Cowbird: In case Facebook Timeline is not enough.

Check out Cowbird. It's like Facebook, Flickr and more, all rolled into one. A diary, a journal, a storytelling visual experience. Sharing your stories with the world. Politics, human drama, riots, movements, it's all going to be on display. The future of sharing will now be promoted through this new site. For better or worse. I was a bit freaked out on the new Facebook. People who don't like changes to Facebook, get ready to complain. Facebook Timeline is now available for everyone to use. It radically changes the look of your profile page.

The biggest thing you'll notice is instead of a series of 5 little pictures across the top, you get to upload one large cover photo. Cowbird is a simple tool for telling stories and a public library of human experience. But it's also more than that.

Founder Jonathan Harris wants to encourage a slower kind of storytelling. Cowbird has a rich set of tagging options (including the basics like people and places but with some more specialized ones like dedications). These are the heart of how posts on Cowbird relate to one another. For instance, instead of a stream in reverse chronological order based on the posting date, stories in Cowbird are tagged with the date of when the story happened. You can browse a timeline and find two stories next to each other even though they were written months apart because they are about the same event.

This could be a game changer for world history and bringing together causes and creative communities. It's cool. I'm sure this is just the beginning of where our Facebook lives are headed.

www.cowbird.com

Fiat Abarth: It's about time.

Brand Evolution

Evolve or die. That's the brand mantra in the current hyper paced retail environment. Brands need to constantly keep fine-tuning their personality. Sometimes it requires a return to the history books in order for a brand to move forward. Many successful brand rejuvenations went back in time to rekindle the essence of their DNA. Burberry's, Harley-Davidson, Nike and many others have returned to their roots to get consumers to remember why they loved the brand in the first place.

The Art and Science of Rebranding

It's important to note that research and strategic planning play a key role in a successful rebranding campaign. The key stakeholders, customers and employees should be taken into account. It's also important to look not only at the historical aspect of the company -- but the potential new horizons that will be the future of the brand.

Seeing into this future is part of the visionary skill set of the brand development team. Is there any equity in the current brand? Is it a complete overhaul -- or a brand evolution?

Best Rebrands

RIP Steve Jobs

I'm pretty sure the graphic design community is the largest and most hardcore group of followers of the Apple brand. Without the Mac, we would have struggled to create ads, logos, packaging and all that goes into "design".
Thanks Steve! You made it all better.

Ducati Sport Classic - 70's chic

I am digging the retro motorcycle craze. So many cool old bikes showing up on eBay and Craigslist. Lots of reissues and retro inspired bikes popping up from Harley, Ducati, Triumph and beyond. This Ducati Sportclassic is a sweet looking machine. Stay tuned for more eye candy.