R.I.P. Dr. Phil Ling

As many of you probably already know (because I'm ALWAYS talking about it), I work at Sugar Mountain- a candy store. In fact, it is this candy store that I'm working on for my rebranding project. As of yesterday, the logo was CHANGED to discard a graphic element in the back as well as my beloved Dr. Phil Ling (filling...? get it?) The tagline is still, I think, "recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists" but now no dentist. Sure, it's not as cluttered, but.... eep.

I understand my boss' desire to simplify and make more iconic, BUT lose the dentist?
Do logos really have to be super-simple to be effective??

Nissan GT-R

This is the cars that all tuners have been waiting for. The Nissan GT-R.
The previous verions of the Skyline GT-R have been a phenomenon. It is
the first japanese sports car that actually muscle, and when you see it on
the streets, you know its not your typical japanese v4 coupe. Ever since the
first generation, the GT-R is known for it rare-ness, and even the ones from
1990 are still worth at about $10,000 CAD today. The actual car will be featured
in the Tokyo Auto Show on Oct. 27, and will be on sale coming year inUSA for
less than $80,000. Nissan knows that the market for these cars are really
small, but its all about the image of the company.

Great logo design

WWF LOGO DESIGN

WWF, known as the World Wildlife Fund, has one of the most recognizable logos in the world. I came across a WWF website, and found the design history of their logo featuring the black and white panda. The transition of the design shows a excellent process of creating great logo.
It shows that sticking to a simple concept idea and making subtle, detailed refinement can result in great and classic design. What i like about this logo is that it is simplicity of the design, which makes it very recognizable. unlike many other big brands today are making drastic changes to their logo, complicating the design, such as adding unnessary gradient or 3-dimensionalizing the logo, or even completing changing the original logo, without realizing that it may disconnect the association or feeling people may have toward the brand logo.

Best Western spent millions of dollars re-branding their logo, and finally decides to keep the original one, realizing that they can't afford to loose the association people have with the brand.

Sometime less is definitely more.

93.5Flow VS 99.9Mix fm

After the huge successes of last year, flow’s is keeping their good work on their new series of advertisements this year. This year, flow’s still keeping the graphical elements but even more simplified. Although I think the ideas and in terms of aesthetic in this poster are less interesting then last year, their poster are still very visually interesting and eye catching. I think the pure graphical elements really help in terms of targeting the right audiences, people from around teenage to 30, since they mainly play pop music. In comparison, Mix fm’s ad looks quite uninteresting. First, The layout design is unconsidered. It just looked like putting celebrities photos randomly on the poster. Moreover, although the message “My city, my music” on the poster is clear, it doesn’t have enough impact to entice the viewers to listen to their station. The ironic thing is that the subjects in the photos are not even Canadian except Nelly Furtado and TTC.

The Best Medicine

My girlfriend and I are currently ill. Earlier this week she requested that I pick up some Vick's NyQuil LiquiCaps from the store. Upon entering the pharmacy, I was met with big, inviting display of Buckley's Mixture and I really thought I should buy it instead.

See, I've always appreciated Buckley's brand positioning as the bad-tasting, hard-working medicine maker. I think their tagline, "It tastes awful. And it works." is smart and succinct. I think many of their advertising slogans are just as successful. And I was intrigued when I first saw their 'Bad Taste Face' advertisements on television. Plus, the Buckley's ad in the store read "The #1 Selling Cough Syrup in Canada." Surely, we ice-and-snow dwellers must know a little something about dealing with troublesome coughs and colds.

In the end, I purchased the NyQuil LiquiCaps. And the DayQuil LiquiCaps for good measure. Sure, I was ill, tired, and cranky, but I wasn't so far gone that I didn't realize the potential danger of upsetting an equally ill, tired, and cranky girlfriend.

And what did I learn? Keeping a girlfriend happy is the best medicine.

The ups and downs of Theatre

I recently went to see Cats at the Princess of Wales Theatre. I must say that I'm not one to be disappointed with productions, however this one bit the dust. I found it to be dull and boring and lacking a complete story line (not to mention I couldn't undertand a thing these cats were singing). Theatres have been a social branding for people for hundreds of years. Although it is now accessible, it used to be strictly for the wealthy. I must say that having seen a lot of plays, I was thouroughly disappointed. This forced me to read into theatre branding and understand the relevance of promotions for productions and comprehend the work put in to such a play. People, I found, were often labelled/branded for having seen plays and/or attending the theatre as opposed to people who have never been.

Benetton

"Advertising is the richest and most powerful form of communication in the world. We need to have images that will make people think and discuss." –Toscani-

While I was researching on Benetton for my Rebrand assignment, I found some of very interesting AD from past years. This is one of Toscani’s early work which presented youthful images from culturally diverse nations. Colorfully dressed in Benetton attire, the young people engaged in a variety of playful acts. By linking the varying colors in the Benetton collection to the diverse "colors" of its world customers, Toscani presented a theme of racial harmony and world peace. Still today, Toscani’s work has been successful in speaking across all the cultural boundaries and raises social awareness through presenting powerful human and universal themes. The trade name Benetton is among the five best-recognized trademarks of the world.

Great Branding Comes in Small Packages

I am from the lovely city of Guelph. There are all kinds if little boutique stores selling plants, wedding gifts, shoes and clothes. But there is one that stands out to me as having some great branding. The little boutique is called Blush. Run by Michele Collins, former manager for Club Monaco, Blush is a little clothing boutique with high-end jeans and other garments along with Nine West and Enzo shoes. Maybe it was the influence of Club Monaco's great branding that helped Michele but whatever it was she has done something right. From the sign on the door to the little sticker on all of her white paper shopping bags she has thought it through. The all white interior of the store lends itself to showing off the clothes, and other accessories, perfectly. Her layouts and windows are always girly and inviting and even the manikin is all white. There are always little collages up with magazine featured clothes that she is carrying. You are guaranteed to find a fresh new vase full of flowers somewhere around the store. The curtains on the change rooms match the pink on the price tags. The quaint little sitting area has white leather chairs and a clear coffee table, adorned of course with some fresh flowers. Michele has great taste there is no doubt and she hasn’t gone over the top with girly ornamentation. She has done a great job and I am not the first to notice. Blush has been featured in a number of Canadian magazines such as Wish. It just goes to show that you don’t need to be a huge organization to have a great brand identity.

Double Message: Do not litter, We are the best

I am not really sure if this a real ad, because place in a bill... however, conceptually, i think is brilliant. They have put two ideas into one ad, one stronger than the other one, but still effective. The fact that they are a beer company and they have nothing to do with littering issues attracts your attention. But then the use of the pun "liter", i believe is just intelligent. As I mentioned before, i don't know about the display of the message, but i dont think it needs an image to be effective.

a delicious thai experience

Thai express is an outstanding brand. Not only are the meals delicious, but the overall look and style of the brand is amazing. The company has a great logo and colour scheme that is clean, fresh and intriguing. If ordering food to go it comes in a cardboard take-out container that always seems to appear in movies, but never real life. It is beautifully designed, matching their logo, signs and colour scheme. The box also features “the spicy girls”, three cartoon faces that describe the spiciness of the food you’ve ordered, mild, medium and hot. The containers are great, the branding is beautiful and the food is delicious.

www.thaiexpress.ca

Heineken Beer

Heineken has always been my favourite beer, but i have never really thought about its branding until recently. I realized that although a beer should really be judged for its taste and perhaps the advertising. However i think what Heineken did in terms of product branding has been pretty successful so far. While most beer bottles are brown or clear, Heineken chooses to make it out of green glass, which gave it some kind of freshness and novelty, that might spark a better image of partying as well as a crisp and clean taste. It's logo is a contrasting red, very simplistic and modern as opposed to the other beer brands often with more of a classical and noble looking logo. Nonetheless, the star logo has a bit of a military feel, thus showing the metaphor of the more reliable side of the brand in terms of quality.

Inspired by American Gangster's

The first video is a trailer for the new Ridley Scott crime film based on the life of Frank Lucas, a heroin drug lord from Harlem in the 1970's. Second video is Jay-Z's new single off his upcoming "concept album" American Gangster based on the film. Jay-Z has described all the tracks as being inspired by different scenes of the movie. Whether your a fan of rap or not, I think this type of cross-collaboration among ventures presents an interesting situation where either vehicle, the film or album, will increase awareness about the other. The Jay-Z album is not the official soundtrack to the film, but how people who buy his albums are now going to also go see the movie? How many moviegoers who love the story will now go pick up their first Jay-Z album?

Something New?

Everyday when I take the subway I find myself always staring at the same Dentyne Blast Chocomint gum advertisement. The idea of having chocolate pouring out of my minty gum for some reason grosses me out. When looking into it I found that Dentyne is part of the Cadbury Adams family, which make chocolate and chewing gum. Of course the obvious conclusion, just like any other company that is in the similar circumstance, is to put the two together. Other companies have done the exact same thing for example, razors with battery power to raise facial hair. Who really asked for chocolate in their gum? It made me think of what happened to the simpler days when chocolate and gum were separate, I know I might sound old when asking that, but companies seem to be out of ideas. Today they will literally mix any two of their existing products to make any type of crap and market it in some ‘brilliant’ way because they think consumers are stupid and will buy anything.

Mao Zseong as a brand

Mao Zseong was a Chinese military and political leader in 19th century in China. In 19th c. everybody wanted to worship him and think he was famous throught the whole century. As he dead in 1976, less and less people remember his face.
However, there are some artist paint his face into single tone color and make he as a brand later on. Therefore, right now has a Mao Zseong brand that it has many production such as t-shirt, watch and etc...The brand can make a famous person everlasting and memorize in human heart. Although the brand is not super famous, however I think the goal of memorial has been successfully build.

chocolate gum... its about time

At last Dentyne has come out with a chocolate lovers dream. Chocolate mint gum. When you think about modern society, with their weight cautions minds telling them not to eat chocolate, it only makes sense for a company to produce a product that has chocolate in it, however in large enough amounts to satisfy a craving, but in small enough amounts that it will not cause consumers running for the gym. One piece of gum is 5 calories and although the taste is quite dull, i find that it kills the chocolate craving. For all the chocolate mint lovers out there, give it a try... it may be all u need to last the day.

Brand Name Condoms

NIKE- just do it /// MCDONALDS- we love to see you smile/// CHEVY- like a rock /// PRINGLES - once you pop, you can't stop /// KFC- finger-lickin good /// BOUNTY- the quicker picker-upper /// M&M's - it melts in your mouth, not in your hands /// ENERGIZER - it keeps going and going...
So i was doing research for another project and came across this little gem. I thought it was pretty funny, apparently any tagline can work when you're talking about sex. So be careful next time you create a logo/tagline for a company!

Logo

The Chapman's Logo has recently changed to this one shown in the image. It originally depicted a girl and boy enjoying ice cream with the name "Chapman's" above them. I believe their new logo is better then their previous, however I do not think it captures the essence of the brand. I do not think it works for both older and younger generations. As of now, the ice cream appears traditional, yet the brand is known for their creative drive and being an innovator in the ice cream business. I believe they should once again work on a new identity. That is what I propose to do for Re-Brand.

Branding

I come to sudden realizatoin that everthing around me is branded. What I eat, drink, wear, write with, write on, listen to, toilet bowl, door knob, floor matt, my back pack, laptop, wallet, Candian money, key chain, soap, hair brush, shampoo, where I work out, school, internet service, phone, paint on my wall, and so on.. I'm covered with brands. In my definition, brand is a name. With all the names attached to my life, there is a thought only name I have for myself is my own name ( even which is given by my parents). And I came to re-think about my life goal as a designer (artist). What I'm trying to show, what I create will in someway represent myslef. Even if the design is for someone else, It is created by my hand, and has some sort of my insight into it, which are, in someway, representation of me ( work that has my name on it). My actions, someone else's brands I have chosen to wear will also contribute to my brand. How I live my life, is a practice of brand developing: Brand of Je Jun.

Geek Squad

Okay, so I think that Geek Squad's logo is awful ... BUT their overall identity is pretty interesting and cohesive. They've got the white shirts, black pants, blacks tie "geek" uniform, accompanied by the black and white, nerdy police car-looking VW Beetle (the "Geekmobile") and a mission to "alleviate the world's computer problems, educate people to fearlessly embrace technology and practice the art of human interaction" — they're a fusion between your average computer nerd and a tv cop. Their website includes joke job titles such as, Field Marshall, Secret Agent, Mole, Cadet, Air Marshall, etc. The identity is funny, lighthearted, nerdy but endearing, and effectively leeches off the stereotype that geeks are very good at fixing computers. And it's all very cohesive; their name, website, commercials, company cars, uniforms, etc. are all based around this funny, "nerdy cop," idea.

So thumbs up Geek Squad, your logo sucks but your website is pretty funny, your cars amuse me and I find your police-mocking hotline to be pretty hilarious ... well, as hilarious as a hotline can be.

Coffee Time Any Time

"Our promise is to serve a great cup of coffee each and every time. Along with a great cup of coffee, is your selection of fresh and great tasting choices for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Coffee Time is anytime. Our promise is also to ensure the same top quality friendly service across the world and to exceed customer expectations at every location."

In my own experience I believe Coffee Time is a great brand. Not because of the product they sell or their promise, in fact I think their coffee is pretty lousy, and most coffee times I’ve been to are pretty old and dingy. But the one thing I believe why they remain existing today is that they offer a great place to sit down to do something else rather than sipping on your coffee. It's a place where you would buy something and sit there to work on homework, hold study groups or read the newspaper for hours to waste without getting kicked out. Similar to Timmies, Coffee Time is Any Time and in my own eyes is the alternative home.

Sony Center, Rogers Center, Scotiabank Theater, Whats next... The Visa Tower?

I live in the GTA, Canadas Wonderland Area. No, I do not live in or on the mountain.
Living where I do I often wait for my trusty GO bus at union bus terminal.
Standing there waiting, I looked to my right and noticed something had changed.
The Hummingbird Center is now (and has been for a while) The Sony Center for the Performing Arts.
With the change name happening at OCAD, I became worried and a tad angry.
Will our school become a corporate sell out just as The Humingbird Center and the famous Skydome?
I understand that every institution needs funding to stay alive and offer stakeholders maximum value possible.
But should this include the assassination of a name?
The slaughter of a recognized brand and its values, those beliefs in which we bought in in the first place, to serve the fat pocketed suit?



I looked into the history of the Rogers Center and more so about the name, Skydome.
In 1987, when most of us were screeching out of the womb, a Province wide contest called citizens to submit names for the stadium. Skydome was chosen and the winner won lifetime seats to any event there.
The President of the Stadium Corp of Ontario commented, "The sky is a huge part of the whole roof process. The name has a sense of the infinite and that's what this is all about".

So this leaves me to wonder what the name is all about now? ....Sucking the teet of the corporate sponsor?

Getting back to ocad,
perhaps we will be Apple's* University for Art & Design. Perhaps not.
All I do know is that our interior does look like a giant iPod.



(*not an actual consideration)

Nokia

Nokia market share is increasing and the sales are shooting through the roof.
However, there was a demand for cheaper phones from vendors, it still boosted the third-quarter earnings at Nokia Oyj(Nokia Group). The world's biggest maker of cellular phones, result making its shares higher in value and price.

Although the phone prices fell, volume sales increased and profit margins improved due to cost controls, they also have a strong leadership in emerging markets such as China and India, which it has been fiercely defended.

Overall, Nokia's group global sales rose 28 percent to 12.9 billion euros ($18.4 billion USD in the third-quarter 2007.

I think the reason why they are doing so well in all aspects as a business, is the leadership in supply chain, manufacturing, distribution and brand. Also, from a brand perspective it is memorable,strong positioning and innovative products and concepts. Including the packaging design, stores, well designed and attractive phones. Nokia has made a mark in the cellular industry and is continue to grow at a rapid pace.

They sold over 112 Million phones, the current market share in the cellular industry is 39 % which is more that one third, dominating over the competitors such as Sony Ericsson's, NEC and others.


Nokia is going strong for now!!!

CBC logo

The logo of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)/Radio Canada is one of the most widely recognized symbols in Canada. This logo really represents the concepts of The CBC itself. When I saw the logo at first, it really caught my attention just because of the interesting shape of logo itself. The center image, a red circle draws your eye into it, gradually breaking down into smaller parts of the same circle. At the time, I did not even know what it stood for, but it was strong enough to catch my attention. Later I realized that outer circles represented broadcasting across the airwaves and I was like ‘wow! How could the designer come up with such a creative idea using so simple graphics?’ The logo is simplicity at its best, yet provides a strong concept. Unifying with red also represents the Canadian Flag colours of Red and White. In comparison to the previous one designed by Burton Kramer in 1974, current one is much better. The previous one was also strong; however, the sound waves appeared more as an Alphabet ‘C’. In addition, the original design had more rings and many colours, creating more of “busy” effect. Now it reveals a more modern sense, unifying, power and is very symbolic. The CBC logo is the best, and creates a sense of pride for Canada.

If there are any nerds reading my post they would certainly recognize this logo. This logo spawned an ENTIRE brand of video games that practically revolutionized the gaming industry with the unique gaming distribution method that required a person to only have a credit card and an internet connection. This also stopped video game piracy to a great extent because of the security feature of having to authenticate software every time a person wants to play a game. Valve itself has created great games and awesome anti-piracy tools that a lot of companies are using to distribute their games on. The brand itself has now grown to become one of the best video gaming developers on earth, even though it takes years for them to come out with new games.

Think out the box.

Not only does Nike, which is one of the biggest empires in existence today, have the best identity system work but they also have the simplest logo ever. Who ever guessed that the check mark sign will become the biggest identity icon today? Apart from that, the point i am trying to make is that as designers we have to discipline ourselves to continuously step out the box and think beyond the norm. As human beings, it is in our nature to find our comfort zones and stick to that zone as long as possible. We do not like stepping out of that zone until we are physically and emotionally forced to do so. This shouldn't be the case when it comes to being creative. I for one will admit that i am guilty of not stepping out the box sometimes when it comes to designing. I can notice that when I design, many similarities are present in some of my work and once I notice that, I change my style up right away and begin to think out the box. Let us all try to do that everytime we are faced with design problems. Starting from the whackiest ideas and working your way down is a good principle to keep in mind. Otherwise, we will never see another design breakthrough like the Nike "Swoosh".

Today is Transformers Tuesday

The much anticipated blockbuster movie, Transformers hits stores today! I’ve been counting down the days till its release. So over the weekend I was flipping through some flyers and I realized that this is going to be one of the biggest home video releases of the year. Retailers seem to be going all out to entice fans to spend money at their outlets by offering their own versions of exclusive collectors DVDs.

Transformers fans will have three different editions to choose from: a standard movie-only edition DVD, a two-disc special edition DVD, and a two-disc HD DVD edition. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Walmart is offering an exclusive 2-disc DVD set which includes the official unseen prequel to the feature film narrated by the voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen. While Best Buy is offering an exclusive Transformers DVD gift set which includes the 2-disc Special Edition DVD and Optimus Prime and Cliffjumper Robot Heroes figures. And at Futureshop, they are offering the 2-disc set in a collectors’ Steelbook case, where you can choose between an autobot version or a decpticon version.

There are a lot of versions but I am not going to list them all, so I will just talk about one more that peaked my interest. Target is offering perhaps the most unique tie-in, with an exclusive package that transforms! Yea, you heard right, it actually transforms from an unassuming DVD case into a 15” Optimus Prime. In the case it includes a 2-disc DVD set and an all-new Transformers comic book.

All these various promotional exclusive collectors’ DVDs are quite overwhelming for me as a consumer, but I think it’s a really great way to promote a DVD release, especially to fans, and it gives people incentive to buy the actual DVD rather than simply download the movie or get a pirated version. I’m sure that Transformers fans are debating which one to choose, but then again, why not collect them all?

Paramount, um Famous Players...Scotiabank Theatre?

I'm really confused about what's going on with the cinema empires these days. It used to be Cineplex and Famous Players. Then Cineplex bought Famous Players, and the latter became Cineplex Galaxy Theatres? And when did Paramount turn into Scotiabank Theatres (or was Paramount the same thing as Famous Players?). Anyways, I'm totally lost.
I'm not sure why Scotiabank is pimping it's namesake out so wholeheartedly these days. They already caught some backlash for the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche on this issue, and the theatre rebrand isn't helping matters. Seems a little desperate, I think. I mean, what does a bank have to do with movies anyways, and is it a ploy to score more customers away from other banks? If so, do you think simply attaching your company's name to a variety of commercial entities is going to accomplish this task? I'm not so sure. There is such a thing as over exposure, after all.
On a strict design level, the logo is flashy and dynamic for sure, but Scotiabank stands out as the most visually striking element. Shouldn't the theatre part come before the sponsor? Just a thought.

Creeps & Weirdos

While doing a research for another class I came across this ad online. General Motors had pressured local governments to eliminate public transit and put out this ad in a Vancouver paper in order to promote their own "affordable alternatives" to completely disregard the environment. In fact, the negative responses against the ad actually pressured the president of GM to write a formal apology.