What a great way to advertise a yogurt!

Thank you cows!

Mary the cow stars in MÜLLER® CORNER® new £9 million advertising campaign by VCCP.

This is truly wonderful. Giving the cows a opportunity to live their dreams and aspirations as a thank you for producing a yogurt and working hard. The whole concept is brilliant and the website follows the ads through.

The interactive experience allows the user to add their own images for Mary to gallop across and to follow her dream.

Hand made

Whilst looking at research for the DESN 3996 brief, I have been looking at rum/whisky packaging to get some ideas for packaging the jewellery and I found this treat.

'Hackney-based design studio, Here, has collaborated with a cabinet maker, an engraver and a calligrapher to create the packaging for The Balvenie Forty – a limited edition, single malt Scotch whisky, matured for 40 years in sherry casks and refill hogsheads...'
Extract form CR blog.

 

'Taking The Belvenie's commitment to craftsmanship (this particular whisky was created by malt master David Stewart) as its inspiration, Here commissioned leading calligrapher, Peter Horridge, to create the certificate of authenticity that accompanies each of the limited edition's 150 bottles of whisky. Horridge also handwrote the details on each of the 150 bottle labels.'
Extract form CR blog.

It's rare to find something hand crafted now a days, or indeed something that will last and age well. The packaging and the level of detail is perfect for the product and although an expensive collectors edition, it would be an investment or an extremely treasured gift rather than a bottle to drink without occasion. This makes it even more special and creates high expectations of the taste and quality of the whiskey itself.

Ive been looking at the packaging design as I'm brainstorming for the Magpie brief we've been set at Uni. I want my new brand to give this sense of experience and preciousness. A treasure which someone can cherish.

ebay: green packaging with hidden messages

"Inside the box, which was designed by San Francisco studio Office, white spaces are left for shippers to write messages to recipients. As the box is re-used, these spaces will tell the story of its various journeys. There are also printed tips on ways to re-use materials such as old phone books for packing and the boxes are designed to minimise the use of tape.
The idea for the box came out of eBay's Innovation Expo, which it holds each spring as a forum for employees to develop prototypes for new products and 'breakthrough innovations'.
The box, which is made from recycled, FSC-approved cardboard, was launched at the company's On Location event in San Jose last week. The company will manufacture 100,000 in three sizes as a pilot programme. To get hold of the boxes, users must sign up with the eBay Green Team here."

Taken from CR blog.

It's about time ebay took advantage of the packaging used by it's users, to promote themselves. I assume that people have to purchase these green boxes online? i think they would be more successful if they were readily available at post offices and stationery shops or accessibility and ease for users. I personally wouldn't purchase packaging online, to then get sent to my house in more packaging. However that aside it's a clever idea and a personal addition to the ebay brand. Ebay is all about people to people selling and the roots of ebay was non commercial and small businesses, therefore going back to their roots and making the ebay experince that much more personal and unique.

I do wonder whether the box would last more than a few journeys, especially if travelling with our ever so delicate royal mail handlers!

The design itself is very basic, but the detail is what makes it. the graphics are friendly and not gender specific. It would be nice to receive an ebay item in one to get a first hand glance of the whole experience.

360 degrees...the future?

youtube.com/doritosuk

The video forms part of a music-themed campaign for Doritos from AMV BBDO. The link above takes you to the interactive version on the doritos youtube channel.

Doritos is going full steam ahead to promote their new 'late night' snack range. They have several 360 degree, interactive videos, including rapper Green and Rhianna. The videos have arrows which you guide yourself around with and you can view from any direction apart from straight down. It gives the user the control and engages interest. I've never seen it done before, and I think it's the start of something big.

I have also heard about some of their other interactive websites including Hotel 626 an interactive game. I haven't personally played it but it's exclusively for over 18's and the website only gets aired 6pm-6am in order to create the right atmosphere. To play you have to have a webcam and listen with your ear phones in to gt the full experience. You guide yourself through a dark place and zombies and monsters interactive with you. I think it's definitely more of a boys thing. Embarrassingly I think I would be too much of a wimp to play on it!

This sudden burst from Doritos isn't what I expected from them, but I think they are keeping on top of their promotion and setting a standard for the food industry relating to target audience through interactive media and less focus on the actual snack, but the experience it goes well with.

360 degrees, interactive video, something to look out for!

50 years and still making stomping ground

To promote the 50th anniversary of Dr Martens, they have joined forces with certain bands whom they feel promote the feel and carry the image which Dr Marten bodes well with. the album is free to download from the website. On second glance all the songs are remakes of 1970s/80s hits sung by modern artists, like a rebirth, Dr Martens have transferred through different popular cultures and different fashion eras.

They are accessible, honest footwear built to last, it's a shame they are now making them in China!



The website links in with the Dr Martens story and issues Dr Marten's for Life campaign. They offer a life guarantee for a pair of Dr Martens, promising to repair or replace any faulty ones.  The cardboard background and black lined illustrations resemble the Dr Marten's approach, honest, no bollocks and straight to the point. The site then branches out to the different stores depending on country, and then I feel the brand drops off and the experience ends when you click buy online. The bakground is white and the shoes are laid out like any generic website. You can again access the branded world when clicking on "history" they have produced a video to further celebrate the 50 years of dr M's.

As a website, I feel like it could do more. There are the typical social network links, videos and music, but could they be doing something more to give the product and brand more justice?

So much potential, but maybe if they tried too hard, it would patronise the essence of the brand and therefore they have to have a laid back approach to match the essence.

The Social Network

 

Last night I went to see The Social Network.
I'd heard good reviews, however I was a little dubious about watching a film about facebook. However it was brilliant. Typographically clean and modern the film was intelligently directed and cut. My favourite scene was the Henley regatta with creative camera angles and the Alton Towers theme song. The camera blurred out in certain places intensifying the boat race and making it look like they were racing to the end of the world when in fact it was the river carrying on.

It is obvious the soundtrack had been carefully selected and the song choice was fitting with the film and the theme. I felt like their was more to show about the story, however maybe that's what they wanted to ceate, a hunger for wanting to know more?

During the film I felt driven and busy keeping up with the fast paced characters and invloving myself emotionally with this invention and the aftermath of law suits. I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed with myself for not having a multiple billion dollar company yet or even a business idea. It also made me realised that as a young adult I should be looking for gaps in the market for ideas.

The whole dispute over facebook was the argument of who owed the intellectual property rights of the idea. It's based on the true story with glamourised content. It made me realise just how important it is to document your ideas and the details to cover your own back. Word of mouth really isn't good enough these days and it pointed out that now everyone moves on to suing each other.

 In true fitting style the interactive website to promote the film, uses a variety of different semi-complex navigation tools as they cater for the social network users and people who are confident with the internet and the way it works. Where as if my dad was to try to work it, I think he would end up smashing the keyboard into the screen after 5 minutes.

Interesting graphic imagery which has been clearly thought out.

The art of "inception"

The latest edition to the DiCaprio classics, Inception. Another excellently challenging mind film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. DiCaprio has starred in some brilliant films with in the last few years including, Shutter Island and The Departed (both directed by one of my favourites, Martin Scorsese who also directed also directed Taxi Driver and The Goodfellas to name a few), he also starred in Blood Diamond 2006 (directed by Edward Zwick). Titanic quite honestly put me off him as an actor as he became the new heart throb, however now I look for films which he is in. In his recent years his film choice has been excellent and he is a phenomenal actor.

When I first saw it advertised I knew I had to go to see it. i watched it in Pittsfield Massachusetts in a cinema off the main street. Perfect setting for the American "movies". The whole cinematic experience perfectly suited the ambient setting of the film and helped give you a clear layout of what was happening. I particularly enjoyed the "dream architecture", the ability to design someone else's dream with out them realising that is it not their dream or in fact that they are not in control and then invade their thoughts.

The concept behind the film is excellent, it kept me guessing right until the end when it all came together. The story line was interesting, DiCaprio, a successful dream invaded theif was given a chance to prove his innocence for a crime he had not committed. In order for him to see his family again he did the unthinkable, to go deeper than anyone had before.


Excellent film, fantastic ending.

The Washington National Cathedral

Stood at the top of Wisconsin Avenue on the highest point, overlooking the capitol, stands the sixth largest cathedral in the world, the second largest in the United States, the Washington National Cathedral.

I realised I hadn't taken a picture of the outside so I borrowed one. The other images are mine.

Taken from http://www.visitingdc.com/more-washington-dc/national-cathedral-picture.htm

The neo-gothic style took over 100 years to build and was only finished about 10 years ago.From the outside the cathedral is breathtaking, it's the detail which kept me so interested. The gargoils are all different and they have been playful with some of them:

Above the crossing, rising 91 m (301 ft) above the ground, is the Gloria in Excelsis Tower. Its top, at 206 m (676 ft) above sea level, is the highest point in Washington; the Pilgrim Observation Gallery provides sweeping views of the city. In total, the cathedral is 115 m (375 ft) above sea level.

 

 

 

 

 

For me the main attraction was the stain glass windows. Over 200 windows are made from the most beautiful glass murals and due to the time of day, the light streamed through giving a unique light show, causing an extremely humbling experience. The Space window (beneath) is the most famous one, celebrating the landing of man on the moon.

The  Pilgrim Observation Gallery was well worth the visit. It gave a view of the whole of Washington. In this picture you can see the Washington monument and the Capitol on the mall strip.

To infinity and beyond...

I visited, the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum-Washington DC, in August and I was impressed not only by the exhibitions themselves, but by it's impressive architecture.

Situated on the Mall housing the Lincoln memorial, second world war memorial, the capitol and the white house to name a few, the National Air and Space Museum stands it's ground as an impressive piece of modern architecture.

On first glance of the building the eye is greeted by the magnificent statue stood as the centre piece for the museum, Ad Astra, "to the stars". Behind it, the building, as four simple marble-encased cubes containing the smaller and more theatrical exhibits, connected by three spacious steel-and-glass atria which house the larger exhibits such as missiles, airplanes and spacecraft.

 

 On entry, it feels like an Alice in Wonderland feeling of shrinking to a miniature ant. The exhibitions of aircrafts dangle directly overhead. I felt transfixed on the exhibitions and I'm pretty sure I had my mouth gormlessly open for at least 30 minutes with out talking. It gives you  a sense of them flying over the top of you and a glimpse of what it was like for the people on the ground as they saw these planes do exactly that, especially back in those days when aircraft was still new and rarely seen.

Once you have passed the hanging aircrafts you follow the building round to find the rockets and space ships. They stand from the ground up, so you get the whole experience of directing your eyes up and comparing your tiny self to their monstrous size.

There are many exhibitions and even interactive flight control desks for you to have a go, a cinema showing space related films and documentaries.

Last but no means least the museum has an interactive kids zone, which teaches the theory behind space and flying.

The image beneath is me and Jocelin testing out the thermal camera.

3D illustration

Beeple (aka Mike Winkelmann), the animator of a new video for Flying Lotus' track Kill Your Co-Workers, has posted all of his 3D animation project files on his website so interested creative geeky types can download them and see exactly how each shot and every character was animated and use the files as they wish.
"I like to think of it as sort of an 'open source video' in that all of the pieces of the project are also released for people to do what they'd like with," says Beeple.
 Paragraph taken from CR blog.

The animation is well thought out and I enjoyed the use of cubism. The principal of producing an open source video, is very new to me. Similar to the Johnny Cash website where people can add their own art, this is similar. People can manipulate the video for themselves and find out how it works. It gives explorers a chance to get to the nitty gritty of the frames and work out how the illustrations became animated.

Making school more interesting

A very cool school in NY has just been graffitied. If only my school was so down with the kids!

The 80 foot mural was created by brazilian artists Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo (also known as 'Os Gemeos') and graffiti legend Futura. The project was driven by New York-based creative studio AKANYC and street art website 12ozProphet with support from Nike (tying in with its World Basketball Festival) and paint company MTN Colors.

The overall theme, is a message of international unity. Os Gemeos says, "We are using different flags painted with non-traditional colours. The idea is 'one world one voice', no borders, no separation, just everything and everyone working together for a single cause that is a better world."

The mural is definately eye catching and colourful, erfect for children and adults to look at. The bright colours make the piece of art friendly and using the trousers to represent all of the different nationalities is really effective. It's pure art, no offenses, no words, purely visual for everyone to enjoy.

 

All images courtesy AKANYC

Free fall

I found this by chance and I'm not quite sure what it was made for. I know it is an artistic project but I'm stil trying to find out who or why for. The video shows world champion freediver Guillaume Nery's special dive at Dean's Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole in the world filmed entirely on breath hold by the french champion Julie Gautier.

The music fits perfectly with the imagery. The act of free falling in an ocean is a twisted concept, my fascination with water has never let me think of such a thing. I've always found comfort in being in the waer as there is no danger of falling, unlike heights, which quite frankly is not my strong point.

The art direction flows brilliantly. I would definately change the opening titles, i think they are weak in relation to the actual piece.

Smile London :)

I found this on the CR blog. It is a new campaign which will be running for two weeks from January 17, 2011. The idea behind it is to show case noncommercial art and illustration on the digital boards in underground stations. This has a dual purpose. Firstly to cheer up commuters and secondly to advertise up and coming artists including advertising the current art exhibitions and previews.

"This is a hugely exciting project for us," says Jo Kotas, co-founder of Smile for London. "We want to celebrate the creative talents of our city and at the same time lift the spirits of London's commuters. The project has already captured the imagination of some very talented and respected individuals. We hope to extend this support to the whole of London as the campaign grows so it becomes a permanent London fixture."

I think it's a great way to get art across to the everyday person. I know that if I was waiting for the tube I would certainly be watching the videos to past the time and it would be lovely if one could give me a smile on my face, especially when I'm surrounded by the miserable grey atmosphere and getting pushed and shoved all over the past during a busy rush hour.

Pulling the wool over your eyes

"Tom Hingston Studio was commissioned to create a more vibrant version of the traditional Woolmark and also design a logo for a new campaign to promote wool, which launched a few weeks ago at several events in London designed to focus passers by attention on wool - such as this flock of yellow sheep spotted outside Selfridges..." taken from the CR blog.

 

 

 

Hingston's studio, in collaboration with creative consultancy Keep, has created a new colourful version of the Woolmark, specifically for use in communication relating to the campaign. The new woolmark provides a logo for the new generation and for the rebirth of the wool trade. The ambient tactics were used to promote the use of British wool and get the attention of the fashion, and textiles industry. Many of the high street fashion designers now use acrylic as a cheaper option however acrylic can not be recycled so it would be better for the environment if they used natural wool.

Brand on brands

Russell Brand interviewed by Jermery Paxman on Newsnight

Although most of this interview is about his career, he gives an expressive speech about the media and their impact on our society and generation. He also argues about how the public choose brands and listen to the media instead of opening their eyes.

The Johnny Cash Project

 

I have never seen this before, on the website anyone can re-draw a frame using their tools and once completed you submit it, your art then becomes a frame in the video. The more people participate the more detailed and interesting it gets. I think that it's a wonderful way to pay tribute and keep an artists work fresh and alive even when they are gone.

It also provides artists and novices a chance to express themselves in a real moving image that is constantly adapting and growing.

Here's the full version:

I will never be bored on skype again!

This video won Best Budget Video – Rock, Indie, Alternative  at the MVA awards. They have used a similar program to skype and set up their webcams, by having many screens they have create this brilliant video. I definitely want to have a go at re-creating parts of this.



Sour – Hibi No Neiro (Neutral Nine)
Director: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Who-fu (Magico&Masayoshi)
Prod co: Zeolot/Neutral Nine
Commissioner: Takeshi Matsuhashi/Neutral Nine/Sour

On the topic...

Watching the Okgo videos gave me inspiration to find more budget videos that bring a smile to my face. Vampire weekend have a similar fun ethic about their music and their individual personalities. The simplicity of a camera running up and down a street with each member of the band participating at different points along the way. A playful use of space and chalk!

Ok Go, does it again!

Ok Go are one of my favourite bands, you can garentee their music videos will be worth the watch and this one is no exception.
It reminds me of a messier version of the Honda adverts, leaving more room for explosive outbursts relating to the song and the the band...



After watching This too shall pass, I decided to have a look a their other videos and found several I haven't seen before: White Knuckles is another great example using rescued dogs in the video to promote animal rescue. In every one of their music videos, there is always a simple theme with clever wit and creativity the simple theme produces a master piece and never fails to inspire me and bring a smile to my face.

mini architecture

SLEEPBOX hostel edition
Area: 3.75 m2
architects: Goryainov A., Krymov M.
Design: 2009

This type of Sleepbox is designed for use in hostels. It provides a minimum of functions, and is equipped only with electrical outlets and lighting. Flexible ducts are connected to a general ventilation system. Case is made of laminated moisture-resistant MDF, which finishes a frame of wooden beams. Sleepbox for hostels has a bunk bed. The concept of the hostel is as follows: large interior without walls filled with sleepboxes instead of building separate facilities-rooms. This allows economizing on construction and finishing works and significantly reducing the time spent on construction. In addition it will allow very efficient use of available space and, if necessary, quickly change the plan. This solution also allows increasing the number of seats smoothly and without causing any inconvenience to guests.

designed by the arch group

This sleepbox seems like the perfect solution to travelers needs. After spending the summer in hostels across America, sharing rooms with strangers every night, I would have loved the privacy of a box! Ergonomically designed the sleep box is all you need. They are designed for airports but I would be happy to stay in them whilst traveling. They contain everything you need. Brilliant design, minimalist, pure and simple. However I must say, how comfortable will that bed be? Sometimes minimalistic looks great but looks cold and unwelcoming, which is the last thing you need when your on your travels.

Overall great design and the company have created some other fantastic innovations available on their website.