Eff this noise.

People. Ugh. The university just launched a new branding campaign and people are already backseat-designing: "I don't like the new logo; it doesn't fit a 150-year-old university;" "I hate the drop-down menu, it sucks;" "the non-serif font looks cheap;" "So now we're a community college? Cheap." All right, fine. I get it. You don't like the new look. I'm not completely convinced of it, either, but that's the reason I'm going to the brand identity launch presentation tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure that they spent a lot of money to research new brand standards (I would know; I used to work for the company that outlined the university's brand standards) and that they have a legitimate reason for making these changes. But for you to sit there and just offhandedly snark that the whole university is going down the tubes -- because of a logo -- is out of line. If you're so bent out of shape about the whole thing, why don't you go to the Convocation presentation? And don't tell me that you won't go because you're "no longer a student." By saying that, I assume you think that, because you've graduated, you don't have to give a damn anymore. So why complain?

Here was my response to the criticism (which got a little longer than I had intended):

I'm sure they didn't just hire some yokel off the street to do their brand identity. Speaking as someone who used to work for an advertising/design agency (and whose client actually used to BE Valparaiso University), I can confidently say that the higher-ups likely laid down a lot of cash to research new brand standards.

And, while you may not agree with the decisions that were made, I think that the new brand standards DO show some consistency. I was speaking to a faculty member about the new brand standards the other day. She told me that, before the change, the university did not put a limit on how individual departments could use the university logo. That meant that the English Department could do whatever they wanted with the brand standard, while the Physics Department could do something completely different. There were, she told me, approximately 70 different logos floating around campus. That is not staying consistent with brand standards. At maximum, there are now three new logos for use by the university. The Crusader has also been modified, to be "less cartoonish."

I think this is a giant step forward for Valparaiso, and for the image they want to present to the public and to potential students. I plan on attending the Convocation presentation tomorrow. I think it's too soon to say that the entire design sucks, before we've actually had a chance to hear the university's rationale for changing it.

I'm sorry. I know I'm not working in advertising anymore, but FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

autumn's here (2010) : an ep

Following last year's tremendously successful 'autumn's here' ep (I say "successful," in that more than two of you downloaded it), I decided to do a 2010 version. 6 tracks + cover art beneath the jump.



( 'Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.' - Albert Camus )