I came across a blog post over at Adpunch, talking about Coke’s new bottle packaging for the movie release of Quantum of Solace. I admit that I’ve never seen a James Bond movie, but this bottle is pretty cool. This package is available in Great Britain. I wish Coke would release bottles back in the States.

Here’s a clever ad from Vespa. The long and short of it is that with a Vespa, you can easily avoid a police road block and escape without a scratch. Why? Because it is small. The concept is clever and the illustration adds something (I don’t know what) to the feel of the ad.

The name Meshell Ndegeocello was brought up in class. Since this singer blew up in my prime (which, sadly, was about 20 years ago), I thought it curious that I was laughed at when I pronounced her last name.

For the record, I did pronounce it correctly. It really isn’t that difficult. Meshell Ndegeocello is pronounced MEE-shell n-deh-GAY-o-chel-o. Instructions for pronouncing the name is all over her debut album, Plantation Lullabies.

If you haven’t had the chance to hear Meshell’s music, I highly recommend it. It takes me back.

In searching for inspiration for classifications, I came across an interesting ad campaign in Coastal Living from Delta (the faucet people). Created by Young & Laramore Advertising, based in Indianapolis, the campaign is something very different for a company that designs faucets for kitchens and bathrooms.

The campaign is at least a year old. Last year, Thomas L. Collins of DirectMag.com wrote in length about Delta’s campaign, and even took it upon himself to come up with a redesign. He calls the campaign witty, but pointless.

His main issue is the fact that the headlines are “Loofah,” “Plantain,” “Sponge” and “Toothbrush”.

I don’t mind that so much. Sure, it isn’t the product that is being sold, but that isn’t really the point of the ad. For me, the headline clearly states “what” is doing the talking. It doesn’t bother me so much.

While I agree with some of the points he makes, I still prefer the original ad over his redesign.

AIGA’s event is tomorrow night at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum on Camden Street. I’ve never been, but am thinking about attending. What can I expect?

HOW Design is having a poster contest. No categories, just everything grouped together. All entries need to be submitted online and the ten winners chosen will be featured on Howdesign.com and receive a How magazine subscription plus $150 of books. Sounds good. How Design is a great magazine for those that don’t know.

All the details can be found at http://www.howdesign.com/posterdesignawards.

So, will anyone be entering their poster in this contest?

I’ll be traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina tomorrow. I hope find inspiration on the road. There are tons of billboard signs on I-83 heading into North Carolina from Virginia. There’s also a bunch on I-95 going through Richmond. Every once in a while, I’ll see a clever one. Hoping for more of the same on this trip.

A quick run to the grocery story yesterday found me waiting in line for an extended amount of time. Bored at the prospect of spending half an hour in a line, my eyes wondered to the magazines perched on both sides of the aisle. To my left, OK magazine. To my right, US Weekly. At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me in some way. But thankfully, I hadn’t gone mad. But someone at one of the magazines’ headquarters sure did.

So, which portrait is the original? To my eye, the OK magazine cover looks to be more natural. The US Weekly cover just looks flipped to fit the layout of the cover. Even more interesting, the color scheme is the same for both magazines: pink, white and yellow. And yes, US Weekly took it upon themselves to slim down Mrs. Palin’s face.

So, which magazine is doing the ripping?

I don’t have much experience with purchasing portraits for magazine covers. Usually, I hire a photographer and art direct the session. If I were to ever find myself needing to purchase a photo for a magazine that was distributed globally, I’d make darn sure that I got exclusive rights. Especially if it is going to be sitting on a magazine rack next to my competitors.

Welcome to my new blog. I’ve had other blogs before and I still maintain a few. I’ve never actually had a blog related to design, so it should be interesting to see how my mind wanders when writing about graphic design topics.