Proper Corn Branding

You know that branding was done effectively when it actually urges you to go out and buy the product. That is exactly what happened for me and Proper Corn. I fell in love with Proper Corn's branding the first week that I got here and have been obsessed with it ever since. First of all, the name of the product itself is so adorable and witty, it made me laugh and it is so very British. I absolutely love when food products make use of different colors to distinguish between the different flavors. I think that this is something that Proper Corn has done very well, they use bright and vibrant colors that will stand out to you on any store shelf or advertisement found on the streets. Proper Corn also has advertisements EVERYWHERE in London, it's extremely hard to miss. I have seen a lot in areas of public transportation, very smart considering most people in London uses public transit. They have posters all over tube stations, posters at bus stops, and even have the occasional double decker bus being used as one giant moving advertisement. The best part is, Proper Corn also tastes just as good as it is advertised and I was not disappointed when I went to try it out for myself. So bravo to Proper Corn and its awesome branding! This is definitely something I am going to miss about London. 

Alexander McQueen at the V&A

Last week we went to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the V&A and it was absolutely amazing. Before going to this exhibition I was not very familiar with Alexander McQueen's work but after visiting I fell in love with this artist. The museum did't allow photos to be taken inside the exhibit sadly but these are a few postcards that I bought at the gift shop afterwards. The detail that went into every single piece that he created is pretty unbelievable. Every concept was so well executed from head to toe and each collection was very well put together. I was fascinated by all the crazy designs that he came up with, designs that I could never even dream of creating. Throughout the museum they had quotes by Alexander McQueen and my favorite one was, "when I'm dead and gone people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen." I love the confidence that he had and we can truly look back at him as a designer that started the twenty-first century by pushing the boundaries of fashion like no one else ever had. 

I would also like to comment on how perfect the logo for the Victoria and Albert museum is. I love how the ampersand acts as the other half of the 'A' and the typeface that was used is beautiful. This branding that the V&A has chosen does a great job of capturing the modern and elegant style of the museum as a whole.  

Brixton Village Signage

Last week I got to explore a new part of London and go on a walking tour of Brixton. I fell in love with everything that Brixton had to offer. It was such a cool area and had a lot of beautiful signage. The signs shown above are all located in the Brixton Village. Brixton Village is a pretty popular place for locals where you can stop by and grab something to eat or shop. These are just a few of my favorite signs that I found but every sign that I found while walking around this market was pretty beautiful. All the businesses are very small and privately owned so I was very impressed by how well done every single sign was. Earlier last week we had a field trip where we went on a Type Safari through the streets of Dalston. We got to learn a lot about the signage of that area as well as start to think about what a sign is saying to you and the kind of emotions that it brings. The Dalston tour happened before Brixton so when I went to Brixton signage was something that really stood out to me. Typography can say so much about a place and it is important that it is fitting. I thought that all the signage in Brixton Village did a great job of capturing the feel for the businesses. This market is definitely something worth checking out! 

Tate Modern Wayfinding

Last week we took a field trip to Tate Modern. Tate Modern has a total of 7 floors so wayfinding is absolutely essential. As you can see in the first picture, the first form of wayfinding that they have is a type of map that separates the different floors and lists off what exhibits can be found on each one. The names for the exhibits are pretty broad with names like 'Making Traces' and 'Energy and Process'. They are labeled floors 0 up to 6 and put together in sort of an odd geometric display, going along with the modern theme of the museum. These are located on every floor and within every elevator. The floor that you are on will always be highlighted in black so that there is no confusion. Once you exit the elevator or escalator on every floor you will find a giant number on the wall so that you will know which floor you are on along with this same description map that I mentioned earlier. On every floor they also have signs for 'Art' and 'Eat & Shop' as you can see above in the pink and orange blocks. These list off everywhere you can get food and shop along with which level they can be located on as well as what some of the big attractions for the museum are and where you can find them. Lastly, in front of each entrance into an exhibit they give a description of what you will find. This elaborates on the names of the exhibits that can be found on the maps in the elevators and next to the giant numbers on each floor. I thought that the wayfinding in Tate Modern was very well thought out and it was pretty easy to navigate without a map and just looking at all the signs and descriptions on the walls. 

Camper Shoes

Last week we took a field trip to the Design Museum and there was an awesome exhibit on Camper footwear called Life on Foot. Camper is a Spanish footwear brand and this exhibit showed how design of every kind has played a role in Camper's shoemaking. This brand is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year so they have been in the industry for a while experimenting with contemporary design and new technologies. I thought that this exhibit was awesome because I love shoes and it can be easy to forget that shoes are an art form and part of design as well. Shoes are worn everyday and can easily go unnoticed but at the same time be very revealing in terms of the person's personality and sometimes even their status. Every activity that you take part in requires a different form of shoe whether you walk, run, dance, work, or play. It is so interesting that you can get a feel for the personality of a person you have never met just by looking at the shoes that they are wearing. The pictures above are from the exhibit showcasing materials used for shoes and different types of shoes that Camper has made. As a shoe lover I really enjoyed this exhibit and liked seeing the evolution of the design of Camper's shoes.

Pizza Is Life

I am very happy to announce that London likes pizza just as much as I do. Before coming to London I was a little concerned that I wouldn't like the food because I am an extremely picky eater. Pizza is my favorite food of all time and I am very happy that I have been able to find some of the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life in this city. Out of all the restaurants I have found that serve pizza, Pizza East is by far my favorite. Not only for how delicious their pizza is but also because of how aesthetically pleasing the interior design and branding is. The branding and logo that they have gone with is very simple. They have picked a beautiful serif font to write out the words 'Pizza East' that goes along perfectly with the rustic feel of their restaurant. They have made good use of blue as their accent color throughout their menu design, pizza boxes, and interior design of the restaurant as well.  Their menus are very easy to read with the same beautiful serif font used for headings and another easy to ready serif for smaller type. Blue is used as an accent color that adds contrast between the headings and menu text. The interior design of the restaurant keeps up with the same color scheme of black, white, and blue. The interior of the restaurant has a sort of rustic feel and made the atmosphere very different from typical pizza places which usually have an Italian feel going. As you can see the design of this restaurant is very well thought out and I was extremely pleased with my experience!

The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

Last Monday, June 30th, we visited the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising. Being a Graphic Communication major and a Packaging minor, this was by far one of my favorite field trips so far. The museum had packaging that dated as far back as the Victorian and Edwardian time period all the way up to current day. It was so interesting to see how much packaging has changed not only in how graphically it is designed but also how it is physically designed by construction of the package and the materials that are used. For our tour we were given a little worksheet to complete and the two images that I have placed above are some rough sketches of the packaging products that I saw while walking through the museum. The museum did not allow photographs to be taken so these illustrations are all that I have. The Milky Way illustration is from the 1930s and this design has changed drastically in comparison to today. The packaging from the 1930s used a red and white color scheme, very different from the Milky Way packaging we see today. The typeface that is used for the logo is a serif and today the typeface is a sans serif. The physical construction of the package has changed as well. In the 1930s it was a paper material was used, while the Milky Way bars that we see today are usually packaged in a thin aluminum film. For the 1940s, the worksheet asked us to find a product that still exists today and that is where I put my illustration of the Johnson's baby powder. The graphic design of Johnson's hasn't changed very much, the color scheme and logo are extremely similar to that of todays Johnson's products. The packaging material was different however, it use to be packaged in a tin can but today we can find this product in a plastic bottle. These are a few of the observations that I made while walking through this museum. I loved finding products that I use today and seeing how much the brand has developed itself. If you are a packaging geek like me this museum is definitely worth checking out!

The Elephant House

Looking through all my photos from Scotland last weekend I stumbled upon these. These photos were taken in the bathroom of the Elephant House which is famously known as the coffee house in which J.K. Rowling started the Harry Potter series. For all Harry Potter fans visiting this coffee house is a must. The Elephant House sticks true to its theme of elephants. They had just about anything with elephants on it from paintings to chairs. All of this was awesome, however, my favorite part of the coffee house was the bathroom. The bathroom is decked out with quotes from harry potter fans creating a very unique piece of art. Every inch of the bathroom is covered. Different color pens are used, small and big handwriting, a few different languages were thrown in there as well. I thought that this was so awesome. Something as simple as this can be seen as a very unique piece of art. If you are a Harry Potter fan or not this is a place that you need to check out if you ever get the chance. I'm not the biggest fan in the world, I haven't even read the books but I really enjoyed this excursion. So The Elephant House in Edinburgh, Scotland! Add it to your bucket list and don't forget to check out the bathroom!

Hand Lettering Found on the Streets of Scotland

This past weekend I took a little trip to the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland. I only got to visit for a couple days but I fell in love with this country and cannot wait to go back someday to explore all of the areas I did not have time for. While I was exploring the streets of Scotland I noticed that a lot of the restaurants and pubs did their advertising through hand lettering on chalkboards. Hand lettering is one of my favorite design techniques. In recent years it has become quite the trend and I have been seeing it done more and more. Unlike America, Scotland does not have a lot of chain restaurants. It is mostly small little pubs that you have probably never heard of unless you live in Edinburgh, Scotland. These pieces of art that they place outside of their pub are their way of grabbing the attention of anyone walking down the street. With hand lettering they are able to make their advertisements more personal and welcoming to tourists of the area. I really enjoyed all of the hand lettering design that I found on the streets of Scotland and got to try some great pubs and restaurants that I probably would not have tried otherwise. 

Parlee Visits Parliament

Last saturday, June 20th, it was my third day in London and we took a little field trip to the beautiful Palace of Westminster a.k.a the beautiful building that has Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I got to take an audio tour that walked me through the Houses of Parliament explaining its history and beautiful interior design. Of course most of the tour did not allow for photos to be taken but as you can see from the photos that I was able to take, the inside of this Palace is absolutely amazing. Most of the images I took were from the second hallway that you enter called St. Stephen's Hall. St. Stephen's Hall is lined with statues of famous parliamentarians and paintings of the history of parliament. As you can see from the photos that I was able to take, this hallway had a lot of detail from the floor all the way to the ceiling. The rest of the Palace is amazing as well and if you ever get a chance to go on this tour DO IT, you will not regret it. The fact that this is still how the government in London is run fascinates me and I can honestly say if I lived in London I would probably be considering a different career path right about now. To walk into work everyday surrounded by so much history and incredible detail would be unreal. Everything about the design of this building is beautiful, inside and out. (fun fact: the term 'Parliament' comes from the French word 'parler' meaning to speak, sounds a lot like my last name so that's exciting)