Sunday, April 25, 2021

I have decided to create my last personal project on a logo for a future chocolate brand I wish to create. I have chosen to name the business after my Shih-tzu dog- Broly. I have created a brand logo containing my dear dog’s name- something personal and close to home.

I chose a soft red as the overall color as it tends to draw more people in, as it has previously been scientifically proven. The Broly Chocobar has a distinct taste than any other typical chocolate bar.

With a marshmallow and strawberry filling in the center, the entire bar is finished off completely by covering the entire candy with a thick coat of milk chocolate. Very distinct flavors joining together to create a new and unique taste- the “Broly Chocobar.”

I spent at least three hours playing with the colors, fonts and graphics to make something that displayed the exact image I had in my head. I wanted something specific for my future chocolate brand. I decided to use Canva this time to create this specific logo as I had previously used Adobe Illustrator for my fashion brand logo.

I have learned to navigate through more than one design application, which is great as I can dip my toe into different software programs and decide which I like best. I can then continue to practice using it as well for any future occupations I might come across.

April 10, 2021

I have created a clothing brand logo that I wish to have in the near future as I want to dive more into the fashion realm. I wanted something classy and sophisticated that represented the elegant brand I wish to create. I chose to utilize soft colors like warm brown, and a pastel mint green color that definitely pops. The name of the clothing will be the word “CAIM” as its meaning seems very ethereal to me. “An invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with the hand, to remind one of being safe and loved, even in the darkest times.” – as Scott Gaelic would like to put it. A beautiful word that I want my clothing brand to be associated with. A fashion brand with a purpose to deliver nothing but excellence. Some highlights of what I learned from this project were that I actually want to pursue a career in fashion as it is a field where creativity is very prominent and is often encouraged. I also learned how to use some of Adobe Illustrator’s special features such as, adding pretty backdrop and adding specific fonts. Definitely something I wish to pursue.

Programs Used: Adobe Illustrator

Evil Genius

On a cold, chilly night, I was scrolling through netflix with my younger sibling on our couch trying to find something appealing as our parents had left to Seattle for the weekend. I came upon the cover art of a movie with a lady whose face was covered in wrinkles and a left eye that dropped to the side a bit. I was instantly drawn to the documentary titled “Evil Genius”. Now what exactly happened to this lady or what is her story?

True crime is everywhere these days- from podcasts to documentary series, criminal cases are one of America’s favorite cultural obsessions. Netflix has a new documentary series titled Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. The film investigates one of the craziest bank robberies of all time.

In 2003 in Erie, Pennsylvania, a pizza delivery driver by the name of Brian Wells walked into a bank with a collar bomb around his neck. Carrying a gun shaped cane and a robbery note demanding a quarter of a million dollars; the teller gave him less than $9,000. He strolled “out of the bank like Charlie Chaplin swinging the bag and the cane gun”- an FBI agent says. Only a few minutes later the bomb exploded and Wells died. Then things got really weird.

Police discovered that Wells was being sent on a scavenger hunt in order to defuse the bomb. Wells seemed to be a patsy. The FBI elevated the case to a major case, as Well seemed to be a patsy. A few days later, one of Wells’s pizza shop coworkers died. And then a man named named Bill Rothstein called the police to report a third dead body in his freezer placed there by the titular “evil genius,” a mentally disturbed woman named Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong who had a string of boyfriends that died in mysterious circumstances. That’s the end of episode one.

The pizza bomber case has all the ingredients of a great true crime documentary, from compelling criminals to red herrings and law enforcement bungles. The case is truly bizarre, and the shocking details are enough to make Evil Genius worth watching.

As for the case itself, it is captivating mostly for the minor elements: the cane gun, the insanely long instructions, the collar bomb, the casual way Wells sucks on a lollipop minutes before his death. The robbery was elaborate, but it doesn’t go anywhere and the larger plot the documentary lays out feels surprisingly banal. The only real mysteries to the case are ones of degree: Which of the conspirators decided to use a live bomb in the robbery and how complicit was Brian Wells? A surprise confession in the last episode attempts to answer the later question, while the former is perhaps unknowable, although the documentary makers are confident enough to call Diehl-Armstrong the “evil genius” who masterminded the crime. At a minimum, she was a co-conspirator who openly admits to killing multiple boyfriends, one of whom was threatening to tell the police about Wells’s death.

Evil Genius explores one of the strangest American crimes in four episodes, it’s a good true crime binge watch for your weekend viewing as it was for me and my brother. The tension builds with each episode and the music is used to provoke eerie feelings within oneself. Other attributes that made this a successful documentary would be the pictures displayed as the actual items used in the heist were displayed like the cane gun and the bomb that was wrapped around the victim’s neck. Though others might critique and say the documentary was too explicit, the footage presented made it that much more terrifying as it was a horrible incident.

Some ideas I would like to incorporate in my next presentation, after watching this film would be having some real footage or pictures of the actual situation being explained therefore the person viewing or hearing it can actually visualize without it being a made up image in their head.

It all began with a quick trip to the beauty store- Sally’s. Tired of my wavy, frizzy hair- I was determined in getting my hair nice enough to be appealing to the eye. While looking at the broad selection of straightening irons, I could not help but gravitate towards the curling irons. From 1/2 inch barrel to a one inch barrel curling iron, I was struggling to find a perfect sized barrel fit for my medium length sized hair. I decided to go for the neon pink 1 1/4 inch sized curling iron by the brand Hot Tools.

As far as the store I purchased my item in, I would say that the store was a beauty store with nail polishes, weaves, and hair dyes. Filled with the necessary utensils for a cosmetologist or a person who is planning to do a complete makeover on his or herself. The store is basically trying to portray a safe, reliable image for the store by adding only beauty items and no other type of products. The packaging included a clear plastic case with black lettering emphasizing the products high temperature feature. Monotone colors of black, white and silver were used as well. The product itself was very inviting as the color is not really seen among other curling irons and it was really helpful in setting it apart from the rest. I am sure many others purchased the iron for the color solemnly.

Now when it came down to using the product- I was content with the results. The iron was able to heat up very fast and efficiently which was able to create some strong, durable curls. I was content with the result as the curls gave off a vintage aura when one decided to curl their hair in a single direction. The curls were not too loose or too tight as I was able to keep some length as well. It gave some sophisticated waves and volume to it, without making it overly bouncy and frizzy. I am content and grateful to have purchased an item that was promoted fairly and honestly. The key to understanding this experience is to be aware of past knowledge and use it wisely by applying it to future or current problems as they can help choose the better option.

A recommendation for marketing this product would be to improve the 4P’s. The product could perhaps be a bit more lightweight and colorful as it can appeal to a larger audience. The pricing varies from 60-80 dollars per iron which is not too bad but keeping it in a region between 50-60 dollars would be ideal. The place to sell such products in beauty stores is great but perhaps adding these items to Marshalls and T.J Maxx. Hot Tools can help market itself more in the popular culture by having celebrity brand ambassadors behind their brand. These are all things that can help improve profit, quality and customer loyalty.

I enjoyed various aspects of this creative brief as it summed up “Starbucks” as a company in an amazing manner. It is always a good idea to stay organized and this brief was able to do that by utilizing a consistent font, and containing headings to help readers navigate through the pages full of information. The creative brief is split up in sections those including Starbucks’ unique selling points, background and overview.

The first two pages are divided into sections with different headings- the first dedicated to its concepts, the other for the company’s purpose, and also another that includes its mission. Two pages also showcase the coffee shop’s style tone and voice. Starbucks’ advertisement plan includes sample promotional tactics, target audience information. For example, women are mainly targeted in certain campaigns of theirs as they happen to be one of the largest consumers of coffee for the corporation.

An inclusion of Starbucks’ daily completion schedule, as well as the location of promotion for the campaign are included. A couple pages display a mood board of inspirations for the upcoming campaign so others can get inspiration/ideas as to where they’re headed with this specifically . Lastly, a work cited is provided at the end of the creative brief to identify the references used. A work cited is necessary as it is able to dictate where certain information is coming from as well as to be able to confirm its reliability.

The most powerful aspect of this campaign would have to be its purpose and mission statement as they were very straight to the point and easy to understand. As far as what I would change, I would definitely condense the mood board ideas into a single page as I believe too much space was given for that section when many would be able to derive the theme off of a few pictures of the mood board- therefore two or three pages dedicated to the mood board seemed a bit excessive to me. Overall the creative brief was very well organized and very neat- enjoyable to read.

Good research questions prompt people to tell stories, and not just answer questions. I changed the close-ended questions below into open-ended questions so that respondents will be able to tell stories in a research interview setting. Check it out!

• Have you ever sent a text message while driving?
  1. What do you think about texting while driving?
  2. What might lead someone to text and drive?
• Would you say you travel abroad frequently?
  1. What places have you traveled abroad to recently?
  2. How often do you travel abroad?
• Do you post a lot of pictures on Instagram?
  1. How active are you on your instagram?
  2. What is your most popular form of content on instagram and how often do you update your pictures?
• Do you prefer to shop at big boxes or locally owned stores?
  1. What qualities do you look for in shops that differ from the rest?
  2. what attributes about locally owned shops do you prefer?
• Do you have an iPhone or an Android phone?
  1. How did you decide which phone to get?
  2. Why did you decide to choose a phone that was either an android or iphone?
• How often do you eat sweets?
  1. What has led to the increase of your sweet tooth?
  2. Why and what type of sweets do you eat and also is it a lot?
• Do you tend to buy things that are on sale?
  • What factors your decision buy?
  • Why do items on sale tend to appeal to you?

Closing Question: Why is it important to ask the right questions? Asking the right questions, can lead to a greater amount of information that can be received. The more open ended the questions are, there is a greater opportunity to converse and share thoughts back and forth.

There is confusion at times when it comes to identifying the key difference between the meanings of the words “facts” and “insights”. Now what is exactly a fact?

Merriam Webster defines a fact as “something that has actual existence; a true piece of information”. On the other hand, an insight is defined as “the ability to understand people and situations in a very clear way; an understanding of the true nature of something.”

To put it in an example, a fact is what have you read about the company and these facts are usually remembered when a case is read, while insights are what you read between the lines about a case. This can be inside knowledge or it can be picked up through the case.

Now to put it in simpler words a fact is basically, a thing that is indisputably the case. A fact is the statement. An insight is basically a deep understanding of a person or thing. An insight is everything else- The reasoning behind the fact/statement. 

The video embedded below is a thorough step by step demonstration on the differences between a fact and an insight. It is a more detailed tutorial and is usually used as a guide. Feel free to take a look and confirm what you already learned from this blog, see you next week, take care!

References:

https://dhenrilawblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/oomh-fact-vs-insights-the-difference-is-clear/#:~:text=Fact%3A%20A%20thing%20that%20is%20indisputably%20the%20case.&text=Insight%3A%20A%20deep%20understanding%20of,reasoning%20behind%20the%20fact%2Fstatement.

https://dhenrilawblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/oomh-fact-vs-insights-the-difference-is-clear/#:~:text=Fact%3A%20A%20thing%20that%20is%20indisputably%20the%20case.&text=Insight%3A%20A%20deep%20understanding%20of,reasoning%20behind%20the%20fact%2Fstatement.

The insight behind the communication of this commercial is that Toaster Strudels are not only yummy but they are “fun to eat.” The ad resonates with me because it is something I remember doing as a kid as well when viewing this commercial. I relate to the fact that I would relish in joy when I could eat a good breakfast before school and adding the icing was always one of my favorite things to do in the process. The planning/research team might have learned about their main target audience and what exactly is appealing to their product- with this toaster strudel commercial it is clearly indicating that kids are their main audience therefore the commercial should appeal to children. This commercial may not be made with the intention to get the elderly engaged as these sweet treats can be detrimental and unappealing to elders due to some complications they might have.