Favorite Website of the Month

This is gonna be a quick post. I'm constantly searching through the inter webs for the next badass design website. Below is my favorite website pick of the month.

ART OF MENU

http://www.underconsideration.com/artofthemenu/

This website is bursting with layout/typography ideas on many different formats of menus. My only question I have after looking over all of these menus is "How did those lucky bastards end up with such little text to deal with? Did they beg the owner to shorten their menu?" Maybe these designers don't take Cheesecake Factory style menus like some sadistic designers do.

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BONUS SITE!

Hand Lettering by Sean Wes

http://seanwes.com

Talk about a beast with the micron. Sean McCabe is the envy of every t-shirt and logo designer. He hand draws his text then manipulates it so well in the digital realm with such precision you won't believe he drew it by hand.

Planet Fitness's New "Gymtimidation" Comercials

I'm always a fan of companies that try to differentiate themselves from whats already on the market, but after browsing Youtube and coming across Planet Fitness's new commercials I wasn't impressed. Planet Fitness is a gym infamous for having a "judgement-free zone" and a lunk alarm that goes off if you grunt or drop weights.

In an attempt to kick off 2013 new years resolutions, Planet Fitness has came out with a collection of attention grabbing ads of "ex-gym members" who openly hate being around people who work out regularly and can't help but show strangers their bodies in the locker room. Each ad is carrying the slogan "No Gymtimidation".

Here is the ad below. Give it a watch and give your feedback in the comments:

These commercials did not make me feel any more motivated to work out at Planet Fitness by essentially making fun of people who work out at gyms regularly. Isn't that the type of people you want to attract to a gym? Regulars? I suppose Planet Fitness is looking for the target audience of  temporary gym members.  People who are only going to work out for 1-3 months and attracted to the cheap $10/month membership. They even serve free pizza the first Monday of every month, they also have a bagel day on Tuesdays, and hand out tootsie rolls regularly at the gym. They are targeting an audience that desires to be sexy/healthy, but are secretly jealous of said people and paint little fantasies in their heads of these gym regulars being pricks.

Sounds like they are preying upon the insecurities of gym-wannabes in the ad choices and pampering them with the comfort foods to keep them coming back for more. Effective, but lame.


I'm not Gymtimidated...

Felicia Santos

Seasonally Updating a Facebook Fanpage

I can't believe its been since March 2012 that I've updated this blog. I feel as if I've failed my hoards of loyal followers. Or maybe thats how I'd like to imagine it, so that I'll continue writing on this blog. 

Having not touched this blog in months, I was surprised to see that I somehow amassed 2,700 views. Obviously some people care to check my work out and that makes me feel as if I should put in the time to add more of my pieces/graphic tips to this blog. Without further a due here are some of my latest works: 

Facebook Winter Imagery Update for Essencia Spa

Above you can see that I've made the Facebook fanpage for Essencia Salon Spa & Boutique. To give the page a holiday atmosphere, I gave every element a red tone. If you are a business owner I would suggest making this changes quarterly to keep your page looking fresh and most importantly alive!

Seasonal Update Checklist

1. Profile Picture: Give the profile picture seasonal elements like snowflakes, leaves, or flowers. Try to use a color that you can use in all elements of the Facebook header. 




2. Tabs: Be sure to give those tabs a seasonal touch as well. I personally like to use some type of design element that goes across every block like a ribbon (in this case its the patterned background)

3. Cover Photo: This is a perfect opportunity to show off your products/services through  the season. Don't have the right tools/money to create and customized cover photo? I'd suggest finding a high resolution stock photo off a website royalty-free stock photography site like istockphoto.com or shutterstock.com. Be sure to use keywords like "winter"and "hair".

Bonus! Changing your cover photo will appear higher on your customer's Facebook feeds, thats a great opportunity to show latest product, event, or service images.

Absolut Greyhound Commercial

TBWA/Chiat/Day has created a new commercial for their Absolut Voldka by teaming up with the electric-house band called Swedish House Mafia. Never have I seen a commercial that was so intense that I wanted to see more of it. This music video is suspenseful, so only watch if you've got 3 minutes to get Absolut-ly taken away!








Credits
Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day
CCO: Mark Figliulo
Client: Absolut
Global Creative Director: Sue Anderson
Creative Director: Hoj Jomehri
Art Director: Hoj Jomehri; Jin Park
Writer: Sue Anderson
Head Of Production: Robert Valdes
Senior Producer: Jennifer McKenzie
Producer: Nalina Baratz
Prod. Co.: RSA
Director: Carl Erik Rinsch
Exec. Producer: Marjie Abrahams
Line Producer: Betsy Blakemore
DOP: Claudio Miranda
Production Design: Paul Martin
1st Assistant Director: Michael Salven
Editorial: Lost Planet
Editor: Bruce Herrman
Exec. Producer: Krystn Wagenberg
Assistant Editor: Eli Beck-Gifford
Assistant Editor: Jacks Genaga
Assistant Editor: Al Lacorazza
Producer: Marcia Wigley
EFX: Home Studio
Telecine: CO3
Audio Mix: Heard City; Philip Loeb
Sound Design: Richard Devine

Source: http://www.thecomplexmedia.com/blog

Self Portrait

Created in Photoshop CS5
Tablet: Wacom Intuos4

Sharing Icons

Above are some sharing icons I created a couple of years ago for my own personal purposes and for different company websites. Its always best to try to personalize icons, instead of picking the generic icons provided by search engines.

Digital Inspiration Library

I recommend that every artist set up a place to put there ideas/inspiration. It can be a tack board, pasting up pictures in a sketch book, or a digital library. I personally don't like a heaping mess of images on my desktop, but if being in a swamp of images works for you, by all means, keep at it. I chose a digital library because of how easy it is to access at all times. Website of choice was tumblr.com.

Tumblr is a great tool to lay out your images in a beautiful way. You can also add captions and links to the sources (makes it easier to find in the future). You can also upload video, audio, or just plain quotes.

Here is my Tumblr page where I keep all of my sources of constant inspiration.
http://citrusgirl.tumblr.com/