Show & Tell: Collection - Lead Figurines

Since we did not have a Show & Tell assignment for this week, I decided to post about another one of my many collections. I'm currently collecting lead figurines imported from England, designed by a company called Eaglemoss. The two series I'm picking up are: The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection and The DC Super Hero Collection.

Each collection features characters from their respective universe in iconic poses and come with a 20-page, full-color magazine about each character. Each figurine stands between 3 and 3 1/2 inches, except for the Specials and Mega Specials (which are bigger and represent larger sized characters) and are hand-painted.

I currently have 123 Marvel figurines and 42 DC figurines (the DC collection started after the success of the Marvel line). Below are some of my favorites from each collection.

Kraven, the Hunter (Marvel)

Juggernaut (Marvel)

Colossus (Marvel)

Green Lantern, Hal Jordan (DC)

Hawkman (DC)

Gorilla Grodd (DC)

A Designer's Eye: Logo Obsession, Pt. 4 - Bad Logos

Okay, here is the last part to my Logo Obsession postings. Here are the final five logos that I thought were less than successful from Savannah Magazine.

This logo looks like something you'd see on realtor's business card from the '70s, not for a company selling linens. I'm so distracted by the absurdly large smile of Carol (?) that I don't even care what she's selling.

The main thing that bothers me about this logo is that the seashell is so intricate, I feel like it would not work at different sizes. At larger sized, the negative space becomes too large and at smaller sizes, the detail of the shell is lost. Were I the designer behind this logo, I would have used something a little less detailed, something more representational of the shell rather than a outline.


This logo not only screams of laziness, but also insults their audience at the same time. Assuming that no one would figure out that "ABC" stands for Allen Bonner & Co., the designer felt it necessary to underline the letters "A", "B" and "C" in the name Allen Bonner & Co. In addition, the drop shadow serves no purpose in the piece.

This logo looks like it could have had potential, but the designer stopped short on the development. This is supposed to be a leash and collar (to go with the name Black Dog, I'm guessing), but the proportions are all off. The text inside the leash seem jammed in there, as if there was no other solution. If I were designing this logo, I probably would have used illustration of a black dog and had the name of the studio on the tags hanging from the collar...

For this logo, I actually felt the version on the right was very successful, but the version on the left just didn't work for me. The one on the left is for a carryout version of the Japanese restaurant. I found the "Express" logo to be too distracting and the arc of the words almost gives me motion sickness. I think a modification on the logo to the right would have been more successful and appropriate.

Well, that's it for my crazy logo obsession (for now?!). Let me know what you all think.

A Designer's Eye: Logo Obsession, Pt. 3 - Bad Logos

Last week, I presented a series of 10 logos that I found in an issue of Savannah Magazine. Each one of those caught my attention for one reason or another, but all of them were, in my opinion, successful. This week, I thought I'd show some of the examples of the logos that I felt were less than successful.


The logo for Ward's Auto Painting just didn't connect with me in any way. The use of primary colors just leaves me with a generic feeling and does not inspire me to get my car painted at Ward's. I almost get the impression that all they can do is simple color work; nothing like you would see at a custom paint shop. Plus, I'm not a fan of the harsh drop shadow.


This logo bothered me an a couple of different levels. First, I though I had hierarchy issues! I can't tell whether is to supposed to read SPCS, SCPS or SPSC. Also, they have no description of what the acronym is supposed to mean. Unless you are very familiar with the logo or organization, you have no idea what the logo is for. Incidentally, it is the logo for the Savannah Christian Preparatory School. Of course!


This logo provides the audience a little bit more information than the last logo: they've been in business since 1946. But doing what? Punching Judy? The word "and" in the logo is almost unreadable at the size it was originally published and is completely lost between the stylized "P" and "J", which also brings to mind Peanut butter and Jelly...


This logo just screams of laziness. By simple placing the name of the company in a black box with white letters, I feel as though they do not believe their audience is capable of seeing beyond B&W.


This could have been a successful, if not great, logo except for the random "S" that has no business being there. It is out of place to point of being distracting and draws the eye clearly off the logo onto the background.

Show & Tell: My Favorite Words

I really had to put a lot of though into this week's Show & Tell. I've been asked many times what my favorite types of things were (i.e. food, books, movies, etc.), but I've never given much though to have a list of words that I favor over all others. My list is a little short, but I have a feeling that it will continue to grow as I do in this program. So, without further ado, here is my list of favorite words to date:

Hooligan
Incredible
Belligerent
Repartee
Vernacular
Monkey
D'oh
Silhouette
Adventure
Eloquent
Fire
Integrity
Pride
Unity
Perseverance
Valhalla

A Designer's Eye: Logo Obsession, Pt. 2

Okay, here is Part 2 of my logo entries. Below are another 5 logos that I feel are successful and engaging. So, let's get started.


This logo, with it's simple, elegant use of a stylized font, really helps portray this boutique in an artistic light.


This logo stuck out for me not because of what it contained, but what it was missing, so-to-speak. The excellent use of negative space to create the image of a cup and saucer really emphasized the idea of "less is more."


This logo uses simple lines to create an image that most would recognize as a conductor, but most certainly is not.

This logo also makes great use of negative space. I think that the pig iconic enough that one can recognize it, but not so much as to shy away from eating there because of the it.
The retro look of this logo caught my attention immediately. The font choice works well with the illustration and the color choice helps emphasize the dark color of the chocolate.

Next week, I'll post some of the less-than-successful logos for everyone.

A Designer's Eye: Logo Obsession, Pt. 1

I found myself board at work the other day, so I picked up a magazine to help kill the time. It was a magazine I didn't really expect to see in this area, as it was Savannah Magazine, but as I started to look though I was captivated by the different logos that were throughout the issue. I am obsessed with logos. I feel they are one of the most captivating, yet difficult design elements to create and utilize correctly.

This issue was busting with examples of logos. In my opinion, some of them were bad while some of them seemed to work fairly well, but some of them were great. Below are a few examples of the ones that really stood out to me and why (there are quite a few, so I'm splitting this into 2 entries).


I think the logo for Comfort Keepers really works to express the nature of the organization. The cool color of the house is offset by the warm color of the people, hand and heart, expressing that their organization brings warmth and care to the home of who they care for.

I am a huge fan of these types of logos, as I've mentioned in previous posts. The use of the fashion model in place of the "I" is eye-catching and really brings a sense of elegance to the design. The only thing I would have done differently is give the top line of text some extra room to breath.

This simple logo plays of off the name "Chroma" to create a visual element that relates to what the word represents.

This logo features a great play-on-words tag line that really drew me into it. The simple lines and easy to read text, along with the visual of the fork, really draw the piece together.
This logo really caught my attention for it's simplistic nature and use of only text in a stylized font. The "J" separating "Parker" works for me, as does the "Limited" crossing over the letter.

Show & Tell: A Call to Action

This flyer was emailed to me about two months ago by a friend of mine in the comic industry. It's a rallying cry of sorts to independent creators to come together and create comics for the week between Christmas and New Years. This year, Diamond Comic Distributors (the main distributor of English-language comics in much of the world) decided not to ship new comic books to shops the Wednesday between the two holidays. This has opened an opportunity for indy creators to get there book in front of potential buyers.

The concept is simply, but concise: something is better than nothing. The call to action is direct: "Start writing, start drawing, start something new!"

A Designer's Eye: Verizon Poster

I was in the Verizon store in Columbia yesterday and happen to look up while checking out and saw this poster behind the cashiers:

There was something about it that wasn't right, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. After starring at it for a few more minutes, I finally figured out what was bothering me about it. It was originally one image that was cut to make three separate images, as if the scene was being view through three windows. The thing about it though is it is done so in a distracting way. Faces and bodies are split between the frames, the building looks out of proportion and the split text is a little distracting.

Below is an example of how this effect should be done, where portions of the image are replaced, not just split and separated. It comes from the latest issue of Gotham City Sirens from DC Comics.

In this image, you can see the silhouette of Poison Ivy cut away through the scenes of exposition in the story.

A Designer's Eye: Beer Art

I had dinner this past Saturday with some friend who were in town for the Baltimore Comic-Con and saw these two table tops at the restaurant where we were eating (the Pratt Street Ale House, formerly the Wharf Rat). Both were very cool designs; the first utilizing beer caps, bottle openers, beer labels and coasters, while the second incorporated decorative tap pulls and an in ashtray.

Show & Tell: Collection - Autographed Hockey Pucks

One of the many things that I am collecting these days are autographed hockey pucks for the Philadelphia Flyers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack (formerly Philadelphia) Phantoms. Each puck in my collection is unique and has some significance or commemorates an event (i.e. the Phantoms' 2005 Calder Cup Championship Team or the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarter Finals series between the Flyers and the Caps) and each is signed by someone who contributed to the event.

I got my first signed puck back in high school, but really didn't start collecting them in earnest until 2005. I've got 11 pucks in my collection so far, but 3 of them are awaiting autographs. Below is an image of a game-used puck, similar to one I have in my collection.

A Designer's Eye: Bloomingdale's Indy Film Posters

I found these images in an advertisement brochure for Bloomingdale's department store in Vanity Fair magazine. Each is a movie poster for short independent films that were produced by Bloomingdale's and a production house called Young Indies.

I was very impressed with the design of each stylistacally different poster for the films that were competing for a chance to go to the Independent Spirit Awards. All five films were directed by emerging filmmakers and were all pretty different in premise, if not in genre.

Of all five posters, I probably like the third in the series the best. The fantastic use of type-as-image really draws the eye through the entire poster. I also found the text for the fourth poster in the series a little distracting. I have never been too big of a fan of splitting words over two lines in that manner.

Project 2 Revisions

Hey Everyone,

I could really use some input on my revisions for project 2. I spoke with Amy after class on Saturday and she said that I would probably benefit from a fresh start, but I wanted to give it one more go with this layout before I scraped it. I think I addressed almost all of her concerns (i.e. the stopping of motion, the font issue, etc.), but would just like a little feedback from my fellow classmates. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Click for a full-sized version.

Show & Tell: Concept

For my show and tell for this week, I am only able to write about it online because every times I tried to scan it, a moiré pattern developed and it looked ridiculous. But fear not fellow classmates, for I will bring it to class tomorrow to show.

Anyway, I found an ad for Dole Diced Pears in my Fitness magazine and the concept really appealed to me. It depicts an upside down pear with a parking meter built into it that reads "Expired" along with the tag line below that reads "The goodness of fresh fruit, without the time limit."

I just thought this was very clever and, although simplistic, well thought out. The similarity in shape between the pear and a parking meter is exploited, but done so in a seamless way that really works for it.

I kinda want a pear now...but I digress.