Feltron Annual Report

The print version of the Feltron 2008 Annual Report was delivered the other day.

It’s a visual and statistical feast for the eyes. If you love maps, graphs, data, stats, origami, and design as much as we do, click here to get a copy.

It’s a small world after all.

Look what I did! Super fun and completely useless. Story of my life….am I right people?

Tilt-Shift miniature faking is a creative technique whereby a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated to give an optical illusion of a photograph of a miniature scale model.

Altering the focus of the photography in Photoshop simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered with macro lenses making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is.

If you are a Photoshop pro you can learn the process here.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Todd Jersey Architecture Brochure

Here’s a new brochure we finished for Todd Jersey Architecture. It was a quick turn around but it turned out quite nice!

kyle bunting ~ hide art

Kyle Bunting creates beautiful rugs, upholstery, wall coverings, and furniture panels for interior decor and architectural applications out of cowhide leather and fur remnants.

With their groundbreaking collection, Kyle Bunting is redefining how hide is used in interior applications.

Recognized foremost for their collection of luxury hide carpets and wall coverings, the company also supplies hides for architectural and upholstery applications.

The company has completed thousands of projects for design professionals and private clients throughout the world. Today, Kyle and his team of contributing designers operate and find inspiration in their design studio outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country.

We have our eye on several designs for the studio here in Oakland!

Designing Obama

I attended this event last night sponsored by SAPPI at the Morgan Auditorium in San Francisco.

The Obama logo was created early in 2007 by Chicago firm Sender LLC, in partnership with MODE. Barackobama.com was designed, developed and managed by the campaign’s internal team, led by Mr. Scott Thomas. Sol Sender [head of Sender] and Scott Thomas described their experiences in developing a political “brand” of historical impact.

They explained the whirlwind implementation [the logo was designed in about 3 weeks] and how combining top-notch creative with a forward-thinking political team and cutting-edge technology has changed the face of political campaigns.

At the beginning of the presentation they showed a variety of historic logos and bumper stickers that led up to this election. You can view them here. You can see that the time was right to take the brand design of campaigns to the next level. Having the “perfect storm” of technology, the right candidate, and an evolving graphic design sector provided the ammunition to do just that.

Some things that I took away from the presentation were:

• it required the “right” candidate….someone forward thinking that understands the importance of good design.

• the logo was allowed to evolve as the campaign grew [they changed the font to Gothic way after the logo was finalized]

• having the foresight to design a logo that could be used in the current technological world is key. the circle logo with it’s solid white border allows the logo to be used on something as grass roots as cookies [the edible kind] quite well

• developing a big picture [or map] of uses and then developing logo variations to work within those segments is important

• feel confident enough to use the website as a testing ground

• analytics are KEY in a successful website project of this magnatude

• getting artist involved all along the way, in a grass roots effort, is a great and very accessible way to communicate a brand. this is how they ended up collaborating with shepard fairey

The conference was moderated by Alissa Walker, who has written about design for Wired, Dwell, Metropolis, I.D., Design Observer, HOW and STEP inside design.

Aptera ~ Electric Car

Traffic Jam Brainstorm

What do you do when you’re stuck in traffic? Some people talk on the phone, engage in elevated verbal communication or practice creative hand gestures. Steve Fambro used the time to drum-up a more efficient way to get from point A to point B.

Frustrated by being land locked in a sea of steel and asphalt, Steve dreamed of cruising past the masses in a vehicle that was safe enough to protect his new family, yet efficient enough to keep money in his pocket instead of feeding a gas pump.

The Solution

The idea was simple yet brilliant. Design a vehicle that follows nature and glides through the wind instead of pushing it. He was almost there, but there was something missing. The answer came when Steve met entrepreneur and boat builder Chris Anthony. Chris introduced Steve to a composite body system that enabled the vision to take shape.

Together, Steve and Chris carried their dreams to Pasadena, Calif. and the doorsteps of new business incubator Idealab and it’s founder Bill Gross. Gross saw the vision and seeded the team with the investment needed to make a dream become a business.

The Rest

With hope in hand and the future in mind, Steve and Chris recruited a couple of bright young engineers. The team brought form to philosophy and the result may very well be the most efficient production vehicle in the world – the Aptera 2e.

Lots more on the $20-$40K car here.

Purple Pedals

The Purple Pedals bikes, part of the Purple Pedals Project, are not owned by any one individual. They are a series of bikes with digital cameras mounted on the handle bars. The photos are immediately sent into the site so you can basically follow the rider’s progress. Each bike adventure showcases unique events, people, and locations across the globe.

You can tune in to see who’s behind the wheel and where they’ve been.

I caught a couple of them crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with the Amgen Tour of California.

It’s unclear whether or not “anyone” can take the bikes on a trip. I’d LOVE to see them partner with GOOGLE MAPS and develop the must needed bike option missing on their “Get Directions” feature. They currently offer driving, public transit, and walking.

It looks like one of the bikes is over here in the east bay. I wonder if I can head over and borrow it for a ride

360° Paper Water Bottle

From Brand Image.

Interesting packaging concept for a very wasteful and toxic problem….plastic water bottles.

Todd Jersey Architecture ~ Marketing and Collateral Templates

We just finished up a template project for Todd Jersey Architecture, a client based here in Berkeley, CA. They are a green firm….the first in the world to design a LEED gold certified hotel!

The templates were designed to target their vast audience base. TJA’s work covers new homes, schools, commercial buildings, remodels, multi-family homes and developments, churches, retail, historical buildings, hotels, and environmental buildings. These templates, along with their other presentation materials, provide a clear communication of their capabilities.

“Used the templates officially for the first time and they are great. Makes our overall package look so professional. We now have some solid, forward-looking marketing materials.” ~ Susan Andres, Director of Marketing

We also designed MS Word templates [see below] so they can simply add photos and copy and then run these templates thru their office printer. This is an ideal solution for architects and builders who want the flexibility to personalize correspondence for their high-level client base without losing the professional consistency of their brand. In addition, we’ve found a green paper and printing source that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg!

blank printed template

template showing MS Word images and copy in place