Des Temps

Author: raafi

  • logo redesign, the right way

    I always wondered if the biz people at Gap cynically pushed that BS logo on us a few months ago as a way to generate PR after having seen the media storm over the Tropicana packaging. Sorry Gap. I swing to American Apparel, both for t-shirts, and Helvetica-based logo.

    But Howard Schultz seems to speak the language of design in a way that Marka Hansen, president of Gap, seems to have missed when the company attempted to crowdsource the logo project via facebook. I buy Shultz’ reasons for the switch, and the new logo remains Starbucks-y, which I guess is the point. The elephant approves.

  • Life imitates

    People often ask where the idea for the Desedo logo came from. And for them, I have scant little information — an image I thought up. There were tons of elephants dancing in my mind around the time that the specific one we use now was drawn. But it’s reassuring to know that it comes from somewhere real. And that someone has actually seen the image I was only imagining at the time.

    Ami Vitale has clearly been there. And, judging from her portfolio, a few other places too.

  • Comedy Session

    Comedy Session

    We had a little break from the norm here at Desedo HQ recently. It’s not all fun and games in the writers’ room. It just looks that way.

  • Conventional Thought


    PK on the replay.

    Desedo-fam member and all-around mensch Paul Kamuf creates animations that challenge both the conventions of storytelling and of browser behavior. His most recent project tackles the text message — plus he even makes a cameo. Music by John Pugh of Free Blood. Sit back and enjoy the 1s and 0s.

  • Summer turns Fall

    We’ve had a busy Summer: there was the suite of promos for Discovery’s The Colony, the short film, work trips to Ohio and the west coast. And this past weekend a shoot for fashion week — Gary Graham’s presentation at Milk Studios, where Anna Wintour stood 10 feet from me during the show.

    This image was captured pre-show at Gary Graham as the models learned their cues. The footage is outtakes from the Discovery job — we were asked to create 6 promos as part of the social media campaign. But sometimes the coolest looking stuff doesn’t make the cut.

  • Still Here Trailer

    Joaquin Phoenix by Casey Affleck. The beautiful typography of the poster attracted me, and the great editing kept me interested.

  • Burn

    UPDATE:

    The energy drink wars will be fought using extreme sports athletes for foot-soldiers. But you knew that.

    —
    skate video directed by Garth Davis of Exit films.