Election Campaign Irritation

It has been a vocal year of campaigning. Most of what we hear and see is in regard to the Presidential candidates as we approach a new term. So much more attention should be placed on local senate and house seats up for election though. This is where we will actually make a difference in the quality of our lives, if it is even possible. I won't go into my personal political views, mainly due to my own confusion and frustration with it as a whole. For many, Presidential election years are the only ones that they contribute a vote toward as if it were the only election to be concerned with. I believe that the men and women who are in the seats of the Senate and the House of Representatives enjoy this and it is why it remains so. The political focus is always placed on the President as if he were the one man running the country. So true is the exact opposite. This is why, in my opinion, President Obama has been unsuccessful in many of his goals, because of roadblocks and political nonsense designed to make him look unsuccessful. So, okay I guess I have let on a bit about my personal views.

We've all seen the yard signs this year for our local Congressmen (or women) blanketing our frequently traveled landscape. One sign gets me every time I see it. Every single time that I have come up on this sign, I have found myself struggling to be certain that I understood what I was reading and comprehending as the individuals name.

If this guys name was Smith or Jones you could probably pull an ultra creative and playful design like this off. In my opinion, all this does is cause confusion. If you want to effectively communicate your name, it must first be readable. Also, consider that most people viewing the message are traveling in a vehicle at a certain speed. The amount of time required to interpret the message is therefore reduced significantly. I find this problem with many large billboard ads as well. To me it would have been much more readable to forego the state shape inside the "U" of his name in favor of just simple Helvetica letters. Who in Illinois needs to know that he is running for an Illinois State Senate seat anyway? We are Illinois residents, seeing the signs here in Illinois. No one from out of state can vote for Illinois candidates, and we couldn't vote for candidates running for seats in any other state in the union. Granted the shape of our state is an identifiable one. I would bet money that no candidate running in Colorado "A perfect rectangle" would attempt this style of design. I think this design is both a failure as well as an apparent success. I have had so much difficulty reading this sign over the past few months, that I find it necessary to rant about it's frustrating design. So, then is it in fact a success?

It's That Time of Year!! A Seed Catalog Comparison

Well, my favorite time of year has arrived. I begin to yearn for outdoor activities, I plant bulbs and other plants. I start to visit nursery's and plan projects. This year for instance, is to finish some left-over projects from last year. I want to build a fence around the back yard and a brick paver patio. How much of that gets done is still yet to be determined, but never the less, I get excited about being outside and working in the yard. Gurney's is usually the first one to hit my mailbox. Their catalog is always of a more paper feeling paper. Not quite like newsprint, but not like notebook paper either. It's never glossy. Their layout always has Yellow and Green. But from a design perspective, your eye is drawn to the red first. So, you see the starred coupon ad in the upper right as well as the huge red coupon in the lower left. Good balance there.

Through the years, I have placed orders with numerous mail order seed catalogs. I have never paid a whole lot of attention to the designs of these except to notice and sometimes be influenced by their front page deals and offerings. Other times I know what I want and just look for that, but more often, I'm just browsing for ideas. I like to find different or rare plants that aren't in the average landscape.

I like to try to find bulbs that I don't have to dig up every fall. Breck's has a lot of bulbs. Mostly tulips. But if you see my yard in the summer time I always have Elephant Ear Caladiums and Banana Trees and other tropicals. The Brecks catalog always has one large image on the cover and is always printed on glossy paper. The inside is filled with loads of large, full color images of  various flowering bulbs.

I've always wanted to visit this Four Seasons Nursery in Bloomington, IL. Heck, it's just up the road. Their catalog has a Gurney's feel to it as far as design. The boxes with various content advertised is usually an unbeatable buy. Even though much smaller, the red 1 cent SALE! in the upper right draws your attention.

Henry Fields and Burgess are great catalog companies as well. Henry Fields is another with a strong Gurney's feel to it. I see the bright red coupon first, just like with the Gurney's catalog.  Burgess prefers yellow corner tags that draw your attention and they add the little tag also sitting at an angle. 

And last but definitely not least, is my new favorite. Usually a large tropical or citrus plant covers the entire front cover of Logee's, which separates it from the rest (except Breck's). It is also printed on glossy paper. 

In Logee's I can find the Tropical's that I so often covet for my gardens. Everything inside is rare or naturally grown in warmer climates. I don't risk too much when considering a purchase from here. I usually research a variety for hardiness in our zone.  I usually have no trouble growing plants in the summer, but in the winter, when I bring everything inside, if it doesn't like the light or moisture it won't make it till next year. Sometimes one of my cats will give it a death sentence. 

Be the next Van Gogh!!

I found this advertisement intriguing. It was in the MAR 2012 issue of HOW magazine. It is a two page spread regarding inspiration of Van Gogh.

Then, in the second page it says...

I think that the approach is ingenious. First... to the student of graphic design, who is discovering the inspirations behind the historical greats, it is speaking to what might be necessary to come up with your next ideas. Next, it is eluding to a current day solution that obviously wasn't available then. So, if Van Gogh had the opportunities that you have today, why then can't you too be a genius? All you have to do is go to feast.istockphoto.com.   Apparently, it's an inspiration smorgasbord.  I really like the artistic strokes beneath the obviously new and contemporary clean lines of the newer script bold font.  The message is clear. Use our photo database, ... buy our photos,.... and be a genius! Very simple. Very direct. Very well done. 

Vector tuts Highlights Great Design Agencies

Among the 22 deign agencies highlighted by Vectortuts.com, Go Media, based in Cleveland intrigued me with the images that Vectortuts displayed.  Once I arrived at the site and spent some time browsing their work, I found this identity to be nicely done. The font appears to be of a hand crafted design, and the red drop symbolizes what the name says. I would imagine that to simplify this concept even more, if it is desired in the future, that little red drop could become the whole identity. I think this is clean and simple, and the font really gets my attention because I don't recognize it, plus it has a very soft appearance. The brand is apparently for a clothing line that originated as a simple campaign against diabetes.

Award Winning Design Company

In a Google search, I typed "award winning graphic design companies".  The third link down the page grabbed my attention saying Graphic Design Chicago - UpShift Creative , so I clicked and found that the company has designed campaigns for Allstate, Discover Card, and Weber Grills as well as identities for other companies.  I recognized one such company that I just recently saw has been added to our own Champaign area. The  name alone is catchy, but in observing the logo for a minute in it's true and ultimate simplicity, it appears to be a burger. The black on white simple sans-serif font divided by a rounded edged reddish brown line. It is a brilliantly simple and effective design that could almost fit right in with our current chapter study of a Plakatstil poster. 

A well designed logo will inform the customer of what the business does. Often the name of a business with do most of this job and the logo supports it. In this case, the name and logo are one and work in tandem to accomplish the same task. The result is a sure success. 

Beautiful Girls

Maybe Graphic Design does play a part in the decision. Do the following .pdf brochures sell their promise? To me, just about the most beautiful thing in the world is a muscle car. I love the sight of them. I love the sound, the smell, and the feel of a really mean machine. What sells this to the All American Boy? It could be movies. It might be radio. Is it peer pressure or status quo? Maybe it's the influence Dad has on a boy? Or it could just be human nature.  By the time a guy is old enough to responsibly drive one of these beauty's, not to mention afford her, he may need a little extra motivation to choose just the right girl for him. She could be a 

Corvette, Mustang, Camaro,  Challenger, Viper, or even more exotic and expensive. Let's just say he's a regular guy on a budget and every dollar counts. What will he choose? Why will he choose it? Horsepower? Price? Options? Style? Performance? Does the image above sell this car? Click it to see the whole brochure.

 Honestly? For me? No! I love these new Mustang models, but for me she has to be of a rare stock. I like the 550-horsepower Shelby GT500. Otherwise forget the Mustang and go with something like a Corvette. Of course, again here, she couldn't be a plain 430-horsepower Corvette. She would have to be the 505-horsepower Z06 model. Click the image for the brochure. Does it sell the Corvette? Any better than the Mustang?

 Or better yet with gas prices making me angrier every day, I would seriously consider the Tesla Roadster.

This week, I made my second visit to this little Mexican food place in Urbana. (closed menu: left) It shares a building with the new Jimmy Johns on University near Cunningham.  I always like to sample Mexican food places because it is my most favorite food. I like the choice of color in the logo. To me it says desert and cactus.

These are photos of the menu that I picked up while I was there. It's a bit difficult to see it here. The menu, when fully opened up resembles a tortilla. I didn't put that together while it was closed, but it is very obvious once you open it. I think that the designer did a great job with that touch. the edges are cut with an imperfect edge. As far as the Napkin is concerned, same logo, but they add a sombrero and their catch phrase to it. I like the catch phrase. It's perfect for a napkin. Then there is the bi-line "It's all about the Tortilla!". Their claim to fame is apparently their tortillas. And they are admittedly pretty good. I've had their burritos twice now.

It's function is to sell you on the idea that their tortillas are the best around. I think the design and layout of the type inside the menu is well done. The primary thing that you are looking for are the items that they sell. It is a pretty short menu with only 5 items to choose from plus side orders. So, the items names are in the brown squiggly bars with a description in smaller print below. Below that are the options available in the item selected and then the prices. All of the vital quick information is very easy to locate. Of course it is even made easier with the limited selection. I think that the design pulls off the Tex-Mex feel very well. The design is clean and styled correctly for the type of business that it is.