I don't drive now, but if I did...

I know, I know. Another posting indirectly about cars but I thought this was too graphic-design-cool to not talk about. Imagine you just bought a new car and instead of having the typical metallic logo at the front of your car (whether you are fancy shmancy and have an animal like a Jaguar leaping off your hood or maybe you sport the monogram of VW) Toyota Scion owners are going to be able to pick from one of a hundred logos that a professional graffiti artist has custom-designed for the Scion OR they can design their own with elements that the artist has done! Scionspeak.com is the website to go to to check it out, and the idea was brought to Scion by their marketing and advertising agency StrawberryFrog. How much fun would THIS account be to work on?! The possibilities are endless when you are designing your own crest and I know would take me longer than the five minutes I just spent making this one that you see above. I mean it's your CAR! How could you EVER decide?! What would define you? Either way, I think it's strange they would let you use a cocktail glass for a car emblem....

Music to park your car by...

I don't drive anymore (except for the few times a year I am home and borrow my parents car) but I have many memories of pulling into the gas station only to realize I have pulled in on the wrong side, looking like an idiot in front of the cute guy in the car next to mine, and having to put the car in reverse and try it yet again. This new commercial for Kia really brings that feeling back and I am slightly obsessed with the song, "Can't Get it Right Today" by Joe Purdy, which I of course had to purchase on iTunes. If you haven't seen/heard it, check it out here.

The Cheese Monkeys.

Have you ever picked up a book in Barnes & Noble and read the prologue only to find yourself laughing literally out loud and forgetting that you are in a crowded public bookstore in Union Square? Well folks, that happened to me when I picked up Chip Kidd's book The Cheese Monkeys. Not only was I laughing, but upon further inspection of just the first few pages that are normally laden with copy straight from the publisher very officially and of course traditional, one can tell that Mr. Kidd had a hand in the design of this one as he has somehow convinced Penguin Publishers to let him put the copyright information over two pages; but cut vertically in half! Love. It. There are more fun yet subtle design pieces in this book which make it better than your average layout but the real reason you should read it is for the art school humor (and to find out the real reason behind the zany title). Anyone who has had a crazy professor and/or a graphic design class should read this. And laugh heartily out loud from the time you pick it up in Barnes & Noble to the time you finish in the comfort of your living room.

I am coming back!

To the twelve people that read my blog daily (including a thanks to my Mom and brother!) I want to let you know that my Blog Slacking* will be ending this weekend and I will begin capturing again! I swear. New posts with interesting things and witty and well-written commentary will be coming your way via Capturing the Seven! In the meantime, please know I am reading all MY favorite blogs still (and you know who you are) and thank you for continuing to inspire and entertain. Til next week...

*Blog Slacking is derived from working at a freelance design assignment that does not allow sign-in to mail sites such as Gmail; which in effect you need to do to sign into Blogger. It is probably better this way that I am actually DOING design at work rather than my previous assignment which consisted mostly of writing and blogging at work with a side of design.