Round Tables at Starbucks

Ever wonder why Starbucks has round tables in their cafes? Me neither, but I'm going to tell you why anyways. Yes they do have square tables, but their decision to put round tables in as well was more than just for aesthetics. Did you ever go out to eat by yourself and find that you feel super awkward sitting all alone at a table? If you haven't, then I commend you on your self confidence, but for most of us, we have experienced that awkwardness. It's that awkwardness that Starbucks doesn't want their solo patrons to experience while in their cafes, so they put in round tables. Turns out sitting at a round table by yourself doesn't give a sense of loneliness as compared to a square table, after all, there are no defined sides to a circle. A simple concept that makes sense. For all we know, it's probably one of the reasons why people don't hesitate to go to Starbucks by themselves just to relax. So the next time you need to eat out by yourself, try to seat yourself at a round table, it just might make your experience that much better.

~ Catherine

Why shapes matter.

So after class today, I had some copies of my Saul Bass flyers that I didn't need. I obviously wanted to recycle them, so I walked around the printer since that's where paper recycling usually is. I did see this blue bin, which I associated it with recycling, however due to the circular hole, I automatically thought it was a bin for cans and bottles, despite there being no drinks allowed in the room. Completely ignoring the little sign on the bin, I proceeded to ask where the paper recycling was, and was led to very bin I was looking at. Turns out it was the recycling for paper, but why is the hole circular?? Having the hole be the shape it was completely threw off the purpose of the bin in my mind without a second thought. It amazed me how something as simple as a certain shape, can define what it is a part of so strongly. If it was a slot shaped hole, then I would have associated it with paper recycling. Perhaps it was originally for cans and bottles, but someone decided it would serve a more useful purpose in the computer lab. 

~ Catherine

Do you need a new t-shirt?

Did you spill wine on that t-shirt of yours? Did you accidentally put bleach in the washer and now t-shirt of yours looks like a depressing tie-dye project done by a kid at summer camp? Well look no further cause today is your lucky....week. That's right, I said week because this week on Woot! shirt the topic of the designs are "Text as Art". While you can't buy the shirt that you want now, you sure can vote on it, and hope that it makes it in the top three by Thursday evening so it'll get printed. So you should go now and check out the entries! 

....Ok, enough of this. But seriously, I think it is the perfect timing for Woot!shirt to be doing a text as art derby considering I am learning about this stuff at Parkland. I think I appreciate more the effort and creativity that has gone into the decent designs (some of them look like they were done on Microsoft Paint). Perhaps once I get more experience in design, I can submit an entry. You can make good money off of these shirts if your designs get picked. This one shirt (The Binge) has been on the selling list for over 3 years. 3 YEARS! and still counting. I think I calculated the money the guy made off of that one shirt, and I think it was over $100,000 or something like that. Anyways, I hope you at least take a look at the designs, they are worthy of at least a glance. Me personally, I hope the black cat that says "I don't care" gets printed. It was in the Fog of War yesterday, but now has fallen below that. Please vote on that one so I can buy it!!!

~Catherine

Do serif fonts get you better grades?

This is an interesting article I stumbled upon while searching for something to blog about. While we know that fonts do affected us consciously or subconsciously, does it affect us so much that our grades can be dependent on it? This guy seems to think so. Now, before you get overly excited about getting good grades based on what font you use, the "experiment" described has so many variables left in the air, like what classes the guy took, what his major was, and what was the selection of fonts he used. I can't find the original blog, the link sends me to a Japanese blog error page. Anyways, I think it would be very interesting to see this actually studied for a psychology lab or something. Follow a bunch of students from a university who are willing to put their grades on the line for a study to see if serif or sanserif fonts get you better grades.
http://blogs.library.duke.edu/blog/2008/01/15/do-serif-fonts-get-you-better-grades/

~Catherine

Re-awakening

What Mike Meyer from Sign Painters said, about how there is this re-awakening in interest of sign painting, is what inspired me to write this post just to get my thoughts out. 

I think it is wonderful that despite having all of this new technology and almost becoming a lost art, sign painting is starting to come back and believe this come back is a reflection on the trend that is going through society. I've noticed that over the past few years, the style for a variety of things reflects the style before technology took over our lives (something like the 60's or 70's). 

In fashion, "vintage" clothing is very popular nowadays where the clothing is of similar style to an era that has already passed. Vintage is also popular in online photo-sharing such as instagram. People take pictures with their modern phones, but then add what ever filter to them to make them look "vintage". Food has also taken on this trend I feel, but instead of "vintage" it's called "rustic". Many times while watching some sort of food related show, I hear them say how good the dish is and how wonderfully "rustic" it is. There is also this re-awakening for home made goods. Even though we have all this technology and can buy pretty much anything at stores, with sites such as Pinterest, there is an emphasis on homemade goods, from food, to clothing, to home accessories and everything else in between. There is just this interest and "coolness" to be able to make something with your own two hands. 

Perhaps we have gotten to the point where we are just so saturated by technology, that we as society subconsciously have this desire to go back to a more simple time. Instead of only admiring what technology can do, we are starting to look back again to what humans can do by themselves, such as the wonderful art of sign painting. Who knows what the next trend will be. They tend to repeat  over the course of time, but hopefully some of the good things are here to stay. 

~Catherine