“Often the identity of an organization that has many subsets can best be brought to life by the use of its supportive materials within the systems (promotion pieces, packaging, websites, signs, merchandising materials). This is an especially effective methodology because it can allow for a logo or identity system to gain resonance and recognition over time in connection to materials that are capable of being far more expressive than logos. For example the Nike logo, which has evolved over time into its current form, became a powerful symbol to the masses because of its effective use in advertising campaigns. The “cool” of the logo happened in connection to some brilliant campaigns by Wieden & Kennedy, and the effective positioning of the mark on merchandising materials. As pure form, if the “swoosh” appeared alone in a design school critique (or on a design blog) it would most likely have been dismissed as too thin, weak, and pointy, looking like a checkmark and not really conveying motion.”

Via Paula Scher’s article What they don’t teach you in design school, on IdentityWorks.com.

I can hardly believe how fast time goes by when you’re unemployed. Personally, the worst part about it is the amount of downtime I have; there are only so many episodes of ‘Law and Order’ out there, and I’m getting to the point where I can probably pen an entire season. Dick Wolf, if you’re reading this, please call me: I can guarantee you another Emmy.

I’m the kind of person that needs to have something (a job or hobby) occupying his mind at all times. For most of my life, a job was there to keep me engaged in something (with hobbies filling in the gaps), and when I lost my job due to layoffs, my calendar suddenly cleared right up. Again, Mr. Wolf, if you’re reading this, call me.

In any event, as the job growth numbers still don’t look promising, I thought that I might try to sum up my current strategy and share it with my fellow job-seekers. Here’s how I’ve been going about my search for the past few months; I hope that you can find at least one useful idea from my experiences.

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Joseph Jaffe (of JaffeJuice.com) explains how through things like customer service, customer experience, dialogue, a proper listening/response strategy, brands can show that they care about their customers. Furthermore, Mr. Jaffe goes on to tell us that customer retention is the new customer acquisition… the process he describes will create a loyal, credible, authentic customer base who will advocate for your brand.

Purchase Mr. Jaffe’s book “Flip the Funnel” here. Video via HubSpot.

On second thought, it’s not.

But it comes close; and at under an ounce, you’ll be able to carry these onto an airplane (if that’s your thing).

New ketchup packet design via Heinz. (One of these equals three of those little crappy pouches, by the way.)

Being a bit of an aviation buff, and an even bigger fan of clever design, this Kulula Airlines Boeing 737 is right up my alley. The design, while very unique and eye-catching, cleverly explains how this particular jet works (and what’s inside of it). I mean, how many of us knew that the famed black box is actually orange?

Via Shanairpic’s Flickr gallery

A lot of other sites have reviewed this movie far more eloquently than I could, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be adding much to the praise already given to this short film. Publisher of Adrants and film participant Steve Hall summarizes:

“Lemonade is a 40 minute documentary about how people changed their lives for the better after having been laid off. In the film 16 people, including yours truly, tell their individual stories. There’s the guy who got laid off and posed nude Burt Reynolds-style to find a new job. There’s the woman who lost her job and launched a yoga business. There’s the guy who went to an interview and ended up in a truth campaign commercial. There’s the guy who lost his job and decided to change his gender. And there’s the guy who lost his job, got colon cancer and started a little blog called Adrants.

Each story is unique. Each story is heart warming. Each story illustrates the fact there is life after the pink slip.”

Before we get to the movie links: if you’re a creative-type like me currently looking for work, be sure to check out Please Feed the Animals. You can create a profile, search job listings, and read a blog chock-full of useful information. Film (and PFTA) creator Eric Prolux points out some ways that you can support Lemonade.

Watch the trailer here:

Catch the full version on Hulu here (not sure how long it will be available).

The story is inspiring to anyone watching- if you’re currently employed, or recently-separated from your job, you’ll find something valuable to take away from the film.

Me? I made some posters based on some of the quotes in the film (after the jump):

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…this should do the trick.

(Click to enlarge.) Designed by Stephen Taubman.

Via AIGA.org.

Featured on the HOW Blog, here’s my submission to their HOW Conference sticker contest:

As I mentioned last June, I was fortunate enough to attend my first HOW Conference in Austin, TX, and I can’t say enough good things about my trip. I met some great people, attended several informative (and relevant) seminars, and returned back with a wealth of new information and skills!

If you’re a designer (or marketing professional) on the fence about whether or not you should go, spend the money and go- it’s worth it!

“Thank you!” to the folks at the HOW Blog who were nice enough to publish my submission.

Hopefully you can all see the typographical changes I’ve made here to my site; it was really easy to do, and here’s how you can incorporate custom typefaces to your site.

Before we get into the how-to portion, here’s how the code will look on your stylesheet:

@font-face {
  font-family: "Your typeface";
  src: url("type/filename.eot");
  src: local("Alternate name"), local("Alternatename"),
    url("type/filename.woff") format("woff"),
    url("type/filename.otf") format("opentype"),
    url("type/filename.svg#filename") format("svg");
  }

Simple enough- it’s basically assigning a name to your custom typeface, and telling your stylesheet where it’s located. You can duplicate this code and use as many typefaces as you wish, as long as you specify new names ("Your typeface") for each one.

Anyway, pick out the typeface you wish to use, then head on over to Font Squirrel’s @font-face generator. Upload your typefaces, download the kit that Font Squirrel generates, install the CSS code, and you’re all set!

A very helpful tutorial can also be found at Nice Web Type.