30 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Design, Entertainment, 0 Comments

Fringe Title Sequence

I’m a big fan of Fringe, the new sci-fi mystery show on Fox. One of my favorite parts of the show is the great title sequence design, and the title screens shown with the establishment shots. According to Video Copilot, the sequence was created in full HD (1920×1080) using After Effects, 3D Max and Particular. An interesting side note, is that J.J. Abrams (executive producer) wrote the music for the opening piece. Check out the opening sequence.

30 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Business, 0 Comments

Survival of the Fittest: The Wall Street Bailout

Below is a good article I stumbled upon this morning from Ari J. Officer at Time Magazine. Officer advocates allowing the debacle on Wall Street to take its natural course—allow the fittest to survive and the weak to fail. Officer makes some good points. To a degree, we need to allow the situation with the economy play out. The markets are far too fragmented, and this crisis will allow the strongest, most stable companies to survive while the weak, over-valued institutions are essentially absorbed by the market. People will lose jobs and money in the process, but it may be the course of action that’s required for the economy to emerge stronger and healthier on the other side of the tunnel.

From Time:
The Administration and Congress have felt compelled to do something about the “financial meltdown,” so an inefficient and inequitable “bailout plan” has been rushed through the legislature despite harsh criticism from the right and left. That’s unfortunate. Both presidential candidates were stalling by qualifying the plan. Whichever candidate had had the courage to reject outright this proposal would have had the better claim to be President.

Do not be fooled. The $700 billion (ultimately $1 trillion or more) bailout is not predominantly for mortgages and homeowners. Instead, the bailout is for mortgage-backed securities. In fact, some versions of these instruments are imaginary derivatives. These claims overlap on the same types of mortgages. Many financial institutions wrote claims over the same mortgages, and these are the majority of claims that have “gone bad.”

At this point, such claims have no bearing on the mortgage or housing crisis; they have bearing only on the holders of these securities themselves. These are ridiculously risky claims with little value for society. It is as if many financial institutions sold “earthquake insurance” on the same house: when the quake hits, all these claims become close to worthless — but the claims are simply bets disconnected from reality.

Follow the money. Average Joes and Janes are not the holders of the other side of complicated, over-the-counter derivatives contracts. Rather, hedge funds are the main holders. The bailout will involve a transfer of wealth — from the American people to financial institutions engaging in reckless speculation — that will be the greatest in history.

Rescuing financial institutions is not the best solution. Yes, banks are needed to provide capital to businesses. But it is not necessary to spend $1 trillion to maintain liquidity. If the government is to intervene, it should pick and choose which claims to purchase; claims that are directly tied to mortgages would be a good start.

Let financial institutions fail, merge or be bought out. The faltering institutions will see their shares devalued and will be likely to be taken over by stronger institutions — as has already started happening. This consolidation of the financial sector is both efficient and inevitable; government action can only delay the adjustment.

The government should not intervene. It should leave overleveraged financial institutions to default on their derivatives obligations and, if necessary, file for bankruptcy. Much of the crisis has arisen from miscalculating the risks involved in a large book of positions in these derivatives. It is only logical that these institutions pay for their poor management.

Rather than bailing out Wall Street, we propose that the government should buy up the actual mortgages in question and do nothing else. The government should not touch any derivatives; that is, claims that do not directly tie into the actual mortgages. If money becomes too tight, then the Fed can certainly increase its loans to financial institutions.

Let the poorly managed, overly risk-taking financial institutions fail! Always remember that Wall Street and the real economy are not the same thing.

— Ari J. Officer has completed his master of science degree in financial mathematics at Stanford University. Lawrence H. Officer is a professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

29 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Business, Design, 0 Comments

Swisscom Design Process

Great video of the design process of the new Swisscom identity.

Here’s what the guys from moving brands say about the project:

“Swisscom, one of the leading brands and a market leader in Switzerland(with more than 60% average share of market), is perceived as one of the most trusted brands by Swiss people. The Swisscom re-brand is the final step to a major restructuring of the whole Swisscom organisation which will see the previous group companies Swisscom Fixnet, Swisscom Mobile and Swisscom Solutions cease to exist. These companies will be replaced by Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd with the divisions Residential Customers, Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises and Corporate Business. Swisscom’s fixed-line, mobile communications infrastructures and IT platforms are to be merged into a single division as part of the same process.

The pitch process began in the first half of 2007, and from the outset, and in light of the organisational re-structuring that was on the horizon, we argued strongly that what was at that stage merely a ‘corporate design’ brief, needed to in fact be elevated to a complete and audacious ‘brand renewal’ brief.

Following an initial round of pitches, we then found ourselves on a shortlist of several agencies from across Switzerland and Europe. The Moving Brands concept was selected for implementation by the Swisscom board of directors in November 2007.

Our concept for Swisscom centres on creating just a cross-platform, dynamic identity. This will form a strong and clearly defined single axis around which every element of the Swisscom organisation can then move. The new Swisscom identity, developed by ourselves with Swiss typographer Bruno Maag, will be launched in the first quarter of next year. It will be ‘an innovation for Switzerland and the industry.’ To see more of the design please go to www.swisscom.com/brand-2008 

29 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Business, Design, 0 Comments

McDonald’s Logo Guidelines

Here’s an interesting logo usage guide from McDonald’s. Considering the magnitude of the McDonald’s brand, and numerous iterations of their logo, notice that the guide is only 20 pages. This version is from 1999, but if you’re at all a brand junkie like me, it’s worth the read.

Here’s some part of the document:

“What is a Trademark ?

A trademark is a word (McDonald’s® ), symbol ( M ) or phrase (“Did Somebody Say McDonald’s?”™) adopted by McDonald’s to identify our products and services and distinguish them from those of our competitors. A trademark is a guarantee of consistency and quality. It assures our customers that all products bearing our trademarks are of the same high quality that customers have come to expect from McDonald’s.”

29 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, Literature, 0 Comments

Newspaper Blackout Poems

Austin Kleon is a writer and cartoonist. His Newspaper Blackout Poems have been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, in Toronto’s National Post, and all over the web. He works a day job designing websites in a cubicle, and lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Meghan. Visit him online at: www.austinkleon.com. Try making a Newspaper Blackout Poem yourself. The limitations inspire creativity, and it’s very therapeutic.

28 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, 0 Comments

The World Loses a Legend: Paul Newman

From CNN’s interview with Larry King:

CNN: When did you first meet Paul Newman?

Larry King: In the 1960s, when “Cool Hand Luke” came out, he was on my radio and television shows in Miami promoting that movie. So I’ve known him 40 years. Well I admired him so much as an actor. I was a great fan of his.

I found him extraordinarily honest as an interview, forthcoming and to the point. He was not an elaborative person — by that I mean, he didn’t give you extra words. If it took 20 words, he gave you 20 words, not 25.

He also said something I’ve never forgotten. He said it the first time I interviewed him. He said anybody who is successful in life and who doesn’t use the word luck is a liar. He thought that luck visited everybody who was successful.

CNN: What’s his legacy?

King: He was a great actor, of course; that’s obvious. His charitable work, the $200 million he raised, the things he did with kids, the camps, the products he produced. He was one of the forerunners, when you think of it, of healthy eating. He was into that early.

He had an extraordinarily happy show business marriage. The odds against that were enormous. He was a racecar driver; he was adventuresome; he took on challenging roles.

He made so many extraordinary films. There were so many different avenues he touched. He was amazing. iReport.com: What do you remember best about Paul Newman?

CNN: How often did you interview him?

King: A total of about five times, and once Paul McCartney’s ex-wife interviewed him on my show. I had a night off, and she interviewed him. I had one social dinner with him. I would run into him at events. It wasn’t a social relationship; it was professional.

CNN: What was he like in your interviews?

King: He was a great person to explain roles he did. And then once we did an interview just on his foods and charity and racecar driving … but most of the times it was about acting.

CNN: In the pantheon of Hollywood celebrities, where did he rank, and how was he viewed?

King: I think he ranked at the top. He would be in the superstar vein. The word I would use about Hollywood and Paul Newman would be respect. People had enormous respect for him, for his ability, for all he’d done, what he did with his life.

He was incredible when you think about all he’d done. Here’s a guy, he parlayed a good acting career into a great acting career, charity into enormous charity, racecar driving into celebrity. He’d be on the “A” list way up at the top.

CNN: What roles stand out in your mind, aside from “Cool Hand Luke”?

King: Hud, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and the last movie he did, “Road to Perdition,” he did with Tom Hanks. He was nominated for an Academy Award. He was unbelievable.

28 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, Design, Technology, 1 Comments

iPod to be Accessible to the Blind

Apple has volunteered to work with the state of Massachusetts to make iTunes 8 and the new iPod nano fully accessible, unlocking music, movies, and the free lectures and other educational material in iTunes U to blind users.

According to a report by the Associated Press, John Olivera of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind said the state approached Apple for help in making the wealth of educational material in iTunes U available to blind students. 

Apple worked out an agreement with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to make iTunes fully accessible, using VoiceOver technology developed for Mac OS X Leopard to enable blind users to set up an iTunes account, access iTunes U content, purchase albums, and rent movies.

There are currently “major gaps in the online world for blind consumers” the AP story noted, but cited Coakley as saying, “Apple is the leader, they’ve become the industry standard. Other companies that compete will have to or want to do this.”

The agreement will build upon the existing accessibility features introduced in iTunes 8 to make iTunes U fully accessible by the end of the year and complete full access to remaining portions of iTunes by the end of June 2009, according to a report by Mac accessibility site Lioncourt. 

The agreement includes a three year commitment to maintaining accessibility in iTunes, and Apple also donated $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. 

Prior to the agreement, Apple had made much of iTunes accessible with the release of initial VoiceOver support early last year. Apple enhanced VoiceOver and added Braille support in Mac OS X Leopard last fall. The company has also added Closed Captioning playback support in recent iPods and Apple TV and has provided support allowing iTunes content producers to add subtitles to their material. (Apple Insider)

28 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, 0 Comments

Where Do You Stand?

From Glassbooth:

Glassbooth is a nonprofit organization that is creating innovative ways to access political information. An informed and interested democracy is a powerful thing. As an organization acting in the public’s interest, we are very serious about our core principles.

Find out where you really stand on the issues, visit Glassbooth.

28 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, 0 Comments

Nothing But Nets

Nothing But Nets is a grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa. While the UN Foundation has been working with the UN to fight malaria for years, it was a column that Rick Reilly wrote about malaria in Sports Illustrated, challenging each of his readers to donate at least $10 for the purchase of an anti-malaria bed nets — and the incredible response from thousands of Americans across the country — that led to the creation the Nothing But Nets campaign. Learn more about Nothing But Nets.

28 Sep 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Design, 0 Comments

FaveUp: Design Inspiration

Faveup is a simple gallery of inspirational design. Everybody gets designer’s block sometimes so it’s nice to have somewhere to go to get your creative juices flowing again. Faveup also gives credit where credit is due, rewarding great design with the respect and linkage it deserves. Check out the site, and submit your own work to be rated while you’re there.