Friday, September 16, 2011

Does Rebranding of a brand really necessary?

I had a discussion with my fellow Digital Malaya collective; Abby, (my sister) and Faiz Akhbar after finish setting up our Behance Malaysia 1st group exhibition for Kuala Lumpur Design Week 2011. We're quite fascinated with the recent Maybank new corporate rebranding. People are so excited with the new change. I actually admire the new look especially the typeface use. It looks so 'comel'.

But what they fail to see above this rebranding are the long-term damages that would effect the entire institution. Imagine, they would appoint an agency and spend about half-a-million account to restructure and rebrand. Yes, hoorey to the agency but will that be all? what would happen next after the rebrand?

Maybank, founded in 1960 with revenue of RM12.87 billion in 2010, now, have to spend more money to update their branch's signage, and we're not talking just in Malaysia but the entire South East Asia, New York, London, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Hong Kong and other parts of the world. They also need to replace their existing collaterals and merchandise (imagine bag packs, plush toy, coin box, umbrella, uniforms, t-shirts, etcetera have to reproduce with the new logo), change their stationary (letterhead, etc) and later to re-produce Maybank staff's access pass (tag) to more than 40,000 Maybank staff. To add, they need to spend more money to update the system with the new logo from the intranet system to online websites, mobile apps (iPhone/iPod/iPad) that also includes almost 3,000 (less or more) automated teller machines around the country. Not to mention, their subsidiaries and associates have to also update themselves from business cards, to brochures, magazines, websites and others. Now to get things done they would have to outsource or open tender and hire more agencies to execute those changes and to strategize in many years to come, which will lead to more waste of money down the drain. Can all of this be done in a year? Absolutely not.

The loss is not only time but above all, the capitol that can be more greater to be utilize to support and contribute to the industry. I felt that they should release more grants to local entrepreneur so that they can progress and re-invest, push more awareness in outreach programs, educate the kids about savings and smart spending, and to support the community as a whole to double the progress of our country's economy. And at the crucial time where we face global economic turmoil, is this what we want to inspire and encourage others to adapt the the concept of 'spent wisely'?

I will let you decide what's best ;)


Perhaps Maybank staff would now get lower bonus by year-end? God knows.... because usually with a better reward (gratitude) to their staff, it will motivate them to work better with more efficiency.... 

_

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Janakan Kreativiti Anda Dengan Adobe Creative Suite 5.5

Pelancaran perisian versi terbaru Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 baru-baru ni sekali lagi memberikan kuasa maksima dalam membangunan kandungan Interaktif untuk media baru terutama ekslusif buat pengguna peranti tablet dan telefon mudah alih seperti iPad, Blackberry Playbook, Android dan juga yang lain.

Sebagai seorang peserta program ‘Pengaruh Adobe”, saya dipilih untuk menyentuh beberapa fungsi terbaru di dalam perisian Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 terutamanya InDesign 5.5 dan Flash Catalyst 5,5 yang memberi kreativiti tanpa terhad dengan penggunaan tool yg berfungsi utk mempermudahkan produksi rekaan terutamanya bagi industri penerbitan majalah digital dan buku elektronik terutama bagi pengguna peranti tablet seperti iPad, Playbook, Samsung Galaxy Tab, dan lain lain.





Sebagai pembina kandungan interaktif, kualiti & efisiensi yang menggunakan perisian seperti Adobe InDesign 5.5. berlipat ganda dalam membina portfolio untuk iPad yang ternyata tidak mustahil. Ia menjadikan produk yang kita ingin sampaikan memberikan impak yang positif dan berkesan. InDesign yang dahulunya menerhadkan penggunaan terbitan secara digital, kini, ia memudahkan pengguna untuk menerbitkan majalah digital dan buku digital yang boleh dipasarkan di merata dunia.


Antara fungsi-fungsi yang menarik minat saya adalah seseorang pengguna tidak perlu mempunyai latarbelakang pengaturcaraan komputer seperti ActionScript, HTML, XML dan lain-lain untuk membuat majalah berbentuk digital, ini semua tidak mustahil dengan perisian Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5.5.


Apa itu Flash Catalyst? Ia adalah sebuah perisian rekaan interaksi hebat yang memberikan anda transformasi kandungan kreatif dari Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator dan Firework menjadi sebuah projek interaktif yang begitu canggih, konsistan dan berkesan.


Flash Catalyst juga berintergrasi dengan satu lagi aplikasi iaitu Flash Builder 4.5 yang memberi ruang bagi pembina kandungan mobil untuk mencipta aplikasi-aplikasi mobil Flex atau ActionScript® yang boleh memberikan lebih kreativiti contohnya aplikasi yang dapat melakar sesuatu lukisan secara digital dengan sentuhan jari pada skrin tablet yang dapat menghasilkan sesuatu karya seni atau rekaan tanpa mengotorkan tangan dengan alatan-alatan seperti cat minyak, cat air, berus dan lain-lain.


Kini, bukan saja kita dapat melihat sekadar kandungan pasif dalam sesebuah majalah digital atau buku elektronik malah berpeluang menghayati sesuatu kandungan dengan paparan gambar paranoma yang boleh dialih diserata layout majalah (pan & zoom), memperbesarkan sesuatu imej, menonton video secara langsung dari peranti tablet dan juga memainkan fail berbentuk animasi.


Bukankah begitu mudah untuk kita membina sesuatu kandungan interaktif yang dapat meluaskan kreativiti kita? Inilah masanya untuk anda menerokai keistimewaan yang dipaparkan dalam versi terbaru Adobe Creative Suite 5.5!

Untuk maklumat lanjut, sila layari laman web Adobe dan muat turun demo versi terbaru CS 5.5

_

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Creativity with PencilBrush

The latest groundbreaking trend for illustrators and artistes is the PencilBrush, a hi-end yet user-friendly and innovative pencil that works like a brush, just the way you want it.



Bigbrosworkshop had invited me to attend an 'Introduction to PencilBrush' workshop curated by the creator himself, Alex Tarusha. Alex had demonstrated us the fastest tricks and tips to draw portraiture or figure using Pencil Brush and it took me just 3 minutes to produce something that I would normally achieve in 30 mins or so. Among top Malaysian illustrator such as Michael Chuah (Gilamon), KidChan (The Illustrator), 100Tentacles, ActionTintoy, Kenji @ BlackFriday, UrbanCreatures, Lisa Lee, Najib a.k.a Artech, Kenzy, MAWS along others.





We had such an enlightening experience and the outcome of using Pencilbrush is truly unexpected and different from our usual stroke that most of us had achieved using permanent marker.

"A handheld tool that is as simple as charcoal, gives you the precision of a mechanical pencil and the sketchy feel of a normal pencil. In short, a smart tool that offers large area coverage and a sharp tip for details that at the same time can serve as a dynamic liner. All this in one single tool with just one tip!" - Alex.

PencilBrush gives a different, extended volume of stroke, 3-4 times faster from a single pencil could achieve. It's a great exercise and it provide you a greater consciousness of how you control your tool in producing different outcome from different movement and control.

PencilBrush, (RM 89.90 Retail Price) is available at selected art store and stationary shop like Art Friend, The Gardens Midvalley & Venus Art & Stationery, No. 90, Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur and Cziplee in Bangsar. I'll update you more location of how you can own this fascinating tool to create wonderful artworks. You can also contact Bigbrosworkshop via email to purchase your order: info[at]bigbrosworkshop.com or visit http://www.bigbrosworkshop.com to place your order.

Meantime, checkout the video tutorials available at Pencilbrush.com.

Video Intro:



Photos from the workshop:








From left: Tintoy, Chunwoei & wife, Helen, Muid (me), Alex Tarusha, Euseng, Kenji, Shy (from JB),  Suki, Michael Chuah (sitting) & Lisa Lee (Liselle).



_

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Photoshop: Working With Patterns

User level: Intermediate
Application required: Adobe Photoshop (CS3 above)

This is a simple screen-shot tutorial on how to create interesting patterns for any creative work including book covers, cover art, digital art and so on. Youtube offers several tutorial on how to use the Photoshop tools, you can search for the tutorials there I hope you guys enjoy and produce an interesting outcome. ;-)

Let's begin!

01. Open a blank canvas; use Pen Tool to draw your desired shape.


02. Duplicate the floral and change to a different color.


and go to FILTER>LIQUIFY.


Select the desired amount of the brush and push the tip of the flower to create more curve.


03. Then you enhance by adding gradient to the flower's interface 


You can enable your grid view to ensure it's symmetrical (balance)



Moving in with patterns

04. After you finish enhancing or modifying your shape (Flower), duplicate it in a new layer. Select the TRANSFORM tool and Resize it smaller, just nicely visible to create a pattern.



05. Hide the original shape (flower) layer. Please make sure the background is set to transparent (You can hide your background layer)


06. Highlight the resized shape, then go to EDIT > DEFINE PATTERNS.


Rename your pattern so that when you want to use it, it's easier to look.


07. Create a new layer, go to EDIT > FILL IN PATTERN. Your canvas will automatically fill with the repeated shape (flower) to create an interesting pattern.


Play around with other tool to make your layout more interesting but simple. Don't overdo.



You can also go to your background canvas layer and fill in with background color.



Result 

You can then insert text or image. Here is the final product, my upcoming e-book cover. Enjoy!


I will add more digital artwork samples that utilize the pattern technique to create other form of arts. Bookmark and don't forget to RT this! Thank you and stay creative!
_