‘Embrace Life’ nominated for YouTube Ad of the Year award

Rationale

The main aim of this blog was to research the creative design world thoroughly and highlight and analyse key areas that interest and inspire me. I wanted to begin by searching through a wide variety of different kinds of design work until I found an area that really appealed to me that I could start focusing my research on.

I started off my blog by looking into quite a bit of illustrative work, inspired by the sheer variety of styles there are. The use of illustration in design can really add that element of fun or humor to the work. For example, the typography book Hyperactivitypography from A to Z was created for people who obviously are enthusiastic about typography and therefore most probably design too. This provided a creative opportunity for the designers of the book to use this appreciation and beautifully illustrate the book with soft block colours in a fun and youthful style. This gave the reader a sense of nostalgia, remembering their classroom days of working through booklets that tested their knowledge just like this one. I feel this really shows the power of illustration and just how much it can really change your experience of or feelings towards a piece of design.

The Satirical Comic Book exhibition I went to at the Tate Modern also demonstrates this. Through the use of comic illustrations artists could represent a serious person or event in a humorous way. You can make something funny through using words but it’s not as instant or universal as creating an image. The artists grabbed hold of the greed and self-delusion that characterised their modern consumer society and developed exaggerated and ridiculous illustrations to create highly entertaining pieces of satirical art.

The media in which designers chose to create their work from is both strategic and important because as I’ve found out from these two pieces of design it adds so much to the work and can really change the way people perceive it.

Illustration used within the design of a website is also very effective when you want to make the site interactive. I found a couple of websites that used illustration to dramatically improve the users experience. The Satorisan Sneakers site used bizarre illustrations of creatures to add personality and uniqueness to each shoe presented on the website. Without this graphic element the brand relies solely on the shoe to sell itself. However through creating these interesting and entertaining creatures it both keeps people on the site for longer because they enjoy the experience they’re having but also it creates an appealing image for the brand and therefore the shoes they’re selling, that customers will buy into. The websites I found were very interactive and gave the customer the opportunity to almost enter the world of the brand and explore. This made a huge difference to the amount of time I spent on the sites and how much I both enjoyed and remembered them.

This got me thinking about how this element of design could be used for other media. The campaign for the World Wildlife fund I felt did this very well. They strategically placed large images of endangered and over-hunted animals down one side of a street and images of the actual hunters with guns facing them on the other side. Passers by could quite literally stand between the hunter and the hunted in a symbolic gesture of defiance. Through allowing the public to interact like this creates a ‘buzz’ around the campaign and people will remember it. It also makes the problem seem more real when you’re given the opportunity to stand, like the animals in front of a gun. Therefore getting the public involved increased the impact and success of this campaign.

The Test Your Awareness campaign also demonstrates the power of getting people to interact with cause campaigns. Through asking people to test their own awareness it gets them to focus and pay attention, hoping to outsmart the campaign. I can’t speak for everyone else but I most definitely did not outsmart anyone and because of that it made me realise that even if you’re looking, you do not always ‘see’. Designing the campaign in this way makes people empathise with the issue because after taking part in this test they understand it. This is an extremely clever campaign that proves that how you get the public to understand and empathise with your cause is very important and something to think about creatively.

I started to become more and more interested in campaigns designed for specific causes because research and strategy are very important, it’s not just about making something look nice you’ve really got to make people actually feel and do something.

The Abram Games exhibition I visited in Halifax was especially inspiring. Although his work is dated and does not involve any technology or new marketing techniques he still grabs you with his simple but highly powerful and symbolic posters. His Freedom for Hunger poster combines a young boy with a sheaf of wheat. By bringing the problem and solution together in one symbolic image, Games gets an important message across instantly. The Syphilis Sucks campaign also uses this same notion of bringing the problem and solution together to create a simple yet impactful piece of design.

I think the most powerful campaign I researched is “Woman are Heroes”, designed by the Parisian artist JR. This campaign combines different media in many different countries around the world to try and reach as many people as possible. He both attempts to raise awareness in the countries in which the issues are occurring but also in the Western world because he knows that if they empathise about this cause they will want to help too and will have more resources and facilities to do so. The innovative and creative application of the photographs taken increases the impact of the campaign. It makes people talk about it and putting the photos on trains and buildings within cities means that they cannot be missed. JR has created a very beautiful but powerful campaign that is still on going today. He brings the issue right down into peoples every-day lives where they cannot ignore it.

The aim of every cause campaign is to raise awareness and to get people to do something that will help their cause. The first and most important thing though is to actually reach the public, to be seen, to be heard and to be listened to. The public needs to empathise with your campaign to want to help it and from researching I have discovered that there are so many different ways of getting people to understand and care about your cause. I think I want to research deeper into how cause campaigns really target their audience, get their voice heard and what makes them successful so I can start to develop my own and try and make a difference where I can.

Devil Yogurt

http://www.devilyogurt.com/

Made up of unique illustrations, beautiful colours and textures this website is a whole lot of fun. It really shows that surprisingly there are very little limitations when it comes to web design. If there's something you want to create the chance is it's possibe you just need the know how. I love the interactivity on this website and the way you never click off to another page, you quite literally follow devil yogurt further and further down into the darkness. The fact that you always stay on the same page makes you feel like you're within their world, exploring your way around.

Now go create your devilish yoghurt!

Bras for a Cause

I've only recently discovered this small but perfectly formed voluntreer-based organisation in America thats trying to raise money for breast cancer. They encourage anyone who wants to get creative to decorate a bra and donate it to them so that they can auction them off for money. Not only are the bras donated amazing pieces of creative work, ranging from beautiful and intricate to weird and wonderful but they are raising both awareness and money for an important cause.

They held their first event in 2007. It was attended by more than 500 people, raised more than $340,000, included the efforts of more than 150 community volunteers, and received almost 150 decorated bras. It is now working hard to get more and more people involved through things like the viral video above and visiting fashion colleges to try and get students enthusiastic about the organisation.

This is a creative and positive way of raising both money and awareness. Rather than making people feel bad or guilty they're doing the complete opposite and getting people to feel productive, enthusiastic, creative and happy.

Peace, love & Juicy Couture

The marketing for Juicy Coutour's new perfume, Peace, Love & Juicy Couture is so beautiful. Both the TV and printed ads create the feeling of being in an innocent, fairytale land. They are playful, fun and optimistic including objects like balloons, gobstoppers and chocolate cake that make you dream about being a kid again. The photography was done by the famous Steven Meisel who captures so wonderfully the warmth of the moment and the feeling of being care-free. The music and styling is reminicent of those hippy days that adds to the feeling of being completely free and just happy. That's what these adverts are about, quite simply the feeling of being happy. They include everything that makes girls excited like a child again, sweets, flowers, butterflies, sunshine, cake... It's the girly girls dreamworld that has been applied to all areas of the marketing, even the bottle is covered in jewels and tassels.

Social media and small cause campaigns

Mothers Day 2010 brought about a small but impressive campaign called To Mama with Love created by Epic Change and a host of great volunteers. The aim of this campaign was to raise money to support Mama Lucy in her efforts to educate children in Tanzania.

Mama Lucy saved her own income to start a primary school in Tanzania, believing that education is the key to transforming a country gripped by poverty. Over the last six years, Mama Lucy has grown the school from one classroom with fewer than 10 students, to a school that now serves more than 300 children at eight grade levels.

The initiative was simple but powerful. Supporters were encouraged to honor their own mothers by making a donation and then creating a virtual scrapbook or “heartspace” on the site, including photos, videos, notes, and artwork. They could then share their “heartspace” with their mother, friends and family via Twitter and Facebook, or via a customized e-card.

Using social media as the primary communication and engagement mechanism, Epic Change was able to raise close to $17,000 and provide a safe home for 17 children in Tanzania, while also encouraging more than 300 mothers along the way. They did all of this in about a week’s time.

This shows just how powerful social media can be for non-profit organisations, both large and small. It allows you to reach out to a huge amount of people and give them the opportunity to help make a change through a media that's very much a part of their everyday life.

The wonderful world of Erica il cane

These new hand coloured screen prints by Erica il cane are so enchantingly beautiful. The massive screen prints were painted directly on the screen with no film, no scanner, no photocopies and no computers involved! Due to the very poor equipment available he also had to paint in total darkness. Knowing the love, care and effort put into these stunning prints makes them even more impressive and adds a romantic, personal touch to them. Too many designers these days turn straight for their shiny apple mac forgetting the raw beauty of sketching ideas first. In an age where everyone is working with technology it's really refreshing to see that people are still in love with their pencil and old sketchbook...

Women are heros

TRAILER " WOMEN ARE HEROES"
Uploaded by JR. - Discover more animation and arts videos.

This unbelievably inspiring film project has been created by the great Parisian artist JR. He created it for the Women Project which is working to underline and emphasise women's pivotal role in society and to highlight their dignity by shooting them in their daily lives and posting them on the walls of their country. In areas of Africa and South America women experience such violence due to extreme discriminations, through this campaign JR wants to testify their force, their courage and their noble struggle: first to live, then to exist. Although they may seem to be dying inside, when JR asked to take a photograph of these women he saw life, he saw that their spirit was fighting through the sorrow.

By posting images of these women in Western countries, the project allows everyone to feel concerned by their condition and connects, through art, the two different worlds. This project demonstrates effectively the shear power of all parts of design; photography, posters, creativity, films and how it can communicate a strong and important message to the whole of the world through a media they understand.

Anti-smoking

So many times have organisations tried to deter people from smoking but still millions carry on as if they'd never seen an anti-smoking ad in their lives. These days, in the western world most people know the dangers of smoking and that it's damaging to their health but yet studies show that even health warnings and anti-smoking campaigns just prompt those that do smoke, to light up. Coming up with a successful campaign for anti-smoking is a difficult problem for even the most experienced designer and I admire anyone that takes a shot at it.

I just came across these images for a campaign trying to make people think twice about smoking and I think they are very effective. Rather than showing disgusting images of peoples blackened insides or amputated fingers they've chosen a subject that's much closer to the viewers heart and creates strong feelings of guilt and sorrow, children suffering. With images of bad health people feel unattached, they don't believe that something that extreme is ever going to happen to them. However smothering their children in smoke is something they know they do and will feel bad for doing so. The art direction is powerful because the children look so distressed and helpless, trapped in smoke. The manipulation of smoke creates the image of a bag over the children's heads and is a direct and clever link to the idea of suffocation. This is a really impactful way of informing the public of what cigarette smoke can do to their children without them even realising.

Psyche

Psyche, an ancient greek princess more beautiful than Venus. This work is all about beauty and how to preserve it for eternity. Like in scientific butterfly collections, these "Psyches" are pinned on their peak of beauty.

This fantastically unique photography exhibition to me seems very suited to the fashion industry. However the impact comes from the fact that the women in the images are naked, stripped bare of all protection and although stunningly beautiful they are vulnerable. The vivid colours seem to glow off the black background on which they sit, portraying the beauty that still glimmers even once no life is left. The harsh shadows created on the women's bodies make them appear more creature-like while emphasising those alluring curves. The successful combination of the human form with an insects wings creates for a powerful image and provokes a strong emotional reaction for the lives of the butterflies because they have been humanised.

From far away this exhibition looks quite cold and scientific made up of pinned butterflies. However when you get up close you realise there's much more to this artwork, it is sensual, emotional and a real statement of natural beauty,

Go Leeds!

The Lanuvium Marbles are back ready for display in Leeds City Museum again.

The group of statues includes four torsos of cavalrymen and the heads of two horses discovered in Lanuvium. They were originally brought to Leeds by Sir John Savile Lumley in 1896. He was British ambassador to Rome at the time.

The life-size statues carved from solid marble have recently been on loan for six months to an exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The sculptures imitate the Greek bronzes of Alexander the Great and his bodyguards. The group would reinforce the idea of Lucullus being a mighty warrior.

Public sculpture informed the population about Roman victories and were used to reinforce the might of Rome in an age before radio and TV. Sculpture to the Romans was therefore their very own marketing tool, used effectively to promote and communicate. This is a surreal but interesting thought, combining modern ideas with old fashioned applications...

Hello mexx..

I'm not much of an internet clothes shopper but I just fell across this Mexx campaign site and I thought it was wonderful. The full screen photography combined with bright lighting that seems to twinkle off the cool blue background is just beautiful. They've created this dreamy, wintery world that makes you want to snuggle up in front of the fire in that new wooly Mexx jumper. The photography is aspirational but not in an intimidating, high fashion way. The models, especially the children are so natural and have their own unique look. The music also adds to the other worldliness of this site. It starts a little eery, made up of strings a steady but soft beat and sounds that in my head are a little like water droplets.

To me this sight is so effective beacause it's clean and very simple to use but also takes you away from everyday life and into Mexx's world. It does what a shop does and surrounds you in the essence of the brand and makes you feel involved. For me this sight is more alluring than many high-fashion sights because it welcomes me.

http://mexx.com/#/campaign/24/

My dream home...

Some might think this strange but I've always had this romantic dream of living on a barge. I think it's the freedom, the thought that you can be in a different place everyday but still have all the things you need and love with you. While on the guardian website I came across Josie Currans home, which is a New England-style house on a steel hull, moored near Hampton court and I am in love. It is impressively un-boat-like with an open plan living and dining area and a deck with doors that open fully. It is full of antiques and gorgeous finds from Kempton Market and junk shops that Curran has painted in vibrant, bright colours. The materials and textiles chosen to decorate this space are bold, detailed and busy but combined with the plain white walls and furniture in solid colours it works brilliantly.

This beautiful boat home has so much charm and character and has been made completely unique through Curran putting her personality into the whole of the design process.

Syphilis Sucks!

Though the idea of using protection during sex is generally apprehended, people tend to think unprotected oral sex is ok, and rarely use condoms. This inventive campaign attempts to generate awareness emphasizing the fact that STIs are also transmitted during oral sex, especially Syphilis. Creating the appearance of a lolly pop out of a condom both reflects the fact that this campaign is about oral sex and meets the sense of humor of the target audience. This campaign design gets straight to the point and hits the audience hard while providing them with the protection they need against STIs (a condom) and information on the issue.

Drink "Responsibly"

A promotional beer developed for the band MundoJazz has given itself the genius name “Responsibly”. It’s a neat bit of thinking because obviously if every alcohol brand in the UK is meant to tell us to “please drink responsibly” in their advertising, then everyone is advertising this cunning beer brand for them!

The name instantly provides a cheeky and bold personality for the brand, which makes the beer’s own advertising virtually write itself. Check out the fantastic “may cause..” copy at the base of the posters, it's funny and thoroughly supports the cheeky personality. I love how this brand has thrown political correctness straight out the window and replaced it with sheer creativity and fun.

Make a Stand

This interactive ad campaign was developed by Ogilvy and Mather for the World Wildlife Fund to remind the public of the environmental issues in China that are largely overlooked at the expense of money. Passers by could quite literally stand between the hunter and the hunted in a symbolic gesture of defiance. This is a very powerful and well thought out piece of advertising that takes you to the heart of the problem. You get to experience what it's like to stare right down the barrel of a gun, then look back at the beautiful images of wild animals and realise the sheer sadness that the WWF must feel. It makes the situation feel much more real and makes you think that maybe you could actually help to stand in the way of any more animals being unnecessarily killed. This is a hard hitting advertising campaign and a great use of outdoor media.

Furry sneakers...mmm

http://satorisan.com/namethatsneaker/

I almost don't want to admit how much time I've spent on this site, but visit it and you'll see why... It takes a little while to load but bare with it, it is worth it.

Simplistic, fun, creative graphic design. What a fantastic site this is.

The website is clean and so easy to use but dull it is not. The bizarre illustrations add personality and a uniqueness to the brand that makes you want to be a part of it. They add that something different, a bit of fun and life to your shopping experience. The sneakers are beautifully shot and sit dominant in the middle of the page so not to be distracted by the graphics. As you flick through the many styles of sneaker you meet more characters and you can even take your favourite shoe on a mad journey through clouds, space, icey mountains and forests, all illustrated with the same fun and care free, black and grey style that is so effective.

Now go, take a look around!

Cycle safe

While browsing for cause related marketing I found this little gem:

In 2007, 21 cyclists in London died because they weren’t seen by drivers. This simple but very effective ad campaign shows how a small-budget of £600,000 reduced deaths on London’s roads by a third. Before moving to Leeds 4 years ago, I had always lived in London and although I love cycling it just was not something I ever felt that safe doing around the centre of London.

I think this ad is great because it doesn't scare cyclists with shocking imagery or all the horrible scenarios that could happen on the roads, discouraging them from riding, nor does it place blame for accidents that have happened. It very simply demonstrates how easy it is to 'look but not see', catching the attention of even those that think themselves very careful drivers.

I feel this campaign is so much more effective than those in the past because it has moved away from the traditional shock tactic strategy and instead tried to actually understand what is causing these accidents. The viewer interacts and plays with the advert making it memorable and something to talk about. So many agencies just want to design the most shocking advert or chilling campaign yet but this idea gets straight to the point without making you never want to leave the comfort of your living room ever again.

Big Brother is always watching... 1984

I have just finished reading George Orwell's 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In this book Orwell almost writes as a warning, about his vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is a slave to a tyrannical government regime. The main character is Winston Smith, a 39-year old man who is an isolated citizen of Oceania. He rebels against The Party and the all seeing, all controlling 'Big Brother'. He forms his own opinions, questions the party and tries to discover the past and the possibilities that could be, if he was free. With great caution, Winston develops a relationship with a woman he works with at the Ministry of Truth, Julia. The sheer exhilarations of this illegal affair leads him and Julia to reject the oppressive lifestyle they've been forced to endure for so long. This however eventually leads to his arrest, tortures and conversion.

This book is so powerful and in some ways terrifyingly relevant to the world we live in today. Orwell demonstrates fantastic foresight and makes bold statements about humanity. This book will send shivers down your spine, it is

unsettling and bleak and will leave you thinking about the future world we are entering.

Not only did I enjoy reading this book, I think the cover design is fantastic. This new striking design was done by

Shepard Fairey, who became famous in 2008 with his HOPE poster for Barack Obama. Combining the iconic eye of 'Big Brother' with barbed wire and the colour red just immediately puts that feeling of being controlled and trapped into you. There have been so many cover designs for this popular book but I think this is definitely one of the most affective and really caught my attention.

Giles Miller

I've always been impressed by the sheer strength and beauty of corrugated cardboard and paper since I went to a furniture design exhibition about a year ago which exhibited seats and stools made out of this wonderful material. I have since discovered the product designer Giles Miller who admits to "falling in love" with the material. Miller both designs new products and creates large scale cardboard instalations for projects, displays and exhibitions. He has worked for Stella McCartney installing her a pop-up shop in Paris and London to display her new fashion designs. The corrugated cardboard creates such a lovely visual and tactile texture which compliments those same qualities in clothes.

When the strap broke of his laptop shoulder bag he was carrying damaging his computer inside he began experimenting with making a laptop bag from cardboard. After alternating the direction of the corrugation he constructed something that could take the force of the blow. Although I'm not sure I would quite trust cardboard to protect my beautiful Apple Mac I still think this is a beautiful piece of product design which hopefully will inspire other designers to start using materials that can be recycled easily. Its about time we started to exploit unlikely, unappreciated materials, because I suppose you never know what you might create or discover.

Nokia's fighting back

Suprisingly I am now also a part of the iphone club. Before being sucked into the world of Apple though I was a huge fan of the Nokia phone. Solid, long-lasting, good old Nokia phones. Also this year I have been working on the Nokia account at Ashley Bolser Agency, creating online marketing campaigns and designing their database emails. Due to this I am still a firm believer in the Nokia brand and how powerful it still is and how much potential it has to fight back at Apple.

The latest adverts for the launch of the Nokia N8 are a step in the right direction for the Nokia brand. Wieden + Kennedy have created a set of films that show various creations made using Nokia technology, including a hamster- wheel- powered phone charger and a short film featuring a 9mm main character shot on the N8 phone. The campaigns strap-line "It's not the technology, it's what you do with it" is empowering for Nokia customers, encouraging them to be creative and help Nokia to get back in the publics good books, having lost a large share of the market to Apple and Blackberry.

These ads are extremely creative and really reflect the fun and quirky side of the Nokia brand. I think they've come up with a great strategy here that fits in well with their brand strap-line "Nokia, connecting people" because this campaign will hopefully bring people together to play with Nokia technology.

Seven days

The adverts for the new reality TV show 'Seven days' starting this week have really got under my skin. They are intriguing, making the program sound interesting without giving much away. The TV adverts are most impactful. The mesmerising and moody sounds of the Xx combined with the surreal combination of lots of different people faces, voices and stories creates something that sends shivers down your spine. The way the ad has been edited so that you never hear the whole of one persons story or see the whole of anyones face lures you in and makes me want to find out more. It is quite literally teasing the audience with tiny snippets of people lives, making you want to watch the program to discover more.

The Original Smooth...

How on earth do Coca Cola do it? Just under a month ago they relaunched their citrus flavored soda drink Mello Yello. Now is anyone else wondering what all hype is about, surely this is just glorified lemonade? Coca Cola, like always have been so clever at marketing and re-branding this product that of course it feels like so much more than just another lemonade...

The website plays the chilled out 1966 song 'Mellow Yellow' to you and shows a short intro video of a cool guy putting on the music and just relaxing with this new soft drink. Although the packaging has a citrus colour scheme the whole brand quite literally feels mellow, uncomplicated and just easy-going. With its retro, 1970s cool new look and rounded, friendly typeface it seems to welcome anyone, there's nothing intimidating or off-putting about it, therefore expanding it's potential market dramatically.

Welcome back Mello Yello

http://www.melloyello.com/