JCPenny logo

JCPenny has become the latest brand to redesign their logo the right way.  Unfortunately Gap, comedy central, Starbucks, and NBC Universal have sen better days.  Is it the new trend now, to change your logo to something so bad that the company gets media attention?  I guess the phrase is true. There is no such thing as bad publicity.  I havent heard to much talk on the JCPenny logo revamped, but when Gap, Starbucks, and NBC Universal changed their logos to something horrible I  heard about it right away.  But is it worth it?  

Resumes, Creative or Professional

I find that often times designers are asked to provide a resume to an employer and they are conflicted with this a question.  Should my resume be creative, to show off my creativity or should it be professional and business like?  Some opt to go the creative route and it can either be good for them or horribly wrong.  Some employers find it creative and it attracts them and the applicant might actually get the job.  Or the employer never sees what the applicant has to offer and throws away the hard work you put into the resume.  Its a tough decision to make.  I often opt for the safer route, professional.  What do you think!  Here are some examples I found interesting of some resumes.     

Robotic block

Modular Robotics has taken blocks to whole new level.  These new cubelets are the legos of the future.  And they are very cool.  Cubelets are modular, robotic tiny bricks that perform mechanical and senorial tasks.  "You snap them together and the Sense Blocks become the "input"--i.e. detecting proximity, responding to physical stimuli--and the Action Blocks provide the output, i.e. moving, rotating, making noise."  When they are on market they will be sold in different colors, u the prototypes are black.  The standard kit is $300. and they are currently out of stock.

Quick Overview
The standard kit of cubelets has 20 blocks and contains an assortment of sensor, action, and operator blocks. With it, you can experiment and create mobile robots and logic constructions.

video

The Side Winder- Helping the community

When I saw this video I thought it tied perfetly with what we are learning in class.  Mike and Ellie Kemery senced a problem within their own home and worked on how to fix the problem together.  They created the Side Winder to clear the space around their electrical sockets.  They found that they use pretty much all of the sockets and they have wires going all over the place.  With the Side Winder you dont have wires everywhere and it makes your work space neat and tangle free.  Check out the video.

The Valorised Designer by Nigel Whiteley

Nigel Whiteley writes about the valorized designer in his essay. He starts off by saying Theory and practice are no longer opposites but they are unreal. And design education has changed in a ad hoc way. He goes on to describe some current and recent inadequate models of education such as the “formalised designer”, the “theorized designer”, “ the technologized designer”, and “the valorized designer”. The formalised designer didn’t learn about design history in school, only art history. The design education focused solely on the formal elements of design, the craft, and construction. The theorised designer is the complete opposite. Design education focuses on a broad spectrum of theory because “theory explains all particular discourses.” The technologised designer values technology. This practice believes that new technology offers a better resolution that it previous. The theory dwells on “how to” rather than “why.” The valorized designer is “a new model in design education for the millennium.” The valorized designer is “independently-minded, creative, constructive, understanding, has flair sensitivity and has social conscience.” With this model theory and practice will interpenetrate but the distinction will not collapse. Whitely wants to create a “new academy” where design students will receive a true education. “Students will become critical and articulate responsible citizen-designers, they will promise an understanding of value systems and be able to justify his/her beliefs and commitments.” Design is ultimately a cultural discipline; values are professionally and intellectually relevant.

Assinment 1

http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/07/02/national-federation-of-the-blind-and-virginia-tech-demos-blind-friendly-car/


Platooning" - driving along motorways in tight, electronically-controlled convoys - could become reality for motorists within a decade according to the experts.

NBC Universal's New Logo

I am an intern at the Oxygen network where I work with the design aspects of their website.  Since I work for NBCU I did know that we were experiencing a merger with Comcast and that things would change but I honestly didn’t think the logo would change this drastically.   The logo all in all sucks.  It looks like a person with no design experience wanted to change the logo and came up with this sorry excuse for the new and improved logo.  I am truly upset to know that NBCU will use this logo to represent themselves.  Why was there a need for this change.  I could understand if they changed the logo and added Comcast somewhere in the design but they didn’t.  They removed all the recognized icons from the logo, like the peacock and the globe circling universal.  They also combined the once separated “NBC Universal” and now it looks like it reads “NBCU niversal.” Also the typeface is hideous.  I think it would have been better if they at least kept the same typeface.  My final thought is, who was the genius designer who came up with this terrible logo? 

Source- 

New Logo

Old Logo

Readability Apps

Readability is an app that strips the page of all ads and leaves just the text and photographs.  Developers want to now have a fee on the is app of $5 a month.  70 percent of the money will be sent to the sites each subscriber is reading. I think this is a good idea for those who like to read articles online and to have a variety of articles to read. This app also gives back to publishers which is really nice because the publishing industry is changing so rapidly and I'm sure they are losing money due to online readers. 


nytimes