Ju Shi – Starting A Web/Branding Design Company

So my friend and I are talking about starting a web design and development/branding and identity design solutions company. I would be doing most of the designing, and he would be doing the development and programming. I think it would be an interesting, and possibly lucrative endeavour. It would be a nice supplement to my income right now, and it would give me good solid experience in dealing with customers and different design problems. The only issue we are running into is figuring out how to get our name out there without using gobs of money on advertising. Would we just hand out our business cards to everyone we see and hope they all own a small business and need web or branding solutions? I don’t know. That seems like a silly way to do things, but it would be free. lol We could attend new small business owner meetings, but would these new small business owners have the money for our services? Perhaps. In any case the name we have decided on thus far for our business is EWBO “Creative Solutions Duo”. EWBO stands for Everything Will Be Ok. I thought this would be a kool kind of trademark for us. If your small business needs web or branding design solutions, we can give you those solutions and Everything Will Be Ok. I thought it would be kind of a comfort to people we are working with. The logo is pretty much done and we have a site concept as well. I will post the site concept (which has the logo) under all of this. If any of you people out there can think of a good cheap or free way of getting our name out to small businesses please let me know. It would be endlessly appreciated.

Ju San – Blogs That Pertain To My Interests

1. A Blog About Logos and Logo Design

2. Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster Blog

3. A Blog About Branding and Marketing

4. Pentagram’s Blog

5. Graphic Design Blog

Ju Ni – OMG Packaging Designs!

A list of some of my favorite packaging designs.

1. Yogi Tea

These boxes caught my eye the moment I walked into the organics section. Sporting complimentary water color gradients and intricate half border detailing, this packaging is brilliant. It really screams contemporary Asian tea. Needless to say, I bought some.

2. Bloomingdales Brown Bags

These bags are simple, and that’s what makes them beautiful. Also, the size verbage on the top line creates a feeling like if you bought enough stuff to fit in the large brown bag, you would look wealthy to everyone else. This, therefore, makes everyone subconsciously want to spend more, or buy enough to merit a large brown bag, which is freaking brilliant.

3. Method Products

First of all, the shape of this bottle and the simple typography makes this soap bottle packaging beautiful. Also, the fact that it is completely transparent creates a clean feeling, which is good when you are a hand soap product. The handwash refill packaging is also beautiful, using the bottles a droplets of clean looking liquid and simple effective typography.

4. American Apparel Bags

How good is American Apparel packaging? Good enough for this picture to be from an exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It’s simple, clean, and contemporary, which is perfect for a company that convinces people (including myself) to buy single plain T shirts for 20 dollars.

5. Microsoft Office for Mac

The reason I like this packaging is because of the graphics and the shape of the box itself. The design of both are so very Apple-y, and what I mean by that is that it is clean and fun and contemporary. This is a fairly different look than Microsoft with it’s usual graphics. Wouldn’t you think they could employ this kind of design in their own products? It seems like lately they are trying, but vista still looks forced.

Ju Ichi – The New RR Website

So recently our web designer where I work (Recycle Revolution) went M.I.A., and I’m not talking about the catchy but america hating Sri Lankan. He just decided to stop coming in. Anyway, since this event we have had a website that is’nt updated, and is terribly not coded to web standards. So, a programming friend and I are redesigning it completely with some sweet new design aspects and better usability. Here is a picture of the concept I designed that we are building off of:

Since this one we have expanded the viewing area to 1280 this is currently 1024

So let me know what you guys out there in computer land think of this compared to the current one at

www.recyclerevolutiondallas.com

Ju – My Social Networks

1. Myspace.com/rollerninja

2. Facebook.com

3. linkedin.com/in/wesphelan

4. Behance.net/wesphelandesign

Kyu – 10 of my favorite brands

1. Glaceau

2. The Bahamas

3. Apple (of course)

4. Heat Wheels

5. American Apparel

6. Urban Outfitters

7. Toms

8. Yogi Tea

9. Method

10. Franco Shade

Hachi – Aspiration

This is going to be short and sweet.

Do you have something you love to do? Do you wish you could do it forever? (by this I don’t mean drink or do drugs or any of that. Those habits can only stand in the way of one’s aspirations)

Well if you said yes, I have a message for you. Go for it. Do it. You may say, “I can’t. I don’t have money.” or “I’ve already missed too many years of school.” These answers are nothing but excuses. Get a job, get some loans, and go to school for what you want to do, then get out there and do it. It’s that easy and that hard. If you really want something, get it. If you aspire to be anything, a forensic scientist, a pro-football player, a stock broker, or anything, go to school and do it. There is nothing, but yourself to stop you. If your lazy, nothing will happen. If you believe in yourself and work hard, something will most likely happen for you. I know this is cheezy and uncool and silly, but excuse my French and Fuck all of that. If you aspire to do something, then DO IT. It’s that easy and that hard.

A message for life from someone who is working to make real his aspirations.

Shichi – Improving My Craft (a rant)

I’m at a point right now where every time I sit down to create, and really put time and effort into it, my design and composition skills seem to improve. This is encouraging, but then I look at where I could be, and in my mind should be, and I get frustrated. I feel like I should be improving faster, and I don’t sit back and appreciate where I’ve gotten. I want so badly to be at a point right this minute where I could send my portfolio to a firm like Pentagram, and they would at least consider me. And maybe they would, but I sincerely doubt it. I just need to appreciate my accomplishments, however small, and realize that each little improvement helps me become the designer I want to be in the future. I need to use these improvements to push myself farther on my next project. I need to challenge myself every time to do something different, so that by the time I get out of school, I will have a well rounded portfolio, and be prepared for as many design solutions as possible. I also need to solicit more projects. I’m getting valuable experience working with one company and expanding it’s brand, but I really should be taking on other projects as well. So that’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to push myself harder to improve my work and get more projects. If your reading this and need a designer, check out my portfolio in my who am i section. I’m hungry for design challenges, and want to prove myself as a competent designer.