this is why I can never break up with the internet.

I have been reflecting a lot lately on the nature of how advertising affects me. I have never been one to have a favorite ad on television. I have never been the type of consumer to rush out and purchase the things advertised on television. I generally do a ton of research or buy things out of their inherent cuteness.

I am however extremely affected by packaging. When a package is somewhat novel or designed in a concise manner I have a strong desire to consume. From chocolate to socks to green beans. I will purchase things shaped like animals or in an orange packager over their similar counterparts, even if the product is inferior to the a poorly packaged twin.

Which makes me think maybe I am not a savvy consumer at all.

In our required text it breaks down advertising into categories like print, television, radio and traditional media. It also briefly mentions non-traditional or guerilla advertising. Which gets me wondering about the effectiveness of traditional advertising in an age where the younger demographic is too cool for things like commercial radio and or watching prime time television. Does that leave the burden of advertising solely to the internet? What about word of mouth – does it pay to popular with the vice magazine crowd?

I see guerilla advertising all over my Los Angeles neighborhood that I perceive to be quite trendy. Posters for records I would never purchase and parties that are too cool for me to attend. Which makes me think I am not in the cool crowd where is my guerilla advertising? Then I remember a story that broke a little over a year ago.

http://pr.typepad.com/pr_communications/2007/02/aqua_teen_hunge.html

Guerilla advertising for the people that don’t know how to party.

So like most people in my age range I do not pick up the L.A. Times print edition everyday but I do try and at the very least glance at the headlines once day on www.latimes.com. Today feeling particularly avoidant of doing work or thinking about my real life issues, I stumbled my way into one of the more fluffy sections Los Angeles Connections. The notion of missed connections has always fascinated me since Ardian Tomme’s comic Optic Nerve featured a tale of a bay area missed connection. I mean who are those people? I actively avoid all connections not just the missed ones.

In this missed connection section they feature stories of from people trying to meet their missed opportunities on craigslist. However the more interesting feature of the Los Angeles Connections portion of the website is the information design of boy vs. girls distribution map of Los Angeles. I chose the age group I find most attractive being men in there mid-thirties however I imagine most age groups will still reveal some unintended results.

Look at the concentration of men around the Los Angeles county jail – young professionals??

Even sadder than the concentration of men around the Los Angeles county jail is the concentration of females in the more violent areas of the city.

Just for fun the concentration of males in West Hollywood – no need for the ladies.

DIY Death to High Design?

I frequent design blogs and many of them have sections on DIY: Do it yourself. I have also fingered through a copy of a book by the same title published by Maryland Institute of Art. In these sections the purpose various projects in which the participant can create cool stuff from books to t-shirt even wall applications. This begs the question where does that put trained designers? Is it a threat or just diversifying the market? Does more competition make you better?

These are all questions I ask myself I think about an issue of Ready Made magazine or teenagers spending hours tweaking their myspace pages. With more and more visual stimuli out their how do I compete? Do I pander to the masses? Who doesn’t love a cute but weird animal or a skull and cross bone kitty? Do I attempt to freak the masses out and make them totally uncomfortable? Do you really catch more flies with honey?

It is also weird to me that I am totally intimidated by DIY but I am more than willing to except companies like Pocketo or Beautiful Decay with open arms.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/diy

So my interests are rather limited I like art, old punk records and comedy all quite cool and interesting topics. Lately I have been going through a focus on comedians so you do not have to deal with the reality of your situation phase. This always leads me to the website www.nndb.com in one capacity or another. I use to think this site was so cool because I could see all the famous people that lost an eye or underwent a frontal lobe lobotomy. They have made an improvement I did not foresee a mapping tool!

Here I began the map with my favorite Kids in the Hall member Kevin McDonald. From that point I linked the map up to one of my favorite sketch comedy shows Mr. Show with Bob and David. With this tool you can show the person’s documented sexual orientation, age, religious affiliation, and political affiliation. I am sure this tool could be used for something more important like researching political candidates as it also logs donations to organization. The saddest part of this mapping tool is I learned I care more about mid-nineties stars of cable and basic cable television more than I do politics.

Margins

Can someone please confirm the dims on margins for this project? Did we agree to make the bottom margin larger?

What happens when your subculture becomes profitable?

So this weekend James Gobel has an opening at Steven Turner Gallery. Gobel constructs large scale portraits of bears with felt. I can not wait. The interesting aspect of his upcoming show the rejection of mainstream cultures views of the gay man. He is actively portraying the bear as a the rebel in a world that has began marketing more and more to the vast disposable incomes of gays. He is also redefining the perceived notions that being a gay male means being effeminate. These are absolutely stunning pieces not only in size but skill. I encourage all of you to go see it while it is on display.

It makes me think about subcultures in general and how they get mutated for brand profitability. There are places like Starbucks to encourage coffee shop chic to the masses or stores like Hot Topic that pander the perfect punk rock look to fourteen-year old girls. I am fascinated by the driving forces behind the mass distribution of lifestyles. When did having multiple piercing and a Mohawk shift from visually disrupting the social palette to just another kid in sea of kids rebelling? Who was the genius who started marketing towards alienated youth and profiting from people’s desires to be perceived as unique? Why does it seem acceptable for “them” to pirate “our” visual semantics?

Quick Post for Phillip

Tobias Wong and $ome Rich Kid did a whole design series called Indulgence. They did things like gold plated coke spoons - the McDonald's swizzle stick was my personal favorite. However with your comment on my blog I thought you would really enjoy seeing these. I realize they are commenting on the excessive luxury item culture like Mercedes with television screens that no one is watching. I still think this stuff is the coolest, I have contemplated purchasing the gold plated bic pen cap necklace. I guess if I ever get one the joke is on me.

Object Fetishism
Some objects are fetish objects for legitimate reasons like a religious relic or alter. However when I say I am an object fetishist I am not talking about religious icons. I think that object fetishism can most easily be defined as a desire evoked by or longing for objects. I remember the first time I experienced it I was standing in front of a green Ellsworth Kelly. It was just so beautiful I wanted to crawl inside it. It was shortly followed by the same feelings towards a Dan Flavin piece. That is when I realized I was an object fetishist. I love objects.

Having a Heart to Heart about Designers

Today I had a heart to heart with my employer after stressful three weeks of catalogue production for freelance client. A conversation that started being about clients ridiculous disregard for deadlines and a normal work pace quickly morphed into a whole assessment of my career in design.

I have worked in design for a number of years now. However my career began in the fine art world. I have always been an object fetishist. I LOVE STUFF. Which is what lead me to design; I began to feel that the fine art world was extremely alienating to a majority of the general population. I wanted to start making stuff that was accessible to people of all levels not just people who were members of the small niche of the art world.

For years now I have been idolizing and exposed to the “cowboys” of the art world. If I wasn’t fantasizing about owning the Ed Ruscha book Every Building on Sunset Strip or Some Parking Lots; I was listening to Dave Hickey. This perhaps has given me a somewhat jaded view of the world. I would not give up any of the experiences I have thus far in my life and career but at the advice of my new employer I am giving up the sexiness of the art world cowboy attitude for a little while.

I am returning to my roots of loving stuff.

I am going to re-read everything Virginia Postrel ever wrote will keep you posted.

From on Display to the Display Window

This window display struck me as I have seen a very similar concept before. For the past few years I have been following the career of Tobias Wong. In the late 1990’s he had an exhibition in gallery space featuring fan walls. This Nike display window uses the concept but gently tweaks it with a windbreaker addition. The window features a wall of box fans mirroring the gallery pieces however a hanging windbreaker gently sways back and forth. This gives the fan wall a purpose differing from the initial conceptual viewing in the art gallery. It also provides context or “wind” for the jacket.

This tactic is not new by any means in 2006 Target hired high end designer Tord Boontje to design Christmas products as well as an all over store display. A majority of Nike and Target’s customer base is unaware of these designers and their contribution to the contemporary dialogue of design. Each time a mainstream store employs high-end designers the mainstream consumer is exposed to something that was previously confined to art galleries and high end design retail venues like Moss.

This form of marketing gives the company a refreshing feel for people who are unfamiliar with these designers. It benefits the designers as well because people are exposed to their objects and displays in a much more approachable venue opposed to an art gallery or high-end retail design outlet.