Man, this is awesome. My first submission to Cotton Bureau and it’s getting printed! Check out the design below, a shot of the original marker drawing and go buy one!
Here’s to you. “Sláinte” by @kevinoh. https://t.co/0SgMKScV8y pic.twitter.com/By3JIrN0mU
— Cotton Bureau (@cottonbureau) November 17, 2015
My brother just turned 40 so I made him some over-the-hill OLD-inspired labels to replace the real ones on a few fairly nice brews I picked up for him. I didn’t feel like wasting money on a gag gift, but wanted to get him at least a little something to remind him how old he is getting. I started with a Google search and found plenty of source material. A few minutes in Photoshop on each one replacing and adding text where appropriate and the final result turned out fantastic. I removed the original beer labels by soaking them in water for about 10-15 minutes and then peeling them off. To attach the new beer labels I used some double-sided tape which worked perfectly to keep them nice and smooth on the bottle. This was a real easy way to add a personal touch to gift. I’m thinking about doing this for more people as the holiday season approaches.
Check them all out here.
And the final result:
I am. I am ready for the Philadelphia Eagles to get this season started. Some say this is the most important season in team history. I say it’s just as important as any other. Expectations are always high here in Philly. This year is no exception. In order to get everyone as excited as I am – why not download some Philadelphia Eagles iPhone 4/4s lock screen and home screen images and show everyone how you feel about Da’ Birds? The lock screen features the Eagles logo and the home screen is simply Eagles green so that you can still clearly see your app icons. Make sure you download both images separately and get your Settings straight.
In the meantime, enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IXf3nGBigQ
I’ve been working on some branding for an awesome photographer and good friend of mine Dave Waddell of Siousca Photography. I thought I’d share a quick sneak peek of the research and progress so far from my trusty Moleskine. You can see some inspiration on the left, the original logo on the top of the right hand page and a bunch of concepts following that. Siousca is the Native American term for the land around the Brandywine river which is where Dave grew up. So there is definitely a bend towards that.
Hopefully, I’ll be wrapping this up soon, as I know Dave is patiently waiting. I’ll be sure to post some more on this one as it has been a blast to work on. In the meantime, if you need a photographer for weddings, engagements or family photos, check Dave out.
A good friend of mine remodels homes and runs his own company, Wilkinson Remodeling. As the company was growing he realized he needed an updated look. Nothing was wrong with his old logo (see below), but it was time to step up his identity to match the success of his business. He does great work, by the way, so if you are in the South East Pennsylvania area and are planning a project – hit him up.
I had a few ideas from the beginning about how he could set himself apart from the competition. But what I really wanted to do for him was create something that said ‘Hey, I built this with my hands. And it’s better than anything you could buy from a big box store or get shopping in a catalog.’ Cause that’s the kind of work he does. So I went for this quality, handcrafted look – and I needed it to be about homes and construction. A Continuous Lean was a big inspiration, both the branding itself and the images, products and stories featured on the blog. So… here is my first round of sketches.
Of course, as all good clients do – he had a few ideas of his own. I made some suggestions, provided some ideas and here is the first round of slightly refined logo concepts. The bottom middle happened to be my favorite. Perhaps it was a bit too rugged for the high-end homes he was working on. But man, it sure is true to what he does.
We decided on a combination of my favorite and a much less jagged version and landed on what you see below. We added in the shield to show some of the craftsman feel and make a nod to the founding date. Being around for more than 5 years in the home biz during a down market is quite impressive. I should also mention the logo makes use of the Bebas font which you can find over at Font Squirrel.
Final Wilkinson Remodeling logo.
I made some mock-ups of what the logo could look like in a series of small ads. I really like the whole look behind ‘Quality Craftsmanship Guaranteed’ that you can see in some of my sketches.
All in all, a great project and a great client. A strong identity that could have easily been just another construction company.
Well, today is my birthday. And doesn’t Google know it. To some people it may seem scary that someone, or some thing knows so much about you. But this little Google Doodle for MY birthday is such a nice little touch, I don’t think anybody would mind seeing this.
The birthday doodle is really cool, but what seals the deal for me is the Alt Text. Hover over the doodle and it says “Happy Birthday Kevin!” I know it’s a minor detail, an aside, something that not everyone will even notice. But it shows us two things:
Thank you, Googlers!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, all! Here is a free desktop wall paper I designed just for today. Feel free to use it for whatever you wish. It’s large enough, (1920×1200) for bigger monitors but should still look decent on smaller sizes since all of the main content is relatively small and centered.
If you want to know more about the resources I used, here goes:
Sláinte
I’m not much of a Budweiser guy, not at all actually. But their new commercial has really caught my attention. In the 60 second version of the spot they show glimpses, or vignettes, of people getting ready for something. The scenes range from a guy barbecuing in his yard, people getting ready for a baseball game, a band gearing up for a concert and my favorite, a woman getting ready to go to work. The art direction here is spectacular. The music (You! Me! Dancing! by Los Campesinos) has that driving baseline and building anticipation of preparing. And that is what Budweiser is really selling here, the promise of, or the hope of, an awesome time. Whether you’re getting ready for the party, the game, the concert , the date or all of the above – what you’re excited most about is what could happen. And Bud captures that here perfectly:
I guess the tie that binds everything together here is the beer. Budweiser would like you to believe that it is responsible for making all the magic happen. That’s advertising for ya!
Seth Godin likes to share. He has written books, he has a blog, he has written books about his blog. I like to read what Seth shares and I believe what Seth shares.
I also like to get mail. In the mail box. It feels good, and I know that if someone spent the time to send me something then it must be worth sharing with someone else. Well, I got a book in the mail today and it was from Seth Godin. The Mesh is a book about sharing and how businesses would be smart to get on the bus and spread the love before it’s too late.
I really love this concept. Everyone involved in this Sharefest is a winner: I get a free book, Lisa gets Word of Mouth, and Seth looks like a hero. Yet none of it is cheap or phony, it’s authentic and real. And it’s appreciated so, …
Thank you, Seth. Thank you, Lisa. Here is my part of the sharing:
I’ve talked about BlackBerry before with there ‘All You Need is Love’ commercials here and here. And it seems they haven’t strayed too far from course when introducing their brand new tablet the BlackBerry PlayBook. Although not as obvious this time around, the BlackBerry PlayBook Preview does a nice job tying this one into the old campaign in a very subtle way. The song in the video is Where I’m Going by Cut Copy and the lyrics start off with “All you need is a dream and a lover to”. At first I thought it was just another bad cover of the Beetles, but it is actually a great tune for this spot.
The PlayBook is self described as amplified, multitasking, business-driving, flash-loving, App-rocking and device-pairing. Introducing the first multiprocessing, multitasking, uncompromised browsing, enterprise ready, professional tablet. At a much smaller size than the iPad, it is clearly aimed at getting in the business landscape capitalizing on its enterprise ready out-of-the-box capability. I don’t think it will give Apple serious competition but it is nice to see some viable competitors out there.
What do you think?
Can’t wait to see this when it comes out and how much it will cost!