Category: Design

Slider Station finally have a website up and running but when I try to check it on my Mac my browser practically freezes. I tried using both FireFox and Safari and the website seems too graphically heavy to browse properly. From what I managed to see, they have some photos up and the menu but without the prices. [Link]

Logo Lounge has put together different styles of logos that were popular this past year. One big change over last year is a huge decrease in Web2.0 style logos. Thankfully that trend didn’t last for very long. [Link]

The box on the left is the original Kellogg’s Cornflakes with their signature rooster thats been on the front of their boxes since 1957. The box on the right is the Sultan Center generic brand of cornflakes.. with a green rooster. Next up, Sultan Center canned vegetables with a green giant as the mascot.

I am assuming the cops use a similar software to this with victims of attacks. The picture on the left is me trying to draw myself and the picture on the right is of Holla (my friend) trying to draw himself. Its pretty easy to use and the results are pretty neat. I am going to get back to working on my face trying to make it resemble me. [Link]

Tips: You can move the location of face features by clicking on them in the picture on the right and moving it about. You can increase and decrease the width and height of the features by using the axis thingy on the left. You can also save your face for other people to see. If you click on load and then search for a face called 248am you should find the one I am working on.

Burgan Bank today launched a new logo and personally I think it can’t get any more generic than this. I think they should have just given their old logo a face lift by simplifying the sun rays and maybe going with two tones of blue instead of the Gradient. For their typeface I would have killed the serif and gone with san serif which they actually did in the new logo. Actually the only positive thing in the new logo is their logo type but their icon on the other hand is very boring and forgettable. Not only that but where is Kuwait in the logo? Gulf Bank have the dhow, NBK have the camel, CBK have the arabesque star and now Burgan Bank have a… ribbon? Where is the locality? Where is the strength and trust? They’ve recently redone their branches into a very clean modern looking environment so why did they go with a logo that was already outdated in style before it even launched. This logo should never have left the design studio yet let alone presented to the client and gotten accepted.

What other bloggers have to say
Tatabotata: “This is the most disgusting redesign I have seen in a while.”
Patrick: “Why? But why?!”

Elsewhere
AMEINFO: “The design of the new corporate identity draws inspiration from a ring, which has been used cross-culturally for thousands of years as a symbol of partnership and commitment.”

Further Information
The logo was done by an agency in Bahrain and not LOM | FDP who were responsible for their branch redesigns

Update: The agency in Bahrain behind the redesign is Vision Communications.

I used to like the old Kuwait Airport since I grew up with it but like everything else in Kuwait its being modernized and not in a good way. The new airport is generic looking and doesn’t have the character of the original airport which was designed by one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, Kenzo Tange.

I was at the airport on Friday and noticed they’ve taken out the old retro looking arrival sign and replaced it with this colorful ugly LED panel. I used to really like the retro one and I wonder where it is at the moment, did they just trash it in the junk yard? Anyway if you want to check out old pictures of the Airport when it first opened like the first one in this post click [Here]

If you want to see pictures of other great architecture projects from the 70’s and 80’s check [Here]

I just found out about Blouzaat from Moeys blog and they have some really cool t-shirts there. They all look really funky and are all beautifully designed. You can tell they’ve put a lot of effort and thought into the designs and the result is just some really trendy looking shirts. The designers (I think they are a group) are based in Jordan and their store link says coming soon but hopefully it won’t be that long before we can start placing orders. Check out their collection, they have a ton of different designs. [Link]

Ruby Tuesday have redesigned their identity and it was handled by Pentagram, the same agency who were responsible for the Commercial Bank of Kuwait identity back in the 70s. I prefer the new logo and how its being applied but I know a lot of people think type based identities are the lazy way out. What I also find interesting is that Appleebee’s just rebranded, so now I am wondering if Chilis or TGIF could be next. [Link]

via Brand New

Flipbook with 36 black pages. When you flip through the book, a 3D rainbow will appear inside your hand. Smart. [Link]

A blog with loads of airline related design displayed, just flip through the different sections on the site. [Link]

I finally managed to finish working on the new redesigned template and I just activated it. I took all your feedback into consideration and I tried my best not to change the design that much as you can see. Although the template looks similar to the older one under the hood its completely new. The coding is much cleaner and everything should look better and work faster. There might be some minor kinks here and there which I will find and fix in the next few days. Overall I am pretty excited about the face lift, I think it looks much better than the older one and is less cluttered and cleaner. While I was at it I also upgraded to the latest WordPress and I am now running 2.3.

The theme I am using is called Grid Focus by 5thiryone but it’s been heavily modified by me.

The Choowy Goowy website has been redesigned. It’s now flash based (urgh!!!) but the site does look much better than it did before. They have all their latest cookie flavors listed including our Mark & Nat oreo cookies. So check out their website and leave any comments or feedback on the new design below. [Link]

For the past two days I’ve been working on a redesigned template for this blog. I really don’t have any major problem with the current design but I do think there are a couple of areas that does need addressing. I was planning on working on the redesign in secret and then overnight just surprise everyone with the makeover but I decided going the other route. If large companies like CNN and Amazon are allowing their users to see and give feedback of their redesign while still in progress why can’t I?

Now I still have a lot more work to do on the redesign but you can take a peak at it by going to unex-t.com/blog. This is more or less how the new redesigned site will look like, most of the changes I am currently working on are the smaller details. I probably will replace the header with a newer one, I might not, I am still not sure about that. At one point I was actually thinking of rebranding from 248AM.com to markandnat.com but decided against it the last minute.

Anyway your feedback is welcomed, I still have a lot of work to do and might take your ideas into consideration. Keep in mind there are a lot of things that aren’t working yet or looking strange on the test site. [Link]

Update: Here is a screenshot of how the new design might look with a black background. I am finding it a bit claustrophobic compared to the white background version. [Picture]

Update 2: Here is another option with a black background which I think works better than the version in the first update but I think I still prefer the full white background. [Picture]

Amazon supposedly redesigned but I have been refreshing my browser for a while now and I still can’t see it. I did manage to find a screenshot of the new design on the page where they talk about their makeover. [Link]

I don’t know what they’re called, I just call it the egg chair. Gallery Vanlian opened up (finally) at The Avenues and they are selling the egg chair for KD450. It’s not really comfortable to sit in but looks pretty cool. They have some pretty random stuff there my favorite being the Bodum kitchenware.