Your favorite clothing store~

H&M is a clothing store that can typically be found in an American mall; as well as in Europe, where it first started.

Being from Southern California, I heard about H&M, but the H&M franchise was only available in Northern California. However, I recall that H&M opened stores across Southern California before I came to Davis to start my freshman year last year.

I think the arch nemesis of H&M is most likely FOREVER 21. 

 

I remember my first year in high school wearing mostly clothing from FOREVER 21 and finding out that three other girls owned the same shirt as me; that was not pretty.

The same thing can be said for H&M; you'll probably find another girl (or guy) owning or wearing the same clothing article as you are.

The difference about FOREVER 21 is that is was started by two South Koreans in Los Angeles, California, while H&M as I have mentioned before was created in Europe.
I cannot blame the average teenage girl for shopping at FOREVER 21. During my Spring Break of 2010 I actually bought myself two denim skits, denim shorts, black sandals, and a dress for a bargain of $40; or at least it was a bargain in my opinion.

The same cannot be said for H&M, whom I think is a bit pricier when compared to their FOREVER 21 counterparts.

It doesn't really matter where you shop, as long as you feel great about your clothes and don't feel ripped of by these franchises, you should be fine.

Credits: Google Images, H&M and FOREVER 21

Comparison and Contrast

Hardcover vs Paperback?

Which one do you personally prefer?

If it comes to which one if the cheapest and the most affordable, I would choose a paperback book in a heartbeat.

Luckily, all the design books required for this class are paperback...but that does not mean that they were cheaper in the end.

The great thing about paperback books is that they can be bended to their side, unlike their hardcover counterparts. If you are to study for a test or just simply read a book, its easier to highlight and “torture” (yes, torture because you are abusing the poor book) when studying. With a hardcover book, its the opposite. Hardcover books cannot be bended unlike their paperback counterparts.

Unfortunately for me I personally prefer hardcover books, but in actuality, I have more paperback books than hardcover books. However, if I truly know that I will enjoy the book that I am buying and know that I want to treasure it for decades to come, I purchase my book in hardcover. One exception to this is the Harry Potter series. All of those books are ONLY in hardcover. If I were to purchase the whole serious in paperback, I think I would die from the extreme tackiness it will result in after many uses.

The great thing with hardcover books is that the books probably outlast their paperback counterparts. Which is one of the many reasons I decided to buy my Harry Potter novels in hardcover. Also, hardcover books tend to have artistic dust jackets – something that the paperback can never have. Because of the dust jackets that hardcover contains, it makes them look more “fancy” than “tacky”.

You can't really hate on the paperback though. They're as flexible as you would imagine they would be.

In the end, it doesn't matter what type of style you choose to buy your book. All that matters is that you enjoy the book.

Credits: Google Images

Design as a Conversation - "Give me a break"

Candy wrappers?

Ask yourself some questions:

Do you ever notice the design of the wrapper from your favorite candy bar? Do you think it was the candy wrapper that attracted you to eat the candy in the first place?

One of my favorite chocolate candy is KIT KAT. 

 

The US version of this brand is only available in the regular old chocolate flavor. And of course, the wrapping of the candy comes in only one form:

The US version of the KIT KAT package is an red with the KIT KAT logo with white letter with the edges of the letters in red bold. However, when it comes to the non US versions of this brand, it does not limit itself to only one type of packaging and even flavors like the United States brand.

In Japan, the image of KIT KAT comes in a variety of ways. Instead of using the candy wrapping method of the American KIT KAT, Japan tends to box their KIT KAT (along with a wrap underneath of course). Not only that, the box are decorated based on the type of flavor the KIT KAT is. 

 

If the KIT KAT is “green tea”, the box of the KIT KAT features an image of “green tea” or a teapot that is pouring green tea in a cup. Or if the flavor was a strawberry flavor, then the image of the box will be red with an image full of strawberries. And of course, the box labels the KIT KAT in its original language, and the flavor in the Japanese language. One of the best things about the KIT KAT being in Japan is that it comes in a variety of flavors including “grilled corn”, “custard pudding”, and “pounded soybean paste”.

Founded in the 1930's as Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp in England, it became KIT KAT since 1951.Ever since then, people like me and all around the world have been eating this chocolaty goodness (or in Japan green tea goodness or whatever flavor you buy). In reality, I actually bought myself a "fun size" pack of KIT KAT. However, I am now looking into ordering some of Japan's intersting flavors from EBAY anytime soon.

Interested in looking more into Japan's flavors?  Click here and Here.


Credits: 1,2,3
 

Creativity from Without

Listen to this.
Its virtually impossible to creating something without having someone type of inspiration. As of right now I am listening to music. The tone of the music can possibly influence the way that I might write this blog. Earlier today, I was supposed to meet with a graduate student in order to help him out with his research project (basically I am his test subject). However, once he saw me, he refused to conduct the interview that was supposed to happen at that moment because he thought that my attitude will influence that way that I would response my answers. He was right. If I went through with the interview, I would've probably answered straight to the point, and I wouldn't have lingered with my answers. Yet, I couldn't help but tell him that the last time that he conducted the interview with me, I was in the same mood that he saw me in at the moment (with three hours of sleep I definitely wasn't in the mood to answer his interview questions). He told me that because I had some pupusas (a type of food that can only be found in my ethnic background and something I haven't had since coming to Davis) before that interview, it set me in a good mood.

Right now I am listening to Royksopp's The Understanding album. The music in the album is so mellow, that it has actually calmed my angry mood to well...a somewhat angry but yet mellowed out mood.
I think that an artist or designer who might be experiencing  a bad mood will probably have their creativity functions affected.

Shamelessly, I like that the tone of music has influenced the way I have written this post. Why? Because my mood needed to be calmed down. My stress level needs to be decreased. But of course, for some folks, stress is a good thing, and that's when all the creative chemicals from the body come within and put together a masterpiece.

Thank you Royksopp for being the soundtrack of my life right  now.

Credits: Google,Wikipedia and Youtube

Soccer Uniforms- Real Madrid edition

Since I am really into soccer, I decided that I should make a blog on the uniforms of one of my favorite soccer teams, Real Madrid

Real Madrid is known to have the best and well known soccer players on their team. Zinedine Zidane , David Beckham, and Fabio Cannavaro (who are now in other soccer teams or retired). Some of the current well known players are Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil.

Being a fan, I definitely want a soccer jersey of Real Madrid. But there was something that threw me off from the new jerseys- the typography.
 FRONT of Jersey

Back of Jersey

I'm not familiar with what the style of the typography was used, but I know for sure that I do not like it. The typography looks somewhat similar to the typography used for the Netherlands soccer team jersey (from the recently finished 2010 World Cup).

Other than that, I do not have the problem with the current Real Madrid jerseys. There are three different jerseys that the team uses. The HOME jersey is WHITE with blue stripes. While the AWAY Jersey is BLACK with WHITE STRIPES. There is also an AWAY AWAY jersey (which was currently used in the Champions League for an out of the country match) that is PURPLE with WHITE stripes. And of course, the jerseys vary between long sleeved and short sleeved.

Purple kits below:

Although the title of this post is about Real Madrid, I won't necessarily be talking about Real Madrid jerseys only.

Being a fan of the United States National Men's Soccer Team, I naturally liked the jerseys that the team wore.

Some of the previous jersey's from the American teams haven't been the best designs, but I must say that the current ones are amazing. The stripe on the jerseys make it a bit different from the other jerseys of other national teams. Some of the older kits of the American team included stars and the deep inclusion of every color from the flag. But the current ones has a stripe, which the American flag has and it does include every color of the flag as well, but not so much compared to the atrocious stars one from the early 1990's. The current jersey comes in two styles, the AWAY and the HOME. The HOME style is white and it has a grey stripe.

Current Jersey

Although soccer kits are probably some of the most simple designs, they make a great impact because they represent something bigger than just being another "soccer team". Real Madrid represents the city of Madrid, Spain. While the the United Stats Men's National Team's jersey has all the colors in their jersey representing all the colors of being an American.

Where I got my images from

Stone Soup

What exactly is Stone Soup??? We definitely did not make a soup in the Intro to Design class during lecture!

For Tuesday's Intro to Design class, we were all required to bring any type of item (except food) that we could use for a project called “Stone Soup”. Stone Soup is based on the book and illustration by Marcia Brown (put a link there). The basic thing about Stone Soup is that anyone can put anything on the soup or in this case, it was a project. When Professor Housefield told us about the activity the week before, I was very excited and nervous. I was excited because I had the chance to create something from scratch. The reason I was never was because my group is made up of about seven people. Sometimes its hard to get groups to decide on what to do together as a group because first you have to get the new group who is made up of new individuals to get their heads together and make them into a group.

At first, my group struggled on what should have been created with all the pieces that everyone brought to the activity.

In the end, the group decided that we should replicate the KING from the Deck of Cards. Honestly, I think at first that the group had trouble deciding on how to actually make the replication with the materials that we had. Although I wished that we used all of the materials (probably not ALL but at least a little bit of everything and in small portions), the replica of the King from of the Deck of Cards came together. 

It took us most of the class lecture to finish the activity, but we also had a chance to look at the other “stone soups” from the other groups. I was really amazed at what I saw from the other groups. The other groups in the class definitely knew what the meaning of “Stone Soup” was and used most or if not all of their materials that they brought to their groups.

Credits: Images- Carmen Zhou

Norwegian Wood Trailer (2010) Japan

Ever since seeing the first three minutes of Amelie in the first class lecture from Intro to Design, I couldn't help but analyze the trailer of Norwegian Wood. Its interesting how a person from the audience can immediately guess on what are the possible story lines and events that might happen throughout the film.
Norwegian Wood is a Japanese film that has been on my mind for the past year. Although I heard that the production of the film began in 2008, the film still hasn't been released. Originally based from a novel by Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, the novel exploded Murakami into stardom in Japan. I have not finished reading the novel, but I expect to finish it before I get to see the film. I have shamelessly only read about three pages, therefore analyzing the trailer wasn't a boring activity. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the film is translated since my Japanese is not good enough yet.

However, the trailer has so far been entertaining and dramatic to my expectations. So far by looking into the trailer, you can tell that the main character of the film, Watanabe played by popular Japanese actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama has different women who play a big role into his life. The background music, which i am unfamiliar with, sound similar to a soundtrack of a 1960's film. Thereby explaining that the the story of Watanabe takes place in his past. (As well that it takes part in the late 1960's to early 1970's by the look of the style of clothes).

In a way, the film shows that different types of people can change our lives. Whether it comes from love relationships or friendships, their inclusion make them a part of ourselves.

The Magical Impression of Nutella.

The Magical Impression of Nutella.
Similar to the numbing effect of foreign films, Nutella comes off as an un-American word. Chances are that the common person has not heard of Nutella until they witness the popularity of it within our college campus. I happened to be one of those students, ignorant to the bliss that Nutella creates. But what about Nutella really caught my eye? This little jar manages to break the monogamy that food spreads tend to have. I am so accustomed to the blue lids of the SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER jar or the red cap used in the JIF Peanut Butter container. But the designing team for Nutella was brilliant in their conceptual ideas. Everything about Nutella has never been done before in food spread marketing. First off, they chose white background for the cover of the label, which sharply contrasts from the dark brown that is Nutella. I asked myself, “Why would a company make such a sharp shift in color for their design?”. The answer was simple, white is such a pure and clean color that gives a better feeling than the murkier shade of brown that Nutella is. Another major difference in the Nutella design was the switch from an circular to an oval shaped- jar. This slight difference at first appears so subtle that it would have little effect. However, this small change gives the Nutella company a slight competitive edge because their product seems to diverge from the common themes of their competitors. As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, the word Nutella seems foreign to us, and there may be some significance in this. The variety of Nutella is actually more abundant overseas in Europe through different packaging schemes. “European” Nutella is offered in jars and as a “to go snack”. This form brings together Nutella, biscuits, and tea which, in separate compartments, provides a unique experience to the consumer. I wish that the Nutella “to go” product would wash on the shores of the U.S. because I want a sample.

Early memories.

One of the things that I clearly remember from my childhood is the only television set that our apartment had when I used to live in Los Angeles. The TV was 34 inches between 36 inches big, and a greyish color. Televisions nowadays are flat screen and black. But of course some of those kind still exist in many homes today. My parents used to always see the most popular Spanish channel on Southern California called Univsion. Univision's channel is number 34. I'm not sure if all the televisions back then showed the numbers continuous, but this TV did. However, even if the television set was changed to a different channel, the shadow of number 34 will always appear in the bottom left hand corner. The shadow of number “34” gave the television a special touch because it meant that technology is not perfect like a human. Also, like a human, channel 34 left its mark on never to be forgotten.

Another item that occupied the living room at my old apartment in Los Angeles was the sofa that was in the living room. The sofa was greyish, but also had small but also thick thread lines that contained color such as reds, greens, and blues, but the sofa was overall a greyish color. The sofa was not made of out of leather, but I think it was made out of material that is some what like yarn and cotton together. Unfortunately, I cannot remember or know the actual word of the material that the sofa contained but I remember it being soft and comfortable for anyone to sit or sleep on. The sofa came in three parts. There were two parts that were about the same in length and one small part. The small part belonged in the middle, while the two parts of the same sides were placed next to each side of the small part. All together the three parts created a half of an uneven circle that took over half of the living room space. This sofa probably is remembered because it was the first thing I saw when I would come home from school. .