A fun short little movie about the brand and design development for the San Francisco chocolate company, TCHO . I love how they chose to represent their brand through the visuals of currency.

SPOILER ALERT: You can always improve on something great!

We’re now in our third year of The Barbarian Group’s collaboration with Kashi. We’re calling this release a refresh rather than a redesign. To clarify, think about the project as a house. When you do a redesign, it’s like tearing down a home to its foundation and starting fresh. That’s not what was needed here, for our foundation was already stable, our website was already successful. Think of this release like remodeling a kitchen, it’s an improvement of what was working, and an optimization of what wasn’t. So we put on our thinking caps and many months later, we’ve surprised ourselves yet again!

The countless improvements to the site are too many to list, but some of our favorites include: a redesigned navigation system, a dynamic footer showing the current community activity, a vastly improved commenting system, a simplified sign up and log in system, an improved look and feel, and of course, a ton of IA and UX refinements. And that’s just what the user see’s. The site is faster, more enjoyable, easier to use, and most importantly, easier to find what you are looking for and more likely to discover things you didn’t know were here. On top of this, we are already working on a number awesome super secret features and updates to be launched soon, so stay tuned for those in the coming months!

We love this client, and we hope you enjoy the site!

Waking this morning to the news that Pepsico would pull the new Tropicana packaging as a result of a widespread public backlash left me with an odd feeling in my stomach:

Fear.

So yeah. My roommate got the Snuggie for her birthday. It miraculously appeared on my couch this morning. After joyful celebration, I decided to put it to use and, I’m sorry to say, was a bit underwhelmed.

First of all, the quality of the fleece is sub-par. Where’s the plush, snugly softness that I was hoping for? Nowhere!

Once on, it serves its purpose. Another layer to warm me up. And look! I can read a magazine and change the channel all while maintaining my warm environment! (see awkward photo)

The really dangerous part, however, occurs at the removal of the Snuggie. Seriously, BEWARE! The static cling is unholy. The sparks fly, the hairs raise, the shocks abound! It was just enough to ruin my otherwise mediocre experience with the product.

Guess I’m just sticking to blankets and/or another layer of clothing from now on. The dream is dead. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll consider an upgrade to the Slanket.

“Patently Obvious” is new line of cleaning products by KMI that offers natural ingredients with no compromise on performance. Apparently, the line has been in-the-making since 2005, where the new product development team aimed to create distinctive packaging that was both unique and eye-catching. The end result was a custom designed line of packaging inspired by classic chemistry bottles and made from 100% post consumer recycled plastics. [ original post ]

However, there seems to be one major flaw in this “unique” and “distinctive” packaging. It looks exactly like method—method with a rather heavy logo and crowded labels. Even the Patently Obvious website, while not nearly as well done, is somewhat method-like.

Either way, both brands have similar philosophies and values (eco-friendly, natural ingredients, sustainable packaging, etc). If side-by-side on a store shelf, this is a perfect situation where I feel like the cheaper one would win over the consumer. Turns out Patently Obvious is a European brand, so that issue won’t really come into play, but it’s still interesting to see the obvious similarities between these two packaging designs. Makes you wonder what each team thinks of the other’s design…

Miracles of miracles! My day has come where I’ve been blessed by a coffee cake apparition!
Bidding will commence at 2:30 PST on Ebay.

Nick beat me to it, but I wanted to express my happiness about Mr. Jobs’ health letter, and tell Gizmodo to STFU. Seriously, what are they, shorting the stock or something? Can someone send the SEC over there?

Noah and I were just discussing Starbucks and books over lunch, and how buyers like Starbucks and Costco have this massive cultural impact on what books become “popular” and therefore what is considered the mean of popular culture. Think about it as maybe the WalMart-ing of pop culture, where corporate decisions have a major impact on our culture.

This led me to think about this idea I had way back in college about The Gap and its Old Navy offspring. These companies, whether they are aware of it or not, inadvertently set the median of modesty in our collective American fashion. They sell such massive quantities of clothing and are so utterly entrenched in every corner of America that teens and moms alike buy the same exact outfits across the country, setting up a standard for how “Americans” dress.

This is amazing, and I’m fascinated to know if The Gap is even aware of this consequential responsibility (some would say burden) to design and sell clothing that is setting up what the majority of the country sees as “modest”. Like, if they started selling fishnets and vinyl shorts, would there be an uproar? Are they pressured by some odd fringe lobbyist groups that try to maintain dignity in clothing? Do they get hate mail if their miniskirts are an inch too short?

Noah brought up a great point when I tried to make a parallel to McDonalds: McDonalds has the ability to alter their food in a way that would benefit the culture, but they have no economic incentive to do so. Sure, some pressure has led to things like the Yogurt Parfait and Salad Shakers, but by and large they have no reason to make massive infrastructure and supply changes for the (comparably) small PR benefit, even though it would be in the public’s best interest.

But The Gap, to Noah’s point, isn’t under those kind of considerations. Sure, if they started selling tarted up outfits they’d probably take a hit in sales, and see some outrage from fringe groups (Abercrombie and Fitch, anyone?). But The Gap can really set their own standards for what’s appropriate and what’s not, and what will sell and what won’t. I’m sure a lot of that is based on some idea of the average American’s sensibilities, but maybe it’s up to the designers.

Anyway, just a thought. I’d really love to know. Remember, The Gap, with great power comes great responsibility.