Coding Your Way to a Job

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Okay, so this isn't exactly a typical inspiration.  But I absolutely fell in love with this job posting from New York Magazine.  It may or may not be there when you read this, hopefully it will be.

The reason why I love it is because it brings in the programming aspect of the job and turns it into a sort of easy-to-read summary of what's required for a software engineer and digging deeper than just the typical "let's list everything out".  I believe being able to be creative in describing what a candidate needs for the position also intrigues the person more to work for them.

Also, I may do something similar with my resume.  But yet again, it may be too hard for the typical person to read.  We'll see though.  ;)

Peace and Love to All!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday so far!  I've been trying to work on other stuff for the moment... internship stuff, jQuery, CSS, just a bunch of programming messes.  But I found something that definitely inspired me.

This comes from Juicy Courture's new line of perfumes called Peace, Love, and Juicy Couture Fragrance (which I can't understand why they just didn't leave it Peace, Love, and Juicy -- the name seems a bit long).  I love the earthy, colorful theme of the ad with the girl is looking innocently at the reader as she's holding the perfume.  Also, the outfit isn't something I wouldn't exactly wear everyday out to class or hanging out with friends; but this is definitely gorgeous!  I'll take the flower crown though.  ;)

I like how everything ties together to make a beautiful advertisement.  Especially the choice of type for the Peace, Love, and the & sign.  The only comment I would make is the type are hard to read since it's yellow, which seems to blend into everything else in the ad.

If it were up to me though, I would buy the perfume.  Then again, I'm not a perfume person.

Have a safe and happy New Year!  I will post very soon, I promise.

Small Time Photographer, Big Time Website

Splash Page

Hello and I must say, my apologies for not being here for awhile.  I've been writing another blog for one of my graphic design classes (which you can check out here).  But this I found on Facebook while being bored one day.  This is Kendra Pence's Photography (one of our local photographers).  I think the splash page sends the right message: feeling like you're welcome, soothing, calm... especially with how the photographs are presented.

Inside Page

When you get to the home page, it shows a very nice slideshow (music provided - which I don't like very much on websites).  Their picture selection is absolutely wonderful and has a very simple link system on the side.

Inside Page 2

The galleries pages are very simple as well, showing the pictures as a sideshow (being able to click on the thumbnail pictures on the bottom if you're curious about what the photograph looks like full size).  I must say though, all baby pictures look absolutely adorable!  But the one pictured above takes the cake!  =]

Inside Page 3

When it comes to showing the content, I think that being able to use inside scroll bars are a very good solution, especially since this is a Flash website (where you aren't allowed to use the browser's scrollbar to scroll the content).  This would've been nice, especially since in 1024 x 768, it shows the option to drag with the scrollbar.  Putting that aside, I love this website for the simple little animations, the color theme, the overall layout, and (of course) the high-quality of the pictures without much touchup from Photoshop.  I think I may go to them for some photography work!

Oh Goodness!

I'm so sorry everyone but I have been busy with my classes that I haven't been able to keep up with this blog. You can check out my other blog here.  Check out the collage about this blog above.

OH NO! It can't be true.

Yes, unfortunately school is back and that means hardly any time to post anything on here.  But I do have another blog that I have for my GDS 220 class if you would like to check it out.  I will eventually combine all of the entries and then continue to get inspired.  If you like what you see so far, click the Follow Me link as well as my new blog for class here.

Where Did My Screen Go?

Photo Credit

Now this was an article that I had seen at least a week ago but never had the chance to write about because of time constraints with everything else.  But I absolutely love this effect!  This one caught my eye because not only does it seem like there's a clone in the room, but the way he uses the screen as the main vocal point of the picture is great!  I don't know how they get the computer screen look so real, perfect and have a clone in the picture, but I want to aspire to do that type of work someday!  It looks like he's having so much fun.  You can check out many more pictures in this article from Smashing Magazine.

Let's Go On A Picnic

http://designarchives.aiga.org/#/entries/%2Bcollections%3A%22AIGA%20365%3A%2030%20%282009%29%22/_/detail/relevance/asc/11/7/20900/hudson-gavin-martin-corporate-art-collection/5

I was needing to look for something because it seems that everything's been boring or hectic lately.  Either way, this caught my eye for several reasons.  First, at the time I was really hungry and needed something to eat.  So I can use the words to image myself eating one of my favorite "quick items":  a Bacon Lettuce and Tomato (BLT) sandwich.  I love how people use words like this to have the viewer create the image of the sandwich instead of having a picture of the sandwich right on the shirt.  It's very intriguing and grabs the attention because you don't know what it is until you read the words.  Also, it helps that the background reminds me of a picnic blanket that you take outside to make it feel more like you're eating a sandwich.  Now, who wants to go on a picnic?!  ;)

Wow! They Did it Again

This is a different type of inspirations being that I've never posted videos before.  But it's Geico's newest commercials that I absolutely love!  People generally find chess very boring to watch, especially the chess tournaments on TV.  If there were fish swimming or getting eaten up, I might watch that over chess.  What makes this so inspiring is they took a famous soccer announcer and turned the most boring sport to watch into a spectacle!  I love how he holds the GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! for so long.  Who holds it that long and can make it hilarious?!  Also, the people are on cue... it's just perfect.  I love Geico's commercials and I hope that they keep it up.  ^_^

Eye Spy With My Little Eye

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

I had to do one more... this and the website link below was what I found while looking for when magazines first started.  I may never know that, but I know that this is definitely an ad that makes me think twice definitely.  I love how it uses the billboard's pole as a way of creating the submarine's telescope and doesn't need to stay much to get the point across.  Too bad it wasn't the Yellow Submarine from The Beatles though.  =P

Double the Trouble!

Sorry I haven't done this in about two weeks... but everything has been hectic!  So, to make up for last week, here are two inspirations.  =]

There are lots of things that have turned small... from the Mountain Dew cans that we see at stores, to now salt?!  I love how everything has been turning small!  It's so inspirational because of how small, cute, and convenient this can fit in your pocket.  ;)  When they say you need a pinch of salt, this is probably what they meant.

This came from the Better Homes & Gardens June 2010 issue.  Now, what made this advertisement pop out for me was the use of the magazine titles.  Though it may not be much more than putting a few magazine titles together in a paragraph, it's a nice sort of "collage" (and I love collages).  Magazines have been here since, well, forever practically!  I see this as being a long industry where the Internet will rule.  Too bad they couldn't turn this idea into an online advertisement.  Maybe in my spare time I will make one fore them.  ;)

Cut the Lawn Already!

Okay, we can't exactly cut it, but maybe we could trim it.  ;)  But this came from Communication Arts magazine, and this is an annual report for a lawn company I do believe.  In any rate, I believe that's perfect for this company because not only does it represent grass through it's wonderful book cover filled with fake grass, it also has grass sprouts and different plants on each of the pages.  Plus, who wouldn't love the idea of playing on it with their Barbie dolls pretending to have a picnic on it, and then turning the report into a lawn-eating monster?!

Money Woes?!

 

Bad Credit Hotel

As you can tell, I'm on the Internet a lot (well.. it may seem like too much).  But that's a part of my job!  ~_^  I was actually looking for inspirations this week when I came upon this website.  It's a non-profit organization from the government that tells people how to keep up on their credit and to make sure that they aren't getting scammed.  I love how it's a sort of interactive "game", capturing different inventory (or items) as you go.  It tells the different information about credit card companies through the inventory or different parts of conversations.  What makes it even better is it's sort of like an old black-and-white horror movie from the old "scratches" (or whatever you call it) to the vintage wallpaper, rugs, you name it!  I don't think that this feel will ever die!  Way to capture the essence of the old movies!

The ABC's All Over the World

http://rhettdashwood.com.au/#16575

While I was trying to get inspiration for an alphabet that has to do with oral care, I discovered many different forms of alphabet recreations.  Some I had never seen, others still amazing to look at.  Check them out here:
http://www.tutorial9.net/resources/not-your-usual-characters-30-amazing-alphabet-recreations/

Why I loved this one so much is because not only did it take seven months to complete this project, but it's amazing how even the simplest buildings and road structures can recreate some of the everyday letters in space.  Who would've known?!  I wonder how they found such perfect forms of some letters, such as T and L and what those are?  Either way, it makes me want to travel the world and explore what's beyond my neck of the woods.

And You Thought Paper Was Just For Writing On

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/29/the-beauty-of-paper-art/

Now I love Smashing Magazine's website and found this while subscribing to their RSS feed.  You can check out more featured artwork that is mostly made of just paper!  It's not only because this was made through pieces of paper, pieces of wood, acrylic, etc. it's just beautiful to look at!  It's from Gregory Euclide and his other pieces that he has exhibited in Lost At E Minor.

http://www.lostateminor.com/2009/03/06/gregory-euclides-mixed-media-artwork/

He based this and another piece of work on showing how beautiful nature and humanity really is, which it does.  Through it's different shapes and bends, it makes you wonder what's peeking in some of the corners and different curves.  It also makes it wonderful because of it's "pop-out" effect.  This piece makes me wish that I could be there right now.

Pulling Teeth!!

Okay, so I've decided that since I've been working with my internship this summer and finding so many different inspirations while I work on many of my projects, I've decided to do what I've been doing for the past two semesters; find an inspirational picture, artwork, etc. and post it on here.  After all, everything triggers something, whether it's good or bad.

And here's a place to start...

Link:  http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Ragle-Dental-Laboratory-Inc_/223503

I was working on creating a new postcard when I came upon a set for Ragle Dental Laboratory Inc.  I love how it's taking the phrase "Times have changed..." and applied it through the black and white old photos along with the old techniques of how to pull teeth out.  What also makes it stand out is the great color choice of the strong orange for the background.  I think it's a very clever postcard and it definitely triggered bad feelings of pulling teeth out with pliers.  Ehhh!

InterGalactic Experience - Inspiration 14

This came from Issue #42 2008 issue of CMYK.  When I saw this, I related to the CD project we were finishing up in class for this semester.  This is a whole collection of Daft Punk's music (though it may be confusing since the K at the end looks like a T -- or is this intentional?!)  What I love it is not only the design of the case itself, but if you look at the CD artwork, it has red and many other "pop artish" colors in the CDs along with being so different but having a central theme.  The design was based on the cosmological creation of the universe:  explosion, complexity, stars and the galactic system.

Many Designs, One Theme - Inspiration 13

This came from the February 2009 issue of HOW magazine.  What I absolutely loved about this is that
1.) that the company used a design from Andy Warhol because the Marilyn Monroe piece shown there happens to be one of my favorites.
and
2.) that all of these pieces collaborate together, though they have different designs, to show off the many different designing aspects because the purpose of these catalogs was to auction off many different pieces of artwork.
I wonder when doing these catalogs if they had put the different designing aspects into the different catalogs so that if someone were attracted to one cover, they would pick it up, or simply put everything in all three of the catalogs?  Either way, I think these were a big hit during the auction!

Snowboarding Down the Slopes - Inspiration 12

I found this in the August 2005 issue of HOW  What was so amazing is that it took a great concept involving Sean White and his snowboarding and geared it towards teenagers in a very interesting way.  The combination of hand drawings, the wonderful photography, and the "cutout" feel (that is the buildings in the mountains on the homepage) that was used just pieced everything together.  I think my favorite part would have to be how they had on the corner of the website a little "note to self" where they featured special products of the day.  I hope that Target will once again do something like this and that Target will keep up with all of their graphic designing work.  They never cease to not have good design!

From The People - Inspiration 11

This came from Communication Arts November 1999 Design Annual 40.  When I first saw this, I wasn't sure what to think because of the buttons taped to the yellow letter on the left and the usage of many of their letters that were written by people who love (or hate -- for different reasons) Nike.  What makes this really unique is that this is actually used for an annual report and it uses many of their customers letters and let them have a voice, because how else would a company be able to keep striving the way Nike has for many years without their consumers.  I wish that many more companies would do something like this -- but then again, this makes Nike stand out from other companies.

Corporate America - Inspiration 10

This is a picture that I got from the January/February 2008 issue of AdBusters.  I found this picture very interesting because I believe that this is what America represents (in a sense) with the many corporations that make up America (when you look at some of the cutouts on the buildings) along with some of the factors that most Americans look at (ex. Barbie, fashion magazines, alcohol, religious pictures) as a way we're supposed to be and look like in the eyes of American media along with our values.  What appealed to me is I've always loved magazine cut out collages and I liked how the artist put that element together so well to come up with a city skyline to represent what America is all about.