Mies Bands...Realized

So I finally placed an order for the bands; 1000 grey silicon wristband sporting the phrase "What Would Mies Do." It was scary. Putting up $1000 not knowing what the outcome would be. Perhaps I'll enlighten you with some questions that ran through my head:

What if the bands are a scam and they just steel my credit card number?
What if the bands are crappy and break easily?
What if nobody likes the ideas?
What if there is a sudden movement to ban bands?
What if they spell everything wrong?

Scary, but they arrived safely and correctly, the color was just a little off but that's rather minor. The fact that they arrived early and individually packaged made up for it. One the bands were in we started planning where to sell and how to sell. I made ads and the Mies Society compiled a list of events where we could sell bands. In addition, I met with the Architecture College Board of Directors to pitch my idea and to see if they would allow me to visit their firms in the fall to sell bands. I think it went well. Our first event, IIT Open House, sold around 100 bands which was nice. I made spreadsheet to track all sales and placement if bands. Rem Koolhaas was given one and wore it on campus, that made my day. To know that a product I developed made it onto the wrist of one of the worlds most famous architects; it's a nice feeling.

Rumina (Room-in-a) Chair

Below I have posted pictures of the finished cardboard product. Apparently there is already a cardboard furniture market. There was a recent article in the newspaper about 2 brothers who started a business making cardboard furniture. Also, I saw some cardboard shelves at the Visitor Center in Chicago's Water Tower Place. These shelves were reinforced with a thin plywood or board which was disappointing. I'll still work on some ideas but I'm going to research a little more to make sure I'm not replicating something already made. While building this chair I noticed some structural instability in the layered cardboard. If it wasn't properly glued, it would fall apart. This can be solved with a better gluing technique. Overall, I'm satisfied with the out come of this chair, it's been a great learning experience.

Mies Ad II

Less is More. The message is simple and bold. The pointilated profile gives an interesting viewpoint, as if Mies is looking at the words. IIt is also inspiring. The idea behind the pointilation is to play off the restoration of Crown Hall. As if to say, When Crown Hall is restored, so will Mies' image. I am currently working on some adds that will incorporate Crown Hall into the ad.

Mies Ad I

This ad I designed to go inside a display that would accompany the Mies Society Bands. I like this ad because it is bold, yet has a sense of humor. It shows Mies as a relaxed figure with a boldness added by the text font. Also, the fact that he is wearing a Mies band kind of plays off the heading. The question is What Would Mies Do? Would he buy a band? The picture answers yes, yes he would, and he would be damn proud of it. The display will most likely be placed in a high traffic convenience shop location. When someone is in line waiting for the a coffee or a bagel, they might look at a sign for 5-10 seconds. So the ad needs to be short, interesting, and to the point. It answers what the product is, where the money goes, and how much it costs. Simply and with interest.

Bad Ad

Today I am going to talk a little about advertisement because a very important student organization let me down today. That organization would be the Student Entrepreneurship Association. On Monday I saw for the first time, the word Entrepreneurship on campus. I got excited, finally a chance to learn some new entrepreneurial skills. I was a little disappointed with the attempt to sway students to attend this event.

Let's talk about this sign for a moment. First off, they used Word Art. I used word art once, I was making a report cover for my 5th grade presentation on Abraham Lincoln. I'm surprised a nice clip art image didn't accompany this poor display of advertisement. Second, they used bullets, as if we were going to attend an office meeting regarding this quarters figures and the downsizing of a corporation. This, along with the Ariel Bold font, really makes the event uninvited and uninteresting. But above all, even the fact that it's not centered, is the issue of information presented. OK, we know it;s Entrepreneurship Week 05', and we know that between March 24-27 there will be some events. Great, but where are the events? What time of day? How about a contact? A website would even help.

Well on the following Thursday I found a small stack of little papers with a schedule of events on them, for the events described above. Alright, that's good, they got a schedule out to the public, listing events and times and locations. But the problem now is, the events start today, and now I have today all planned out. Maybe if I had this on Monday, rather than a poster that told me nothing, I'd been able to plan my attendance. Also, these papers where scattered all over the MTCC. Now they are just getting annoying. Instead, why don't you create something to hold them, so that people can take one if they want one. Maybe they could have a neat graphic that will interest people and make them want to pick up a schedule. NOT Word Art.

Alright, now I got my schedule and I can plan on attending Fridays events. They are having an elevator pitch workshop at Noon at the HUB. Well the HUB is a big building but I figure there will be signs telling me where to go when I get there, or a greeter or something. Nope. I get there at 11:50 on Friday, not a sign, not a greeter, not a clue. There's a small group of people by the couches, could that be them? There seems to be a group inside one of the ballrooms but they are all older and they are already in progress, so that's not them. I walked around for 20 minutes, then left with no success in finding the workshop. If it was the group on the couches, I'm convinced they were all part of the association because nobody not in that group would have had a clue as to where to go. Pathetic. It's like they didn't want anyone to come to there events. Normally I wouldn't just write about an organization, but I expected a much better display from a group of people who call themselves entrepreneurs. I guess this is what you get at a tech school. I thought about joining the association before, but no I don't think I want to be part of an organization that can't even organize an event properly.