Archive

It is a rare thing, working as a designer, to have the opportunity to brand a friend. It’s a strange concept in of itself. The idea of branding a friend is an odd one, without doubt, not to mention a challenging one. None-the-less, it can be a rewarding experience and a true test for the designer.

the little MONSTER in all of us

Faced with the challenge of branding a friend, I suddenly recalled a post by Mark Bixby, that articulated the underlying essence behind brand, in one short, sweet sentence.

Just being something specific can sometimes be a powerful brand differentiator.Mark Bixby

Be something specific. A no brainer, right? There was no doubt about it, Mici is something specific. My task, was to try and capture that “something” and make it a brand?.

Branding a person, in of itself, is an odd concept, but giving yourself 3 days to do it, is absurd. At the same time, it was for me, a fantastic window, through which to explore my wonderful, witty and terribly loving friend, Mici. I am very please to introduce littlest MONSTER.

There are times when you wish there was a clean, elegant way to go about a thing and there are times, as we all know, when this just isn’t possible. Such, is my state of mind at present. We all know what it’s like to take something that is beautiful and clean, and have to bend and contort it to work in environments it really shouldn’t be subjected to. Such is the peril of the web designer and developer. And such is the profound necessity of standards.

In times like this, I can’t help but wish we, as designers and developers, had something for our practice, akin to the good old tennis ball hack.

Without a doubt, I’m ranting about Internet Explorer. I know, it’s a tiresome subject, but we, nevertheless, exhaust countless, valuable hours contending with the legacy Microsoft left behind.

(more…)