EYES NEVER CHANGE

An immutable endearing quality: eyes that you could stand to gaze into forever. Wrinkles, sagging and paunch come with age. Eyes never change.

DEEP THOUGHT

BLUE AND ORANGE

Grotesque.

CALL THE MOVING COMPANY

Richmond Place. Boyd Cody Architects. Dublin, Ireland. 2005.

This brick residence in Dublin is a 2-bedroom and 2-bathroom in the style I like to call Mortem Bauhaus. While the house is remarkable inside and out from a design standpoint, it is just that: a house and not a home. The interior is very hard and cold in pure, pared down colours with the clean, hard lines Bauhausians adore. In addition to feeling frigid, the interior is very unwelcoming -- the antithesis of what we associate with charming Irish culture -- with isolated and sectioned off spaces, which render it more mausoleum than residence.

Richmond Place seems to be a rebellion against the prejudicial, ingrained images the world has of Ireland. A contemporary stand of new against old. A challenge to the prevalent traditional style that has become so ingrained and thoughtless that creativity and innovation have been lost. With a deliberate hard shell to protect itself from the frightening softness and overwhelming emotion of conventional Irish culture. This is readily apparent in the way the sharp corner of the house juts out aggressively into the street. The design is different, yes, but to such an extreme that the house becomes an inhospitable place.

Richmond Place does not invite you in with warmth, a hearth and detailed finishes. The upper left photo shows us the living room and its modest fireplace that is cut into the lower corner of a wall; it is an accessory to the space and not, as is frequently seen, the focal point of the living space. To the upper left of the fireplace is a narrow window that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen, which again is normally another focal point of a home, is removed from the living space. Well, why not. Rigor mortis does not require a full and satiated belly. Even the upper level of the house shows us a ceiling support system that is eerily similar to the hollow rib cage of a whale carcass left to decay on a beach. This design may appeal to some, perhaps those who themselves are cold and hardened. Or perhaps those who desire to bring warmth and touch that will help turn this house into a home.

FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING

BRINKS BECOMES BROADVIEW

Brinks Home Security has changed their name to Broadview Security. It was because in deciding to spin off the home security unit, part of the contract stipulated that they had to change their name otherwise hefty royalty fees would have to be paid to Brinks.

The decision to change the name and re-do the brand identity came at a good time. It is relatively smart to get consumers to process the name change before the housing market turns around and people are more likely to purchase alarm systems for their homes. Although if a product is good and is marketed well then it should not matter, but why not take advantage of the state of our markets right now. Why not? Because in hustling a new visual identity out the door, brand equity was sacrificed.

Consumers have the images of armored trucks and hefty armed men in their minds when they think of "Brinks." As such, it is great for a home security system to piggyback on that association. It creates the feeling of intense security for your home when applied to Brinks Home Security, albeit many consumers just think of "Brinks" and drop the "Home Security" from their minds when they think of this company. This is great. For this company to intentionally dissolve that great connection and go with a name like "Broadview Security" is just a shame. Even if you had to pay royalties, to ditch the Brinks name you better spend a lot of time developing an even better name that doesn't rely on piggybacking on such a strong brand. Broadview just isn't it.

Okay, I get it. The view is broad. They see everything. They know what is happening in your home and can respond appropriately. They are omniscient. Alright, that is applicable. But the name itself is broad. Broadview Optics. Broadview Networks. Broadview Nursing. The meaning of "seeing all" is too broad to be uniquely applicable to home security. And I actually would like my security company to have a narrow view; that is, a view focused in on my home rather than a big, broad view that looks at everything.

The use of Gotham is also broad since that typeface is used heavily in the design world, especially now after President Obama's acclaimed use of it. Gotham is a great typeface; Hoefler & Frere-Jones knows what they're doing. I'm just saying they could have searched deeper for a better fit that is not so prevalent and unassuming. The kerning is tight on this logo, which is good, but the leading between Broadview and Security is too spacious and distances the two words. The typography, however, is the least of this logo's problems. In accordance with the broad idea that the company "sees all" we have two parentheses encapsulating "view" to symbolize the eye. The designer could at least have experimented a lot more with creating shapes rather than simply rotating a parenthesis ninety degrees.

BECOME A CARTOON

What is so appealing about turning yourself into a cartoon? Or rather, turning your photo into a cartoon.

What would compel someone to click through on this advertisement? It's not as simple as wanting to have an image of yourself in a different and vectorized form. The desire to do this stems from one's interest in one's image. There is no investment in the self here since you are taking something that is already an image of you -- your photo -- and getting another image of you. It's ultimately a representation of you that you want others to see. Cartoon-izing yourself also has another function: to confirm an attractive image. You're not going to submit an unflattering photo for this service; you're going to submit a photo that you believe is attractive. Then when you get back an image of a big-eyed, well-proportioned, perfect-haired cartoon, you will smile and like yourself more because of an image. This ad is contributing to the societal problem of people having a preoccupation with images of their selves rather than just being themselves. Don't click through.

HIGH SCHOOL ART

Look past the ridiculous photo of me as a junior in high school: there is a Matisse and a Rockwell behind me. Advanced art students in this particular high school had the opportunity to reproduce famous works of art on the walls of the school. While it is important that students get to create art from their own visions, it is essential to also learn about great works and artists. Plus, non-art students get exposure to art they could otherwise go their whole lives without seeing. It's really great that this high school recognized the importance of art in a school's curriculum and that the presence of art should be felt throughout the entire school. Not to mention it makes for a very nice-looking hallway.