54: Reflection

– What did you learned about you?

   What I learned about myself was that I have a much higher appreciation for design and visual aspects of advertising than I had originally thought. I also learned that I enjoy creativity, especially when I can learn.

– What did you hate about the project but really you liked that part of it?

I hated some of the really weird directives. It sparked creativity but at the same time a lot of it just didn’t make any sense to me. If that makes sense. I liked the end product, but the brainstorming for all the new ideas was just frustrating.

– What major changes would you make to the course so that people would learn more?

Looking at other peoples creativity. Not just in Project 54, but in overall advertising, and other great, inspiring things in the media world. There is a lot that can be learned from that.

– What did you learn about your creative process?

I learned that my best ideas spawn out of nowhere. When I brainstorm, the end goal is always nothing related with what I started with. My best work comes from a wandering mind.

– What did you learn about advertising that you didn’t already know?

I learned that there was a lot to creating a brand. I always thought advertising was to introduce new products and emphasize them and make them appealing, I never realized that a lot of it was to brand a company, and personify its whole model. I think that is the most important thing I took away from this class.

I don’t even remember this movie. This is just so fitting though.

53: Improve Upon a Post: Taking it Slow

I saw Grace’s post 29 about peace and taking it slow, and that really connected with me. It’s an idea that most people can easily identify with, and some everyone wants. A lot of the time, even “indulging”is meant by getting away from the busy world to go somewhere quiet and take in the environment around them. It shouldn’t be that way, but we can’t change society. So inspired by this I created an idea for HD that lets you embrace the silence as much as you can.

To do this, I have a few ideas. First, and much similar to those noise making birthday cards, when you open a container of HD, relaxing sounds will be triggered, such as birds, the flowing of the ocean, or even just very subtle white noise. It can help to take you away from the busy world you live in.

They could also include a code on the underside of each lid that links to a download of these same sounds, in much better quality so they can take it anywhere they go. This could add just a little more humanity, and a little less insanity to your day. Embracing indulgence like this could be a fantastic f you don’t like it, you just don’t have to use it.

52: Improve a Post: HD Vision

I read a post earlier that was about how HD can make goggle that tap in to your pallete and things like that. I thought it was really funny, and a good idea. It can help you make choices, and do other things like that which is a really useful tool.

So inspired by this post, I made my own version, that instead of about food choices, was about indulgence. These glasses, made by HD will help you to see what you really want to indulge on, whether its playing video games, or going to the beach. It looks at the area around you, even at night, to help you discover what you really want by tapping in to you senses.

These glasses are a little more normal and subtle than the other ones, but its purpose to find your indulgence, so you might be wearing them often, and not want to attract too much attention.

I guess I really want a Twinkie right now…

51: Improve Upon a Post: Shirts

Somewhere earlier on in the semester, I saw several posts that talked about making HD T-Shirts. While it was a great idea, it lacked in branding. I think they were on something by extending how far the product reaches, but limiting it to just T-shirts is too constraining. So for this post I decided to improve upon it by branding it in ways that help spread the brand even more, because frankly if you’re wearing an HD t-shirt and aren’t obsessed with it, it might seem kind of weird.

So to extend the brand I’ve mocked up a few examples, but it is not limited to just the ones shown. There can be bumper stickers, ice cream dishes of course, spoons, posters, and anything else like that (and t-shirts too).

Something like this is always good for business because as a brand that shows up everywhere, means you’re always in the back of someone’s mind, instead of the occasional commercial.

50: Improve Upon a Post: Youthful Bliss

A while back, when I was still learning this whole Project 54 thing, I created this post about how HD can create a product that restore your youth. In hindsight, I now realize that this was a lot about a product to restore youth, and it was nothing really about the brand to make you feel young. So for this post, I didn;t improve on the image, but the story behind it to help brand the post a little bit more. Everything below this paragraph is the new post.

Everyone wants to be young. Or at least they don’t want to get old. No matter what it is, they want to feel young. That is when some of the best memories of peoples lives happen, and reliving some of them is a dream that everyone has. When you look at HD, it is now that same youth you had, without all of the bad memories, and things you don’t want to remember. Its all the indulgences you had when you were younger, with out any of the stresses. Your youthful bliss is HD. When you see this brand, and this logo, it brings nostalgia and luxury together in the same way that you wish you could relive your memories.

Inspired by this, HD has introduced a line of anti-aging HD as a little icing on the cake to create the illusion of reliving your youth even more. All previous indulgences are restored, and you can become lost in the world that you lived for. And to do this, all you have to do is stop by your grocery store freezer. Dive in to recollection.

49: Improve Upon a Post: Indulgent Assistance

While browsing through some posts, looking for something that I can work off of, I found this post, which is was a vegan line of HD, with the recipe for it displayed. The post good, but focused a little too much on the product. So to kind of find somewhere where this post can be more branded, I decided to make suggestions that can incorporate HD ice cream to help indulge, as well as things you can do while indulging on HD to have a better experience. Kind of like a “Green Eggs and Ham” kind of thing.

Since HD does seem to target adults more than kids, with a sensual type of branding, some of the suggestions are not entirely family friendly (but they aren’t explicit either).

This post doesn’t really improve that post in a sense, but it inspired me to create this way to help consumers indulge the brand even more.

48: Improve a Post: Personalizing the Brand

Earlier on, I saw this really cool post about having messages inside each tub to make the brand more relatable and intimate. The concept of getting a better day because of a surprise message is always really cool and exciting, and a great way to make someone’s day if that’s what they need. So inspired by this, I decided to design a way that HD will communicate to someone else directly using their brand.

Post cards have pretty much died off. It’s sad in a way, because for only a few cents, you could send someone a letter as a surprise and potentially make their day. Inspired by this, HD has made a way you can make someone’s day. HD post-card can be sent to whoever you want, and also includes a voucher for a free small HD, so they can make the best of their day and feel loved as they indulge. An HD post-card with a variety of positive things, that you can even customize if you choose, will make it a lot more personal, and turn a pleasant surprise, into a loving, indulgent gesture, and it must remain anonymous to retain the novelty.

It’s a great way to pass love and indulgence on, and those same feelings will now be associated with HD.

 

47: Improve Upon a Post: Haagen Chocolate

Earlier on in the semester, I saw a post about combining Haagen-Dazs and hot chocolate to make a delicious winter-treat, when it’s too cold for ice cream. It was a great, innovative idea, but it felt incomplete to me. It mentioned how Hot Chocolate also reminded him of summer, which is something I can’t relate with, but the indulgence of hot chocolate; I sure can. Having Hot Chocolate remind you of summer is the same mindset as having ice cream remind you of winter. In spite of this, having a winter HD treat, that reaches beyond the limiting summer seasonal “ness” of ice cream, creating a year round brand is a good idea.  Although we are quickly transitioning out of cold weather, here is a revamped version of Haagen Chocolate, a warm, fuzzy, winter indulgence.

With a revamped image of this warm winter treat, you can feel the indulgence of coming home after a long day and coming in from the cold, and making hot chocolate from a brand that you thought was cold, into something warm and loving, like it should be.

46: No Directive: Games

Everyone loves games, and now because so many people have cell phones, stupid games that are easy to pick up are even more accessible. They’ve become so addicting, and each new hit game that comes out every six months or so is picked up by everyone, and they all become addicted. Everyone indulges on it when they know they should be doing something productive. At the same time, it serves a great purpose of being able to overcome your boredom. Indulgence always has two sides.

The current game making waves right now is called 2048. It’s a fairly simple game where you combine like tiles to double, starting from two, to four and so on , until you reach 2048, which is incredibly difficult. If you aren’t addicted, you’ve at least heard of it.

Brand a lot of the type look to get attention through electronic mediums by pulling some kind of stunt, moderately unrelated to their brand as we saw in class for the Pepsi commercial. So for this post I designed a game for HD that will get some extra attention to the brand.

45: No Directive: Sweepstakes

Everyone likes contests. Who doesn’t? The chance to win something without any risk is always a good idea. Generally, the outcome of most contests when you win is some kind of prize you can indulge on, whether its money, a car, or a day at the spa. Either way, its always something good. But what if these prizes could be something that allowed you to do what you wanted? That’s where HD comes in.

HD, as a brand of indulgence and luxury, wants to allow you the opportunity to indulge on yourself. For this, HD is doing a chores giveaway, where you give all your chores, errands, and other crap you don’t want to do, away to HD and they’ll get it done for you,only if you win of course.

What this means is that you’ll get free time to indulge in what you love. Whether that’s playing video games all day, or spending an afternoon at the beach, its on HD. You get to define your luxury.