Journal 20: PRODUCT DESIGN

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this journal right but here goes.

I don't have one of these, but I want one. This product is a single slice of bread toaster. You can write a message on the white board on top and it toasts it into the bread. Don't ask me how it works because I have no idea. The thing i like most about this product is how unique and... well... rather useless it is. Paper is still readily available, yes? But it still takes a creative genius to mix breakfast with personalized messages.

Journal 19: GOOD OR BAD?

I personally think that Papyrus is not a bad font. You shouldn't write a whole paper using it but for logos and titles it works. The only problem is that Papyrus is on of the most easily recognizable fonts that there is. Therefore, people focus on the use of the font rather than the actual logo, which loses all meaning.

As soon as I saw this Edible Arrangements logo, I immediately thought of the font and not the company so it wasn't effective.

Another use was the title for "Serenity", the movie of the cult TV show, Firefly.

Journal 18: COMPUTER GENERATED

Journal 17: HANDWRITTEN

 

The only thing handwritten in this ad is Shania Twain's name and of course it isn't handwritten as much as written once and then copied onto thousands of advertisements. If even that. her signature could have easily been assembled by anyone else. What this advertisement is selling is Shania Twain and her new TV show. They used her "signature" to lend credibility to the ad. Had they put Shania's name in the same font, some people might think she's not actually committed to the show.

I would say the ad is effective because it tells you everything you need to know about the show right there. If you like Shania Twain, this show is for you.

Journal 16: circular heaven

Graffiti usually has a negative connotation. Most graffiti is racial or sexual in nature and people accept it that way. The anonymity brings out the worst in people and usually the statements carved or drawn into building, cars, or bathroom stalls contain the most foul language and subject matter that many have seen.

So when I went to use the bathroom in a movie theater after seeing the International with Clive Owen, I was surprised to see this written in the stall:

For those of you who can’t read it, it says “Race to Witch Mountain was cool!”

And that’s it. There was no ethnic slur or a crudely drawn picture of genitalia that followed. I think this is how it went down-

12 year old Timmy just took a brand new sharpie from school and heard that graffiti was the cool new thing to do. He heads off to the local theater and sees “Race to Witch Mountain” because he is too nervous to graffiti just yet. Upon exiting, his head full of aliens, explosions, and The Rock, he heads off to the bathroom. Once safely inside the stall, he sits down and is suddenly struck with the knowledge that he has no idea what people normally graffiti onto walls. Digging around in his little kid mind, he pulls out a review of the most recent movie he has seen. 

Case solved.

Journal 15: RANSOM NOTE

Journal 14: And Then He Said

It was a fight for the ages. Two dwarves faced off in a battle of miniature proportions.

One of them was actually a chimp that had been taking steroids since he was just a wee baby chimp.

When they got to their fight, it started getting intense. And then just like that, the staring contest was over and the ref was the clear winner.

All that confidence grew in his hair and he became a hit with the ladies. He was so popular in fact…

…that he became the high priest for an Aztec society. And that hair just got crazier. The End.

Journal 13: how could i live without my combination hot dog cooker and bun warmer?

Everything was invented at one point. The most amazing ones are the ones you couldn’t go through life without.

My first invention is a lightbulb. No big surprise here. Light allows everything to operate. Light is what is lighting up my laptop screen and light is what is allowing me to finish this into the we hours of the morning. Without it we would all still be petty farmers.

The second is DVDs. Nothing comes close to describing the agony of watching through VHS previews over and over until I could finally watch Space Jam. DVDs solved all the problems by adding menus and made everything easier to operate.

Third is the microwave. Where would I be without it? Starving, I’m sure. And I would be healthier too. But every now and then, you gotta break down and have a Hot Pocket, which couldn’t exist without the microwave.

I’m sure music has been around since the dawn of time but whoever designed up this little number, commonly called a guitar, was a genius. Complicated but rewarding, the guitar has secured its place in the invention Hall of Fame.

Less essential to many is Photoshop. I couldn’t do without it. Everything I do, from taking pictures, to drawing comics, to even creating that picture grid was done with Photoshop. Why deal with reality when I can just alter it in this marvelous piece of picture editing software?

When we eventually transferred from rocks over to pillows I’m sure someone, somewhere got rewarded big time. Nothing compares to the feeling of lying your head on a pillow after a long day of work.

Although the iPhone is amazing, the invention I chose for slot number seven is just a cellphone. Had you told someone 50 years ago that you would be able to contact anyone from anywhere with a click of a button, they would have said, “What?” because they couldn’t hear you because they didn’t have 3G coverage like we do now.

The refrigerator is a modern miracle all itself. Someone told me at some point how it works but it is still baffling. We have come a long way from a hole in the ground.

What did people do before the internet? They probably had far more interesting arguments. With the internet’s infinite knowledge at your fingertips at any time of the day, it has never been easier to fact check things your friends say immediately.

My final invention is the Nintendo 64. While I don’t use it quite so much anymore, this game system was a huge part of my childhood and I credit it with how I turned out today. I definitely deserves a spot on my Top 10.

Journal 12: Advertisements & Jefkins

 

The ad conveys that McCafé shakes are very desirable. So desirable, in fact, that inanimate belt buckles come alive just to have a taste.

The three basic principles of effective advertisement writing are:

   1. The ad should be of interest and value to the reader.

   2. The ad should be precise, should get to the point as quickly as possible.

   3. The ad should be concise, saying what it has to say in the fewest necessary words.

The ad starts by grabbing you attention through the bizarre nature of the picture. Once they stop to look at it then they notice it is for new shakes from McDonalds. The picture of the actual shake takes up quite a bit of the frame so it is apparent what the ad is selling. The words at the bottom tell you everything you need to know. The shakes are new and delicious and what more could you want?

Journal 10: Advertisements & Color

 

The color red is not only used primarily in the ad, but is actually used to sell the brand. Newports, usually in a bluish-green box, have changed the box to red to promote the fact that the new section of cigarettes are non-menthol. I believe they chose red because it is the furthest color from the original bluish-green and they want to catch your attention. The color harmony is monochromatic and uses basically only shades of red and white in the entire composition. The color seems a little overwhelming for me and should have probably been more muted for the ad but overall it gets the point across that the Newports in the red box are different.