Branded by Jordan

Hey There, Hi There, Ho There!

2011-04-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome and thank you for clicking on to Jordan Edwards Designs.

I am a 21 year-old graphic designer and (very soon to be) graduate from Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus Ohio. I can't remember a time when I wasn't working on or daydreaming about an art project. In elementary school, I was the nerd who would sit inside and draw rather than go to outside for recess. I was the de-facto t-shirt, concert-program, prom-flyer, stage-set, school-newpaper and website designer for my high school and in college it finally dawned on me that I could do this thing for a living!

I am a Disney-loving, glasses-wearing Nerdfighter with an affinity for typography, branding and themed experiences. I have wanted to be an Imagineer since the age of five. I need Harry Potter like a Grindylow needs water. I tweet. I have a portfolio and (if you like what you see) I look forward to hearing from you!

Jordan

Headed in the Right Direction

2011-04-19T00:57:00.001-07:00

Regardless of what the timestamp on this blog reads, it is 3:57a.m.

I have been hard at work trying to iron out the last details of hosting and domain services so that I can have something for the world to see before (during, and after) Directions. Amazingly, I was able to purchase, set up and begin using my hosting (from Fat Cow) in about an hour.

I've propped up a pretty little landing page over at JordanEdwardsDesigns.com so the new visitors will be able to download a portfolio sample or résumé.

Directions is tomorrow. Good lord. I guess I'm pretty much set. Just a few last-minute things to print and purchase. I can't wait to get in there and meet the industry pros that have agreed to come help out as we peddle our wears.

After Directions (almost immediately) I will be on my way home to go with the family on a quick vacation to the Southwest. We're touring Arizona, visiting the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Sedona and all the sights in between. The parents even planned a stop at the Frank Lloyd Wright House at Taliesin West! It will be a welcomed respite from the crazy that my life has been the past few weeks.

I would say I'll post pictures if I actually thought I would remember to do it but, as it is, I make no promises.

Cue Jeopardy Theme or Welcome, Directions Peeps

2011-04-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay.

I know.

I said I would have a real, live, big boy website up, like months ago...but I've been really busy...and...you know. Stuff.

Something is in the works but, it's being coded by hand (my novice hands, actually) and for that reason things are going slower than I anticipated. It seems like whenever I feel like I've wrangled the HTML and lassoed the CSS, they rear up and kick me in the teeth.

So, enough with the excuses.

We're down to the final weeks of school (cue epic fanfare from Star Wars)!

Classes are winding down and, remarkably, I am not stressing out too badly. Classes have shifted from the standard, run-of-the-mill assignments to Holy-Crap-Directions-Is-Next-Week overdrive. We're putting the finishing touches on our portfolios, tweaking the work, spell-checking. All that fun schtuff.

That being said, if you clicked on to jordanedwardsdesigns.com and are wondering, "What the heck?" Welcome. This is my apartment on the internet while my official home is being built. If you are one of the kind people who agreed to come to Directions and therefore received my resume and therefore clicked on to my website, I am looking forward to meeting you next week!

Welcome, Leakies!

2011-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have the great pleasure of being a member of the LeakyCon 2011 Media and Communications Executive Staff. Since around July of 2009, we have been hard at work planning what will undoubtedly be the greatest Harry Potter fan conference (read: Party) ever thrown. If you have been linked to my site from one of the LeakyCon YouTube videos, I bid you a very warm welcome! LeakyCon is going to be incredible and I can't wait to share the experience with everyone.

In the coming days, I will be posting some of my work for Leaky as well as from the past semester at CCAD along with descriptions of some of the experiences I've had over the past year or so. Check back soon!

IAAPA!

2010-11-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

I have the pleasure of spending the week in beautiful, Central Florida while I attend events at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (thankfully, shortened to IAAPA) Expo. The show is absolutely massive with over twenty-thousand industry professionals in attendance. The crazy thing about the amusement park industry is that "it's a small world after all!" It seems as though everybody knows somebody who knows somebody. This fact makes networking incredibly rewarding and even more interesting.

Beyond the Expo scene, I forced myself to visit The Magic Kingdom and soak up all the magic that the park has to offer. It was strange to walk the park by myself. Every other time I've visited, I've been with either friends or family. I didn't let it get too me, though. I spent nearly the entire day marveling at the expertly established sight lines that Imagineers have set up across the Kingdom. It is amazing to watch the trees perfectly frame the castle as you look east and Splash Mountain as you look west. Of course, I was also completely smitten with the scads of wonderful graphic designs speckled across the park. Each sign is beautifully lettered and blends seamlessly with its themed surroundings. It looks so effortless, although you and I both know that it isn't.

I also took some time to do some things that I have never done, even after all my trips to Walt Disney World. I rode the Peoplemover for the first time. It was a nice, relaxing tour of Tomorrowland was made all the better by the Mickey-shaped ice cream I was enjoying in the process. I journeyed into the Enchanted Tiki Room for the first time ever and, if it really is "under new management," I'd like the old management back, please. I found the show to be oddly disconnected. Iago looked like a weird, ape-bird hybrid and the whole thing ended on a sudden, awkward note. Don't make people excited to get up and dance and then force them to dance right out of the theater.

Despite 95% of Fantasyland being walled off, I enjoyed marveling at the "fairytale" architecture. My Medieval Art History teacher would be proud as I silently recounted the names of each architectural element on Cinderella Castle (gargoyles, trefoils and finials are very prominent). I am excited to roam an even larger Fantasyland when it reopens in 2013.

I have so much more I could say about The Magic Kingdom. I might write a separate post just about my observations (I say might because this site already has enough unkept promises).

Another might: I might be giving the ol' site a much-needed refurbishment sometime soon (and by soon, I mean before the start of the new year). Honestly, between school and LeakyCon, the Jordan Edwards brand has been simmering, alone and afraid, on the back burner for too long.

More soon, I hope.

Things, they be a changin'!

2010-08-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Jordan Edwards Designs is on its way to becoming a real, live website!

I started work last night and I'm really excited by what's happening so far. I'm not going to give a date for the switchover but it will be soon.

Stay tuned!

An Unlikely Response

2009-11-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

Below is an excerpt from an essay I am writing for my Sociology class about my core values. I am posting this because I know many of you can relate to my sentiment.

One final factor to which I attribute many of my core values comes from a rather unlikely source. Like the marching band, it is one I was reluctant to accept at first. When they were first released, I dismissed the Harry Potter novels as just another fad, a trend that would soon fade away. I wouldn’t read them; I didn’t even like reading. After seeing the first film, my interest was peaked. I picked up the second book hoping to have it read by the time its film counterpart was released. By that time, I had read all of the published books and was in the process of rereading them. Never before had I been so taken by a series of books that I felt compelled to read them again. The Harry Potter books taught me that, though the odds might seem to be stacked against you, with courage and love and the support of friends, incredible things can happen. That message was beautifully illustrated in May of 2009 when I joined nearly one thousand fellow fans in Boston for LeakyCon, a Harry Potter convention whose sole function, unlike every other convention, was to raise funds for charity. At that conference, I came to know scores of amazing people, many of which have come to be close friends. While we came from all corners of the globe, from every conceivable background, it soon became clear that we shared in a common value, that of love and friendship and the desire to do good.

If I have learned anything in the brief time I have spent exploring this world it is that we are all pieces of a bigger picture, scattered across the globe. Everything we do, every interaction we make, changes the shape of our piece, affecting where and how it will find its fit. I believe that we are all searching for a place to fit our piece of the puzzle and can attest that it is an amazing feeling, whether it is in a marching band, or at a Harry Potter fan convention, when your piece finds its place.

Current Branding Project

2009-10-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

The following is an exploration of the target marking for the line of camping equipment that I will be branding as a part of my Graphic Design Concepts class. Comments and criticism are welcome!

A Brief Glimpse
A small campsite sits, nestled in a clearing and crowned in giant cypress trees, at the edge of the picturesque Fort Wilderness Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. A narrow path leads from the small parking bay located some ways away, weaving in and out of the trees and into the distance. The smell of pine and earth mingle in the air and a small brook can be heard, bubbling cheerily beyond the road. The quiet is broken by the sound of a small minivan winding its way along the path to the campsite.

As the van slows to a halt the side door swings wide and two young boys leap from the back seat, dashing toward the clearing in obvious delight. Next to exit the van is the boys’ older sister, her hands filled with a large picnic basket, a folding chair slung over her shoulder. She inhales deeply as she gazes up at the crown of branches swaying high overhead, the dappled light dancing on the ground before her. As her father closes the back door of the van, after unloading the last of their packed supplies, he brushes off his hands and looks around happily. His wife appears at his side, smiling. For a time, they watch as their children scurry around the campsite. They reminisce on the adventures they once had as newlyweds and delight in the fact that they are now sharing this adventure with their family.

As night falls, fireflies dance on the horizon. A column of smoke drifts from the small fire that finally decided to ignite after several, stubborn hours and almost an entire book of matches. The twins, now covered in marshmallow, are in the midst of a dramatic shadow puppet show from inside their tent. Their sister sits with her parents around the glowing fire. She pours them all a mug of hot chocolate as she removes the small pot from the fire. Together they discuss their plans for the morning, passing around a small map, desired destinations circled in black ink. They all look up in delight as a wave of colorful fireworks glisten in the distant, starry sky. Curious of the faint booming, the twins join their sister and parents around the campfire. Together, they enjoy a moment of quite magic.

What I've Been Up To

2009-10-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hello, faithful readers.

Here's a look at what's been going on in the long and arduous months since my last post.

This semester, my friend Justine and I are taking a package design class. Our first assignment was to design economical and eco-friendly packaging for an inkjet printer cartridge. For me, the worst part about buying new ink cartridges is having to pull out the hedge trimmers to open the package. My design is based off of an idea that, from what I can tell, is already in use in Europe. It is simple to open and uses far fewer materials to package.

Think single portions of breakfast cereal. The top label peels away to reveal the cartridge.

Here is my mood board, the color and black ink designs and a mock up of the package:

I am also taking a Trends in Design course this semester (the name is misleading; it's should be called Trends in Advertising). In the class we discuss the elements of an effective advertisement and advertising campaign. Our first project was to design an advertising campaign for Johnsonville Bratwurst. My teammate Emily and I developed a campaigned based on the idea that "The Future is Brat" with Johnsonville. Our ads revolved around Frank, a fun-loving, fortune-telling football fan (isn't alliteration great?).

Here is an example of print ad, ambient media blade sign and an origami "fortune teller" from the campaign:

Emily and I worked really well together so we decided to stay on for the next project, an ad campaign selling Oreck vacuum cleaners to a younger audience. With a little help from Twitter, we were able to put together a really fun series of ads. We focused on the idea that floors have pretty tough lives, especially messy floors. We decided, if floors could talk, they would have lot to say.

Here is the final series of ads for Oreck as well as two examples of ambient ad placement:

The ambient advertising would consist of plexiglass signs that would be printed with the same style text as the print advertisements. They would be placed in generally messy places; in this case, a mall and a movie theater.

I have also been doing a lot of work for the CCAD Student Programming Board, for which I am the Chair of Communication. This year we rolled out an entirely new system and, of course, with that came a new logo which I was happy to design!

And, of course, with a new logo comes an entirely new brand! I've loved designing a variety of posters for the group and its events.

The project currently devouring my time and attention is for my Graphic Design class and deals with brand standards. We chose a small business to re-brand, developed a series of 30+ logos, whittled them down to one and are in the process of applying the logo and other branding elements to stationery. My small business is The Mean Bean, a coffee shop from my hometown. Of the thirty logos I presented to the class, the one with the most positive feedback was an expressive little mug.

Here are two examples of the brand as applied to letterhead, envelope and business card:

The final design will probably be an amalgamation of these two designs. We also have to develop extension pieces to showcase the brand. I am working on a series of expressive paper and plastic cups, coffee sleeves and travel mugs. I will post the final result as soon as its finished.

I am also working with the great people at The Leaky Cauldron to develop a graphic identity for LeakyCon, a Harry Potter fan conference being held in Orlando, Florida in July of 2011. You can see a sneak peek of what we're working on over at LeakyCon's Twitter. We've got a lot of fantastic things in the works and I can't wait to share them with you.

As always, I would appreciate any feedback you can give about the work posted here.

If you have any questions or are interested in working with me, feel free to email me, jordan@jordanedwardsdesigns.com

Room 3428

2009-08-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

Room 3428 is a YouTube Vlog project produced by seven friends who met at a Harry Potter conference and decided to stay in touch. Recently, they challenged viewers to create a logo for their channel. My submission features the scandalous "red panties" that the friends discovered when they first stayed in Room 3428.

As I was making the logo, I noticed its look shifting more and more toward a very graphic, "Fifties" style. This gave me the idea to illustrate each of the vlogmates in that style:

AVP:Musical

2009-07-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Positively Gleeful

2009-06-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't been this excited for a television show in a long time. What excites me most about Glee is its fresh approach to telling the age-old high school story. You might say, "Jordan, this is exactly like High School Musical, a franchise which you have publicly proclaimed to detest," and you might be right but from what I can tell, Glee has a few more things going for it.

For one, it does not star Zac Efron.

Glee takes a brutally honest, wonderfully witty look at the cliquy and confusing world of high school in a way that HSM simply failed to do. The item on the top of my seemingly-endless list of reasons why High School Musical is a miserable piece of work is the cast's frequent outbursts into song. I know it's a musical but for me, it just doesn't make sense that the "guys" can think its so lame to join the musical in one scene and break out into a choreographed musical spectacular in the next. Glee's portrayal is much more honest.

The jock is shanghaied into the glee club, under penalty of expulsion for getting caught with pot. His jock friends hate it. They do not sing.

One of my favorite things about Glee is its colorful (and remarkably accurate) cast of supporting characters. Jane Lynch plays the swishy-tracksuit-wearing, protein-shake-drinking, iPhone carrying advisor to the "Cheerios", the school's cheerleading squad. Her veracious wit and rigid adherence to the established social norms make her a treasure trove of great lines and a joy to watch. Jayma Mays plays the adorably germaphobic guidance councilor who has a thing for the Spanish teacher and newly appointed leader of the glee club (played by Matthew Morrison). Morrison's character, once a glee club golden boy himself, adopts the floundering show choir after the previous instructor (played, hilariously by Stephen Tobolowsky) is let go for inappropriate contact with a male student.

I can't wait to see where this show will go. It has potential to be great (and a lineup of guest stars to help it get there). Hopefully the writers have a plan that includes more than just following the stars to college because, as Zac Efron learned himself on Saturday Night Live, "No one sings at college."

Glee premiers September 16, at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

Summer is Finally Here...Almost.

2009-06-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a day away from summer and the glorious creative freedom it brings. My summer class actually went by really quickly and I will (hopefully) escape with a decent grade. As intimidating as it was at first (and still is, to an extent), I found the class to be a fantastic learning experience. My instructor is a wizened old guy with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. He's not afraid to tell you how he feels about you or your art. I appreciate that. After last semester especially, I was beginning to get the sense that the only critique we would ever get would be happy-fluffy-rainbows and that just doesn't cut it. I welcome the criticism because, more often than not, it is honest and valuable.

Here are a few of the latest things I've done for the class:

Objective: Design a company slogan so that it functions as a logo

Slogan: "Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz"

We then applied the slogos to ads.

Objective: Design a list while adding meaning

Meaning: A literal interpretation of the deconstruction of language

Foreign Language: German

Phrase: Beware of Dog

Objective: Allow the message to transcend the language.

Those were some of my favorites. The rest were passable but not blogworthy.

I'm also doing some freelance work for a software development company based out of Delaware, Ohio. I serve as a contracted designer for web-based projects. So far, the projects have been interesting and will hopefully be recieved well by the clients. Here is a snapshot of one of the designs through a series of edits:

Client: Council Tool

The client wanted a more patriotic design so the colors changed to

red, white and blue and I placed a subtle flag in the background

I also found a much more effective way of using their wordmark

based on their existing product labeling system.

So, that's what I've been up to. I'm looking forward to some relaxation and working on some personal projects I've had stewing in my head for a while. I'll let you know when they're ready.

Adios.

Alive and well

2009-05-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, my faithful readers.

How are you two doing?

I am finally finished with year two of collage and have begun a wonderful little thing called a "minimester" where I will be learning the ups and downs of typography. Our first project dealt with the blending of two characters so that each depends on the other for existence. Mine turned out something like this:

Aside from the childish snickering that often accompanies this sequence of numbers, I think it is a relatively interesting piece. It was received well by my instructor who gave some honest and helpful criticism (something I have truly come to appreciate when I find it). The fact that the characters are virtually identical does take away from the complexity of the piece however I tend like the "ying and yang" idea.

The next assignment takes this idea of dependent existence a step further by adding color to help flavor the story we are trying to tell. I have several designs I might use but haven't decided how color will come into play. I suppose that depends on the selection of Color Aid at the supply store (a selection that is, no doubt, far from extensive).

Apart from my summer minimester, I have had a relaxing and enjoyable start to summer vacation. My sister and I met up with some friends and saw J.J. Abrams' new adaptation of Star Trek which, for someone who new nothing about Star Trek save for the hand gesture, was a thrilling and enjoyable ride. Abrams is a master storyteller and his eye for detail make me giddy with delight. I also saw Ron Howard's Angels and Demons which did a fair job of representing what I believe is Dan Brown's best work. The story moves faster and is more engaging, the music contains a wonderfully developed version of the theme from the DaVinci Code and most importantly, Tom Hanks no longer sports a mullet.

New readers of this blog might not know, but I am an avid fan and steadfast follower of Lost (another J.J. Abrams brainchild) and I was utterly dumbfounded by the finale of the fifth season. The phone conversation with my sister two minutes after the show ended sounded something like this:

Jordan: "What…"
Emily: "What…just…"
Jordan: "…the…"
Emily: "…happened?"
Jordan: "…"
Emily: "Hello?"
Jordan: "I…"
Emily: "Locke is…who is…?"
Jordan: "I don't even know."

Needless to say, I have no clue, not even the tiniest inkling as to where the show will go for its final season. I am very intrigued by Jacob's story although I take issue with the fact that he has an American accent. For me, a seemingly ancient, ageless character would not have an American accent; and a very modern one at that. It dilutes a good portion of the characters depth because, when compared to the biblical and ancient Egyptian references that surround the show, America is very, very new. But that's just me.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston and LeakyCon which promises to be an awesome experience and I am super-excited but wary at the same time. I will certainly have an awesome time but when it comes to the online portion of the Potter fandom (from which the entire conference sprang), I am a novice at best. I am a little worried that I will be surrounded by people I should know but don't, hearing jokes I should get but don't. I will be bringing my MacBook so I will do my best to blog once or twice from the conference, pictures if I'm feeling generous.

For the most part, I'm feeling pretty good about things although, there are some annoyances I wish I could evict from my life. I lost my second USB Flash drive in three weeks which makes me begin to worry for my memory or my sanity. I can pinpoint the last time I had the little sucker; where I was, what I was doing and where I thought I put it, but now it's gone and isn't showing up in the places where it could logically be. I'm afraid it fell out of my pocket as I took out my keys or answered my phone or sat in a movie theater.

I need to clean. I need to audit myself, inventory my life.

I'll let you know when that actually happens.

One Ring to Rule Them All

2009-04-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

I have been gorging on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

For someone who is as avid a fantasy fan as I am, I stumbled upon The Lord of the Rings very late. Being a dedicated Potterhead (as I've surely mentioned somewhere in a previous post), I always held a slight grudge toward the Rings stories. It seemed that the two series were constantly being pitted against one another and, being a Potterhead first and foremost, I took the obvious side.

My final year of high school I decided to break ranks and watch the films that everyone had been raving about for years. The term "floored" doesn't do the experience true justice. I was breathless from the opening sequence. The cinematographic beauty, the encompassing and consistent design, the acting, the story…how had I not seen these films before? I wish, now, that someone had forced me, however against my will it may have been, to experience these movies in theaters. After renting the three films from Blockbuster and watching them over the course of a weekend, I immediately bought what pieces of the soundtrack I could from iTunes (It should be mentioned that I am an obsessive collector of film scores and soundtracks. My iTunes library consists of almost 80% orchestral music).

Howard Shore's scoring of the films is truly historic. I remember the giddy feeling I felt while hearing the music for the first time during the films. There is something magical about film scores, something that I would like to explore deeper, perhaps in a later post (although it would have very little, if anything, to do with design). Unlike many film series (Potter included), Shore treats the Rings films as one, very long film, writing themes that stretch the length of the trilogy, some that may show up at the beginning of the first film and wait until the third to reappear. This idea gives the scores an almost-operatic feeling and I love it. It also makes them wonderful in Shuffle mode. No matter the order, all the tracks sound good together.

Besides the music, I was immediately taken aback by the beauty of design in the Rings films. Nothing felt cheap or standard-order and as an artist and designer, this is something I would notice and appreciate. From the Hobbit's charming, English farmstead style homes to the beautiful, Art Nouveau inspired design of the Elven city of Rivendell; from the subtly Scandinavian look of the Kingdom of Rohan to the grand, marble-laden city of Minas Tirith, the design team clearly left no stone unturned when searching for the perfect design solutions. A good portion of the design of the films was taken from original illustrations done by famed Tolkein illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe. This gives the film a wonderfully cohesive feeling that skirts the line between fantasy and reality in breathtaking form.

If you know me, you of course know my next move was to watch as many hours of "making of" featurettes as I could manage. Given the opportunity, I will positively wallow in hour-long documentaries about the construction of miniature set pieces or the design of costumes. With the Rings films, I struck "making-of" gold. The Extended Edition versions of the films (which I had, by this time, borrowed from my roommate) come with not one but two additional disks dedicated to special features. This, on top of complete audio commentaries by not only the directors and writers but the design team, the special effects wizards, sound mixers and composer and the actors meant a positive ocean of wonderful behind-the-scenes treats that could hardly wait to devour.

And then school decided it wanted my attention back. For a while I was forced to eject myself from Middle earth and focus on the real world. History became legend; legend became myth and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. I forgot that I still had more than four disks and over 60 hours of commentary to enjoy. In a few clicks I had purchased my own Extended Edition DVDs and in a few weeks they were in my hands, begging to be watched. Luckily I had acquired a rather large amount of tedious homework that would be perfectly accompanied by a back-to-back watching of the Rings films. And so, it began. This was nearly two months ago.

Since that time, I have squeezed every ounce of sweet, geeky goodness from those DVDs. Remarkably, I am not tired of them. In fact, as I write this post, I am half-watching The Fellowship of the Ring. This is a true testament to the quality of this series. It can be enjoyed, time and time again without losing any of its original splendor.

If you have not seen Peter Jackson's filmic masterpiece, do whatever it takes short of crime to get your hands on a copy. I can assure you it does not disappoint.

What's Going On?

2009-03-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

I talked to my mom for a while today and she asked me an interesting question, "Why is everything I see at the grocery store starting to look like cheap, store brands?"

I think it is interesting because if someone as far removed from the design world as my mom notices a change, it has to be big. It started with Pepsi's rebranding at the end of last year. Seeing a design on the internet and on store shelves are two completely different experiences. Pepsi's "fresh", new identity makes them look like store-brand sodas. Tropicana's change was so drastic that consumers convinced them to revert to the tried and true, straw-in-orange design. Apparently, mom was so turned off by a new Kraft Cheddar Cheese package (described as blank, white and ugly) she consciously went for the (unusually) better-designed Kroger brand.

I have to wonder, what's behind all these sudden packaging switch-ups? My first guess is the economy. Perhaps food manufacturers have decided that stark and conservative are more fitting these days. To an extent I can understand that logic but I really can't see a consumer looking at a heavily decorated packet of sharp-cheddar cheese and saying, "Oh, my. This packaging is too decorative. Surely I can't afford this." C'mon. On the contrary, I believe that in dire economic times a brand's look should remain a constant, showing that it can weather the storm. For me the Pepsi rebrand came at the complete wrong time which adds yet another tick to the 'Dumb Idea' column.

It could just be the way design is trending. We're moving past the quirky, "hand made" era of "all-natural" design. Perhaps the next stop is simple soda and desolate dairy packaging.

What are your thoughts? Is there any explanation for this upswing in downplayed design?

Un-Ugly: The Tropicana Rewind

2009-02-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

So, by now you might have heard, or maybe you haven't. Or maybe you didn't know about it in the fist place. If so, here's a little background.

Back in January, Tropicana unveiled its new packaging design to go along with parent company PepsiCo's total image overhaul. The change was met with varied opinion. Some thought the change was a fresh, new approach to a tired field of design, others though the switch was unjustified and the design ugly. I fell into the latter of the two categories. I still find it hard to understand the logic behind PepsiCo's new look but that is another rant for another time.

In the month's time since the unveiling, Tropicana has received a slew of letters from concerned customers, criticizing the new packaging. On February 23, Tropicana announced that it was halting production of the newly designed cartons, reverting back to the old design. In an interview with the New York Times, Neil Campbell, president of Tropicana North America claimed "It was not the volume of the outcries that led to the corporate change of heart...it was a fraction of a percent of the people who buy the product." Instead, Campbell insists that the fact that that "fraction" was made up of their most loyal customers that caused Tropicana to rethink the switch.

First of all, are there really "loyal customers" for orange juice. I picture orange juice fanboys with T-Shirts. I suppose saying "Oh, not everyone complained about our terrible packaging, just our favorite customers" is their twisted way of downplaying the fact that Tropicana scewed the pooch. It would have been "refreshing" to actually hear some acknowlagement of the mistake but few corporate execs have the guts for that.

Personally, I'm glad that they've decided to switch back. I never had any issue with the iconic straw-in-orange design and I felt that the typography and color pallet of the old design was rich, classy and fitting. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of minimalism but sometimes it can be taken too far and Tropicana's is clearly a case that did just that.

A Closer Look: Half-Blood Prince Posters

2009-02-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, now that I have had a few days to really look at the posters recently released for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film, I must say the initial excitement has turned into a slurry of questions about composition choices, the handling of typography, excessive Photoshopping and overall laziness in terms of design.

I hate to be a downer, and let me be fair in saying that these posters aren't bad. I simply have to question why a multi-billion-dollar company the likes of Warner Brothers would tamper with an obviously successful brand by hiring designers that cut corners to the quick.

Okay, here's my first complaint. In the close-up poster of Harry, you'll notice what amounts to a gratuitous bit of photo-retouching. I understand that nobody likes a pimple, especially when advertising for a huge summer blockbuster but, seriously humans have pours. As far as I can tell, Dan Radcliffe has fairly clear skin to begin with so was the excessive digital dermabrasion really necessary? Also, I'd be willing to wager that a large chunk of Harry-cheek was sliced off to create that masculine jawline, there.

Now, you might say, "Jordan, these kinds of retouches happen all the time. It's standard and really, you're looking too deep into this." And to that I would say. You are absolutely right. I am looking too deep into this but I have to wonder what kind of message WB is trying to send to the flocks of brooding, hormonal, pimply, pudgy-faced kids who will flock to the theaters to see this film? This sort of thing hearkens back to the now infamous retouching of an advertisement for the IMAX version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in which Emma Watson's [Hermione's] chest was significantly enlarged and her stomach trimmed).

My final qualm comes at the realization that the exact same "rain effect" was used on both the poster of Harry and Dumbledore. Again, to many this is a minute and seemingly insignificant detail but to a designer like myself, I have to wonder why. With posters like these, every element we see as an audience sprang from a decision made by a designer which tells me someone, somewhere along the line said 'Oh, just use the same one. No one will ever notice.' C'mon, guys. You're dealing with Potter fans, we will always notice.

At Last, Posters.

2009-02-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series. I joined in the frustration of millions when Warner Brothers announced that they were postponing the release of the next film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by a staggering eight months. Along with a delayed film came delayed releases of everything from the teaser trailer to the international trailer to the movie's posters. On February 5, movie posters for the Half-Blood Prince were dispersed across the Internet. Have a look:

Continuing the theme established by Chamber of Secrets, these posters depict only one character in a pose that suggests something about them or something they will go through in the upcoming film. They are monochromatic with a cool, blue-green cast, similar to the Order of the Phoenix posters.

Overall, I think they are nice posters. The slanted logo and title are welcome changes to the usual template. You'll notice Dumbledore's reflection in Harry's glasses in the first poster. It's a nice touch if you overlook the fact that it's the same image from the third poster Photoshopped into the frames. I'm not sure what's going on around them. Is it raining? I'm pretty sure the scene depicted in these posters takes place in May so it's not snow. There are a few minor continuity issues (Dumbledore's hand not being charred and black or the continuing absence of Harry's iconic scar) but I won't sit here and nit pic.

I've always had a problem with labeling movie sequels with numbers. It comes off as lazy and uncreative. "HP6" isn't so bad because we all know it comes from a book with it's own, unique name. It still strikes me as odd that they would start labeling the films this way all of a sudden.

I'm anxious to see if they release posters featuring Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape as they both play big roles in the next part of the story. In the mean time, I'll continue to wait patiently with the rest of the fans for a film that is now 86 days overdue.

Let me know your thoughts about the posters in the comments.

First And Foremost

2009-02-06T23:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my web log.

Isn't it funny how no one really ever called them "web logs"?
"What are you doing?"
"Web logging."

Web logging. It almost sounds boring, doesn't it? Logging used to be a boring, repetitive thing: logging data, logging hours, logging...well, logs. It was a boring, repetitive thing done by boring, repetitive people. Then comes along the good old American English language where enunciation is clearly a thing of the past. Either through a need for speed (saying "Web log" simply takes up too much time) or shear verbal laziness, Web logs became "Blogs."

Now everyone who's anyone does it. We blog about everything and that is not an exaggeration. If you can think of it, someone, somewhere in the world has probably blogged about it. This Blog is not a special one. It is not unique in any way. In fact, four similar Blogs exist within my Bookmarks Toolbar. This Blog is intended to be a Design Blog.

Just exactly what do I mean by that?
Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. Most other design bloggers crawl the Internet looking for news or interesting tidbits about current events in the world of design and I intend to do the same. No one is really sure where the news originates because everyone steals everything from everyone else. Again, I intend to follow suite, however I will try and offer some glimmer of originality through commentary and critique on whatever tasty tidbits float my way.

I am a graphic designer. I find it interesting so I predict the vast majority of posts will fall within this category. I have a special interest in logos, brands and graphic identities. You will see lots of these. Here and there, I may pepper in some package design or an interesting painting or sculpture but who knows how often this will happen.

I'm excited to get started and to see how far I can take this (or for how long). My first priority is schoolwork (although recently, all evidence points to the contrary) so expect long drought periods because they will happen. My first post should arrive shortly.

Nice to meet you,
Jordan