L337 P0575

My last blog for this school semester! It's been a eye-opening experience this past 1st year in the Graphic Design programme and I look forward to coming back and (not to mention) give more of an effort than I have as of late.

Anyway, the final design I have been itching to analyse is the Advertising Standards Canada campaign add for truth in advertising (which is, in fact, full of awesome). I cannot help but be highly amused and inspired by the fact that this add pretty much breaks a lot of design principles (as in business, too many visuals, etc), but makes it's point so obvious and clear but you can't help but remember it... not to mention that by breaking the rules makes this add so awesome and effective! The elaborate drawings of unicorns, doughnuts, cute monsters, and other fancy nonsense "dresses" the add up in making it complex and almost over-the-top. They've dressed up their add so ridiculously that it uses humour and exaggeration to make the message clear, which is why it's quite easy to remember and understand without asking questions about what it's about. Not to mention captures your eye with some captivating eye-candy!

Here is another example of this designer's work for ASC (in all it's awesomeness):

Everyone's seen the Fido logo before. I find that the company did a fine job in representing their company's name visually, using the drawn dog house besides some Helvetica font. One wouldn't necessarily associate dogs or dog houses with phones, it allows to give the consumer the ability to visually relate something to the company so that they may remember it. For example their commercials tend to use dogs in relation to their "dog house" logo, and not to mention Fido is also a name for a dog.

I must admit it is a good logo, the letter-spacing is done quite well, and the yellow doghouse stands out against the white and contrasts the black as well. Not to mention their use of white space allows the logo to stand out more. Sadly I couldn't get the whole design; however I managed to get enough to support that example.

A Vietnamese restaurant isn't really the type of place to find good graphic design; however, there is one located here in Nanaimo behind Costco called "Pho Boi", which specialises in traditional Vietnamese Pho (beef) soups. It's one of my favourite restaurants since it opened and offers good food at low prices... I went there for lunch earlier today and noted how well done the menus were (sadly I didn't have my camera at the time), and decided to check out their website, which is what I am going to discuss.

The home page of the website looks like this:

A cable-box instruction manual for Shaw struck me with some really good design. I've always liked their style and they strive to be different, and something as simple as an instruction manual for a PVR wasn't overlooked by their designer(s) either.

Over this strike session I've found myself becoming quite the alcoholic; however, thankfully my tastes are expensive enough to find some decent packaging.

Heineken Brouwerijen, located in Amsterdam Holland produces the famous --obviously-- Heineken beer. Since it's popular enough and not your cheap, piss-water American beer (not to mention how beer to Germanic Europe is like wine to the French) they took some time and effort in making their boxes look appealing.

In an article written by Beatrice Warde in 1932, Miss Warde compares good wines to good typography, quoted: "almost all the virtues of a perfect wine glass have a parallel in typography".

She begins by asking the reader whether or not they would select an elaborate golden grail or a delicate, pure wine glass that is crystal clear and colourless to drink their wine from. She claimed that, at the time, most people would chose the elaborate goblet, rather than the clear thin glass because it is the sensation of drinking the wine out of something so expensive and rich. She says that only a few would chose the thin delicate wine glass to drink from, the "vanishing tribe. . . [of] the amateurs of fine vintages", because those are the people who would rather see the beauty of the contents, then dress it up to make it look appealing.
The structure of the glass in which you drink the wine from is as important as the structure of the page in which you type the words on. If there is no structure in the glass, the wine will spill; if there is no structure in the page, the type will not be balanced. I think her ideology is very interesting and quite applicable. Fine wine lovers would definitely relate to the fact that a wine glass can even effect the taste of the wine, and to see the colour of the wine is equally as important. Basically, to be De Stijl about this, abstracting or simplifying the wine to its purest form without any decoration reveals how beautiful and elegant it is on its own. The same with type.

 The design in which I chose to do (as seen above) incorporates this quote with a fine font, and a glass of fine wine; it is attempting to be simple, using merely type and a stock image of a wine glass found on google... plus some added vignetting for a more "elegant" feel.... although my typography could be fixed somewhat.

Okay, so maybe most wont understand this play on words. But when I saw this it made me laugh. I love how Norwegians play with the word Helvetica, as it is extremely close to their word "Helvete", which translates to Hell. Yes. The realm of Lucifer, where the eternal fires burn and the smell of brimstone stinks the air as the torturous screams of sinners can be heard forevermore --- I don't think that really reflects helvetica. But anyways. :P

I will have to admit I did not get out much at all during this break. Upon leaving school to go and hide in a dark room for a week, I managed to snap a picture of some wonderful helvetica type, only to find my phone glitching and croaking in time of need. Curse you, technology. I guess I have to stick with these button pins.

So I guess I have no choice, and hopefully I am allowed to do this, I will analise these two witful Norwegians and their Helvetica buttons. Helvetes Helvetica translates roughly to many meanings in English: "Damn Helvetica, F***king Helvetica, and Helvetica of Hell." I think perhaps many of us designers have such mutal feelings when it comes down to the love-hate relationship we have with this font.