Green is gooood!

In our efforts to become more environmentally conscious Promar has instilled a few new policies to help keep the earth happy. We are now partnered with FSC printers, are committed to printing at least 75% of our work with soy inks, have phased out our water cooler plastic cups and are using real glass cups (oh fancy, i know!), and recycling 100% of our paper waste. In addition, we are helping our clients achieve their green initiatives by creating PDF presentations, e-brochures, email campaigns, robust websites, online ad campaigns and by only using environmentally aware printing processes. We have also just partnered with and become members of CleanTECH San Diego. An incredibly motivated non-profit org who is accelerating San Diego into a bigger better greener economy.

It's Helvetica not Hydrogen!

My husband, who is a Physicist sent me this link to the Periodic Table of Typefaces. It’s a fun concept and it lists the most popular 98 fonts, adds a little history on who created them and what year they came out. But don’t be fooled into using this to cheat on a science test, I think the “H” is the only element that stayed in true form to the real Periodic table.

stay in the know with DEXIGNER's newsletter

Just wanted to share one of my favorite newsletters. Not only is the design of the newsletter eye-catching and unique, the content is as well. It’s the perfect round up of news for any designer who wants to stay on top of trends in products, design, fashion, architecture, technology and art. Sign up on their site DEXIGNER.

perf!

I just came across an ad for Absolute Vodka from 1980 and it is basically the same as the ads today. I guess I should’ve expected it due to the products longevity and success, but still, I gotta hand it to TBWA Advertising for creating such a timeless campaign with absolute simplicity 29 years ago. And aptly headlining the first ad “Absolute Perfection”, maybe they were foreshadowing? And maybe the lesson we should learn today is: simplify, simplify, simply!!!

branding, a companies favorite word

We here at Promar love the visible brand. But our stellar visuals can only get you so far, especially if you are a B2B. Here’s a tool (from the big brains at Neutron) to help you start the conversation on “Invisible Branding”, an incredibly important part of keeping your brand communicating with your customers.

Dance Festival on Film

Enjoy my first “Weekender” Edition. Every Friday I am going to post five things you should do in North County during the weekend.

1. Ski and Snowboard Megasale - Del Mar Fairgrounds

2. Eat a Burger - If you haven’t had a burger at Luxus 101 yet, now is the time. Kobe Beef, Turkey or Veggie patty, you can’t go wrong.

3. Cocktail Sunset - take a gander at the sunset with cocktail in hand at either Viewpoint Park (off D Street) or on Neptune in the never-ending staircase parking lot.

4. Zenbu Cardiff- Check out their ALL NIGHT happy hour on Sunday, but remember, you have to work on Monday morning.

5. La Paloma Theater: Frost/Nixon starts there this weekend and on Sunday (3/1) they are playing “Dance Films from Around the World“which looks incredibly cool!

Check back next Friday for more stuff to do in NoCo!

Good-lookin cool

Bad-lookin nice

Can BAD design actually be good? I’ve posted a sample above to illustrate a classic case of “Designer vs Client”. As a designer I think the logo this company ended up with sucks, but as a Consumer, I believe they somewhat nailed it. The “designer” logo is clean and cool, can easily be put on t-shirts, hats, business cards, etc… and looks great. However it’s cold and uninviting. The “client” logo is obviously amateur (anyone that uses Comic Sans should be banned from using a computer), however is friendly, inviting and tells the entire story. I am still not 100% sold on this concept of “story trumping graphics” but that must be the designer in me talking.

I am curious, if you were the buisness owner, which would you have choosen? Good-lookin cool or bad-lookin nice?

Peace man

A flag to represent all of mankind, quite a bold concept. But I love the idea! Check out what the world has submitted for the The One Flag Contest on Adbusters and vote for your fav. I have 3 favorites, one of which is posted above. Although I do admire all 32 finalists’s designs for thier unique perspetives on how to illustrate a united world. Give peace a chance, right?

whut up g?

I just came across this iphone app, called Huge Type. I really like the concept of this experiment. And the website is superbly simple. Now instead of storing the cool type I see when I’m out and about in my brain, I can put it online. YAY! Check it out here hugetype.com.