Friday, May 21, 2010

Ok...WTF is wrong with the Olypmic 2012 Designers??

The question has to be asked- What the hell is wrong with the creative team for the 2012 London Olympics! Are these guys on acid or am I seriously not seeing something here that they are?!?

Bella: Ok, being in the design industry myself, I'm usually quite open to anything design related. I like to keep an open mind, consider new and fresh design ideas and concepts and often find inspiration from designers or styles outside of my own creative sphere. HOWEVER...I am absolutely floored by the design concepts that have been put forward and then APPROVED for the 2012 London Olympics.

First was the release of their abysmal 2012 Olympics logo! Words fail me as to how shit I think this logo is. I mean...I've seen abstract...but this is just poo on paper or website or wherever this crappy logo happens to be adorned. I can't believe someone got PAID to design this. And millions of people felt the same. Below are just some variations of how this logo has been interpreted.

The original Logo

And then some variations....

But now, the Olympics committee has released the new mascots for the games, Wenlock and Mandeville. Ok firstly...their names...gay much?? What kind of names are these?!? Now as to how they look....they're just plain creepy! I sure as hell wouldn't want anything emblazoned with these weirdo mascots on it. I mean...I don't know if the picture below portrays just how.....CRAP they are.

This is actually part of the official release from the committee:

"Two parts-Pokemon to one-part lava lamp with yellow 'Taxi' lights on their foreheads, the distinctive characters are intended to capture the imagination of children and work as well in the digital world as they will in costume form at trackside in 2012.

They are a central part of London's £70 million merchandising budget, and organisers hope the mascots will contribute up to 20 per cent of that sum through sales of T-shirts, key-rings, tea-towels and the like.

The Cyclops design allows the mascots' eyes to work as lenses, and digital cameras in the shape of the characters will be available."

HUH?! These don't look like Pokemons. They look like some pretty scary, deranged blobs things that don't really look like anything at all. Maybe deformed Teletubbies? And 'Taxi' lights?? Yeah......ok...I can really see the relevance there...NOT! And £70 million!!! What a waste of money!! 20 per cent to be contributed by these creepy characters through sales of merchandise?? I don't think so! I wouldn't want these guys on my toilet paper. Oh god, hand me a crayon and some play-do and I'll have a better looking logo and Mascots in no time!

Well that's my rant over. But I really think that maybe I'm in the wrong design job here. Maybe I'm setting my heights just a little too high?

Friday, May 14, 2010

Twin Speak: A New Monthly Feature - Love it or Leave it

Love it or Leave it will be our monthly twin review on all things life, love and more. Even though we're twins we often have very different opinions about things we love and things we hate. Each month we hope to bring you a a new product, activity, social outing, trend or issue which we will either Love or Leave it!

Bella: I have a bit of a habit of becoming obsessed with a new product, trend or activity only to loose interest in that said habit a few months later. The advantage of this is that I'm always trying out new things! Frankie and I thought why not use our flighty, indecisive attitudes to our advantage and start rating these obsessions for the benefit of all who read our blog. (We know there must be thousands who could benefit) :)

So this month we thought we'd both rate our recent obsession with a new iPhone app we have called Words With Friends. Now if you're like us and you know of this product, you might also be slightly obsessed with it. I've been using this application non stop for close to two weeks. My workload is piling up and don't even try speaking to me unless it's via the chat feature in the app as well. I've had to change the screen protector several times due to the amount of food I've spilt on it as I can barely take my eyes from the screen while I eat. This little game is fun, addictive and easy. It's Scrabble for your iPhone! You can play it with friends who have iPhone and also have this app. You can play random opponents or you can even play a game directly from your phone and pass and play to others in the same room.

I LOVE this app and can't get enough and I highly recommend it to anyone else who has an iPhone. Leave it?? I don't think so!


Frankie: I too can get a bit obsessed with things and this time is no exception. I am a self confessed 'Words with Friends' junkie.

I first started battling it out with friends but when that didn't satisfy my need to scrabble...I turned to random strangers and am now srabbling it out with two strangers.

I love the feeling you get when you get a top point score, or when you manage to use those hard letters like 'X' or 'Z' or even better when you manage to make a word combo using an 'X' or 'Z' on a TRIPLE WORD SCORE. Oh god...I'm getting a little excited now just thinking about that.

So summing up... I would have to 'Love it, Love it, Love it'.
If you have an iphone and don't have this addictive little app...download it now!!!!

:)