Source: Kellogg’s combats fake flakes

Kellogg’s has developed a hi-tech method to stamp out imitation cereals – by branding Corn Flakes with the company logo.

The new technology enables the firm – which makes 67 million boxes of Corn Flakes every year – to burn the famous signature onto individual flakes using lasers.

Kellogg’s plan to produce a number of one-off trial batches of the branded flakes to test the system.

Bosses will then consider inserting a proportion of branded flakes into each box to guarantee the cereal’s origins and protect against imitation products.

If the system is successful it could be used on Kellogg’s other best-loved brands including Frosties, Special K, Crunchy Nut and Bran Flakes.

The laser uses a concentrated beam of light which focuses the energy within the beam, down to a very small spot on the Corn Flake.

Mirror galvanometers are then used to steer the beam creating multiple vectors that reflect the laser from different angles and ultimately make up the image.

The energy density within the laser spot diameter is sufficient enough to give the surface of the flake a darker, toasted appearance without changing the taste.

Kellogg’s embarked on the project to reinforce that they don’t make cereals for any other companies and to fire a shot across the bows of makers of ‘fake flakes’.

Yesterday Helen Lyons, lead food technologist at the company, said: ”In recent years there has been an increase in the number of own brands trying to capitalise on the popularity of Kellogg’s corn flakes.

”We want shoppers to be under absolutely no illusion that Kellogg’s does not make cereal for anyone else.

”We’re constantly looking at new ways to reaffirm this and giving our golden flakes of corn an official stamp of approval could be the answer.

”We’ve established that it is possible to apply a logo or image onto food, now we need to see if there is a way of repeating it on large quantities of our cereal. We’re looking into it.”

The company also released figures which show sales of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes have risen in 2009 as shoppers with limited budgets opt for recognised, reliable brands.

A staggering 128 billion bowls of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are eaten worldwide every year in countries as far afield as Guatemala, Japan, Argentina and India.

And an incredible 2.8 million bowls of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are eaten in the UK everyday – that’s one billion a year.

The firm’s Manchester factory is also the biggest Corn Flake production line in the world and churns out cereals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were also the first cereal to land on the moon –  as the breakfast of choice for the crew onboard Apollo 11

While not the full desktop version of Photoshop we are used to, the app seems to be perfect for those quick on the go fixes you want to do for that picture before you upload to Twitter or Flickr. If you’ve taken a photo on your night out and it has come out a little dark, you can now pull Photoshop out of your pocket and do some exposure touches while waiting for that next drink at the bar and then upload.

With a simple to use interface you’re able to do the following:

Basics: Crop, Rotate and Flip
Colour: Exposure, Saturation, Tint, Black and White
Filters: Sketch, Soft Focus
Effects: Vibrant, Pop, Border, Vignette Blur, Warm Vintage, Rainbow, White Glow, Soft Black and White

I took it for a quick spin using a photo I took at a recent Handsome Furs show, the original (on the left) was still a great shot but I added a warm vintage effect, upped the saturation and a few other touches here and there. It isn’t the greatest Photoshop work ever done but it was done in less than 15 seconds and ready to saved, emailed or uploaded.

With this app now, I can say goodbye to a few single apps I’ve had for rotating images, cropping and colour effects. This is version 1 and I hope that Adobe will see the benefit in adding new features to this app, there are a lot to choose from.

So if I’ve sold you on getting this FREE app, head to the iTunes store and get it … although currently only for people with US iTunes accounts I’m sure it will filter onto the other international stores eventually.

So if you’re like me, and want to “mix up” your desktop life a little – I’ve created 6 variations for you to brighten up that screen of yours (download).

To get the full effect, in System Preferences on your Mac set your desktop to animate every 10 mins, 1 minute or even 5 seconds so your desktop will change … like some wonderful aurora in the outer regions of the galaxy. As seen below via the magic of Snow Leopard new screencast feature. (and yes, this was the main reason for the update I wanted to test this new toy)

While the new interface upgrades look fantastic and I’m sure this leading to bigger and better things with future OS X releases … the designer in me just can’t get past the front cover of the box art, and I’m not alone.

When you compare it to the graphical boxes for releases of years gone by, this one just comes across as “typical” and “expected“. Not typical by Apple’s standard, but just typically ordinary and logical … words I would never use to describe the artistic direction from Apple. So at first look you can understand why people would be questioning why Apple have made such a decision.

Yet there would be some logic behind the design direction and this is when it begins to make sense … to me at least.

1. This has always been stated not to be seen as full release, hence the cheaper price. This was not the huge advance interface steps that we saw in Panther to Tiger, and then Tiger to Leopard. So why should they be held to having the giant X on the front of the box?

Could this be the first steps Apple are taking to get the adoring Apple fan base to stop referring to OS releases as OS X? Could this be the last OS X release and they would prefer the focus is on the new brand of ‘Snow Leopard’ and not OS X – Snow Leopard, as was with Leopard a few years back. With the branding having equal weight on this new design, it is definitely allowing for a traditional phase in the branding of this product range.

It is with this concept behind the actual product I can see why they created packaging that is clearly separated from the previous releases.

2. Now this is fairly obvious. The product is called Snow Leopard. Snow = White. Majority of the box is white. What better way have seamless packaging that by having a photograph of a Snow Leopard in the snow fading into the rest of the white on the box?

Look I studied design, I’ve been working as a designer in the commercial world for 7 years now and yeah I would be shocked too if  this was the best idea I came up with too. Yet, I really think that looking at this subjectively and not knowing the FULL marketing plan behind this and future directions for Apple, this could very well be the perfect decision.

Yes it is simple, yes it obvious and I was like you too and thought “Huh?” at first but … Why shouldn’t a simple design like this work? This is Apple, a company named after a fruit and their logo is … surprise surprise an apple. Like life itself, design shouldn’t always be over complicated and as we all know sometimes the most obvious solution can be the best.

So I’ll stand up proud and say I don’t mind the Snow Leopard box art … who is with me?

While it is a big passion of mine to design for mobile devices, its best to collate this work – no matter how simple. So I’ve put a little collection together, for my personal use mostly, of a few little web examples I’ve built for the iPhone. Nothing to ‘exciting’, standard forms, interactive slide controls and jQuery touch examples are all that are there at the moment, it is in a little mobile sub section to the site:

sunkyspeaks.com/mobile/

These can be viewed on a standard desktop browser, but obviously best viewed on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Feedback is welcome.

We love to blame our clients for poor work. When projects go sour, it’s always the clients — never us — who are at fault. Sure, there are bad clients. But designers treating them badly have usually turned them into bad clients. As designers, we end up with the clients we deserve.

02: The best way to learn how to become a better graphic designer is to become a client.

On the few occasions that I’ve been a paying commissioner of graphic design, I’ve learned more about being a designer than by anything else I’ve done. It’s only by commissioning graphic designers that we discover that most of us are not very good at articulating what we do and how we work. For many clients, designers seem to operate on the principle expressed by the architect hero of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead: “I don’t intend to build in order to have clients. I intend to have clients in order to build.” As part of their training, all designers should be obliged to spend a sum of their own money on graphic design.

03: If we want to educate our clients about design, we must first educate ourselves about our clients.

When I hear designers say that “we must educate our clients”, I want to break out in hives. Instead of educating our clients, we must educate ourselves in the ways of our clients. Then — and only then — will clients take us seriously.

04: If we want to make money as a graphic designer, we must concentrate on the work — not the money.

Whenever I’ve taken on design projects “just for the money,” disaster has invariably ensued. When we put money first and work second, we end up with bad work and an even worse balance sheet. This is not to say that designers shouldn’t be properly paid for their work, or that designers shouldn’t be financially savvy (clients usually are). But the designer’s primary motive has to be the quality of the design and not the size of the fee. When the focus is on the money, the work is usually poor.

05: For designers, verbal skills are as important as visual skills.

Since graphic design should be self-explanatory, designers might be forgiven for thinking that the need to provide a verbal rationale for their work is unimportant. Surely the work should succeed on its own merits without requiring a designer’s advocacy? True. Except there never was a client who didn’t want an explanation for every aspect of every piece of creative work they commissioned. If we can’t talk about our work in a clear, rational and objective way — free from all jargon — then we can’t be surprised when we meet with rejection.

06: Ideas usually fail not because they’re bad ideas, but because they’re badly presented.

The ability to present an idea is as important as the idea itself. The single most important thing we need to remember when presenting work to clients is that they are terrified at the prospect of what we are going to show them. For clients, commissioning design is like going into a furniture showroom to buy a sofa and being told by the salesperson, “Sure, I can sell you a sofa. But I can’t show it to you.” Who ever spent money on something they couldn’t see? Yet this is precisely what we ask our clients to do when they commission us.

07: “I’m a professional: I know best.”

The only designers who use this argument are unprofessional designers. Designers often say, “No one tells a doctor what to do, so why is it OK to tell me what to do?” But the myth of professional omnipotence has been debunked. We no longer accept that doctors, lawyers and plumbers have a monopoly on knowledge. Speak to any doctor and they will tell you that people come into their consulting rooms armed with information downloaded from the internet. We have long since learned to question and challenge expert opinion. Why should designers be exempt? Anyone who uses the “I’m a professional therefore you must accept what I say” argument has lost the argument.

08: “All the good jobs go to other designers.”

Not true: in fact, nearly all jobs start off as neither good nor bad. We are deluded if we think only other people get good jobs and we only get the rubble. Truth is, nearly all jobs start off the same, and our responses as designers determine the success or failure of each job. There are no good or bad projects in design, only good or bad responses. Good projects are made not found. I’ve often interviewed designers who told me they wanted to move jobs because they only got “lousy projects to work on”. Yet when they showed me what they’d been working on, they usually seemed like great jobs.

09: The best way to run a studio is to be domineering and forceful.

In fact, the opposite is true. Designers who run studios or lead teams often think they have to lead from the front. They think they have to dominate. They think they have to take credit for everything. In fact, the opposite is true. Good leaders of design teams lead from behind. They put themselves last and allow others to shine. When designers are allowed to shine, they shine more brightly.

10: If we believe in nothing, we shouldn’t wonder why no one believes in us.

In a world with no principles, people respect those who have principles. Impersonating a doormat is a poor way to be an effective graphic designer. In fact, standing up for what we believe in — ethics, morality, professional standards, even aesthetic preferences — is the only way to produce meaningful work. Of course we won’t win every time, but we will win more often than the designer who doesn’t believe in anything. There are countless ways in which we can demonstrate professional integrity — the only mistake we can make is not to demonstrate any.

Footnote: Just like the amp in Spinal Tap that goes up to 11, my list of 10 paradoxes actually contains 11 items. Here is the eleventh paradox of graphic design.

11. When a client says the words — “you have complete creative freedom,” they never mean complete creative freedom.

Whatever you show them, they will find a problem with. Happens every time.

Source

As a designer and a lover of music, it goes without saying that my love for album artwork is what inspired me to become a creative in the graphic design industry. We are starting to enter an era though where the digital age is taking over and in years to come to idea of a ‘physical’ release could come secondary to the digital release of a music album.

Read the full article here on SP.com: Physical or Digital graffiti?

I’ll be following this up with a look into what this means for music collectors, will it become about the size of your hard-drive and not the size of your shelves? Your thoughts?

The two ‘extras’ Im reffering to is the use of Favourite icons in your web browser and web clip icons on your iPhone / iPod Touch. Below are two step by step guides in how create both of these for your next website.

Favicon

defn: A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon, shortcut icon, url icon, or bookmark iconis an icon associated with a particular website or webpage.

Nothing new, these have been around for years but it still surprises me how many sites don’t have them. As I’m putting together these ‘little extras’ for Sunky Speaks I thought I would document a ‘how to guide’. I’ll go through this using Photoshop, sorry to all non-Photoshop users but it’s the easiest way to do it. Ok, lets get started.

1. Stop. Think. Begin. Take the time to think about what you’re going to be putting in as the favicon, I mean really think about it. This icon will end up being 16px * 16px, so if it is a thin line drawing that is your clients logo then its not going to look that great at such a small size. With Sunky Speaks I would love to include the logo as a small icon, but once it gets to that size it will be near on impossible to read the words ‘Sunky Speaks’, so I’ve come up with an alternative idea.
2. Plugin first. Next you’ll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin, this will allow you to export to the .ico file format. (download here) Make sure to install the plugin before you open up Photoshop. To install the plugin just copy it into your Photoshop plugin folder, for Windows: C:Program FilesAdobeAdobe Photoshop CS3Plug-Ins and for Mac: Applications > Adobe Photoshop C3 > Plug-Ins. Then open Photoshop and it will be installed.
3. Design time. 16px * 16px is a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to create something clear in that space. So instead we will start our project with a canvas set at 64px * 64px (this is because it is always better to use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File > New, and opening a new canvas that is 64px * 64px pixels in size.
   
4. Happy with the design?Best thing to do first is test the design, select Image > Image Size menu and enter 16px * 16px. Click on Resample Image and select “Bicubic Sharper” from the drop-down menu. This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn’t blur as it’s being resized. If it’s still not sharp enough for you, always go back and oversharpen, oversaturate and/or heighten the contrast of the original image and then resize it again. Like with anything, you may need to tweak the design to get it to look just right.
   

   
   

5. Saving. Like with any file go to File > Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. (Note: This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin).
   

   
   

6. Uploading and coding. Upload this new file to the root folder of your website, and then add the following code to your website in the <head> tag.
   
   <link rel="Shortcut Icon" href="/favicon.ico">

7. Testing. You should now have this appearing in your address bar:

   

   But what happens if its not working, and you’re thinking “Wha Happened?“. Check your code and file first. Still no good, next thing to try is clearing your browsers cache and that should fix it. If you’re using IE6 (please upgrade) you will need to add the URL as a Bookmarked favourite before it can work.

iPhone / iPod Touch web clip icons

defn: The icon graphic that appears on your home screen when you add a web clip from Safari.

The biggest selling mobile device(s) in the past few years, that also boasts with the strongest web capabilities of any other phone out there and people are still not making sure their users get the full experience when visiting their site. If somebody loves your site and plans on visiting it on a regular basis, why not give them a pretty icon to view when using their phone rather than a tiny screenshot of your website.

Open up Photoshop, or your preferred editor.

1. Name your file to be “apple-touch-icon.png”
2. Set both the width and height to be 57px. If you’re resizing a larger logo or image, remember to set your resize option to be “Bicubic Sharper” like we did for the favicon, just gives your a sharper image.
3. Save your file out and then upload it to your root directory of your website.
4. To test that it worked, open up Safari on your iPhone / iPod Touch and add your website to your home screen. To do this, click the + button at the base of your browser and it will open the screen below. Finally select ‘Add to Home Screen’, if you’re doing this via your cellular network you might find it take a few seconds to display.

   

5. Go back to your home screen to your new icon nested next to all your other apps, now doesn’t that look more at home than a boring old screenshot?

   

Thats it, hope you’ve found these guides helpful. Any questions just ask away.