General Electric is one of the largest corporations in the world and creates products and services in a number of areas.  Recently, one of their highest profile projects has been their “Ecomagination” endeavour.  GE has traditionally been very environmentally conscious which is one of their redeeming qualities, but now they are fully pushing the “green”.

Their site for Ecomagination is pretty nice, but one area is just plain bad-ass. The Smartgrid subsite is pretty much perfect.  Blending interactivity, information, great visuals and new technology, the site informs viewers about GE’s plans to upgrade the energy grid and push new sources of energy.  This, again, is a great cause which everybody can see the need for.

Using Flash, amazing illustration and a nice series of navigation animations, the site pulls you through some tedious numbers in a way which drives home their point: the new grid will be awesome!

There is also this crazy thing using your webcam, a printout and your microphone but you gotta try it yourself.

So, why complain about this? They obviously had some talented designers and developers work on this which is great in these tough economic times.  And green energy is a need which has to be promoted globally.

However, GE isn’t a very good global citizen in other aspects of their business and some of this push to the green side might be some attempt at good will.  GE is essentially an environmental criminal.  They are the fourth-largest producer of air pollution in the US (source)  In 1999 GE paid a $250 million settlement for polluting the Housatonic River and are constantly being fined for polluting the Hudson River.  As well, they are creators of massive amounts of toxic waste and can claim the third highest amount of Toxic Superfund sites.  Well done!

So, they are trying to clean up their image by pushing green in really well designed ways.  Nice.  Oh, they help make nuclear bombs, missiles and jets which they sell to countries illegally.

Not enough evidence of evil doing?  They released “Kath and Kim”, “Lipstick Jungle”, “Joey” and “The Real Wedding Crashers”.  As well, they cancelled “Freaks and Geeks” so you know they really have no soul.

Although, they did show “Alf”….

I was blown away by the message, the music and the visuals. I’m not afraid to say I even got goosebumps… seriously.  Who could have created such an amazingly stirring and passionate piece of visual art?

Please, please, please show me who would display this miraculous and moving statement.

It was Starbucks.

I couldn’t find who created the Starbucks animation but the music is from MC Yogi.  Great vibe in his delivery and of course, the visuals fit right in.  Really a perfect style for the message, the music and complete package.

Now, ok… they are trying to excite the American people and get us all to embrace national unity as well as ride the “change wave”, plus sell some more coffee and that’s fine.  The commercial is great, as I’ve said, and I’m glad someone created it… but c’mon.  This should have come from “your Congress and Senate” or “The Office of the President” or hell, even from “The Pentagon”.

Even still, the fact that it came from a massive corporation is (although not ideal) fine.  But Starbucks… Starbucks which does do a lot of good in the world, yet buys up properties and extends it’s reach far into the valleys and alleys of cities, following local coffee shops and exploiting their culture. They have a dubious past with their CEO’s which they’ve hidden quite well, but hey, we’re all about Change and Hope now.

Let’s hope Starbucks uses their own message and keeps a progressive mindset and continues to promote and push community and service as part of their agenda.  I hope they go one step further and promote peace and justice as well as other causes, although they do claim to be completely outside of politics.

And hey, volunteer… why not!  Check out their site..

Fantastic commercial though…

I have been searching to the ultimate all-in-one device for many moons now, and all attempts have borne no fruit.  I tried with a Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), hoping that it would display my photos, play my MP3’s and videos, hold my important files, browse the web, and even play games.  A few of these things it does well, the others, no so much.  It’s also limited by the type and size of flash memory I had bought for it.  I couldn’t hold my games, MP3s, photos and movies all at the same time.

I tried again with the Cingular 8525, the mother of all phones.  It can do a lot of what the PSP can, plus make calls, minus the games.  However, its software was unstable, and the flash memory format was not at all convienent (and expensive).

What I have realized is that it is better to have many devices perform their function well, than to try and have one device handle many functions poorly.  That doesn’t mean one has to go mainstream.  What the masses choose to play music, make calls, or take pictures with is the best choice for everyone.  In fact, I was very close to purchasing an iPod after my experience with the PSP.  I no longer wanted to play games, and decided that maybe just photos, music and videos will bring me to a device that “just works”.  It did.  And though the Archos player I bought does not do music alone as well as an iPod, it does all three just fine (interestingly enough, Archos’ most recent attempts at adding more features to their players have brought the ire of their customers.  Looks like I am not the only one learning a lesson).  As for a phone, I am using a cheap Nokia that does the “cellular phone” thing just fine.

I imagine that the ultimate portable device is out there just waiting to be made.  I happen to know that the Apple iPhone is not it (not enough space for all of my media, nice try Apple).  However the PSP, Archos 404, Cingular 8525, and even the iPhone are all progress.  Until then, I will be concentrating on what I want a device to do and worrying about that function alone.  The rest is gravy.

As a professional graphic designer, he has a lot to say about the power of images.  Every now and then he’ll talk about what draws the eye, the message an artist sends with each colour chosen, the impact of good and bad contrasts, etc.  So as I began designing the promotional material for the musical my wife and I wrote, it would make sense for me to have approached him to design our logo, posters, and programs.  Of course, lots of things make sense, but that doesn’t mean we do them.

I have come to learn that when one hires an artist to do some design work, it’s a very intensive process.  First, there’s the selection of the artist, then there is the explaining of what you want, and then while it is being created, the artist accepts little to no input.  I understand that it’s a pain in the neck to constantly have someone looking over your shoulder, but I just couldn’t trust someone (no matter how close they are to me) to design something so important.  More than that, I was quite sure I could do it myself.  Why?  Years of amateur web design have given me the practice, massive upgrades in the functionality of free and cheap software have given me the tools, and mooching info off of professional friends and colleagues have filled in the blanks, so I can design what I want.

Sure, some of my initial ideas really sucked, and whatever final product I got from a professional would likely be better than anything I could have done, but this was far more enjoyable.  When you design your own work, it’s not done until you are happy with it.  When someone else designs something for you, when it’s done, you have to make yourself happy with it.

Anyone exposed to Internet 1.0 will remember the garbage that passed for art on early personal homepages.  I had a few beautiful animated gif’s, including a rotating gold cross, and a moose running on the spot.  Anything quirky and fun worked, and design didn’t matter.  Now, the balance between design, content, and technology is a much trickier dance.

‘Do-It-Yourself’ design will not be the way of the future.  As long as there are good artists doing good work, people will pay for it.  But for folk like me, who invest everything emotionally into their projects, and refuse to accept criticism from others, ‘Do-It-Yourself’ design will be more and more feasible as technology advances.

One really nice feature of being the only designer in a corporate setting, is that you are seen as “special”.  People see you as having mysterious skills and powers which they could never possess.  Coworkers are generally in awe over what a designer produces, if it’s good and on time.  When you produce something which is well designed and meets the needs of the piece in a timely manner, you can be seen as a hero and saviour to the office place.  Even when it’s not your best work, people can be impressed.  Wow… what a feeling!

The tough times start when some people become a little jealous.  Everyday, they mess about with spreadsheets, TPS forms and cover sheets while they see that artsy kid playing around with imagery, color swatches and fonts.  Some see this as one coworker having a good time while others are forced to toil with numbers and charts.  In the past, I’ve been cornered by a person who has plenty of comments about how things should look, which colours to use and why my font choices are wrong.  I’m all for critique and suggestions but these people are really hard to deal with. Even if their ideas are good, it’s tough to take them as these people can not be encouraged.

Obviously, every one has their own skill set and that has to be admired.  I am often in awe of plenty of other people who do things I can’t and believe me there are plenty of skills which I am lacking in.  Sales and financial crap are often beyond me, so it’s amazing to me that people are really good at that. I’m never jealous of it, but impressed for sure.  I couldn’t even imagine walking over to an accountant and telling them to reformat their columns or charts or spreadsheets or whatever other money crap they have to do. Um, I guess that’s not my place…or is it?

Whoa.. i just got goosebumps.

notebook but not seeing the wonderful light of day.  Today, I’m taking the first step in sharing an idea with as many people as I can.  Presenting, the first (and hopefully not last) item in the SilentTalkie store: The RTFM Jesus T-Shirt sporting this snazzy logo on the front silkscreened in seven sinful colours!! (The blue is just for effect)

Wearing your blasphemy has never been so much fun!

Truthfully, Mr. Christ would probably be appalled at the state of Him-ianity. Hating, killing, not fishing on the proper side of the boat and so forth. If you’re not sure why you’re laughing, Google “RTFM” and you’ll stop laughing and then start again with even more gusto. Gusto!

So kids, if you like what you see and want to be the first on your block rockin’ the threads, you can preorder by e-mailing info@silenttalkie.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with “RTFM” in the subject line and whatever you want in the body of the message, but hopefully including the number you’ll order so we can gauge the second run.  Eventually (in like a day or so) you’ll get an e-mail with the link to the super-secret store.  Shhhh… tell your friends.  The shirts are a steal at $25.00 CDN + shipping and handling (whatever that is).  You’ll be able to choose from a bunch of colours and all shirts are high quality American Apparel jersey shirts.  The snazzy silkscreened design will distract the eye and keep those hipsters at bay.

Seriously, you need to buy one or thirteen… your grandma’s birthday is coming soon.