Any of you Southern California residents out there that may have taken a nice roundhouse kick to the left temple may appreciate this little slab of cold steak to nurse that wound! Time Warner Cable is offering 1¢ Movies on demand from a pretty decent selection of 30 movies through their On Demand service. Being a So Cal resident myself… and being a poor artist… i salute you Time Warner. We may have had our feuds in the past, like that one time when you locked up on my and fast forwarded my DVR all the way to the end of my show while i got a nice 2x speed, soundless viewing of Top Chef (and again during 24), but this totally wipes the slate clean. Thanks!
The service seems to be only on Valentine’s Day, but what else are you doing in So Cal? I mean, you could go to Morton’s Steakhouse any old night, right? Pfshhh.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “But, Luke, why are you promoting Time Warner Cable? That doesn’t have anything to do with design!” to which i would reply “You’re right, especially judging by that landing page, yuck! but, this is pure MARKETING genius.” Here’s a company that realizes that most of it’s viewers will be out of the house, or not watching television, so they give them a great incentive to keep the viewership high in the times when they predict it being low. All my speculation of course, but that’s why I’m featuring this, my dirty little secret is that i am in love with marketing.
Click here for details from the mouth of the horse itself.
Thank you @ADramaticMommy via Twitter for the tip!
I saw this ad on Dark Roasted Blend and couldn’t resist re-showing it to the world. For anyone who’s ever sat in traffic, this ad makes perfect sense! (I’d know, I live in Orange County, CA)
Title: OC METRO BUSINESS Hot 25 2008 Logo Design
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC METRO BUSINESS
Program(s) Used: Illustrator
Time Span: 10 hours (Concept, client revisions, completion)
About: Every year OC METRO BUSINESS host it’s annual Hot 25 Event. the event honors hottest 25 people of Orange County, not a beauty contest. This includes entrepreneurs, business executives, managers, or just anyone in general making huge waves in Orange County. Every year the event is themed, and has to do with the new directions that OC METRO BUSINESS is going. This year the event, and the company, is completely rebranding itself as a web and digital entity, hence the theme “Hot Goes Digital”. The client’s idea was to show how OC METRO BUSINESS is moving into the 2.0, very web friendly.
Designer Notes: My original concept for this logo was to incorporate the feel of web 2.0. Very glossy, colorful, reflections, clean, simple and sleek all into one logo. After showing a first round of designs and color combinations the client didn’t want to stray from it’s branding and the logos went through a revision and font change. The end result is what you see above and a bit different that the original concept, but what the client wants, the client gets.
Title: 10-11-07 OC Life: Stage Layout
Client: Churm Media, in association with OCMETRO BUSINESS Magazine
Program(s) Used: Phototshop & Quark
Time Span: 1 Hour
About: Prior to the redesign of OCMETRO BUSINESS magazine, the section OC LIFE was the place to get on the pulse of what’s going on in Orange County, California. This particular layout was was written for a review of the Slidebar Rock N Roll Café.
Designer Notes: Early in my career at Churm Media, as a Graphic Designer (Now Art Director), I played things safe, by the book. I soon learned that i had a lot of insightful, fresh new ideas to lend to the editorial pages that had been assigned to me, whereas previously i was strictly designing ads. This was one of my early chances to show the company something new, something they’d shyed away from before, for whatever reason. Large images are ALWAYS eye catching, so with my newfound responsibility I set out to make a name for myself in the staff boxes and directories of Churm Media and OCMETRO BUSINESS magazine.
Title: 1-08 Feature Story Spread (ADHD)
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine & Inland Empire Family Magazine
Program(s) Used: Quark & Photoshop
Time Span: 3-6 Hours
About: A small feature story (full story on ocfamily.com) that was run in OC Family magazine.
Designer Notes: Point. Set. Match. I wanted to design something fun, but serious. I think the content speaks for itself, thanks to the editor Lynn Armitage, and the layout lent itself to the imagery making it fun to read, even though the subject matter is anything but. Children’s health issues are always a huge concern for parents and i wanted them to get a sense of connection with the story, not just pages of information, but something showing that there’s people out there who care and have dealt with this issue too.
Filed Under (Design, Nature, Photography) by Luke Hodsdon on 27-05-2008
This memorial day was relaxing, fun, and educational. Had some time to sit and tweak the inner workings of the site, spend some time with my lady friend, and relax at the beach! What more could someone ask for? God, i love Huntington Beach!
Check out the new “Lytebox” plugin i have on the photos and let me know what you think. I did some minor tweaks to it and adjusted some of the settings off of their defaults.
Title: 2-08 OC Family Cover
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine
Program(s) Used: Photoshop & Quark
Time Span: 5 Hours (Including the photo shoot)
About: Cover for the February 2008 OC Family Magazine. The feature was “What is Love?”. Students from 4 different grades were asked the question and the best/cutest/most heart-warming answered were published as the cover story.
Designer Notes: This cover and January’s cover were for a photo shoot all rolled into one day, my first. Needless to say i was a bit nervous, not 100% sure what i was doing, but had some great guidance from Sonia Chung (Art Director for OC METRO BUSINESS magazine) to help me along my way.
Hey, hey. Look at me go. Two in a row. Let’s see how long i can keep this up for.
Photo courtesy of Sheldon Branford via flickr.com.
Title: Trigelle Women’s Golf Clothing Ad (Full Page Ad)
Client: Churm Media, in association with Southland Golf Magazine
Program(s) Used: Illustrator
Time Span: 2-4 Hours
About: The client, through proxy of Churm Media, wanted a new look for their company, with not a lot of direction other than a logo (*shudder, it’s papyrus) and their product/model photography.
Designer Notes: Using some free download organic brushes in Illustrator i was able to give the client a fresh look for their company. Keeping in mind that they are strictly women’s golf clothing really helped to choose a palette and theme… women love flowers!
Title: 2-08 Feature Story (Full)
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine & Inland Empire Family Magazine
Program(s) Used: Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator
Time Span: 4-8 hours
About: Feature story layout for the OC Family’s annual travel issue (February). The full story can be read here, on ocfamily.com.
Designer Notes: The challenge with this feature story was to really break the boundaries of Churm Media’s regular layouts for OC Family & Inland Empire Family magazines. I tried to look at it from the point of view of being tired of the same old thing. Using a mix of stock photography and some great photographs taken by the writer, and then Executive Editor, Craig Reem, i was able to really step out on my own and land a great layout design. The push of deadline nipping at my heels was always a reminder as well of how it IS possible to churn out great product when deadlines are creeping up around the corner
Full story layout after the jump
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My parents recently took a trip for their 31st (i could be wrong on this, great son, i know…) anniversary through california up into Nevada. On their trip they passed through a little ghost town in the middle of nowhere, in Death Valley, and got some amazing shots of some artwork that, unknown to them and myself, had a series of sculptures to follow up the series. Artist Charles Albert Szukalski (Born April 4, 1945, Furth im Wald, Poland — Died January 25, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium) Had a sculpture of “The Last Supper” (Pictured Above). When my parents were showing me the photos i was blown away by them; one, that my folks were savvy enough to capture such great photos (i kid, i kid), and two, that something so amazing would be set up in the middle of the desert, without graffiti, intact and seemingly unguarded. When i got near a computer again i started to do a search for “Death Valley Last Supper” and discovered the other sculptures in the series.
UPDATE: After doing a little bit of research, i found out that this isn’t just ome random little ghost town in Death Valley. It’s actually called the Goldwell Open Air Museum.
Watch the video of the artist and a little of how he made these sculptures.
Video after the jump… JUMP!
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Title: 12-07 Cover Story Layout Spread
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine & Inland Empire Family Magazine
Program(s) Used: Quark, Photoshop
Time Span: 4-5 Hours to completion (entire layout (8 pages))
About: Every year Churm Media puts out it’s annual issue in OC Family & Inland Empire Family Magazines. This year was the “20 Best Totally Terrific Toys”. Yes, I know, that’s two too many adjectives, but what are you going to do? What client wants, client gets.
Designer Notes: This entire layout was quite the piece of work for photoshop clipping masks! Boy do i love still having to be lulled down by the back and forth of Quark to photoshop… when will they learn that InDesign is the bridge between that gap! But, what doesn’t kill us as designers, will make us always remember the golden rules…. never, EVER, EVER use Papyrus in your designs. You have (or should have) and entire library of fonts, GET CREATIVE! And also, learn from our clients blunders. By the time i finished this layout i knew the intimate ins and outs of the photoshop pen tool. I even “took it out for a romantic seafood dinner… and never called it again!”
Champ Kind: I will take Dorothy Manstooth out to a nice seafood dinner and NEVER call her again!
Wes Mantooth: Dorothy Mantooth is a Saint!
Ron Burgundy: Hey, let’s leave the mothers out of this.
Title: 12-07 Feature Story Spread
Client: Churm Media, in association with OC Family Magazine & Inland Empire Family Magazine
Program(s) Used: Quark, Photoshop
Time Span: 2-4 Hours
About: OC Family & Inland Empire Family Magazine’s ran a special “Fire Feature Story” after the huge fires in Southern California this past year (2007). One of Churm Media’s writers (Pictures in the spread) was directly affected by the fire and was one of the families that had to evacuate their home. Luckily everyone was safe and she still writes for the magazine today.
Designer Notes: The text overlaid over a full truck spread was something new for OC Family Magazine, at least in my time at Churm Media. I wanted to really capture a readers eye as they were thumbing through the pages of the magazine. Great photography and subject matter really helped to pull this whole spread together.
