creativity – Page 2 – Curiosities.

Puma’s Wit & Wisdom

I finally made it to the new Puma store at my local mall to grab a fresh pair of kicks and when I got them home I was pleasantly surprised to find this clever message on the bottom of my shopping bag:

Puma’s shopping bag - click to enlarge

It reads:
“CAUTION: THIS IS NOT A TOY. Obviously, it’s just a bag. OK, we didn’t really think you would mistake it for a games consol. [sic] All we mean is don’t fool around and put it on your head, you’ll just look silly.”

It’s always fun to find little bits of unexpected humor in seemingly mundane places… kudos to the copywriter! Shame on the proofreader though… unless there’s an alternate spelling for “console” that I’m not aware of.

Urban Photo Safari ’07

Posted on May 17, 07 by Kyle

Grab your camera and mark your calendar…. the 2007 Urban Photo Safari is officially set for Saturday, June 9th. It’s moving to Lawrence this year.

Until the official site is up and running again, you can see photos from past Safaris here.

It’s a free event, so if you’re looking for an excuse to get creative with a camera, there’s nothing quite like it.

“Inspiration?”

Posted on Feb 13, 07Aug 18, 08 by Kyle

Maybe it’s just that all caveman look the same to me. Maybe there really are no new ideas. Knowing the ad guys who grew up watching this stuff on Saturday mornings, it’s the latter.

My Resolution?

Posted on Jan 5, 07Jan 22, 18 by Kyle

Don’t write any new posts over the holidays. Done and done.

The regular reader of this blog may have noticed a downshift in posts. I took a refreshing little holiday break and I’m ready to get back to business, and I’m back with a posse. Well, one guest author; my friend, fellow designer, and safari organizer, Dean Olufson. Dean plans to pontificate on all manner of things related to design and creativity.

Be sure to check out his first post – a look back at an olde tyme digital photography technique, Quicktime VR.

Remember Quicktime VR?

Posted on Dec 19, 06Dec 19, 06 by Kyle

Funny how you forget some of the creative venues you used to pursue. One huge one struck me on the head on a recent trip to Chicago. How in the world did I forget about Quicktime VR? I had the perfect opportunity to use it but, didn’t have anything suitable to create it. Dang.

I bought my first digital camera back in 1997 (dang, was it really that long ago?) The Apple Quick Take 200 with a whoping .3 megapixels. I started to get a little nutty and veered off into the world of photo VR courtesy of the Kaiden VR rig.

Ah, then I remembered why I forgot about it. It was a huge pain in the butt. The camera was all but useless and the stiching software was a nightmare. The camera eventually broke and the VR rig ended up in some box somewhere.

Fast forward 9 years and I was kicking myself for not having that rig with me. Funny what 9 years of technology can do. The cameras are wicked easy and I’ve been using them for years but, for some reason it never dawned on me to try the VR rig out again. Heck, even the software has gotten easier. Alot of cameras even ship with stitching software. The things they are doing these days with VR are absolutely stunning. Here’s a few links to some of the better ones. Find any more? Post the links in the comments. Now, if I could just find that Kaiden rig?…

http://www.panoramas.dk/
(click the pull down menu in the upper right corner to go directly to the panoramas. credit to nctrl for pointing this one out.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panoramic_photography
(wikipedia entry. alot of great links at the bottom. Includes description of film based panoramas as well as VR.)

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/qtvr/
(yup, an Apple plug. Imagine that.)

http://www.panofx.com/gallery.html
(comes in flash and java as well.)

W+K+OCD = WOW

Posted on Nov 11, 06Jan 22, 18 by Kyle

Wieden+Kennedy’s Portland office runs a very cool experimental ad school called WK12. Embracing Dan Wieden’s credo “You’re only good to me after you’ve made three tremendous mistakes”, the 12 gathered 150,000 push pins, what looks like a 10′ wall, and a little free time to deliver their message to the world, “Fail Harder”.

That looks like the kind of project, after about an hour into it, you wish you hadn’t started. Way cool.

Nice Clothespins

Posted on Oct 26, 06Jan 22, 18 by Kyle

Nice Clothespins from Target
Nice copywriting and package design from the good folks at Target. Proving – once again – you always have the opportunity to make something cool, even if it’s a little project.