A stunning collection of architecture, environmental graphic design, interior design, industrial design and more from Shanghai’s World Expo. Click here to see more.

iPad Magazine Art Direction from Brad Colbow on Vimeo.

Needless to say, technology has changed the landscape of marketing and design. We’ve all had to re-evaluate existing brands and rethink new ones, beyond print, beyond web, and beyond social media. So when Jo brought in a great article about Google’s brand last week it really got me thinking. Their logo, which is fairly unremarkable in itself from a design standpoint, has completely bucked brand tradition. Last year, Aol jumped on board and rebranded with a logo that not only changes color, but also changes texture and imagery. So what, or who, is next? All of this was fresh in my mind when I came across this article that uses squid (of all things) to bring up some really interesting ideas on the future of branding and marketing. Good food for thought!

Great photography is such an important part of any finished piece, printed or online.  And usually, we focus on the finished product of our work, the brochures, magazines, and advertisements that we complete for our clients.  However, in recent weeks we’ve been given the opportunity to capture the right photo to speak for our clients. Here are a few photos from behind the view finder of our latest photo shoots  at Randolph Macon College and Carpenter Co.  Finished products coming soon!

Volkswagen and ad agency DDB Stockholm are launching a behavior-change campaign linking positive behaviors with fun. The “Fun Theory Campaign” is an initiative to promote environmentally friendly behaviors and is ultimately about driving environmentally friendly cars. The idea behind the campaign is to demonstrate that acting responsibly can be fun. Several experiments are under way. One converted a staircase in a Stockholm subway station into working piano keys. The result: 66% more people chose the stairs over the escalator. Another uses cartoonlike sound effects to make throwing rubbish into the trash can fun. That bin collected 41 kilograms more trash in one day than did a standard bin nearby. This campaign is a stellar example of advertising at its best: a big idea that can work across all media, including social and viral.

For more information go here. For more pictures go here.

I recently came across a tweet the other day in which the person said “This link has brought out the inner 8-year-old in me and I can’t stop laughing.”  The link on his post was www.whopooped.org. Not sure what possessed me to click it, as I was sure it was going to be something seriously inappropriate (for those who know me, you know that I blush talking about this stuff!). Lucky for me, I was pleasantly surprised at the online genius I found – no need to blush!

Whopooped.org is a microsite for the Minnesota Zoo to promote visits for their Africa! exhibit.  The site features an interactive quiz that shows insight into the lives of animals based on scientists studying – yup, you guessed it, their poop! The site does a great job of appealing to their target audience – kids, both young and old!   Here in the office, we had to test our knowlege (and the site, for research, of course).  I scored 2/3 correct, but everyone else in the office scored a 100%!

All microsites should aim to combine entertainment and information in such a compelling and appropriate way, even if it is without potty humor!

For a moment, I thought I was dreaming on the 2.5 hour car ride from Austin airport to Waldemar ranch. The desert was expansive and the landscape idyllic even if it was composed of mainly dirt, rocks, and cacti. I appreciated the calming effect it had on me, in a way foreshadowing what would be a relaxed and rustic experience during the next 4 days.

AIGA Austin’s Design Ranch is not your typical slide and lecture conference. In total there were about 125 people in attendance including the staff and workshop leaders, which provided a level of intimacy that is difficult to achieve at the more “popular” conferences. No, here the opening remarks were with an old transparency machine and throughout the next 4 days no laptops or cellphones were in sight. The food was great and definitely lived up to, if not exceeded, their statement – “This isn’t cafeteria food”. The nights were lively with music, drinks and dancing. Then, there were the afternoon workshops, all away from the computer, which we all as designers have formed a love/hate relationship with. You found yourself in the woods looking for materials to build a boat, in a room deconstructing sweaters to make something new, slicing book covers to bring them life in awesome 3-D scenes, experimenting with polaroids, or using nature and some sort of rainmaker type contraption to build your own printing press! There were other workshops too that i wish i could have taken as i saw the fruit of their work produced in the form of watercolor paintings, screen prints, markered t-shirts, and abstract lamps.

It’s hard to sum up the whole experience in a blog post but in all, this experience further proved that often times it’s good to get away from the computer, get your hands dirty, and seek creativity through nature and other materials you lost touch with. It also reminded me that being in a relaxed environment that nurtures and encourages spontaneous creativity and thinking is so important and good for the design soul.

Here at JHI, we are big fans of billboards: they are quick to the point and they reach your customers where they are – being in their car and seeing billboards about cars is not lost on me in this instance!  We’ve done quite a few in our time for clients, and although we’d like to take the credit for this one by a BMW dealer – this stroke of genius is entirely theirs.  Not only does it directly respond to a competitor in a tongue-in-cheek way, it has also caught the attention of the blogosphere and the twitterverse – thanks to a blog post on the BMWBlog.  Interestingly enough, BMWBlog isn’t owned by BMW AG, and I would bet their marketing and PR people are having a good day given all of the positive goodwill spreading around the net since the post on Monday.  Well played indeed.