Today on the Interwebs: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to the writer of Today on the Interwebs aka TOTI.

Carol taught me how to use InDesign when we had to design newsletters for work. (Turns out we could just use ms word and still not get fired) Anyway, I always liked the idea of celebrating the eve of blogs while at the same time celebrating the end of print and TOTI gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that. We live in a world where by the time we watch the evening news, we've already read all the details online - with websites like TOTI we don't even have to surf the internet anymore, for Carol has read the entire internets, and she's kindly agreed to share whatever is new on the interwebs daily. It is one of the few blogs you can follow and count on finding something new and/or interesting and/or old but/still interesting . TOTI is most consistent blog out there. Impressive. In conclusion, TOTI is a website of contrast.











All the articles/copy taken from TOTI, except for "A Lesson on Placeholders" "What should I get from In N Out?" and "Secret Comic: REVEALED"

If you want to read the articles, download the PDF here.

-Crisostomo!

Safety and Bleed

For those of you who always wanted to know about pre-print production but were afraid to ask. It is ridiculously informative, and even better - it's catchy.

Also, the best part is the title/chorus "Safety and Bleed" - sounds like a cool band name. DIBS!

~crisostomo

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Movie posters are like country songs. While there are a lot of bad ones, there are always a few great ones that catch your attention.

Most recently, Crew Creative's posters for the Half Blood Prince have caught my attention, these two I saw (very appropriately) in SF's BART station:

"Hr Poe And T Ha Bood Pn"

"H P tt H -Bloo Ince"

At first, I was just mildly entertained by the occlusion of the title of the movie. It wasn't until I got home thyat thought about this choice and how brave and bold it was. To me, these posters are basically saying:

1. You know what this movie is.
2. We won't even say when it's coming out. You already know.
3. See you when it comes out.

While this design may at first seem "risky" one must distinguish between readability (able to be read easily) and legibility (able to be deciphered/understood).

Is it readable? No.

Is it legible? Yes.

Most movies or products for that matter don't have strong enough brand identity to pull a poster like this off, so kudos to the Crew Creative Ad Agency for taking full advantage of this fact and providing a great customer experience: the feeling that you're in-the-loop for "getting" the poster.

The only issue I have with this poster is the fact that they are not minding the gap. These posters are just asking for kids to imitate this pose. And what's even worse is that these posters are placed IN the station where you wait for trains.

**Even MORE design geekiness below**

Take a look at this other HP poster:


The poster is very dynamic despite the subject being completely centered. This is achieved by:

1. Breaking the grid: by tilting the title
   
2. Creating depth: though back lighting and by occluding the title
3. Composition: bleeding elements off the page to create visual interest (see below image)
   
4. (only if you're bullsh***ing in a concept design class) you could say that the epic-ness of the movie is too big to contain in the poster.
   

"Har tter -Bloo Ince" coming to a theatre near you!

In conclusion, a strong identity + great poster design = I'll see you in theatres (yes, theatREs) July 15th even though it doesn't say on the posters... because you already knew.

-Crisostomo

PS - a quick look at Crew Creative's website reveals that they are behind some of my most recent favorite movie posters, let's see if you can picture the posters in your head without me actually showing you.

The Hangover

40 Year Old Virgin (Probably my favorite movie poster ever. Ever.)

Yes Man (Didn't even see it but loved the poster)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (As well as the teaser posters)

Good Luck Chuck (People were lining up at comic-con last year just to get this poster.)

PPS - If you want a good country song, take a listen to Lyle Lovett's "If I had a Boat"

PPPS - If you don't understand why I'm even talking about country songs read the beginning of this post.

Modified Finn Bounce

(Words by Christina. Graphics by Justin.)

I used to avoid flash at all costs, but the FinnBounce piqued my interest in flash photography. This simple homemade device, designed by Petteri Sulonen, allows the built in pop-up flash on digital SLRs to be bounced, effectively deflecting light from the lens. This eliminates the harsh shadows characteristic of most built-in flashes and instead results in a more natural looking, evenly lit subject.

But does it work? Short answer: Yes!

Impressed by the before/after shots posted by the creator, Justin and I wanted to test the FinnBounce out for ourselves.

We gathered the household materials (cardstock and foil) and followed the 9-step directions to construct our very own FinnBounce. Preliminary tests revealed impressive results. However, it was apparent that the design was not meant to fit our particular camera, the Canon Rebel XSi. We decided to tweak the design to allow for a more consistently secure use of the FinnBounce. Ultimately, we found the following model to be most successful for the XSi:

Compared to the original FinnBounce, our modified FinnBounce incorporates a flap that runs over the hot shoe and slides behind the rubber viewfinder cover.

We made two versions of our modified FinnBounce: 1) white (without foil) and 2) foil. The former acts as a diffuser-bounce combo, while the latter is better-suited for bounce only. Both significantly reduce dark shadows and overexposure compared to shots taken without the FinnBounce.

Check out some test photos (click to enlarge):



Try it out for yourself! Download a free template of our modified FinnBounce here.


Bottom line: The FinnBounce is a simple, cost efficient (read: free) way to explore flash photography.

Enjoy!

Vacation Photos

The past few weeks I've been out visiting my relatives in Arizona and hosting other relatives here in San Francisco - the best part/worst part about visiting/hosting guests is that you get/have to go tourist traps. I was lucky enough to go to Sedona, AZ for my first time and I was blown away by how beautiful and quiet a place it could be even though it was filled with tourists.

Shortly after my AZ trip, I took my cousins to the Golden Gate Bridge on the best possible day - a day without a cloud in the sky! My cousin asked me "Is SF always this nice?" to which I replied: "I wish."

Above are the two panoramic pictures I took with my Canon A630. I was very pleased by how CS4 photo-stitched them together so well - I only had to tweak the clipping masks and levels slightly to make it look continuous. I edited the Sedona picture first and wanted to capture the vibrance of the area so I had fun with the saturation and levels. For the SF picture I went for the more "historic" look... Yeah, I know sepia-style can be a little cheesy, but at least I didn't fade it and make it look like an old photo... Enjoy!

~Crisostomo

Powergirl T-Shirt

For those of you who don't know powergirl:



I was inspired to design a simple t-shirt for all those Powergirl fans who never had the means to express their love for their favorite superheroine after seeing a deviation by my comic hero Adam Hughes. Enjoy!



~justin

Oh, and if you're going to the con, you'll wanna buy it here ASAP:
http://www.cafepress.com/jsosdesign

Other Hidden Logos

Check out THIS article to see awesome subliminal "gifts" in popular logos today. My favorite logo as a kid was the "Sun Microsystems" logo and I'm glad it made the cut. After reading this article, I have a new respect for the Goodwill logo.