this same feature. Some have been seen to have very large limbs or even thumbs and fingers. Another feature, at least that I can recall from my own sock monkey, was the red hat and bow to complete his outfit. Just like a snowman, by dressing up your little friend it gave him character and a personality that children can recognize. In some other variations, depending on the sock monkeys purpose or message, other attire would be more appropriate. For example, a large sock monkey, complete with large red smile, might ware a rob to resemble Buddha or a sock monkey wearing a blue suit with a button would represent a political figure. However different the purpose of the sock monkey, one aspect never changes, he is made from a pair of socks and continues to have the large smile.

Some examples of our loveable friend can be seen at these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkTkSyRfDo0 (a Kia commercial with sock monkey and a few of his friends)

http://gingerdead.com/2009/09/23/sock-monkey-scraps/ (this blogger used the sock monkey as inspiration for jewelry designs and even a dress design)

http://www.doobybrain.com/2009/07/21/diy-sock-monkey-kit/ (and just in case you have become inspired yourself, here is where you can buy a kit to create your own sock monkey)
http://cakesbycj.blogspot.com/2010/09/sock-monkey.html (image of sock monkey)