It seems that the temperature has risen above 50 degrees here in glamorous Lakewood, Ohio, today. Not exactly summer weather, but 1) it’s still early March and 2) with plenty of bright sunshine everywhere, it feels warmer.
So today marked the first ice cream run since October. On the subject of ice cream, I’d like to ask a question which has been vexing me for a year or so, at least:
What was Baskin-Robbins thinking with the design of its new logo?
I'm not puzzled for the reason you might think
One week since launching the new Modern Alchemy web site, so I’m going to indulge in one more stroll down the electronic memory lane.
I’ve been making web sites for close to fifteen years, now, which is a very long time in cyberspace. (For some really, really old web pages, check out the links in this fascinating article on the history of html). I’ve picked out a few screenshots from older pages, to review and consider.
Good productive day here at Modern Alchemy. I also spent part of the morning in some pleasant meetings with representatives of our fine community’s banks, and received a lovely e-mail from my great sensei. Then, put the finishing touches on three book covers. Into the capable hands of internationally-known printers go:
- Practical Flatfish Culture and Stock Enhancement,
- Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Second Edition,
- and in a break from the ichthyological theme, Clinical Pathology for the Veterinary Team.
All soon to be available from Wiley-Blackwell.
I also fielded a somewhat urgent request to update an older cover for a special reprint. (I like people to feel like they’re the only client as much as possible, no matter how many other things are going on.)
Thanks to all of those who have stopped by the new Modern Alchemy web site; I’ve particularly enjoyed hearing positive comments as well as updates from so many of you. Elsewhere on the web this week…
Earth: now with 17% greater color accuracy! The BBC shares some new photos of Earth from space, apparently “the most true-colour images of the entire world released to date.” (I made up the 17% statistic, however.)
One of the TVs at the Y was showing an infomercial for this, today, and it just amused me. I imagine that the basic method, here, is not new, but the idea of directly airbrushing someone’s skin, rather than airbrushing their photo, seems both obvious and novel at the same time.
Finally, this spring will mark ten years since that proud and memorable day when the College of Design’s Dean held out my degree and asked “uh, what’s your name?” (That’s more or less what happened, yes; you’ve got to have a laugh I guess.) Classmates are organizing a reunion back at dear auld ISU and, while it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to attend, I wish everyone my best.
So I’ve written previously about logo proliferation, particularly as an occurrence common to sports. A related phenomenon is that of the logo galaxy.
By this I mean a grouping of several logos, on display together like merit badges, perhaps. You’ll sometimes find a logo galaxy at a small business’ web site, such as this one from computer retailer PowerMax:
You've seen this kind of thing, right?
Or a business might create a logo galaxy of the brands for which it’s a vendor, as Ace Hardware has done.
One regularly finds similar displays on promotions for large events, with sometimes dozens of sponsors that need to be recognized. Consider this page at the Vancouver Olympics web site. These are some of the trickiest logo galaxies to create because of the need to respect the graphic standards and/or feelings of every sponsor.
As promised in the last post, I’ve been doing up a little chart of medal counts at the Winter Olympics. All of ‘em (though not all the teams). And here it is (click on it to see a bigger version):
Combined gold, silver and bronze totals
With the Olympics over, I’m working on a chart of winter Olympic medal hauls; for now though I’d like to post a few thoughts on a whole other category of games.
I’ve basically grown up (more or less) alongside video games. Coin-op arcade games, the Atari 2600; I still have my trusty 8-bit Nintendo and the twenty-year-old games still work. (Will those cartridges with batteries ever die, I wonder?) And I could do a whole series of posts on design elements of adventure games I’ve played.
Today though, I’m going to share some recommendations which are considerably more accessible (assuming that you’re visiting this site from a modern computer, and not a vintage ’90s-era machine with a floppy disk drive). The following three games are all available for free, just a click away, through your browser. (You’ll need Adobe Flash, but as I noted the other day, that’s on nearly all computers anyway, these days.)
First up, Thule Trail. This is a brilliant game released a few years ago as a promotion for Thule, the Swedish maker of ski racks, cargo pods, etc. I think the relatively-easy game play can be fun for anyone, but for anyone familiar with the classic 1980s educational game “Oregon Trail,” it’s irresistable. A very witty send-up of that cross-country adventure; the designers achieved a perfect recreation of Apple ][ text and low-resolution graphics.
Expedition. This is a promotion for the History Channel’s “Expedition Africa” program. Thoughtfully-crafted design adds immensely to this game, particularly the clever icon designs and the dice that they appear on, which spill onto the game map each turn with a pleasing clatter.
Death in Sakkara. A masterpiece from the BBC, this one has just about everything. Great typography, from the hint-of-creepy font of the game interface to the invented newspaper clippings and handwritten journal entries. A pulp-ish, comic book illustration style which nicely complements the 1920s period adventure content. And the haunting music which, if outside the purview of graphic design criticism, is still worth noting. This is fairly big game, though well-organized through the journal interface; if you plan to play it register a username and password so you can save your progress.
While I’m on the subject of games, I may as well give a mention to Seek ‘n Spell, developed in part by designers right here in Lakewood. This one’s neither free nor a web-based game–in fact you have to actually get up and go outside to play–being instead an application for the iPhone or Droid-based mobiles. I’ll note it here anyway, though, as it has won multiple design awards and is also a ton of fun. (Perhaps by giving it a shout, the Seek ‘n Spell posse will organize some more games finally. Or as soon as temperatures rise more than a few degrees above freezing again, at least.)
With the recent launch of the new Modern Alchemy web site, I find myself reflecting on changes in thinking about design for the web since the launch of version 1.0.
What went before
It surprised me when I realized that this original design only dates back three years; I’d thought it was a bit longer. And yet in “internet time,” quite a bit has changed even in that short interval.
I want to continue to welcome any and all new visitors to this blog since the announcements I’ve sent out today, about the new Modern Alchemy site. Hopefully you are inspired, informed and/or entertained by something here.
For the moment I would like to share something I put together this afternoon for fun. First some context… I’m currently working on a cover for The Feline Patient, Fourth Edition.
Being a book on veterinary medicine, it’s going to look like a scientific reference work. But something about the title of this one got me thinking. Unlike many of the other reference works I design covers for, such as Pathogenesis of Bacterial Infections in Animals or Biotechnology of Lactic Acid Bacteria, “The Feline Patient” really seems like it could plausibly be a literary work. Some sort of novel. (Maybe it made me think of The English Patient.)
And so, just for a change of pace, I decided to do up a quick cover for The Feline Patient as a novel: read more…
