Hey there faithful readers (i.e. mom and dad). I’m off to Italy for an ideation week on behalf of a paying client. Wish me luck. It’s being held at a New Age resort in Italy. In thinking about it, I don’t think Italians do new age so well…nope can’t think of a thing. Pretty sure the last invention they came out with was the pizza bagel. I think we created the Hot Pocket.
poster by Matt Willey and available at Magma UK
Jessica Hagy over at indexed has an acute sense of observation and a beautiful way of depicting the world. She also has a new book out which stirs up almost as much envy in me as I had for the guy who bartered his way from a red paperclip to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan. Those Canadians are cute as puppies but boy, they will fall for anything.
By the way I have a whole box full of paperclips if anyone has an apt. building they would like to trade. Going once, going twice…
I discovered an interesting little widget on my travels around the blogosphere yesterday: The Blog Readability Test. Type in your blog’s url and presto! It gives you a nifty little digi-sticker with your blog’s reading level on it. But it gets better– it works on regular websites too! Since I’m a nerd I looked up presidential candidates’ websites straight away. This is what I found…
DEMOCRATS:
BarakObama.com – College, Post Grad
JohnEdwards.com – Genius
HillaryClinton.com – Jr. High School*
REPUBLICANS:
JohnMcCain.com – High School
MittRomney.com – Elementary School
MikeHuckabee.com – Genius**
JoinRudy2008.com – High School
RonPaul2008.com – High School
When reading these results, keep in mind that half of America is below average at everything, always.
*which may explain the crying. Junior High can be a nightmare.
**if you hate evolution
from brandingbranding.com
“Currently, most practices are either strong on the strategic (business) side of branding or the creative (design) side. Too much strategy makes for an ugly brand and too much creative turns brand development into a ‘look and feel’ exercise.”
Amen. Can’t we just be friends, design and brand folks? Even better—friends with benefits, chief among them better work for our clients? I’m in, who’s with me besides Flipper here?
…and I mean that in the best possible way. He has a reputation as a rebel in the book cover design industry, and in doing so has been shaking up what we expect, ruffling some feathers and achieving fame in the process. (If only the rest of us could do it with such style…) Last week he was a guest on my colleague Debbie Millman’s radio show Design Matters and this week I’m pointing you over to DoorSixteen for a thoughtful write-up from a book designer about Chip’s attitude and practices as well as pictures of his well-appointed home.
Nokia is firing a shot at Apple, finally. While Nokia has been making great phones for awhile, it hasn’t seemed to be able to articulate a new future or to help customers envision how its products will change behavior. I think this spot from Lowe may finally be that future.
This American Life with Ira Glass did a radio show on maps awhile back as well as a related show on getting lost, both of which served to underline just how many different types of maps there are in the world. They run the gamut from the weather map in the local paper to maps of deep sea fish hatcheries and to maps of lampposts in a given neighborhood.
Maps aren’t all uniformly beautiful, but some are absolutely stunning and remind us consultant types that PowerPoint is woefully ill-equipped to convey beauty.
Hat tip to Violet Tiger who has more incredible maps over on her site.
“In US: Major online video sites have doubled their audience since the US writer’s strike started in November. YouTube’s audience was up 18% in the two months post-strike and Crackle doubled its audience from 1.2 million users to 2.4 million users.”
Growth in online video during the writers strike must add some salt to the wound for network executives who are facing angry media planners and an overabundance of reality television. I also think it’s great how writers are discovering other outlets for their content, including the much hyped funnyordie which is the entire reason for this post. Click the video below or don’t complain when everyone is talking about it later and say I never tell you anything.
…or at least that’s the only sense I can make of this spot. Ronald is looking lean, although it could be the crack that he appears to be on.
Hat tip to ChimpMonitoringMedia
I love me some Feist but this video makes it look like everyone got stuck in an American Apparel store only to be directed by Richard Simmons in a remake of West Side Story. Or maybe I just need another cup of coffee.
thedistillery 