Visual Culture

In honor of tax day the people over at GOOD visualize ‘how our taxes are spent’. To view the infographic in actual size, you know what to do.

Team Romney appears to be pulling out all the stops to assure victory next year. Recently he unveiled the brand new Mitt Romney logo which a New York Magazine staffer likened to the Aquafresh emblem. The commentary is as follows:

You know [Romney's] pretty serious about this because he’s already come up with a slogan (“Believe in America” — unlike Obama!) and a logo: a wavy, tricolor R that, as our video editor Sarah noticed, is reminiscent of Aquafresh toothpaste. Probably so that every time you brush your teeth, you’ll associate that fresh, clean feeling with the fresh ideas and clean break with the past that Romney will bring to Washington. Or maybe Romney’s logo people waited until the last minute and then frantically looked around the apartment for inspiration. Either way, the Aquafresh people are probably pretty pumped about all the free advertising they’re going to get when Mitt runs.

Touché…

Only time will tell if the Romney brand will have the same impact and momentum on the American People as the Obama brand, but we’re not holding our breath.

Chao & Eero Jewel is a Finnish company that produces some pretty hip adornments, like these rings from their Signs silver collection. Dig more of these treasures of modern culture:

via

“In order to have creativity, you have to allow for dead ends to happen.”

- Christoph Niemann

To see our full archive of quotes see below: (more…)

This one’s a rarity: The very first McDonald’s commercial featuring none other than the world’s favorite junk food pushing clown. Brand-wise, it’s interesting to see the evolution (or de-evolution depending on your perspective) of this iconic image. It’s good for a laugh too.

Shout out to Vicky for the clip!

Synchronicity is an ideal term to describe the chance of stumbling upon these parallel artistic finds this morning. Above we have one of a series titled “Fast Food” by Dale Edwin Murray. Below, represents artist David Schwen’s “Type Sandwiches” collection, whose motto is simply: Make Something Cool Everyday. From what we can see, they’ve both got a handle on that concept.

Big up to Fubiz & DesignWorklife

Image source: Studio Lin

Core77 Design Awards An Annual Celebration of Excellence, Enterprise and Intent is open for entries. May 3rd is the deadline. For more details, you know what to do.

Razorfish released their annual technology guide earlier this week. Ray Velez, Chief Technology Officer, says:

“Our report offers businesses a comprehensive guide to the technologies they will need to understand and implement in order to satisfy consumers’ ever-evolving expectations, and stay competitive in the marketplace.”

Reminiscent of a fairly recent post, we look at skateboards once more; this time from a slightly different perspective. Fueled by his passion for skateboarding, artist Haroshi uses them as a medium for his 3 dimensional creations. We’ve featured one of our faves, a little something called “Screaming My Hand.”

The reigning champion of the cola wars has just widened the gap. The Coca-Cola company’s “Give It Back” racks are an industry first. Not only are they asking U.S. retailers to return their shelving, but they intend to develop 100% recyclable racks for display of all Coca-Cola products:

“Coca-Cola recovered 400 million pounds of cans and bottles in the U.S. in 2010, yet we want to do more,” said Gary Wygant, Vice President, Business Development, Coca-Cola Recycling. “By creating a 100 percent recyclable merchandise display rack, Coca-Cola is asking grocery and convenience stores to join our sustainability efforts by returning or recycling our racks, just like we ask consumers to return or recycle our product packaging.”

If only this change of heart could translate into a healthier product for consumption…