FLASH THOUGHTS CONTINUED

FLASH THOUGHTS 2/11/13

http://crissxross.net/wilx/category/flash_artworks/

I really like the work, "spinNmix" because the images shuffle and the music operates as a dj that's scratching on the disk. You constantly get a remix of images with a different sound effect. The images are from a gallery of images that the artist has worked on. The random function is being used to pick the audio and the shuffling of the images. Yet it's easy to understand this project with just clicking on spin starts the sequence which is when the randomness of the audio and shuffling of the images that's in mix mode. It's similar to the in-class exercises that we do that one simple effect is from how many lines of ActionScript code, yet once you understand the function such as fixed vibration then you can the values of the scale, alpha, movement on x and y axis, and rotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RiNPFsTrkQ&noredirect=1

I also found a YouTube video that showed 2 easy steps how to fix Google Chrome from flashing. YouTube is similar to Googling where to fix your problem you can watch tutorial videos. Again people try to show their networks by mentioning to follow their twitter and even subscribe to them. It's just as much of a social network for people to get out there. If it wasn't for YouTube tutorial videos, then many students and myself wouldn't be able to fix problems in our video class or you want to create something in 3D, but you aren't sure. It's a teaching tool in this case.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/jun/29/flash-android-dies-adobe

Adobe declared in a blog post that from Aug. 15, 2012 that they will stop any new installations of its Flash player onto Android devices and that devices that already have a mobile version of its Flash player already installed will be updated. Even the Android 4.1 might have Flash, but Flash will still perform with some bugs in it.

Apple launched iPhone without Flash because the team wasn't confident about its effect on browser stability and battery duration. Steve Jobs managed to make the iPhone perform without Flash by removing the Flash wrapping from the content so that H.264 video would play on the iPhone which even Mozilla adopted also.

However there was no alternative to Flash so that meant mobile browsing growth kicked off for iPhone in the U.S., people protested at the lack of Flash support on the phone.

This reminds me of searching YouTube videos on my phone when it won't let me watch certain videos.   Adobe should update Flash whether it's already installed or not on mobile devices because then Flash will become obsolete on that mobile device and then have to upgrade. This way forces you to upgrade and it's just a matter of time when it comes down to that. Also Flash is needed because not all sites can perform without Flash and there's not too many alternatives which was pointed out from the protests from the U.S.

FLASH THOUGHTS -2/18/13

Flash Player 11 and Air 3 can create console-quality games, animate millions of onscreen objects smoothly at 60 frames per second even on older computers that don't have up-to-date hardware. It will improve video conferencing and playing high-definition video.

It will support content subscriptions and rentals through Adobe Flash Access and Adobe Pass. This feature is for Internet-connected TVS where the content and rental provider can offer pay-per-view and rental content.

Developers can use Adobe Air to save their project as standard apps. Adobe Air apps is criticized for their poor performance and limitations.

Adobe says Flash has 11 times more of an audience than Nintendo Wii.

Flash appeals to developers because Flash projects look the same and 3d games can't perform well when using open Web technologies e.g. HTML5.

Adobe Air 3 isn't a solution for web publishers looking to embed audio, video, and interactive elements in their web pages. Its value to app developers is rising.

I still think Flash allows more flexibility to create more dynamic interactions with users. I remember storyboarding that even changing the trucking, zooming, panning, and even editing the movie clip such as the shape and size or colour can be more effective, easy, and yet make a dynamic story. Websites don't have that option when the links are more for navigational purposes and getting information quickly. You don't go on a website to just explore, but to find specific content. Even then the HTML and CSS code is still limited and the assets needs to work with the code and it doesn't look the same on all web browsers. Even there's more flexibility to change the assets of the movie clip to get so many different imagery results within HYPE. You can create your asset in Photoshop or Illustrator and import it into Flash and edit it. There's so many more resources that you can use. There's more experimentation which is different from using Dreamweaver, HTML, and CSS. 

Here's an example from a student that created their own asset and just imported it. It's just using an image to mimic the audio which we've been doing in class. Yet majority of the editing and creation was done in Photoshop and then just changing the code.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl2DNukRujA

MAGAZINE AD

E&F CUPCAKES MAGAZINE AD (MOCKUP1)

The magazine ad focuses on E&F cupcakes as a product and also as a business. I showed the display of our E&F cupcakes in the 2 display sets of the front of the store. This is to emphasize that this is our speciality and showcases our cupcake in a bold and catches your attention. The customer will think of our cupcakes from the first step they take towards our store. It's similar to seeing McDonalds sign and you know it's McDonalds. This is the same mechanism for the cupcake design in the window display in the front windows.

The store sign is simple but also whimsical. The dots is trail from the flavour oozing out from the cupcake. The dots make your eye travel to the name of our company. The same style will be applied to our front counter. The tier of cupcakes is the focus of our store and again is the first thing when customers walk into the store. 

I think that I will need to include more about our company such as what is it that makes E&F cupcakes so special which I will include in the revision. I just put the main head as a promotion of our cupcakes and the location and contact information on the bottom of the ad. 

There isn't any colour right now because it was a sketch. Some colours that I was thinking would be to imitate red velvet cupcakes with New York cheesecake filling. So I was thinking of dark browns, burgundy, and white as an accent colour to give it a sophisticated and rich look. Also I was thinking of making turquoise and pink to give it a hip and fun look with a cool undertone to it.

REVISED MAGAZINE AD (MOCKUP2)

This mockup has additional information about the cupcake and company as a whole. I introduced the content with pitching our product. Then I was talking about our vision and process of this discovery. The mission statement seals our promise of the quality and what we want to achieve and deliver to our clients. The content is concise and is a pitch. 

The image is what our customers will see from the front to the inside of the store. This image is what the customer will first see before they actual step into the store so really wanted to give an accurate representation for the client and reader to familiarize themselves with. 

The colour palette is soft and fun. The colour palette is mixture of purple, pink, and blue. The blue and green just give contrast and a punch of colour. Otherwise it would just be a pastel and wash away. So the smallest details bring back your attention to the cupcake. I was thinking of doing a burgundy with a chocolate palette to mimic red velvet cheesecake, but then the imagery wasn't as fun and it became more serious than fun. It was too dark. I also used the colour of the master bubble gum rebrand logo as the colour for the name of our company to carry on some element of work that we've done in this class. The colour was #EF639C. It suited the colour palette and personality of our company and cupcake perfectly. I reduced the opacity of the dots that are in the centre of the cupcake to give the illusion that they're within the cupcake to show off our flavour-filled centres. The structure of the building which you see with the horizontal and vertical bars and the grey wash is to show off inside the store and that you're looking through the front window of the store from the outside. 

PROPOSAL

Proposal 

Our idea is to innovate a new recipe and look for E&F Cupcakes that will focus on the sensation of our flavour-filled center. The flavour-filled center will be flavour of vanilla with caramel filling, chocolate with white chocolate filling, red velvet with New York cheesecake filling, and vanilla with cherry or strawberry filling. The ingredients will be bought in bulk from Sysco. We will have small quantities of ingredients since we’re just opening and mostly sampling. The first year will be more of the trial run where there will be more money spent on the marketing, branding, ingredients, rent, invoices, and vendors/suppliers.

Our strategy is to market its uniqueness and that we serve a specific niche that no one has explored yet. We have to create events or leap on opportunities where we can market our cupcakes such as birthday parties  or even sampling them in a pastry store that’s owned by my relative that’s in the downtown area. 

This product will be launched in a campaign. We have developed the logo, did a needs analysis, have a press release, and a newspaper ad. We need to create more hype and be more exposed so the next step would be posting an ad in the magazine of the cupcake industry. We’re using the case sample of the Cupcake Girls that is the top competitor and has had years of successful business. We will be creating brochure, business card, catalogue, and poster that will promote our cupcake. Again these print projects will be happening in phases and discussed in more detail when we reach that stage. 

Erica and I, Fareena, will be the corporate owners of E&F cupcakes and have a partnership where it’s equal liability. We will have a crew of bakers, pastry designers, and an executive chef who will be included in the development of the recipe of the cupcakes since they will have more expertise knowledge in baking than us. 

There will be different tasks that will need to be completed. There will be sample testing which we’ll be having a cupcake party with friends, family, and my coworkers from KFC and Soul Restaurants, which will be managed by Erica and Fareena. The press release will be handled by Fareena. The newspaper block will be taken care by Erica. The ad for the company in the magazine will be done by Erica and Fareena. Fareena will think of the concept and Erica will be assisting with polishing that concept and doing the final version of the ad. Design and concept of the business card will be decided between Erica and Fareena. The letterhead layout options will be decided between both of us. The brochure and catalogue will be planned conceptually by Fareena and design is done by Erica. The poster for the subway will be drafted by sketches by Erica and Fareena and the final sketch that will be appropriate will be created by its creator. The media kit will be arranged and created by Erica and Fareena and decide what will be appropriate for our cupcake campaign. Erica and Fareena will be assigned elements  of the media kit and will be handled in a corroborative manner to ensure consistency. 

There will be timelines that has been scheduled for each task. There will be a new task each week that will either take one to two weeks to revise and complete in full. 

The budget will be an estimate of costs of ingredients and pricing the cupcakes. However the cost will be for printing of the print materials for this campaign.

Erica and I have similar schedules which we constantly have time for feedback. The allowance would be finishing other projects that require us to use the computers at school and that consume a lot of time eg. applying After Affects on a Star Wars clip. Then we would be using class time and work on it from Friday to the weekend when we’re free. 

Contingency would be a file not opening since we have version cs5, but we would just have to make sure to back it up. I have uploaded files in that case on my SkyDrive in my hotmail account. 

So our end goal is to create a product that people will want to try and see it as a novelty. We want to build a client base with our print materials that will advertise our product and expose it.

PRESS RELEASE

CityTv reporter, Dina Pugliese

02/03/13

Opening of E&F Cupcakes, "The One of a Kind Cupcake Delight"

There’s a new sensation happening in the downtown area of Toronto near the Eaton Center that have many sweet tooth lovers come out to. The creators, Erica Giansante and Fareena Mookshah, have opened their unique cupcake store that’s called E&F Cupcakes.Their cupcakes are special and unique by that they have flavour-filled centers that ooze with flavour and it’s the only one in the cupcake market that’s doing this. Their idea occurred by their love of cupcakes. 

However they wanted to make a statement and make a new receipe than the traditional cupcakes that we’ve come to enjoy. It was a simple idea that made them think of jelly-filled doughnuts that they both enjoy that they realized how about making cupcakes in this way also. Erica and Fareena want their cupcakes to be loved and for people to have a new experience with cupcakes. 

They began their journey by sampling their cupcakes at the popular Greek restaurant called, “Greek’s Delights” that also specializes in Greek pastries. The two girls just wondered how people would think of their creation and they had positive feedbacks.The owner, Peter Dimitrov, of “Greek’s Delights” believes that this product is innovative and delicious and has been a big hit to many customers that just finish Erica and Fareena’s flavour-filled center cupcakes within minutes in his store. They have created newspaper ad, brochures, poster, magazine ad, and a catalogue in their print campaign to promote their product, E&F Cupcakes for the past 3 months which have been getting positive reviews and feedback. Their launch date for their opening of the store was to be a year after since there was a great demand for their unique cupcake. Their launch date finally came and today, April 14th, is when E&F Cupcakes opened their door to new and current E&F Cupcake lovers.

It’s great taking a traditional pastry and just putting a new twist on it and that seems to be the opinion of many people that are here today. E&F Cupcakes has a homey and a whimsical attitude where you feel you’re enjoying your favourite cupcake, but there’s a surprise when you just get a burst of flavour when you get into the center. Some people are wiping their mouths as they finish eating their E&F Cupcake with a smile on their face in the store now. Come down and taste this one of a kind cupcake and become an E&F Cupcake lover. 

WEBSITE NEEDS ANALYSIS: E&F CUPCAKES

THE GOAL OF THIS NEEDS ANALYSIS IS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT OUR DESIGN APPROACH AND STRATEGY WILL MEET THE CLIENT'S NEEDS AND EXPECTATION. THIS RESEARCH HELPED ME TO UNDERSTAND E&F CUPCAKE AS A PRODUCT AND WHAT GOAL THAT WE'RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE WITH OUR PRODUCT. 

The primary message that we want to convey to our customers is that this is one of its first kind cupcake. We’re used to cupcakes with frosting and different flavours such as dessert, fruit flavoured, to mixture of sweet and savoury. E&F Cupcakes propose to give your taste buds a new delight with introducing cupcakes that have flavoured-filled centers.

We want to make our cupcakes be whimsical and have a fun personality which we want our cupcakes to come across as. 

This product differentiates from Cupcake Girls cupcakes because they focus on their fresh ingredients and nostalgic feel. We want to make cupcakes be tasted and seen in a new way. It’s similar to jelly filled doughnuts which gives you a different savoury experience from eating an ordinary donut. 

Key reasons why customers should choose our product is that it’s new spin to a traditional pastry dessert that everyone has come to love. 

3 adjectives that will be used to describe this product:

-innovative: it’s unique and never been done.

-whimsical: its characteristics will be fun and light-hearted such as the colour of the frosting and decorative elements.

-specific niche: cater to a specific area in the pastry market where cupcakes are focused on flavour and decorative elements, but taking a new approach to it. 

Yes it’s different from the current image perception is that it’s playful, fun, and caricature. Our image perception will focus on being fun, but focusing on showing the filled centers of the dessert. 

We’re a small and new business that is emerging with a new product, so we need to build a devoted client base firstly and keep our brand consistent. There’s much competition in the cupcake industry and although we’re unique, we need more exposure to spread the word and make people know about our cupcakes.

The Cupcake girls is a franchise that gives to charities, do catering to cause-specific events, has a television show, press releases, and is the leading cupcake business in the cupcake industry. 

Our product is new so our visual elements and style would be new too and have its own brand guidelines.  Our logo is currently a cupcake but to fit the product, the logo can be a cupcake cut in half with the middle filled with some element eg. chocolate.

Cupcake Girls site 

Like: has history, personality, and shows quality. Their visual presentations of their cupcakes look delicious, easy navigation, always see the creators so you know who the owners are, creating individual experience with their ‘Icing on the Cake’: personalized, and widespread that it covers their tv series.

Dislike: Colours are too bright and not as much contrast, just seems to blend in. 

The primary action is that for people to try it and to like it. Our message will be try E&F cupcakes, because you’ve never had cupcakes with flavour-filled centers. Our visual elements will be whimsical to suggest innovation, fun, and inviting.If people don’t like the flavoured-filled then we can’t build that client base and our innovation won’t be discovered. It’ll just be an idea that we thought of.

We want customers to spread the word of E&F cupcakes and this can be the new sensation in the cupcake industry. Therefore we’ll have sampling to introduce our cupcakes and ask samplers and prospective clients for feedback.

Key item is to emphasize our innovation: flavour-filled centers is our secret weapon.

Our marketing strategy is that we want to put a new spin on cupcakes and we’re the first and only to sell these flavour-filled centers.

Primary contacts of our organization is Erica and I. The reason is that we’re managing the marketing strategy and overviewing the production. Our head chef will be also the executive chef that will be important in deciding the ingredients, flavour, and decorative elements. Erica and I are designers, but we don’t have much experience in baking.

This project will have to be broken into phases to create a finished and well-quality product. These questions are helping us to figure our concept, message, and vision of our product.

Legal issues include trademarks for our logo and patents for our innovation and recipes.

Internal political issues is considering where we’re getting our ingredients and assigning more bakers and pastry designers that will be part of the crew.