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You’ve probably read about the addition of Facebook’s “reactions” – which are basically an expansion of emoticon alternatives to the familiar “like” option. You can read more about them here if you’re feeling particularly “Yay” but the six emoticons are intended to represent: Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad and Anger.

Not surprisingly, as you can read in either the Wired article above or elsewhere on the great expanse of the interwebs, some Facebookers are upset that not every emotion they want to convey is represented. Some might suggest using words to express more complex emotions but hey... Who are we? Shakespeare? C’mon...

Not to worry – We’re here to propose four more realistic Facebook “reactions” usage. They are (order from left to right): Checking Facebook While Pooping, Work Distraction, Muted Response So As To Avoid Getting Into A Political Argument With Your Crazy Family & Friends, and Pity Like.

Links, links, and more links. They’re everywhere. In-app ads, the still ever-present banner ads, and, as anyone who uses social media is familiar with, the “click bait” links – From galleries of food or cats or celebrities you are forced to click through one by one to the all too familiar “Which ______ am I most like?” quizzes. To extend the fishing metaphor, advertisers are “trolling” for clicks. The more lines you put out in the water, the more you increase your chances that something or someone will bite. 

A trend that is curious to me is the trend of placing advertising links (or hashtags) in non-interactive non-digital mediums. They’re on billboards. They’re in magazines. They’re in newspapers (Do those still exist?). They’re on television*. They’re in your breakfast cereal. If I’m driving down the street and see a billboard with a URL, a hashtag, a social media icon or link, I’m not exactly going to stop and write it down. I’m certainly not going to grab my phone and type in the URL. Last I checked (and believe me… I’ve checked) touching a URL in a physical magazine or newspaper doesn’t do much of anything. To overextend the fishing metaphor, this seems like the equivalent of dropping your line into a bucket full of sand.

I finish this with a message to the advertisers out there – Stop fishing in the sand. Contact us and we’ll be your fishing guide. Think of us as the creative, digital Jeremy Wade (to overextend the overextended fishing metaphor)

PRESS RELEASE 9/3/15

SEATTLE, Washington (U.S.) - Recognized all over the world for their font ingenuity,  the Seattle-based design wizards at Red Card Studios announced their updated brand identity guidelines at a press conference at Seattle’s Flying Bike Brewery. Utilizing the “fun yet professional” Comic Sans font, Red Card Studios takes a bold step into the future – choosing to set trends rather than follow them.

“When we first started Red Card Studios, serif typefaces were all the rage. Sure they’re easier to read and look more distinguished but we’ve never been a fan of reading stuff or looking distinguished,” said Red Card co-founder Phil Etting at the event. “We bucked the trend and went with a nice, clean sans font. It shocked the industry and, frankly, I don’t think they’ve ever recovered.” 

“To be honest, I think we just used whatever font came up when we initially opened up Photoshop, “ added Patrick Skidmore, Red Card’s other founder, to the delight of the audience in attendance. “And I should note – I particularly hate serif fonts.”

 And what of the recent Google rebrand?

Happy Mother’s Day 2015

Recycled Art