Deforest to Reforest

Philips is back with an update to its much-lauded "Shave Everywhere" work for its Bodygroom razor. TribalDDB got a lot of kudos for its 2006 introduction of the product, a very fun site that introduced the concept of shaving "down there" into the mainstream. Tribal followed up with a crop of "manalogues" in 2008. Philips is back with a new take, although it's not from Tribal. Promo shop Alcone Marketing Group is behind the "Deforest yourself. Reforest the world" campaign, which tries to enliven the idea by linking personal hedge-trimming with adding greenery back to the planet. Philips will plant one tree for each Bodygroom sold through the end of June, up to 75,000. The centerpiece is a Web app that lets you customize a furry avatar for use as a Twitter or Facebook profile picture or desktop wallpaper. It's somewhat like what Deep Focus did on "Mad Men Yourself." The question is when this genre, which hearkens back to "Elf Yourself" and "Simpsonize Me," begins to get tired.

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Bike Sharing Rolls Out

Denver's bike sharing initiative, B-Cycle, was rolled out on Earth Day. The bike-sharing program, developed by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Trek Bicycles and Humana, includes 500 B-Cycles at 50 B-stations available throughout the city as an alternative to cars for short trips. Each bike is outfitted with computers that track mileage, calories burned and amount of carbon offset. Users register at the B-Cycle website to check out bikes. There, they can montior their own fitness and see their contributions to the city's greening efforts. The newly formed nonprofit Denver Bike Sharing will manage the program.

SOURCE: www.bcycle.com

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Logos For Lunch

Now you can have your logo and eat it, too–literally. Sports merchandisers have found ways to put an edible logo right on a pizza and how to sear it into toast. Panini sandwich presses are next, sources say.
SOURCE: USA TODAY

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BP's Logo ReDesign Contest

There are three categories: professional designers and design students; the general public; and those under 18. Enter before 5:30 GMT on June 28, 2010. greenpeace.org

BP = Basically Pathetic

As oil continues to vent in the Gulf, designers are starting to vent as well. Greenpeace UK has launched a competition to redesign BP's logo, which might be just the sort of outlet some of may be needing at this point.

The brief is to show that BP is certainly not “beyond petroleum.” The winning entry will be used in Greenpeace efforts against the company. Entries will be judged on concept and idea; the final logo will be brushed up by a “top graphic designer,” according to the web site

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Two very familiar identities in airline travel were smooshed together this week. The new "bidentity" (or is it "flydentity"?) will keep the Continental name and the logo and colors of the United brand.

It was an amalgamation likely concocted in the interest of time, and it seems impossible that we wouldn't see a totally new logo within the year. But it's a shame that what is now the largest carrier couldn't have done something more inspiring than cherry–picking components and Scotch–taping them together.

SOURCE: http://www.logolounge.com/todaysnews/default.asp?Archive=True&ArticleID=793

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The merger of United Airlines with Continental has many ramifications. One of them is that the company will kill the "U’ logo designed by the legendary Saul Bass. It is expected that, though the name will be United, the graphics will be based on Continental’s typography and symbol.

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Aligning The Pyramids

The popularity of specialty tea is on the rise, expected to reach $15 billion in sales by 2012, due to its purported health benefits of tea drinking. To align Lipton with upscale, gourmet tea products, Moxie™, re-energized the packaging for the line of premium pyramid tea bags. Vibrant colors, photography rather than illustrations, and flavor imagery help fulfill the tea’s promise, says Moxie™ head Tammy Vaserstein. The design team retained Lipton’s familiar red brandmark and signature color of premium yellow, which was lightened to a champagne-like hue, alluding to a heightened sense of elegance and quality. Lucia Varela is brand manager at Lipton.

SOURCE: GD USA

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Easy Being Green

Staples, identified with the Easy Button, is in the midst of a global design contest to discover eco-friendly office products. The inaugural Staples Global EcoEasy Challenge, a partnership with the RIT, is down to seven finalists representing student teams from five universities. Three of the finalist teams are from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (power-conserving desk chairs and shredders), from Brazil's Engineering of Piracicaba (desk and drawer organization tools made out of a local, sustainable material) while teams from Europe (better binders and pens) and Cal Berkeley (what else but a redesigned stapler.) We'll have the winner in the next GDUSA Green Enews. Staples Global EcoEasy Challenge

SOURCE: GD USA

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Politicians have occasionally attempted to campaign against baggy pants. Even President Obama, when a candidate, urged young black men to pull up their pants. Now New York state senator Eric Adams is putting up billboards in Brooklyn NY in an attempt to “Stop the sag” as well as a video in which he slots baggy pants into a chronology of negative racial stereotyping. Adams, a black retired police captain first elected in 2006, tapped his campaign coffers for $2,000 to put up the billboards and to make a YouTube video.

SOURCE: GD USA

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Stop The Sag

Politicians have occasionally attempted to campaign against baggy pants. Even President Obama, when a candidate, urged young black men to pull up their pants. Now New York state senator Eric Adams is putting up billboards in Brooklyn NY in an attempt to “Stop the sag” as well as a video in which he slots baggy pants into a chronology of negative racial stereotyping. Adams, a black retired police captain first elected in 2006, tapped his campaign coffers for $2,000 to put up the billboards and to make a YouTube video.

SOURCE: GD USA

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