Blog #3

I enjoyed the many pictures and little type of these David reports (I’m a simple guy) and a few things that resonated with me were the responsible business trend and the sensuctive trend.

Fallout 3 (PS3 Game)- Everything about this game puts the audience/player into a welled themed and design world to indulge and “live” in. Leading up to the games release there was an entire campaign to sell the narrative of an alternate world that was stuck in the cold-war era due to nuclear fallout (hence the name). Everything was designed to tell the story of this fantasy world, even the commercials were stylized so in a hilarious way. This was the best use of narrative that I had seen in some time in the video game industry, and would neatly fit into the sensuctive category. When the game did finally hit shelves its design and delivery mirrored the efforts of its pre release branding campaign making Fallout 3 one of the most successful games of all time and the best selling game of 2008.

Smart Cars- these eco friendly cars have environment, efficient, affordability and youthfulness as the cornerstones for its design. Smart Cars are a company concerned with sustainability, specifically for fossil fuels and clean burning vehicles that do not leave a large emissions footprint. The physical design for the Smart Car is counter cultural norm of our times by not trying to mimic popular cars but to create a sub culture of cars more aligned to the new wave of hybrid/eco friendly cars such as the prius.

Yele Haiti – in the wake of the recent disaster in Haiti this group led by founder, native, and spokes person Wyclef Jean have been in the forefront of the media circus that surrounded the tragic event. This jettisoned the recognition and popularity of the charitable foundation who’s goal is to change lives positively in the “desperately poor, but optimistic” nation of Haiti. I have actually followed Yele Haiti much longer than just recent times and feel that they are a perfect group that can be considered a “responbiz” according to the 5 key design trends. Wyclef Jean (grammy Award winning artist) creatively and sincerely ties in his Hatian roots to his music to raise awareness and inform. His music is a proclamation of Yele Haiti through its design, from island-influenced tracks, to socially conscience lyrical treatment. The design and brand of the charity is backed from the top company, which I remember was important for innovative design companies such as Apple to strive and exist; it must be done from the top down.