Quick and Simple
One business manager. One creative director. One producer. One project manager. Keep it simple. Farm out the rest of the grunt stuff. Keep away from pink bikes and black stone wash jeans. Carlsburg is not much better. Get on the boat. New site and things coming in days on end.
Big Brands, Big Money, Big Joke.
I have found in recent years the value of spending a bit of extra money on something nice can have a great result of feeling better about the purchase because it is something more exclusive than most. It is supposed to be more exclusive because of better design, better quality and of course some bit of prestige of owning a label that anounces a social status of sort. Though I cannot say I buy something nice because of the name of social prestige, but rather I buy something for quality and a guarentee of quality that lasts longer so I don't have to buy more stuff at a long run cost of the same amount of something only bought once, and it saves from having to waste materail and environmental impact... though not many people look at it that way.
I was a bit thrown back by a very nice designer overcoat I had bought from Shanghai Tang, that is cashmire on the outside and bright lime green silk on the interior. After one day of walking around Paris a couple weeks ago the silk had completely fell apart. Seeing how it was my only coat I had to continue to wear it while visting Turin and Venice and another week in Paris after that. Needless to say the whole thing fell apart. While i love most of the branding and design that comes out of Shanghai Tang, I have to wonder if they are starting to follow the same decline that so many brands before it have suffered... the "we're so popular we don't have to worry about quality anymore" fate. I hope not as it's a brand that has been great to watch develop. I hope the return policy is resonable. What would Buddha have to say about it?
When it Rains it Pours
I can't talk much about design ethics, design tricks or design opinions at the moment as my head is full. I've been working on a new image campaign with some brilliant folks in LA and Mexico, along with a plethera of work that has left my frontal lobe buzzing and feeling like lead. I grab my head and eat lemon chicken to make it better.
Four Months Later
I After four months of no entries, I thought it might be time to catch up on things.
Since the end of September, I had left ENZO, the Lorenzo Group’s arm of retail jewelry for a few reasons. One, I thought it would be best to leave them for un-ethical business practices such as asking me to design a logo that looked much like the DTC logo so ENZO could “trick their customers” in to thinking they are buying a DTC endorsed product. I declined to design the logo out of professional integrity.
I also found ENZO to be a poorly run operation that promised its shareholders way more than they are capable of producing, do to poor infrastructure and an unwillingness to change the ways in which it needs to operate, even after I had written pretty much a freak'n novel on brand managment, brand direction and brand sustainability. I was bummed to see that many vendors they use do not get paid without a fight and watching the management spend more time trying to look important than actually getting anything done. I thought it was a good choice to jump ship as the jewelry industry is one built on trust and not deceit. The Lorenzo Group is certainly not a company I would call a sound investment (NASDAQ – JADE).
I have now branched out on my own and have once again started up Crowded Studios with the support of a couple great clients that have vision and solid management and a history of brand excellence. Life is good.
The image here is a series of bill boards and magazine ads that made thier way around Hong Kong and China. I shot a wet towl being snapped in front of a blue oil painting, and added the diamond solitare. Fun.
The image here is a series of bill boards and magazine ads that made thier way around Hong Kong and China as well.
Montage of everyday things meets Dada?
I have been staying away from the typical "controlled chaos" montages that
have been splashing across all the latest rags and so-called "underground"
publications. I've been staying away from them because I think they lack a clear
message and focal point. Al art rules aside at the moment, I decided to make
some montages for myself, and FoodCandy.com (since I keep getting pulled in to
working on the front end), and figure out more in-depth what the allure
is.
At a first glance, I can see a draw to these ads/montages because they
are completely out of the ordinary and surreal on a level that today's audience
relate to. But I have yet to hear someone explain why they are still showing up
everywhere like some sort of over-used, burned out art movement.
After
building a few of these, which was a great time... so I'll have to quit knocking
it a bit, I realized I was compiling items that reflect things that I read
about, things that I see happening, things that I'm working on, and things that
grab my attention. So to the style of montages of abstract items in advertising
reaching people on a visceral level - grabbing their attention with surreal
oddities, it also reaches them on a reflective level of items they are seeing,
doing, and being. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pushing to see more design head
in to a clearer message (and better usability).
Until then, may the
armies of the world reside in whipped cream and fruits while battling Japanese
robots and nuclear syringes...!!??
at long last.
Yes, there have been no entries for a while. August was one disaster after
another, and the beginning of September wasn't much better. Between people going
missing (and not returning) and losing a client do to lack of legit software and
$$.. (a bit of irony in that... don't get paid, can't buy new equipment!), lets
just say I'm looking forward to October and what the design world will send my
way.
In brighter news, I got a new Jim McCloud, 7' surfboard (the gun),
which has led me in to designing some new surf graphics to be printed on a water
resistant vynil. This should stick quite well with the fiberglass deck. One
thing I have finally learned after working with so many "sticker" projects
earlier this year, is that it makes a world of difference to spray water on the
surface you're going to apply the sticker to, add the sticker, and use a ruler
to work the water out from under the sticker. WHALA! you got a great stick with
no bubbles.
Art of this entry: I compiled a montage of royalty free
images that came with one of my design rags and a couple of my old vector
images. Mad props to DJMONKEYBOY.COM for the rad vector CG.
Ever have one of those days?
So, I sit here... wondering what happened to 3 different design vendors I outsourced work to. One expects me to do the job I contracted him to do. The other asks me a question to a problem that I hired him to solve (dude, If I knew how to do it.. I wouldn't have hired you in the first place!). And the last tells me after weeks of no word on the progress of a production job I outsourced to his "agency"... "ahh.. the task too bothersome".... WTF? And to top it off, a see one of my images in a magazine being used by a diffenent company... which means the production house I used in China turned around and sold my work to someone else. Fuck'n amazing.
...............Copyright 2006 |
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