Saturday, May 17, 2008
Last Post
http://cep.mcdonalds.com/qualityfood/
Now the website does a good job of highlighting each type of nutritious food and listing the ingredients. So, I am puzzled at the amateurishness of the print ads.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Levy's Jewish Rye
Girls v. Boys
An Oldie, But Goodie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFTduBCb7Eo
And, then there is this parody...not hysterical, but humorous.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Go Speed Racer, Go
Why Didn't I Think of This?!?
Catchy Design
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.
Friday, May 9, 2008
The 80s Were Good to Me
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Collectors Anonymous
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...
Monday, May 5, 2008
Me and My Blogs
Reading one blog leads to another and another. I read quite a number of mommy blogs on a daily basis. Some are entertaining to read, some are not. I stick with the entertaining ones. I have my own mommy blog, but don't post very often. I prefer reading other people's blogs. Two of my favorites are:
www.thepioneerwoman.com
This blog is all about a mom of 4 children who lives on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She homeschools her children. The kids all participate in the workings of the ranch...branding, rounding up cattle, etc. Ree's life is so different from my own, yet I love to check in on her.
www.morethanaminivanmom.blogspot.com
This blog is written by a person who was home with her children for short period, but is now back teaching high school. She grew up in the East and is now living in Texas. She is a very good writer.
I am enjoying writing/posting to my class blog more than my other blog. I like the instant feedback from the comment section. I feel validated when someone makes a comment on one of my posts. I have found that I get very few comments on my other blog.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A Graphic Designer Friend
www.punch-me.com
Over the years I have thought about what to do once I rejoin the workforce. The freelance editorial production work I did is now mostly handled in house. I began to think about other areas of the publications business. I started to develop an interest in graphics. After investigating UB's program, I realized that this is the business I want to be in. I like the combination of writing and design. My friend's husband's work is inspirational to me. He is a talented designer.
You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
I was looking through my collection of publications from my last job. The covers are overall O.K. Some are good--see the cover for Integrated Women's Health (top right). The cover for Pediatric Home Care (see top left) is just awful. The authors' names are not even aligned with the second block! I can't believe everyone signed off on this one. I can't believe we actually paid a graphic designer (?) to do this cover.
These publications usually sold for over $100 each. The company line was that our audience did not care what was on the cover...they were more interested in the content. The publications were only sold online and at trade shows, not in stores. Several years later the company was merged with its parent company. I can only hope that the book covers have improved.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Field Trips Are Not for the Meek
Stained glass window from the Saint-Germain-des-Pres monastery in Paris commemorating the life of St. Vincent
It is springtime, which means that schools across the country are heading out for field trips. My sixth grader went to NYC last week to visit Ellis Island as part of her English unit on immigration. This week it was my 4th graders' turn. I volunteered for and was chosen to chaperone her class field trip to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
The bus ride up deserves its own post. Suffice it to say I sat on a school bus with 40 9/10-year-olds in different states of excitement. I had the back seat of the bus, which meant I had a front row seat on the madness. On the bus ride to the Walters a handful of kids were loud, but most stayed in their seats. The ride back was noisy and I pitied the teachers that had to teach these kids in the afternoon. I think kids in general do not do well with a change in routine. These kids were in fun mode not learning mode by the time we got back to school.
The museum field trip was a mixture of a docent-led tour of the museum preceded by a visit to the Family Art Center to do a craft. The students were given a circular piece of styrofoam and craft supplies. They were asked to create a scene on the styrofoam. All the kids enjoyed this activity.
Our group spent quite some time in front of a stained glass window devoted to St. Vincent (see above). The docent explained the story of St. Vincent to the students in great detail. The window was originally in the Lady Chapel at the monastery of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris. Each panel of the window had a part of the story of St. Vincent, who was tortured and his body eventually ascended in to heaven. For me the most interesting aspect was the fourth panel from the top on the left. This panel does not depict a scene as it is just a collage of broken stained glass. The docent explained that art historians do not know what scene should be there, so the collage was added to fill the empty space.