Make Over Madness

There is something so fulfilling about a make over. The results are so obvious; either much improved, or at times, a step backwards. My love of make overs extends past TLC's What Not to Wear and Property Ladder.

The other day I spent way too much time on photo retouchers' portfolios, just rolling my mouse over the images, over and over again. Oh, she used to have muscles, now they're gone. That little girl used to have on a long sleeve top, now the sleeves are short. Where did those arms come from?

Combine my fascination of "before and afters" with my love of logos; yes, I gaze at them all the time, and you get one of my favorite blogs to check in on, Brand New. I'm kind of obsessed with it. It's not always redesigns. Sometimes it's just interesting things in corporate branding. To a certain extent I like to read the comments. Although, sometimes you know what they are going to be. It gets a little formulaic at times. The first person to comment on it will hate it. The next three will, too. Then after a few comments there is the person who says they like it. If you're lucky, someone will throw in a picture of something that the new logo resembles. I like those. If somehow my design ever made it to that site, I would not have the nerve to see what people where saying about it.

I've just discovered The Dieline today. This blog isn't about redesigns, though it has a category for them. It showcases packaging design. I've always found packaging design incredibly interesting. It adds another dimension in which to solve problems. I'd love to have the chance to do more of it. And when people think designing is about drawing pictures and making things look pretty, I wish I could force them to read articles like this about the redesign of Target's perscription bottles.