Art 408/454; Anothe Blog on Watches

I am a big watch fanatic. Among truly great product design, time pieces are almost at the top of my list next to autombiles and architecture. However, I am a bit conflicted with the trends these days with some of the watches that are out there. Nixon, a huge brand among "trendsetters" and pop culture has boomed over the last couple of years with their very innovative designs (left image). The question is, how long will they last? Sure they kick-butt with their non-traditional designs and bold colors, but going down the road, they may not be as cool. Trends, in my opinion, tend to cycle themselves back and forth. Currently, our generation (not Jimmy, my Art 408 professor at Cal-State LA) is in a point in fashion where have definitely mashed up all kinds of key items from different periods, particularly the 80s. Sure a pair of Ray Ban Waferers are cool now, but back in 2003, they were either old-yuppy or modern douche bag. Nixon seems to be selling best in that direction.

The point is, I have the upmost respect for watch manufacturers because there are so many different watches out there, and a huge amount of them have designs like no other. Nixon has definitely taken a step forward in the market, but it still cannot phase the quality and timeless design of a Bell and Ross (right), Patek Phillipe, Tag Hueuer or an Omega (my personal favorite; I have a Snoopy edition!). Let's hope Nixon takes a step backward and designs something really strong and classy, not just a flashy fad.

Art 454, CS4 Campaign Update

Recently, I came across some very inspiring designs by collage artists Greg Lamarche of Boston, MA. His style is based on a very clean and bold typographic approach. The design personality on the work shown is almost geared towards graffiti. Designs like these are the ones that I can identify with the most. Most of my designs as a graffiti artist more or less related to this approach. The CS4 campaign project for my Art 454 class at Cal-State LA will definitely use some of the visual elements seen here for one of the full sized magazine spreads my partner Ana and I will be presenting. This may just take care of one of the many challenges that this project entails, such as the other two approaches directly relating to the ad, layouts, typography and so on. So far its one idea down an two to go. More details will follow as we go along.

Art 454, Adobe CS4 Campaign

So my classmates for Art 454 (Advertising) and I are supposed to develop a campaign for the new Adobe CS4 software for our second project. I'm speculating that this project will probably be the most challenging yet. First of all, the product obviously exists and is already being sold. Second, the software already has a very successful reputation and is the benchmark in design work across the world. Third, the thing costs up to a couple thousand dollars for people who aren't staff or students. The toughest thing about it though, is developing a successful advertisement campaign for something that has its own methods of being succesful. The interesting aspect of this project is that I have hardly seen any printed campaigns for CS4. Most of its advertisments have been seen in seminars, conferences and through online promotions and demos. A full 2 page spread in a magazine is going to be a tough thing to pull off in this case. However, I'm sure that we'll be able to pull it of successfully. I actually can't wait to see what kind of stuff my classmates will be popping out with. The California propositions LA Times ads were pretty outrageous, so I have to give everyone kudos for that. Let's make this happen!