reactions

It is with a tremendous amount of love that I write this post, having just returned from one of the most eye-opening (if not wallet-opening) trips in my life: a trip to Japan with Sheri.

We had an amazing time visiting shrines, temples, museums, and sampling the cultural riches from the streets of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya to small towns such as Kasugai and Owariashi.

I will leave Sheri’s more pragmatic nature to post things from the “high” road, and will walk you through some of the offbeat things which caught our eye from a decidedly “lower” road.

Hope you enjoy…

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I just came across an article titled “Some Scared by Design Firm’s ‘Box’ Ad” which leads with the following:

“EAST PROVIDENCE – A graphic design firm’s offbeat marketing campaign backfired when a few of the company’s clients mistook test-tube vials they received in the mail for a terrorist attack and called the police.”

New England hadn’t seen this much action since the Boston Bomb Scare of 2007.

Two things are notable here:

1. While life has seemingly returned to normal post-September 11th, there are occasional reminders that “normal” may just be a relative term
2. There is a subtle, yet crucial difference between “shocking” and “awe-inspiring.”

MSLK is always recommending clever, memorable tactics to help our clients stay top-of-mind with their customers. However, choosing humor or fun as an attention-getting tool should never come at the sacrifice of conveying actual messaging about what your company does.

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MSLK’s innovative business cards are published as exemplary design solutions.

“MEISHI Little Graphic Art Gallery”
International Creators’ Organization, book
2009

I was recently asked by USA Today to share my New Year’s resolutions for 2009 as well as my thoughts on New Year’s resolutions in general.

As you may know, we are just returning from an inspirational trip to Japan where we spent New Year’s with some local friends observing the Japanese traditions for the holiday. The Japanese version of New Year’s is far more reflective than the raucous good time Americans associate with the occasion. Gone were the streamers, noisemakers, balloons, champagne, and expectations of the “night of my life” and instead I spent a spiritual evening looking backwards, and then forwards.

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I know, I know… the only thing designers complain about more than corporate branding is corporate branding redesign. Both Pepsi and Tropicana unveiled new brand designs in the past few weeks. From the looks of it, the marketing department finally decided to modernize the brands, as designers across the world had hoped for years. Yes, we had been begging them to control all the starbursts, call-outs, dropshadows, glow effects, and whiz-bangs in their packaging. We had hoped for a controlled color palette and streamlined information. From the looks of it, they really did remove everything – including the spirit of the brands.

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Here are some amazing links you need to check out:

http://www.mslk.com/beauty-graphic-design
http://www.mslk.com/branding
http://www.mslk.com/fashion-graphic-design
http://www.mslk.com/green-graphic-design
http://www.mslk.com/luxury-graphic-design
http://www.mslk.com/packaging-graphic-design
http://www.mslk.com/web-design