Happy Bottledays - Evian's Paul Smith Bottle

Evian launches a bottle designed by British fashion designer, Paul Smith. An icon gets madeover for the Holidays.

ADC Young Guns - Julien Vallée and pecha kuchaism

ADC Young Gun winner, Julien Valée may have presented a body of work at an Apple Store, but this could be a Window dislay equally, effective. It's high and low, tech, and could still sell the most sophisticated of electronics. Yeah, paper sculpture can sell technology today as well as a slick, perfectly shiny photo with a reflection, can. Maybe,even better. Take note, Apple.

Connecting with culture today takes much more than simply believing that modernity is the the answer. For, after all, what is modernity today, anyway? Recently, a number of factors are moving me, personally, to challenge conventional thinking when it comes to crafting creative design solutions. Mostly, I am exploring the curious trend of technology becoming more organic, and natural rather than the cliche expressions we see over and over again from the tech companies. Take Apple, for instance.

It's funny, and quite clear, to see brands beyond Apple, design packaging which is sold within the Apple stores. "Make it look like Apple" and suddenly, it's quaintly not new, not modern, not original, and definitely, not Apple. Sometimes, the answer can be found in the solution rather than the challenge. Creative people, who are brilliantly good at it, are discovering some amazingly elegant and yet, provocative ways to capture our attention. After all, marketing today should be more about engaging us ( even if it means, entertaining us) than boring us with the expected. The message, if presented effectively, can be said more in the experience, than in words.


Take Montreal ADC Young Gun Julien Vallée's work. Brilliantly new, a voice of today, if not tomorrow, and certainly worth noting.



Congrat's also, to ALSO, chicago design firm, and friends, who've I've been using for years for their creative collective minds. You go, Guys!

I can see the Future, and it's moving. Look out Harry Potter.

The idea that motion in print, in our magazine, newspapers, or whatever we end up calling our devices it going to become a reality, seems unavoidable given the progress that technology is making. According to Mashable last week, it's really going to happen, and I can't wait. "Two still mythical tablet devices, the Microsoft Courier and the Apple Tablet, are probably the hottest and most coveted devices that do not yet officially exist.

OLED TEchnology allows for bendable screens.

With print on paper magazines failing left and right, (good bye Gourmet), and with everyone freaking out about books, magazines, journals and print going away for ever, and even with libraries closing, books and newspapers leaving our shelves and doorsteps, there comes along a disruption - thank you Harry Potter, and your world of moving images in Newspapers...maybe this fantasy will become reality sooner than we think ( Thanks Gizmodo) (Via Designdust).

I have always believed that even though many things which are creatively produced in our life are now repeating, that in reality, we are just in a time of tremendous change, a time of transition, a cultural florescence may be about to happen. Print may not be going away, only the medium. In our world where magazines seem old fashioned and quaint, we still love our printed medium, but we want it free, or at least in high def. Think about it////this Holiday season, many of us want an Amazon Kindle, next year, we may want a 4 color version, or a Microsoft Courier, even an Apple Tablet. Print isn't leaving us, it's only getting better. Much better. It's becoming motion-print, and not unlike those black and white newspaper photos in the Harry Potter films, we may actually be entering a whole new era of design and creativity that can, indeed, change everything.


OLED Technology allows for flexible, video

Sure, it may take a few years, but I can't help but to imagine that these digital devices are only a stepping stone to newer mediums, and with the introduction of flexible video by Sony and Samsung, the idea of 'Living Magazines" may not be that far off. The future of flexible video may be pricey now, at least to be disposable, but maybe it isn't disposable? And, come to think of it, the idea of me finding a $10,000 plasma screen TV seemed unimaginable 5 years ago, now, they are at discount stores for less than 300 bucks. As an avid reader and a fan of scientific and botanical journals, this concept may change how plant societies and main line magazines, if not certainly advertising, will consider print in the not too distant future.