MINIATURE CITIES & TILT-SHIFT PHOTOGRAPHY

Tilt-shift photography is a pretty cool way to modify the depth of focus in photos and videos, making big cities seem like tiny models and giving people the appearance of miniature action figures. Photographers and videographers can either use Photoshop to achieve the effect, or they can go old school with it and use the required lenses and shooting techniques. Either way, it's leading to some really cool media that gives us a whole new perspective on urban environments. 

Take a look below at a few great examples of tilt-shift photography by Melbourne-based photographer Ben Thomas (click here for more). ​

​Tilt-shift looks great in still photography, but check out this mind-blowing video by Nathan Kaso, also from Melbourne. It's amazing what selective focus can do.

VIDEO: TRAIN RIDE TO CONEY ISLAND IN 1987

I love coming across stuff like this. ​We live in an era of technological wonder, so we've grown accustomed to documenting our everyday lives through Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and all the countless other forms of social media and video sharing that I'm overlooking. Even though I live in Philadelphia, I can get a clear idea of exactly what it's like to ride the subway in Hong Kong, land at San Francisco International Airport, or take a trip on the TransMilenio rapid transit bus system in Bogota, Colombia. Sure, social media can be invasive in some regards, but incredibly educational in others.

This video chronicles the journey of a few characters impeccably adorned in 80s fashion taking a 14-mile trek on the N train from 14th St./Union Square in Manhattan down to Coney Island/Stillwell Ave. in Brooklyn. 

The graffiti will jump right out at you, which was a major problem with the New York City subway system in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite it not looking like the safest or most attractive setting, I love the diversity of the riders in this video -- both those who are the main focus and the people in the background who are just trying to mind their own business. Even a simple ride on a city's mass transit system can be a reminder that you aren't the main focus; that you're part of something bigger.

​Go ahead and enjoy a grainy, carefree ride from 1987: 

MIKE ROWE TACKLES SKILLED TRADES vs. HIGHER EDUCATION

Sure, I'm five slices of pizza and three fingers of whiskey into my Wednesday evening, but the memory of a YouTube video that my Rowan classmate Zack Kinslow (@zkinslow) recently posted has been ringing into my head all night.

Mike Rowe, that guy we know from Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs and the voice of Ford Trucks, recently stood before the US Senate to discuss the importance of skilled trades versus a college education. To sum it up, our nation's infrastructure is falling apart, and we as a society have placed so much emphasis on a college education that we simply don't have enough workers to keep our industries running smoothly.

This is something I've wondered about for years, especially now that our economy is still amidst a bit of an employment crisis. When I was in high school, there were just a few vo-tech kids who spent the second half of their school days learning how to weld or work on cars. These days, vocational schools seem to be largely ignored. Students are pushed towards "higher education."

"Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant position. And there are 450,000 openings today in trades transportation, and utilities."  -- Mike Rowe to US Senate, May 11, 2011

​That's a hell of a lot of jobs that we just can't fill because we're overly stressing the importance of getting a college education, which, in today's economy, is more likely to leave the graduate swimming in debt with few career prospects.

So I leave you with this question -- regardless of where you are in life right now, if you could trade your college education for a guaranteed job working a skilled trade, would you?​

RUSSIAN SKYSCRAPER BURNS FOR HOURS

[Photo courtesy theguardian]

[Photo courtesy theguardian]

Moscow's residential Olympus Tower​ was engulfed in flames last Wednesday, requiring a massive effort from 300 firefighters to bring the blaze under control.

Debris could be seen falling from the 475-foot high building, but no serious injuried were reported largely in part to the tower's lack of occupancy. One of the tower's more notable part-time residents is actor Gerard Depardieu, who was given a five-bedroom apartment as a gift for gaining Russian citizenship by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. With the building nearly completely destroyed, it looks like he'll need to find a new second (or third, or fourth) home.

It's not often that we see highrises ablaze like this, and the striking thing here is the fact that the 150,000 square feet of the building burned the way it did, despite leaving the core structure largely unaffected. Aside from the World Trade Center, the only major structural fire involving a skyscraper that comes to mind is that of Philadelphia's former One Meridian Plaza, which was destroyed in 1991 by a fire that occupied eight full floors.

So what was the main culprit here? Well, the fire is being blamed on an electrical short circuit, but the thing that stands out is the fact that ​the building's exterior was covered in plastic trim​, which clearly proved to be highly flammable. It doesn't seem like a sound idea to cover a massive structure in what essentially acts as kindling. If anyone has some information on more buildings around the world that feature plastic trim on the exterior, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to research this a bit more.

Check out some first-hand video below:​

EMAIL > TELEPHONE

In addition to face-to-face conversation, I use Skype to communicate with my company's graphic designers and interns even though they sit about six feet away from me. My boss didn't really get it at first, but he's getting used to it. I use email to follow up with a client if I've missed their phone call. My clients didn't really get it at first, but they're getting used to it too. 

When it comes to successful project management, I've begun to steer my clients and colleagues towards digital communication. Sure, it's easy enough to get off the phone with a client and lean over to tell the designers where the logo needs to be moved. But the problem here is that concepts and revisions can get muddled when not given ample time or the proper environment for analysis, leading to unnecessary rounds of revisions that can bust the budget wide open and annihilate the traffic flow within the studio.  I'm a master list maker and note taker, so I know exactly how crucial it is to stay organized.

Effective digital communication is a two-way street. Over the past few months I've been making a big push to get every client to email me their revisions or comments for a project I've sent over. It's been a massive undertaking; like trying to teach your dog a new word for "sit." He already knows the command, so why wouldn't he just stick with what he knows? If the client has grown accustomed to relaying changes via telephone, that's probably what they'll want to stick to. But my client's time is valuable and so is mine, therefore it's worth taking a moment to sit down and work together to write out these requests. I could just scribble notes while the client lists their thoughts over the phone, but that just doesn't work as well as one might hope. 

So why is this important? What's my end goal?

Simply put, people get busy. My clients are usually out at meetings or swamped with paperwork, so the time I have with them is extremely valuable. It's my job to maximize the use of our time together. Instead of chaotic runaround conversations over the phone, I'm trying to get the client to take a moment to sit down and adnalyze the project I sent over. An effective product launch, regardless of the medium (digital, print, or otherwise), requires analysis and reflection of the original concept and core values of the project. I've seen projects that were rushed out the door and they just don't compare to those that were given ample time for creative concepting, design, revisions, and masterful collaboration between all parties. 

The ultimate goal is to deliver the best results for every demand that comes into the studio. And by implementing this new push for email in place of telephone conversations, my company has been able to produce better work in a shorter timeframe with more effective collaboration and happier clients. 

 

FULL SERVICE AGENCIES vs. IN-HOUSE DESIGNERS

Let me be honest -- I didn't have a clue how to define branding  when I first interviewed at Iperdesign. I wasn't all too familiar with the industry, having come from a writing-heavy background. Branding  was a word that I associated more with farmers marking their livestock, not visual identity. But with a little bit of time and some outstanding experiences in the field, I quickly gained a clear vision of what it means and why it's important.  

When people would ask me what Iperdesign does, I'd often have to explain what branding really means. The easiest way to spell it out is that a brand is the visual identity across which all communication is, well, communicated. When you think of Coca-Cola, you think of polar bears. You see the color red and the forever-unchanged script font across all of their products.

But why does branding matter? 

I've noticed a recent trend of small to mid-sized companies ditching agencies and replacing them with a single in-house designer, oftentimes fresh out of college with a limited portfolio and deflated sense of value. It makes financial sense for the company, sure, but the advantages of a full-service agency trump single employees in ways not understood until it's too late.

Jim Walls, Executive Creative Director at Philadelphia branding agency 160over90, explains it well below (and in only 92 characters!).

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Companies seem to share the sentiment that an in-house designer is capable of the same work and diversity that an agency procures. However, I've noticed that monthly retainers with clients are often a bargain, considering an agency can have several designers working simultaneously on a larger workload, thus completing more work at a higher quality and faster rate.

I understand why many companies are reducing cost. It's still rough out there. And not to put down individual graphic designers, but they just can't compete with the productivity and experience possessed by a well-oiled agency. These in-house designers are also likely to get burned out and overworked as their employers turn to their exclusive knowledge and expertise for every issue.

To outsiders, the importance of a consistent visual identity might seem low. I don't wear the same outfit everyday, so why should a company have to? But I'd like to see the financial numbers of companies after ditching their brand image and brand consistency. 

Hell, I think to something as simple as buying a bottle of good bourbon. I'm going to spend more for a higher quality product not only because its competition is inferior, but because I really appreciate the craftsmanship put into the design of the bottle and the extra add-ons that come with it. I'm investing in a better experience.  It gives the consumer the impression that the company really cares about their product, so in turn, I do too.

Bottom line: agencies provide a stable of skilled workers. The price is a bit more than hiring an in-house designer, but can you really put a price on identity? 

POWERPOINT SUCKS

This morning I spent two hours revising the copy and design of a PowerPoint presentation that my agency created at a client's request. I'm willing to bet that it would have taken half the time if I used Pages from Apple's iWork suite.

PowerPoint wouldn't recognize several keyboard shortcuts, it makes aligning bullet copy nearly impossible, and it crashed twice for no particular reason. Dragging images and text boxes was met with a resistance that I would have expected from a dog whose owner is trying to wrestle its ball away.

I thought the main purpose of a program was to help us do something better; to be more efficient.

I recently created a beginner's guide to WordPress for a different client at work. I opted to use Pages, which made the entire process a breeze. I can't recall a single issue I had. I could freely move images, modify text, and I never had to worry about crash reports. It's no Illustrator or InDesign, but it worked perfectly well for the demands of that particular project. 

I appreciate the fact that Apple strives to create the best user experience for their products and software (with the exception of a few recent hiccups -- Apple Maps, I'm looking at YOU). Microsoft, however, seems to keep the consumer out of the revision process, leaving bugs scattered throughout the MS Office suite.

These larger, inaccessible corporations need to realize that our landscape has changed. People want to be heard. People want to improve the products that intend to make our lives more efficient. We have suggestions that can help, and we don't even want to charge for them. We just want a product that helps us do a better job of what we're already doing.