Puka Plate Lunch PRIDE

One of the highlights of my recent trip home to Hawaii was visiting (and eating at) my family's new restaurant Puka Plate Lunch, which opened in Kalihi Valley last November.  Puka Plate Lunch has been open for almost two months and already feels at home in the friendly, family-oriented Kalihi Community.  During my 2-hour cashiering stint on my last day in Hawaii, a man walked in with his order memorized, "hamburger steak with one scoop rice" (usually comes with two), and when I gave him his plate lunch he said "this is the best hamburger steak I've ever had."  At that moment I thought, all the long hours and hard work my parents and family friends have put into this place is definitely worth it.

Puka's mission is to serve delicious local food and I can say first hand that they have succeeded.   Everything I had was delicious: Chicken Katsu, Mochiko Chicken, Garlic Chicken, Walnut Shrimp, Chili Cheese Fries and BBQ Kalbi.  Puka is also gaining buzz on the interwebs with some early reviews on Yelp and positive posts by local Hawaii bloggers like Eatizen Jane and SideCulture.

The restaurant is small but has that hole-in-the-wall charm you look for when craving a place for comfort foods.  Seeing the restaurant finally in person made me really proud of the branding work I did on the name and logo.  I truly appreciate everyone who stopped by Puka to support my family and please visit Puka's Facebook Page: Facebook.com/PukaKalihi

Don't forget to pick up a loyalty card

The logo looks sweet in this custom-made stamp

Special thanks to all my friends who checked out Puka Plate Lunch

View from behind the counter

I could really go for some plate lunch right now.  Boo for long distance.

Profile Manipulation, Is Facebook Becoming More Like MySpace?

Facebook did something right this time around.  The new profile format, which debuted last week, is much more photo focused (we all know we love those Facebook photos!) but better yet the new layout allows some personal creativity to seep into the once rigid, uniform Facebook page.  Check out some really inspiring profile updates that I found on BuzzFeed:

Being able to creatively manipulate your profile page reminds me of the days of MySpace when you could tweak the HTML code to change your profile's background photo, layout, border colors, music, etc.  I highly doubt Facebook will EVER let anybody, not even Mark Zuckerberg, skin their own profile but I will settle for the 5-box photo line below my name as a tipping point to some potentially amazing creative and viral marketing ideas.  If you are interested in tweaking your profile, first you will need to hide photos tagged of you in your privacy settings and then in backwards order upload your five photos (exact size 97 x 68 pixels) to your profile picture.  I decided to rep the "From A to Zeny" blog on my page since the website info or personal blurb no longer exists on the left.  The possibilities are endless so go CRAZY!

My One Chance At An iPad, Gone

One day a year, my office closes and spends the day helping the community--we call it 'Community Service Day'!  CSD is one of my favorite days out of the year (rivals the Halloween Party and possibly Marathon Monday), and this year, Digitas held an internal t-shirt design contest which the winning design would win an iiiiPAADDD (iPad).  From my long history of late technology adoption, specifically products that start with an 'i' (I have yet to own an iPod and my phone looks like a toy), this was my ONE chance at owning an iPad and proving to society that I too can be cool.

Lucky for my office, I have experience designing t-shirts (from 6 years ago in high school when I designed Carnival and Skip Day shirts).  Some lessons I learned: 1) The more colors you use the more expensive your t-shirt will be 2) Intricate T-shirt designs don't always look the way they do in your photo.  Conscious of these requirements and avoiding a design that looks generic non-profity, I decided to make shirts inspired by MAD MEN!

Yes, I am obsessed with Don Draper, but how funny (I mean 'cool') would it be to see 700+ people in skinny black ties and pearls getting all sweaty and dirty from gardening and painting murals.  I agree the one lame factor of the design is that they are a bit hipster/emo-like, but that is not what I am going for.  I am going for playful, outrageous... 60s.  Girls could have colored in the pearls with markers.

The winner was announced last Friday, and I didn't win (big surprise).  I heard the Mad Men shirt came close to being a finalist, which makes me really happy that someone else shares my sense of humor or is also crazy.  

Here are the Mad Men shirt designs:

This was my alternative sane design, which I provided different color options:

I might have been more successful if I didn't restrict myself to cutting costs by using fewer colors and creating images that were solid shapes.  Maybe next year, and hopefully by then the iEverything will be out.

My First Freelance Writing Gig For GoHawaii.com

Last Christmas, I was assigned my first freelance writing assignment for the Go Hawaii website to cover three attractions on the Windward Coast.  I was so excited to be able to write for a website and visit all my favorite places!  Firefly Interactive in Honolulu is the agency responsible for the site and content development and they did an amazing job with the GoHawaii site redesign!

They edited my writing a bit, but I am still so very happy to see it live:

http://gohawaii.com/oahu/regions-neighborhoods/windward-oahu/nuuanu-pali-lookout
http://gohawaii.com/oahu/regions-neighborhoods/windward-oahu/kailua-beach
http://gohawaii.com/oahu/regions-neighborhoods/windward-oahu/valley-of-the-temples

What Would Don Draper Do?

I created a 'WWDDD' poster to remind Ad Men and Women of the glamour, passion and risk-taking that once was an exciting, booming industry. If you ever find yourself in unusual or difficult circumstance, ask yourself: What would Don Draper do?

Click on Image to Enlarge or Print (and post in every corner of your ad agency)

Circumstance: Your office party is serving only cheap, domestic light beer.
WWDDD: Pour a glass (made of pure crystal) of Bourbon from a whiskey collection sitting in your own office/cubicle mini bar.

Circumstance: Your new business pitch totally didn't excite the client.
WWDDD: If your client is a man, take him out for a drink and after talk business. If you client is a woman, take her out to dinner and then get down to business.

Luckily, Don Draper advice is also available @WWDDD or visit whatwoulddondraperdo.tumblr.com or whatwoulddondraperdo.org. Small steps to making Advertising fun and sexy again.

UPDATED Flash Portfolio Site

I stayed up till 4 a.m. updating my flash portfolio site with recent work, and it's finally done and up. Nothing feels more rewarding than a debugged, working flash site. Check it out.

Kream of the Krop

I haven't been living up to my dailyness, but I promise to make it up with more letters to college. As for all you creatives out there, here's a great online portfolio hosting site and job database--Krop.

I created mine today:

I like the simple layout, apple-esque design and drop-down feature. The only downside is the FREE version only allows you to upload 10 images... bummer right? It costs $9.99 to upgrade to pro. Sites got to make money some how. 10 images will have to do until I get my portfolio site together.

Medieval Times at Higgins Armory

I've been M.I.A. the past few days working on my final school assignment--portfolio for art direction class. Below are print ads and a billboard for Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA.

I would have loved to visit Higgins if I had more time and A CAR (and the skills to drive). This place has live sword demonstrations and knights. Pretty cool huh, medieval nerds.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Stripes or No Stripes?

After many rounds of concepting, I finally settled on a redesign for the ELIE TAHARI site; however, I'm not sure what background works best: Stripes or No Stripes?
Click the image to enlarge. Before I turn it in Thursday, I would love any feedback or comments.

YAY for finishing school... 2 days and counting.

Creative Cafe and Screening of Art & Copy

Today was an advertising-filled day. First, I had a portfolio review, organized by COM, with Boston art directors and copywriters. Met with Art Directors from AMP Agency and Connelly Partners, founder of Embryo and a freelancer with 20-years of industry experience.

Here are some useful pointers I got:

• A book should look polished (use better paper, high-quality print outs, trim edges, etc.)
• Some Art Directors (especially those with design backgrounds) are looking for technical skills and a strong understanding of design
• Call an agency's receptionist to find out what the office culture is like to decide what order to present work (i.e. a hipper agency may like more non-traditional/graphical work)
  
• Read creative books + annuals
• You can't always teach a designer to concept, but you can teach a conceptual (big idea) kid how to design
• San Francisco is like Boston, they're secondary cities (to LA and NY respectively), but much more creative than LA or NY
• Blow out all concepts into full campaigns (print, outdoor, online, DM, packaging)
• Have at least four of these full campaigns
• Don't do things by formula
• Take a bad ad and redo it for (fun and) practice
• Volume is not important in a portfolio
  

Secondly, I headed down to the ICA for the Independent Film Festival's screening of "Art & Copy" a documentary about advertising creatives directed by Doug Pray, who also did Surfwise, Scratch and Hype!. Pray said the film's concept is: "If you hate advertising, make better advertising."

I didn't love the film as much as I loved the people in it... David Kennedy (Wieden+Kennedy), George Lois ("I want my MTV" campaign), Hal Riney (Reagan reelection), Lee Klow (TBWA/Chiat Day, Apple), Mary Wells (Braniff Airlines), Goodby, Silverstein... these people defined/shifted/revolutionized advertising and I admire their work and character so so much.

Long day, sleep time.

Fed Ex "Doodle" Flyers

FedEx street teams were on my campus passing out these flyers. The street team had weird screens strapped onto their chests that was playing a video (I didn't stop to watch)... but a girl gave me an almost blank sheet of paper.

I probably would never use 'FedEx Office Print Online' services, but this flyer is really cute. The headline on the top says "I've got time. To doodle." Well I actually don't have time to doodle... but I found myself doing it! Click the image to enlarge, and see what I had time to do.

Boston Hockey Warm-Up Playlist

Click images to enlarge and read playlist

I had to design a CD package for class, and I did one for the BU Hockey Warm Up Playlist. I really just wanted a reason to get the warm up playlist from Agganis Arena and find out what that TECHNO SONG I've heard since freshman year is (it's "The Funeral" by Plasmic Honey). Thanks again to Agganis' marketing manager Jessica Connor who was really quick and helpful in getting me the playlist.

So, for all you BU Hockey fans and seniors who show up an hour early to home games to watch the team warm up, here are the songs we've grown accustomed to this past AWESOME season.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Round 2

So I finally got around concepting a second homepage for my ELIE TAHARI site redesign project. My two concepts are inspired by two moods, which I had made mood boards for:

Mood Board 1: City Social
I surveyed some friends and this was their least favorite mood out of the two; however, I think the mock-up looks pretty modern, feminine and metropolitan.

'City Social' Homepage Mock-Up
Mood board 2: Bond Girl
I love the high contrast and pop of color. The mock-up is pretty consistent with the current clean style of retail websites.

'Bond Girl' Homepage Mock Up
Which one do you think is better? I need to choose one to pursue and write up a style guide. I would love feedback and appreciate any comments.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Round 1

A while back I made mood boards for the ELIE TAHARI site redesign.  Most of you chose the 'bond girl' mood because it was clean, modern and elegant... so I finally got started concepting. Here's round 1:

I'm pretty happy with the colors.  I just got to tweak the alignment and add icons.  What do you think?  Better than the current site (below)?:

My Poster's in the PSFK Conference!

So you know how once in a billion years, all the stars align and things just go right? Well as of last night things just couldn't get better, BU made it to the FROZEN FOUR and I just found out a poster I designed for the PSFK Conference was chosen as a finalist!

Here's my poster I call "PSFK Vacay (like Vacation)":

My poster is featured on the PSFK website, and I get to go to the conference this Thursday in NYC!!! The contest was judged by Artist Matt W. Moore who does crazy, geometric inspired graphics he likes to call "vectorfunk".  You can go to his site to see his work, but here's a taste of his awesomeness:

It is a coincidence that I used line forms in my poster, because I had no idea Matt W. Moore was judging.  I was trying to play off the idea of the conference of being an allusive vacation; observing my poster, you see the dominant, rigid 'PSFK' name but also see a beach scene... I kind of just went with it, never doubted the idea.

I have to thank Larissa for telling me about this competition.  She's been helping PSFK with several projects and organizing the conference. I don't know if me being chosen has anything to do with the fact that we're friends, BUT I DON'T CARE, I GET TO GO!

It's always exciting and inspiring to meet creative leaders or people who are passionate about what they do.  Check out the line-up of speakers... I can hardly contain the advertising/creative nerd in meeeeeeee. 

Personal Plug #6 - Click Snack Logo

For my Design in Communications class we had to design a Logo and Micromark for one of three things: 

1. A Social Networking Site (boo, who wants another one of these anyways)
2. An Online Snack Delivery Service (!!! Totally up my alley), OR
3. A College Intramural Sports Team (boring)

So, in Zeny fashion, I chose the one with food.  The specs were to use TWO ink colors and to include the company name and tagline.  Here's what I created:

I created the cute donut, lollipop, popcorn and cheesecake with Adobe Illustrator's pen tool. Took me a while to get a hang of it, but I have a feeling me and Mr. Pen Tool are going to be best friends. I also like the giddyup typeface because it looks like twizzlers.

Below is the Click Snack micromark... just in case Apple decides to create an app where snacks come shooting out of your iPhone upon command. 

Personal Plug #5 - Coca Cola "Stay Classic" Campaign

Lately, I'm starting to see a progression in my creative work. I make choices that push my work to be better and can differentiate between what's good and bad design. HOWEVER...

Looking back on the work I've done the last three years, I realize most of it is crap. But aside from amateur design, I don't think I give myself enough credit on some of my past ideas.

The below was done two years ago during my Sophomore year:

Example #1 - Coca-Cola "Stay Classic" Video
MY DIRECTORIAL DEBUT. Everything about it is cheesy--music, transitions (iMovie!) and typeface. The best part about making this video is that I convinced my friends to dance in Boston winter without music. Amazingly, somehow their dancing matched the music.

Thank you Marisa, Nina, Gabs and Megan for letting me use you as guinea pigs.

Example #2 - Coca-Cola 'Stay Classic' Website
This is the first website I have ever designed (let alone use Dreamweaver), and it follows the video's concept of 'Stay Classic'. Considering my lack of web design experience, I'm pretty proud of the social networking aspect, interactivity and intuitiveness of the site.
Everyone has gotta start somewhere.

Personal Plug #4 - Lifesavers Gummies Ad

For Design in Com class, we had to create a one-off for a candy brand.  The specs were pretty specific: full-page image, logo and email and a three word headline (which I broke the rule).

I couldn't find a bubble typeface that I liked so I hand drew the headline.  It's a simple ad and could maybe use a little more color.  

Personal Plug #3 - ELIE TAHARI site redesign: mood boards

I am redesigning the ELIE TAHARI website in my web design class, because the current site is very web 1.0 (no flash or interactivity) and doesn't reflect the sophistication, workmanship and femininity of its designs. Also, ELIE TAHARI seeks to push its designs globally so it definitely needs to update its website.

Current ELIE TAHARI site:

The current site is bland. I've completed a competitive analysis, creative strategy, site map and wireframes... but my favorite part of the class so far is creating mood boards to determine the look and feel of the site redesign.

I used an article from W Magazine (October 2008) to gain insight and inspiration into the ELIE TAHARI brand:

• W Mag says, "Tahari is a master of distilling current trends into high-quality, reality clothes for the fashion wise but not obsessed woman."
  
• Rory Tahari (Elie Tahari's wife) says, "If it's not sexy, it's not Elie Tahari. I'll tell you that."

I've created two mood boards to represent different ends of the brand spectrum:

1. CITY SOCIAL

2. BOND GIRL

I haven't decided which "mood" I want to go along with. I like that the "city social" board reflects real life but the "bond girl" board can work well globally. Either way, I'm excited with how my project is going and can't wait to work on the actual site design. Which "mood" do you think I should choose, City Social or Bond Girl?

Personal Plug #2 - Boo BC

For my Art Direction class we had to choose something we disliked and communicate it visually. Here's what I came up with:

I dislike BC Superfans and BC hockey mainly because:

1) Last year, they took every title there is.

2) There is no doubt BU/BC is one of the biggest rivalries in college sports.

3) BC Superfans wear dumb mustard yellow t-shirts.

4) Boston College is not even in Boston, it's in Chestnut Hill.

The photo is credited to the BU Athletics site and was taken at the Beanpot Championship this year where we annihilated Northeastern (who we will be playing tonight at Agganis Arena... can't wait!). Anyways, I'm in the photo, second row, center.

As for today's "do" and "don't".

Do: Support Lil' Mama. The best part of watching America's Best Dance Crew isn't just to see Beat Freaks blow the competition away, but to hear Lil' Mama talk. Y'all need to COME HARD. COME. HARD. I've never heard anyone emphasize every syllable of words like "strat-e-gize" and "in-tri-cate". She comes up with uses for words that don't exist... word to you Lil' Mama for be-ing sooo YOU-nique.

Don't: Support Mario Lopez's anything. Most irrelevant host for anything... just stop Mario... I beg you STOPPPPPP.