Ice

I'm putting up pictures of the ice sculptures from Boston's First Night 2011! These are pictures a friend sent me and they look amazing! I love the sculptures, but the photography is just as beautiful.

 

All in all today was a very icy day. I went ice skating, fell once, and shivered all the way home (and it was worth it). That's what inspired me to have an icy theme for today's post.

What I love about these sculptures is that they are not only spectacles, but they have the power to draw in crowds. They become a tradition and another way to celebrate a new year. The artists who create these sculptures are so lucky to be able to contribute such a significant part of the First Night.

6 Years Ago...

... I was halfway through high school. 

And today I had fun remembering all the art work I did back then! It was interesting to see how I thought and expressed myself through my art back then. A lot of credit goes to my art teacher who taught me not to be shy with bold colors!

Now I realize how little I do any art work. It used to be because of college and now I'm trying to keep up with art direction on the computer.

Even though a lot of art work we see today is in print form (magazines, billboards, posters), most of it goes through the computer at some point in its creation. However, I still think that hand-made art work plays an important role in art direction because ideas start on paper and evolve their way into the digital world. This is especially prevalent in the world of T-shirt design. I was really inspired by all of the art work done by other designers on Threadless Tees (you can see them here).

I also find that when I start a project straight from the computer, my ideas are more restricted. Tools let you do only so much, whereas when I start from pen and paper, I can think of new ways to place, organize, and design elements in original ways.



I put some more art work under the "Links" menu on the right :)

Threadless Tees

I came across a site called Threadless Tees, which lets people submit t-shirt designs to be printed! First you have to download the template, then put your design on it, and then upload it to the site to be voted on.

So today, I played around with my pencil design again and put it on one of the t-shirt templates I downloaded from the site. After altering it a little here and there, I ended up with this:

I'm still wondering whether this design would look good on a crew neck t-shirt (I don't think I have a choice on this), because I like to picture it on a V or U neck. Either way, I won't lose anything by trying and I could always submit a new idea again later if this one does not succeed. I'm going to send it in in a few days, once I figure out a few different versions.

I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions on how it could be better!

Update:

Expedition 206 and the Refresh Project

Coke or Pepsi? 

By the end of 2010, both Coke and Pepsi have had some very large-scale projects to boost their presence. Pepsi’s Refresh Project’s voting ends on January 31, but Coke’s Expedition 206 finished in December.

Expedition 206

Coke’s tagline “Open Happiness” is taken across the world with the three “Hapiness ambassadors” who went to 186 countries to find what makes people happy (not all 206 countries were possible to go to). The result: 650 million media impressions around the world.

(Read more about the expedition here.)

Refresh Project

Pepsi is funding millions of dollars for community outreach ideas by US residents. The categories that the ideas can be in are Health, Arts and Culture, Food and Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods, and Education. The public votes for the ideas they want to be seen enacted.

I think it’s amazing what social media can do to spread ideas. But I wonder if one campaign is more successful than the other.

Coke

+ 650 million global media impressions

+ Engaged people around the world

- Limit to how many people in each country they can reach; people in places that the ambassadors did not visit may not be as interested in the event because it doesn’t affect them personally

+ Inspirational goal: finding and spreading happiness

Pepsi

+ Allowed all US residents to participate

+ Participants spread the word through word-of-mouth and social media

+ User-generated content creates personal interest

- Only targets people in the US

+ Community outreach program for bettering the country

In the end, I think Pepsi’s campaign will have a greater long-term impact by not only making the grant winners gain a new appreciation for the brand, but also by making a difference in the country. Coke’s message is inspirational but I think it changed the lives of the three ambassadors more than it did for the public.

This could mean possibly switching a Coke lover to the Pepsi side. Unless of course a person is resolute on taste preferences. In that case the campaigns would make little difference. 

Side note: A friend of mine asked me to vote for the one of the Pepsi Refresh ideas (this one!) and that's how I learned about the Pepsi campaign. I learned about the Coke campaign from a 4A's advertising newsletter I got by email.

Filling up my Closet

Goal accomplished.

After a few distractions here and there I finished painting a shirt after a really long break. But I think this will be the ice breaker because now I want to make more!
I got my inspiration for this one from my original pencil design, which is in my second post (The Story of the Pencil). But I wonder if it would look better on a black t-shirt with white paint... maybe I'll try that next. And then maybe on a white t-shirt with black paint. The possibilities :)

There's Paint on my Shirt

No, actually there isn't. I haven't hand-painted t-shirts since I left for Sydney. It's time to restart and that means I have to figure out where I left everything.  
My goal for today: finish one t-shirt by the end of the day.
Be back tonight!

An Adorable Campaign

These kittens are so adorable! The video is originally from the Purina Animal All Stars site. I don't have any cats or dogs but if I did, I would get them pet food from Purina, only because that's the first name that comes to my mind. So in a way, it's a nice way of indirectly advertising for them.

Tags

I find it hard to throw out things that look pretty. So I end up keeping them. I don’t consider myself a packrat, but I love tags! Especially unique and well-designed ones. I’ve only recently started collecting them, and the first one I decided to keep was from a burger I took to-go from Grill’d in Melbourne, Australia. The waiter wrapped my burger and tied it with this interesting tag. It has a lot of information about the health benefits of their burgers and it’s eye catching. I still remember it being a very delicious lunch.

I notice that many classy stores have a black and white theme. I think it’s very elegant, but since they look similar to each other, it may be the difference between creating a distinct brand image or grouping it into one category (i.e. "classy stores").

Then there are eye-catching tags that even those who usually tear and throw away might hold on to for an extra day. I especially like the surf board shaped one because it brings the clothes a whole new “atmosphere” or brand image. When I’m buying a product and I search around for the tag to see the price and then find a piece of art (at least I like to think that) it makes me stop and look a little longer. Maybe I’ll remember that brand for longer? At the least, it makes me think of the product that much more.

I also like this Pom Wonderful tag. It revolves around a bigger campaign, which I think is clever and it makes me smile.

I think it's amazing that something as simple as a tag can make so much difference in terms of marketing a product!