Big Carl Ad Campaign

I'm scratching my head at this Carls Jr ad campaign. Congratulations Carls, it only took you 31 years to answer the Big Mac.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgZGOcu_E5E

Phil | examplify.com

Ha ha ha, very funny. Seriously now.

When I went out this morning, I found on my doorstep a bright orange bag. "What could this be?" I thought. "Something of value?"



Nope. It was just the Yellow Pages:



Sneaky. They knew I'd toss it out immediately if the bag were yellow, so they made it orange! When I went to toss em out, I found that someone beat me to the recycling bin:



We had JUST gotten these books, and they were already in the trash. They basically had the life expectancy of junk mail.

I like looking at double-truck plumbing and personal injury lawyer ads just as much as the next guy, but it amazes me that people are still paying for yellow page ads in the online review (soon-to-be localized, mobile advertising) era.

Phil | examplify.com

A new logo for GM?

MSNBC reports that U.S. automaker General Motors is considering an identity change to signal its new focus on fuel efficiency. Overhauling a well known brand is always a challenge, but recent events may help the struggling company repair negative associations the market has of the classic "blue and white" GM brand.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31805852/ns/business-autos/

Phil | examplify.com

Bad Design Kills

In design school, my very wise professor had a saying. "Bad design hurts."

It was true. We've all experienced it, in every day things like electronics, computers, and toys. (Ok, those are MY everyday things, but you get the idea.) Maybe you tried to put together a shelf or table with poorly designed instructions. Your vacuum stops sucking and…starts sucking. Your drink bottle leaks when you turn it upside down. You read a print piece that you desperately wished communicated what it was supposed to.

When you come across bad design, it evokes some sort of negative feeling - a cringe, frustration, anger. At some point, we either sigh or call upon our inner designers to rig something up that compensates for the product's shortcomings. At worst, however, bad design is simply a hindrance to an exceptional user experience. (And likely the monetization of that experience.)

Not so for the folks at NASA. In a recent episode, "Space Shuttle Disaster," NOVA explored a couple of well-known NASA disasters: Challenger and Columbia. In the 80's, there was a culture at NASA that held launch schedules as a top priority, often at the cost of safety. In 1986, the Challenger shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight. According to Dr. Howard McCurdy of American University, there were too many people involved in deciding what the one shuttle design should be. That, consequently, doomed the mission before it even began.

Bad management led to poor culture and prioritization, which led to bad product. (Sound familiar?) Except this time, it killed seven American astronauts.

After an investigation into the 2003 Columbia disaster, which took seven more lives, NASA's Project Constellation was launched as a road map for space exploration. It moved away from the the bulky "shuttle as a plane" approach. Instead, slim boosters were designed to help avoid damage from foam debris, a fate the Columbia shuttle suffered. An escape tower in the booster was incorporated to give crew members a chance to escape if something went wrong.

So the next time design by committee brings you down, remember the dreadful fate our brave astronauts met. It could be much worse. Bad design really can kill.

Phil | examplify.com

Future edition of the New York Times

The New York Times, in a joint campaign with Intel, showed a glimpse of a future NYTimes page - exactly 31 years from today:




Looks like typographers' visions of what futuristic type will look like comes true! Also, nothing says future like teal. Designers, take note! : )

Phil | examplify.com