Fiat – “Engineered for a lower impact on the environment”

Clever. And infinitely more rewarding than the typical “we’re ‘green’” advertising. (Not sure the agency responsible). via Autoblog

“Perfect Slice of Summer”

image via TheDieline.com

These are amazing. I love that the team has taken a new approach to the standard square/rectangle tissue box. (Though I suppose the shape may limited shelf space, a worthwhile trade-off in my opinion.) The illustrations are delicious, and immediately convey “summer.”

New face of government?

Not only are these two newly instated government programs getting logos, the Obama administration has made the incredible decision to hire professionals.

Messrs. Draplin and Glass bring the bold, slightly retro aesthetic that I would expect from each of these fantastic designers (hat tip Coudal).

I’m thoroughly impressed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) logo. The seal and it’s iconography hit upon the major parts of the “stimulus”—investment in “green” technology and getting the gears of industry back in motion.

The USDOT TIGER logo is a little less inspiring. The type just sits on the page, even the tiger stripes can’t give life to the mark. It doesn’t feel like a unified logo, more like a headline. Naz Hamid had this comment via Twitter, “One thing bothers me about the Tiger logo: is the USDOT TIGER DOT.GOV a URL or what does it mean? Too many DOTS.” and I think that’s about right.

In the end, though, if this is indicative of the kind of change we can expect during the tenure of this administration, I’m all for it.

Travel2SC.com

August 1 was the introduction of the new vehicle license plate for South Carolina. (PDF link)

Chosen as part of some kind of design contest, the new plates will begin running sometime in 2008.

My initial reaction to the design is skepticism. I’ve been noticing a trend among states to treat the license plate as a fancy advertisement for state tourism, often to the detriment of the plates real purpose—identification. I can’t recount the number of license plates that I have seen where the alphanumerics are nearly impossible to read. Ultra-condensed typefaces with “D”s that look like “O”s and “1″s that could be mistaken for “I”s.

I’ll reserve judgment on South Carolina until I see it “in the wild.” But I am worried that the dark background coloring could affect contrast and readability at a distance.

Hard Rockin’ Art Direction

A new rock anthem is born. (via SpeakUp)

Make the Logo Bigger by Burn Back