The Great Guac-Off

Here's a little poster I designed for a guacamole competition that some friends and I are putting on. An homage to the vibrant culture that brought us that wonderfully delectable, green dish that we all cherish so dearly.


Also, if you're serious about your guac, you should check the party out.

Interesting banner ad

We've been discussing the usefulness/effectiveness/intrusiveness of banner ads over the last quarter at school. Here's an interesting one for a brand of Brazilian coffee done by Nazca/Saatchi & Saatchi: http://www.bannerblog.com.au/banners/coffee.swf (Sorry I couldn't post it here. It was jacking my blog up.)

The reason I like this is the simplicity. It's not a TV spot put online or an annoy intrusion on your web-browsing. Rather, it's a very basic game, but it sort of intrigues you to see what's underneath. Also, it ties in nicely with the line. Give 'er a whirl.

Payless Kids

Here's a very simple campaign for Payless Kids. The tagline is "Shoes for your little monster." The parents that we showed this responded very well. It goes to show that an idea doesn't have been be big and flashy; it all depends on the target market.

Os Mutantes

This is a project from my Design Concepts class. (Yes, I'm a writer, but I want to learn as much as I can about art direction/design/photography/life as I can.) We were to design a special event and then invitations to go along with it.

My event was a reunion concert of the famous Brazilian rock band from the late '60s and '70s, Os Mutantes (The Mutants). Their music combined contemporary psychedelic rock with their bossa nova and samba root. They even mixed languages, usually singing in Portuguese but also sometimes including English and Spanish. The entire aural experience was a youthful, eclectic explosion of energy, noise and revolution. Clearly this did not sit well with the oppressive military dictatorship in control of the country at the time, and the band often had to dodge being censored or exiled. Despite becoming inactive many years ago, Os Mutantes received much recent attention due to praise from such art rockers as Kurt Cobain, David Byrne, Beck, Of Montreal, Stereolab and Devendra Banhart.

For their supposed reunion, I designed a two-night event: The first night, Os Mutantes host an intimate performance for 300 or so influential indie musicians at the Allen Room of the Lincoln Center in New York City. The following evening they play a free concert in Central Park for the general public. The series is entitled "Revolução Now!" The name alludes to their perchance for mixing languages while also addressing the theme of the event: revolution. Obviously revolution was a very real thing to the band and the Brazilian people 35 years ago, but what can revolution mean to us today? Do we still revolt against anything? Should we? The event's tagline is "Our weapon is our voices."

Influential musicians in New York City receive what appears to be a miniature gun crate. Inside the crate they find a tape recorder. When the message is played, they are prompted to think about what revolution means to them and record a representation of it on the tape. The tape is sent back in a return envelope provided as a form of RSVP. During the concert, some of these responses are spliced into the band's performance to create a collective art piece.



For the general public, painted and aged gasoline tanks are left on street corners in the city. The teaser phrase "Revolução Now!" and the date are the only visible information. Hundreds of matchbooks lie around the base of gas tanks, and when a passerby picks one up they are provided with information about the free concert as well as a nice take-away.

Goya Black Beans and Rice

Another project from my Design Concepts class:

I chose to rebrand the latino foods giant Goya to give it a look that is less intimidating to non-Hispanic shoppers who may not be sure what the products are or can be used for.

The new logo is now handwritten, resembling the Spanish painter Fransisco Goya's signature. The color palette is taken from the colors used on the façade of a small church in Mexico.


The boxes are cubic, a very stable geometric form, representing the role that beans and rice play as the most basic food staples in the world. Additionally, it allows measuring cups to be scooped in or poured into in an easier fashion compared to the ubiquitous plastic bags currently used. Still, clear viewing windows on the corners and top allow consumers to get a good look at what is inside.


When placed next to each other on the shelf, the two packages complement one another. They can also be turned to have equally complementary sides facing out for the shelves of Hispanic groceries.


Copy on the boxes offers preparation tips and recipes.

Usinger's Sausages

Here's a campaign another writer and I did for Usinger's Sausages, a family-owned and operated company out of Milwaukee that's been making sausages the same way since 1880 when Fred Usinger stepped off the boat from German. Simply put, it's the "The best sausages ever since 1880."

Two Men and a Truck

Finally, the quarter at school is over. My panel went well and so I figured I'd post some of what I've been doing on here.

Here's a campaign for Two Men and a Truck. It targets a younger market that is doing smaller, in-town moves. The idea is that, yeah, you could ask your friends to help you move, but it's not really worth risking it since they're not professonials. Tagline: "Like your friends. But better." (Click for larger versions.)

Getting Off

Agency: Draft FCB, Malaysia
CD: Yap Pow Hoong
AD/CW: Reza Adullah

Brilliant or amateur?

This campaign utilizes a nice visual solution that translates across languages and cultures. It dramatizes the benefit of Off quickly and succinctly. Or does it?

What do you think? Are these ads saying that Off will prevent mosquitoes or simply delay them? Does it matter or does the perceived message differ from the actual message?

Also, is using a maze really that fresh and new? And are these two separate ads or really the same ad twice?

To weigh in for a second, I like these ads. They're smart and instantly communicate that Off protects one from mosquitoes. It's not an issue to me that the messages are a bit off (no pun intended, seriously) from one another. I do however think that this is simply a one-off ad. There's no new material creatively from one ad to the other. I suppose what I do like most is the instant hit. Despite being an insect repellent ad with no specific tone visually, the use of the maze with the mosquito hovering outside gives it a fun feel, like they're letting the audience in on a joke. I also love the use of the radial shape of the maze almost as a force field around the subject. Overall, smart but perhaps need further exploration to campaign it out. What are your thoughts?

4am

There's something beautifully tragic about night radio.

At any other time of the day when I'm driving I listen to CDs in my car. However, every once in a while, on a night like tonight, I find myself driving home very late. My CD always starts to play as I start the car, and for the first minute or so I'll consciously try to listen to it. I don't know why I feel I must listen, but I try. But somehow it doesn't feel right. I change it to the radio.

As I drive, I sail quietly alone through a still, darken, silent world, my car a razor-thin sheet of paper, slicing through the black. Everyone seems to be blissfully and obliviously asleep. Everyone except the radio DJ.

Perhaps it's comforting to know that there's one other soul out there at this hour. I know that someone else is feeling this strangely calming solitude, that they too are quietly pondering why no one else exists.

But do they think about who might be listening? At that precise moment as I think of that person sitting in a DJ booth miles and miles away, are they also thinking of me? Is that why they're sending out their broadcast? Is it a transmission, a way of communicating with the few rogue nightdrivers?

Sometimes I'm tempted to call them, to tell them that, Yes, I heard your message. I'm awake too. Let's be conscious together. Let's talk about the world and music and our lives.

It would be the more intimate than any conversation in the world. Anonymous voices whispering over telephone wire and airwaves.

Do you hear me?
Yes, I'm there.
I knew you were.
I'm always here.
So I am.

And in those moments we're alone together.

This took me two hours:

I don't want to work.
Instead, I'll just write haikus.
Shit. The work's still there.

Dragonconned

Seeing as I consider myself a student of life, I readily jump at any opportunity that may in some way teach me something new and shocking about the world around me. Or more importantly, one that might put me in the midst of some really weird people. It was such a philosophy that fated me to find myself myself amidst thousands upon thousands of dweebs, dorks, freaks and geeks festooned to the nines as their favorite comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters at this weekend's Dragon Con here in Atlanta.

For anyone unfamiliar with the convention (as I was until my very intense recent introduction), Dragon Con is an enormous annual gathering of about 25,000 or so fans of fantasy and sci-fi entertainment. Over the course of four days there are lectures, celebrity meet-and-greats, musical performances, pageants and oh so much more. A group of friends and I made it out to the big parade on Saturday morning to see the true fans decked out in their best regalia. It's one of the highlights of the weekend, and with good reason. Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Buffy, Transformers, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Wing Commander, Nintendo, fairies, anime, we saw it all and then some.

Let me put it as articulately as possible: There are no words that can describe what I saw. At points during the parade I literally had to sit down in the middle of the sidewalk because I was either laughing to hard or couldn't mentally process everything that was going on around me. But rather than try to explain, I'll just show you the pictures.

See who you can spot. The chick from Gargoyles? Pee-Wee Herman? The girl from the Fifth Element?

A gaggle of super-geeks.


The sound effects guy from Police Academy making noises into a megaphone on the back of a car. Huh?


The knights from Monty Python "running away." Note rabbit in background. Kind of hilarious.


Lauren and several Storm Troopers. The parade actually ends with about 150 of these guys marching down the hill. Impressive. In the dorkiest sense of that word.


Perhaps the creepiest patron at Dragon Con, this was Furry Captain America. Several things are disturbing about him: 1) His facial hair. 2) He's a furry Captain America. You know that costume was used later that night for freaky sex acts with a portly Wonder Woman and a mangy Chewbacca in a dirty hotel bedroom. 3) He stayed "in character" the whole time. And by "in character" I mean he didn't say a word and would just nod his head and give a thumbs up as if he were a giant Donald Duck at Disney World. Except he was a creepy 35-year old in fuzzy superhero suit in the middle of Atlanta. 4) Lauren and Liza both said afterwards that when they put their arms around him he was damp, meaning that he had sweat through three inches of fur. From then on he was referred to as Moist Captain America.


It'sa me and Maaario!


These guys ruled. Cardboard Box Storm Troopers and Darth Vader. They were hilarious compared to everyone else in the parade. Also, I'm pretty sure the dudes dressed up in the real Storm Trooper outfits had to have been pissed at these guys. The dude in the Whirlpool box didn't even look anything like a Storm Trooper.


Difficult to see here, but this Storm Trooper has a sort of G-string strap going on. It served absolutely no purpose in holding the costume together therefore I concluded that he merely had it there for his own pleasure.


This little gem awaited us as we exited the parking deck. Nice.

It's difficult to express the sheer magnitude of this event and some of the amazing things I witnessed. One thing that made it that much better was the fact that many of these people were--to put it delicately--not the most attractive or in shape. This can give rise to some hilarious sightings such as Chubby Tomb Raider, Beer Gut Punisher or really any of the tragically unattractive fairies.

My personal favorites of the entire day however were the Cardboard Storm Troopers, Furry Captain America and George Lucas (a guy with a white beard, puffed white hair, sunglasses, flannel shirt, leather jacket, jeans and a cup of Starbucks). Also, the real Erik Estrada was there on a motorcycle. (First VH1, now Dragon Con '07. Someone's on a comeback.) Speaking of comebacks, the zombies made quite an impressive showing and really committed, many of them staying in character even after the parade. There was one guy walking past us who I thought might be one as well--stringy white hair, hospital gown torn open in the front, medical bracelets wrapped around his wrists, crazy expression in his eyes--but I quickly realized that he was not actually attending the convention but was in fact a genuinely crazy person who was simply walking by. Yikes.

Truthfully, I've never witnessed such a spectacle in all my life (except perhaps the Tierra Santa biblical theme park in Argentina). I'd highly recommend that everyone attend should you have the opportunity. Not only will you enjoy yourself, but you will also learn a lot about a segment of the population that you may never get to see in such flamboyance. Think of it like Pride Week for Geeks. And a lot of people came out this weekend.

The views expressed in the blog are not necessarily the view of Andy or his parent company Andy, Inc. Just kidding.