Designed Science in a Soda

Neuro Sun

What happens when mad scientists, soda entrepreneurs and graphic designers meet? They create Neuro brand sodas of course.

This heavy hitter not only looks great but offers a variety of great additions to your soda taste buds. The first time I noticed these brightly colored drinks in my local gas station, I really just wanted to try it because of the different names. Then it was because they were so freaking bright.

The flavors change to each type of soda and some are lightly carbonated. My best description for the flavor of Neuro Sun is a touch of pear with those candy wax bottles you used to eat as a kid. Try one and you'll know exactly what I mean.

The design of the bottle is a fun, hand-friendly, and includes finger grooves for the twist-off cap. Besides the bright colored bottles the font style and colors match well without being lost in translation. Even the size ratio for the logo, "smart" image and general info fit each other and the bottle. Everything seems to have room without being on its own island or out shining each other.

In short, find this wonderful drink and try it.

Image screen shot from http://drinkneuro.com/

Pic of the Day

This wonderful photo was originally posted by a friend of mine. It brought me great joy, to know people will stand by their snow hole even when they are not there. An inspiration to all of us.

Visual Response Part 1: Sucker Punch

Screen Shots from www.suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/index2.html

Act 1: The Web Site.
  
   Sucker Punch a newly released movie which has made its way to DVD and Blu-ray within the past week after its showing in theaters not all that long ago. Though both odd and interesting the movie itself is about the fantasy of an institutionalized girl thinking of her escape.

   The very first page of the website, I have noticed, is the longest to upload out of all of them; even on a fast connection. Just from the look of the site after the initial load, it didn't take long to figure out why the loads were so long. It looks as though the sites main image container is either flash embedded or small sections of video on an infinite loop. The gallery sections are what seem to be Javascript functionality with the movement and fluidity of the Newest Mac's. 


   Although the load time seems ultra long for the time span of todays audience, the nifty counter lets you know how close you are to the final load. It counts up to 100 seconds rather than in percentages, like most scripting. My biggest peeve with the site is its page navigation. It's not interactive in the sense of hovering over objects on the screen to reveal new page links. Instead the navigation is slightly hidden on the bottom of the page with only the current page visible. Once you hover over that (When you finally find it) the menu pops up to show you your other options.


   I will let myself think the designer felt the lack of the navigation was plausible just to keep the clutter down and show off the great graphics of both the video's design and the action scenes that flitter on the screen. All in all the site looks pleasing to the eye but has a few Finder Friendly glitches.


Act 2: Poster Design

   The organized sections of the first poster, showing the cast of characters and a few ominous hints surrounding them, are eye catching. Even the perspective of the subjects in this piece allows your eyes to see it all but also move around to every niche of the poster. It simply keeps your attention moving without getting lost in complete clutter.

   The off kilter feel of the subjects, the diagonals, are something I've notice to be the current trend of resent. The normal was to keep the main subjects level or on some kind of plane of space. Now a days, more and more posters are taking the verdigo effect and useing the hell out of diagonals. 

   I tend to like the use of diagonals in these new styles, including this one. It allows you to play with the distance in the white space a little more and help add more visuals with out the background clutter. More linear design often got stuck on the pyramid effect to help the audience eyes move around and fit all the visuals in. That would create too much clutter in the upper half of the posters.

Lastly, is the simple fact that this poster (Sweet Pea) is my upmost favorite of the posters on the site. Just the true grit of the image and comic book-esk punch follow through shown above, proves the action to be seen in the movie itself.

This is a must view..... at least once in your free time.

Additional images, downloads and info at   www.suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com

Sweet Pea Poster

Dead Space 2-Cover

Dead Space 2 was the long awaited sequel to Dead Space, and a recommended game to play on any system. The design and feel of the cover page really mirrors the mood of the game play. For anyone unfamiliar with the Dead Space series, the game is a well developed horror game with very dark hallways and includes the fear of things popping up in the middle of nowhere. Even in the "safe" rooms you will fear getting jumped with well timed musical cues and dropped pipe sounds in the distance.

For the returning Dead Space fanatics, the cover alone would be the most recognized image if the title were never there. The helmet shape and LED lights in the front have become an iconic image. The generous use of black on the front and back cover in this case gives it that 'void' feeling of space and allows everything to flow rather than feel cramped in the space given.

The back covers of Xbox 360 games (including but not limited to PS3 and Wii) are known to be filled with mass amounts of small text. Usually a small paragraph on the game and then the legal rights, and laws farther down. Also included is the compatibility for the systems to play the game. All this can become very cluttered with the added in-game screen shots to intrigue the possible gamer into purchasing the game. In this case the design flows very evenly with a background image of Issac and the 3 screen shots floating on the right and vertically; rather than, at the top and horizontally.

Lastly, I want to note the small details added to the cover page. For those once again familiar with the 1st game, the border around the screen shots on the back are similar to the HUD design in-game. The same design concept for the front cover is used in the sequel as well. On the 1st game cover there was 1 main image (I.E. the severed hand) and the same is on the 2nd game cover (I.E. The helmet).

In conclusion, I not only enjoy this wonderful horror game, but the cover design across all platforms. ( I will note that the large band that Xbox 360 puts on the cover does take away from the design some). I congratulate the designers, developers, and gamers alike. And as an ending statement: I love the typography and font for the title.

Image courtesy of Johanna, thanks for purchasing the game. I knew you'd like it.

Doodles = Brain Power

That's right, all those cute little doodles may actually help your brain absorb information and keep you focused. Now that does not mean drawing extremely detailed illustrations, that just defeats the purpose. Instead doodle funny faces, stick figure men, and scribbly images while you take notes. This keeps your creative side alert while allowing you to stay focused on the person's voice rather than zoning out. This kind of adaptive 'switch-a-roo' is also a key feature used in Head First books to help you learn the 'boring' stuff.

Why does it work? Well some pretty smart people at the University of Plymouth in the UK found the scribble results to be true. Scientifically speaking the simple act of scribbling keeps the right side of your brain active, which is the side responsible for problem solving. So in the end, grab that breakfast, cup of joe and don't forget your pen and paper; you'll need it.

Want to learn more? Check out WebMD and the April edition of Shape Magazine on page 40.

Kope Cafe Part 3

The top page is my contact page for Kope Cafe. This is where the address and store hours are located. Customers can voice their questions or praises to the company via the contact form. The form is a simple question form with a growing text space for the lengthy-est of messages.

Upon sending a message you are redirected to the second page which is the thank you page. This page will show up if there are no errors with the message and a link to redirect the customer back into the site is also on the page. 

Note: Kope Cafe is a fictitious company. A majority of the photos on these examples are Istock comp photos being used until final editing choices.

Kope Designs Part 2 of 3

This is the Barista page for the design project Kope Cafe. I have continued my napkin concept throughout the entire site. The point of this page is for people to meet the wonderful workers at the cafe/bistro and the current manager.

The page missing here is the menu page, its a very long page with each napkin representing a group. The groups are appetizers, sides, desserts, etc for the bistro and includes weekly features. The length of the men page uses a jump to link and a return to top link for inter-page navigation.

Note: Kope Cafe is a fictitious company. A majority of the photos on these examples are Istock comp photos being used until final editing choices.