Design rants.

I've become something of a snob about advertising campaigns, especially branding campaigns, ever since I started design school. So when I heard that the company I work for part-time (as an administrative assistant, not a designer) was starting a branding campaign to redesign their image for their annual meeting next year, I was interested in seeing what they've dug up. I did some research and found out that the company they've hired is from Chicago, the same company, in fact, that designed the advertising campaign to promote Chicago tourism that's going up in O'Hare and Midway. I was hoping that my company would hire somebody fresh and cutting-edge, but I find myself disappointed. I'm a type fiend; I was looking at the type on the ads and am solidly unimpressed. The type decision is not fun (one of the things the ads seem to be attempting to convey) and it's not classy (the other thing the ads are aiming at). In fact, it's one of the most bland type choices you could possibly make. That, and all the ads have a very static arrangement with a photo and then some blocks of color and text in one of the blocks. Nothing to draw your eye, or catch your attention. Perhaps I do not understand, as I am not an art director and am merely a designer. However, I think that I might show the stuff to the design department head and see what he thinks about it. Holy crap. I'm only two quarters in and already I think I know something.

It's a big storm!

I'm experiencing my first hurricane today! Though I realize this is not exciting for people in, say, Alabama or Florida, I am far up in Atlanta and am therefore rather excited about the weather. Growing up, I saw a fair number of tornadoes, but this is like a really big tornado. Really big and really wet. The street in front of my apartment building filled up with water and all the pine straw that had been laid down to put grass on top of has washed away. They've probably closed off the main entrance to the parking garage due to the small lake that forms there every time it rains. It's probably about two feet deep by now. I looked at the radar and saw that the hurricane reaches all the way out to western Arkansas, which means my parents are even seeing some of this right now. I'm hoping that it clears up by tomorrow, before I have to drive to work on the freeway. I don't like driving in the rain very much, but it's especially bad on Atlanta highways because water doesn't drain very well, and other drivers are idiots. So even though I like sitting in my apartment while it does this, I don't want to deal with it tomorrow. Eh. It probably won't last for much longer than early tomorrow morning, if that long.