Coffee Artistas

Many of the most talented baristas—people who prepare and serve espresso-based coffee drinks—have pushed for the creative evolution of their industry, giving rise to the modern day artistic movement of ‘Latte Art’. Today, barista competitions provide an outlet for skilled artisans to demonstrate their skills and original techniques while pouring steamed milk into a shot of espresso. These artistic challenges result in a plethora of beautiful patterns and designs on the surface of delicious, foamy drinks.

If you’re a latte-addict, like myself, it’s likely you’ve been served a mug of coffee with a bit of flair in its foam—likely in the shape of a rosetta, resembling a flower or fern. I can’t go a morning without getting my caffeine fix from the friendly staff at my favorite local coffee shop, Linz & Vail. I appreciate the time they put into the aesthetic presentation of my delicious latte, which only adds to the religious experience of taking my first sip.

One of my many morning lattes from Linz & Vail

Well, if you find that impressive, you’ll be amazed at how far some passionate baristas will go to create visually appealing masterpieces.

Delicious Works of Art

We thought it would be fun to showcase some of the coolest examples of Latte Art crafted by coffee enthusiasts around the world. Some look too amazing to drink…

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Whether you like it or not, Facebook is changing once again! The days of thumbnail sized pictures, underscored with lines of text are gone. The social network has already rolled out its new Timeline format, and has given all brand pages a March 30th deadline to make the switch! After that, Facebook will automatically activate Timeline for you.

Yes, change can be intimidating. But, brands can use the Timeline platform to their advantage! If customized properly, the new Timeline will drive consumer interaction and connect with visitors in an entirely new way.

In order to update your company page, a little design strategy goes a long way. Timeline capitalizes on the growing influence behind creative imagery used to draw in consumers. Brands can showcase stunning imagery at the forefront of their page and entice consumers to further interact with customized content and visuals.

If you have no clue where to begin when updating your page to Timeline, just follow the simple guide below in which we cover the basics. Your brand story will be brought to life via Facebook in no time!

*Note: You have the option to switch the Timeline “Preview” on for your page. This allows that ONLY YOU can see your new profile as you make changes. Once your page is ready to make the big switch, you can “Publish” for the rest of the world to see!

1. People Judge a Brand by its Cover

The Timeline cover photo displays an 851px by 315px banner across the top of your Page. It’s the first thing people see when they visit your page. This image should reflect your brand personality. Make it interesting, make it relevant… and have fun with it!

Things to avoid in your cover photo (due to Facebook’s restrictions):

1. Calls to action (“Like Us” or “Share”)
2. Price or purchase information
3. Contact information

2. Update Profile Picture

The profile thumbnail will overlay the brand cover image, and should be uploaded at 180px by 180px (even though it is displayed at 125px by 125px). This is a great place to display your logo.

3. Customize Applications

One of the biggest differences in the Timeline is the customizable Applications. In the old format, standard applications appeared on the left navigation sidebar as text links with fixed icons. Now, they appear as large thumbnails, which can be custom designed. While only 4 Apps are on display at one time, you can have up to 16 in total. You can choose 3 of the 4 Applications you want to feature on the top of the page (the Photos tab is fixed).

To Customize Apps and Images:

1. Click on the pencil that appears when rolling over the current Application image
2. Select Editing Settings
3. Click Change next to the ‘Custom Tab Image’
4. Images to represent each Application should be uploaded at 111px by 74px

4. Tell Your Story in the “About” Section

Beneath the cover photo and page stats, users can click on the ‘About’ link to learn basic information about your brand. It’s important to draft a brief, yet impactful statement that simplifies your brand story for visitors, before they dive further into your page. This is also a good place to include your contact information and URL.

5. Other Applications You Should Explore!

Highlighted Posts: When users visit your page, they see a combination of highlighted stores. The Timeline allows you to go back through the timeline and “star” your best photos, stores and links that are still relevant, bringing them back to the surface and promoting consumer engagement. You can also remove any posts that are negative, irrelevant, or outdated.

Milestones: You can go back in the Timeline and publish significant milestones and events in your brand’s history. This is best done through photos or video posts.

Pinning: You have the option of pinning a post to the top of your feed each week. This is great for drawing attention to relevant information, such as promotional details, upcoming events or special contests.

We’d love to see your creative new look. Share your Timelines with us below by posting the URL in the comments so we can come and visit! Check out our Timeline here.

When a company decides to expand into global markets, their success depends on how well their brand is received by customers in each market. But as too many companies have learned the hard way, executing cross-cultural campaigns is not as easy as literally translating text from one language to the next.

It is important to consider cultural values, norms, etiquette, humor and slang when establishing a brand presence for international audiences. The process will likely take some time, considerable research and additional resources, but global markets are becoming increasingly crucial as growth opportunities emerge in developing countries.

Just because a product campaign is wildly successful in one country, does not guarantee it will transcend with global markets. Without the assistance of a qualified, culturally aware team, it’s challenging to recreate a message that feels authentic and resonates with a foreign audience. Even worse—a global campaign can go as far to offend the new market.

Whether these “miscommunications” are attributed to carelessness, cultural unawareness or lack of finances, they can have damaging consequences on the brand and the agency that failed to exercise its due diligence.  Below, we recap some of the biggest translation blunders in marketing history, which in hindsight, could have easily been avoided.

Before we mock the slip-ups of some of the world’s most successful brands, we should mention that the validity of most these blunders are hearsay. While some cannot be proven, these stories are classic examples of how failed translation can be detrimental to a brand’s reputation.

1. Pepsi

When Pepsi entered the Chinese market, the translation of their slogan “Pepsi Brings you Back to Life” was a little more literal than they intended. In Chinese, the slogan meant, “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.” I’ve heard a lot of faulty brand promises out there, but this one tops the list.

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2. California Milk Advisory Board

The California Milk Advisory Board experienced tremendous success with their “Got Milk?” campaign created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. But when the campaign was extended to Mexico, the Spanish version was interpreted, “Are you lactating?” The translation was offensive to the Latino market, as the idea of a Latina mother running out of milk is not a laughing matter. Fortunately, the disconnect between “Got Milk?” and Latino consumers was detected early.
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3. Puffs

Puffs tissues faced unforeseen challenges entering the German market, as the term “puff” is the common term for a whorehouse in Germany. The brand name also prompted negative responses from the British market, as “puff” is a highly derogatory term for homosexual.

4. Ford

When Ford introduced the Pinto in Brazil, they were confused as to why sales were going nowhere. The company later learned “Pinto” is slang for “tiny male genitals” in Brazil. Ford ultimately changed the car’s name to Corcel, which means ‘horse’ in Portuguese.
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5. Kentucky Fried Chicken

When Kentucky Fried Chicken first opened stores in China, it didn’t take long before they discovered their slogan, “finger lickin’ good” translated to “eat your fingers off.”

6. Schweppes

In Italy, a campaign for “Schweppes Tonic Water” translated the name into the much less thirst quenching “Schweppes Toilet Water.”

7. Coors

When Coors translated its slogan, “Turn it loose” into Spanish, it was read as “Suffer from diarrhea.”

8. Locum

In 1991, Locum, a Swedish property management company, sent out Christmas cards to customers. They decided to give their logo a little holiday spirit by replacing the “o” in Locum with a heart. We don’t need to spell it out for you, but some of its recipients could have misinterpreted the message.

9. Orange

During its 1994 launch campaign, the telecom company Orange had to change its ads in Northern Ireland. Their successful campaign slogan was, “The future’s bright … the future’s Orange.” However, in the North the term “Orange” is linked to the Orange Order, the Protestant organization (viewed by many Catholics as both sectarian and hostile). The implied message that the future is bright, the future is Protestant, loyalist… didn’t resonate with the Catholic Irish population.
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10. GEC-Plessey Telecommunications

In 1988, the General Electric Company (GEC) and Plessey combined to create a new telecommunications giant. This merger required a brand name that evoked technology and innovation. The winning proposal was GPT for GEC-Plessey Telecommunications. The French population interpreted the new name a bit differently, as GPT is pronounced in French as “J’ai pété” or “I’ve farted.”

11. Honda

Car producer Honda decided to keep the name ‘Fitta’ when they introduced the car in Sweden. They later learned, “fitta” was an old word used in vulgar language to refer to a woman’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. The Honda Fitta is now sold in Sweden with the name of Honda Jazz.

12. Pepsodent

Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it “whitens your teeth.” This product “benefit” did not resonate with the target audience considering the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth, which they find attractive.

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13. Braniff Airlines

In 1977, Braniff Airlines ran ads on television and radio, publicizing the leather seats they’d installed in First Class, with the slogan, “Fly in leather.” This was translated for Spanish-speaking markets as, “Vuela en cuero.” But, when spoken, “en cuero,” or “in leather” sounds identical to “en cueros,” which means “naked” when spoken quickly. In effect, Braniff advertised its slogan as “Fly naked.”

The Notorious Nova

The most famous story of international marketing blunders is that of Chevy’s Nova car marketed in Latin America. Since the car’s name, “No va” literally means, “It doesn’t go” in Spanish, the tale explains how Latin American car buyers shunned the car, forcing Chevrolet to pull it from the market.  However, what the textbooks and thousands of references to this tale on the Internet fail to mention is that, it never happened.

Though the Chevy Nova story may not be true, it continues to live on as a classic example of how cultural awareness plays a vital role in the success (or failure) to adapting a campaign for foreign markets.

If you found this blog entertaining, check out our collection of Embarrassing Design Blunders here.

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur in the 21st century? Sure, it takes a smart idea, some start-up capital, angel investors, a venture capitalist or two, and that nonquantifiable bit of luck. You also need an innovator at the helm of your company who is willing to take risks. All of this is fairly well known.

However, there’s something else that is vital in order for a business to break away from the pack: a savvy attorney with a deep knowledge of intellectual property law. Accompanying that knowledge must be the acumen to recognize that effective use of intellectual property requires applying “design thinking.” Tim Brown, president and chief executive officer of IDEO, a leading global design firm, offers the following definition as a starting point: “Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”[1]

Starting a business while being mindful of the juxtaposition of intellectual property and design thinking is no longer just another good idea, it has become essential. Many entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of protecting their intellectual property, and merely request that their attorneys help them register a trademark or two. Many are unaware of the effort required to actually brand a product in a way that generates excitement across generations and fosters customer loyalty. Entrepreneurs should think creatively about branding and innovation because sufficiently original branding is protectable through the various tools of intellectual property—trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents.

There is much to be learned from the way Steve Jobs and Apple created and aggressively enforced the company’s intellectual property rights. Apple did not become what it is today with only great innovators and good ideas. Apple has a high-quality legal team, with innovators and attorneys working together and willing to design an experience for consumers—an experience protected by a well-designed intellectual property package. By properly applying intellectual property and design thinking to clients’ businesses, attorneys can help build brands and experiences using the same strategies that ripened Apple from a small, scrappy underdog to one of the most successful and respected technology companies in history.

Trademarks and Trade Dress

Applying for trademark registrations is often one of the first items on the entrepreneur’s agenda. However, after filing trademark registration applications for the company’s name and logo, many attorneys and entrepreneurs fail to take the additional steps required to actually develop a brand.

Intellectual property attorneys are well aware that proper branding requires ensuring, among other things, that the marks are sufficiently distinctive, do not infringe the rights of third parties, are properly safeguarded with adequate quality control protections, and that policies are in place to protect domain names and online marks. However, many attorneys and entrepreneurs fail to appreciate that brand development is a larger process that requires intangible considerations as well.

Websites, product packaging, stationery, business cards, and marketing materials should speak with one voice. Logos, slogans, color schemes, and typefaces should complement one another and be used consistently.

Entrepreneurs should find a talented graphic designer to create a brand that conveys a specific message to the public. For example, an accounting firm may use subtle colors and formal serif typefaces in order to convey an air of sophistication and professionalism to prospective clients. On the other hand, a cutting-edge Internet company vying for a slice of the millennial generation’s business may choose brighter colors, edgy graphics, and an informal sans serif typeface in order to appear young and current. Of course, the opposite may also be true—the accounting firm may want to appear hipper or target a younger clientele, and the Internet start-up may see opportunity in those who are seemingly averse to technology.

Knowledge of design thinking is important for lawyers because a company’s design elements, taken together as a whole, may be protected under federal law as trade dress. “The concept of ‘trade dress’… refers to the total image of a product and may include features such as size, shape, color, color combinations, texture or graphics.”[2] Courts have recognized and protected as trade dress the overall layout of the business, interior color, color of employee uniforms, logos, and point of purchase materials and displays as elements of the plaintiff’s trade dress. [3]

Steve Jobs’ Obsession to Detail

Steve Jobs’ meticulous attention to detail was a driving force in the design and trade dress of Apple products. In an article[4] introducing Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Jobs, Malcolm Gladwell observed that Jobs was more of a “tweaker” than an actual inventor. Jobs was a perfectionist, and would drive his designers crazy tweaking and modifying designs. For even seemingly minute details, such as the title bars at the top of windows and documents, Jobs obsessed.

“He forced the developers to do another version, and then another, about twenty iterations in all, insisting on one tiny tweak after another, and when the developers protested that they had better things to do he shouted, ‘Can you imagine looking at that every day? It’s not just a little thing. It’s something we have to do right.’”

It was Jobs’ overly obsessive personality that dictated every design detail of every Apple product.

Inside Apple Store, Upper West Side of New York

Apple’s branding succeeded in uniting seemingly unrelated products, thereby creating an integrated experience for the consumer. When you enter an Apple Store, you may notice the clean appearance, the white, black, and sky-blue color scheme and unfinished wooden tables. You may also notice the layout of the products in close proximity to one another, with consistently designed labels using the same colors and typefaces. Apple uses typefaces and colors consistently throughout its online and physical stores. One particularly clever marketing technique is the placement and use of Apple products to market a completely different item. Next to MacBook Pro^® computers are iPad^®s displaying the MacBook Pro’s specifications, allowing the customer to simultaneously (1) explore and touch the MacBook Pro itself, (2) read and learn about the MacBook Pro on the iPad, and (3) become familiar with the ease and feel of the iPad. This is a perfect example of Apple’s ability to put the consumer’s experience first and to leave no doubt that the consumer will form a bond with the technology.

Another useful tool under trademark law is creating a family of trademarks, which Apple accomplished with its “MAC” and “i”-related products. Courts have defined a “family of marks” as “a group of marks having a recognizable common characteristic, wherein the marks are composed and used in such a way that the public associates not only the individual marks, but the common characteristic of the family, with the trademark owner.”[5]

While consumers have certainly heard of the iPhone^®, iMac^®, iPod^®, and iPad, they may be less familiar with iChat^®, iWork^®, and iLife^®, some of Apple’s software products. When consumers see a lowercase “i” these days, they expect to see an Apple product and all that goes with it. Even among diverse Apple products, the “i” prefix creates an additional layer of protection and allows Apple to preclude third parties from using the same prefix for confusingly similar goods and services, even if the “i” is not itself registered. The infringing mark would be analyzed under the same “likelihood of confusion” test as a traditional trademark infringement action.[6]

It is important to note, however, that families of marks are not easily created, and courts will not always recognize families of marks.[7]

Apple Sued Multiple Times for Trademark Infringement

Despite Apple’s obvious success in branding, it has found itself as the defendant in numerous trademark infringement actions. When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, Cisco Systems, which had already registered the mark “iPhone” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, sued Apple. The case was settled out of court. When Apple released its “iCloud” cloud computing service in 2011, Apple was hit with a lawsuit from none other than I Cloud Communications LLC.[8] However, as a result of good lawyering on the part of Apple, I Cloud dropped the lawsuit and changed its name to Clear Digital Communications. Even as early as 1978, Apple invited trademark infringement lawsuits. Apple Corps, the holding company for the Beatles’ record label, Apple Records, has filed numerous lawsuits against Apple over the years for trademark infringement and subsequently for breaches of the parties’ settlement agreements (for, among other things, Apple’s branching out into the music business with its release of iTunes).

Copyright

Entrepreneurs must also have a basic understanding of copyright law. While this goes without saying for artists and entertainment-related businesses, the same holds true for all businesses. Entrepreneurs need attorneys who recognize copyright issues in the ordinary course of business in order to protect the company from infringement liability, while simultaneously safeguarding the company’s own copyrights.

Before using a copyrighted work, you must obtain full ownership through assignment, or, at minimum, by licensing the work from the proper owner for the intended purpose. This situation frequently arises when using a third party’s photos or text to build a website, post on a blog, or create marketing and advertising material.

Start-up companies and established businesses alike also must exercise caution when hiring independent contractors. The business will not automatically own the copyright for a work created by an independent contractor except in very limited circumstances—that is, for certain types of specially commissioned works if memorialized in writing as a “work made for hire.” For example, if you hire a photographer to photograph your employees for your company’s website, the photographer will own the copyright to those pictures, unless the photographer signs an assignment or license agreement transferring rights to you. (The photographer may still need to obtain model releases.) This is true even if you have entered into an agreement providing that the photographs are “works made for hire” because photographs do not fall within one of the enumerated types of “works made for hire” included in the Copyright Act.

Copyright Controversy Skyrockets with Rise of Internet

The 1990s saw the rise of the Internet and, with it, exponentially more complex legal questions. Many issues, particularly relating to online piracy, remain contentious and controversial, as evidenced by the Protect IP and Stop Online Piracy Acts, which recently stalled in Congress.

Back in 1998, Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to address some of the issues. As intellectual property practitioners already know, the DMCA, among other things, increased penalties for Internet-based copyright infringement and criminalized certain acts, such as attempts to circumvent digital rights management technology (DRM) that protects copyrighted works from being copied. DRM is the reason why some digital files, such as music and movies, cannot be copied or placed on multiple devices (without sabotaging the DRM technology itself—also criminalized by the DMCA).

Steve Jobs strongly opposed DRM restrictions, and in 2007 he actually wrote a letter to the four largest record companies requesting that they abandon DRM technology entirely. Jobs argued “DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.” Jobs felt that the record labels’ business model for the music industry was no longer sustainable and believed that convincing the music industry “to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace.”

Tech companies and software developers additional copyright concerns. “Computer programs” are specifically protected under the Copyright Act, which is the basis for why companies continually struggle with software piracy issues. The general rule is that one cannot reproduce a copyright owner’s work without permission. However, the “first-sale doctrine” limits the copyright owner’s rights by providing that, once a work is sold for the first time, the purchaser may then resell that lawfully obtained copy to a third party without permission from the owner. This is where it begins to get tricky. Most software developers provide, in pop-up windows that are rarely read by consumers (you usually just click “Agree”), that the software sold to the consumer is licensed, not purchased, with significant restrictions on its use and transferability.

This issue was litigated recently by Apple.[9] In that case, Apple successfully argued that its license agreement required its Mac OS X operating system to be used only on Apple computers. In reaching its decision, the court stated, “a software user is a licensee rather than an owner of a copy where the copyright owner (1) specifies that the user is granted a license; (2) significantly restricts the user’s ability to transfer the software; and (3) imposes notable use restrictions.”[10]

Although there is plenty of controversy as to whether or not software should be freely transferable after a lawful first purchase, the license agreement is an effective method, at least in some jurisdictions, to restrict the resale of software. Apple’s successful enforcement of its software license agreement serves as a reminder that computer companies, mobile app developers, and other technology based companies should ensure that they have properly protected their copyrights from unwanted reproduction through conspicuous and restrictive end-user license agreements.

Trade Secrets: Protection of Valuable Information

Trade secret issues arise in most commercial contexts, not only when literally protecting a secret formula or recipe.[11] Effective protection of trade secrets, as with other intellectual property, forces competitors to continuously innovate in order to maintain relevance with the public and gives companies a vehicle for fighting misappropriation of their property.

Whether information constitutes a trade secret depends, among other things, on the extent to which the company invests in its development, the steps taken to maintain its secrecy, and the justification for protecting the information from disclosure.[12] If a court determines that such information is a trade secret, it will then analyze whether or not it was improperly disclosed. The more stringent the steps taken to maintain secrecy, the more likely a court will agree that the secret was obtained improperly.[13]

One common method for protecting trade secrets is through noncompetition and nondisclosure provisions. Whether these provisions are independent agreements or part of an employment contract, they are useful tools for limiting the exposure of business secrets. Noncompetition and confidentiality provisions should be carefully drafted to limit employees’ ability to disclose trade secrets obtained from their employer. Noncompetition agreements must be limited in time and geographic scope (the extent to which such limitations are lawful depends on the area of expertise and jurisdiction), whereas confidentiality agreements may be broader. Even when noncompetition provisions are in place, a departing employee may work for a competitor if substantial efforts are taken to ensure that no trade secrets are disclosed to the new employer.[14]

Attorneys and entrepreneurs may also use trade secrets strategically in marketing. Apple was extremely careful in controlling its message through secrecy. By releasing a few small details but maintaining high levels of secrecy for upcoming products, Apple generated a huge amount of anticipation across the world ahead of each release. Even Apple’s worst kept secrets, such as details of new iPhone models, are vague enough to generate huge publicity prior to their release.

Innovations and Design

Constant innovation—whether in the form of a patentable invention or figuring out a more effective way to do a simple task—is the heart of a growing company and requires design thinking. In 2003, the New York Times interviewed Steve Jobs, two years after the release of the first iPod.[15] The journalist noted that Apple had released the iPod with a $400 price tag, even though it faced direct competition in the marketplace from a number of other digital music players.

How did the iPod become the best-selling digital music player and revolutionize portable music when it was far more expensive than similar products in the market? One reason for the success of the iPod surely was its design—but not just the iPod’s sleek look, although that was also a factor. Design refers to more than a modern and novel appearance. As Jobs explained to the New York Times, design is “not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Indeed, Apple has enjoyed its success not only because its products look good, but because its products work seamlessly, both alone and in harmony with one another.

Steve Jobs also understood the importance of quality over quantity. When he returned to Apple from Pixar in the 1990s, one way he reformed the company was by slashing the number of products being developed and focusing on a select few. This change enabled the company to trim the fat by channeling its resources to only the best ideas and eliminating the rest. However, even with Apple’s focus on the best ideas, Steve Jobs still managed to amass 317 patents listing him as one of the primary inventors.[16] These inventions include everything from the original computer frame that housed the first Macintosh to power adapters to new versions of Mac OS.

Entrepreneurs and innovators, and even attorneys, must learn how to “Think Different.” This famous Apple slogan was not only a memorable tagline, but Jobs’ message about the importance of thinking outside of the box. As Gladwell observed, “Jobs insisted that he wanted ‘different’ to be used as a noun … ‘It’s grammatical, if you think about what we’re trying to say. It’s not think the same, it’s think different. Think a little different, think a lot different, think different. “Think differently” wouldn’t hit the meaning for me.’”[17]

Steve Jobs left us with many lessons—on business, marketing, technology, and how to live a fulfilling life in the face of death. But his lessons in intellectual property may well have passed you by, even though they are an integral part of the success of every Apple product and service. Whether a business is building itself from the ground up, reforming itself to become more competitive in an overcrowded marketplace, or simply looking to protect one little idea that just might turn out to be the next paradigm shift in its class, lawyers and entrepreneurs alike should take a bite of the Apple and understand how to use intellectual property to protect and enforce creativity in business to the fullest extent possible.

Laramée’s talents extend across various disciplines, including painting, composing, sculpting, stage writing and stage directing. The multidisciplinary artist holds the belief that knowledge is gained through erosion rather than accumulation.

His artistic statement explains:

“So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.”

To create the sculptures, the books are pressed by clamps so that they become as hard as wood. His intricate landscapes can take anywhere from two days to four months.

Among Laramée’s works are two series entitled Biblios and The Great Wall, which represent the degradation of human nature.

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Grand Larousse" (2010)

"Grand Larousse" detail

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Historia das americas" (2009)

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Ryoanji" (2010)

Guy Laramée — from The Great Wall series

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Jades"

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Longmen" (2010)

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Book People"

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Tectonic"

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Petras"

Learn more about Guy Laramée here.

While most infographics require substantial time and skill to create, the end result is worth the effort—and designing them can be super fun!

We stumbled over these nicely done infographics below for designers and programmers and thought we’d share. We’ve also included some random, funny topics that just look cool.

Click on the images below to view their full infographic.

If Web Browsers Were Celebs

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The Creative Process

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The Value of Being LinkedIn

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How do Colors Affect Purchases?

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The Darwinian Evolution of Photoshop

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Where’s Google Making its Money?

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Top Email Marketing Irritations

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How Would You Like Your Graphic Design?

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The QR Invation

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The Current State of Social Networks

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Graphic Designer’s Road Map

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The Science of Social Timing

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Evolution of Web Design

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Geek vs Nerd

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Do You Need a New Logo?

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Global Internet Traffic is Expected to Quadruple by the Year 2015

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Periodic Table of Typefaces

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The Ultimate Guide to Business Cards

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A World Without Facebook

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Typefaces of the World

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Web Designers vs Web Developers

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…and some other cool, random infographics

2012 Election Social Media Rankings

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Making & Breaking of New Years Resolutions

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The Royal Wedding’s Social Impact

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Follow @keithglantz

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

For more information on the history of Letterpress, although not as beautiful as this film, click here.

Most people dismiss street art as vandalism and hold conceptions that the artists responsible are mindless delinquents. However—if you are truly looking—street art can be both beautiful and brilliant.

To be clear, I do not consider the thoughtless vandalism you see everyday on the side of railroad boxcars or school buildings to be street art. It’s unfortunate the majority of graffiti is done by the bored youth as a tool to “tag” their name and deface public property at the same time. It’s ugly and the only thought it provokes to those who pass by is, “Clearly no one cares about this place.”

But with the help of influential artists such as Blek le Rat, Banksy, and BLU, the public has fostered a new appreciation for the street art that reshapes the way we see the world. These are the artists that desire to “create”—rather than “destroy”— and put the beauty back into places where it was once taken away.

“Smart vandalism” often serves as an outlet to critique and comment on socially relevant themes using public spaces. It’s a way for artists to take a conceptual thought or vision and bring it to life for the broad population to see (rather than be viewed by the few that visit galleries).

Street art is as subjective and varied as the artists themselves. And most beautiful street art can be hard to see, unless you are really looking. So, we’ve compiled some of our favorite pieces from several talented street artists that will undoubtedly leave an impression.

Banksy

Banksy's "Follow Your Dreams Cancelled" can be found in the Chinatown district of Boston.

Banksy, image is on the wall of a sexual health clinic visible from Park Street in central Bristol.

"Agency Job" by Banksy. Original piece is “The Gleaners” by Jean-François Millet.

BLU

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Edgar Müller

Edgar Müller, "The Crevasse"

Edgar Müller, "The Cave"

Edgar Müller, "Lava Burst"

Vinchen

Vinchen, “Capital Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?”

Vinchen, “Retail Chain”

Vinchen, “An Apology"

Zevs

A Mix from Various Artists

Dolk, "The Mushroom Girl" in Borg, Lofoten

Leon Keer was inspired by Terracotta Army of China, a collection of sculptures modeled after Qin Shi Huang’s armies, the First Emperor of China.

MTO, “Heeeeere's Kreuzberg!” at Heinrichplatz in Kreuzberg.

Felice Varini created an optical illusion, by painting on dozens of homes in Vercorin, Switzerland.

Benoit Lemoine, "The Zipper Tape Project"

Graffiti Moves its Way into Modern Mainstream

Shepard Fairey was a cult graphic artist best known for plastering city landscapes with his “obey” stickers, featuring the mug of wrestler Andre the Giant. Today…he is recognized as the artist behind the iconic “HOPE” portrait supporting Barack Obama’s 2008 candidacy for President of the United States.

The success of artists like Fairey—who made the transition from anonymous street rebel to being commissioned by big name clients including Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape—thrust the once underground movement into a popular culture phenomenon. Today, you can find prestigious galleries putting on street art exhibits.

Banksy is another artist who has received international acclaim, selling his work for astronomical sums of money. He went on to direct the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, which gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into urban street culture. The Oscar nominated film calls into question the hype surrounding street art and what it means to be an artist in the first place. Highly entertaining, and revealing—if you haven’t seen it already, I suggest you do.

While more and more graffiti artists are migrating their work from the streets into mainstream media, the spray paint medium is being used as a stepping-stone for artists hoping to find commercial success. Does this mean street art is losing its “authenticity?” Maybe. But that’s up to the public to decide.

Relax, have a seat…

or maybe you’d prefer to stand.

How many of you reading this have desk jobs? Feeling sloth-like? Got ants in your pants from sitting so long? In need of a healthier, more comfortable sitting situation?

As a designer, I find myself sitting at my desk in front of my computer for most, if not all, of the workday. Yes, my mind gets a lot of exercise, and maybe my fingers, but my body?…Not so much. After more than three years of sitting at a desk from 9 to 5, five days a week, I’m beginning to see and feel unsatisfactory consequences.

After coming across some astonishing research about how horrible sitting all day can be and then talking to a few certified health and fitness experts about ways to combat this, I have a new motivation for taking action against the effects of the deadly desk chair.

2012 is a new year people. As cliché as it may be, make it a resolution to change your sitting-all-day habits and tighten up that booty! Hopefully, you’ll gain some insight from what you’re about to read, and share this new knowledge with other designers or friends with sedentary jobs.

The scary research that sparked my interest

According to a Men’s Health article, Marc Hamilton, a physiologist and professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, warns sitting for prolonged periods of time (at a desk job for example) is damaging to your health. The more hours a day you sit, the greater chance you have of dying an earlier death—no matter how much exercise you get or how lean you are.

You would think working out before or after an 8 hour work day would somehow compensate for all of that sitting; but it doesn’t! The amount of time you exercise and the amount of time you spend sitting are completely separate variables when weighing the risk of heart-disease.

Hamilton says, “The cure for too much sitting isn’t more exercise. Exercise is good, of course, but the average person could never do enough to counteract the effect of hours and hours of chair time.”

So even you skinny people and super lean six-pack machines who are sitting in a chair right now and for most of the day are still victims.

One scientist even compared the effects of prolonged sitting to being a regular smoker. This sounds pretty drastic, but when an activity is compared to smoking, it can’t be a good thing.

Besides lowering your life expectancy, putting you at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, over time sitting can really put a strain on your hips, spine, and shoulders. Your entire body—from head to toe—suffers!

Is there any escaping the risk?

After speaking with a couple of experts, there appears to be a few lifestyle changing options to help prevent a flabby butt and a weak heart!

Karen Jashinsky, a Certified Personal Trainer, and Kevin Cronin, a Licensed Physical Therapist have given us desk sloths some hope. They’ve provided us with some insight and a few specific exercises we can incorporate into our workday; some without even leaving our desks!

Karen’s Advice

Staying in tip-top shape may present a huge challenge when one lacks a healthy eating and exercising regime. Moreover, alleviating stress may become difficult if it has taken a backseat to all the other priorities and responsibilities in one’s life. THEN, to top it all off many of us have sedentary jobs that make us sit at a desk all day. This in itself can contribute to slouching and tight shoulders, hips getting tight and back soreness. Fret not because there are things you can actually do to maximize your time at your desk by being strategic about fitting little workouts, exercises and stretches into your day.

For starters, I would highly encourage a fitness ball as a permanent chair or as a temporary chair that you can play around with during the day. Sitting on an exercise ball will help activate your core and leg muscles even while sitting. It is best to use the ball for short periods of time at first and to alternate it with a good ergonomically-designed desk chair. You can also use the ball for other exercises.

Think of sitting in your chair (or on your ball) all day as a way to get your core and stretch exercises in. You can fit your “cardio” in when you take breaks for lunch, coffee and calls. You can walk the stairs, take your calls on the cell and use it as a walking workout as well. The more you plan, the more effective you will be with fitting in a fair amount of cardio, core and stretching even while being productive at the office!

3 Easy Exercises from Karen

UPRIGHT BIRD DOG

(for your back and abs)

1. Sit on edge of chair with feet flat on the floor, resting hands on the seat next to your hips
2. Keep hips, knees and ankles bent 90 degrees
3. Shift weight forward off seat so all of your weight rests on your hands and feet
4. Brace abs and keep torso stable while lifting left foot of the floor and right arm straight out in front of you
5. Hold for 10 seconds then repeat with opposite arm and leg
6. Repeat 3 times at once or throughout the day

SEATED HIP STRETCH

1. Sit up right in your chair
2. Start with one leg and cross leg over the thigh of the other leg. Inhale while sitting up tall and exhale as you fold over your legs. Try to drape your hands over your legs and grab onto the calve of the leg that is on the floor. This will help pull your chest lower which will help you get a deeper hip stretch.  Hold for 30-45 seconds and switch sides.

WORKING YOUR CORE WHILE SITTING

1. Uncross your legs and plant your feet on the floor
2. Adjust your chair height so your hips are slightly higher than your knees
3. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and roll your shoulders back and down. Your shoulders should be relaxed and open
4. Think about tucking your pelvis under and engaging your abdominal muscles
5. Your keyboard and mouse should be right in front of you and your screen should be at eye level

Kevin’s Advice

Sitting for most of the day working at a desk or computer station may not seem physically demanding, but it is. The muscles in your neck, back, and arms work very hard to maintain the body’s posture. Circulation to the muscles is reduced, and irritating waste products build up inside the muscles as a result.

Learning how to reduce strain on the neck, shoulders, and low back will help to make you more comfortable, healthy, and efficient on the job.

Feeling discomfort is very common in today’s office environment and it is usually the result of sustained poor sitting posture or repetitive arm and hand motions. These are referred to as Cumulative Trauma Disorders, or CTD’s, and they account for half of all worker’s compensation claims today. The good news is that they are preventable!

If you work for an employer, it is their job to provide a safe working environment, but it’s your responsibility to properly use and care for your working body by paying attention to posture, body mechanics, and by doing regular, preventative stretching exercises to reduce strain on your low back, neck, and arms. By learning a few simple ergonomic principles, and applying them to desktop work, you can help to prevent injury and avoid pain problems.

The Workstation

1. The computer work surface should be deep enough to fit your laptop or monitor, keyboard and wrist rest (unless you use a keyboard tray)
2. Place the CPU on the floor if possible to save desktop space
3. Place your monitor directly in front of you with the top of the monitor at or slightly below eye level. The monitor should be a comfortable distance from your eyes depending on your vision
4. Relax your shoulders and allow your elbows to rest at an approximate 90 degree angle with wrists neutral while typing
5. Sit with your back against the backrest of your chair in a virtually upright position in order to maximize back support
6. Sit with your knees slightly lower than your hips, and feet resting flat on the floor, or on a footrest

The One Minute Muscle Manager

Frequent stretching of a few hard-working muscles is one way to relax muscular tension and discomfort by restoring blood flow to the muscles. This group of stretching exercises can easily be performed once every hour on the job. Since the entire stretching plan takes only one minute to complete, it will not reduce your productivity. Instead, it will reduce muscle fatigue, increase your comfort level, and help prevent injury to your working body, which will result in greater productivity overall.

Try out these exercises and you’ll be looking like a celebrity in no time! *wink wink

1. SHOULDER ELEVATION/DEPRESSION

1. Sit or stand as shown
2. Shrug shoulders up for 6 sec., then depress for 6 sec. stretching gently

2. UPPER BACK SIDE BENDING

1. Sit or stand with hands clasped behind head as shown
2. Raise tip of one elbow upward as you move tip of other downward
3. Bend without allowing hips to move so you feel a stretch in upper back
4. Stretch gently for 6 sec. each side

3. NECK EXTENSION/SHOULDER STRETCH

1. Sit or stand with hands behind neck as shown
2. Bend neck and shoulders backward until a stretch is felt
3. Gently stretch for 6 sec.

4. WRIST FLEXION

1. Hold wrist as shown
2. Bend the wrist until you feel a mild stretch
3. Stretch gently for 6 sec.
4. Repeat on the opposite wrist

5. WRIST EXTENSION BILATERAL

1. Hold palms together as shown
2. Keeping palms closely together, bring wrists down and elbows up to gently stretch wrists for 6 sec.

6. BACK FLEXION

1. Sit in chair
2. Bend forward as shown with hands crossed and placed on your knees
3. Gently stretch for 6 sec.

Give this advice a try and let us know what you think. Feeling refreshed and taking a minute to stretch and clear your mind will help you to be more productive and feel great all day, as well as prolonging your life!

Thank you Karen and Kevin!

Karen Jashinsky
Founder, CEO and Chief Fitness Officer of O2 MAX
Karen is a certified personal trainer with a BS/BA from Washington University and an MBA from USC.

O2 MAX is a fitness and media company that creates hybrid fitness solutions for busy people, with a large focus on students. As the founder, Karen is the recipient of the First “Emerging Female Leader” Award by The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, the fitness industry’s only global trade association. In 2007, she was also named one of the 25 most influential young leaders in the fitness industry by IHRSA. She is a frequent speaker at fitness conferences and trade-shows on youth fitness, social media and entrepreneurship.

Kevin Cronin
Founder and CEO of Advanced Rehabilitation Clinics (ARC Physical Therapy)
Kevin received his education from Northwestern University’s Medical School and is a Licensed Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainer, and is also certified in the Jones Strain Counterstrain technique.

Kevin is grateful for the opportunity to direct an organization that really makes a difference in the lives of the people they serve. It is a thrill for him to see his patients reclaim their abilities, to function pain-free, and to enjoy more active and productive lifestyles.

As a side note…

We’d like to mention that we just created a new website for Dietrich Horsey, a great new client of ours and a certified personal trainer located in Evanston, IL. He is whipping us into shape and we highly recommend using him! Check out the site at pxdtraining.com.

As a designer, I often notice things that others may never notice. Ligatures that are misaligned, kerning tables that are not spaced properly, and terrible number glyphs that don’t match the alphabet styles.

These “aesthetic details” may go overlooked by many… but to someone who cares about design—an obnoxious font can drive you crazy.

So I asked a few people, who are all entwined in various degrees in the design community to name their least favorite font(s). What we got in return is quite amusing and certainly better than a list of the 10 worst fonts. Although, many of these clearly would be in the fonts Hall of Shame.

Responses to: “What’s your least favorite font?”

Matt Kuttan: Papyrus. Because it evokes thoughts of an Egyptian overachieving tweener girl trying to write on a foam board to vote for her for a Cairo middle-school president.

Jill Smokler: Comic sans is just tragic and overused.

Greg Hinkle: Comic sans. Obviously.

And Trebuchet. It’s an annoying Arial variant that Microsoft thought would be
so cool, but just shows how shortsighted and megalomaniacal they are (since
it only looks right on Windows PCs).

Amit Savyon: WingDings!

Stuart Cohn: Whoa, only one? I think half of the stock decorative fonts that are the default fonts on your computer.

These are cop-out fonts:

1. Comic Sans
2. Papyrus
3. Jazz
4. Party
5. Mona Lisa

At one point they might have been designed for ease of use for non-design community to develop notes cards, invites, etc., for the casual home user. But over the years they have become staples to the uncreative, unimaginative and untalented set and they have opened the door to mediocrity to become common place.

It has contributed to anyone with a computer to think they can be designer or art director etc.

Frank Oros: Franklin Gothic. In college I learned to set type by hand –– metal castings placed individually into galleys. A painstaking and laborious process. I was late on a particular assignment and was rushing to set the type. I picked Franklin Gothic because it’s my name (no, not Gothic), and because I figured it was bold enough to carry ink adequately (what did I know).

After setting the type and adding slugs and such I threw in some pictorial elements to fill space and hurriedly began to bind the “chase”, the form that ends up on the flat bed. The chase is bound under tremendous pressure to hold all type, slugs, pictorial elements, etc. together. You shouldn’t rush this process because if the elements aren’t aligned perfectly they’ll literally explode out of the form and you’ll have “pied the chase” as I believe it’s called in type setting circles. I rushed it. It ‘sploded. I spent hours after class searching the cruddy press floor for hundreds of castings, cleaning them and rearranging them in the job case under the wary eye of my humorless professor. I hate Franklin Gothic. It performs poorly under pressure.

Mike Segawa: I honestly hate-with-a-passion the “Chicago” font. Mainly because Chicago’s my favorite city, and it’s already got a reputation for being an underrated city, it sucks that a totally boring font is titled after my favorite city. And the negative space created is unflattering, except for the spot in the “a”. That’s my favorite part of this most hated font. If I could spit on it I would. Ptooie!

Alana Zussman: Comic sans makes me cringe! All the teachers and students use it in the school. The worst is it is the preset typeface on the programs they use.

I also can’t stand Curlz MT, Mistral (which was used everywhere in Amsterdam) or Zapfino. I don’t think they are appropriate for any subject.

Eric Liao: For me, it’s hard to pinpoint a particular font I don’t like. It all depends on the context in which it’s used. I feel like almost any font has it’s “place” in the design world depending on the brand or the messaging. But if I had to choose, I’d say script fonts like Mistral. These fonts are meant to mimic natural cursive handwriting, but unless you get the right letter combinations and the perfect kerning, it won’t look natural. For example, starting a word with a lowercase “t” or “o” using Mistral will look odd, because these letters were designed to be connected to another letter that precedes it.

Ian Whitmore: Impact — Because it makes no impact on the viewer whatsoever and at certain sizes it borders on unreadable. The lowercase ‘p’ in Impact is one of the more awkward and repulsive letter forms I have seen.

Phil Adams: How about the most pretentious face ever designed? Has to be Avant Garde; so hot at the time but now—maybe it should be re-named Passe.

Eduardo Nieuwenhuyzen: Curlz—just makes me think of people using multiple colors with each letter. Oh yes, and freakin’ confetti! I hate confetti.

Octane Super is an example of fonts using too think of strokes making readability almost impossible. Etiquette is just just wrong, themed fonts should work harder than that. But then again I hate themed fonts.

But the winner—Sand Bureau. Looks like someone with a mental handicap drank too much Redbull and used some the generic type building kits to make a font set. YIKES.

Tracy Camparone: Ok, I despise that scripty font that some people use in their email signature (which they think makes them look official), makes me cringe!

Steev Szafranski:
Dear Papyrus,

You are the worst. Your dizzying scale shifts and roughed edges make me feel bad inside. Anybody looking to recreate a parchment map of Frodo’s journey through Middle Earth, please use traditional calligraphy and let this font slowly fade from our collections.

*No offense to Chris Costello, the designer of Papyrus. All in good fun.

Meg Cronin: I hate comic sans. It makes me nauseous, I’m not in kindergarten, and there is nothing comedic about it.

Kim Volk: Stencil. Something about it reminds me of getting bills in the mail. Depressing…

Keith Glantz (me): This wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t include my all time least favorite font. So, drum roll please…..

COPPERPLATE.

Curious choice, you may say. If you are thinking, ‘that font is okay,’ or ‘I kinda like it’… you are entitled to your opinion (although poor). I must tell you that when I see that font, all I see is the letters LAZY replace whatever message was intended to be read.

Copperplate has spread like a virus. People think they are “smart” or “sophisticated” when they use it. Or for that matter “official looking” with its all cap glyphic serifs. It’s often a default font on many computers who pretend they are designers.

Really people—this font is embarrassing. Do the rest of the world a favor and please refrain from using this it for any reason. In my opinion, if you have ever used this font on a wedding invitation, you are increasing your odds of divorce. Seriously, anyone who agrees to use that font is bound for failure.

On a side note: Copperplate was originally designed by Frederic Goudy. His other known font, Goudy Old Style, is rather nice.

What is your least favorite font? We would love to hear, so comment below.

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