Politics and Design

In homage to my least favorite season, the political season, that we have just finished (sign of happiness), I have a few observations on the political adds. Here they are:

1. I have discovered that if politicians hire a bad designer that is obviously inexperienced and inexpensive they can plaster the town in the politicians face. But...is it really good to have a terrible shade of whatever the solid background color tinging your skin color.

2. Just because the political candidate has the last name of Rabbit, I would hope that you could come up with a better word mark than just adding ears to the bb's. Really is he going to be taken seriously? No.

3. So many people going with the red, white, and blue. Good serious patriotic colors but does it make your signage stand out? I do not remember one add that was particularly good or bad that used only those colors.

At least I have learned something about political signs and what they say about the politician.

Hope you voted!

The Amazing Designs of Napa Valley

The ocean and relaxed (possibly just to hungover to care) life of the Napa Valley was calling us so we hopped in the car and headed out to have a deserved long weekend catching up with friends and seeing all those amazing places that we love.

As soon as we got to the valley I was amazed at how great the logo design is there. Seriously! Amazing design that is perfectly matched to the brand that it is attached to.

We started out by walking down to the Oxbow for some gourmet tacos and a glass of wine on the patio. The Oxbow is a group of markets...imagine a food court at the mall and increase the class and coolness by like 1000 and you get the Oxbow. The market brand is ingeniously designed and created to match the building so well.

Yum!

We also went down to our old town St. Helena and ran a little race through the vineyards on a pretty typical foggy beautiful morning and came back and had coffee at my favorite coffee shop. This is the great little image that was on my hot cup of coffee.

As I wandered around the little town I thought man they have some skilled designers here.

During our stay we also headed out to Point Reyes and the coast. If you have never been to Point Reyes you must go. This is a cool little rich town that has the friendliest people possibly ever. You walk through the outdoor market and see fresh figs and heirloom tomatoes and all you think is I could live here forever and not want to leave. There is a new little restaurant there that serves goat cheese sandwiches and pumpkin soup in the fall. My husband said that the oysters were amazing.

The ocean was surprisingly clear that day which is a pretty good time to watch for some whales and we saw so many of them. I was pretty crazy that they were still there because normally they have already migrated. A little scary and I am afraid it might be due to global warming.

So the whole trip was well worth the hours driving! It was full of great food, family, wine and independent study of branding. Somethings are not as fun to study in school as they are in the Napa Valley!

Beginning of the End

Hmm...that title sounds a bit depressing, like I am going to off myself or something, but really it is very exciting.

I am finishing up the long, drawn-out, expensive college days (Insert squeal of happiness)! But at the same time I love school! I like to hear people reaction to my designs and ideas to create a better design, so the fear of not having my work critiqued made me create this blog. I would love to get feedback on what I am creating plus to be able to follow other artists.

I am finishing up Graphic Design and you should say, "You and everyone else in the world!" or maybe, "What were you thinking?!? With the economy the way it is now?". Well, I say follow your passion. I have always loved art and creating and have had many job positions that made me miserable. So forget the money and the job and do something that I love. If I live in a box on the street at least I have a passion, that I followed to that little box. But KNOW my box will be pretty!