May 13

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Packaging Design Inspiration!

Author: lucy
POSTED AT 03:05 PM

When it comes to product packaging, looks do really matter. Thousands of companies have bid their farewells to the plain and ordinary in exchange for more unique and pleasing design elements. Products ranging from clothes to food to household items are now dressed and presented in interesting shapes and sizes to attract consumers, and to hopefully end up on their Instagram accounts.

Creative product packaging benefits both the seller and the buyer. It delights us and perhaps even inspires us to think differently; we like to think that the manufacturer customized the products for our pleasure. Not only is creative packaging visual pleasing for all, it also adds marketing perks for the company and future-customers. According to research done by DotCom Distribution, 35% of consumers developed a new brand after seeing the retailer’s packaging carried around in public, 90% of consumers reuse packaging, and 25% of consumers are likely to share social media photos of attractive product packaging. Once an image becomes shared or tweeted, it has the potential to land on multiple network feeds. Here are some of our favorite picks:

Chase Kettl wedding invites
“Wedding”
Wedding invites no longer have to be in traditional paper and ink form. Graphic Designer Chase Kettl created invitations with a combination of different materials and typography.

Ben Yi Top Paw
“Top
You can now stylishly carry your furry friend’s food in Ben Yi’s Top Paw dog food dispenser. The dispenser features a food compartment as well as a handle and pouring pouch.

MochiThings Giving Tree Stickies
“Mochi”
MochiThings’s Giving Tree Stickers put a playful and thoughtful spin on stickies. Take one, add your note, and watch the stump shrink!

Origami tea
“Tea”
Nathalia Ponomareva has artistically reinvented tea pouches. Her origami bird tea combines two Japanese traditions (tea and origami) and is pleasing to the eye.

Poilu Paintbrushes
“Paint”
Poilu uses the paintbrush bristles to portray beards of the drawn faces on the cardboard. The brush hair is even dyed to give a range of natural human hair colors!

Kolle Rebbe Parmesan Pencil
“Parmesean”
If you’re a cheese lover, this pencil is for you. Kolle Rebbe’s Parmesan Pencil comes in a pack of three. Customers are instructed to sharpen the pencil with the enclosed sharpener to create delicious strands of Parmesan.

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Mar 03

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Our wonderful office designer Matthew has been working on a pretty cool project to enhance our office space even more. If you’ve been following us on Instagram, you’ve probably already seen the finished product.

We’ve had various Oniracom elephants in all shapes and forms scattered around the office, but we have never had something as epic as this!

Matthew used krylon flat clear spray paint to create this faux frosted window look. That’s a mouthful. Try saying ‘faux frosted window look’ 5 times in a row.

We love the finished look. It’s going to put a smile on our faces to see our Oniracom sign every day in the office!

“Scene2”

“Scene1”

“Scene3”

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Jan 31

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As you have all probably noticed from our Instagram shots, we’ve been doing a bit more floor work in the office. Matthew McAvene has been working on providing a faux stone finish to our bathroom walkway. We’re letting you in on all his secrets. Here’s the step-by-step process McAvene went through when painting our stone floors.

First, he began by cleaning and sweeping the floors. They have to be shiny and sparkly in order to have this awesome finish!

Then, McAvene started patching up several holes with concrete patch, as the floor was jagged and needed some extra work and elbow grease.

Once the floor was clean and all patched up, he added a base coat of gray primer, which ends up being the color of the grout in between the stones.

macky1

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Jan 16

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J.W. ‘Bill’ Adkins - “Junk Artist” Documentary

J.W. Adkins, aka Bill talks about his “junk art” in this short documentary. “I want to be just totally worthless and enjoy every moment of it.” “No watches, no clocks, imagination.”

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Sep 01

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Macky World, the latest brainchild of visual, musical and fine artist Matthew McAvene, recently took the Santa Barbara Art Walk by storm.  McAvene used his talents to display his goods in an outstanding setup pictured below.  For his first week at the art walk he is selling creature hats, sculptures, paintings and Tape Ninjas!  Enticing people as they pass by are arial puppets and the massive display with door cut-out.  Two puppets, Joh Avridge and Beeps the Robot, invite potential customers inside…


Macky World’s Entrance


Creature Hats

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Feb 24

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12 Inspiring Art and Design Documentaries

Author: tbone
POSTED AT 07:02 PM



Here are a handful of great documentaries that I’ve found inspiring in one way or another.  I love watching artists work.  I love watching the focus, the intensity and all the small decisions that go into finishing a work of art or a completed designed object.  This all probably started with watching Bob Ross as a kid (Someone please make a Bob Ross documentary!)

I hope you find some of these interesting and inspiring.  Please share your favorites in the comment section.

• Beautiful Losers

• Helvetica

• Objectified

• Mystery of Picasso

• How to Draw a Bunny

• The Cool School

• Crumb

• Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye

• Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century

• Frank Lloyd Wright

• Rivers and Tides

• Style Wars

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Oct 02

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Thomas Campbell’s “Stuff”

Author: tbone
POSTED AT 06:10 PM

Thomas Campbell makes “stuff”.  That’s the short description.  But if you take a look at his body of visual work, you’ll see that the word is appropriately broad.  Film, paint, photography and typography are just a few things he’s impossibly talented at.

If you’ve been following Jack Johnson’s career as a musician and as a film maker, then you’ve seen Campbell’s work.  Check out the beautiful handwritten “Jack Johnson” font and macro photography on www.jackjohnsonmusic.com as well as the artwork featured on his surf films “The Seedling”, “Sprout” and “The Present” (all on Jack’s Woodshed Films).  Campbell has brought a bold, timeless and fluid graphic touch to each project.

Campbell introduces himself on his web site’s bio:
“Well, I am not a huge fan of using words to describe art and every time I am asked to write an artist statement my gut instinct is just to say “Um, I make stuff”.  And in reality, that is what I do.  I am a creative person by nature and by trial and error - and I just enjoy adapting to different creative scenarios and moving with them.”  Check out the entire interview on Campbell’s web site.

Also, Brushfire Records just released the soundtrack to his film The Present which you can pick up here.

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