Sunday 18 November 2007

Online Questionnaire Creator - great resource!

If you have time please could you visit the link below (you may have to copy and paste it) to fill in my online questionnaire about the 2012 Olympic games coming to London.

https://survey.rave.ac.uk/survey/entry.jsp?id=1195389067924

After you have finished the survey it will give you a link so you can set up your own questionnaires.

This is a great and easy to use resource that costs nothing and also analysis and records all your results! The program gives you a choice of how to set up the questions .... but to see how it works you'll have to fill in my questionnaire! Crafty - eh!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Saturday 10 November 2007

New Guiness Ad



This reminds me of the domino rally created in my 'Type Moves' post. Yet another great advert from Guiness.

Friday 9 November 2007

Honda Puyo - Will the next pet you buy be a car?



The Honda Puyo was shown at this years Tokyo's Motor Show - with the ability to turn 360 degrees, all the green mods and cons available (with electric motors and a hydrogen fuel cell) and a glass domed roof, what else can you expect from a city car of the future?

Well .... a personality of course with a tactile skin made out of a soft gel composite and changing moods shown by a muti-coloured glowing exterior. Honda describes the features as “facilitating a more intimate relationship between people and their cars”.

Sounds like a fun concept but I'm not to sure on Hondas ideas about the car inviting people to hug its cold looking, cube like exterior ... personally i prefer something a little more cuddly.



Mac Bug! - we're no longer safe!

It seems according to BBC news that us Mac users after years of bliss are about to be greatly upset as a new virus has been designed especially for us!

Heres the key bits of what their saying:

'It's a Trojan Horse, a piece of code that pretends to do one thing but actually compromises your computer.

This one spreads through online video sites, taking advantage of the fact that there are many different ways to display video, each requiring slightly different software to encode and decode moving images.
...
The Trojan sits behind an online video and when you try to play it you get a message from Quicktime telling you to get a new codec, and if you follow the link you'll be sent to a site that hosts the malicious software.

Click "ok" and enter your systems adminstrator's password and it will be installed on your computer with full system access after which you are, to use the jargon, "pwned", or scuppered.

At the moment the fake codec is being spread via porn sites, but it will quickly spread to more mainstream sites, and that's when it will get dangerous and could affect a lot of Mac users who believe that they don't need to worry about system security.

Of course this Trojan relies on social engineering to spread, and it does not mark a breakdown in Mac OS security or anything like that'

Full article available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7079777.stm

ARGOS Viral Advertising



Example of Viral Advertising.

More often than not advertising and marketing campaigns need a more exciting and interactive take (that traditional methods lack) allowing the audience to become part of the advertising. New and inventive methods of design draw prospective customers in, normally with a chance to 'win', be entertained briefly by an activity or simple be humored through a communication source. This idea of receiving something for nothing is key and viral campaigns normally work across the Internet, if the tone of voice is right the adverts become really successful as one user feels compelled to pass it on to another.

The screenshots below show how Argos use an interactive website which people are intrigued to visits after seeing the teaser video. A fun and lively campaign that would appeal to most ages with its 1940's humor.





Dove advertisement



Loving the new Dove moving image piece as part of their campaign for real beauty. Dove have produced over the recent years a great set of advertising campaigns focusing on making the best of what god gives you. To me i find this extremely refreshing and believe that its a well needed step in the right direction, as so many women strive to meet the almost impossible and unhealthy 'size 0' image of perfection.

Check out the piss take below though - i think i like this one even more ... very funny!

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Lego Videos



BEER


These made me giggle seen a couple of spoof videos made from Lego. There is something slightly special about those colourful creative bricks! MAGIC

Sunday 4 November 2007

Smiling Snow Car


My happy car in the snow!

Saturday 3 November 2007

My House Guests



Not to original i know - but with a house full of students coming and going we have become very fond of our 'retro' fridge magnet communication system. All fun and games especially whilst drunk!

I love this one though so much i took a photo! A list of all the regulars that live or visit our household, from boyfriends, hamsters, dead fish and even the fox we called Jeff! Unfortunately we ran out of 'e's so had to improvise!

Pantone Matching


A collection of photographs ranging from Sponge Bobs strange squidy friend to Post It Notes to an apple all tagged with the Pantone colour that matches its surface.

I really like this collection of photographs bringing a bit of design geekage to every day life. Made me smile!



http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdsf_gone_wild/sets/72057594053892136/

Type Moves


Proof that typography can be exciting and dynamic without being tied down to traditional boundaries. This collective of people put together physical typography that lasts for only a moment in time and becomes part of the environment.




They use inventive methods and physical objects to create their temporary typography pieces.

The above images show the World record: biggest type-domino ever

'The aim was to make a type domino which is saying 'type moves' ... At the end of this one day workshop all 'stoppers' (gaps in the domino row) were removed very very carefully and all individual 'type moves' were connected to create one, very long type-domino. Actually the biggest type domino ever done, build out of more then 13.000 single hand cut domino stones.
And finally at 18.00 o'clock it was time to let it run.'

See the video here: http://www.typeworkshop.com/Hannover_06_2004/results/domino-verysmall.mov
http://typeworkshop.com

Friday 26 October 2007

Fractions - 90's Guinness Campaign


1992

1994


This is one of my favorite advertising campaigns, simple, bold and witty with a distinctive 'doodle' style. The fractions campaign ran through printed press and was adapted to the seasons, special events and popular culture at the time. Mainly ran in a black and white format emphasizing the visual appearance of Guinness. These doodles emitted light hearted humor, which was tailored to fit different groups of consumers. For example the tongue n cheek Extra Cold ad featured bellow was designed to appeal to the younger male market and was feature in FHM.

Check out the Guinness website for a history of their advertising campaigns.





1995

1999

Thursday 25 October 2007

Jugar - flexi eco desk top men



'Vacavaliente's new line of accessories, called Jugar (Spanish for 'Play'). These little men are not only made from 100% recycled (bonded) leather but, as their name says, are such an adorable excuse to stop, take a moment and play.

In fact, this was the idea that gave birth to them. "This is not only about design or green, it's about giving the time to play and relax the value it deserves", says Matias Fernandez Moore, a designer for Vacavaliente. "These shapes have the quality to invite you to do that: maybe you have it in your pen, you change its place and find the guy is doing a new pose. All of the sudden, you're hang and playing with it", he adds. Nothing more true: all of those holes just make you want to try things.

They come in a few colors and sizes, from small pencil or book accessories to big friends to hang in your kids' room or a bunch of them to make your own soccer ball.'

Full article available from: www.treehugger.com/design_architecture/

A cool website i found whilst trying to do uni work ....

Some really interesting and fun 'green' products and design ideas. I particularly like these flexible men which would certainly add more humor and fun when placed next to a standard desk tidy and your hb pencils!

Sweater Humpty Dumpty



Kentucky-based artist Judy Geagley puts these "Humpy Dumpy" dolls together again from recycled sweaters.

Eco friendly toys ... I think these are really cute. Not only are you doing your bit for the environment but also purchasing a one off object by an artist. An environmentally friendly investment - just don't let the kids rip their arms of, slobber on them, give it the dog, dunk it in bake-beans ....! A bit like those collectable beanie babies that sat in their plastic cases.

Alan Fletcher



Alan Fletchers book the Art of Looking Sideways is one of the very first 'design' books I bought - and its great, such a witty, amusing and playful collections of thoughts and images. If i ever get stuck, this is the place to look and always gives me some form of inspiration to get me going again.

His books however just do not do his work justice, which i wouldn't have believed possible until visiting his exhibition at The Design Museum. Alan Fletcher: fifty years of graphic work (and play), (11 November - 18 February). The work there had the most exciting textures, and was an Aladdin's cave of the most original and creative work i have ever seen. I was gutted when my camera ran out of batteries, as many of the pieces of work shown i hadn't seen in any of his books.

One of the treasures being his sketch books, which show his every day doodles and thought processes. I see sketch books as a very personal item a 'designers diary' in fact - they give you a real insight to not only how ideas were created and came about but also hold inside them the owners personality and energy they have for the visual world. However sketch books seem to be a dying breed as shiny new laptops take over - do you not remember the days of chucking paint around in art foundation? I must admit my worse fear is becoming a mac-monkey, whilst computer programs offer us an amazing source to create design - don't forget a lot can be said for using traditional processes and the hand alone.

With an up coming trip to New York and the chance of visiting Pentagrams Studios, i'll make sure i charge my batteries this time!

Sadly Alan Fletcher died in 2006, but his legendary design work still lives on.

Images From: Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play) Exhibition



Chloe paddington bag



Absolutely LOVE this design ... utter classic. So simple stylish and well cut.

Reminiscing about the chance i had to buy a fake one for £60 in Bulgaria. This item has been top of my wish list for a long time. When i get my first proper pay check or win a million ill be straight down Havey Nicks grabbing one in every colour !

But for now a girl can still dream and regret not getting the fake to keep her longings at bay!

Wednesday 24 October 2007

PG Tips Monkey Fever






With my last free monkey from PG Tips looking down on me i am happy to say that another addition of the wooly tinkers has been let loose on the super market shelves! This time he's even smaller and sticks to your car window! Which means not only can I now have my wooly little friend with me whilst on the road but ive also got another huge pack of bloody pg tips to drink!

I think PG tips have hit gold with this marketing strategy as my friend that doesn't even like tea buys them in bulk and now has a massive stash of erm 'leaves' under his bed. Tea any one .... bad luck ITV

Monkey Come back can be seen at
http://www.pgtips.co.uk/video/returnLgMov.htm

Guinness Factory






The home of irish charm, a thick creamy pint and some great typography!

Really worth a visit for any designer combines a lengthy history of great advertising, some creative spacial and information design along with a tasty pint up in the sky bar.

PG Tips Brewometer



I think I'm fudge.

I really like this idea very witty.

Pantone Cups



I first saw these in the telegraph magazine and being a graphic design student got quite excited!

Sad really - they also remind me of the PG tips brew strength chart which an old lady left in our house along with glorious other kitsch trinkets!

Note to self: I still haven't put up that mirrored shelf i saved from my house mates trying to bin.

Ambush Marketing






The demise of Coubertin’s peaceful and good spirited Olympic Ideals.

Nike create a mocking advertising campaign that highlights all the negative connotations with Americanization.

'Their theme: only winning matters. ‘You do not win silver you lose gold’ trumpeted the Nike ads. The win at all costs message was a clear attempt to upstage Reebok, the official Olympic sponsor’ (PAYNE, 2005 p.138) Nike managed to offend not only Reebok but also all the other Olympic TOP sponsors, the IOC, the athletes that were taking part, the general public and the visiting spectators. All of which were targeted one way or another through their hard-hitting, sarcastic and disrespectful campaign even undermining the Olympic motto, which was modified to ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder’ (PAYNE. 2005 p.138).

In the advert above they poke fun at the millions of Olympic spectators that enjoy collecting the pins and badges traditionally produced by the host city. Examples of this campaign which was run during the Atlanta 1996 Olympics seem near impossible to find ...... i wonder why!?