In case you’ve been living under a rock, QR codes are those square shaped data codes that seem to be appearing more and more on all sorts of print materials and websites. According to a recent NPR article, very few consumers are actually catching on to what QR codes are; or if they have figured them out, the majority of people could care less about them.
I think QR codes definitely helpful IF: 1.) you own a smartphone 2. ) you are a above average smartphone/computer user and 3. ) you hate typing urls and contact info into a touch screen cell phone and/or keyboard.
Yeah, that’s a lot of IF’s. Nevertheless, I’ve incorporated a QR code into my latest business card design on one of the sides, that way for those that might know what they’ve doing, they can have the convenience of not having to type or dial manually when contacting me. Read the rest of this entry »
Feeling a little creatively dull? We all get caught in creative ruts once in a while; sort of like how writers get writer’s block. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are 30 amazing digital Photoshop manipulations that will get your creative juices flowing! Some of the techniques used below are simple, while others get pretty complicated. Try some of these things out on a rainy day when you get a chance. There are many tutorials on this blog as well as elsewhere on the web that can get you started in the right direction, in case you find yourself in over your head. You can also click on each individual image to learn more about the artist, and to see more of their work. Be sure to let us know which images are your favorites in the comments section below!
Billboards are an entirely different animal in the advertising world. You have just a brief moment to get your message across to the viewer. There isn’t a 30 second window, or even a 10 second one. Sometimes it’s 5 seconds or less, depending on traffic, and the speed the car/bus/train is traveling. Here are some effective billboards that I shot while driving through Brooklyn one day. These are great billboard designs.
An amazingly executed job by Coca Cola. All three soccer players are smiling and staring towards the bottle. The corporate logo is clear and identifiable at the upper left, with a simple, two-word catch phrase “open happiness”. Why are the guys so happy? Oh, it’s the cola. It’s plain and clear. You see it, and you get it. And yeah, it only takes a few seconds. Brand recognition is visible not only in the form of the logo, but also in the product itself. The photography is excellent, and the image has been stylized in almost an illustrative way to make it stand out from the crowd.
The Applie iPad did it right also. Logo, upper left hand corner. It’s human nature that we read from the top left hand side, from left to right. It’s proven fact. They placed the logo and product logotype there. The photo of the woman lounging with the iPad on her lap, shows how portable the product is. It’s almost like you’re looking over her shoulder. This billboard has no words other than the product name, but it promotes the lifestyle. Once again, less is more. And when is the last time you saw a crop like this on a billboard? This woman is relaxed, and enjoying her brand new iPad. Similar to the Coca Cola ad above, the product here speaks for itself. There is no need to busy the ad up with website urls, phone numbers, or any other call to action.
Bad billboard design has text that isn’t viewable from further than a few car lengths away, and they usually have way too much text. You can’t read that much text on a billboard, because you’re usually traveling at least 65 mph down the highway as you’re viewing it. Mostly passengers will have the advantage over the drivers, but effective ads will be brief enough to be noticeable to the drivers as well. If you ever have the privilege to design a billboard, keep these pointers in mind.
There’s some juicy celebrity drama going on relating to the modeling and advertising industry. Ooh… yum.
In the marketing world, many times it is necessary to cast specific types of models for the target market. In this Old Navy (owned by Gap) advertisement, they chose a model named Melissa Molinaro that looks pretty close to the famous celebrity Kim Kardashian (Bruce Jenner’s stepdaughter, star of the reality TV show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”). She’s not 100% identical to Kim of course, but there are some pretty strong similarities in their features. Watch it, and see what you think.
The first thing I thought when I saw this Old Navy ad a few months ago… woah, who’s the Kim Kardashian lookalike!? Then next… wow, they’re even knocking off the Black Eyed Peas pretty hard. They are a trio, each of different ethnic backgrounds, similar to how the group in the Old Navy commercial was depicted. Those guys aren’t suing them, though. To add a bit more of interesting knowledge to the story, I read here that Melissa (the Kim Kardashian lookalike) is dating the real KK’s ex boyfriend, NFL football star Reggie Bush. Could this have sparked the lawsuit? Hmm… interesting. Oh, what tangled webs we weave.
We know Kim is a gorgeous model, but is she also a singer, like Melissa? Not that I know of. Melissa actually has a pretty great video here, and the song is actually decent when it comes to dance/pop standards. This is not the last we’re going to be seeing or hearing about this woman. Here is the music video for Melissa Molinaro’s song “Dance Floor”.
So that’s our celebrity dish post of the year, most likely. It’s interesting because underneath it all, it comes down to one model looking similar to another. Would I personally ever want to do a stock photoshoot with a model that looked almost nearly identical to huge celebrity? Like Lady Gage, Rhianna, Megan Fox, or Shia Lebouf? Probably not. While it would be incredibly tempting, that might have disaster written all over it. Stock images get used all over the place, in more applications than you might even expect. Sometimes marketers will use lookalikes almost deceptively, and stock photographers have no control over how or where the images are going to be popping up. Once celebs and their PR people and agents catch wind of these types of things, it’s sometimes time for them to break out their lawyers. They’ve got plenty of money to play around with as well. Let this be a lesson for all of us, even if in the end, Old Navy/Gap still comes out on top.
Return on investment is a vital analysis formula to occasionally take a look at, no matter what business you’re in. It can sometimes take a while to get accurate results in a residual or retail business. Depending on the type of product or service you offer, some returns come faster while others take a long time to truly reveal themselves. You have to be in it for the long haul, plant your “seeds” and wait for them to grow; maybe waiting for the to reach their full potential. Here is the definition of Return On Investment (or ROI for short) from Investopedia.
A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, QR codes are those square shaped data codes that seem to be appearing more and more on all sorts of print materials and websites. According to a recent NPR article, very few consumers are actually catching on to what QR codes are; or if they have figured them out, the majority of people could care less about them.
