Grey matters
The weekly roundup: Google’s bold logo refresh, Mona Lisa selfies and Photoshop plugins
In spite of the British weather, it’s safe to say that we’ve had a better week than Nick Clegg. Refusing to let the rain dictate his wardrobe choices, Alessandro bravely sported the first vest of the summer. In other news, take a look at the logo refresh that shocked the world. Or not.
Eye-catchers
“It makes Mona Lisa look like a modern girl taking a selfie with her cat”, says Russian artist, Svetlana Petrova. While the accounts side of the studio fails to understand the humour in cat gifs or videos, we thought Petrova’s work was worth passing on. Noting how digital technology is helping to create new art forms, Petrova places her big ginger cat, Zarathustra, in famous paintings. Apparently, it can sometimes take months for Zarathustra to strike the right pose. Advocating the influence of digital, Petrova argues: “Digital technology gives people the opportunity to make art, and museums should be more attentive to it.”
It can sometimes take months for Zarathustra to strike the right pose
Ever felt that your life lacks purpose? This cool website “Here is Today” puts everything into perspective. You can look at today in relation to this month, this year, this century…you get the gist. Is that a consolation? Or, does it make everything feel even more pointless?
Google shocked the world with its latest logo refresh this week. For the less observant amongst you, Google has moved the second ‘g’ a whole one pixel to the right and taken the ‘l’ one pixel down and one to the right. A real upheaval, then! The change comes down to kerning, with Google adjusting the letters to improve the logo’s readability and decipherability. If you’re fastidious when it comes to detail, you’ll be pleased to know that the bottoms of the ‘l’ and ‘e’ now line up. This might actually be one of the most minor edits in logo history. If you’re still unable to discern the difference, here’s a gif to help you.
Speed up your web design work with these handy Photoshop plugins. These manipulations help you save time and open up font and colour possibilities that would have been hard to achieve otherwise.
Studio Buzz
Lucian is a big fan of Future Cinema (it’s linked to Secret Cinema), which promises a “cinematic experience like no other.” Actors play out key characters and interact with the audience, giving the film another dimension. Future Cinema normally release a few teasers before officially revealing what the next film will be. Yesterday, the group’s Facebook cover photo was changed to a scene from Back to the Future. Having thoroughly enjoyed Top Gun and Ghost Busters in the past, Lucian says he won’t be missing out on this one.
Not letting the weather get in the way of his summer wardrobe, Alessandro wore the first vest of 2014. The shorts race was a tough one: Matt and Sam had to divide the honours into “bare shorts” and “short shorts” on May 16th.Alessandro wore the first vest of 2014
It was our intern Lena’s last day today – she will be missed! To mark the day, we went for a team lunch at new Shoreditch restaurant and bar, The Blues Kitchen. It’s worth a trip for the decoration alone. Lena’s three months with us flew by – she helped out with our e-newsletter and a lot of client-related projects. If you think you’d like to intern at Firedog, why don’t you get in touch with us? Just send an email to [email protected]
Creative Projects
We’ve been extremely busy this week, with a lot of client work coming through the studio and a pitch for an e-publisher in the education sector. Hannah’s off on her holidays as off tomorrow, so we’ve been organising the handover before she goes.
