The World Art Director

I hope you will forgive the rather academic example of "good branding", which I'm about to give, but I feel that FedEx definitely deserving of a mention here.

You see, FedEx was the first brand that "clicked" for me. Maybe it's because of my technical background (rather than an artistic background), but before then, I had never really thought of a brand as clever. The moment I saw the forward moving arrow between the "E" andthe "x" was almost like finding gold. It was then that I really understood the need for companies to have solid branding.

The FedEx logo was designed by Linden Leader of LeaderCreative. After checking out their website, I recognized other brands which I'm quite fond of as well. I was only able to find one interview with Linden online, but it certainly is a good one. Be sure to read his response on being asked if the logo is too refined.

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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:31:19 -0700

I'm not much of a movie critic, so I won't even pretend to be one now. That said, I just watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and I've just got a new favorite Bogart movie.

I've never seen Bogart this way; simply a stellar performance. If you've never seen the film, I would recommend you add it to the top of your queue.

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Duane Reade Prescriptions

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:18:00 -0700

Duane Reade proudly boasts in a recent campaign that their prescriptions are easier to get than taxis. While I like the simplicity and direction of this advert, I have to wonder if the copywriter has ever been to midtown.

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Postcards and Dentistry

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:12:38 -0700

Close your eyes.
Imagine an advertisement for a dentist.
What do you see?

Did you say "A photo my buddy took of the Brooklyn Bridge?" If so, you'd be right.

Here's a tip to anyone doing advertising: Hire a professional designer, not your buddy who just bought a digital SLR.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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A NEW way to remove hair... and shrink your feet

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:50:22 -0700

Smooth Away,

Do me a favor please: get shoes that fit your leg model. I can't tell if this is an advert for hair removal or if you are advertising foot binding services.

Thanks.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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window.onload is so 1.0

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:49:41 -0700

There's nothing more frustrating than a computer application that gets in my way. Today, Google has made my shit list.

I recently switched back to Firefox from Safari (which I'm not happy about, but that's another post) and haven't gotten around to setting my home page to a blank page yet. To be honest, I don't really mind the Firefox-branded Google page, it's pretty handy to have a search engine at your fingertips when your browser loads. What's not handy though, is if you already start typing in the browser's search box (top right of the image) and then when the load event fires the focus is violently jerked away from the browser's input and into Google's. How selfish.

And that's not even the worst of it. GMail's login screen is possibly my least favorite of them all. I've lost count on how many times I've typed in my email address, tabbed down to the password, only to have GMail's slow-ass window.onload even fire causing my cursor to be back into the login box. The best part is that half of my password is usually shown in plain text as a result.

Way to go Google.

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The louder the better.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:58:00 -0700

Anyone see NYC JCP's latest campaign? It's pretty hard to miss if you're a New Yorker. You'll recognize the adverts as the white-on-red billboards that are all over subways and buildings. I think this has got to be the worst one all summer.

Lets forget the fact that the ads are overscaled, oversaturated, and the copy is weak and meaningless. The whole ad feels flat and lacks any sort of message other than, "Look at our big bright-as-shit logo!"

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Ok so maybe I can't let the details go…

Listen, I understand that there's some degree of stretching involved, but the JPEG artifacting is too obvious. If you ask me, this is unforgivable. It's worse than the Wolverine poster for the last X-Men movie.

Contrast is certainly a good thing in the advert space, but for Christ's sake, don't oversaturate your layers! I think this designer must have been over-excited because he figured out that masks come free with all adjustment layers!

And here's another hint, if you put bold-ass adverts up in the subway, make sure you aren't competing with the exit signs; you may confuse the tourists.

And the copy… Imagine the eurekaa moment the art director had when they found out the letters N, Y, and C are in "JC Penny." S/he must have thought that was the most clever thing this season. Kudos!

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Attention to detail just isn't enough

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:09:00 -0700

I found this little gem on a recent trip to the washroom in my favorite Belgian restaurant. Somebody took the time to not only think of the appropriate copy for this message, but also decided play with the alignment a bit.

Now this reads a bit more like a poem. Allow me to help you read it properly:

Please don't...
Throw.
Any.
Paper into the...
Toilet.

That's deep folks.

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Eco-Friendly My Ass

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:07:53 -0700

I love it when people jump on causes for marketing and PR purposes because it's usually so obvious it's funny.

The cafe I'm in now fooled me until I ordered today's coffee and it came in this incredible disposable cup. I wonder how eco-friendly the manufacturer is who put those resources together... Either way, this cafe sure gives them a lot of business.

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