Enhancing Human Experiences » Creativity

BP has more issues than just their identity

Sean Farres — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:19:23 +0000

The environmental catastrophe happening in the Gulf is horrific. No one really understands the ecological consequences from this mistake yet. In a CBS survey, 70 percent disapproved of BP’s response. Designers agree too and are using their voice to express their disapproval. Greenpeace is asking for a redesign of BP’s logo.

View Logo Gallery

Enter the Greenpeace BP logo redesign competition

Learn more about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Caps Lock key demoted

Corinna Proctor — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:47:17 +0000

After years of suffering through accidental CAPITALIZATIONS and wondering why keyboard manufacturers give such prominence and high priority to the Caps Lock key, I decided to simply remove it. And wha-la, my life is all the better for it. The key functions remain in tact, as anyone who has accidentally popped a key will tell you, but now, the rubberized button takes up only about 3 mm of space in my life as opposed to about 2 cm. Granted it isn’t very attractive, but it is highly functional, as the risk accidentally tapping the bubble is significantly less than tapping the entire key. Customization rocks.

Sustainable Olympic Medal Design

Sean Farres — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:30:58 +0000

I am always fascinated by the design the Olympics. From the environmental graphics down to the tiny icons of each individual sport they all have a special relationship to every host city. The 2010 winter games in Vancouver do not disappoint. See the design process of the first sustainable Olympic medals made from electronic waste.

Poor Logo Design – NC Education Lottery

Sean Farres — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:21:47 +0000

One symbol which represents NC in the worst way is our current lottery logo. The mountains and lighthouse are child’s scribble. Our beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains are mushy mounds of dirt. Our beach coast is a stack of bobby pins. North Carolina Education Lottery you are a winner in poor graphic design. Please play again.

Ad Barns – An Unexpected History Lesson

Sheila Crosby — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:31:03 +0000

Over the holidays, my family and I traveled to Ohio to visit relatives. In the southern part of the state, I snapped this picture as we drove by.

I didn’t realize at the time that much has been researched and documented about the Mail Pouch barns, as they are referred to. I just thought it was a cool nostalgic image. In my quick search for more information on these barns, I discovered a book called Advertising Barns: Vanishing American Landmarks by William G. Simmonds. From this book, I learned that this campaign lasted 100 years and this ad has been painted approximately 50,000 times. (The words along the bottom of this barn used to say “Treat Yourself to the Best.” )

Growing up in Ohio, I can’t say I recall seeing these barn advertisements but I’m glad I had the chance to learn a little history about them. I hope they continue to stand the test of time.

Healthcare reform

Sean Farres — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:18:02 +0000

One medical brand incorporating good design is Help Remedies. The simplicity is genius. The greatest feature of the medicine is no use of excessive fillers. What stands this product out even more is the packaging. Its main message is how it can heal me. What I like even more is that the packaging can go in the compost. Does your Advil do that?

In-Store Display

See our new recycling system!

Sean Farres — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:57:19 +0000

What a great meeting at the TriUPA & HFES Carolina World Usability Day event. HumanCentric had the opportunity to present our new recycling solution to this year’s design challenge. It goes without saying we were the clear winners in the design challenge (well… we were the only entry, but let’s not get caught up in the details…). The audience was very receptive and had lots of great questions about our process, information graphic and in-home bin prototype. Click here to view our presentation.

Many audience members wanted our solution implemented across the Triangle to jump-start awareness and increase recycling. HumanCentric is very excited about the community support and would love to have our vision for a better recycling system become a reality. If you would like to join our campaign for a greener Triangle please contact Alexander Hussain at HumanCentric. HumanCentric’s next steps are to connect local government officials to present our improved recycling solution.

Video experiments, fun times.

Caroline Madigan - Former Staffer — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:10:21 +0000

When HumanCentric was asked to shoot video for a project, Alex and I got pretty excited. We set out to experiment, gathering materials for a video setup.

The project required footage of ice and water in motion. Our challenge (and the fun part) was filming in a way that reflected the product’s visual language.

This affected the footage in a few ways:

We needed the right speed. Not too fast, not too slow, just natural-looking.
We had to shoot on a white background.
We needed high contrast. If the video was washed out or lacked detail, it wouldn’t integrate with the rest of the product.

Alex prepared the background and lighting, while I gathered containers of all sizes. Then, it was on. Melting ice cubes, water splashes, running to the kitchen, high-fives when things looked awesome. We dropped ice cubes one at a time. We poured an entire pitcher. We had everything from a fish tank to a small vase. It was fun.

I can’t show you video until the product comes out, but here are some tips we discovered:

Ice has nice contrast when lighting is slightly behind and underneath the container. For the final shots, we used a container with a small pedestal.
Handbrake is a good (and free) video converter. We had HD footage and used this program to try different file types.
Photoshop imports video! Part of the project required us to split the video into frames, and I was happy to find how simple this is in Photoshop. Just make sure your files are in .mov format, and try File > Import > Video frames to layers.

Now we’re on the lookout for new things to film, so send your crazy ideas.