Part of my job is to spot places that need help. Since many business owners have no sense of design, it is my responsibility to be able to communicate my ideas to them in a way that is easy to understand what I am seeing.
Most people know what looks better if they can see a before and after, but perhaps wouldn't have thought of the idea that I'm presenting to them. By doing this, I can shine a light on something that the owners may not realize they needed, then, granted that there is enough budget to work with, we can take their place to the next level.

After analyzing the business concept, I usually develop ad hoc visuals that go with the theme, then I photoshop renderings of different options that would vary dependent on the budget. This restaurant's theme is 'black panthers' and it is a Mexican restaurant. The restaurant is beautifully set up, with brand new everything and exposed brick (which New Yorkers LOVE), and it just needs a little push to take it to the next level.

As you may or may not have noticed (maybe you just hadn't been here before), my website is going through a complete revamp.
I think as a person evolves, everything is to evolve accordingly and public image>>website, is not to be forgotten.

I hope you all find it easier to navigate, as well as more according to my current place in life.

This project is a huge one as I have lots of files  to reorder as well as lots of others to document and organize.

Oh well, life is a work in progress ;)

I was on my way to rehearsal riding the NYC subway, when this poster caught my eye, not because its a great poster, but because it was right in front of me and it looked like something a design student with very little talent might have done for a school project.

First I wondered, how did this make it all the way into the subway?  Then I thought, WHO approved this to go to print?? The lettering was small, the pictures oddly proportioned and featured the mayor of the town and a boy band more than the attractions of the city being advertised, and a tiny dragon (randomly dropped in the layout), spoke little to me about the culture of this place. You would think someone qualified would need to approve it before letting it go public and having to pay a good chunk of change to put it on the trains.

Under normal conditions, I would have just ignored the poster and turned away in search for something more visually appealing, however the train was crowded and I had to go all the way downtown forced to stare at this poor piece of design work, which brought me to carefully analyzing it.

While the poster has some seemingly right ingredients: some typical fruits, a few people who are ambassadors to the city, an important political figure, and a bit of their attractions, the mix just isn't right. It truly does not speak to a prospect tourist.

Perhaps this helps you see my point. If there were an Ad of the city of New York, done with the same concept, it would be something kind of like this:

Awful right?

Being aware that this most likely was a mistake, meaning that the city that they are promoting couldn't possibly be THAT bad, and it was more a poor decision on the selection of which ad to run, I decided to do some research on the town once i made it back home.

Turns out, Kaohsiung IS an awesome city, and from all that I found, totally worth visiting.
It is culturally rich, and full of history, and it is also the home to very avant garde architecture as well as random cool things like a GIANT rubber duck that sits on the river.

So with my new knowledge about the city, I decided to create a mock ad that might represent my feelings about this city a little better than what their poster did.

In conclusion, no, I don't have all the facts on hand but I'm pretty sure,  that showing bananas, a boy band that is allegedly as good as The Beatles (and state it on the poster), and the warm and cozy look of the towns mayor all combined, were definitely not the best choice to try and lure new visitors to spend their hard earned dollars on a vacation there!