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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.

I know my blog is extremely late of posting.

The philosophy of Dadaism is completely opposite of De Stijl. Dadaism is basically anarchy on paper; an abstract meaning behind it either being obvious or lost within chaos. De Stijl is structured, well ordered and almost fascist in it's limit; however, De Stijl has a simple and abstract quality that makes it extremely universal. The ways that Dadaism and De Stijl utilised abstraction were totally different but for a similar purpose. Perhaps that is why Theo Van Doesburg was in on the Dadaist movement even though he was completely opposite.

 The quote I chose was said by Piet Mondrian, "Trees... how ghastly!" It humoured me greatly because this is exactly what de Stijl is all about. Using Dadaist ideas of combining David Suzuki with this quote was extremely opposite and random of his motives... I don't know.  And yes I know there's a stroke on the letters. I did this last minute because I was too focused on my essay and forgot. Oh well.

So we were supposed to combine the styles of William Morris and Peter Behrens and create an add for an energy efficient light bulb.

Researching both artist's work I tried to get a sence of their two seperate styles and how I would intertwine them into my own. I found these two examples:

But this is not about the Battlestar Galactica Starbuck. This is my Victorian Era inspired Starbucks coffee logo with the twin-tailed siren. I decided to draw her not abstract and cheerful because people wanted to romanticise imagery in the Victorian era; and yes, I know she looks really stoned.

I used some Victorian Style fonts that I got off google, and some fancy borders... and I kept the stars around the word coffee to balance it out a little more (it looked strange without them).

Well, it might seem like I am being lazy by taking Woodgrove Centre's design into consideration; however, as of recently, (it might have been more than recently since I do not get out much) the Mall decided to re-design their look from this:

The design change is quite drastic, going from streamlined and bold to subtle, soft and stylish.  However, when I first walked by this not too long ago I thought that it was a good transformation and rather liked their new revised look. Their website www.woodgrovecenter.com and all their advertisements now mirror this look and seem to work well compared to the old design they were using, and seem to have a sort of "naturalistic" and simplistic quality. The design looks like it would catch the eyes of women more than men, which isn't surprising for a mall since men don't necessarily like shopping (I don't mean this literally, I am a woman who hates shopping).
It also for some reason makes me think of home and beauty stores (which Woodgrove centre has a good handful of). Such as those shops that sell lotions and soaps and have a strange, pungent oder that reeks to the other side of the shopping centre (much like those Asian specialty import stores).  On the other hand most women like going in those shops I guess, so it possibly opens doors to young and old health and beauty conscious women.

The design also makes you think of nature and the shopping centre is aiming to be more environmentally friendly. Perhaps this also contributes to the way that people will perceive the mall, as being environmentally friendly, warm, and welcoming (and smelling nice).

Although it does look inviting and friendly, on an unserious note it might be too inviting; Woodgrove Centre is still full of those irritating teenagers who think that loitering in a mall and being obnoxious is more important than being productive... I guess you can't get the Hoodies away from malls anyway, it is as possible as time travel. (Time travel is possible but getting yourself into the fourth dimension is not an easy ordeal).

Here goes my first attempt. My fingers begrudgingly begin to type this blog entry despite my knowledge that it is a mandatory effort; Not to mention that I must complete it to receive marks for it. As well as to actually find the will to write it in the dullness of a Monday afternoon in Nanaimo.

Nanaimo greatly lacks excitement and anything stimulating; its dull encampment of mundane flatness seems to be completely void of any source of inspiration. I never thought I would come by much good design here in Nanaimo. Of course, I wasn't really opening my eyes to design, I was sitting hunched over a computer screen playing computer games, and the only thing I was gaining from it was the ability to say I need a life.

Although I still waste more time than I actually spend it doing things I am supposed to, I will just get to the facts and shut up about myself. Nanaimo does produce some good quality work, even if you have to go digging for one you like. This Nanaimo Arts Council poster was eye-catching to me for some reason, which I found, being lazy, on Google Image Search because I live quite far away from anything interesting. The imagery is simple; the radiating orange-yellow and yellow jagged bars create liveliness and draw your eye to the ink splat from the graphic pen. Pointing upward, the pen draws your eye, to the logo for the Nanaimo Short Fiction Contest; the shapes also radiate outward to move you through the poster which really makes this design appealing.


One thing that did bug me about this poster is the typography. At the top the type is legible; however, at the bottom you can hardly read it. It looks so small that one must use a bloody magnifying glass to see it. Despite its flaws, I still like it. It seems pop-art themed and modern. Simplistic, but it gets down to the point. I guess I will end that here for now before I projectile text-vomit across this webpage. Speaking of imagery...

Noobier than the first time I played World of Warcraft... or was it Call of Duty Black OPS? That was noobier I think... O___e