I Can Haz Alka Seltzer?

It's official, LOLcats have entered the mainstream advertising sphere. This ad for Alka Seltzer turned up on Fredrik Samuel's blog. The caption actually fits in line with the whole LOLcat mode of copywriting (if I may use that term loosely). Here's a link to the …

10 Most Outrageous Airline Fees

The other day I wrote about how American Airlines has begun to charge travelers for their first piece of baggage. Well, The Consumerist went one step further and has put together a run-down of the ten most outrageous airline fees.

Reading between the lines we have to …

Learning Stuff: Dave Cross's Photoshop Seminar

I took a day 'off' to attend a Photoshop Seminar at the Javitz here in New York. Now, clearly I'm quite handy in Photoshop (still training for my ACE, btw), but I knew that with Dave Cross running the show, I was bound to learn a thing or two. And I did.

The seminar …

Internet Brands Personified

I have talked about my branding philosophy and how I believe that brands are the human elements of non-human entities, like companies. In this internet video, that philosophy comes to life as a number of popular web companies are brought to life, to force an …

Pentagram Black Book unboxing

Today I got my copy of the Pentagram Black Book, which made its way around the blogosphere a few weeks ago. I, being not that important, only received one because I was quick enough to email in and request one. Lucky me!

Plain brown cardboard, perfectly sufficient. And …

Ira Glass on Taste, Storytelling

I don't think I've ever stated it on this blog, but I'm a huge fan of This American Life and host Ira Glass. This clip came to me via Ira himself (via Twitter) and it's great.

Watch this clip and replace "stories" and "writing" with "projects" and "design." The …

Airlines Continue to Nickel-and-Dime Customers

Showing once again that gigantic national airlines are bad ideas, American Airlines has announced that will charge travelers $15 for their first bag checked into luggage. That's right, the first bag. Although airlines have been charging for second and third bags, or in …

Marks & Spencer to sell branded products

Marks & Spencer, the supermarket, has exclusively carried their own brand products for almost 50 years, but now they're announcing that they will carry branded products like regular supermarkets. This is significant because Marks has implied, by carrying solely their …

Credit Where Credit is Due

Today I have the unexpected honour of being heavily quoted in an article on CreditCards.com. The author, Emily Starbuck Gerson, discusses celebrity credit cards, and why they generally don't work. She interviewed me and I provided some memorable lines like this:

Having …

Design For Fun #1: GeekBrief.tv logo

Welcome to a new initiative I'm tentatively calling "Design for Fun." The premise is simple: We as designers certainly enjoy what we do, but as we become more and more involved in a our work, we find it harder and harder to muster motivation for side projects, personal …

Drumming Gorillas and the D&AD Drama

This is already a few days old, but I want to let you all know what's going on.

The D&AD is a professional society for design, which also provides education and training, and also runs the massively popular and hard-to-win awards contest every year. Winning a D&AD …

GE to kill the GE brand.

General Electric is one of the most popular makers of consumer appliances. Ovens, toasters, washing machines, you know the stuff. But they're now preparing to sell off the appliance division of the company and concentrate on being a corporate conglomerate.

Here's the …

Branding Harvard

What would you do if you were charged to re-design the logo for the most prestigous university in the Western Hemisphere? That's exactly what Boston Magazine asked several Boston-based design firms in their latest issue. Also in the spotlight are Boston schools MIT and …

eBay forcing PayPal on buyers

eBay has encouraged it's buyers and sellers to use its subsidiary pay service, PayPal for quite some time. PayPal is fast, easy, integrated nicely with eBay and even includes some dispute-resolution channels. It has a lot of plusses, but some folks still prefer money …

I Hate My Voice

This week, I had the honour of being a guest host on Freelance Radio, the official podcast of FreelanceSwitch.com. Yes, I am somewhat reluctant in my freelance career, but in 2+ years of freelancing (plus all the other stuff), I'd like to think I've acquired some …

Microsoft store in Brooklyn?

Remember when I told you about Microsoft's possible retail venture and how it's generally an awful idea? Well, as it happens, Microsoft looked into retail space right here in Brooklyn, on the ground floor of the Williamsburg Savings Bank Building.

Gothamist has the …

WTF Wednesday: Chrysler Pays for Fuel

In the desperate pandering-to-customers-in-spite-of-the-inevitable-results move of the day, Chrysler, the other ailing American auto-maker, is offering a fuel card which ensures that drivers will never pay more than $2.99/gal for 3 years!

The obvious response is wow! …

How to sink a brand?

Here's something to ponder, what's the worst thing that can happen to a brand? What's the fastest way to alienate customers, deflate investors, and piss off the industry?

Here's a few off the top of my head:

o New logo

o Change of packaging

o New CEO

o CEO who has …

NYC Museum of Arts & Design, unveiled

If you're like me, you've simply grown to ignore that mess of scaffolding around Columbus Circle. But lo and behold that the Museum of Arts & Design is finally unfurled for all to see. The new exterior look is not without its criticism, which is appropriate, I suppose. …

Collection of Vintage and Retro Designs

This turned up the other day on the always-lovely Smashing Magazine. If you're like me and your just utterly turned on by retro and vintage art/design, have a look.

Ads, posters, illustrations, etc. and modern stuff which harkens back to that.

oo Post Here