Lately, I have been noticing how many digital interfaces are moving toward softer gradients, glowing color transitions, and atmospheric visual effects. Because interface and logo design function rhetorically as much as aesthetically, these shifts are worth paying attention to not only as branding trends, but also as questions of accessibility and usability. A decade ago … Continue reading The Gradient Trend vs. Design Efficacy
This column originally appears in St. Cloud Times, Monday, February 10, 2014. If you watched the Super Bowl commercials, you should be aware of the controversy Coca-Cola stirred up with its new ad titled “It’s Beautiful.” The 60-second ad featured “America, the Beautiful,” sung in seven languages during scenes of Americans of different ethnicities spending time … Continue reading Coke Ad Shows True Beauty of the United States
Drastic changes to mass communication approaches over the past 50 years have opened new doors to advertisers to market products and businesses. In the face of rapid technological advancement, the next target is in sight – to empower technology consumers who are now in control of the media messages they are exposed to, and to … Continue reading An Introduction to Social Media Marketing
Effective storytelling is among the few units I teach in my first-year composition course. Every semester, I show Andrew Stanton's TED Talk, "The Clues to a Great Story," to the students and ask them to reflect on the traditional methods in storytelling and how they can tweak the ways to make their personal narratives interesting. … Continue reading ‘Don’t give them 4. Give them 2+2’
Hats off to the brains behind the recent Heineken campaign, where travelers are challenged to drop everything - their planned trips, responsibilities - to take on an unknown route to a mysterious location. The campaign is designed to confront our regular lifestyle - an always-busy, planned, often-stressful, and indifferent lifestyle. The impact of venture comes … Continue reading Heineken Campaign Challenges Routine Lifestyle, Invent Possibilities
Jason Tham, Ph.D. 