Final Brand Platform

http://www.claraeckertframm.com/digitaldesign/template-clara-buttons.html

Marketing Spot

newest iteration

Guest Lecturer

Last week we had a guest designer come in to class to speak to us and also look at our semester's work and give us feedback. Liad Baniel specializes in establishing brand/message recognition using creative direction, brand innovation and all aspects of visual presence. He showed us several different websites with design work that were very interesting and gave a broad array of examples. I appreciated how well he was able to analyze what was going on in the different designs and why they worked. He wasn't just showing us good design but rather he was very successful in explaining why it worked which is helpful in learning from these examples.
As for the feedback he gave me on my work, it was definitely helpful to get a fresh perspective. Having spent the whole semester working on this I don't really have much distance or objectivity. I was happy to hear, of course, that he liked the general idea of my product, PitchPerfect, He gave a lot of suggestions for my marketing spot which was very helpful since I was still struggling with my concept at the time, and having him just list so many different concepts really helped to get me thinking and expand on the ideas I already had. 

Vanity Fair for the iPad

Article: Vanity Unfair from the New York Times

I appreciated this article for its take on the digital version of Vanity Fair for the iPad. Vanity Fair (and several other magazines) have found a seemingly poor solution to the challenge of presenting their content digitally. One has to buy the app for 5 dollars and then spend 4 dollars for every issue. Thus there is no financial incentive to read the magazine on the iPad. If anything it feels like you are paying for the privilege to be able to buy the issues online. Shouldn't the app at least be for free if you are going to be using it to buy the issues at almost the same price that you would be buying the actual physical magazine for? Also, the same app can be bought for the iphone or iPod touch which seems even more ridiculous considering that then you are reading the magazine on such a tiny screen (especially since vanity fair is not just a way to get one's news). In any case, I know I would still very much prefer to read the actual magazine.

Thread Sculptures

Article: Sculptures made of 50 miles of thread put double rainbows to shame

These thread sculptures by artist Gabriel Dawe are absolutely beautiful. I love the effect created by the colored thread.

Sustainable Subways

Article: Poland Unveils BMW-Designed Subway Cars Which Are 98% Recyclable

98% recyclable is pretty impressive. These subways that will be used in Warsaw are designed to be environmentally friendly and also to be more comfortable and enjoyable for the people on it. I feel like the MTA probably doesn't worry about either of those factors.

First trial segment using flash

I didn't know how to make it not loop...