So I recently watch a documentary called "Catfish." It was a pretty interesting indie film. I can't really describe it without giving too much information. In fact if you watch the trailer it won't tell you much either. I don't even think the title is significant to what the documentary is about. But, that's not what this blog post is about. I decided to do my blog this week on the poster for the movie.

So the poster is mostly the black background. In red on the bottom are the names of the production companies involved, the release date, and the movies website. In the center is an image of what appears to be a painted catfish. Unpainted on the fisher are letters spelling out "CATFISH." What's unique about the poster is that includes the image of the mouse arrow and the text in white that says "Don't let anyone tell you what it is." The arrow is significant because the movie makes use of computers a lot. And the text is significant because not knowing what the film is about seems to make people want to see it even more. And being white makes it stand out even more.

It really seems like and odd way to promote a movie. They don't tell you what it's about and give it a title that has nothing to do with the movie. But that's really what draws you in. The image attracts you and the text leaves you wanting to know more. And it really was a good movie.

Starbucks

I am not a fan of coffee, but this week I decided to make my blog post about it. More specifically Starbucks. I noticed a few years ago that the were using a different logo on the cups that what they normally use. I decided to look into it and discovered that it was the original logo. What is currently being used is actually the third version.

In this one we the Starbucks name as well the names of a few products that the sell. I believe that the typeface used is Helvetica. The works are encircled around the image of a mermaid. The image is actually based on a Norse woodcut. And they only colors used are brown and white.

And here is the third, and current, version of the Starbucks logo. The layout has stayed the same. But they left out the words Tea and Spices and just left coffee. The image of the mermaid has also changed. And you see a lot less of it than in the original. And instead of brown and white it uses black, green, and white.

I'm not too interested in the logos themselves, but I am interested in how it it went from the original to the current one. What made them decided to the the design into the direction it went? Was it too inappropriate?

Studio Ghibli

I realized today that I haven't posted anything that could be considered Otaku. So my post this week is the logo for the Japanese animation film studio "Studio Ghibli." It features the name in both English and Japanese Katakana. I'm not familiar with Japanese typeface but the English appears to be in San Serif. In the background is an image the character Totoro from the movie My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ Tonari no Totoro). I really like it's simplicity. It's just the name and a familiar character. It's not complicated and easy to understand.