Filed under: Branding, Design, Life, Trends | Tags: Branding, Design, Life, Trends
In the past couple of weeks, I have been doing research on the current international trends in the field of Visual Communication and after observing I noticed that in countries like the USA, U.K. and Japan, Graphic designers in those places have already formulated some form of and Identity / branding that makes their countries stand out. This is basically through the fact that not only are creatives in these so called trendsetting countries inspired by their surrounding but they always emphasizes/incorporate some form of inspiration from their countries. This is what gives each country a form of visual Identity, which I feel many South African designers still lack in emphasizing in the design work that they do.
Why aren’t designers taking full advantage of our diversity, culture that South Africa has to offer/offers. The more designers continue to basically follow every contemporary trend out there, the further we are from formulating a trend that is truly African and authentic in terms our our cultural heritage. I feel it is about time designers realized the greatest inspiration we have and that is South Africa.
Take the Japanese for example, a country very much proud of there cultures heritage and is the main essence of inspiration with everything that they do. They “Flaunt” it in every thing that they do which is why they are in the forefront of everything that they do. They don’t follow trends, but become trendsetters through finding inspiration from culture and their country basically.
We as South African Designers should -every now and then- put switch off those Macs and go outside and draw some inspiration from South Africa. I say this basically as I feel it is just the remedy we should utilize in setting a Design Visual Identity which will make the rest of the world stand up and follow our trends for a change. All in all, take time every now and then to explore your environment whether be it Soweto, Sandton or even the Karoo, I for one have to stop typing and hurry up to catch the Taxi from Sandton to Alexandra then to Randburg now that’s what I call true inspiration…hehehehehehehehehe.
Posted by: Mpumelelo
Filed under: Branding, News, Technology | Tags: Branding, Facebook, Microsoft, News, Technology
AHH!!! Need I say more??
I know this is going to sound awfully shallow BUT WHY COULD FACEBOOK [so cool] not sell to GOOGLE [so cool] and do a little brand matching? Selling a stake to MICROSOFT [so not cool] is kinda sad. This is clearly a clever move for the license hungry [so not in the free space company]- Microsoft that is – [could this be the beginning of a new approach?].
Just hope ‘the deal’ does not impact my daily Facebook life otherwise I am out! I suppose if I was Mark Zuckerberg at the age of 23 [having only spent 4 years building Facebook] I be wringing my hands with glee with all dat munnnny!
Some of the team were fortunate enough to meet [da man] Robin Sharma [author of the best seller The Monk That Sold His Ferrari] – hence the cheesy title of this blog. What a cool aura the guy has.. Check us out! HA! Famous [by default for 1 second]!
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming, Life | Tags: earth, emergency, green, recycling, tips, vegetarian
COME ON PEOPLE!!! It’s about time you became green (a recycler or even better a vegetarian), but I know it’s a tall order for most humans, giving up what they love (meat-heads) and practicing karma yoga (cleaning up after ourselves).
So hopefully I can turn one more person into an Earth Child or an Earth Addict if you’re not one already. If you’re not then you have a lot to learn so start educating yourself, I can help you out with 10 great tips that will make a difference to Mother Earth:
- Turn off equipment like televisions and stereos when you’re not using them. That little red standby light means they’re still using power – and that means a contribution to global warming.
- Save water:
- turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.
- collect the water used to wash vegetables and salad to water your houseplants. - Recycle your paper, glass, plastics and other waste. Drop off at Recycling Depot that’s closest to you. [Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning].
- Use rechargeable batteries
- Send e-greetings instead of paper cards.
- Take your own bags to the shops to carry home your groceries and shopping – Woolies have great ones in all cool colours.
- Buy organically grown fruits, vegetables, cotton clothing, and hemp-fibre products. Become a vegetarian!!!
- Don’t buy bottled water if you know your tap water is safe – transporting water from its source to the supermarket shelves is an expensive waste of energy. And the plastic and glass bottles add to the already-high mountains of rubbish that we produce. Find out from your municipality about your tap water. If you do buy bottled water, buy from a local source (read the labels) and buy water that comes in recyclable glass or plastic.
- Choose biodegradable cleaning products so that the chemicals have fewer negative impacts on the soil and water system.
- Use recycled paper.
FURTHER READING:
The Green Consumer Guide by I Elkington and I Hailes. Collancz, 1988.
How to be Green by J Button, Century, 1988.
Once is Not Enough, Recycling Directory, Argus, 1990.
Your Guide to Green Living in South Africa, W McLintock, Londolozi, 1990.
USEFUL ADDRESSES:
Wildlife Society, P O Box 44189, Linden, 2104.
Earthlife Africa, P O Box 176, Observatory, 7935.
Cape Recycling Network, P O Box 238, Hout Bay, 7872.
Posted by: Donna
The whole Rugby World Cup do-da is such a great example of emotional branding. The whole event has really been effective in welding the people of our country together [whether you like rugby or not, you couldn't possibly have avoided the hype?]. It has reached deep into the hearts of people sparking debate [not surprisingly] but most importantly, positively crossing over the culture line.. I cannot recall when last I have heard so much positivity in unity… thats what I call mass emotional branding. Great for Rugby..BUT most of all great for South Africa!
I have to say I will miss this Ad, it was one of the best of the year in my opinion…
UPDATE: It seems (not surprising I suppose) that there is now a really shortened version of this Ad celebrating our win! Very cool that there is a tie up!
Posted by: Candice
Word :
There I was thinking that cell phones were the most coolest and convenient tools of the 21st century, only to find that there are a whole lot more mediums of communication we only thought existed in movies. Folks the future is here.
I for one am still trying to get to grips with things like Face book, Myspace and Bebo and as for blogging man that’s another story. One thing that fascinates me the most though, is the fact that by the time I finish typing this something new might be discovered to benefit mankind. Another thing that’s kind of interesting is the driving force / motive behind all of these discoveries. Shigeru Miyamoto, Founder of Nintendo Co Ltd one of the most Influential people of the 20th century (Time Magazine) said that the reason he developed the Wii [which happens to have resurrected Nintendo from the dead and taken gaming to another level] was the fact that he wanted to get his wife to play video games which I found really interesting. (Just a thought)
Technology is here to stay folks and as long as the Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Shuttleworths’ of this world are around, we might as well embrace these revolutions and ride into the sunset, or who knows, maybe tomorrow we’ll teleport into the sunset.
Peace ’till we blog again…
Posted by: Mpumelelo
Wow!!! I’m stepping out into the world of techno geeks and cyber nut jobs!! I constantly hear about how groovy it is to be a blogger and I hate getting left out so I’m jumping on the cyber wagon while it races by.
Long gone are the days of soap boxes on street corners this is the new age way of letting it out and boy do we all have a lot to say. I also love the fact that we can all say it without spraying it!!! So stick around and watch this space I might come up with some scrumptious stories for you to nibble on.
Posted by: Donna
I have 2 blogs, a Facebook profile, a business and a family to manage and people often ask me the question ‘when do I have time to do all this’.. almost like I am mad or bored … YA RIGHT!
The short answer is… I make time… and the reality is… I actually enjoy it. I read an article the other day written by Dion Chang http://www.glamourmechanics.co.za/dion.htm in one of the ladies mags that was very interesting about ‘boycotting’ the Facebook phenomenon. In one way I agree about being ‘organic’ and ‘free’ from the grip of web 2.0 and what it has to offer, BUT isn’t that just delaying what will eventually become the norm? Kinda like saying, I refuse to use the internet? I remember people commenting on how anti-social the web was in the beginning.
My view is that all these tools will eventually become ‘the new email’ or very simply the way we operate… if we work against it we’ll get left behind in every way not just socially. It’s really about claiming your space [especially if you are a company- as nervous as you are of this new media]!
Believe it or not it’s addictive so beware…
Candice
