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...

Me and My Blogs

I first started reading blogs about 4 years ago. A preschool friend of my daughter developed leukemia, was in remission, relapsed, and then had a bone marrow transplant. I followed this boy's journey to good health through his mom's blog. I left messages of encouragement for them on the blog guestbook. I joined the bone marrow donor registry in honor of this boy. I did my campaign on bone marrow donation. This cause means a great deal to me.

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.

A Graphic Designer Friend

Several years ago I met a new friend. Our second born children were both at the same preschool. We talked at pickup and dropoff times. We would get together for playdates with the children during the day. We were both in a scrapbooking group one night a month. She mentioned that her husband worked at home as a graphic designer. I was working from home as a freelance editor at the time, so I could definitely relate to his work-at-home situation. I remember talking to her husband about his business and his clients. Here is his website:

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.