Why Didn't I Think of This?!?

I found this promotional ad for Post-It Education notes at my daughter's school. Post-It has created a range of flash cards for ABCs, numbers, sight words, and Spanish. I am in my third go-round of teaching a child to read. This product would be a good addition to my education basket. I have flash cards purchased from WalMart or educational stores. The added bonus of these cards is that the cards can be stuck to a wall or fridge. I generally write sight words on index cards and tape them to the walls/door. I saw a product display at Staples.

The blue and yellow on the front cover is eye-catching. The ad is a trifold displaying different representations of the product: a photo of the product in use on a wall, a photo of the product in its packaging, etc. The back of the product shows photos of the other products in the series.

A small set of sight words is included with the ad. For me the addition of the product is a slam dunk. The potential consumer does not need to wonder what the product looks like in the flesh. Once I tore of the first card I was sold on the product.

Catchy Design

My 4-year-old turned 5 on April 3. He received mostly action figure toys. This is new to me since I am used to the world of Disney princesses and American Girl dolls. His favorite toy was a Mr. Potato Head--Spider Spud Collector Set for Spider-Man 3. He knows that Spider Man is an action hero, but has never seen any of the films or the cartoons.

The design of this box is unique. The product contains two Spider Man potato heads in two boxes connected in the middle. The two boxes are connected by plastic in front and velcro in the back. The velcro pieces when split apart reveal a comic entitled "The Amazing Spider Spud Proudly Presents: Back in Black or In the Red?" The front of the box shows the two products, while the back shows the individual potato head parts and photos of the product dressed in the "red" or "black" versions.

The packaging is eye-catching for parents and children. Kids love velcro--the feel and sound of it. My son liked looking at the comic. He stored his toy in the box for a few days.

The comic is quite funny. It tells the story of good and evil in a kid-friendly manner. Spider Spud must decide which suit to wear. Both the red suit and the black suit "talk" to him. He finally decides to wear both suits. The story is sugar-coated for kids, which works in the context of a product for kids.

The product was purchased from Costco. The toy aisle at Costco is stacked with many toys and games at Christmas and Easter. An eye-catching product such as this one is sure to have curb appeal.

Call to Action

I found three ads for local institutions of higher education. Each ad has a call to action.

The main focus of the UMUC ad is the photo of the group of people. The grouping reminds me of the old Sesame Street song..."One of these things is not like the other." The two women and the one man are all in business attire, while the male firefighter is in turnout gear. I realize that UMUC is appealing to local adults in a wide range of careers, but the photo makes me think that the university is trying too hard to appeal to everyone. The ad would work better if there was another person in a uniform of some sort or drop the "dress code" and simply have four people dressed in everyday clothese. The text of the ad is informative. There is too much white space, which could be minimized by increasing the typesize of the text of the ad.

The head profile with "Great Minds Think KOGOD" is ugly. The symbols surrounding the profile are too small and hard to read. The ad is cluttered with the name of the business school, a huge opaque "AU," information session dates, etc. It is hard to tell what is the most important element of the ad since there is so much listed in different sizes and styles of type. The ad would work better in a 2 column format since the single column leads to short, chopped lines.

The UMBC ad is colorful. The photo (even if it is possibly a stock university photo) is a more representative grouping of prospective students than UMUC. The older students are tucked in the back, which I don't like. I am the demographic that universities could be appealing to...woman, second career, returning to the workplace after raising children, available money to attend graduate school, etc. The placing of the three older people in the back seems to minimize these students. The focus is on the four younger students. The use of color is good. The eye is drawn to the name of the graduate programs due to the use of red. The orange border encloses the information.

The 80s Were Good to Me

So after much deliberation I have decided to bring in my collection of 80s junk. I Loved the 80s...high school, college, first job, post-graduate program, traveling, met my husband, got engaged, applied for U.S. citizenship, bought my first house, and the list goes on. Looking back I had no responsibilities except getting myself from point A to point B. All in all a fun time for me.

Here is an 80s ipod...mine is the one on the right...very clunky. I wore it on a strap across my shoulders. The constant banging of the Walkman on my hip was annoying as I exercised. I found the Walkman at: http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/walkman/sony/

At beginning of the 80s I was in England, then I moved with my family to Italy, and then I moved to Pennsylvania for college. A common thread was clothing...no pun intended. I discovered Benetton in Italy, quite some time before my American classmates had discovered it. Clothing at Benetton ranged from V-neck sweaters in bright colors with matching scarves and gloves to rugby shirts and blazers.

Graphic Design Blogs

I found these two graphic design blogs:

http://www.youthedesigner.com/

and

http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk/

The author of the first one is a guy called Gino. He is a graphic design student. He will graduate soon and hopes to find work in NYC. His blog seems informative.

The second one is English. I feel connected to this one for nostalgic reasons, but it does have entries from various designers on a wide variety of subjects.

Collectors Anonymous

I'm a bit like Mike (http://mikeswhatever.blogspot.com/) when it comes to collecting. I like to have the whole set of whatever it is I decide to collect.

As a child I would obsess over not having a certain stamp for my stamp collection. I really wanted this really rare stamp called the "Penny Black"--I did not know at 9 years old that this stamp was so rare it could only be found at the British Museum. I also collected sticker cards for a book of U.K. soccer teams. The cards were sold in a pack of 5, very much like baseball cards. I remember purchasing dozens of packs of soccer stickers for the cards needed to finish my collection. I needed to have a sticker card for each soccer player on each Division 1 team plus the team logo and the full team photo. I had many duplicate cards. I have done the same thing recently when trying to get the entire set of Happy Meal toys for a particular series, like all the cars from Cars the Movie. I even went so far as to purchase one car from e-bay. I was thrilled to have the whole collection. My son loves cars, so he appreciated the effort...I think!?!?

My favorite collection would be a series of wooden houses from Sheilia Co. featuring buildings found in the Amish Country of Lancaster, PA. The houses and other pieces are less than 5 inches tall. I found them at Christmas Tree Hill at the Rehoboth Outlets...phew, no need to go on e-bay.

I have several collections of Hallmark Christmas ornaments--the tin houses, the kitchen appliances, and Winnie the Pooh. My fave collection would have to be framed sheets of stamps...a childhood passion come full circle to adulthood...I have a varied selection of sheets from stamps commemorating 9/11 to Jane Austen to baseball legends to Jim Henson to Super Heroes. I often go to the post office to check out what is new. I don't get every new sheet of stamps, but when one catches my eye I buy it.

Not sure what I will bring on Saturday...

Do We Really Need This Direction?

I found several things in my children's bathroom for this week's show and tell. First, I found a box for 3 ounce Dixie cups with the helpful direction "LIFT HERE" on top of the box. Once you open the box, there is another direction "TO CLOSE INSERT TAB HERE." Not really all that necessary. The directions are also in two other languages.

I found two other items:

- A bottle of Mr. Bubble Bubble Bath with the direction "SQUEEZE BUBBLE BATH INTO STREAM OF WATER AS TUB FILLS"

- A Bubblicious Savage Sour Apple Lip Balm with the direction "APPLY SMOOTHLY AND EVENLY ON LIPS"

The End of The Far Side

I chose the 2002 The Far Side Last Impressions calendar as my Show and Tell item for a product with a story to tell. I miss the humor of Gary Larson. I purchased The Far Side calendars for over 10 years. I would often hold off on reading the daily pages until I had a stack and then I would read them all at once. Some were hysterical, some not, and some just bizarre.

The story is in the form of a letter from Gary Larson to his fans at the end of The Far Side calendar series. The first paragraph reads:

To whom it may concern:

Someone once said you should always leave a party ten minutes early. Of course, that leaves you with the predicament of no matter when you leave, it's ten minutes too late. Before long, you're sucked into a black hole that makes you want to just stay home and feed chicken giblets to the piranha. (Or is that just me?) Well, what I'm trying to say here, in my usual confusing manner, is that it's time for me to take my calendar and go home....

The Story of Tazo Tea

My cupboard was bare...literally. None of the packages in my pantry had a story to tell. All packages are major, well-known brands. There is no need to sell these products. Just place on shelf and customers will pick up.

I did find a box of Tazo tea manufactured by Starbucks. http://www.tazo.com/ The text reads as follows:

At various times throughout history, Tazo has surfaced among the more advanced cultures of the day as a calming and centering influence. While teaologists will diasgree about how Tazo came into being, recent research has provided evidence that the famous Ming Dynasty vases were originally created to store Tazo.

A side panel goes on to say:

TAZO ZEN is made with full-flavored, pan-fired Chinese green tea. Long known for its legendary properties, this aromatic tea is combined with lemon verbena leaves from Eastern Europe, lemon-grass from Guatemala, spearmint leaves from Oregon and a hint of sweet lemon essence. That, and a few mumbled chants from a certified tea shaman.

Pat the Bunny

In class on Saturday I was unable to remember the author of Pat the Bunny. I hate not being able to remember things like that. This is especially embarrassing as we have 3 copies of this book, which I have read hundreds of times to my children. It is also funny because when I read to my children I always start by reading the title, the author, the illustrator, and the publisher...I am a book geek.

Dorothy Kunhardt's daughter, Edith Kunhardt Davis, wrote two followup books Pat the Puppy and Pat the Cat. Pat the Bunny is the type of book I buy as a baby present/baby shower gift. I think every new parents needs a copy. Children love these books as the books include scratch and sniff, velcro, fabric, mirrors, etc. Each of my children loved these books to death...and I mean that literally as the books fell apart through much use and reading.

Play as Narrative

I discovered a copy of Pygmalion by G.B. Shaw on my bookshelf. I have not looked at it in quite some time. My Fair Lady (both the movie and the Broadway and West End musical) was based on this play. As I was reading the play, the introductory notes to each act caught my attention. These introductory notes set the stage (no pun intended) for each act. Shaw describes in great detail the appearance of Henry Higgins' elocution room from the color of the room to the instruments on his desk. These introductory notes are not spoken by the actors, but they are used by the director and the set director to construct a stage set that conveys what the play is about. The intro notes tell the story of the play by giving details of each of the character's personalities. Before we read an act of the play, we have a specific idea of what will happen when the characters start talking to each other.

The above excerpt is from: www.bartleby.com/138/2.html

Storytelling Then and Now

My daughters (4th and 6th grades) spent the week doing the MSA--the Maryland state assessment tests. The tests are lengthy. The verbal tests requires students to complete BCRs...brief constructed written responses. From 3rd grade on the format for writing a BCR is drummed into their heads. The BCR written responses must be answered in a certain way and of course students must write within a black box in their test booklets. There is no creativity involved, just answer the question and move on to the next BCR.

With this in mind I stumbled upon a website on storytelling via imovie:

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm

Tom Babaszewski discusses how imovie is an essential tool for teaching kids how to tell stories. He mentioned how he surveyed his 4th and 5th grade students to find out which students considered themselves writers. He posed the question "Are you a writer?" About 60 % of his students said "yes." After a year of using imovie as a storytelling device he asked the same students the question "Are you a writer?" This time 99 % said "yes."

I can see that imovie would help a child who struggles with writing. The computer would allow the child to tell a story through images, music, and words. A child with a handwriting issue may see imovie as a form a freedom of expression. Ban the pencil and click up the mouse!

I am looking forward to the project. I have wanted to learn how to make movies....now is my chance. As for inspiration I am pondering rooting in our toybox to find stuffed animals. I have an idea about a gang of bears confronting a gang of monkeys. I wonder who will win. I wonder if the bears would be outsmarted by the monkeys. I think it might be funny to have different sizes of animals. Also, a gang composed of Curious George, a monkey glove puppet, and a gorilla might have some internal strife. I wonder how they would get along with each other? Curious George is sneaky, but not aggressive. George might not be that effective in a fight.

Typography

I bought a book for my son for Easter. The book is on Dinosaurs--his favorite subject. The illustrations are colorful and vibrant. The text seems well-written. However, the typography bothers me. Whenever a word is boldfaced for emphasis, the type changes from a serif type to a Courier-like type. Also, the kerning is off, which makes the words really jammed together and a little hard to read (see page on T-rex, line 3, boldfaced Tyrannoasaurus). This problem occurs on every page. I'm sorry the scan is a little hard to read--the pages of the book are quite shiny. Perhaps, I should contact the publisher and offer my editing/design services!

Typography

I have avoided posting this week. I did not think I had anything to say about typography.

I have been told that I have been "designing with type." I spent some time this week looking at the design book and the sample magazines to find other ways to design that do not include "designing with type." However, I need to post this week...

I found this website:

http://www.fontpool.com/

On the site you can type in any word and see the word typeset in numerous different fonts. I spent some time testing it out. There are over 41,558 fonts included on the website.

Words

I like words. I like using words that sound interesting to me. Here is my list. I will have more by Saturday.

discombobulated
hideous
helatious
nincompoop
henchman
burnt sienna (retired Crayola color)
pleather
vicarious
middleman
suspense
galvanize
eeeewwww
hussy
weirdo
bughunt

More to come...

Inspirational item

I am not sure about this one. I need to give this one a little more thought. Interestingly my son has Show and Tell this morning at preschool. He is bringing an orange book for O day. I am having a harder time finding my item.