Black history film day

With the culture differences in the UK i thought this film showcased by The British Museum sounds intriguing and worth attending to expand knowledge of what was a difficult time. The film takes place on the afternoon of Saturday the 25th October at The British Museum and will be screening short documentaries and feature films examining the social and political upheavals experienced by black people in the USA, Europe and Africa in the 1960s. A full programme of the event will be published later this week, but from the discussions so far this will be a great culture event worth attending. More information is available from The British Museum website. 

Building strong brands

As consumer attitudes are forever changing it is essential to have strong brand building skills to survive and prosper. In David A. Aaker's book Building Stong Brands, he identifies all aspects of brands and those essential brand building skills required to withstand competition and maintain brand loyalty. Some of his thoughts are very inspiring. I used this book as a reference throughout my first and second year of studying and as i have chosen to base my dissertation on brand and consumer relationships this book will defiantly be essential and is a great reference for anyone studying any aspects of brands. 

Avenue a Razor fish

Digital design agency Avenue a razorfish have a very interesting website. Instead of a plain wallpaper background they have live web cameras viewing the agencies offices. The company have 19 offices around the world and as the viewer you can choose which office you want to have a sneaky peak at. You can actually see people walking around the office, at at their laptops or chatting to one another. Great design idea to let your consumer into your company. Check it out here. 

Map my run

Maymyrun.com is a great website i use frequently. It's a great initiative website that deserves a lot of appreciation from runners like myself. If you've never used the site, it uses Google API maps, and you simply overlay your route which in turn gives you the distance in km or miles.

The site becomes your own personal training space, where you can group your own runs and see others. It also gives you the opportunity to meet other runners in your area and follow fantastic training blogs and advice. I love the simple design of the site, it makes it really easy to use and i've never uncounted a problem! If you enjoy a running/walking/cycling anything this is a great website for you. 

The new face of the North

To celebrate the town Newton Aycliffe's industrial heritage, there is going to be a new sculpture called 'In our Image' which will tower over Netwons business park, built early next year.

Artist who designed the sculpture; Joseph Hiller

 The sculpture designed by artist Joseph Hiller is 16 metres high, just 4 metres shorter than the Angel of the North. 

I'm not keen on the design of this sculpture in Newton, it looks too manly and grumpy and i'm not sure what it's meant to represent; a giant face?! 

On the other hand, Angel of the North by artist Anthony Gormley is a great sculpture towering over the A1 with the use of such an iconic symbol; an angel. Perhaps i may change my mind once it's built next year...i'm guessing i won't though!

Monster Munch rejuvination

Monster Munch are rejuvinating their brand and goin back to their routes where people preferred the larger sized crisps and 80s retro identity. It seems many brands are going back to their former identities at the moment, such as the chocolate Cadburys Whisper.

Former children's TV stars Timmy Mallet and Geoffrey Hayes from Rainbow are going to appear in the campiagn to promote the return of Monster Munch snacks. However, the origional Monster Munch costumes have gone missing so thir is currently ad appeal to find and get them returned!

Shreddies; Knitted by nanas

Cereal Shreddies created the campaign Knitted by nanas. Although the campaign is quite corny i love the terminology of the phrase with the little square cereal. The website is just as corny but really interactive and shows an insight into the factory where the nana's knit shreddies!

The website includes many games, one of my favorites being Nana's vs Robots. Although very corny i think this is a great marketing campaign for Shreddies cereal and is backed up by a great interactive website.

Agency Ovigily came up with the marketing campaign 'Diamond shreddies' earlier this year. The campaign has simply turned shreddies 45 degrees to create the 'NEW diamond shreddies' although they're suspiciously the same as square shreddies). The website to support this campaign is so corny, making the consumer look like an idiot when they support this 'new shape' that i actually quite like it! The website shows video clips from the president of shreddies giving feedback to consumers who have written in saying this campaign is a scam. Really silly but quite amusing and i think it's a good solution to get people to look at a boring product. 

The day after tomorrow

To promote the 2004 global-warming film The day after tomorrow Indian ad agency Contract created this dramatic outdoor billboard which is submerged underwater.

The title and release date of the film was just visible above the water, adding to the effect is what looks like an empire state building in the background. The idea of this billboard was to mimic the film's story of Manhattan being submerged under water. This really grabs my attention, showing once again the power of Guerilla advertising. 

Virgin Atlantic Eggs

From reading the book Guerrila advertising mentioned below i came across this stunt pulled by agency BBDO for Virgin Atlantic.

 

Trays of eggs (all real) were placed right in focus of all passengers attention on the baggage reclaim belt. The trays of unbroken eggs were packaged reading "Handled by Virgin Atlantic". This is a fantastic way to advertise your product right in the centre of consumers attention. Great idea and creates far more of an impact then traditional advertising such as a poster. 

Everything you pretend to know and are afraid someone will ask

Ever wondered what exactly are capers? or what's the D in D-Day stand for?

I came across a review of this book by Lynette Padwa featuring all those answers to questions i wish i knew. Delivers the answers in fun, invaluable explanations of topics that are supposedly common knowledge but which most people don't understand like me! Quite amusing to have a flick though so next time you can share your cultural knowledge at the dinner table. 

Geeky gifts for designers

Here are a few gift ideas i came across that geek graphic designer.

Helvetica mug...

Fan of Pantone colours....

Lorum Ipsium text bracelet...

Typography tattoos

I recently came across this article on CMD+SHIFT design blog which shows some strange typography tattoo crazes going around. I know typography can be exciting sometimes but i can't help but think some of these people have gone a tad over the top....

A fan of the Univers font...

Or maybe Helvetica is more your style....

Or perhaps just dynamic type...

The 'to-do list' shown below is a popular one at the moment, and has recently been made into a temporary mark-up aswell. But what would you write?!

I quite like this one below. A proud female status! 

The one below is my favorite. An amusing message tattooed in code. 

How to be a Graphic designer, without losing your soul

I'd always noticed this book in shops, i think the catchy title of losing your soul caught my attention as i think i somtimes felt like the book is relating to me and design! I recently bought this book by designer Adrian Shaughnessy, it basically address the concerns of young designers providing practical advice and guidance such as what's the first step in the successful interpretation of a brief and how to generate ideas from blank. The book also includes inspiring interviews with leading designers such as Neville Brody and Andy Cruz. 

This little cyan book is a great read for practical advice-one to turn to when in a struggle. 

New Graphic smoking packaging

As of tomorrow, wednesday the 1st October, new graphic smoking pictures are to appear on cigarette packets in the UK replacing the written warnings we have seen since 2003. The new pictures include rotting teeth, throat cancer and indications of male impotence. The Department of health (DoH) says "The warnings illustrate the devastating effects that tobacco can have on health." Although there are 1.9 million fewer smokers today compared to 1982, the DoH says smoking is still the nation's biggest killer being responsible for the premature deaths of 87,000 people annually.

There has been quite a lot of criticism against this anti-smoking strategy with smokers feeling they're being victimized. However, at the moment it looks like the majority of people are in favour of these new advertisements being displayed with the hope that they will graphically shock people out of smoking. Similar picture warnings have been used in Brazil and Canada with results showing 15% of smokers deterred from having a cigarette. I think these graphic images will have a big affect on smokers-a lot more then the written warnings. However, i imagine there will be a lot of different opinions flying around tomorrow with such graphic images on display. We'll soon find out....

Fury Hitler's web craze

There has been a new viral craze sweeping Youtube featuring a scene from the Oscar winning 2004 film Downfall. The 3 minute scene taken from the film features an extremely angry Hitler exploding his rage, shouting at his generals as he is told he is losing the war all spoken in German with subtitles.

This viral craze shows the German speaking scene played by actor Bruno Ganz with pictures and sound but completely different English subtitles creating highly amusing scenarios. Stories ranging from a hysterical rage about Cristiano Ranaldo leaving Manchester United or his stolen car or his Xbox Live console subscription or the Hunt for the female G-spot or finding out he's gay! Or just about any thing you can think of! There's loads!

Apparently the craze began in Spain in 2006, shortly afterwards a British joker posted a version about his Xbox subscription being cancelled which has got nearly one million hits! The craze has spiraled to loads of spoofs which are currently running all over the internet. It looks pretty easy to create, simply download the scene and put your own subtitles over the top. What an awesome viral marketing campaign! I've watched quite a few now as they're all quite amusing and compete with one another. One of the popular ones is 'Mike Ashley sells Newcastle Utd' which has nearly one million hits! Check it out here on youtube.

Another one of my favorites features the scenario of 'Hunt for the G spot'. Some of these people must be copywriters! Very amusing! 

Here I am

Nike's 'Here I am' most recent campaign for women tells the story of five female athletes who have been successful in sport despite the pressures they're all under, all told through a short animated film. The five short films show the inspiring athletes Maria Sharapova, Nicola Sander, Simona La Mantia, Delphine Delsalle and my favourite Nicola Spring. The film animating the story of Nicola Spring shows her through the physical exhaustion of being a professional triathlete, working against the forces of mother nature. Clips from the film featuring triathlete trainer Nicola Spring are below: You can view all 5 storys from the Nikewoman website.

These animated films all created and edited by different agencies stick to the same format ending with the athlete in the centre of the popular phrase "Here i am" which sends out the powerful Nike message encouraging women to take up sport. I've recently been training for the half marathon so feel i can associate with some of the feelings expressed in these films. Not quite the same as a triathlon but i'm still working hard!

Tree house to be built in Dorset

I love naturally built houses so thought it was great when Western Design Architects got the planning permission last week to build a tree house Dorset. It will cost £800,00 to build the 360sq m house. The house will be made up of three timber pods 1.5m off the ground, be made from recycled timber, have a sedum roof and be heated via a ground source heat pump. The oak trees the house is built around are protected by a tree preservation order, therefore the oaks will penertrate each terrace so according to the architect "you can hug a tree if you want". 

I'm looking to seeing the final tree house once it's been built, hopefully by next year.

Bring on the tree hugging!

Fortune at the end of the rainbow

This ambient advertising was used for the Canadian Nation Lottery; Lotto super 7, featuring lights of the rainbow blown up into the sky behind the lottery billboard. I think this is a great idea for ambient advertising , however when i showed this image to some of my friends they disagreed and could not see the connection between the billboard and rainbow. Maybe because it's during the night? Perhaps this would work better during daylight as thats when rainbows are seen, but then the lights wouldn't show. I wonder what affect it would have during the day without the lights. Anyway, my opinion is a clever piece of ambient advertising!

Do as penguins do; Documentary combating climate change

A bunch of nude men and women huddling together acting as penguins?! No better way to grab attention! Check it out on Youtube here.

Design agency Play releaed this short movie campaign for Green Thing called 'Do as penguins do' which is aimed to inspire people to help fight climate change by turning down their heating and using body warmth instead. Within a few days of release 63% of Green Thing subsribers had forwarded the film to a friend who also opened it, stimulating hundreds of thousands of views across the internet with no sending budget! I think this is a great piece of viral marketing. I found this documentary really funny, what a fantastic and clever way to address such an important topic! Love it! 

Loyalty for life

Is brand loyalty an achievable goal or is it just an aspiration for a brand? The website Loyalty For Life investigates this question to what does a brand need to do, to be or to win to get us as customers loyalty for life. 

The website is built up solely of people comments around the UK on brand loyalty. I find it really interesting reading everyones comments on this subject as they're so different and varied among people. Worth a read through. If you want to write your view like i did, simply put in your name, area and comment and then post. 

I just love the fact this site is made up of just peoples opinions on one questionable topic...Is loyalty for life an achievable goal for a brand? In my opinion there are a few factors that would keep me loyal to a brand but the biggest failure for me is if the brand lets me down by breaking or failing to do it's job! 

Type and Typography by Phil Baines & Andrew Haslam

I used this book as a reference many times throughout my 2nd year of studying Graphic design. This book shows every aspect of typography, from the history of language and writing systems to the invention of movable type and the evolution of the digital systems of today. I found it great to expand your knowledge of type design and also just for a quick reference to some typefaces and common terminology (i've used the glossary of this a lot!). This book will have a permanent position on my book shelf as i think i will continue to refer to it in the future. 

Bacardi Mojito

I love cocktails and although i'm not a big fan of Mijitos i wanted to have one as soon as i entered the Barardi Mojito website which shows the simple steps to making a Mojito and with easy going, mesmerizing sound affects which repeat the word 'Mojito' and lots of 'arh' and 'huuuh' sounds that got stuck in my head! (you can download this as a ringtone!) So by the time i went out that evening i ordered a Mojito! I always get sucked into advertisements! 

I think the success to this advertisement for Bacardi Mojito is great due to the simple mesmerizing beat and subtle sounds affects with clear crisp images. 

At the moment designs are being developed to apply the Bacardi branding to duty-free displays in airports worldwide developing the brand, including sample bars (below) Can't wait to see that!