swiss miss creative mornings: matthew waldman

2/27/09 Matthew Waldman from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

i almost didn't publish this, but i guess a lot of people can't stand the way they sound recorded [not to mention the way one looks!]. so let's just say that looking at this hits on all of my insecurities. that writ, the response has been quite positive, so i'll let the webworld be the judge.

special thanks to tina roth of swiss miss, here amazing blog here, and parson's who donated the space. public speaking is really a wonderful way to test out ideas and thought processes so i really appreciate the opportunity tina presented.

product plug: noo spring colors are now available! at fine stores and on our e-store here. join "nooka" and "love nooka" on facebook. as readership on my blog is down, i will invoke the power of the words sex, britney spears, and rihanna in this sentence. nooka_ on twitter.

noo spring colors

we designed and printed our first poster! actually, my in-house art director, yumi asai designed it. i had fantasies of all our stores putting the poster up, and still hope they do, but my biz guy tells me that no one will – someone prove me wrong please.

the poster is to announce our noo spring colors which are: deep blue, fire engine red [more on that later], bermuda blue, beige [yes, BEIGE!], lavender, transparent, and heather gray. these color names are the compromise as i originally wanted to spin a story like: vatican inspired colour collection: including light and dark papal, stigmata, pale thorn, heaven sky powder blue...

update: i forgot to mention the semi-translucent clear zub! this is fun with a black face, but technically, is not a color per se, but the lack there-of:)

the poster is 23 x 34 inches in size and available folded to letter size and flat [approximate metric size is A1] and printed in 4 color process with love and care on long island, ny.

now, red is a very interesting color. i am not a scientist, so i'm giving an overly simplified summary here, but here it goes: the gene for detecting red hues is found on the X chromosome. therefore, men [unless xxy males] only recieve one copy of this gene, and many women receive 2 copies. this is why color-blindness is almost exclusively a male condition as a female will need 2 defective copies of this gene to be color-blind. it also means that many woman see a wider range of the red spectrum than most men. it is theorized that women need this sensitivity to understand the health and needs of infants before they can learn to speak [women can detect a wider range of emotions in peoples faces from expressions and seeing minute changes in blood flow/hues of pink and red].

why am i writing this? because our first line of zubs had both a "red" and an "orange". to be clear, i would call the red i chose "vermilion" or "crimson" [cinnabar, sometimes referred to as chinese red] to be more exact, but nonetheless, it IS a red. so many people said it was "orange" and only conceded it was red after putting it next to the very orange orange of that first line. needless to say, it was educational and became something i am now very sensitive to [i have no idea how i got 2 copies of the red gene or perhaps i have a very robust copy as i see minute differences in reds].

so with out any ambiguity, this red is a classic "red" to both men and women. lucky for us, it is also a color i trend-cast to be big this fall. let's see how it goes.

i think the gray and the lavender complete the collection to give a very classí feel.

all of these new colors are available for pre-order here. look for them at your local retailer in 2 weeks or so. also, if you'd like a copy of the poster sent to you, email us from our nooka.com web site and we'll send one or request one when you place an order.

the design entepreneur by steven heller and lita talarico

breaking news: steven heller's new book launches next month, but you can tell people you read about it here first, and i'm interviewed in it [page 230-231].

the book profiles graphic designers who made the jump to product design. i'm in some great company!

steven heller is a new york based creative powerhouse. his website is here.

parsons graduation show

last night was the opening for the thesis/graduation show for the communication design and digital technology design department of the parsons school of design at the chelsea art museum [556 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011]. it will be up for a week, so i recommend anyone in nyc to go have a look as there is a lot of great talent there. of course i went to see the work of students i've had in my class and also to catch up with other faculty – a fun time all-in-all.

photo caption left to right from top to bottom [not too much detail on the work, so you will need to visit the show. i will update this when i go back and take notes though]:
work, work, students elaine and nia with me.
renny jett [former student who i'm proud to see launch his own brand], work, work.
work, joan [pronounced jo-anne] with her work, work.

btw, nooka is also for sale at the chelsea art museum gift shop!

package design

this semester i am teaching the senior package design for the first time at parsons [the new school]. i taught design process, web process and print process previously, so being asked to teach package design was not just a nice change, but perfect timing personally as i grapple with package design issues daily with nooka. i only have 5 students, which i thought would be a problem, but they're all good students [in previous classes of 15 students, i was lucky if i got 2 students who were mentally present and did the assignments as instructed].

i started with a philosophical approach and the story of pandora's box to get them thinking about how everything is packaged, including our bodies in our skin, the clothes [and cosmetics] we wear, the tubes and ways we buy these things. i want the students to think of the emotional aspect of packaging, especially how one felt as a kid opening a present, and to identify personal experiences of purchasing a product based on the packaging alone [a book cover IS a package which illustrates another class exercise: package AS product]. then i went onto exercises to identify the basic purposes of packaging and the many concerns facing a designer with each:
as protection for the product in transit [from factory, to store, to consumer, to use],
as branding,
as value-add [including 'package as product'].

We also discussed context as a main concern [prada doesn't need elaborate packaging because of the context of both the brand and the selling environment, a new product in a supermarket does], eco-concerns [the greenest package is no package, differences between recyclable and renewable resources etc.], as well as cost concerns and how they affect design [I was shocked that none of my students knew the relationship between oil prices and the cost of plastics!].

another mandatory task for this class is to keep a blog to share information with each other and to collect design reference. and i would like to share some of them here with you.

kevin, nia, elaine, joan.

above image is from a product i bought in japan [but have yet to use] because i liked the package called sylotee & bee polish. It's a tooth polishing system for stains regular brushing won't remove and consist of a silicone eraser and special polish. cute huh? my only criticism is: why isn't he/she smiling? more on the product in japanese here.

brooklyn circus

of those of you who know me and even from what one can gather from fotos online and in press – i have a HUGE t-shirt collection. actually, i could probably occupy a few months of posts just on t-shirts, but i will control myself since there are so many people doing the same. of course, being an art and design snob, i'm happy to tell people the arcane far-flung places i get my t-shirts when asked. but a few of my faves are available locally! i therefore want to give some props to my friends at the brooklyn circus who have a shop in brooklyn nyc and in san francisco. they have great t's and the CMYK palette of many of the designs works well with my sneaker collection. (even if they weren't enthusiastic supporters of nooka [they carry a few models in both stores!] i would be wearing their t-shirts) learn more about them here!

the other place i get a bulk of my t's people ask about is graniph in tokyo. many times i've trekked all over tokyo to find a specific design in my size! i'm a bit jealous that sydney australia is getting a graniph shop and not NYC! you can see their english language site here.

the old man with the monkey arms sporting a fancy black nooka zirc is wearing a brooklyn circus t shirt. nooka zirc available here.

the image shot is from the graniph.com website.

nooka is looking for a superintern

one of my star employees, an assistant designer, has left our small studio to prepare to go back to college, which leaves us just a bit short handed. we need a superhero-level design assistant intern. spread the work, specs below:

Nooka is seeking a versatile, self-motivated graphic design student who has a solid understanding of Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign to work as an intern under the guidance of an art director and the Nooka design team. The intern will be responsible for concept development and creation of Nooka marketing materials ranging from the 2008 look book to product line sheets and advertisements. Additionally, the ideal candidate will be able to contribute to the design and maintenance of content for the Nooka website.

Internship can be part or full-time and is for school credits. Intern should be available to start asap. Length of internship is approximately three months, but could go into the summer if candidate is available.

To apply, please send a PDF of sample work or link to your online portfolio and your resume here. Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.

noo look for the nooka website

we soft-launched a new design of our website as part of an ongoing process to better present the fashion focus of the brand, and to control international versions. it's still a bit buggy, but a redesign was way over-due, so feel free to use the contact form for comments and programming tips!

XEROX Rebranding WTF?

xerox has demonstrated that they know absolutely nothing about branding and marketing by undertaking a redesign of their corporate identity [logo and graphic design style for the non-design set]. i guess i'm one of the few identity specialists that would turn away such business, but their previous logo and identity was perfectly fine -- iconic and well recognized. if they have a problem with the consumer, it's in the product or the advertising/marketing-- not the logo.

companies that really understand branding [like apple computers, and nooka] know that branding excels by maintaining 3 main principals: 1. consistent presentation [through the application of a kick-ass corporate identity program], 2. consistent messages, and 3. consistent high quality products that embody the first 2 principals. for a company like xerox, in terms of priority, steps 3 and 2 are the issue.

what xerox fails to grasp is that a new logo will not accomplish anything other than causing blog posts like this to pop up.

if any executives there want to hire my brand studio, berrymatch, to fix the mess, have them contact me. i would suggest a revitalization of the previous brand standards with a focus on language and message and deliver a new look-and-feel without replacing the logo [why throw out the only positive brand asset you have?] concurrent to that, i would put together a world-class team to redesign their products to launch WITH the new look-and-feel, not before.