A new online database promises to help designers avoid cases of mistaken identity. The Identity Archives Project (IdAP) aims to be "the most complete online keyword-searchable database of logos and brand identity designs from around the world." Developed by San Francisco graphic designer Gabe Ruane, IdAP is a free resource that relies upon the contributions of designers and branding gurus. Active or antiquated logos, logotypes, icons, brand identities, brand marks, and corporate identities are all fair game, providing that they were approved by the client, have been used publicly, and are submitted by their creators. The key, however, is in the keywords, on which the value—and searchability—of the database will depend. Ruane advises those submitting designs to consider subjective and conceptual aspects, including the emotions a logo conveys, whether it's masculine or feminine, and what it represents. "Don't hold back!" He notes on the site. "The more info you can associate with the logo design, the better!"
From Mediabistro.com
Last week, President Obama signed legislation that limits the credit card industry’s ability to raise rates, penalize late payers and issue credit cards to people under 21. As consumers, we are thrilled. But as professional communicators, we believe that Congress and the White House have overlooked a simple innovation that could be as powerful as these reforms, if not more so.
Inspired by the Nutrition Facts label found on food packaging, we designed its equivalent for credit cards: an easy-to-understand chart that would simply and clearly lay out interest rates, card fees and payment terms so consumers could understand their accounts. Just as Nutrition Facts help us make smart choices about food, Credit Card Facts would enable consumers to make informed choices about acquiring and using credit cards.
This is an example of the disclosure chart that has appeared on American credit card solicitations since 2000. A great idea at its inception, the box has been unable to keep up with our increasingly complex credit card offerings. The type is too small, the headings are not prominent enough and many critical facts are buried in the fine print below the actual chart.
Unless credit card companies are told what they have to disclose and exactly how they have to disclose it, the consumer will still be drowned in text. As Mr. Obama recently said, “You shouldn’t need a magnifying glass or a law degree to read the fine print that sometimes doesn’t even appear to be written in English.”
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 mandated a standard format for essential nutrition information. The Nutrition Facts box was designed to be bold and clear and to stand in contrast to promotional packaging. Because the layout and typographic style are now standard, it is easy for consumers to scan labels, glean the facts and compare products quickly.
Our proposed Credit Card Facts box is written with the cardholder in mind. Everything the consumer needs to know is presented in a bold, straightforward layout. Simple language describes charges and payment activity as well as the consequences of late payment. The essential facts are not buried in a thicket of dense fine print.
Would a simple box like this on every credit card offer and statement make a difference to overwhelmed and confused customers? If the success of the Nutrition Facts label is any indication, the answer would have to be yes.
"We now hear the richness of vinyl records because we can compare them to CDs. In the same way, the digital camera's crisp, clean images help us recognize the complexity and warmth of film....We do not always want a faithful representation of reality. Sometimes we yearn for a dream."
-Hideki Ohmori, owner of Superheadz—the Tokyo-based company behind cult-favorite plastic cameras such as the twin-lens reflex "Blackbird, fly" (pictured above)—in an interview published in the June issue of WIRED.
found on Mediabistro.com
"Designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm." That's how Hoefler & Frere-Jones describes Archer, the "well-mannered, easy to work with, and inviting to read" slab serif typeface that the firm developed for Martha Stewart Living. Now Newsweek has scooped up this good thing, as Martha would say, as part of its reinvention. "As we see it, Newsweek's role is to bring you as intellectually satisfying and as visually rich an experience as the great monthlies of old did, whether it was Harold Hayes's Esquire or Willie Morris's Harper's, but on a weekly basis," writes editor Jon Meachum in the editor's letter that welcomes readers to the retooled magazine, which hits newsstands today with a mix of reported narratives, argued essays, and a fresh design by Number 17, the firm founded by Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler. Gone are the "straightforward news piece and news written with a few new details that does not move us significantly past what we already know," replaced with a four-section structure and a closing graphic feature that Meachum describes as "a visual dissection or explanation of an important issue or phenomenon that will satisfy one's curiosity or pique interest."
The New York Observer's John Koblin got a sneak preview of the redesign and describes it thusly:
It's stripped down. Instead of a screaming banner running across the cover, now it's condensed and tighter, and the banner floats at the top of the magazine in a red box. The palettes are softer and more elegant. New fonts are used in the magazine, including Archer, a signature font of the most un-Newsweek of all magazines: Martha Stewart Living. Cerebral and direct, unsnarky and anti-ironic, with cool hues and fonts to match.
Why Archer? "It's so beautiful and open and a very modern serif font," Siegler told Koblin. As for Newsweek, "We wanted to modernize it," she said. "We wanted to bring it into this century, sort of."
Despite tough economic conditions, large office complexes continue to be built in major cities throughout the world. ‘Green’ campaigners argue that such developments are inherently bad for the environment, and skeptics point out that by making sustainability central to their new office designs, many companies are simply attempting to offset their environmentally degrading activities elsewhere.
However, considering that large-scale offices will continue to be built, and in increasing numbers throughout the developing world, it is great to see that so many of the new ones are being designed with a low environmental impact in mind. This list comprises 10 existing and upcoming office buildings that are not only bold, beautiful and futuristic, but ‘green’ too.
One Westminster Place [London]
This 18-storey, 345,000 sq ft ‘crystalline’ structure is soon to become the latest architectural addition to London’s Southbank. The offices’ striking glass façade reflects light across a spectrum of colours, creating a dazzling ‘dragonfly wing’ effect. The building, which has been awarded an excellent BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) rating, has layered glass walls that create an insulating environmental buffer zone. In summer, hot air from inside the buffer zone can be extracted to create energy.
The Bow [Calgary]
The Bow in Calgary is set to become the HQ of EnCana, North America’s second largest natural gas production company. The 69-storey (236m tall) building, which will house 3,300 EnCana employees, has a crescent shape with a huge south-facing arc that captures light and heat from the sun, lowering the offices’ energy requirements. The Bow is made largely from super-strong steel, reducing the need for building materials by 30 percent.
The Cactus Project [Qatar]
This new building, designed to house the offices of the Qatari Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture, fits seamlessly into Qatar’s scorched, desert landscape. Its design has been inspired by the cactus: it features large, energy-efficient sun shades which open and close depending on temperature, in much the same way as a cactus opens and closes its stomata. The offices have an adjoining botanical dome full of cacti and other plants.
525 Golden Gate [San Francisco]
San Francisco leads much of America on the environmental front. Now, the city is hoping to eclipse all other ‘green’ buildings, by creating the most sustainable office in the United States to house their City Hall. The Civic Administration Tower, known as 525 Golden Gate, will feature integrated wind turbines, shading and solar panels along its facade and roof. Massive windows, light shelves and a central core will flood 255,000 sq ft of offices with daylight. (Update: the 525 Golden gate building has been put on hold courtesy of the credit crunch.)
The Okhta Tower [St Petersburg]
By 2016, St Petersburg will be home to the tallest and one of the greenest towers in Europe: the 396m tall Okhta Tower, HQ of Russian gas giants Gazprom Neft. The Tower has five sides that twist on their upward trajectory, mirroring the movement and energy of water in the River Neva, which surrounds the building.
Okhta Tower has a two-layered glass exoskeleton, providing ventilation, sunlight and thermal insulation against the city’s notoriously bitter winters. The building is peppered with social and green spaces, so that workers need not waste energy in elevators whilst on their breaks.
Fusionopolis [Singapore]
Fusionopolis is the brainchild of architect and fervent environmentalist Ken Yeang. The 15-storey skyscraper, which has a whopping 1.3 million sq ft of floorspace, features a 1.4km long living ‘spine’ of vegetation that is nourished by sunlight, redirected onto it through a series of prisms. The vegetation insulates the complex in the winter, and provides passive cooling in the summer, as the plants transpire and release water vapour.
Ernst & Young HQ [Amsterdam]
Like the Bow, this 24-storey Amsterdam building, which houses the HQ of Ernst & Young, has been designed by the sustainable architecture powerhouse that is Foster + Partners. It’s not quite as adventurous as some of other new builds listed here, but it’s actually been completed and exceeds Dutch environmental building standards by 10 percent.
The building’s 3-storey atrium and huge double-height conference facilities are illuminated with natural daylight, saving on electricity. 65 percent of rainwater falling on the site is retained by the building’s ground-water storage system, and much of it is used to fill a large ecological pond that serves as a focal point at the offices’ entrance.
StatoilHydro HQ [Oslo]
The futuristic new HQ of Norway’s StaoilHydro features five separate wings piled on top of one another in a seemingly haphazard manner. It saves energy by utilising renewable geothermal heat in its district heating and cooling system. Hot water (or cold depending on the depth from which it is extracted) is pumped out of a nearby disused coal mine straight into the offices’ radiators. Once the water in the radiators has cooled, it is pumped back into the mine to be naturally reheated by the Earth.
China Insurance Group HQ [Shenzen]
This asymmetrical, 49-storey tower in the centre of Shenzen is being built for the China Insurance Group. The building’s undulating fa¸ade not only provides shade and ventilation, it increases wind resistance, driving turbines that partially power the offices inside. Further energy is supplied by photovoltaic cells located on the roof.
BBVA HQ [Madrid]
Spanish banking group BBVA’s new HQ, located just outside of Madrid, is interspersed with alleyways for improved ventilation, and gardens for greater well-being. The large tower, which acts as the central focus for the complex, also provides shade for the offices below. Photovoltaic arrays help power the building and rainwater is collected and recycled.
