Monday February 8, 2010
The MTV logo is not only one of the most recognizable designs in our culture, but also one of the most flexible. Whether rendered in the classic yellow and red, pinstriped or leopard print, the logo is always identifiable. This has given the TV giant the ability to keep their brand while using the 3-D "M" with the spray painted "TV" in countless ways. The story of this famous logo project from almost 30 years ago can be read on Frank Olinsky's website, one of the original designers.
For these reasons, I was surprised to first hear that MTV had redesigned the logo, until I saw they basically just cropped out the bottom text "Music Television." This change makes perfect sense, being that MTV isn't what it used to be. It's now the place for reality TV and "Cribs," not 24/7 music videos. Despite the change, the logo will still be just as flexible, able to accommodate unlimited graphics and photos as seen on this blog. What do you think of the change?
Tuesday February 2, 2010
There are many project management systems out there, but Notable has found a niche by creating a
great web-based application that focuses on design feedback. Geared towards web design, but certainly useful for all kinds of work, Notable allows you to take a snapshot of a website that includes the design, code and content. From there, multiple users can leave notes and feedback on specific elements of the page and discuss the design until reaching a final product.
Read the full review.
Monday February 1, 2010
With the Grammy's wrapping up a couple of hours ago, it may seem like an obvious website to feature. However, it's not the just the show, but also the design of the Grammy site that caught my attention. Overall, the site has a very modern feel, with subtle background imagery and semi-transparent blocks of content used throughout the design. A clean rotating feature area, video highlights, and social networking links are highlighted, followed by a list of nicely styled blog posts. Gold type is used for headings keep that Grammy style, and features such a tag clouds give the site a current feel. Check out Grammy.com to see the design, and the winners, and be sure to visit about.com's entertainment channel for more coverage.
Sunday January 24, 2010
Pingdom has
compiled a very interesting collection of Internet statistics from 2009. From the number of emails sent in a day (247 billion) to Internet users worldwide (1.7 billion) the blog post has a long list of stats in categories including social media and online video. While a lot of the numbers are estimates and pulled from sources all around the web, it's still an interesting read and a nice summary of the year online.