PSE Creativity Watch

[That Aud Smell]

9 minutes ago, Hoss said:

For me, it’s as simple as knowing what they’re doing. That makes it easy to follow for me.

As does growing up reading comics.

[LGR4GM]

The font is atrocious and that's how I feel about that. It's just a busy garbled mess. 

[josie]

31 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

The font is atrocious and that's how I feel about that. It's just a busy garbled mess. 

Every time I see it I can see and smell the room full of dudes excitedly shouting over each other with words like "dynamic" and "really pops" being bandied about like dollar bills in one of those cash grab machines. 

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, josie said:

Every time I see it I can see and smell the room full of dudes excitedly shouting over each other with words like "dynamic" and "really pops" being bandied about like dollar bills in one of those cash grab machines. 

Yup. It's too bad they didn't hire someone more creative like you. Instead we get late 2000's Adobe paint crap.

[josie]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Yup. It's too bad they didn't hire someone more creative like you. Instead we get late 2000's Adobe paint crap.

I'm sure they've got some awesome creative folks in there. The differing voices might just be losing out to the majority/leaders' ideas. It's a step forward either way, utilizing a 'fresh' style guide across multiple platforms (3D versions of the text, animations, etc). Budget makes a lot of design decisions. I'd like to think they have a huge budget but... 

I'm nascent in the world of multimedia design anyways. I'll try again in a few years when my skills are a little stronger (i'm currently in the process of unwittingly become a print/collateral designer in addition to web dev... it's a stressful time at work haha). For now, I can critique and think of alternatives, but I'm not in the room- I'm sure there's reasons for the direction, even if I don't dig it. I think they can do better, but end of day, I'm an armchair quarterback in this one.  

[That Aud Smell]

Smh

 

[darksabre]

 

[Randall Flagg]

I noticed that too, pretty funny.

[Cheektorado]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Smh

 

A long layover at O'Hare?

[Eleven]

12 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Smh

Well, it IS creative...

11 hours ago, Cheektorado said:

A long layover at O'Hare?

Now we're just compounding the problem; O'Hare is in Chicago...

[Stoner]

Is the 944 accurate?

Update: No. They apparently used Google Maps mileage for a car trip. The "as the crow flies" distance, much closer to reality for a plane trip, is 736 miles, Buffalo airport to Minneapolis.

Edited September 23, 2018 by PASabreFan
PSE

[LGR4GM]

Great attention to detail. Pse really is mediocre. 

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Great attention to detail. Pse really is mediocre. 

You really need to re-calibrate your mediocre setting.

That's awful.

[Brawndo]

 

[LTS]

On 9/20/2018 at 10:46 AM, LGR4GM said:

What the f### does this even say? It looks like an 8th graders art project

https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/status/1042777353217355776

There was a lot of conversation on this.... and yesterday I came across this..  it would appear the cover art of NBA2K19 and EA Sports both follow the same style.  So, how much shade do we want to throw at PSE over their use of a similar style?

 

[LGR4GM]

A ton. See how in the NBA example those are keywords or terms? That makes sense. Writing a quote like you are some hip graffiti artist looks dumb. 

If the Phil picture had some words around him like "Actions Speaks" (I don't care for this but whatever) "Defense" "Make a difference" "New Direction" or similar, that makes sense to me. That's my feelings. In addition, the NBA players are in the foreground, they draw the eye and then you see the other stuff. In the Sabres image, phil kinda draws the eye but so does the mountain of text. Phil is off center as well. It just isn't as clean of a concept as the NBA stuff IMPO. 

[That Aud Smell]

35 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

A ton. See how in the NBA example those are keywords or terms? That makes sense. Writing a quote like you are some hip graffiti artist looks dumb. 

If the Phil picture had some words around him like "Actions Speaks" (I don't care for this but whatever) "Defense" "Make a difference" "New Direction" or similar, that makes sense to me. That's my feelings. In addition, the NBA players are in the foreground, they draw the eye and then you see the other stuff. In the Sabres image, phil kinda draws the eye but so does the mountain of text. Phil is off center as well. It just isn't as clean of a concept as the NBA stuff IMPO. 

Good take. The PSE work product is derivative, but not even faithfully so.

[LGR4GM]

further the font changes sizes. In the NBA one that is to emphasize things. In the Buffalo one it is done at random to look "cool". They literally just change font sizes at random and that's poor execution. 

[josie]

18 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

further the font changes sizes. In the NBA one that is to emphasize things. In the Buffalo one it is done at random to look "cool". They literally just change font sizes at random and that's poor execution. 

Yup. Agree with you.

 

Drawn typography has been a thing for awhile. In the case of Chipotle, it is used to add interest/info/whimsy (they've gone so far as to print literature/poetry on their materials) to usually quickly discarded items like cups, bags, placemats. It's busy- a thin, legible font (which was part of the rise of the "hipster" look that's now starting to die out again) with bold/black emphasis on where a person talking would have inflection. You're supposed to look at it, go, "oh" and sit there and read it while you consume your meal. It's an awesome marketing tool- make it feel like someone doodled on the cup rather than decided in a corporate boardroom. Avoids the "hello fellow kids" feel. 

The NBA uses it to add a "street cred" feel, keeping the written content quick and interesting, drawing you in, moving your eye around in a good way. 

The Sabres style would be great as an occasional accent. I like it in motion graphic form. I think it would work really well on the arena's jumbotron in quick videos moving across the screen, as long as it was kept brief and minimally worded. Right now, it's the opposite of that. It's meant to look cavalier and gritty and it just feels careless, poorly executed and copy catted. To me.  

Edited September 24, 2018 by josie

[josie]

They just put out a new one- the text is now grey on a white and grey background. I see where they're going with it- the overall thumbnail/colors are fine if you squint but... 

 I was reading the comments to see what the general consensus is.. a lot of people were saying that it's impossible to read with dyslexia. 

 

Side note- A lot of companies are moving forward with accessible design. My coworker went to a conference last week for a big digital media marketing thing and there were multiple sessions on it- mentioning things like rendering on different devices, and the baby boomer generation needing larger text. Most websites that we design are required to have an accessible version.  Some interesting food for thought that a lot of designers are grappling with now. Not really something to worry about for the instagram of a sports team, but something to take note of potentially.

 

 Really makes me feel the typeface is a headline typeface, not a body font. Accents, keywords, not wordy quotes. 

[Thorner]

Sabres fans sure aren't shying away from venting their frustration at the team in general, judging by those comments.

[Randall Flagg]

2 hours ago, josie said:

They just put out a new one- the text is now grey on a white and grey background. I see where they're going with it- the overall thumbnail/colors are fine if you squint but... 

 I was reading the comments to see what the general consensus is.. a lot of people were saying that it's impossible to read with dyslexia. 

 

Side note- A lot of companies are moving forward with accessible design. My coworker went to a conference last week for a big digital media marketing thing and there were multiple sessions on it- mentioning things like rendering on different devices, and the baby boomer generation needing larger text. Most websites that we design are required to have an accessible version.  Some interesting food for thought that a lot of designers are grappling with now. Not really something to worry about for the instagram of a sports team, but something to take note of potentially.

 

 Really makes me feel the typeface is a headline typeface, not a body font. Accents, keywords, not wordy quotes. 

I think the bold nails exactly what I couldn't put my finger on. You just shouldn't type complete sentences in that font. That's "Live, Laugh, Love" font

[LGR4GM]

OMG that is unreadable. 

16 hours ago, josie said:

They just put out a new one- the text is now grey on a white and grey background. I see where they're going with it- the overall thumbnail/colors are fine if you squint but... 

 I was reading the comments to see what the general consensus is.. a lot of people were saying that it's impossible to read with dyslexia. 

 

Side note- A lot of companies are moving forward with accessible design. My coworker went to a conference last week for a big digital media marketing thing and there were multiple sessions on it- mentioning things like rendering on different devices, and the baby boomer generation needing larger text. Most websites that we design are required to have an accessible version.  Some interesting food for thought that a lot of designers are grappling with now. Not really something to worry about for the instagram of a sports team, but something to take note of potentially.

 

 Really makes me feel the typeface is a headline typeface, not a body font. Accents, keywords, not wordy quotes. 

 

[Doohicksie]

On 9/26/2018 at 3:23 PM, josie said:

I don't even bother to try to read the words.  I just look and go UGH.

[Eleven]

Also, are they using a drawing of Ryan Miller?