logo design trend

By browsing the magazines, books (inside and out), album covers, web sites, go for window shopping, we can tell what is the trend in graphic design. Just a few minutes ago, when I googled “trend of logo design”, there was an article which caught my attention with the headline “The Year’s Hottest Logo Design“. Who doesn’t want to know about the trend and apply that in our design projects? Especially when most our clients tell us what they want after checking their competitors having a “trendy” design.

With the fast growth of the mobile device, almost everybody can go online and check info about a company, a product, stay in touch with friends, etc. We can now read a book or magazine from our iPad, Kindle, or Nook, etc more frequently than we actually holding those print materials. There was a tweet by Newsweek Education mentioned that textbooks are going digital.

This article about the trend of logo design has classified the logos into 5 different categories:

1. Pixel
2. Cubist
3. Spores
4. Hexahedron
5. Parts

The following logos are the examples from the pixel group:

Logo examples: Eight a.m. Brand Design for C2 MEDICAL SPA, Eightday Studio for Antioch Community Church Norman, Gyula Nemeth for HD City, Andrei D Popa for City Tower

Click and check for more examples for the Year’s Hottest Logo Design: http://flavorwire.com/107730/the-years-hottest-logo-trends

By looking at those logo design trends, I was asking myself “How about the print outs?”. There are some comments about the colorful new trend of logo design looks nice on web, but not print friendly. I remember that when I was teaching logo design. I told my students that however a logo looks like, a good logo design should be effective both in colors and in black and white. I wonder, if those “colorful” logos are in black and white, how effective will they stay?

So, I go back to our traditional teaching and was happy to find some common ground at Logo Design Love: (here’s the link for the article: http://www.logodesignlove.com/free-logo-design-love-book-chapter)

Here are the ideas:

From pencil to PDF

• Mind-mapping
• The fundamental necessity of the sketchpad
• The Tenth Commandment
• Pinning the map
• Internationally recognized
• No set time
• Dress for success
• Black and white before color
• Where Photoshop comes into play
• The pen is mightier than the mouse

sketch book

I used to keep a sketch book with me wherever I go in case I have a thought and I need something to write on. I call it “visual diary” because I draw, doodle, brainstorm, jot notes with it. Besides, that’s how we call it when I was in university studying design. It’s not just a sketch book, it contains the visual ideas. We don’t just sketch. We were highly recommended to have one with us any time. I would feel very uncomfortable if I don’t have mine with me. I hate jotting things on a piece of paper, even a scrap paper, then lose it. So, even if I write something on a scrap paper, I’d stick it into my visual diary and extend my thoughts later on. I also stick labels peeled from a banana, just to keep the graphic and text on top of it, a train ticket as a souvenir, or even candy wrapping paper for me to look at the graphic design later on.

Since having a visual diary means lots of visual possibilities, I also introduced that to my students. Some of them make very good use of their visual diary and make it a very enjoyable sketch book to read later on.

Diary? Definitely! I love to work on my “sketch books” every day. When I visited my cousin and the boyfriend in Australia and traveled in Beijing some years ago, I had a whole sketch book for each trip. Although those 2 trips got me 2 small sketch books, they brought me many good memories and ideas for the trip.

Although I don’t draw, doodle, jot notes, … as frequent as I used to be, I still think that drawing on a sketch book is an important process in design. To visualize what is in our mind will make an important and good starting point in our design process, even in our other projects.

Take a look of Daniel Weil´s sketch book for his ideas on his “visual diary”.

dinner comment

My boyfriend, Charles, and I had dinner with my parents and my brother to celebrate my mom and my brother’s birthdays last Saturday. I googled and at the same time used the Open Table app at the iPad to look for a nice Italian restaurant serving pizzas at the North End. Finally I got one Italian restaurant, Antico Forno, serving with traditional brick oven pizzas (I was surprised to find that not many Italian restaurants serve pizzas though). The restaurant seemed having a pretty good review from the diners. So, I guess it’s a pretty good choice. Instead of placing my reservation through opentable.com, I decided to call the restaurant, just to make sure that they aware that I was planning to have a birthday dinner for my mom and my brother over there, and I was expecting a nice table to be reserved. Besides, I wanted to check if their cake is big enough to serve as a birthday cake or I need to bring my own.

The food at Antico Forno was not bad. My parents, my brother, Charles and I all enjoyed the brick oven baked pizza with homemade Italian sausage very much. In fact, the food in general was fine. We had soup, pizza, risotto and meat ball pasta. However, we were not very satisfied about the service at the restaurant.

First of all, the receptionist seemed having no idea that I have called for a table for 5. Although she has checked the list for my name which she has at her hands at the entrance, she still thought I booked a table for 2.  She was about to bring my boyfriend and me to a table, but then I immediately told her that I’ve actually booked a table for 5. Then, she asked us to wait at the bar.
I thought by the time we got there, we would be directed to the reserved table. However, they asked us to wait at the bar for the table to be set. Okay, that’s fine. I suppose the restaurant was too busy to get that ready. But, the point is, after waiting for about 5 minutes, and seeing those walk-ins got their tables already, we felt like it’s no point to call and reserve a table. So, we asked how long we still needed to wait.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, we finally got a table. But, wait. Right at the entrance?! I thought they would set us a table at a more cozy environment as I’ve called and made my point clearly that I was expecting a nice table for the birthday dinner, rather than in the middle of the heavy traffic by the entrance.

So, another 5 minutes or so, we were finally settled at a table right in front of the brick oven. I felt better about this arrangement. But then, our waitress wasn’t smart enough to handle a party of 5 especially when there are guests celebrating their birthdays.

Throughout the dinner, she wasn’t very attentive. She ignored us a few times before we could place our order after we settled. She even had a pretty rude tone to tell us that she’d “be right back” after the 4th time we asked for her for orders.
So, when it comes to the time for dessert, we asked her to bring the cake out. Out of our surprise, she said she didn’t know about the cake. She said she’d go ask for that. Oh well, I mean, if she really didn’t know about the cake, wouldn’t it sound better if she kept her smile to us and say, “Sure, I’ll bring it out.” Then, asked others if they know about that. She didn’t deserve a big tip.

Okay, here came the cake. Instead of coming over to say the birthday song with us at the table, that waitress went away and did something else. Hello, wouldn’t it be nice if you could come over, or even bring your friends to come sing with us? There was another table having birthday party like us on the same night. Look at other waiter serving that table, he’s smart enough to sing with the guest by the table.

When we got the bill, the 20% tip was included in the bill for we were having a party of 5, regarding a big group at the restaurant. I mean, I don’t mind giving a big tip. But the point is, if they expect a big tip for a big group because they need to cater the guest with more time and service, show me those! Then, I’ll be more than happy to come again with a big group for dinner.

Since my reservation wasn’t done through opentable.com, I wasn’t eligible to give my comments over there. That’s too bad. I can only “yak” here at my blog and hoping someone can read my comment for Antico Forno at the North End, Boston.

Ghost Town

 

a foot deep of snow

After the blizzard back in December 2010. We have had another one today. So, no work for today. Another home working day. Almost everyone in town stayed home, which made the town very quiet. When Charles and I were trying to check how much snow we had this morning from mid-night last night, we were surprised to see a foot deep of snow by the back door. Guess what? It was still snowing and didn’t reach it’s peak until lunch time. So, we didn’t go to shovel until late afternoon. By then, it’s already up to our knees! The whole neighborhood was still very quiet. Just like a ghost town.

ghost town in Boston

1/11/11

Today is the birthday of my brother. I always think that it’s kind of cool to have the month and the date the same number on his birthday. We went to watch the Celtics yesterday evening. Although they lost the game, my brother, Charles, some friends from the church and myself enjoyed being at the Garden.

Speaking about my bro’s bday, it’s even more meaningful when it reaches the year of 2011. It becomes the magic combination: 1/11/11.

In fact, the article about today, having five 1s, at the Washington Post I read today about this special day speaks what I was thinking about. It is an interesting combination. In fact, as a graphic designer, I can play around with the coincidence of the numbers and characters to be appeared on the same page.

May everyone can take this chance to think about what we have planned to do on 1/1/2011 and get ourselves re-motivated. I especially give all my regards to my Charles and wish his dreams come true.

“And don’t worry. If today winds up being just another average day, you can try again on Nov. 1 and Nov. 11, 2011, or 11/1/11 and 11/11/11. It’s triple the all-one fun this year.”

Religious Items

I am a Catholic. And I was baptized when I was a baby.

Naturally (I guess), I have received prayer cards and holy cards from my parents, God mother and friends. I especially like those with traditional designs. I don’t know why, but maybe I am a pretty nostalgic kind of person, I prefer historical and traditional designs when I am picking up a Mass card or a prayer card.

One of my current design projects is coming up a few baptism Mass card designs. I was searching for references from the website of Liturgical Publications, Inc. and allposters.com. Good thing about allposters.com is, they have very nice traditional images and paintings for reference and purchase.

baptism lace holy card from the Catholic Company

The Baby Baptism Lace Holy Card from the Catholic Company is probably one of my all-time-favorite styles. I like the lace around the card which gives a warm, feminine and delicate feel of the card. Another characteristics is that these kind of baby baptism cards are all in pastel colors.This kind of design matches the warm and tender feeling of a new born.

However, I was fascinated by the modern design from zazzle.com. The baby sheep creates a very good symbol for a baby baptism card. I guess it’s coz zazzle.com is not a religious company. They have all kinds of gifts and apparels. Their designs are more modern. Although I am a big fan of religious items in traditional designs, I enjoy the witty, modern images applied in the religious items.

I am going to make a church program cover design for my God-daughter for her wedding in the church. The young couple is expecting a taste of modernism.

dancing living house

'dancing living house' by a.l.x. in yokohama, japan

(left) drive way, (right) street view

At the first glance of this Dancing Living House designed by A.L.X. Junichi Sampei in Yokohama, Japan. The pure white caught my eyes. The modern style displayed by the house reminds me Villa Savoye designed by Le Corbusier, a French architect, who was renowned with his idea of a house is a machine to live in.

The minimal design streamlined the shape of this dancing living house. It looks like a cube with a corner being cut out. There are no long strip of ribbon windows in this house, as those appear at Villa Savoye. However, the cropped corner and the glass floor create a good source of sun light from outside to the interior. Besides, the pure white color throughout the house plays an essential role in reflecting the light.

Take a look of Villa Savoye, one of the famous design from Le Corbusier. Then, you’ll see the similarities and the beauty of simplicity from both buildings. I’ve cited the key ideas from Boston College here.

LeCorbusier — Villa Savoye

exterior of Villa Savoye

• modulor design — the result of Corbu’s researches into mathematics, architecture (the golden section), and human proportion
• “pilotis” — the house is raised on stilts to separate it from the earth, and to use the land efficiently. These also suggest a modernized classicism.
• no historical ornament
• abstract sculptural design
• pure color — white on the outside, a color with associations of newness, purity, simplicity, and health (LeCorbusier earlier wrote a book entitled, When the Cathedrals were White), and planes of subtle color in the interior living areas
• a very open interior plan
• dynamic , non-traditional transitions between floors — spiral staircases and ramps
• built-in furniture
• ribbon windows (echoing industrial architecture, but also providing openness and light)
• roof garden, with both plantings and architectural (sculptural) shapes
• integral garage (the curve of the ground floor of the house is based on the turning radius of the 1927 Citroen)

Last Kodachrome Prints Marks a New Decade

Last Kodak Kodachrome Prints Developed in Kansas | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

I was reading this article at PCMag.com and witnessing a new decade of photography. I used to take photos with my single lens reflex camera, and got the photos developed. The excitement of getting the photos to be developed and see how they look like in the end is fun.

About 10 years ago, I started to use a digital camera for photos because it’s more convenient to edit the image at the computer and get the image into a design at various design programs at the computer. Indeed, the instant image we get from a digital camera could be one of the reasons which change our habit in photo-taking.

A month ago, I was reading Time magazine about the death of telegram 2 years ago. And today, I read another article about the end of Kodachrome. For better or for worse? It seems sad for those who are nostalgic enough for prints. It’s kind of a missing. That’s why there is a website to pay tribute to the contribution that Kodachrome had in the photography industry. http://www.kodachromeproject.com/ However, at the same time, I see evolution.

Developing photos becomes something like an art and craft thing or DIY that if you have the time and the tools, you can do it yourself at home. Unfortunately, developing color photos are not as easy as developing black and white ones.

Happy New Year, continued

Everybody seems to be out-of-town for the new year weekend. Charles and I got lots of room when we were at the dancing floor last night. The church wasn’t as full as usual this morning. There are also lots of parking spaces every where we went.

Except the shopping mall.

In fact, when we got to the shopping mall, we were surprised to see all the shopping carts were gone at the entrance. At Target, there weren’t any shopping carts available; at Stop ‘n’ Shop, none. That is a sign of many shoppers are doing their post-holiday shopping. Charles said it’s coz most people are out of food after the holidays. At the same, I would say, this is capitalism. It’s all about buying and purchasing. We ended up buying a few things in the mall. And I felt so exhausted just to shop around.

It’s happy to get what we need. At the same time, I need a happy new year nap after we got home.

2011

Just within a blink, it’s already 2011. Remember Y2K? We are already 11 years after Y2K. There have been lots of changes in the past 11 years, and of course, in the year 2010. I have got lots of things I have put at the to-do list. Some of them have been accomplished, some of them are carried on to 2011. And, life goes on. But, I have to say that there are things I haven’t planned to do at the beginning of 2010. However, things turned out pretty good. In fact, I would say, they are one of those unforgettable moments in my 2010.

May 2011 a brighter year, a more peaceful and lovable one. I have already done a few doodles today. I should draw more in 2011. Let’s hope for the best.