Peace on Earth

Wishing you the gifts of peace, love, & joy.

Hope your 2010 rocks!

See you all in 2010

Hey all, thanks for reading in 2009! I look forward to more blogging, twittering, and Facebooking in 2010. I've got quite a lot of work and play this month, so I'm going to skip the blogging until next year.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season and a safe, fun new year!

Gobble Gobble!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope your day with family and friends is full of joy and happiness.

Creative Postcard Club: Pantone Blocks

A seemingly easy round this time: fill 15 half-inch square blocks with Pantone colors and arrange them however you wish.

15 blocks of color is a lot of color! Especially since I was determined to use a different color for each block.

I turned to my favorite theme: Art Deco. The very formal and gridded structure of the layout suited the Art Deco style perfectly. The most challenging part was to figure out how to make the color progressions flow smoothly. My first few attempts created a bit of visual chaos until I found the rhythm.

Enjoy!

Disturbed by Direct Mail

Here's the story: my dad served in the Navy in WWII. Over the years, he lost his 2 medals. Luckily, there are online stores that sell veterans replacement medals. I ordered the ones my dad had and thought nothing more of it.

Until I realized that the company I bought from sold my name all over the place.

And for the most part, I just toss the mail and think nothing of it.

But then I got this "certificate" in the mail:

Direct from the American Legion: a certificate for my war-time service to the United States.

Say what? I've never served in any branch of the military in either peace time or war time.

I must say that I'm ashamed of the American Legion for not double checking who they are sending this "invitations" to. I think it's disrespectful to all those fine men and women who have served.

Since the American Legion did not take the time (or money) to set more specific criteria, they risk alienating folks who otherwise think highly of their organization. And by sending out false certificates that dishonor our veterans, they are going to damage their reputation and right quick.

I know that it does cost more to set criteria and that the AL probably doesn't have a lot of extra money to spread around. Surely there is a solution: send less but more qualified mail, maybe see if the database company would donate by giving a discount for an upgraded service, etc. Anything would be better than sending out bad direct mail like this.

For all of those out there who have really served our country in peace or war, thank you and may you have a good Veteran's Day today.

Another Ad Gone Bad

I spied this nice ad for the new Ford Taurus in National Geo recently. I was truly impressed with the new body style, so I decided to read the ad. Well, that was my bad. Should've just left well enough alone... :P

The text at the top of the ad extols how the new Taurus is "The most innovative car in America.**"

Huh? What's with the "**" there? Let's take a look-see..

Down below, in the fine print, the "**" indicates that "feature" is "** Optional."

So The Ford Taurus' innovation is optional? riiiight.

I don't know who's the genius behind this kind of moronic fine print (my guess is lawyers), but really, if your tagline is "optional", I think I'm going to exercise my option to buy somewhere else, where they back up what they say instead of "clarifying" it out of existence.

When Ads Go Bad

A buddy at work received a mailer from Time Warner Cable's business service. I couldn't help but notice their main image:

Uh, say what? Using your EYEBALL logo as a bullseye? What genius came up with this one?! What are they trying to say here: using TWC will making you want to poke your eyes out?

Major FAIL here, Time Warner, I hope that whomever came up with this one got sent back to design school...

Doodle Swap Round 3

I participated in the third round of The Doodle Swap Project. Again, the theme was open, and while that sounds great to have the freedom to do whatever I want, it is a bit intimidating. I thought about a couple of different directions before deciding to do an idea that had been bouncing around my head. I've been thinking of these silly two-word rhymes all summer and this was the perfect chance to illustrate a few.

I sketched out the images and inked them with my awesome Faber-Castell Pitt Pens (ah, I LOVE these pens!). This time I broke out my Dr. Martin's watercolors that had been gathering dust on my shelf. I had a blast! I had forgotten how much fun and how easy it was to work with these colors. Now I need to do more watercolors...

Below are a few of my Doodle Swap cards, or you can see the entire set on Flickr.

You can view all of the doodles for round three on The Doodle Swap Flickr page.

'

Cool Mug Menu!

My friends and I went out to Red Robin the other day for dinner. We are all addicted to their tasty onion rings (oh, and their burgers too. :P Once seated, I spied their ultra-cool new drinks menu that is in the shape of a mug. Very clever, great job to the folks who designed this! Simple, clean & crisp design with great product shots and graphics. Check it out:

Cheezy Trek T-Shirt Offer

The people at Cheez-It crack me up. They have a nice Trek related t-shirt reward on their recent packaging. It's a pretty cool lookin' shirt:

This is the part that cracks me up:

Now, I know that the new Star Trek has a broader appeal; however, I'm fairly confident that most "regular" folks won't be wearing this t-shirt to any social or sporting occasion...

Theory Thursday: Urban Farming

National Geographic had an interesting article in a recent issue talking about how some urban centers are transforming their rooftops into green rooftops and the positive environmental impact this might have. You can read the article here.

While reading this article, a thought occurred to me regarding farming and how I had also recently read that we might not be able to grow enough food if the world population keep growing at its current rate. And with all the recent issues with food-borne illnesses, how eating local might become more important now. But where would we get enough farmland to tackle these issues? I have a theory: Urban Farming.

I don't know about you, but in my town I have quite a few developed areas (shopping centers and the like) that have been abandoned for one reason or another. Why not reclaim this land and turn it back into farms? This would do 3 things: 1) employ people and 2) green up otherwise wasted and ugly space, and 3) would also allow more folks to eat locally grown food.

Is this solution perfect? Probably not, but it's a start and I think it would be beneficial to everyone while helping Mother Earth out a bit too.

Cool Ink Initiative Prints Help Raise Money for Good Cause!

My buddy Keith from the HOW Design Forum makes hand screened prints for a good cause over at The Ink Initiative had a sale in early July on his limited edition, hand screened prints. The best part? The money from the sale of the prints goes to help out a great cause:

"The concept is simple: Each year we will choose one non-profit organization. We then will design and hand print posters to sell and donate the proceeds from each poster sold to the chosen non-profit organization. No money from sales will be used for personal profit." (quoted from The Ink Initiative website)

I couldn't resist these cool prints and a sale, so I picked up a set of "Outer Space" and "Shutupsicle"...

Sweet! The package has arrived!

And here are the fantastic prints! Hand screened, hand signed and numbered, limited editions.

Thanks to Keith & Jen, excellent work!

Reply to the "Death" of Print

Recently at the Visual Ambassdor they had a post entitled The Death of Print.

Take a second to read the article (it's short, I'll wait....)

Back? Oh good. I just can't see how the death of print a) equals a devaluation of art nor b) equals the death of "real journalism" as the author states. Art is more prolific on the web that has ever been before. There are dozens (and dozens) of sites for artists to not only display their work, but sell it too. No longer is the artist bound by an agent or gallery that takes a percentage of their profits. Most museums are online, some even display parts of their collection online. So please tell me how this is killing art?

The author's second point is that hard investigative journalism is dying alongside print. What? We're entering the age of power to the little people: everyone now has a voice to call out the evil misdeeds of weasel corporations and it will be seen, heard and Facebooked or Retweeted to the entire world in minutes. Compare this to printed newspapers where it would take days (or even longer) for news to spread. This is bad how?

I understand that a big change like the death of print might be scary to a journalist who will need to adapt to this new reality and maybe have to learn some new skills. But if this truly is the death of print (how long has this been promised now, like 10 years?), then I say bring it on, things are getting better not only for artists but for the average person and that's a good thing.

What The?

So at my day job, we do a weekly e-newsletter and we feature new products to our stores in it. A few weeks ago, we had a new product in our healthy stuff department. It sounded harmless enough: Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Juice. It's supposed to help digestion. Still doing good. I was processing the photo in Photoshop and I zoomed into the product label and noticed that it says "Inner Fillet":

Come again? I associate "fillet" with filleted fish or other meat. I don't think I want to drink something that gives/makes my "innards filleted. Methinks next label design should skip that notice...

Schweet Schmap of Nashville!

I just learned that my photo of the exterior of Hatch Show Print in Nashville has been selected for the Schmap guide to Nashville! :D

About Schmap

Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More than 90 million Schmap Guides have been downloaded since first release in March 2006: this phenomenally popular series can also be browsed online, with versions optimized for iPhone and Nokia users

kNOwHOW

A few of the HOW Design Forum members who were unable to attend this year's HOW Design Conference in Austin decided to have a "kNOwHOW" conference. Nothing fancy, just a few designer friends getting together to share knowledge, friendship and food. Our host, Karma, along with her mom, and fellow HOWie Patti really went all out: we had food, a creative exercise (doodling monsters!), a photobooth, and schwag bags!

It was a great bit of creative inspiration and friendship, well worth the 9 hour drive from Ohio to attend. Enjoy the photos on my Flickr here.

Doodle Swap #2

The first Doodle Swap between members of the HOW Design Forum (aka HOWies) was so much fun that I couldn't pass on doing round 2! The trick was working about a few other projects that were all due at that same time.

Fortunately, one project gave me the inspiration for my doodles for round 2 and my interpretations of 4 classic monster movie creatues was born! I did 4 versions each of Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and the Mummy, and 2 versions of The Phantom of the Opera (doodle below) (1 for me and 1 for a lucky recipient! :)

Each doodle was done by hand (no retracing or other tricks here) with loving care, or at least by hand.... :P

I tried the smooth vellum artist cards this time and while the colored pencils did work better on them, I still feel as I've not gotten what I'd envisioned outta them. Next round I may try just black and white using my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (which ROCK, btw! :)

Doodle Swap Blog.

Doodle Swap Flickr.

New Nap for That T's!

Yes, I've been working hard on a few new Nap for That t-shirt designs: check 'em out (or even better, buy one) at my Zazzle store. Free shipping for a limited to anywhere on Earth via code: JUNESHIPFREE. Enjoy!

Creative Postcard Club—R50 Stamps

I’m pleased that I was able to participate in the Creative Postcard Club’s 50th round. Congrats to Travis on a fantastic milestone!

For this round, I knew I wanted the theme of my stamp to be Art Deco. But the genre encompasses such a large variety of work, I wasn’t sure what to narrow it down to. I spent time thinking and researching and decided on “The Art of Wine” in the Art Deco style. I did many a thumbnail sketch and somehow, they just never felt right. So I put them aside for awhile and I was listening to a story on U.S. Postage stamps and they mentioned that typical themes on stamps are the flag, flowers, or American art/artists. Bingo! My idea was born: American Art Deco, represented by an American flag.

Below: flat color version in Illustrator.



After a few sketches, I followed my usual procedure and scanned my sketch into Adobe Illustrator where I set up my colors and layout. I then imported that file into Photoshop where I added textures and lighting.

Below: final image and final image with stamp border appplied.

Theory Thursday: Shrinking Attention Spans Cause Expanding Waistlines?

Ok, not a design related topic this time around, but it's my blog and well, I can do whatever the hell I want! :P Promise to get back to design next week!

I have a theory. Not sure what exactly prompted this one, but it sorta popped into my head one day. Could it be that the shorter our attention spans get, the larger our waistlines get?

It sounds contradictory, I know, as you'd think all the running around people do nowadays we'd all be skinny as rails. But think about it: we run around, faces glued to our Blackberries or iPhones or whatever and we don't have time to eat a meal, so we go for the high-fat fast food that we wolf down in as few bites as possible. Some folks don't "have time" to excercise, so they skip it. When we do sit, we sit for hours glued to TVs, computers, or some other device. So all that high-fat food just gets added on to, well, us.

I'm sure there are holes in this theory, and I'd love to hear what you think about this topic!

(hmm. it appears that today is not Thursday, whoops!)

HOWie Poster 2009 Edition

I participated in the second somewhat annual poster made by and for members of the HOW Design Forum. The theme this time around was "stamps". Other than that, we were free to do whatever we wanted. I thought about different subjects and since postcards are typically used to send correspondence from people who live in different states, and since HOWies live in many different states, I decided on celebrating my home state, Ohio.

That still left a lot of room for narrowing and I originally considered doing an art deco-esque postcard design. However, it just wasn't working out. I had happened to just have visited my local park where we have 3 very old trees (500 years plus), called the Three Sisters. I just love these trees, they are magnificent and very calming. So I decided to use one of my photos of one of the Three Sisters.

Hey That's Me! n2 Quoted in Caffeine for the Creative Team

Late last year, members of the HOW Design forum were asked to contribute their thoughts about how the forum acted as a team for the book, Caffeine for the Creative Team. A couple of my quotes and photos that were submitted were used in the chapter on the HOW Forum.

Congrats to my fellow HOWies who also made an appearance in the book!

New T's on Zazzle: There's a Nap for That

I just created a new line of shirts for everyone who loves naps! "Whatever tires you, there's a nap for that." Enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/qm7kjz

DLM Pastry Show Book 2009

Last week was the fifth annual Dorothy Lane Market Pastry Show. This marks the second year that we've done a "book" for the show that features write-ups about the fine pastries, hors d'oeuvres, and beer and wine offered at the event. The book acts as an admission badge and event souvenir.

For this year's theme, I decided to go with "spring watercolors postcards" when I was developing the design for the advertising materials. I had found some awesome watercolor brushes for Illustrator that I was itching to try out, so I played with various combinations of strokes until I achieved that Impressionistic watercolor look that I had envisioned. I then turned the icons for the Eiffel Tower, pastry, and tulip that I'd used in previous years' materials into stamps to tie everything together.

I was surpised by the strong response by our associates to the finished piece: they all just fell in love with the simple design. It is quite a departure from previous years and from all the positive reactions I've heard, a good one at that! To steal a line from the A-Team: "I love it when a good design comes together." :)

Cover:


Inside page:

Doodle Swap

A friend of mine from the HOW Design Forum, Mary, came up with a brilliant idea to do a "doodle swap" on Artist Trading Cards. She described it as: "The Doodle Swap Project is an organized swap of original, trading-card-sized art between artists, designers and illustrators."

It sounded like fun so I signed up. I decided to go with an old standby that I tend to doodle: robots and sci-fi. I just had to give my new Faber-Castel Artist pens a workout, so I figured this would be a great way to use 'em. I tried to stay true to the art of doodling and I warmed up first and then drew directly on the final cards with the pens. I decided to add color with my favorite medium, colored pencil. Alas, the textured vellum was not very forgiving so for the sake of keeping the pen lines visible, I just put a light coating on. Next time I want to give the smooth ATC cards a crack, I think that will work better with the color pencils.

I did a total of nine images, you can view them all on my Flickr. I'm enjoying receiving the cards from my fellow designers in the mail, it's like a mini Christmas with each one that arrives!

You can view the entire Doodle Swap Project on Flickr here.

Below, from my Doodle Swap, "Hello HAL"...

New Zazzle Ts: Designer Math

New t-shirt design available from my Zazzle shop!

If you thought Algebra was hard, then you're probably a designer. We might have a job that's more fun, but our math isn't much easier, just different. Available in Men's and Women's sizes on my Zazzle shop.

T-shirt reads:
Can you place the Illy file into ID and try to either print it from
there or make a PDF and print the PDF?

Can you walk and chew gum at the same time?

Perhaps if you feed it cookies it will be all better? Or better yet,
feed you cookies and come back to it?

Did you export the AI file to make the PSD or JPG? What happens if
you just open the AI file in PSD?

Did you try doing a Save As, deleting the custom fills and seeing if
it will print?

Maybe you could photocopy it instead? :P

Testing Ping.fm...

Stimulate the Economy!

Well, my personal economy....shameless self promo: I just added 2 new shirts to my Zazzle store that poke fun at the economic situation. Stimulate the economy in style with these t-shirts! Both designs are available in men's and women's styles. If you like what ya see, you can buy 'em here.

Creative Postcard Club—R49 Numerals

This was a tough assignment for me. While I did actually vote for this theme, in general numbers make my eyes glaze over. So to find a meaningful number/numeral for me would prove to be the most challenging part of this assignment.

So I thought about numbers and did a littel research and then I realized that there was one number with a storied history that would work quite nicely, 13. While I don’t personally find 13 unlucky or bad luck, most people do. I decided to take advantage of this stereotype and create a creepy image.

I used some new tools for me: A Faber Castel Brush pen and my new Moleskine notebook to hand-render the numbers which I then scanned into Photoshop where I added texture and lighting to give the number the proper mood.

Click here to learn more about the Creative Postcard Club.

Friday Fun 2-Fer

So I was buying more paper for my inkjet printer on Amazon the other day and came across this oddity:


USED paper? Seriously? The worst part was the price was almost as much as a new, unopened box!


And my second "What the?!" of the week was this find on the Apple apps store:



So iBoob didn't make it past the almighty Apple censors, but this app where you can dress up women in different skimpy outfits did? No, I didn't download this one. And sadly, I can't remember what I was searching for when I found it, I got distracted. :P

Shameless Self Promo: Creative Post Card Entry Featured in Online Mag!

My entry in the Creative Postcard Club's Round 42: Found Letters was used to illustrate an article about the Creative Postcard Club in issue #4 of the online magazine, Rancor'd Type! You can download issue #4 of the PDF here.

The article starts on page 8 and my entry is on page 14. Be sure to check out all the other great entries!

And the winner is....

....Devon is the winner of my Lucky 13 giveaway. Congrats! And thanks to everyone who played the game!

Reminder: Last Chance to Enter Lucky 13 Giveaway!

All entries are due at Midnight EST today, Friday, March 13!

http://nsquaredesign.blogspot.com/2009/03/lucky-13-giveaway.html

Pepsi Natural & Throwback Branding

I saw this Brandweek post talking about Pepsi's new "all-natural" soda as well as their "throwback" formulas coming to stores April 20.

The packaging is nice, simple, and clean for both designs. What really caught my attention was the Pepsi throwback design:



While I'm a fan of the new "regular" Pepsi rebranding, I know that many people are not. Perhaps if outcry is strong enough, Pepsi should just go to selling the "throwback" formula as the "regular" Pepsi and ditch the other branding in favor of this one. (I'm in favor of keeping the old formula anyway, as it has less crap ingredients in it).

I love how simple and elegant this throwback design is. Plus, it really honors the long legacy of the brand respectfully. Well done!

Lucky 13 Giveaway!

Since I don't believe Friday the 13 is unlucky, I'm going to try to break the “spell” of the so-called unlucky Friday the 13th and make it a Lucky 13 day for one lucky person!

One week from today, on Friday March 13, I’m going to give away one hand-signed print of my “February Moon” illustration as featured in my recent art exhibit. Print size is 7 inches wide by 17.5 inches high, with a bit of white around it for me to sign.

What do you need to do to win? Answer me these questions three in the comments section on or before Midnight EST on Friday, March 13:
1) What was your luckiest Friday the 13th?
2) Do you think Friday the 13th is lucky, unlucky or neither?
3) What is your favorite Pantone Color?

The best answers, as judged solely by me, get the one and only prize. No purchase necessary. And no fair trying to bribe me with cookies. Unless they are chocolate chip. Sorry, I can only ship to US addresses.


More about this image: I needed one more image to complete my art exhibit for February with a them of "Love." So after some thought, I dreamed up a bare tree with hearts starting to bloom under the silver light of the moon as an analogy to spring and warmth that would be coming soon. I worked a bit differently this time since I wanted to try out my new Faber-Castell Artist Pens. I used the brush nib and did some quick sketches in my trusty sketchbook. I then scanned it into Photoshop and then added the background textures, moon, and lighting.

My First-Ever Art Exhibition

Thanks to my friend Rachel at Graceworks Bethany Retirement Village, I was able to secure my first-ever art exhibit in their beautiful new Village Center Art Gallery. The theme is "Expressions of Love" and most of my pieces are wedding gifts that I've given my friends over the years, with a couple of other pieces, and one created especially for this exhibit. 

I even got an artist's reception! And if I had remembered to take photos, it would have been even better! Oh well, it was a great evening and we had a nice turnout and great support from my friends and family.

The exhibit runs from now through the end of February, stop by if you can.

You can also view all the pieces on my Flickr page.

Programming Note

Hello all, thanks to everyone who's keeping up on this blog. Alas, February is going to be a busy month with my day job, freelance work, my first-ever art exhibit at a local retirement community, and time with friends and family, so posts will be spotty at best. I have become a twit, so if you'd like to follow me there, you can find me here: http://twitter.com/nsquaredesign

Type on Your Products

Some fun eyecandy for you today from Designer Daily: 15 Great Typography based objects/products. Great stuff here, LOVE that coffee table! 

Friday Fun: Chocolate Bar

Whenever I travel, I enjoy looking through the guide books at the hotel to see what sites they recommend. On a recent trip to Buffalo, I was perusing the local guide book and came across this priceless ad:

Looks like an interesting place for adults right? Well, that little brown round circle at the bottom proudly proclaims "A great place for kids too!" Um, right. I didn't get that impression from the rest of the ad!

Secretary of the Arts: Tell Obama How Important Art Is to You!

Quincy Jones has called for President Obama to create a new cabinet level position: Secretary of the Arts (aka Chief Creative Dude, or Dudette). Show the President that you want this to happen: sign the petition here. 

Logo Design Trends 2009

As seen on Logorange: Logo Design Trends for 2009. How there can be a guide to trends for a year that is barely a month old is beyond me, but I also don't know how Pantone can forecast a "hot" color so far in advance either. It will be interesting to see which of these trends pan out and which don't.

nsquaredesign Featured in Oddpodz eNewsletter!

nsquaredesign (that's me!) was featured in the 1/15/2009  Oddpodz enewsletter. (Sorry you might have to scroll down a bit, but if you are like me and you're ADD will kick in before you reach my write up, you can always enjoy these screenshots instead.

Here's the header...

...after a bit of scrolling, there's me in at the bottom!

Friday Fun: UD Players Can Fly!

Or at least that's what I'm led to believe by the program they handed out earlier this season:

Let's take a closer look:

Yep, his feet are clearly at the wrong end of a bad Photoshop job! I guess we should just be glad that they didn't add a lens flare somewhere...

Brand Extentions Gone Wrong...

Not all brand extensions are a good idea, Fast Company takes a look at both the good and the bad. 

Ad Goofs

Over the holidays, I saw my fair share of ads and great deals. I'm very interested in getting an LCD TV this year, one, because I love shiny new gizmos and two, the displays are just gorgeous. So I kept my eyes on all the specials this past holiday season. I saw some great buys (but passed due to budget concerns), however, I'm not sure that this Target buy was such a good deal:

I thought the point of putting stuff in your sale ad was to also take money off? I think somebody goofed. All in all, still looks like a great deal on an LCD TV. Maybe later this year for me...

Ponoko: Make Your Own Products!

As a creative, I make prints of my 2-d illustrations and have my designs printed, which is great. Ponoko takes it to the next level and allows you to turn your creativity loose on making real objects! Whether it's a one-off prototype or special gift, this is just really cool! I don't know what I'm going to make...yet... ;)

Sweet Stamps!

I honestly can't remember how I found this page of Olympic Stamps for the 2010 games. I was going through my morning ritual of reading my RSS feeds. I typically open like 20 windows in my browser. I had forgotten how I got here, but finding these beautiful stamps was a delight to my eyes. Excellent work: clean, crisp and fresh colors while conveying the Olympic brand nicely. Enjoy!

Friday Fun: Amish Ad

I've seen the following ad twice over two issues in National Geographic without giving it much thought. After all, I've trained myself to overlook ads, and this advertorial didn't spark my interest…until I gave it a second look:


Let's take a closer look:


WTH? I've seen some bad Photoshop jobs before, but what on Earth was this person thinking? At least black out the fireplace part! Are we really supposed to believe that a) this guy is putting the finishing touches on a working unit that is plugged in and b) that the Amish have some sort of magical power to turn on electric devices w/o electricity?

Now for the fun part: comment on what object you think the fireplace mantles replaced in the original photo. I don't know the answer, but I'd love to hear people's guesses! :D

Wireless Electricity Takes Another Step Forward!

I'm so stoked about wireless electricity and I know it is a ways off from becoming a reality in my home, it just took a giant leap forward and I just had to share this link from Fast Company. Enjoy!

TinEye: Image Search Tool

Seen on the HOW Blog: TinEye, the visual search engine. This is not Google image search, TinEye actually uses your uploaded image and compares it to other images on the internet, even variants. Perfect for logo and infringement research, a must-have tool for any creative!

Reflecting on Pepsi's Rebranding Refresh

There's been quite a lot of discussion on the new direction Pepsi took with their latest rebranding. Most designers seem to think it is a step backwards and just generally don't care for it. Well, I'm going to respectfully disagree.

Pepsi's former branding was looking very dated, busy, and definitely in need of a refresh:



Pepsi cleaned up their design act for something much more crisp and clean:


And I for one, like it very much. It has a classic art deco feel to it: clean, elegant, timeless. Transforming the ugly globe (which I never liked anyway) into something reminiscent of an art deco icon was great, and then to alter the size of the white stripe depending on the product was brilliant! Combined with the simple solid color and the smooth type treatment, I have a feeling that these cans will become "classics" in due time. I think most folks are just so shocked by the change that they reacted before really taking a moment to truly appreciate the beauty of the new design.