Kilroy is Here… And Here… And Here

Hop around on the Web (especially Twitter) and you’ll see a common design trend: Cropped head shots–cropped for bios, avatars, for a lot.
If eyes are the window into the soul, a photo of a cropped human face is the window into Web 2.0 personal, digital branding.
Consider:
There’s the famous top half of a head (Seth Godin, [...]

Nokia N97 Colors Itself Different

Did the tech press and bloggers doubt that Nokia, the number one cellphone maker in the world, would come up short on its latest smartphone? Lots of technical muscle, for sure.
Yes, Apple’s iPhone is synonomous with hip, intuitive user experience, not to mention a selection of optional applications already a year ahead of the competition.
But [...]

Will You Join Us?

A barrel of crude may recently dipped below $60. And oil companies are wise to start talking about environment. The latest: Chevron and it’s www.willyoujoinus.com campaign.
A sampling of copy from print ads featuring earnest and environmentally serious faces:

“I will leave the car at home more.”
“I will at least consider a hybrid.”
“I will unplug stuff more.”

While [...]

The One Design Book You Should Own

If Hick’s Law, Ockham’s Razor, and Chunking elude you, but you’re interested in understanding the basics of design, there’s only one book to own.
Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler, is a joy to have nearby. Organized alphabetically and categorically, the book guides you with words, photographs and illustrations that [...]

Freebie Friday: Color Blender

One of the strongest branding symbols for companies and organizations is color. It makes speaks to us, makes us feel, helps form perceptions. This free online tool at Color Blender is extremely handy for selecting and matching colors when building websites — or creating a new brand. Match, email, save in .EPS, .ACT, RGB or HTML. Try random. Or [...]

Logo Play: Searching for Weight Loss

I just happened to see an ad for alli during a morning news program this week. The logo immediately made me think another prominent one that features the same primary colors. I thought of online search, not weight loss. Here are this week’s logos that seem too coincidental.

Font with serif in red, blue, yellow, green. Double [...]

Microbrand Monday: Maui Jim

Once upon a time, all you needed was a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers to block the sun and look cool. Audrey Hepburn wore them in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Cary Grant wore an early version of Wayfarers in  North by Northwest. Others photographed in the iconic sunglasses include Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, James [...]

Hillary or Barack: Whose Website is Best?

Whose website is best? Hillary or Barack? It’s important. This presidential election cycle is more interesting than any previous one, having been shaped by the web and the online marketing of candidates. It will be studied by strategists long after November, along with analyses of competing campaigns’ tactics on advertising, press, door-to-door-get-out-the-vote, direct mail, phone banks, debates, and continuous PR. 
Set [...]

45 Excellent Blog Designs

If you don’t subscribe to Smashing Magazine RSS feed, I recommend it. I’m not a designer, but appreciate seeing fresh material. Here’s a link to 45 excellent blog designs that Smashing featured a few days ago. Beautiful.
The website provides tips, how-to section, fonts, graphics and tutorials. I need to learn HTML to start customizing my [...]

Separated at Birth

It’s hard enough trying to differentiate on a store shelf.
Sometimes it’s difficult online, too. 
I immediately thought of this brand of baking soda when finding this organic breakfast cereal. Two very different consumer products. Two very similar designs. One in the U.S. One in the U.K.
Separated at birth.
Can you think of others?

photo: meirion matthias on flickr