All Posts, Branding, Content & Copywriting, Events, Graphic Design, News & Politics, Product Reviews
If you had been reading this blog for quite a bit, you already know my love for Olympic Games, specially my love for designs related to Olympic Games. This time is not an exception to the rule, the Sochi Olympic Winter Games give me another opportunity to enjoy Olympic Designs.
Every Olympic Game begins with a logo, and Sochi really have a memorable one.
- unveiled in December 2009
- this logo consists of typefaces and have no drawings
- features futuristic lettering with letters and numbers that partially mirror each other
- the first olympic logo to bundle a web address right in the logo
- the sochi logo came from a design team at the Interbrand Agency
This is the first time in Olympic history, a public vote was held to decide the mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics
- the mascots were officially unveiled on February 26, 2011
- The winners of the public vote were a polar bear, a European hare, and an Amur leopard
- A Ray of Light and a Snowflake were selected to be the mascots of the Paralympic Games
Sochi Olympic Tickets, were designed to reflect diversity of Russia
- the ticket design use the Games’ symbols and its “patchwork quilt” imagery
- all tickets will be color-coded according to one of the five venue color concepts
- on the souvenir tickets for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Games, a stylized image of the Fisht Olympic Stadium replaces the pictogram (Sochi 2014)
At last we will see the great design for the Winter Olympic Medals, to be honest, I really love this design
- 1,300 medals had been made for the 2014 Winter Games. More than past years because of 12 new events debuting in Sochi
- a combination of glass and metal had been used to reflect the landscape of Sochi, with its snowy peaks and sandy beaches
- their “patchwork quilt” design aims to capture the various cultures and ethnicities of the Russian Federation
- the Olympic gold medals are not made of pure gold, they contain 525 grams of silver with a 960 hallmark and 6 grams of gold with a 999 hallmark, which is a purity standard for precious metals
- This is so cool – some of the medals will have pieces of the Chelyabinsk meteorite embedded in them, according to the BBC. This meteor fell from the sky last year and crashed into a lake
Personally, my favorites are the medals. What about you, what designs you had been eyen during this Sochi Winter Olympic Games?
3D Printing, All Posts, Automotive, Blog, Graphic Design, How to, Marketing, News & Politics, Product Reviews, Technology
Last week we talk about the benefits, concepts and development of 3D printing. We learned that:
- Charles Hull is the inventor of the modern 3D printer
- The first published account of a printed solid model was made in 1981 by Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute
- Printer resolution describes layer thickness and X-Y resolution in dpi (dots per inch),or micrometers
Today we will talk more about this topic, we will see one of the cases that are trending in the 3D printing arena.
Industries and big companies are taking advantage of 3D printing. We all know that this is a decades-old technology that has increased in popularity over the past few years as the prices of printing machines and materials have come down. A big, solid company like Ford is using 3D printing to cut costs and production times during the prototyping phase.
The “rapid manufacturing” process has played a key role in the production of the Explorer and its EcoBoost engine. It uses software to render photos into designs that can “print” physical objects.
Ford uses the technology to create prototype parts like:
- cylinder heads
- brake rotors
- rear axels
Production time for one type is cut down from four to five months to three in some cases, shaving 25% to 40% off production time. Earlier casting methods required that the mold be cut from sand; 3D printing allows Ford to skip the cutting process and pour the metal directly into the molds.
With 3-D’s rapid evolution, including possible home use, Ford aficionados can dream of one day custom-making their own creative part in their garage or home office. Ford believes that in the future customers will be able to print replacement parts for their vehicles at a local 3D printer in a matter of hours or even minutes.
How cool will be to be able to print your own car parts? Would you do it?
About Design Theory, All Posts, Blog, Branding, Events, Graphic Design, Marketing, News & Politics, Photoshop, Product Reviews
Last Saturday was World Graphic Design Day, April 27 marks the birthday of Icograda, the International Council of Graphic Design Associations. Established in 1963, Icograda marks its 50 anniversary on 27 April. This celebration was launched in 1991 as World Graphics Day. It is an opportunity to recognize communication design, and its role in the world, and to celebrate the birthday of Icograda.
International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) was founded in London in 1963. Icograda is the world body for professional communication design and visual communication. Icograda network members include professional associations, design promotion bodies, design media and design education institutions. Design media are affiliated through the Icograda Design Media Network.
Ours is one of the most influential professions in the world. It shapes the daily lives of people everywhere. World Graphics Day is an opportunity to recognise communication design and its role in the world. Communication designers around the world, connected by a passion for their profession, are asked to take a moment to collectively feel pride in the work they do in their communities. Let’s reflect, and hope that our profession will continue to contribute to a better, sustainable world. What an amazing time to be a designer! We can see events unfolding all around the world. We can communicate instantly with each other in many different ways.
To commemorate this date we will showcase some designs created along the years for the World Graphic design Day.
Enjoy!
All Posts, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, News & Politics
Marketing strategies run the gamut when it comes to creativity – whether it’s pushing the envelope or pushing your buttons. Psychology Marketing (also known as Consumer Behavior Marketing) is one facet used by the industry meant to do exactly that; push emotional buttons to steer a response causing the consumer to consume a businesses goods, services and even agenda. It is well understood that “emotional marketing” plays a pivotal role in reporting/publicizing world events; selling medical pharmaceuticals-even selling cars! As a result, psychology marketing has become one of the most effective tools to gain attention and cause the consumer(s) to react verbally or financially to a cause, service or product.
Human Interest Stories: The Grandfather of Them All
Wikipedia defines it as “a feature story …presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest or sympathy in the reader or viewer. Human interest stories may be “the story behind the story” about an event, organization, or otherwise faceless historical happening, such as about the life of an individual soldier during wartime, an interview with a survivor of a natural disaster, or profile of someone known for a career achievement.” Human interest stories give consumers an emotional connection to the problem, product or service being promoted. It makes more difference in reactions and behaviors than most consumers ever realize.
Psychology Marketing is meant to:
- – Look at how consumers think, feel and reason-out their decisions and ultimate selections
- – Study how a consumer is influenced by their environment such as personal culture and media exposure
- – Consider the targeted consumer, their motivations & strategies when comparing products or services for ultimate selection
This is what marketers use to adapt and strategize for their marketing campaigns to more effectively reach the consumer.
Best at the Game: Non-profits
Most non-profit companies have cornered the market on attaching emotional elements to their causes in all forums of media and promotion. So whether it’s a poster, TV commercial or internet ad campaign, their marketing strategies include elements that strike a chord and causes us to pause, consider and act. And once celebrities add their devotion to let’s say a particular cause or movement, undoubtedly the campaign increases its projected success.
Best at the Awww Factor: Pampers
About 95% of consumers love a cute baby and Pampers is kind of capitalizing on that with their marketing campaigns. One of my personal favorites is the Silent Night campaign by Pampers. This great commercial plays annually during the New Year and has a profound effect on all its viewers. How profound? It actually remains one of their most successful campaigns since 2008. Why? Because their Silent Night commercial causes you stop, awww out loud and think about the beautiful sweetness of babies sleeping peacefully. Their marketing team knew your affection and love meter would go up several bars half way through it and they’ve been reaping the benefits ever since the campaign’s inception.
Current Events-Shockwave Effect
Nothing is works in the favor of news media more than shocking news. You know the kind that makes you sad or enraged as what’s going on in the world. It might be hard to conceive that there’s marketing in calamity but there is. Ever since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, President Obama’s team has been hard at work to market the President’s legislative position in his responses orally in his speeches and with his actions as he continues to meet & address the Sandy Hook victims parents and school officials. His speech writing/marketing team penned an emotionally moving speech that he himself found hard to emotionally contains as he teared-up during his public address. His recent bashing yet inspiring Shame on Us speech moved many with a strong call-to-action for legislative changes in gun control and social responsibility.
These are 2 of my personal picks which includes one of the most watched and emotionally charged marketing campaigns to date.
The CDC’s Anti-Smoking Campaign uses scare tactics by showing us the horrific consequences of smoking. Some of the commercials are just sad but there are some that are inspirational for smokers to do whatever it takes which creates a sense of resolution. Ah yes, they’ve tapped into our fight vs. flight responses and the former outweighs the later.
Liberty Mutual’s Half Acre Campaign reflected a Pay It Forward theme that inspires all of us to take just a moment to do something for someone else, big or small, recognized or not. But it was recognized as the commercial captures. Over and over again people take notice and act in the perpetual the cycle of “do right”.
Other Resources
http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-emotional-marketing/
http://www.marketingpsychology.com/reports.htm
