Saturday I found myself dancing along to the cutest band that ever there was, who happen to be from Ypsilanti, Michigan, right next door to where I grew up, and just a wee bit west of Metro Detroit.
Oh, poor Detroit.
The whole state is suffering terrible economic times, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country; much of its woes concentrated in Detroit. How many news items about the area have you seen that feature an endless image parade of decrepit, boarded-up homes? It’s really like that, and it didn’t used to be.
Sufjan Steven’s 2003 song, Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head (Restore, Rebuild, Reconsider!) describes Detroit as “Once a great place, now a prison,” perhaps alluding to people being too financially insecure to be able to leave. Interestingly, in the background of the last chorus he repeats “Hesitate to burn the buildings,” but that is exactly the city’s plan to revive itself.
Idsgn writes:
“The basis of Detroit’s new plan is essentially the shrinking of a city. While it seems counter intuitive to most city planners: making a city smaller instead of bigger…what’s left is a bold plan to concentrate the city population…Mayor Bing has implemented a task force to oversee the destruction of over 3,000 homes in the next few months alone, with the goal of removing 10,000 during his four-year term. 77 public parks are also on the list to close. Trash cans will be removed, events canceled and the once-groomed lawns and gardens will return to the wilderness…A large city with vast open space is an unknown.”
Bulldozing half a city and rebuilding it is a risky move, and it will be interesting to see what will become of the once-great Motor City. Will it be able to start from scratch, to rebuild itself into modernity like the European capitols after the world wars? Or will southeastern Michigan be reclaimed by meadows?
Cross your fingers.
I’m a designer at heart, and having the opportunity to re-imagine and redesign brands has been part of my life for many years. I was also the near-victim of a choking incident while in grade school at an overnight slumber party (watch out for those Bugles!) All this being said… I can’t say that I condone changing the hot dog… Cut it lengthwise, down the middle, I say!
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that the hot dog be redesigned in order to prevent chocking among children. As you might guess, the American Meat Institute replied that it has no plans to redesign the “iconic food” known for its “distinctive shape.”
In its report, Prevention of Choking Among Children, The American Academy of Pediatrics identified hot dogs as “the food most commonly associated with fatal choking among children.” Other common foods identified as posing a high choking risk included hard candy, peanuts/nuts, seeds, whole grapes, raw carrots, apples, popcorn, chunks of peanut butter, marshmallows, chewing gum, and sausages.
According to the report, the hot dog shares the same choking characteristics as high-risk toys. “It is cylindrical, airway sized, and compressible, which allows it to wedge tightly into a child’s hypopharynx and completely occlude the airway.”
Along with “redesigning” these foods to prevent choking, the Academy recommended the addition of warning labels and recalls of food products that pose a significant choking risk.
In a response from the American Meat Institute (AMI), Janet M. Riley, president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council supported the Academies findings, but noted that “as a mother, I redesign many foods – from hot dogs to grapes to carrot sticks – in my own kitchen when I serve them to toddlers. I simply use a knife and cut them into small, bite-sized pieces.”
Riley also pointed out that nearly half of all hot dog manufactures already include choking prevention advice on their packages “and have done so for years.”
“It is important to evaluate the impact the presence of those warning labels has had on choking incidents associated with hot dogs and whether or not those labels have been effective in preventing choking incidents,” she said.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Much like how hipsters and Internet folk love to hate Owl City, most people who are not madly in love enjoy hating Valentine’s Day. And why not? Try to truthfully tell me those HE WENT TO JARED!!! commercials don’t make you want to punch someone in the face. Valentine’s Day has become one of the most hackneyed holidays we’ve got, thus Brand New has been charged with reinventing it.
“…Bryony and I were invited by Studio 360…to tackle a rather interesting problem: Redesigning Valentine’s Day, everything from the hearts, to the roses, to the chocolates, to the expensive dinners, to Cupid. Everything we know about Valentine’s was due for a new approach…Of course, we said yes. Yes, to a project that we had to finish in less than two weeks, with no pay, and without any precedents to refer to. Regardless, we decided to approach it just as we would any identity or branding project.”
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
First off, let me clarify that I am not an industrial designer. That being said, DUDES, why do you keep designing remote controls the same old way? Why, as technology progresses, do TV/satellite/stereo/etc remotes by and large remain ridiculously overburdened with cryptically named buttons, half of which I never have occasion to press (literally never), still have shaky back panels that let the AAs fall out, and find designed “improvement” only in the ergonomics of the thing?
We all know that remotes are wonderful things, and there have been neato little advances, like being able to control iTunes with your TiVo remote, but let’s be honest: the whole thing needs to be rethought. Insert obligatory Apple reference here. I’m not sure if it’s encouraging or disheartening that my first searches for rethought remote controls yielded only product concepts from design students (like this one and this one), but at least someone is thinking about it.
It’s not just remote controls; there are so many things that we as designers (of all stripes) just keep rehashing because they’re familiar and have worked reasonably well in the past. Oftentimes with deadlines, budgets and nervous clients, there is no opportunity to step back and really look at the problem the way we should. It’s easier to put a hundred buttons on a remote like the client wanted and be done with it, instead of fighting to rethink the product into something more useful and intuitive. That’s not to say that the wheel must be reinvented with every project, but it seems to me there are plenty of wheels out there that do need complete overhauls (Department of Motor Vehicles, anyone?) and it’s up to us to identify them. And hey, it might even be fun.
So apparently at 81 years young, Walt Disney Co. has decided that Mickey Mouse is showing signs of aging and needs to go under the proverbial knife and get some much needed animation plastic surgery. It’s finally time for Mickey Mouse to step up into the new millennium and become a bit more ‘edgy’ and ‘rogue’ apparently. I’m thinking full sleeve tattoos, gauged ears, perhaps a mohawk and a lip ring, but that’s just me. Perhaps Walt Disney Co. is preparing Mickey for an upcoming cameo in a new Grand Theft Auto game. It’s possible, “Grand Theft Auto: Steamboat Willie & the Disneyland Disaster.”
All that said, it’s fun to think about how one would remake everything about the iconic Mickey Mouse if given the chance.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I’m going to let you guys in on a little packaging saga I have been agonizing over for the past few years. First, let me preface by saying that I have a soft spot for any and all things Canadian. I don’t know why, I just do. Their accents and maple-leaf pennies just make my world dandy. So imagine how pleased I was when this appeared on shelves whilst I was in high school:
How cute! What refreshing, simple packaging! And I loved the drink itself, the subtle flavoring and over-the-top bubbliness made me think, “this is a grown-up pop”. Even the 2-liters were glass. But then after a while, this happened:
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