I always want to do the multicolored film type of the posters to play with the colors, and the compositions. This one is really fun for me after all the effort of taking and repainting films.
Sofia B.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
'It's kind of Fun to Do impossible'
'It's kind of fun to do impossible.'-Walt Elias Disney
May 11th, 2012, I end my LA trip to Portland, OR, which means, no more traffic jam, no more information jam, no more jam.... LA's been a roller coaster ride for one of chapter of my life, drama, money, tears, friends, and of course, Kardashians, I suppose. However, I surely learn a great lesson from Disney, not only I follow with one of the greatest graphic/environmental designer, Scott Moss, from Disney but the courage, and attitude of doing impossible with fun factor, from old Walt Disney.
my LA Chapter closes as 'J.A.M.['d] will close here but who knows?!! I may open another one specialized in Portland, OR, and definitely not like the show 'Portlandia'.
Marching to Portland, OR has been the final note of my plan, and I know it's going to be more in the future.
love+S
May 11th, 2012, I end my LA trip to Portland, OR, which means, no more traffic jam, no more information jam, no more jam.... LA's been a roller coaster ride for one of chapter of my life, drama, money, tears, friends, and of course, Kardashians, I suppose. However, I surely learn a great lesson from Disney, not only I follow with one of the greatest graphic/environmental designer, Scott Moss, from Disney but the courage, and attitude of doing impossible with fun factor, from old Walt Disney.
my LA Chapter closes as 'J.A.M.['d] will close here but who knows?!! I may open another one specialized in Portland, OR, and definitely not like the show 'Portlandia'.
Marching to Portland, OR has been the final note of my plan, and I know it's going to be more in the future.
love+S
Saturday, April 7, 2012
6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers by Paul J. H. Schoemaker
THE STRATEGIC DECISION | Paul J. H. Schoemaker
In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic."
Whatever that means.
If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.
This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.
After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:
Mar 20, 2012
6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers
You're the boss, but you still spend too much time on the day-to-day. Here's how to become the strategic leader your company needs.
In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic."
Whatever that means.
If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.
This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.
After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:
Anticipate
Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company vulnerable to rivals who detect and act on ambiguous signals. To anticipate well, you must:- Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry
- Search beyond the current boundaries of your business
- Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better
Think Critically
“Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. But if you swallow every management fad, herdlike belief, and safe opinion at face value, your company loses all competitive advantage. Critical thinkers question everything. To master this skill you must force yourself to:- Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes
- Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including your own
- Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions
Interpret
Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, the temptation is to reach for a fast (and potentially wrongheaded) solution. A good strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. To get good at this, you have to:- Seek patterns in multiple sources of data
- Encourage others to do the same
- Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously
Decide
Many leaders fall prey to “analysis paralysis.” You have to develop processes and enforce them, so that you arrive at a “good enough” position. To do that well, you have to:- Carefully frame the decision to get to the crux of the matter
- Balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Leave perfection to higher powers
- Take a stand even with incomplete information and amid diverse views
Align
Total consensus is rare. A strategic leader must foster open dialogue, build trust and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge. To pull that off, you need to:- Understand what drives other people's agendas, including what remains hidden
- Bring tough issues to the surface, even when it's uncomfortable
- Assess risk tolerance and follow through to build the necessary support
Learn
As your company grows, honest feedback is harder and harder to come by. You have to do what you can to keep it coming. This is crucial because success and failure--especially failure--are valuable sources of organizational learning. Here's what you need to do:- Encourage and exemplify honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons
- Shift course quickly if you realize you're off track
- Celebrate both success and (well-intentioned) failures that provide insight
Friday, March 2, 2012
Make it Personal
I don't like competitors going on 'price revenge' strategy when comes to the market. Economically, keeping balance is the key for the universe/market, so to speak. I'm not saying low price strategy doesn't work but it's a 'no turning back' for the brand itself. Once customers set your brand to a certain price range, it's hard to switch that 'stereotype'.
As economy going nowhere, I see lots of companies tempting to jump into 'lower price' war in order to see a huge jump in sale$ but sacrifice the profit margin, and it's not necessary benefit the target market or even the brand image. Nevertheless, I rather sacrifice a bit money on the customers, especially VIPs, simply once a year, to make them feel special and keep coming back. Like a legendary British designer, Anya Hindmarch, recently launches 'Bespoke' personalized-service. The idea may be old but the execution is new. Any catalog companies in the states can do monogram for names but AH pushes even further. She said, you can 'write a note' on your purse' to declare your state. And who can do that in this state of economy? Certainly, it earns 'Iron Lady' attention, not mentioning, profit from film industry, media, magazine...truly a big PR winning, another way to get your company rolling without a cutting throat business like an old day Viking war.
As economy going nowhere, I see lots of companies tempting to jump into 'lower price' war in order to see a huge jump in sale$ but sacrifice the profit margin, and it's not necessary benefit the target market or even the brand image. Nevertheless, I rather sacrifice a bit money on the customers, especially VIPs, simply once a year, to make them feel special and keep coming back. Like a legendary British designer, Anya Hindmarch, recently launches 'Bespoke' personalized-service. The idea may be old but the execution is new. Any catalog companies in the states can do monogram for names but AH pushes even further. She said, you can 'write a note' on your purse' to declare your state. And who can do that in this state of economy? Certainly, it earns 'Iron Lady' attention, not mentioning, profit from film industry, media, magazine...truly a big PR winning, another way to get your company rolling without a cutting throat business like an old day Viking war.
love+S
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Boat Ride
This is my 1st time to shoot pictures with Nordic style. Pale white wash, monochromatic, graphic, I think the subjects tell more stories than the colors themselves. The grids, from the boat, tools, ropes...etc, are simply beautiful. I hope you enjoy the boat ride with me, on photos.
love+S
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Congrate! Another Winning!
People around me always says 'Sylvia has the eyes of design.' And the moment I picked up Fleet Object, Alice's shell lamp, I know she's going to do something great.
I met this brave young designer at Dwell Design exh. in LA convention center. Among all the loud marketers, advertisers, collectors..., her pieces simply spoke quietly like Monet's water Lilli pond, ease and pleasing to eyes. We talked about her background, design ideas, and where her inspiration came from, and soon I suggested her to go to one of the biggest design event in the world, the design exhibition in UK where lots of talent designers are discovered. And I'm glad she did. Now she's on the front page of ELLE UK decoration magazine which is the most prestige design publisher in the interior design, design, art industry. Bravo for her!
http://www.fleetobjects.com
Days ago, I had a conversation regarding how to manipulate the target market by educating them even under the presure of higher pricing strategy, with a sale manager from a popular Japanese bakery brand. He sounded very frustrated by thousands of data, and research he's been conducting, and still didn't see any significant improvement in sales. I told him what I see in one of his stores in Pasadena, CA, which target market doesn't seem fit into his research statistic. Immediately I realize it's the typical phenomenon between statistic and reality.
It's very like the product design which a designer has to step out his/her studio, and feel, smell, touch in order to know what people want or desire on daily basis, and then create a thoughtful product to improve people's life. Same as marketing strategy, stepping out the numbers, and walking into the crowd is the key to success.
I may have the eyes of design or a marketing expertise but mostly I love to walk into the market, talking to people, knowing what they want, need, and what they may desire in the future. Lastly, I hope my 'ignorant' advise find a peace in his mind.
love+S
I met this brave young designer at Dwell Design exh. in LA convention center. Among all the loud marketers, advertisers, collectors..., her pieces simply spoke quietly like Monet's water Lilli pond, ease and pleasing to eyes. We talked about her background, design ideas, and where her inspiration came from, and soon I suggested her to go to one of the biggest design event in the world, the design exhibition in UK where lots of talent designers are discovered. And I'm glad she did. Now she's on the front page of ELLE UK decoration magazine which is the most prestige design publisher in the interior design, design, art industry. Bravo for her!
http://www.fleetobjects.com
Days ago, I had a conversation regarding how to manipulate the target market by educating them even under the presure of higher pricing strategy, with a sale manager from a popular Japanese bakery brand. He sounded very frustrated by thousands of data, and research he's been conducting, and still didn't see any significant improvement in sales. I told him what I see in one of his stores in Pasadena, CA, which target market doesn't seem fit into his research statistic. Immediately I realize it's the typical phenomenon between statistic and reality.
It's very like the product design which a designer has to step out his/her studio, and feel, smell, touch in order to know what people want or desire on daily basis, and then create a thoughtful product to improve people's life. Same as marketing strategy, stepping out the numbers, and walking into the crowd is the key to success.
I may have the eyes of design or a marketing expertise but mostly I love to walk into the market, talking to people, knowing what they want, need, and what they may desire in the future. Lastly, I hope my 'ignorant' advise find a peace in his mind.
love+S
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Abstract in Life or Obstruct the Market
I love the ideas that nowadays different industries team up and spark with great collaborations or inspirations, such as Target with Jason Wu, H&M with Versace, Hello Kitty with Sephora, Intelligentsia with local artists or Anthropology with abstract.
I have some friends in the art field who love to shop at Anthropology which gives me a whole new scope of looking at its business. When I first step into Anthropology, I discover a great harmony of mix and match of its interior design with fashion pieces, and I also discover some rarely find either vintage or furniture that can only be found in UK, where claims to be the most blooming business/ideas in design or art industry. The fact definitely makes my eyebrow raise, and its upcoming window/Internet campaign of bringing abstract into fashion simply brings the excitement to the next level. I mean, the idea of abstract is nothing new in fashion but in window display where usually creates an tangible experience more than just a few brush strokes. It is definitely something looking forward.
However, when I see the web version of its ad, shown above, I can't help asking myself, 'does it make me feel BUYING? Is it a perfect complement to the merchandise?' I certainly don't find the product is appealing when seeing its color slowly got eaten by the abstract behind, which makes me think if art is like a scary monster daring to catch people at museum or kids' projects, do they want it to run free on the daily basis?
On the other hand, if taking the most 'dripping lines' out, and keeping clean, selecting the garments with contrast/poping colors like tangerine or magenta, I will draw more attention to story that the brand is trying to tell and put money to the pieces.
Overall, today's market is certainly a competitve business and is very hard to cater the most of the market while trying to educate some moving up to the higher level. How to keep the balance between sales and visual communication is the key to success.
love+S
I have some friends in the art field who love to shop at Anthropology which gives me a whole new scope of looking at its business. When I first step into Anthropology, I discover a great harmony of mix and match of its interior design with fashion pieces, and I also discover some rarely find either vintage or furniture that can only be found in UK, where claims to be the most blooming business/ideas in design or art industry. The fact definitely makes my eyebrow raise, and its upcoming window/Internet campaign of bringing abstract into fashion simply brings the excitement to the next level. I mean, the idea of abstract is nothing new in fashion but in window display where usually creates an tangible experience more than just a few brush strokes. It is definitely something looking forward.
However, when I see the web version of its ad, shown above, I can't help asking myself, 'does it make me feel BUYING? Is it a perfect complement to the merchandise?' I certainly don't find the product is appealing when seeing its color slowly got eaten by the abstract behind, which makes me think if art is like a scary monster daring to catch people at museum or kids' projects, do they want it to run free on the daily basis?
On the other hand, if taking the most 'dripping lines' out, and keeping clean, selecting the garments with contrast/poping colors like tangerine or magenta, I will draw more attention to story that the brand is trying to tell and put money to the pieces.
Overall, today's market is certainly a competitve business and is very hard to cater the most of the market while trying to educate some moving up to the higher level. How to keep the balance between sales and visual communication is the key to success.
love+S
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