Choosing colors with a meaning

Choosing the right colors can be the difference between perfect or just lacking something. When making a logo you always want to show a special meaning in the logo, however just choosing a color because you think it fits the best is not always the best option. Another way is to learn what colors means and says when you use them. This is quite important and useful actually when you manage to know what they all means and stands for, you can also easily support why you choose those colors and not just say to your client that you just like it and think it is the best. Read more of this post by clicking this link...

Some of the meanings are quite logical and you might already know the meaning however each color can have more than one meaning. However you should your read and learn the ones you never knew because they would come in handy when you choose a company who have not chosen a color or have something you can reference on to choose a color.

For example choosing an eco friendly logo you first option is pretty easy, you would probably choose green because green stands for nature. However you often would probably make a logo or design for a brand new company which haven't have a own brand color, you need to search for the perfect colors for that brand. There are actually allot of subject that are hard to find a color for when you don't know the meaning of the colors, that why you need to learn what they stand for.

For example choosing for a computer company you would not choose green cause technology got nothing to do with nature even though the circuit boards are green, so what color do you use? A computer company should not show color of the product but show things to enhance the sales of their products. You need a color to make people to be assure that your products are the best. So we look at what we want the logo to represent for or the company. A computer nowadays need to have preformance and power so people know the computer it is fast and good. Red could be a good color for this it stand for strength, power and it catches your attention easily. However if you only sells for a more specific group you can even go further with the colors mixing it with other colors.

I'll advice you to search books that have more info about colors and not only about how to mix and how they are made. But more about their meaning, I've got a color book between my bookshelf which is really great showing how they work on design and showing works with those colors. The book is called "Color Graphics: the power of color in graphic design". - Chung Dha

Publisher: Rockport Publishers
ISBN-10: 1592530893
Author: Karen Triedman and Cheryl Dangel Cullen
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 192
Size: 230x280 mm

Now a list of colors and meanings, I've found at Color Wheel Pro site.

Red Color Red

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a color found in many national flags.

Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent color to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect color for 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here' buttons on Internet banners and websites. In advertising, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red-light districts, 'Lady in Red', etc). Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). This color is also commonly associated with energy, so you can use it when promoting energy drinks, games, cars, items related to sports and high physical activity.

Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.
Orange Color Orange

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and toys.

Dark orange can mean deceit and distrust.
Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
Gold evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.

Yellow Color Yellow

Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. You can choose yellow to promote children's products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' color, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men – nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Light yellow tends to disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark color to highlight it. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.

Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy.
Light yellow is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.

Green Color Green

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.

Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.

Use green to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote 'green' products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, the financial world, banking, and Wall Street.

Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
Yellow-green can indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.
Aqua is associated with emotional healing and protection.
Olive green is the traditional color of peace.

Blue Color Blue

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.

Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity.

You can use blue to promote products and services related to cleanliness (water purification filters, cleaning liquids, vodka), air and sky (airlines, airports, air conditioners), water and sea (sea voyages, mineral water). As opposed to emotionally warm colors like red, orange, and yellow; blue is linked to consciousness and intellect. Use blue to suggest precision when promoting high-tech products.

Blue is a masculine color; according to studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred color for corporate America.

Avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking, because blue suppresses appetite. When used together with warm colors like yellow or red, blue can create high-impact, vibrant designs; for example, blue-yellow-red is a perfect color scheme for a superhero.

Light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
Dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.
Purple Color Purple

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.

Light purple is a good choice for a feminine design. You can use bright purple when promoting children's products.

Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.
Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.

White Color White

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.

White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity.

In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's the color of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate color for charitable organizations; angels are usually imagined wearing white clothes. White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so you can use white to suggest safety when promoting medical products. White is often associated with low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.

Black Color Black

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.

Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color (black tie, black Mercedes). In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.

Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make you look thinner. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or gray background to make the other colors stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colors. Combined with red or orange – other very powerful colors – black gives a very aggressive color scheme.

Credits to:
Color Wheel Pro for each meaning of the colors
Red Dot Books for the picture of the Color Graphic book
Your Mac Life for the Colorwheel picture

Inspired / Microsoft future vision

A great vid of how the future could be by the Microsoft Office Labs.

Credits to: Deeper2k for uploading it to Youtube

A motto to improve your way of life

Life is a precious thing however using a motto could help you improve it. I've recently been thinking what is more important to belief in. And I found believing in yourself is the most important thing in life, even more important than any faith that exist.

Using faith as a support of life is actually not believing in yourself. A faith might make your life easier, because you might think there will be a higher power thatwill help you to do things. But actually thing that you do are not written yet and nobody else can do them except you. You can pray to God to help you, but in the end it is still up to you to do it.

The motto is quite long but it should help when you think of it: "Only you can take the initiative to change the world". Click this link to read the rest of this post...

So what does it mean, people who take initiative always are the first in everything they dare to stand up from the crowd while everyone else waits. For example this recently actually happened when I was in the train at night coming back from Belgium. A guy had his phone playing loud music and he looked like a bad person that could punch you in the face if you told him to put down the volume. There were allot of people mumbling where the music was coming from and if they should say something or not. And they were all afraid of being punched. There was actually someone who took initiative telling him to put down the volume and he put down the volume.

This is a great example but you know if he did not took the initiative walk to that guy to say his music was disturbing other people, the guy would not have put down the volume and everyone would just be bothered and sat doing nothing.

Taking initiative is not always about improving or helping the world. You can also take initiative that can help yourself. Because if you never take initiative you will never be number 1 but always be the 2nd or last person. Taking initiative to learn more while you still studying is big thing I do allot. Why would someone learn extra things while they already get to learn things at school. You should take the initiative to learn more because the more experience the better. And I have more experience in my class so I can stand out to be better. And if I didn't took the initiative to make a portfolio website, I would never had done so many designs and worked for different companies. And also ended up making a tutorial for a magazine.

So why only you can change it? Because you are the most important factor in life. It's your life and nobody else and you can live it as you want and it all depends on you. You are not spinning around the world the world spins around you. If you want to have a quiet trip in the train you should go to the person who is making the noise and tell them to be quiet. If you don't do that you would have had a lousy trip and been bothered by the noise. Because you can wait till someone else to do it, but there isn't always someone else to do that. You can change the way you lead your life because it's not written by anyone or any gods that you would live your life in a certain way. If you think in God and that he controls everything that happens you never have any confident in that you can change things. You might think you will be living a lousy life because it is written so be it. But you are the one in charge of everything that happens and how you life your life. Like if you want to have a good grade you can pray to God to get one while you do nothing else, or you can learn the materials so you know you will have a good grade because you learned it yourself.

However remembering the motto is one thing, but doing it is an other. You really need to believe in your own strength, how ever never be overconfident of your being. However you still need to be realistic about your goals that you can reach while taking initiative. If you know you can't sing you can never be a pop star. If everyone if praising you about your talent then you need to do something with it.
First thing you really need to do is to start building your confident that you can do things. And also try to take initiative. When ever you get a situation that you can be first take it and don't wait till you are chosen. Doing things first should be a trill and helps building your self esteem. I actually learn building my self esteem at the police academy and it's something great that happened to me. Because was very silent always and always waited and never knew what to do. I've became confident that I can do something and I will do it. A big example at a survival game we had to cross a very small wooden bar which was in the water. The first person had to take the rope and cross it without falling into the water. I was only one who took initiative to cross it. I tied the rope across my middle and crawled over the bar, because I knew if I tried to walk on it I could loose my balance and fall into the water. I actually cross the bar and only had wet feet's.
Cause I knew that crawling is the best, the others don't have to know that and they might try to walk over it and all fall into the water. My team actually succeeded crossing without getting wet. And watched other teams getting wet because they tried to run to the other side.

So the conclusion is you really need to belief in your self to have a great life. We can actually change the motto a bit: "Belief that only you have the initiative to change the world".

Tutorial for Computer Arts Projects

Yesterday I bought the new Computer Arts Projects special Packaging Design edition. And it also contains 6 pages of a tutorial I made for how to make a sliceform prototype. You can find my tutorial on page 102 and you can also spot a picture of me there.

The magazine also contains many other great information about packaging design, inspirations, books, tips and tutorials. I have actually got all the Arts projects editions that have information about packaging design, brand design or logo design. I really recommend to check out this magazine each month for great information. Also check their website www.computerarts.co.uk for more information and tutorials.

Review / Water plastic can

Also a can I picked up at Belgium, because it's so unique. However this plastic can already exist for a quite while, but I haven't seen it for years though. I actually bought it in a Chinese Toko in the China Town in Brussels.

The taste of this refreshing water is quite good. I really liked the taste of lychee and its not too sweet and very refreshing.

The can uses a shrinkwrap to get the graphics onto the can. What is neat about this, is that you can see how much there is still left in the can instead of normal aluminum cans.

Also with plastic you can do more about the shapes easily. And could make a very special shape and give more design in it instead of only the graphics.

Review / Burn

I also bought this can at Belgium. Burn an energy drink by Coca Cola company. I've actually spotted this in one of the supermarkets there.

It's actually the most cleanest can design I've ever seen. The sleek can have very little graphics and is overall just black with the flame logo. And on the backside the information. And also part of the information is shaped like the flame logo. But this sleek can is actually smaller than the Coca Cola light plus can and only fits 0,25L in it.

The taste of it is actually the same as Red Bull but with less after taste. Actually it taste better and you won't get a breath that taste like it.

However the warning on it seems very serious about the strength of this power drink. But it got allot of serious competitors with this drink actually , like Red Bull, Golden Power, Bullit and more. However it is one of the best looking can design out there on the shelf.

Review / Coca Cola Light Plus

Yesterday I came back from Belgium and bought few packages that I haven't seen in the Netherlands before. I first saw advertisement of this new Coca Cola drink on few poster and so I went to the supermarkets to buy it. On the can it says it contains healthy vitamins and that's what the plus stands for.

I really do like the graphics on this can, it's a kind of aboriginal design. Also it is actually not the normal can size that Coca Cola normally uses. It's a sleek can that fits 0,33L of Cola in it. The silver of the can is actually not the color of the can it self but its a silver paint.

Now for the taste, it actually doesn't taste bad but it actually taste almost like nothing. It have a very light coke taste, but might be me because I never drink Coca Cola light. However it's easy to drink and not like you need to take small sips but you can drink it easy with big sips of it.

Inspiration / ABC3D

ONE OF THE MOST DELIGHTFUL AND INNOVATIVE POP-UP BOOKS I HAVE EVER SEEN.—Robert Sabuda

From the lenticular cover that changes with the angle of your hands, all the way to the Z, ABC3D is as much a work of art as it is a pop-up book. Each of the 26 dimensional letters move and change before your eyes. C turns into D with a snap. M stands at attention. X becomes Y with a flick of the wrist. And then there's U... Boldly conceived and brilliantly executed with a striking black, red, and white palette, this is a book that readers and art lovers of all ages will treasure for years to come.

MARION BATAILLE is graphic and book designer who has never before been published in this country. She lives in Paris. This is just a hand-made mock-up of the actual book which publishes in Oct. 2008. We couldn't be more excited about it.

Also for those asking that's the incredible 30's trio The Boswell Sisters singing "Roll On"

Hardcover: 36 pages
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (October 14, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596434252
ISBN-13: 978-1596434257

Credits to: Roaring Brook Press

Easter scoutwalk

Yesterday I helped out at the Easter scoutwalk. I helped out placing chairs and tables at the checkpoint where the people who joined the Easter scoutwalk could get a stamp. Also I had helped placing apples at checkpoint 2 where people could get a free apple. Carrying all those thing really made my arms sore. After helping out with the preparation I went to make a pictures of the Easter scoutwalk.First the people who wants to join the scoutwalk need buy a form with different questions that they need to answer and also they need to count all the easter things that were hidden along the path.
This is the starting line at the entrance of the forest. Just by following the arrow they would walk along the scoutpath.
When the people walked the whole path they would get a pot of Violaceae per form. I helped out here for a while giving the people the flowers and also resupplying the table so it looked full.

However due to the weather there were not that many people who joined the Easter scoutwalk. And we had allot of flowers left over. Also there were few problems with the newspaper articles. One said the walk would have started at 11 o'clock which was 1 hour to early and the other said at 12 o'clock would be one walk and at 4 o'clock would be the second walk. But it should have said the walk starts at 12 0'clocl till 4 o'clock.
Also there were different animals people or children could hold or play with.The rabbit were very cute and cuddly.There was a really cool looking white rabbit with black around the eye, it looked very emo but very cool. However they animals were lend by a farmer and are not always there are the visitors center.
After the scoutwalk ended I helped out with retrieving a table and searching for the hidden easter stuff. Also first time I holded a wheelbarrel and walked a bit with it in the forest to the visitors center.

Free publicity

There are many forms of free publicity, but many still have allot of work. In this post I will talk about few kinds of free publicity and how they work.

Website / Blog
A website or a blog could be seen as a free publicity but you need to have visitors. Just publishing a website online or a blog without making the needed PR could make your traffic to be close to zero visitors. For me it's not really a free publicity even though you can make a website or a blog for free. You should actually see them as the main goal to get visitors to. However you still need to update your website/blog weekly or daily to keep people interested and also to make sure that people know that your website is fresh and have new things every time they visit it.

Forums
If you are very talk active, visiting forums that have a close subject of what you do or sell could be very helpful. Cause you can actually put a small footer beneath every post you made to guide people to your website or blog. It's not going to work if you just post small things that people wouldn't look at. You should actually post things to make them interested to see more of your work. Post your work and ask what they think of it, help people with great tips or post very interesting things that you have seen or found on the internet.

Myspace / Facebook / Hyves
These friends and groups gathering sites are also a target to aim for. You can open an account to gather friends and also actually trying to gather visitors. These sites you can also join groups or open one. The aim for this is to open a group to find members that wants to join the group. Here you need to try to join groups that are close related to your subject and post interesting things and link them to your own group. Because those sites have allot of daily visitors and different groups you would easily get new visitors that might be interested in your work or the same subject and join your group.

Youtube
Making Youtube movies doesn't always mean people would look at it. However it is a tool to make people to get interested in your work. Just like showing interesting pictures of things, you can also film them and talk about it.

Mouth to mouth
This is probably the best way but really hard to control and to make it happen. With mouth to mouth meaning that people you know would talk about your work and that they would say it to someone else and so on. This can happen on a friend base or business base. On business base you actually supply good work and make it easy for the costumers and that they really liked your service, then they could recommend people to buy things from you instead of the competition. A friend base is just your regular friend. Show them something very special and they would sometimes show other because it is so special they want others to see it to. However both are hard to control because you don't know if they would tell other or not. The best way is to do your best job and provide great service to have a higher chance they recommend others.

Blog to blog
This is same as mouth to mouth but instead of talking you try to put your work on a blog which other pick up and have allot of visitors. This is hard to control but if you can manage this it's probably a great way to get visitors. The way to start this is to know which blogs to aim for. You need to search blogs that is closely related to your subject and actually mailing them with something interesting you putted on your website or blog. This could mean you have a gadget site and you just designed a new gadget which is very special, then you should try to get your stuff on Gizmodo. Because Gizmodo is a website that is visited daily by millions of people. And there are bound to be some that have an own blog, and they could copy the article from Gizmodo and put it up their own blog.

Direct approach (for designers)
This might seem bit spam like but directly approaching people you want to have as a costumer is a big step. You can actually wait for costumers to go to you or you can search for them. There are many ways in finding a costumer.

Using Myspace/ facebook/ hyves is one option I have found as a designer. Their are actually allot of companies that post on those site to find a cheap designer they often search student desigers or the groups that got to do with design. However these companies really search for the cheapest price to make a design for them, and really the lowest prices.

The other way is to search for website or companies and look at their design and write and recommendation email what could be improved. However this is very bold and mean sometimes, but it often have a good result because they don't like the design too. However you should not try this on famous website that already have great designs. Search for starting companies or companies that really have bad designs.

Both these way could easily lead to new costumers which they have use mouth to mouth publicity. They can recommend you to others because you did a good job or really improved their design.

Conclusion
The conclusion is that you really need interesting things to make people to go to your website or want to buy something from you. You can be a designer and have a website online but have logo's or designs that aren't that special, or you can be a designer with a specialty which other don't have. So you need to find what you are the best in and find how you can stand out from the crowd to be most interesting to see. And never think just putting a website online is all you need to get visitor or costumers to your website. And you need to do allot of PR on regular bases to keep the traffic flow or to get costumers.

Candywriter / Available

These are my entries for Candywriter contest. Candywriter is a company that makes games for Macintosh operating systems. For this logo I made a candy can with a fountain pen head on it.
This was the first version of the logo design. However it had a too much of a Christmas feel to it cause of the white and red colors. So I revised the design with much brighter candy colors making it less Christmassy.

Platina Air

This is an old project of the first year, it's a project for PVBJ1 a very serious project to test our skill to see if you can go to the second year. We had chosen for a luxurious travel organization that sells vacations in at luxurious places. Above you see the Platina Air logo, the illustration in the logo is a P shaped in a orbital line like the travel route of planes. We have chosen for Platina because that is the most valuable metal there is. Click here to read the rest of this post.

Here is a website design, I would like to put it online but the problem is that people would most likely think it is a real website. Click the picture to see the animated gif to see different pages. It is a very clean design to make it look more professional. Above the menu next to the logo is a changing banner showing different tags lines to convince the visitors and give them extra information. There are various 3d integrated on various pages. On the destination page you can choose places from a list or browse around a 3d globe to find a destination.













This is a folder design, with clean as possible design and various pictures showing the best of Platina Air.
This is the letter design with a watermark of the logo in the background. It is a simple letterhead with everything aligned to the right so there is space for the address on the left.This is the envelop design with the logo on the left with a small address line under it pf the company. And a watermark of the logo in the back to make the envelop less empty.
Of course a travel agency need to a travel bag labels. I have chosen a design that prevents that people could read your address on your label. Because when you are away you don't want someone to break into your house while you were away and steal everything. The label have a returning design of logo and the watermark of the logo and a kind tag saying "Thank you for traveling with Platina Air".

Conclusion with it was actually I should had done the 3d website things much earlier than just saving it at last. But the online 3d does gave allot of wow and great, but did not gave more point at this PVBJ1 module.

Eco-Icon

These are the logo's I designed for Eco-Icon. Eco-Icon is a green and environmental friendly company that work on a green building principle. The logo is build out of a leaf with a water drop. The base shape of illustration of the logo is actually build out of the initials ei. Top is a abstract simple shaped design and bottom is a more realistic like leaf design.

These are the web2.0 design ( left), flat color design ( middle) and Black White ( right).

Waterdrops on flowers

Here are some pictures I made of few flowers in the garden of the forest center.
Its a quite pretty color that his flower got and really pop out between all the green.

Social internship

Today I did an social internship for a school assignment and went to help a small organization that help preserve a forest in the Netherlands, the Stealduinse bos. In the center of this forest you can find a small center which shows allot of information about this forest and also show what animals lives there. The building was originally a cow shed of a farm. It's a great fun for people who love to learn things about nature and also fun for kids to learn those things too.In the center is a small exhibition for people to get information about the nature and the animals. This changes seasonally so the animals information changes each time so you get more information about what kind of animal could you aspect seeing while you are in the forest in that season and what they could be doing. In the top level op the building there is a exhibition which changes from time to time. Today it was all about mouses. On the green boards are allot of facts and info pinned about the mouses. People can actually rent it to show their work if they want it. Also there is a video room that shows some info about the nature.
Today wasn't really a good day for people walking in the forest cause it was raining. But still about 30 people came to the center. Some were there to go the the toilet cause when you are in the forest it is the only public toilet in the forest. Outside the center there is a garden which grows different plants and have special things placed to grow special mosses and also used for different animals to live there.

For those who goes to Hoek van Holland should go to the forest and visit the center. It's totally free to enter and to look around. And the toilets are always open to use. Also you can organize different events like a group walk through the forest or a party in the center.

Next week I will do the second part of the social intership and I will be helping with the Easter walk event. Children and also their parents can join this event and walk around the forest and play some games and answer special question or they have to count eggs or do other stuff. And in the end they get a small plant to take home.

Inspired / Global Package Gallery

I've found this great website that have a very nice collection of very high detailed and high resolution photography of different packagings. The Global Packaging Gallery is a website that collects pictures of any packaging that is designed and they have professional photographers photographing the packagings. It's a very big and great collection of picture be sure to check this website when you are doing a packaging research.

Inspired / Kuler Adobe Labs

Get inspired by the colors at Kuler.adobe.com. Register for free and make color your own color themes or get inspired by the color themes that others made. This is a great site to look at good color matches and vote what colors you like. It's very useful to get a nice color theme for a logo, website or any other design.

Inspired by Jackson Pollock

I've found this great site called Jackson Pollock.org . And you can have a go trying to make a very own Jackson Pollock artwork with it. Have a go and get inspired by any thing you try to doodle with it.

Review / Pantone Huey

Today I bought the Pantone Huey a color control for your screen. And the there was a significant change compared between before I used it and after. My screen was actually very yellow making me see wrong colors. So I am pretty glad I bought this to calibrate my screen, cause now I am more sure about the colors I use and see. For people in the Netherlands you can buy it at Van Beek. So if you have problems with printing that the colors are off or different from what you see on your screen, buy a Pantone Huey to calibrate your screen.

Watch the vid to learn more about Pantone Huey.

Credits to: Softmaged for uploading to Youtube.

Available / Advisory Now!

Here are the entries for the AdvisoryNow! contest. Here I made the log with an integration of the letters A and N, making it into a almost single shape.

Here I tried to show the ! sign more and tried various positioning to search the best result.
Here this is a different form of integrating the letter A and N however the N is harder to spot than the A.

Review / Aquafresh new toothpaste packaging

This week I saw the new toothpaste packaging from Aquafresh, so I bought it. At first I was pretty curious how it works. The graphic design is great, but how they use the shrink foil was a very bad.
They didn't added perforated holes in the shrink foil so you could remove the foil from the cap. So I had to cut the foil but that was a real pain to do actually. My advise for Aquafresh is that they should had just use a direct print on the tube it self and left the cap free so you can open it easily, or just perforate it so you can remove the foil easily.