Remember when the swirly logo and the swooshy logo were all the rage? Are they looking dated yet (flush!)? Graphic Design:usa has gathered up the latest round of logo trends. Evolving from the swoosh is the “slinky” and from the swirly is the “natural spiral.” (via xBlog)

It’s a boy! Weighing in at 9 pounds, 11 ounces, Harry Joseph Letterman arrived in fine late night fashion, two minutes before midnight. His dad was back at work the next day.

Paul Shaffer took over hosting duties for David Letterman on short notice Monday evening. Presumably little baby Letterman, due in “early November,” was making an entrance. Hopefully by the time you read this there will be happy news.

In a carpeted warehouse on a farm near Mount St. Helens, Wayne Sutton has amassed a collection of 1,000 chain saws. Some came from retired lumberjacks or their wives. Nowadays he also bids against other saw collectors on eBay. And it’s not just the saws that he loves, but the idea of having wood at the ready on a cold night for a toasty fire.

Wander through the well-stocked pantries of twelve ethnic cuisines and compare them to your own. The item unfamiliar to me was ackee, the Jamaican national fruit.(via Pop Culture Junkmail)

When the N.Y. Times asked “eleven prominent men and women” (and it was actually 8 men, 3 women) what technology or gadget they would like to see invented, the selected group was nicely eclectic (Margaret Cho, Donald Trump, Scott Adams) but they should have rounded it off with a prominent homekeeper (male or female). Unfortunately, there aren’t any. Or are there? They should do a followup piece on normal folks with regular jobs who don’t have assistants. (via gizmodo and Techdirt)

DeBeers’ Heavy Right Hand

Long-time readers know a recurring topic here is shedding light on the marketing of diamonds and the manipulations of DeBeers. An ad campaign recently began pushing the diamond “right-hand ring”. Launched over the summer by the Diamond Trading Co., the message is aimed squarely at women and entices them to buy their own diamond rings as a symbol of their independence (the DTC is “the rough diamond-trading arm of De Beers,” essentially their marketing arm, so you can substitute “DeBeers” when you read DTC).

An article in Professional Jeweler clearly spells out the DTC’s campaign goals and design directives. The target woman is 35-64, has “been married at some point, received diamond jewelry before and needs only her own permission to treat herself.” The campaign seeks to promote right hand rings for women to express their “independent, worldly, assertive sides,” distinct from the left hand ring, which is of course reserved for DeBeers’ big moneymaker: diamonds emotionally connnected to your family commitments. The strict design edicts state that “Ring designs should be oriented in a north-south direction and use a lot of open, or negative, space; should fit in one of four categories: modern vintage, contemporary, floral and romantic; rings can contain a mix of round or fancy shapes and should include at least one diamond of 20 points or more”.

Perhaps realizing that the diamond “cocktail ring” had aged beyond chance for a retro-style comeback, DeBeers started promoting right-hand rings in 1999 with a design competition. Since then, they’ve savvily crafted the distinct design guidance, and honed the emotional message of independence for women. Jewelry designers and the fashion industry are jumping on board.

Despite losing some of their monopolistic market share, bad publicity over conflict diamonds, and the trend towards “branded diamonds” DeBeers continues to act as the dominating marketing power. From the very beginning of the “a diamond is forever” engagement ring to their “three stone diamond jewelry” campaign (one stone each to represent past, present and future), and now this “right hand” ring concept, they have been the sheperds of the public mindset towards diamonds, creating opportunities to sell even more while retaining remarkable cachet. Will their generic advertising fall by the wayside as other suppliers gain market share?

Oh cruller fate. Dunkin Donuts has ceased production of that New England staple: the cruller. The twisted straight donut was incompatible with their new fully automated donut making process. Human hands are no longer a part of the Dunkin Donut creation process, and human hands are apparently a requirement for twisting a cruller. (via Obscure Store)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight has announced that it will be receiving one of the retired British Airways Concordes. The supersonic aircraft is scheduled to land at Boeing Field on November 5th at approximately 3pm. Public tours of the aircraft should begin by the end of the month.

Problems worthy of attack, Prove their worth by hitting back. –Piet Hein
Take a break and have some fun playing with a virtual SOMA cube, written as a Java applet.