Monday, April 30, 2007

Funky Souls

A useful free music download site. Although it is in Russian, once your a member and get the hang of navigating through the website, to the desired links, you can find some albums that are released months ahead. Check it out!!
funkysouls

Anzac day activities


While at the Union Hotel last Wednesday, i spoke to an old war vet with a few friends who was pissed as a twat and had a pocket ful of money (Two Up winnings) so we shouted him a beer. One of the best day's out of the year

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Monday, April 2, 2007

grp224 Reading Reflection Week 7

Lovemarks
- what makes some brands inspirational, while others struggle?
- lovemark – deliver beyond your expectations of great performance, reach your heart as well as your mind, we get attached to them
- think they reach your mind first and become a lovemark
- you have to have respect in a lovemark
- three three most influencial places to find a lovemark are on screen, online and in store
- on screen, creating that emotional connection
- online, the loyalty to a brand goes beyond reason, consumers have the ability to interact and respond to their product through forums, brand loyalty, membership, etc
- in store, all the senses are motivated, maybe why 80% of decisions are made in store and 50% of brand switches happen in store
- in a technologically motivated world, you would think it is easy to keep loyal customers, to see you as the only solution to their problem
- it’s easy to come up with a well thought out, spaced, creative, visually appealing brand, the hard part is making it attractive to customers

grp224 Reading Reflection Week 5

‘Text’ Column
- the organization of letters on a page, the most basic design principle but one of the hardest to effectively achieve
- what type of font, how big, alignment, spacing, order, shaped and manipulation
- these principles can be divided into three sections;
- letter, text and grid
- the importance of typography is underrated, and as a designer the importance of which has to be at the forefront of our minds
- something that I am only beginning to understand and construct/ understand in my mind

grp224 Reading Reflection Week 4

Revenge of the Brand
- What is branding? A logo or a trademark
- That thing you burn into cows is the answer. Rob Frankel is making the point that a brand has to differentiate itself so that prospective buyers don’t miss it
- Branding is not about getting your targets to choose you over your competition. Branding is about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem
- Branding is not about you. Branding is about them
- If the branding is wrong everything else is too
- Good brand vs. bad brand:
- delievers the message clearly, deliver the message clearly is the start of ta good brand
- communicates quickly, gets the message of the brand across quickly
- projects credibility
- strikes an emotional chord, technology + product, everyone has a connection with one or the other, it’s about the brands problems and the brands solution
- motivates the responent, motivates the responent to cross the line and buy their product
- creates a strong user loyalty, best brands are a mix of differentiation and compelling personality
- Advertising grabs their minds, branding gets their hearts

grp224 Reading Reflection Week 3

Reading Week 3

Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
- to suit the corporate identity of the museum designers created two logo’s with variations on them.
- intending to unite parents and children and the interactivity of the museum
- created variations on the logo to suit different situations (eg. Playground, lounge for parents)
- trademark rather than a logo, I think reflects the personality of the museum, adding a typeface would make it look to corporate

Metreon – A Sony Entertainment Centre
- global and local culture
- place to catch a movie, eat, play, shop, learn and spend time
- unique concept
- just shows how design is a ongoing, ever-changing process and the interaction the designer has with the client
- the client has the final say
- not necessarily a negative process, as a designer you work to a set criteria that you have to meet.

grp224 Reading Reflection Week 2

Reading Week 2 (Logo)

- a logo is a combination of a graphical element and it’s logotype ( typeface)
- should cause immediate recognition by the viewer
- is only one aspect of a brand or company
- iconic symbol

Aspects of a logo:
- logotype: text or abbreviated text
- icon: symbol/ brandmark
- Slogan?: description of the company

Effectiveness of a logo:
- should be unique
- functional and be the ability to be used in many different contents
- effective even under different sizing
- work in b/w, full colour, spot colour, halftone
- design principles
- one of the more important: represents the company

When designing:
- don’t go over the top
- use fewer colours
- avoid gradients
- alternatives in varying contexts

Reading Week 2 (Corporate identity)

- corporate identity: ‘persona’ of a corporation in accordance with it’s business objectives, usually by the use of branding and trademarks, generally amounting to a logo

Composed of 3 parts:
- Corporate design
- Corporate communication
- Corporate behaviour

Corporate visual identity consists of:
- provides an organization with visibility and recognisability
- symbolises an organization for external stakeholders, hence contributing to it’s image and reputation
- expresses the structure of an organization to it’s external stakeholders
- internal function of corporate visual identity, employees identification with the organization as a whole and specific departments