Studioblog (n): a blog by Studiobanks about design, marketing, internet, business, Charlotte and more. 

Muzak's Brainery

Mike 0 Comments

This year celebrates Muzak's 75th anniversary in business. They decided to hold a conference to have a focused discussion on the art, science and sound of music branding. The discussion explored the transformation of music, the music industry, and music branding—from legal to cultural considerations, media consumption to retail behavior.

From a designer's perspective, it was very eye opening to realize how important music relates to the target audience and how it really helps to reinforce the message, style, and emotions created within a brand. I had never really put stock in what types of music the target audience of my brand would listen to or even create. But looking back, I now realize that most of the information I was receiving about a target audience was directly influenced by the types of music that is both listened to and created within different demographics. Music is a unifying theme in all circles and can even break bounds and connect very different groups of people by evoking emotion and creating memories.

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Google's Solution to Internet Explorer

Mike 1 Comments

Internet Explorer is a major headache when it comes to development, but not much can be done because people are stuck using it for reasons such as their work not letting them upgrade. So, Google has created a solution that allows IE users to install a browser plugin into their version of IE called Chrome Frame that gives them the Google Chrome web browsing experience.

Google claims its goals are noble. Talking to Group Product Manager Mike Smith and Software Engineer Alex Russell, they tell us that they simply want to make a more seamless web experience for both web users and developers. That said, they are only targeting one browser, IE, right now.

Read the Full Article

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LiveSurface Layered Image Templates

Mike 0 Comments

I came across this really cool resource today called LiveSurface. It is like a stock photography site but for product, environmental, and packaging mock ups in both isolated and real life situations. While the price per image seems kind of high ($29 per image) you not only get the image but also a photoshop file with the usable area pre-masked, lighting effects added, and perspective applied automatically. They also have tutorials to give you step-by-step instructions on how to do various effects within the templates. Let me know if you guys ever use this resource. I'm curious as to how well it works.

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Library of Congress

Mike 1 Comments

I came across the Library of Congress Flickr account a few weeks back and thought this would be a great resource for everyone. The photos on here have no copyright restrictions so knock yourself out experimenting with old timey photos and collages. I'm looking forward to making some cool stuff soon!

Library of Congress Flickr

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Click-Copy & Paste

Mike 6 Comments

I recently ran across this website called Copy Paste Character. It is a extremely user friendly site that allows you to easily click on one of the characters to copy it, then go into your text field and paste it by either hitting ⌘+v or right clicking and clicking on 'paste'. It is a great resource for webdesigners because it has all of the pesky characters that you have to either memorize or hit random buttons on the keyboard until you finally find what you are looking for.

As far as I've tested, the characters work with webfonts, and most fonts in design software (if the font has that character in its arsenal). I've only worked with the site a little bit in Firefox 3.0 and Safari, so try it out on other browsers and let me know if you run into any problems. Enjoy!

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Studiobanks Desktop Wallpapers

Mike 0 Comments

Studiobanks recently had some t-shirts designed by Bloo Empire's Keeley Carrigan. The design featured a Studiobanks robot smashing a computer monitor and various elements of the internet flying out, including characters based on our custom Toolbox packages.

I decided that since the design is so cool, it would be great to offer our friends a Studiobanks desktop wallpaper with this design. Below are links to the various sizes of wallpapers for everyone to enjoy!

1024x768

1280x800

1280x1024

1440x900

1680x1050

1900x1200

iPhone

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"Plastic Soup"

Mike 1 Comments

I stumbled across this article talking about a sea of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean nearly twice as big as the continental US. Plastic products, packaging, and trash that have been dumped into the sea are gathering in a "trash vortex" nearly 10 meters deep, and is responsible for killing "more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food."

The plastic waste poses a threat to humans as well. Every year, millions of plastic pellets (the raw material used to create plastic products) are lost at sea. These pellets act as a chemical sponge, absorbing man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT, which are then eaten by marine life, that could possibly wind up on your dinner plate.

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