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.

Fiat 500: Sexy Beast

This is the new Fiat 500 Abarth edition. Sexy little beast. Glad to see the Italians jump in and take on the Smart car and the Mini.

Swoosh: 40 Years Fly By

The story of the Nike Swoosh logo...
here's an excerpt from Steven Heller's new book.

The origin of the mark goes like this: Knight wanted to differentiate BRS's custom product from the ones they were importing from Onituska in Japan: "...so Knight turned to a graphic design student he met at Portland State University two years earlier." One day in 1969, the student, Carolyn Davidson, was approached by Knight and offered $2 per hour "to make charts and graphics" for his business. For the next two years Davidson managed the design work on BRS. "Then one day Phil asked me if I wanted to work on a shoe stripe," Davidson recalled. The only advice she received was to "Make the stripe supportive of the shoe." Davidson came up with half a dozen options. None of the options "captivated anyone" so it came down to "which was the least awful."

Swoosh: 40 Years Fly By — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers

Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store in South Korea

I need a Maserati

Yeah. That's the thought that just popped into my head. I see these gorgeous cars rolling up and down PCH everyday on my way to work and I gotta have one.

Sure I see lots of Ferraris, Bentleys, Lambos and other assorted insane road candy, but this is such a sick beast of a car. The engine sounds like a bee hive on steroids.

So... I'm just saying. I could really go for one of these amazing cars. That's it.

Nike Offers Salvation in Malibu

Hurley, Nike SB and 6.0 and Converse. All in a super sick Malibu location.
Sweet interior, great one of a kind products, and cool art stuff. Damn you Nike. I remember going to ASR with Sandy Bodecker and Bill Worthington back in the early 90's. We got spit on (literally) by the skate community.

I gotta hand it to the boys in Beaverton -- and the kids in Costa Mesa. Nice job.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf updates store designs

The new stores feature stylish italian lighting fixtures, large community tables, lots of laptop plus ins, oatmeal and yogurt bars and some other great design cues. It's all part of a brand refresh -- giving the coffee shops a much needed modernization.
Now you can hang out in style and drink better coffee.

Jaguar starts new in house agency in Los Angeles.

Hmmm. This in house automotive ad agency thing is happening again. Hyundai started Innocean a few years ago. And now, according to Adage.com, Jaguar Cars is taking its estimated $100 million global advertising account away from Euro RSCG Worldwide and moving it to a newly created agency called Spark44. Rumour has it Spark44's offices will be in Los Angeles.

@Olukai rocks my world.

Apparently this righteous booty was inspired by the ranchlands of the Big Island. It's tough, it's cool. It's good looking. The Kamuela booty is sure to be a hit on the mainland. Shaka bra!

You thought Olukai was just an expensive flip flop company?

Heck no. They make super premium sandals made from the finest materials. And they are not only stylish but extremely comfortable. So now they are rocking a line up of uber hip shoes, slip ons and boots. These are so fine, I am going to have to buck up and get myself a few pairs. Nice job Bill, nice job.

Dubstep video that really blew some minds.

Designing logos can be a tricky job.

Nate Williams creates mural for Coffee Bean store in Hollywood

Super cool illustrator Nate Williams created this fifty foot mural for The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Hollywood store. Located on the corner of Argyll and Sunset, right in the heart of Hollywood, this mural adds color, vitality and some brilliant images to the soffit of this store. At night it illuminates the patio and projects out to the street, creating an funky glow that draws people in to the store. The concept of the mural is the story of Hollywood, from aspiring actresses to King Kong and the Sunset strip. Nate's primitive style uses clever "cut-out" imagery and twisting and turning patterns. His use of color and shapes reminds me of Picasso's wood block prints. To book Nate contact art@magnetreps.com (866) 390-5656

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf launch Frozen Swirl — Let's Spoon!

Coffee Bean has launched Frozen Swirl (Frozen Yogurt) at locations across the country. Here's a sneak peak at some of the creative that we are using to support the launch. More to follow.

Creative Credits: CD/AD: Ross Patrick, CW: Tracy Maxwell

KInsey Rocks

Dave Kinsey is awesome. 'Nuff Said!

Dave Kinsey Interview

Superbowl ads on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube

That's right! YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are using the Superbowl to cash in on this year's ad blitz. It's actually a pretty cool idea. They are extending the life of Super Bowl ads with contests where you can vote for your favorite spot and watch them again... and again. Nice

Youtube will also go mobile with their campaign to grab eyeballs.

“The hypothesis there is you’re at a party, at a bar, and say: ‘Hey, what was that Doritos commercial? Let’s go take a look. Who’s got an iPhone?’ ” said Jim Lecinski, managing director for United States sales at Google.

Let's bet that VW's Darth Vader spot will be a lock for "most viewed".

Facebook will show Super Bowl ads on its Sports on Facebook page and show stats on how many people hit the “like” button on each one to pick the winner.

Mobile payments are coming to Starbucks

Now you can use your iPhones, iPod Touches or BlackBerry to buy an iced Trenta!

Charbucks says mobile payments can be made at almost 6,800 company-run stores and more than 1,000 Starbucks in U.S. Target stores.

This is great! Now you can give them all of your data -- including your location. Big Brother aka Starbucks says the program will make it easier and faster for its customers to make purchases. Customers can download a free Starbucks Card Mobile App to get started.

Aside from making purchases, customers can use the app to manage their Starbucks Card account, check their card balance, reload their card with any major credit card, check their My Starbucks Rewards status and find a nearby Starbucks using the store locator feature.

And don't forget -- Big Brother is watching!

Starbucks logo fiasco?

In the never-ending trend to evolve and go retro at the same time, Starbucks unveils its new "stripped down" logo. Recently, the coffee chain went back to their roots by reformulating their drip coffee and called their original logo back into action. Now it's time to play in the big leagues where only Nike and Apple reside successfully sans type.