Back when we lived in Toronto, the daily walk to my office job involved walking across Union Station, where every week I was bombarded with direct promotional items from big brand companies: bags of Uncle Ben’s Rice, Coke Zero cans, chewing gum, Kleenex, Shampoo & Conditioner sample, bottles of Frank’s Hot . . . → Read More: Mile High Raccoon Promo]]>

Back when we lived in Toronto, the daily walk to my office job involved walking across Union Station, where every week I was bombarded with direct promotional items from big brand companies: bags of Uncle Ben’s Rice, Coke Zero cans, chewing gum, Kleenex, Shampoo & Conditioner sample, bottles of Frank’s Hot Sauce, Aero and Hersey’ chocolate bars, Kellogg’s Fibre Bar, Red Bull & various juice boxes, Colgate toothpaste, Fresh Pasta from Pizza Hut, free prescription glasses (for real: I still wear them everyday!), a rose from CityTV’s The Bachelor and the famous Avocado from Avocados Mexico that made it to this blog (read more here). Here in Ottawa, not so much luck in getting direct promotion stuff! In spite of working right downtown, the only direct promotion I came across before today was around the time Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was released. People dressed in giant playing cards were hanging around Metcalfe and Albert Street, distributing playing cards deck in nice little tin boxes to people who could answer trivia questions about Alice. I  was thrilled, got the question right and proudly brought home the pack of cards… All that to say that today, when I saw a giant blue balloon in the sky and people dressed as air hostess everywhere I felt like I was once again living in a big city and was very excited to see what that was all about. Sadly though, it wasn’t as extraordinary as I expected it to be. Nothing eatable (first disappointment) and nothing useful to me (second disappointment) as unfortunately we don’t have any trip planned to New York, Boston or Chicago. Indeed, the air hostesses were simply distributing cards announcing a Porter promotion: 50% off any flight booked before September 7. Past the initial disappointment, I actually looked at the card that was handed in to me and realized that, as always, Porter had paid a special attention to design and create once again an attractive piece featuring its now famous raccoon.

(Short parentheses here: does someone know why Porter choose a raccoon as their company’s icon? Does that animal have any flying or traveling particularities that I’m unaware of? On this website we can see more branding that the London/Zurich/NYC/Hong Kong/Tokyo-based firm Winkreative created for Porter, but nowhere do they mention the story behind Mr.Porter. As cute as I think it is, I’m still struggling to understand why the airline uses that particular rodent… End of parentheses.)

Back to the card, it’s printed on nice stock and uses a lot of red, which is pretty unusual for Porter who normally primarily uses blue and white in its materials. I guess the stage curtains would not have had the same impact if they hadn’t been red – especially on the Globe and Mail website because, as you can see below, the “Porter party” continued on the web!

It was a well targeted campaign: the main clientele of Porter (executives who travels frequently for business purposes) received the card this morning on their way to work, probably didn’t pay much attention to it and dropped it in their briefcase, got to the office, turned on their computer and visited one of Canada’s most read newspaper website, saw the Porter ads everywhere and remembered the cards they were handed in earlier. Then, if all goes according to the airline’s plan, they gave the card to their secretary/admin assistant for them to book their next flight(s) right away using the discount code… that is of course if they’re well-trained execs wanting to save their business some money! Quite a straightforward marketing approach…

However, I have to mention that there was an annoying little mistake on the back of the card: a bullet is missing between Thunder Bay and Windsor. Not a big deal, probably a very few detailed-oriented people (like me!) noticed it but since I’m sure that Porter paid a premium price to get this card printed you’d expected typos like this to get caught before production. In spite of that oversight, the flyer (no pun intended) will still make it to my collection of pretty printed things to keep.

Vick @ Yellow Car Design

Anyone who’s been to London is familiar with this map. Overwhelming at first – it does illustrate 11 lines and 270 stations – it doesn’t take too long to get accustomed and know how to use it, even for lost tourists. For this, we have to be thankful to Harry Beck, designer of the . . . → Read More: Underground Map Design]]>

Underground Map

Anyone who’s been to London is familiar with this map. Overwhelming at first – it does illustrate 11 lines and 270 stations – it doesn’t take too long to get accustomed and know how to use it, even for lost tourists. For this, we have to be thankful to Harry Beck, designer of the tube map in 1933. The story behind the map design is very interesting; especially the fact that poor Harry was paid only the equivalent of £5 for his work (his boss didn’t think that the map would be a success so didn’t bother paying him much…£5 is a real bargain for a design that is still the basis of the map used nowadays)!

We came across this version of the map today. It is a representation of how the tube lines exactly are:

Geographical Map

Comparing the two maps confirms Beck’s opinion that “If you’re going underground, why do you need to bother about geography?”. This is great thinking that combines functionality, accuracy and excellent design; no wonder if inspired most other major cities’ subway system maps.

Its electrical diagram shape might have inspired (and still be inspiring) many map designers, still its simplicity and “prettyness,” on a design point of view and according to me, is rarely matched. Take for example the Toronto subway map. It’s not a bad design, but I am not a big fan of mixing the vintage look of the logo to the modern design of the map. A choice should be made to either one of the style. If choosing the modern approach, then I would suggest to whoever revamp the logo to choose a font that makes a bit more sense with the word ‘rocket’…

Toronto's Rocket

Going back to the Tube, while doing a bit of research for this blog I found a website that gives fascinating facts you never knew about the London Underground and thought I’d list a few here, even though most are not design-related:

-The most popular route for tourists is Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line. It is quicker to walk this distance than travel on the tube.

-The oldest tube line in the world is the Metropolitan line. It opened on the 10th January 1863.

-More of the London Underground is open than in a tunnel (why don’t they change the name to Topground?).

-The peak hour for tube suicides is 11am — People who commit suicide by throwing themselves under tube are called “one-unders”. In New York they are known as “track pizza” (does anyone know what they’re called here, in Toronto?).

-Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916 (and it is now available for sale to use as a commercial fonthere).

-The air in the underground is on average 10°C hotter than the air on the surface.

-Green grapes cause more accidents on the London Underground than banana skins (?!?).

-Only one person was ever born in a tube carriage and her name is Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor – check out her initials. She was born in 1924 on a Bakerloo line train at Elephant & Castle.

-Yellow Car Design once spent a whole night sitting on the floor of a station waiting for their train home because the tube had encountered some difficulties (a one-under, maybe?).

This last fact might have inspired the topic of this blog post. Indeed, beside dodgy people and drunk chavs there wasn’t much to look at at the station during that one night… No wonder the map on the wall in front of us left such an impression on me!

vicky

If you’ve read yesterday’s blog, you already know that we went to Kensington Market on Sunday. It is always a great source of inspiration; enough to inspire two consecutive blog posts! Courage My Love is a lovely little incense-smelling vintage shop that sells all sorts of imported jewelry, beads, clothes, shoes and decoration items . . . → Read More: Courage My Love]]>

Courage My Love

If you’ve read yesterday’s blog, you already know that we went to Kensington Market on Sunday. It is always a great source of inspiration; enough to inspire two consecutive blog posts! Courage My Love is a lovely little incense-smelling vintage shop that sells all sorts of imported jewelry, beads, clothes, shoes and decoration items such as lamps, frames, etc. I think I (Vicky) bought some earrings there, a long time ago. Anyways, we took this picture of the shop’s rooftop because we really like the randomness of the naked red mannequins just sitting there, chilling. We did a little research and found out that Courage My Love has been around for ages: it was established in 1975, at a different location, and moved to its Victorian house in Kensington Market in 1980. It was then the first vintage store in the neighbourhood. Their story is very interesting and definetely worth reading if you don’t know what to do in this cold and grey Tuesday.

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Courage My Love!

Si vous avez lu notre blog d’hier vous savez déjà que nous sommes allés nous promener à Kensington Marketdimanche dernier. C’est toujours une grande source d’inspiration: assez pour inspirer deux blogs consécutifs! Courage MyLove est un charmant petitmagasin de trucs (vêtements, chaussures, bijoux, perles, accessoires de déco, etc.) vintagequi sent l’encens. J’y ai déjà acheté des boucles d’oreilles, il me semble… En tout cas, nous avons priscette photodu toitde la boutique car on aime vraiment l’étrangeté des mannequins rouges sur le toitbleu ciel. L’effet est bien réussit; au premier coup d’oeil on diraitdes vraispersonnes! Nous avons apprisque la boutique, une entreprise familiale, existe depuis 1975. Courage MyLove a emmenagé dans la maison victorienne du quartier Kensingtonen 1980; c’étaitalors le premier magasin vintagedu voisinage. La boutique a été mentionnée dans à peu près tous les magazines de mode canadiens et a gagné une vingtaine de récompenses dont le prix “Meilleure Boutique Vintage”. Quant aux mannequins, on ignore quand ils ont faitleur apparition sur le toit…

On 24/08/2009 we published a post about a cool picture of a graffiti taken 2 years ago in Kensington Market. We mentionned in that post that we would like to go back and see what it now looks like. Well, we did go during the weekend and were really disappointed: the . . . → Read More: Another cool thing from Kensington Market]]>

Street Art in Kensington Market

On 24/08/2009 we published a post about a cool picture of a graffiti taken 2 years ago in Kensington Market. We mentionned in that post that we would like to go back and see what it now looks like. Well, we did go during the weekend and were really disappointed: the wall where the naked-with-a-wig woman used to be was a plain, dull, red-brownish painted brick wall… What a shame… However, just down the street from it we saw that painting (above), pretty cool isn’t? Kensington Market is such an artistic, eclectic and vibrant neighborhood; we think that all buildings should be treated as art canvas for artists to create stuff like the piece featured here.

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Kensington Market: un autre graffiti très très cool

Le 24/08/2009 nous avons publié un blog à propos d’une photo prise il y a 2 ans mettant en vedette un graffiti de Kensington Market. Nous avions mentionné que nous voudrions bien y retourner pour voir ce qu’était devenu le mur; éh bien nous y sommes allés hier. Quel déception! Non seulement est-ce que la femme-nue-à-la-perruque est disparue, mais le mur n’a plus aucun graffiti. C’est un mur de briques rouille platte, sans personnalité … Fort heureusement, un peu plus loin, sur la même rue, nous avons vu ÇA (photo ci-haut). Cool, non? Kensingston Market est un quartier tellement vibrant, artistique et éclectique… Tous ses bâtiments mériteraient d’être utilisés en tant que médium par les artistes pour pouvoir y créer des oeuvres telles que celle-ci.

We see this building every time we go to Loblaws, it is part of the Redpath Sugar Refinery and Museum. The image is called ‘Heavenly Waters’ and was painted in 1997 by the artist Wyland, it is one of his many ‘Whaling Walls’ that are located on a variety of buildings around the . . . → Read More: Whales at a sugar factory…]]>

Sugar Factory Wall

We see this building every time we go to Loblaws, it is part of the Redpath Sugar Refinery and Museum. The image is called ‘Heavenly Waters’ and was painted in 1997 by the artist Wyland, it is one of his many ‘Whaling Walls’ that are located on a variety of buildings around the world.

We think it is quite a positive image in a great location to remind the many customers of Loblaws of these majestic creatures and their conservation. From a purely visual perspective it is also a welcome relief from the ugly grey concrete that makes up much of Toronto’s architecture so basically it’s win win and something that maybe more companies should think about instead of plastering their walls with boring concrete or bland advertising.

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Des baleines à l’usine de sucre…

Nous voyons cette fresque à chaque fois que nous allons faire l’épicerie chez Loblaws; le mur fait partie de l’usine de sucre RedPath et de son musée situé de l’autre côté de la rue, sur le bord du Lac Ontario. La muraille a été peinte en 1997 par l’artiste Wyland et est l’une de ses nombreuses fresques sous le thème ‘Whaling Walls’ qui sont peintes sur une grande variété de batîment à travers le monde. Celle-ci s’intitule ‘Heavenly Waters’ (Eaux Célestes).

En tout cas, c’est différent des autres usines aux alentours donc on aime ça; c’est rafraîchissant, coloré et fait changement des murs de bétons gris ennuyants qui, trop souvent, font partie du paysage urbain de Toronto.

We came accross this the other day and at first thought that it was a graffiti on top of another graffiti… But it’s not. When looking at it from closer we can clearly see that it is a big sized surrealist photomontage and that the torn paper effects are part of the whole thing. . . . → Read More: Weird but cool…]]>

Street Art - Toronto

We came accross this the other day and at first thought that it was a graffiti on top of another graffiti… But it’s not. When looking at it from closer we can clearly see that it is a big sized surrealist photomontage and that the torn paper effects are part of the whole thing. There is a lot going on so we won’t analyze it, we’ll leave that up to you but hey, it looks cool so we had to share!

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Bizarre & Cool…

Nous avons aperçu ce grafiti lors de l’une de nos nombreuses marches à travers le centre-ville. On dirait que c’est un grafiti par-dessus un autre grafiti, mais non… Les effets de papier déchiré et de superpositions font partie intégrale de l’oeuvre. Nous partageons cette image avec vous mais laissons l’analyse du montage à votre discrétion; c’est un peu trop complexe pour nous!

We came across this billboard during the weekend and were somewhat disappointed. It is as if the designers who did it had a really good idea of ‘hot meeting cold’, but sort of ran out of time in the process so got a classroom of high school art students to do the job . . . → Read More: Solstice Chewing Gum – Ugly Billboard]]>

Billboard-Solstice Chewing Gum

We came across this billboard during the weekend and were somewhat disappointed. It is as if the designers who did it had a really good idea of ‘hot meeting cold’, but sort of ran out of time in the process so got a classroom of high school art students to do the job in papier-mâché. It’s a shame, cause really it’s a good idea and could have worked very well; but unfortunately is was badly implemented so it looks ugly. However, even if it’s hard to tell if the ‘ugliness’ was done on purpose or not we thought that it was worth taking a picture and sharing it with the world!

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Solstice – Panneau Publicitaire

Nous avons aperçu ce panneau publicitaire il y a quelques jours et avons été un peu déçus par son apparence. C’est comme si les designers en charge de sa conception avaient eu une super bonne idée au départ, mais en cours de route ont manqué de temps et ont dû faire appel à une classe d’élèves en art visuel pour finir le projet en papier mâché! C’est dommage, parce que vraiment, la rencontre du ‘chaud et froid’ aurait pu fonctionner et être visuellement intéressante si elle avait été correctement exécutée…

We found that beautiful little pamphlet among the dozen of disgustingly ugly flyers that we receive everyday in our mailbox from Pizza Pizza, Domino and Mamma’s Pizza. It really distinguished itself with its 2-colours print, its clean lines and its simply folded beige matte paper. Complete opposite of the other flyers, with . . . → Read More: raaw – Japanese Cuisine]]>

raaw - Japanese Cuisine

We found that beautiful little pamphlet among the dozen of disgustingly ugly flyers that we receive everyday in our mailbox from Pizza Pizza, Domino and Mamma’s Pizza. It really distinguished itself with its 2-colours print, its clean lines and its simply folded beige matte paper. Complete opposite of the other flyers, with their over-the-top bright colours, super shiny inks and grainy looking food pictures. The other flyers went straight into the recycling bin. Raaw’s pamphlet went into our ‘good design/worth keeping as example/inspiration’ box. We have no idea if their food is any good, but their menu flyer is, and that’s all what matters to us, at least for blog purposes.

Even though we are impressed by their mailing piece, we feel a bit let down by their website… First, the logo is all pixelated, the colour black is over-used and the font is ugly. Really, they should have kept the flyer’s recipe for the website as well!

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raaw -Restaurant Japonais

Nous avons reçu ce beau petit pamphlet dans notre boîte aux lettres, parmi une tonnes de dépliants vraiment affreux en provenance de Pizza Pizza, Mamma’s Pizza et Domino. Celui-ci, qui annonce le menu de Raaw, un  restaurant japonais, se distinguait vraiment des autres par la simplicité de son papier, de ses lignes et de ses couleurs. Rien à voir avec les pamphlets des autres restaurants, avec leurs couleurs fluorescentes, leur vernis et leurs photos de nourriture peu appétissante, qui eux sont allés directement dans le bac de recyclage! Le menu de Raaw, quant à lui, a été déposé dans notre boîte ‘design intéressant/vaut la peine d’être conservé/potentiel source d’inspiration’. Est-ce que c’est un bon restaurant? Nous en avons aucune idée, et cela nous importe peu… En autant que le design soit intéressant, cela suffit à en faire le sujet de ce blog!

Même si nous sommes impressionnés par l’envoi postal de Raaw, nous sommes déçus du look de leur site internet: le logo est pixelisé, le noir est beaucoup trop utilisé et la police de caractères est horrible. Décidemment, ils auraient dû utiliser la même recette que pour le pamphlet!

This is Tina Tomato, again the result of the equation CREATIVE PEOPLE + GOOD PHOTOSHOP SKILLS + BOREDOM = WEIRD PHOTOMONTAGE. A cherry tomato, a couple of basil leaves, a friend with a camera, a few Photoshop layers and tadammm, Tina was born. We wish we could somehow find a way to make her . . . → Read More: Tina Tomato – The Sexiest Tomato in TO]]>

Tina Tomato

This is Tina Tomato, again the result of the equation CREATIVE PEOPLE + GOOD PHOTOSHOP SKILLS + BOREDOM = WEIRD PHOTOMONTAGE. A cherry tomato, a couple of basil leaves, a friend with a camera, a few Photoshop layers and tadammm, Tina was born. We wish we could somehow find a way to make her famous… She’s got the look! (Damn, writing this put that song in my head.)

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Tina Tomato – La plus sexy des tomates

Voici Tina Tomato, un résultat de l’équation GENS CRÉATIFS + PHOTOSHOP + ENNUI = PHOTOMONTAGES ÉTRANGES. Une tomate-cerise, une couple de feuilles de basilic, une caméra, quelques layers dans Photoshop et tadamm, Tina est née. Nous aimerions qu’elle devienne une star de cinéma… because she’s got the look (comme dans la chanson suivante, que j’ai maintenant dans la tête)!!

We took that picture in 2007 during our first trip to Toronto together. We like it because it’s different from other graffiti , mostly because of the woman’s hair. The wig gives the whole thing another dimension and, compared to other street art that sometime look like they’ve just been ‘painted . . . → Read More: Street Art – Kensington Market]]>

Street Art - Kensington Market

We took that picture in 2007 during our first trip to Toronto together. We like it because it’s different from other graffiti , mostly because of the woman’s hair. The wig gives the whole thing another dimension and, compared to other street art that sometime look like they’ve just been ‘painted there’ the woman looks like she really belong to that wall.

The picture was taken in Kensington Market and we’re planning on going back there sometime soon to see what’s now on that same wall. We hope we won’t be disappointed!

A word about Kensington Market, for people who aren’t familiar with Toronto: that’s one of Toronto’s very arty and unique neighborhood, where you can find almost anything in vintage store. It’s just off Chinatown (with all its fruit & veg & everything else markets), and there are also a few stores specialized in retro furniture so if you’re tired of IKEA and instead dream of decorating your apartment in a genuine 1950′s style this is the place to go!

Moonbean Café - Mocha

One last thing: there’s this organic/fair-trade coffee shop called Moonbean Café where when you order a mocha it comes like the one on this picture. Just that makes it worthwhile to go and spend a Saturday morning there.

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Cette photo date de 2007, lors de notre premier voyage ensemble à Toronto. Ce graffiti se distinguait vraiment des autres, surtout à cause de la ‘vraie’ chevelure de la demoiselle illustrée. En effect, la perruque donne une toute autre dimension au grattifi, comme si la fille était vraiment assise sur le mur, comparativement à la plupart des autres graffitis ou tags qui sont juste placés au hasard.

La prochaine fois que nous retournerons au Kensington Market (où la photo à été prise) nous allons essayer de retrouver ce mur pour voir de quoi il a maintenant l’air, 2 ans plus tard. Espérons ne pas être deçus!

Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas beaucoup Toronto, Kensington est un quartier très unique et artistique situé juste à côté du Chinatown (avec ses marchés de fruits, légumes et toutes sortes de choses!). On y trouve fripperies, boutiques de designers indépendants et il y a même quelques magasins spécialisés dans la vente de meubles rétros qui vendent des sofas à coussins en toile orange et cadre de bois. Très très cool.

Dernière chose: il y a un petit café organique et équitable (Moonbean Café)où les mochas sont servis comme sur la photo. Ça donne le gout d’aller y faire un tour, non?