News – Page 13 – FreeAssociates

Colbert’s Quintessential Art Rant

As far as I’m concerned, Stephen Colbert is a comedy genius. So when I finally managed to watch my TiVo’d pre-holiday episodes of the Colbert Report and heard this hilarious take on two of my pet peeves — politically motivated pandering and self-indulgent fine art analysis — I just had to post it.

I can’t embed the video here, but click the image (or this link) and watch the clip. The part I’m referring to starts about 02:50 into the segment. Man, what writing!

Stephen Colbert slamming Eric Cantor and art criticism in one hilarious combination punch

Everything but the squeal

You know the old phrase about pigs, right? Well Christien Meindertsma has taken it upon herself to track exactly what happens in the afterlife of a typical pig. Amazingly, our polluting porcine companions are a phenomenal source of everything from cosmetic ingredients to heart valves to the glue that holds sand to sandpaper. This fascinating TED talk may help you transcend your secret wish that every healthy food item came wrapped in bacon. It already kind of does.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRETz2F-heQ]

And as for “using every part of the pig but the squeal,” well, here are a couple of uses for even that:

Squeal:

Oink:

A very geeky Christmas

As Leo Laporte correctly pointed out, this is not one of those moments where the musicians are using a cell phone just to get a weird sound. This is (mostly) real music, and sounds like it. Pretty cool. Geek out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DJddb73OOQ&feature=player_embedded]

Negativity: not always a bad thing

We designed this logo for The Arthritis Center at Encino Hospital. Negative space defines the afflicted hand, while positive space creates the healthy one.

I recently discovered a nice post on Irish designer David Airey’s blog, Logo Design Love. It’s a collection of 35 logos that make effective use of negative space.

For you non-designers, negative space is the “empty” space within a design. It can create its own shape and therefore can carry a secondary meaning, add interest and sometimes sneak in a subliminal message that makes all the difference in the effectiveness of a logo.

You know how, when someone says “Don’t think of an elephant,” you immediately think of an elephant? It’s a bit like that. The FedEx logo is a wonderful example. At first, most people don’t notice the right-facing arrow formed by the negative space between the “E” and the “x”. But once you see it, you can’t not see it. And it fuses the logo into your brain. (Interestingly, when it was presented to top management, CEO Fred Smith was the only person in the group to spot the arrow immediately.)

That kind of visual interest adds resonance, which is something we strive for in our own brand identity designs.

How We Decide

Why did I decide to go to Peets this morning instead of Starbucks? Why am I writing this blog post instead of focusing on a client’s project, catching up on invoicing, or checking my email? Why did I decide to open my own firm when I was 24 instead of working for someone else?

All day long, nonstop, our brains are making decisions. Most of those are based on our emotional responses — even the most rational decisions we make after analyzing all the factors and coming to a logical conclusion. That 3-pound bag of neurons and dopamine that lives in our skulls is one hell of a computer. And learning how it works is utterly fascinating.

I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer (also available in pap erback, of course). It’s an intriguing and engaging collection of anecdotes that make its scientific explanations clear as Pavlov’s bell. Faced with too many choices to process and only milliseconds to do it, how does a quarterback decide where to pass the ball while he’s being attacked by the other team’s linemen? How does a chess grandmaster use less energy than a lightbulb while competing with a computer like IBM’s Big Blue —which has to have coolers attached to it to keep it from bursting into flame? What kinds of decisions do people make whose orbital frontal cortex has been damaged so that their IQ remains the same, but they can no longer feel emotions?

Well-written, funny and insightful, “How We Decide” is, in a way, an owner’s manual for your brain. Somebody on your holiday list would love a copy.

Typographic treasure

Back in the ancient pre-Mac days, there was a masterful typographic designer named Herb Lubalin. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. He developed a publication for ITC called U&lc which featured some amazing design work and some excellent contributors. I used to love when it would show up in the mail…a big, oversized thing filled with interesting visual ideas and the latest fonts.

Now the fine folks at the Fonts.com blog have scanned the back issues and posted Volume I on the web for your free entertainment and edification. Lucky you. Go take a look.

Sabrina Maharaj: our newest FreeAssociate

Sabrina Maharaj, our new media associate

Sabrina needs a newer computer! (That's Amy in the background, getting it ready for her.)

We have a new junior media associate — Sabrina Maharaj — who’ll be helping Jammie Cotton with our clients’ ad buys.

She interned at De Waal & Associates public relations, sharpening her research and analytical skills. There, she helped develop creative solutions that resulted in new business leads and positive media attention for the company’s clients.

She’s up to speed on social media platforms and picks up new computer applications in nanoseconds. She can even handle InDesign and Photoshop.

At Long Beach State Athletics, Sabrina organized large events, developed data tracking systems and managed a range of projects. And she’s an athlete in her own right. She might not be a huge threat to Lisa Leslie or Marion Jones, but she loves shooting hoops and she can talk football stats all day long.

We’re excited to have her aboard!

Shakespeare meets Mudmen

I don’t imagine that the Bard of Avon ever saw a Papua New Guinea Asaro Mudman. But that hasn’t stopped director Darryl Hovis and costume designer Shannon Kennedy from turning the fairies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into denizens of that Southwest Pacific island forest.

Samohi Theatre presents A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tickets for the December presentation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Santa Monica High School are available at samohitheatre.org. Photo by Jialiang Gao for peace-on-earth.org

This December, Santa Monica High School will stage the Elizabethan comedy in its Humanities Center Theatre. We created the campaign for the production (pro bono, of course). Designed to show off this fresh take on a beloved classic, our hope is that the image will entice local theater-lovers to want to experience Midsummer again in a whole new way.

Intrigued? You can buy tickets and see it yourself! It runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from December 2 through December 11. (And, oh yeah, my son Gabe plays Demetrius.)

The calendar app that respects your mother

The calendar app that comes on the iPhone sucks. It’s fine for viewing what you’ve got on your schedule, but its interface is pretty horrible for an Apple product. Entering a new event is an irritating sequence of taps and spins and “Where the hell is that field?” snarls and “Oops!” realizations.

When I heard about the calvetica calendar app for the iPhone, it sounded like exactly what I was looking for. I went to their page in the App Store, and read their feature list. Shortly after “Lets you add events in just TWO TAPS,” the authors added: “Respects your mother.” Nice.

But when you see the actual interface design, your immediate reaction is “Aaaahhh. So that’s how a calendar app is suppose to work!” Simple. Clean. Short learning curve. Utterly enjoyable to use. They’ve out-Appled Apple, and are a stellar example of what brilliant interface design can achieve: respect for my sanity, my time — and my mom.

I hope calvetica decides to make a desktop version. Meanwhile, their iPhone app will be waiting patiently at the top of my Home screen.

100 year old Russians

Sart woman in Uzbekhistan (1910)

Color photography from the 1910s? Yep.

My sister in law, Mariana, who lives in Stockholm, sent me this link to a fantastic collection of color photos of Russia, created a century ago. The process of making these was laborious — multiple long exposures were shot through different filters. The resulting plates were projected through colored glass. When the images lined up, the result was spectacularly realistic color photos.

If you look at the shot of the group of children, where it was impossible to get everyone to hold still long enough to keep the images in register, you can get a visual idea of what was going on.

Thank you, ma belle belle-soeur!

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