I just Remebered Jones

(images are from jonessoda.com)

Jones Soda Co.

A soda company I have been completely in love with since I met it.
Jones Soda Is a fantastic soda company that started in the 80's and distributed around western Canada. Using only pure cane sugar in it's sodas, coupled all natural juices in most of their other products, proved to hit big with Canadians.

Jones has proved that it is worthy to be held.

Jones also sponsors numerous emerging riders, among witch are extreme pro athletes who compete in BMX, snowboarding, and surfers competitions.

Their unique "old school" approach to soda in a bottle is what initially caught my eye.

The imaging they use for each individual bottle are pictures taken by average people around the world, through submission by either mail or internet.

Sporting about 20 unique and inspiring flavors.

Underneath the cap of the Pure Cane sodas you'll find a "fortune".
Underneath the Jones Juice lids, a simple little image.
They use this same approach on the majority of their products.

Jones also sends out RV's which hand out free soda to people on the street while they stop and have a chat with them.

Companies that include the consumer in a large part of their products production attract me the most. Making the consumer feel important is a big junk of why they are so huge. Who wouldn't want their dog on a bottle of Orange & Cream Soda?

In my opinion Jones has gone above and beyond in the beverage industry.

Inspiring, unique, creative, &supportive.



theDesign
Simply fantastic.

Just some tidbits

(images taken from each of the web pages)


A couple small things I wanted to mention that caught my interest:

Fidel Castro Steps Down
On February 19th Fidel Castro stepped down from his post as president.
Here is a link to The New York Times article.

Red Bull Art of Can
Useing Red Bull cans to create art. Not that any of us can enter it, unless you want to drive down to Texas.There is a few galleries you can look at from past years. Here is the link to RED BULL ART OF CAN web page.
(some of the pieces that they show are pretty cool)

MetroStation
Also found a very nicely designed and helpful web page called MetroStation. I know some of it is in another language, but it's still pretty. They also have a bunch of links, some might be useful. MetroStation web page.

Choxie Chocolate

(Some pictures came from http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/category/choxie/)

While in the states I found a brand of chocolate called Choxie.
This uniquely specially designed chocolate is only available at Target.

The packaging for this brand is what initially caught my eye. The unique colours and shapes that you normally wouldn't find on a package for any brand of chocolate, are what make this product shine.

Choxie sells three very different variations of chocolate, all uniquely designed.

ARTISAN BELGION SIGNETURE

ARTISAN
Not only are the box's printed on, but the chocolate is as well. A differnt design on each chocolate for each odd flavor. I purchased a box of these with a high expectation for their taste to go along with the fabulous design. I was wrong. Unfortunately for me, my pallet is very picky and in my opinion, chili and chocolate don't mix. There is other very strange flavors, but I had no taste for those either.

The BELGION & SIGNETURE
I haven't tried either of these yet, but I will as soon as I have extra spending money as these chocolates aren't that cheap.

I'd rather just ask someone at Target if I could have the packaging and they could keep the chocolate.

Rocket Dog

(All images are from rocketdog.com)

I mentioned that I was obsessed with shoes a few posts ago, and this brand is definitely one of my favorites.
Rocket dog was named after a dog named Max, who enjoyed speeding around on the beach.
The company started as a sandal company in 1997, and by 1999 the line included fashion athletics, dress shoes, boots, and flats.
It very quickly become a heavily desired item by the youth culture.

They have also won there share of awards throughout the world.

They have just recently released a mens and children's collection.

The reason why I bring up Rocket Dog is because their logo is one of my favorite shoe brand logos, as well as company names. I just think that the name Rocket Dog has a nice ring to it. and the image of the speeding dog for a logo is very well drawn and easily recognized in smaller scales, which I can imagine would be hard to do if you had to depict a dog at that scale, and at a larger one as well


There website could use a little work, but other then that fantastic brand/image.

Me and Ebay

(All images where taken from different stores on Ebay.com)

Recently I have discovered the wonderful world of Ebay.
$300.00 for clothes goes so much further on Ebay then it would if I went to the mall and purchased clothes there instead.

It is especially good if you are familiar with your sizes, because it becomes very easy to purchase a once costly pair of jeans for only $15.00, or a chiffon blouse for $10.00

Of course you have to watch out for fakes, scams, fraud and alike.

The most trustworthy sellers are those that have "Power Seller" stamped next to their name as you search them.

Phrases like NWT or NWOT are also good things to look for. NWT stands for New with Tags and NWOT, well it's obvious.

Not only is it great for clothing, but also anything else you could possibly think of.
Recently I purchased a New with Original Box, LCD T.V. wall mount for $30.00 (including shipping) When I looked this item up at Future shop, it was $150.00

Despite having to be careful with certain buyers, it is a fantastic place to save a few dollars and still get the same quality stuff.

Design is...

Everything.

It is the bed we sleep on, the tooth brush we brush our teeth with, the clothes we wear, the doors we open, the steps we walk down, the car we drive, the road we drive on, and the signs we obey.

We are constantly bombarded with design whether or not we constitute it as design or not.

My responsibilty as a Designer

I know that the career path I have chosen comes with the power to influence what other people think. I have heard that some people don't like the way that we have that power and don't agree with it and it's almost brain washing tendencies. Yet the very people that say they are against that, have been affected somehow by advertising as well, and are either unaware of it or don't want to admit it.

I honestly do not think it is remotely possible to not be influeced in any way by any form of media.

People who say they aren't and that they are "original" are exactly like everyone else who is "original" and that "original" attitude is a copy of someone else's attitude from a band or something along those lines.

I do feel that it is my resposiblitliy not to alter the truth or sell a lie. Because we have such a big influence on everybody, we have a great power, and it is our resposiblitly not to abuse it.

Well...

What Print do you consume?

I can not get enough of magazines. Every time I go to chapters that is the first section I go to, and I am compelled to purchase the rack.

I have subscriptions to:
Applied Arts, Ad Busters, Wallpaper, indesign, and Vogue

I love how each of those magazines have such a different look and different layout designs. I like the different types of paper each magazine contains.

All of my magazines are covered in post it notes marking different layouts and/or designs that completely blew me away and inspired me in my own work.

The newspaper Metro is also one of my favorite printed things. Although I don't have access to it, every once and a while my mom will bring it home and ill get to read it. The covers for the metro are for the most part, really beautiful. I actually have a few framed up on my wall.

How Will The Design World Change Print Media?

Honestly I really can't answer this question. Design changes so frequently that it is almost impossible to keep up with it. It is basically moving as fast as technology, because the more technological options that are available the more design options become available. I would much rather read something off of paper rather then off of the computer screen, and I think most of the society feels that way as well. Print is like tradition, people repeat it over and over again, and it never changes. When a regular routine, like retrieving a newspaper off of the front step is broken, it throws people off, and makes them feel uneasy. It has become a type of comfort for them.

Will Print Die?

No matter how big of a part technology plays in our lives, people will always come back to print. Technology isn't as reliable as having a hard copy in your hands. You can't depend on it to be their forever, but print you can. I do not think print will die, I think that it has established it self so strongly in all of our lives that if it where to be removed it would be greatly missed.

Smell this deisgn

Another type of design that I absolutely love and that I am completely inspired by is perfume bottles.

Recently I have come across some truly great ones. They used a great selection of colours, materials, shape, and type.

I admire the creativity that it must take to bottle a simple liquid and somehow describe it using the bottle itself, or the box it comes in.

I have a few images [above] of some of the ones that I own, and the majority of them where purchased purely because of the packaging, so obviously it works.

{I will be adding pictures, but at the moment I am unable to locate the memory card for my camera. As soon as I find it, ill post some}

Really Clever

(Images are examples from the blog)

I love billboards, I have always been fascinated by them, and I have seen
some pretty clever ones.

One of my favorites in Toronto was The Cheese one, where they used all sides of the billboard and made it into a giant block of cheese being greated.

Theres also more and more billboards now using solar power and/or wind power to produce the lighting that they require at night. These billboards aren't always the most interesting but I think that by using solar or wind power, that makes a statement on its own.

I found a blog with a lot of amazing billboards on it. A lot. It is actually on blog spot so you can subscribe to it and get notices when ever it updates.

Like this one that was up in Toronto over the holiday season. I never saw it personally but if I had I would have been in awe. The idea behind it is just so different from anything I have seen in Toronto/at all.

This is Broken

Found an interesting, and at times a funny website while looking for a specific ad that Goodyear had up previously to the one they have up now on Kipling.

Unfortunately I couldn't find it so I am going to have to stick to the one they have up now, although almost equal in my opinion as far as quality goes I preffered the last one just a bit more.

I managed to snap a picture of the current one.
But Ill talk more about that later in a different blog.
This blog is about the website I found.


The website/blog points out problems/mistakes/"brokenness" of different advertising forms.

Some of the ones he finds are actually really funny, in a way of "how could they actually make a mistake like that?"

Take a look, theres a lot, at least read a couple.

This Is Broken

Time Spent

Internet
Surfing:5
Facebook: 4
Email: 7
Ebay: 23

Reading
Books: 3
Magazines: 6

Music
Radio: 0
Computer: 1
Mp3 player: 0
CD: 17

Video Games
Computer: 2
System: 4

Phone: 34

Cell Phone
Text: 7
Talk: 1