EDITORS NOTE
YOU ARE HIP, I IS HAPPENING
More than ever consumers want to participate in the creative process, and crave the ability to create personal brand statements and personal media platforms. Designer and consultant Kenneth Hirst notes that customizable products forge a close bond among consumer, product, brand and company. Concoct-it-yourself perfumeries, snap-it-on-cell-phone faceplates, create your own sneakers, and other do-it-yourself design opportunities represent just the tip of this gigantic iceberg. And Time Magazine named "You" as the Person of the Year — congratulations, by the way, we're very happy for you— because consumers are now shaping and controlling information flow via sites like Wikipedia, MySpace and the ubiquitous YouTube. Yup, there's no denying it: you are definitely in right now. Incidently, I is quite hip, too. Not "I" as in the pronoun, but"I" as in the letter. Or "i" to be exact. From iPods, to iMacs, to iBooks and now to the Wii (Nintendo's latest game console), it seems that new technology is all about making it personal, making it about you ... or i as the case may be.
— Sasha Kaye
LATE BREAKING NEWS
Seattle WA/New York NY: Tim Girvin, who created memorable campaigns for Bloomingdale's in the 1980s, returned to the creative fold for thematic design in holiday advertising and merchandising promotion for the 2006 Christmas campaign. Working with current Bloomingdale's CD Audrey Nizen, Girvin created a Celebrate! campaign based on a starred/compass theme featuring a constellation of hand-drawn languages.
www.girvin.com
Chicago IL: Studio Blue recently helped the School of the Art Institute of Chicago launch a new website that fosters an online sense of community. Rae Ulrich, director of Electronic Communications at the School says: "Department heads are asking me how they can further develop their portion of the site; and students and alumni are asking me how they can put their work up. It's a complete success."
www.saic.edu
New York NY: Lisa Herbert, executive vice president of Textile, Home & Fashion for Pantone is to be honored at the Fashion Institute of Technology Alumni Association Star Salute Dinner on January 10. Lisa Herbert joined Pantone in the early '80s in marketing and communications, and has since contributed immensely to building and positioning the Pantone brand as an important resources to the design and fashion world.
212.217.7158 or vicki_guranowski@fitnyc.com
Wichita KS: High profile Greteman Group has acquired UpDesign Bureau, and added owners Chris Parks and Chaney Kimball to the team. "UpDesign's success had taken it to a point that it would have had to add staff and resources in order to move to the next level," says Sonia Greteman. "We convinced Chris and Chaney that Greteman Group was the ideal home for their creative spirits."
www.gretemangroup.com
Los Angeles CA: SMOG Design is responsible for publication design of AMMO Books' debut title — GONZO — by Hunter S. Thompson. Lovingly edited and lavishly printed, the book includes a specially designed cloth wrapped clamshell box containing the book and a limited edition silver gelatin print by the one-of-a-kind Thompson.
www.smogdesign.com
Cleveland OH: What used to be an old "flop" house in the late 1800s is the new office of Twist Creative. The tactical design consultancy led by Michael Ozan and his wife, Connie, renovated the three-floor space on their own (with a little help from their friends). Founded in 1997, the firm was recently named as a 2006 Weatherhead 100 upstart company and a COSE Ten Under 10 company.
www.twist-creative.com
Phoenix AZ: The P.S. Studios design team of Peter Shikany, Judy Smith and Andy Cruz have developed a new look for Mandala Airlines, which flies to 22 major cities in Indonesia. The 15 year old design and advertising firm collaborated over a period of six months with a graphics firm in Jakarta to incorporate the identity of all the airlines' planes and marketing materials.
www.psstudios.com
San Francisco CA: The "Pentagram Papers" is a hardcover treat that compiles 35 years of writings by the Pentagram partners. Pentagram Papers are published twice a year by the legendary firm with intent to refresh and excite members of creative community. The collection, edited by Delphine Hirasuna, echoes the firm's core design values: simple, clean and timeless design and a strategic, ideas-based, craftslike approach to the process.
www.chroniclebooks.com
Avon CT: Group 4, the packaging, product and merchandising design firm, has constructed a research facility of its very own. The space is outfitted with the latest audio and video technologies and includes client onsite and remote viewing. "Having Focus and Discovery groups, interviews, simulated shopping sets and brainstorming sessions under our roof allows near instantaneous response to new information," comments president Frank von Holzhausen.
www.groupfour.com
Peerskill NY: Package and brand design firm Arcanna, Inc. has executed a new brand identity for the classic Ferrara line of confectionery and bakery products. The assignment encompassed a new logo and package graphics for the 114-year old line of Italian food and dessert products.
www.adhub.com
Philadelphia PA: Exuberant and poignant, philosophical and passionate, Zave Smith's photographs capture the tangible pleasures and tactile experiences of life in close-up. There are brought to life on a redesigned website by designer Michael McDonald and programmer Max Liberman of Talisman Interactive.
www.zavesmith.com
New York NY: Famed luxury retailer Barneys New York has two redesigned ecommerce websites: barneys.com and barneyscoop.com. Designed by Ingredient, Inc., the sites focus on individual products over a typically cluttered and overwhelming selection of items.
www.theingredient.com
 Take Five! Career Tips From The Creative Group
Top Five Elements Every Creative Professional's Resume Should Include:
Experience - If you've got it, flaunt it. List former positions in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent job.
Education - Provide this information at the beginning of your resume only if you're a recent graduate; otherwise, place it toward the bottom.
Skills - Don't scrimp in this area; list them all, especially those that are included in the job description.
Contact information - Keep it professional. Employers may think twice about responding to a "punkmaniac" e-mail address, for example. Be thorough and keep your contact information at the top.
Achievements - These are the crown jewel of your resume. List accomplishments in bullets under each job you've held and quantify your contributions whenever possible.
The Creative Group is a specialized staffing service providing creative, advertising, marketing and web professionals on a project basis. For additional resume tips, visit www.creativegroup.com/ResumeWriting.
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TRENDSPOTTING
Consumers in both the US and Europe prefer glass bottles for spirits and beer (97%), plastic bottles for still water (89%), and are evenly divided between aluminum cans (36%), plastic bottles (42%) and glass bottles for soda (22%). Despite attempts to market alcohol in plastic bottles, it is yet to catch on because of negative perceptions regarding taste. The results are from a recent Dragon Rouge Beverage Package Survey. www.dragonrouge-usa.com
Print sales in 2006 soared to pre-recession levels, climbing 6.2% in the first nine months of the year, according to preliminary findings of NAPL's 2007 State of the Industry Report. Andrew Paparozzi, association veep and chief economist said that 2006 sales were growing at a rate not seen since 1998 and projected total industry sales volumes in the $87.6 billion to $89 billion range. Despite steller industry sales, he warned that printers' profits continue to be squeezed by higher costs and warned that the future of printing is still filled with challenges from new media. www.napl.org
Every Day With Rachel Ray was named Hottest Launch of the Year by min magazine, which covers the magazine industry. The awards event, held at the Grand Hyatt in New York, shined a spotlight on publishers, editors, presidents, media directors and agency executives who have left a mark in the magazine business in 2006.
According to a new White Paper by the Winterberry Group, the direct mail marketing industry enjoyed another year of robust growth in 2006 as total spending on U.S. direct mail services reached $60.6 billion, an increase of 7.5% from 2005 estimates. The ease with which mailers absorbed a 5.4% postal rate hike and the lack of high-performing alternative channels helped maintain the pace of growth. The Winterberry Group projects that direct mail investment growth will continue to outpace growth in traditional "above-the-line" advertising.
UPCOMING EVENTS
January 3-27: The Society of Illustrators presents Letter as Image, Image As Letter: the work of Michael Doret, Louise Fili, Gerard Huerta, Tom Nikosey, Daniel Pelavin and Tom White. The exhibition takes place at the Museum of illustration. www.societyillustators.org
January 10: Design icon Chip Kidd speaks at AIGA Colorado. Kidd's book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. www.aigacolorado.org
January 11: AIGA Nashville and Emma have teamed up to bring you Email by Design, a casual discussion about designing and implementing successful email campaigns. www.nashville.aiga.org
January 11: Be inspired by author, art director and 'zine publisher Nicholas Blechman as he discusses his work and experiences in the publishing world. Follow up with a hands-on workshop. www.peoplesdesignaward.org
January 13: Have an idea or opinion you would like to share? Join AIGA Indianapolis at their monthly board meeting. www.indianapolis.aiga.org/events
January 16: AIGA New York Small Talk No. 4: Emmanuelle Linard, Trend Union. An intimate evening featuring a presentation by Linard. www.aigany.org
January 18: Join AIGA Miami for a Meet Your Studios Mixer featuring local agency talent. More details to come. www.miami.aiga.org
January 18: AIGA Atlanta hosts Color Blind, a diversity panel and discussion on how to encourage membership diversity and build a more inclusive community. www.aiga-atl.org/
January 18: Sheila Levrant De Bretteville speaks at AIGA Cleveland. De Bretteville's beliefs about community have crystyllized in the creation of public art works embedded within city neighborhoods on both coasts. www.aigacleveland.org
January 18: Join AIGA Maine for their Monthly Movable Mixer. Snacks included. At Hilton Garden Inn in Dowtown Portland. www.maine.aiga.org
January 14-26: The University of Cincinnati will play host to SEGD for a seminar on design trends in academic, professional, and corporate environments. The event will focus on how companies, design firms, and schools can analyze trends and develop strategies around them. www.segd.org
January 21-February 25: The College of Saint Rose Art Gallery presents "Woody Pirtle Visually Speaking," a graphic design exhibition featuring posters, collages, symbols, logotypes and assemblages by the acclaimed artist. www.strose.edu
January 25: AIGA Boston sponsors Stephen Doyle: Visual Language and the Language of Color. Doyle is principal and creative director at Doyle Partners, a New-York based design studio with an international reputation. www.boston.aiga.org
January 25: Join AIGA Arizona as principal, Brian Drake shares his ideas on illustration and design while giving a behind the scenes tour of his award winning design studio. www.arizona.aiga.org
Febuary 8: AIGA San Francisco presents THROB, an art auction to benefit Joey's corner and Heart to Heart. Hundreds of artists from the Bay Area have donated their designs, with a heart in mind, for the auction. www.aigasf.org
PRODUCT NEWS
Dell and Adobe are partnering to offer great pricing deals on Dell Workstations and Adobe Production Studio standard and premium software for graphic designers and other digital content creators. www.dell.com
Free print samples from HP Designjet printers are available for GDUSA readers. The printers have a built in spectrophotometer that analyzes color and calibrates it to match the medi used. www.hp.com/go/graphicdesign11
Adobe Stock Photos now has more than 950,000 royalty-free images online from many leading suppliers. They open from inside Creative Suite 2.0 applications. www.adobe.com/stockphotos
The Design Box Brochure Design Cards is a handy, first-of-a-kind card deck of 50 professionally designed brochure layouts. Presented beautifully in a slide out box, they can be used to dial in client preferences or as an office or studio resource. stocklayouts.com
CDW is emerging as an important place for helping creatives find the right technology, with advice, training and specialists in every area of digital design and production. CDW.com/digitalflow
The new Epson Stylus Pro 3800 Printer is destined to be one of the most sought after products of the year. Stylish in design and cutting edge in color output technology. www.epson.com/3800
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The big story of the year has been the willingness of mainstream marketers to forgo a decades-long relianace on the traditional media and to embrace new technolgies like podcasts, video-on-demand, blogs, social networking and video sharing. Sometimes, those efforts were compelling and successful. In other instances, attempts to change old habits went over about as well as Grandma demonstrating how hip she is by leading the wedding party in the macarena."
— Stuart Elliott, The New York Times, on the best and worst advertising of 2006.
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