Something's not quite CLEAR to me...

I've just come accross this future phone release from Sony Ericsson- a 'futuristic' phone with a see-through screen. I feel like I'm missing something... although it's obviously a new technology, and sounds quite amazing, it seems a little pointless somehow. Why would you want to see through your screen when a screen is there to display information to you. Mobile phone screens can be hard enough to read in daylight as it it but this screen must make it near impossible, unless it uses some kind of light reflecting technology to make the text stand out. I'll have to wait until 2010 to see one for myself before it will be clear to me.

Madonna for Louis Vuitton

These are definately the best looking pictures I've seen of madonna in a few years. Highly airbrushed they might be but who cares. She looks much better airbrushed and the photographs are really stunning. They are for Louis Vuitton's latest campaign for their Autumn 2009 collection. I love how the Madonna appears to glow in vivid colours but the photos have just been made negative in places- an effect I don't think I've seen or appreciated before. It makes the images look quite surreal and dreamlike. I think they're look great as giant billboards if they are used for that purpose.

The MILK Carton

At first I thought this photograph was just a cool typographic ad for milk or an illustration for the work 'milk' but in fact it is real packaging and actually contains milk. When you look closley it makes sense that it wouls actually work and would probably stand up alright too. It was designed by Julien De Repentigny and Gabriel Lefebvre and has the same dimensions as a standard milk carton so it would sit nicely on the shelf next to other brands. The downside is, it would contain less milk and the increased surface area of the packaging would require more materials than a normal carton. Nice idea though..

Cool and Clever Doritos Packaging

I love, love, love Doritos and I love, love, love this new packaging concept by Peter Pavlov! The bendy box design uses the shape of the Doritos in it's structure and also the Doritos texture to decorate it. The packaging looks amazing on the shelf and just makes you want to have one of your own. It's almost like a work of art and would look great on a party spread. The best thing about it is that it stands up and acts like a bowl for easy nibbling and sharing and when you've finished, if (if) you still have some left you can close it with a simple fold and keep them fresh! Genius!

Another great thing about the packaging is, although it seems like a lot of packaging for some crisps, it must be better for the environment because the card would be recyclable, unlike the current foil bags. I hope they actually go into production and aren't just an idea. 

Another great use for Velcro

When researching the topic of Velcro for my latest project, i came accross this video about an ad for Coca-cola. The ad used velcro to demonstrate the new bottle's extra grip. They were placed in bus shelters when people are likely to touch and lean on the ads. Cleverly running the ads in winter, meant that people's winter knit-wear stuck to the ads and grabbed their attention and comunicated the message with impact. I think it's a really clever idea, literally gripping the audience to demonstrate the grip of the bottles, and adds to the long list of uses for velcro.

How to get people to use stairs

When given the choice, people usually take the convenient option for anything. It's a natural thing to do and these days there's almost always a more convenient option to what we have used for decades or centuries without trouble. Stairs for example- when given the choice to use an escalator instead, naturally we choose the escalator, unless for some reason the stairs would be quicker. 

Perhaps if stairs were more fun, more people would choose to take the stairs? As this video demonstrates, a lot more people would. 

 

Maybe a bit of curiosity was also involved!

This was done an 'Initiative of Volkswagon' and I think, similarly to the Cadbury's Gorilla and Eyebrow ads, it is an advert for Volkswagon, without actually saying anything about Volkswagon. It just adds to their brand image. It makes you think that they are concerned with making everyday things more fun, making life more pleasurable and being creative. I think it was a brilliant idea and a very interesting observation of human behaviour.

Logo's through time

I find it really interesting to see how logos have evolved over time. In the case of Shell, their logo has always been simply a shell but has got more and more stylized over time until the current logo which is very clean and simple. The name and the brand colours werent added until 1948 for some reason. Perhaps the colours weren't added until then because colour couldn't easily be reproduced until that time.

  

I came across these logos for Lego that feature in a new Lego book. The logo has changed a lot more than the Shell logo. It started as a 3d looking logo with the letters almost like building blocks. 

Next came this logo which looks somewhat like a car brand logo and doesn't look very fun. 

Then came this one which is more childish and fun looking and isn't far off the modern logo. I think it's the one i remember from my childhood too.

The most recent and best is this one in bright red and yellow, black and white. It's much more fun and jumps out at you. It's interesting that the letters are rounded but still suit lego really well despite it being famously square. 

Bert Simon's Paper Sculptures

These amazing portrait sculptures by Bert Simon's are made entirely from folded paper. They are made by first of all modelling the head's in 3d on an open source cad programme like Blender. They're then printed out as a net and stuck together to made 3d sculptures. I think they're really cool and look just like 3d computer game characters from the 80s. They particularly remind me of the film Back to the Future 2 when it features some 3d talking characters on a screen which are supposed to look futuristic but now look exprememly dated. At the same time as looking like computer graphics though, they kind of also look like they are carved from wood. I'd like to see how I would look as a 3d paper sculpture. 

Baggage Belt Ambient Advertising

I'm not wound up easily but if there's one thing that really really winds me up, it's when people crowd round the luggage belts at the aiport as soon as they get there and act crazy, standing too close to the belt like the world is going to end if they don't get their baggage as soon as it comes out! If they jsut stood back and relaxed it would come out just as quick! Anyway, my pet hate makes me particularly like this ad which uses a luggage belt to advertise the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino.

The strategy was based on a key insight, that travellers arriving at the airport welcome a bit of calm (unless they are the crazy ones). The belt was transformed into a swimming pool complete with swimmers, to represent the  tropical pool at the resort. Apparantly it totally changed the way people acted around the luggage belts which sounds like a great result to me. The only bad thing about it is the fact that a lot of it would be covered up when the luggage comes out.

myPANTONE app for iPHONE and iPOD Touch

Now apparently there's no need for a PANTONE swatch booklet when you can have one built into your phone. With myPANTONE a new app for iPhone and iPod Touch, users have access to a variety of PANTONE color libraries and the ability to build color palettes and share them with colleagues and clients. Sounds like a great idea but as many people have commented about it: how can it possibly work if all monitors, screens and printers are calibrated differently? This is the reason we use the printed PANTONE swatch booklets in the first place. I'm not sure it will be of much use really but some of the features sound quite nice like being able to take a photo and colour pick from it to create pallettes etc.

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones is a story about the afterlife. It's the story of a young girl, Susie Salmon, who is brutally raped and murdered by her neighbour and then watches her family deal with her death from heaven, and also comes to terms with her death herself. It's an unusual story because the person telling it is dead- something i've not come accross before. It makes it more sad because you get to hear how she is not only missed but misses people herself. It's usually the family you feel sorry for, but she has been taken away from them too.

  Although the murderer is known to the reader from the beginning, the book is almost like a murder mystery/crime novel as it follows the investigation into finding the killer and how her father tries to uncover the truth. Rather than wanting to find out who the murderer is you're desperate for him to be caught before he gets away.

 Another interesting thing about the book is the description of heaven. Its not a religious heaven- there's no god and Susie's heaven is different to everyone else's heaven. There are other people there so it's not an individual heaven but certain things change as to how Susie wants them to. She can also move up into a larger heaven, like a promotion, as she grows.

A film version of the novel is coming out soon and I'm really looking forward to seeing it to compare how I saw the book to how the film makers percieved it. From the trailer I think the heaven is quite similar to what I envisioned but teh characters look quite different. It's not a book I thought of as havig potential for a movie but I will be interested to see how well it works.

Barcelona Architecture

I loved these buildings in Barcelona, covered in decorative details. The cherubs and floral decorations are so beautiful and make the outside of the buildings look so much more interesting. It seems strange that I havn't seen buildings with these kind of details before because I think they're so lovely and much more interesting than plain panels of colour or brick. It almost makes the front of the building into a work of art. Why should buildings always be plain and boring? We're surrounded by them all the time and the walls are always so dull. Obviously these days buildings are deigned to be quick to build and decoration is not a priority. At least there are still building left like this in the world for us to see. 

Light House Cinema- Dublin

I came accross photos of this cinema in Dublin and i think it looks amazing. Alhough you don't go to the cinema to look at the deats of the decor nad spend most of the time in the dark- it's nice to arrive into a good looking theatre room- and these ones look particularly stylish and glamourous. Why not make make the cinema as sophisticated and well designed as the films shown are. 

I always prefer to travel to a particular cinema out of town than go to my local, just because it's big and glamourous with neon signs outside and seems to make the experience more exciting- like going to a hollywood theatre. The lok and feel of the cinema makes it more enjoyable for me. Unfortunatly, the lack of comfort in the seats at my favourite cinema ruin it a bit. 

I think this cinema would definatly make for a better movie viewing experience and you wouldn't be greeted by a depressing dull room when the movie ends and the lights come up.

Vitamin Water Flavour Creator

Vitaminwater is letting the fans decide its next flavour through the launch of their Flavorcreator application on Facebook. Its the first time that fans of Vitaminwater can come together to create the next flavour by voting for their favourite on facebook. The application also lets fans choose what vitamins they'd like the drink to have, and to help them decide there's a series of games that involve vitamins.

Vitaminwater enthusiasts will have the opportunity to name the flavour, write the bottle copy and design the label via a contest with the winner or winning team receiving a $5,000 prize from Vitaminwater.

This is just one if the increasing number of advertising campaigns that use facebook to reach consumers. I think it's a good idea getting the fans involved but the application was quite complicated to use and I got bored very quickly. Perhaps if I was a vitamin water fan id have had more patience. With nearly 200,000 users and many discussion boards it's definately got a lot of people talking. I think the idea of it is a good one (very similar to Walkers crisps recent campaign but online) but it could have been done a lot better.  

The Salvador Dali Theatre and Museum - Figueres

When I went to Barcelona this Summer I visited the museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, Catalonia. The museum opened in 1974 and houses the largest and most diverse collection of Salvador Dalí's works, including many from the artist's own collection. Aswell as Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3D collages, mechanical devices and other curiosoities from Dali's imagination. My favourite part and perhaps the most unusual part of teh museum was a living-room with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain point on some stairs above the room. I'd certainly never seen anything like it.

What I loved about the museum is that it isn't just a building housing the artists work, but is a work of surrealist art in itself. The building is very striking, with a roof bordered by giant eggs and pink walls covered in gold blobs. Walking around the museum, there are are interesting things to look at everywhere, not just the paintings on the walls. There are holographs, potical games and strereoscopic paintings- double paintings which , when viewed through a mrror, becoem 3D images.

I've always been liked Dali's work for it's surrealism. His work is like something from a dream, when you can't quite get your head around what you saw in your dream or why your brain created these images. His work isn't just abstract for the sake of being abstract but combines thing syou wouldn't mormally see together into wierd imaginative compositions.  Thework in the museum is fun, playful and interactive and it makes you look at things differently. Definatley the most interesting art gallery/museum I've ever been to and worth the trip out of Barcelona.

What You See Might Not Be Real

I saw this scupture on a news website and only being able to see the cloud part of the sculpture, I thought it was a real cloud of smoke. It amazed me to see, when i viewed the full image, that it was part of a sculpture because it looks so real! 

The sculpture is by artist Chen Wenling and is on display in a Beijing  Gallery. It is called What You See Might Not Be Real- a very fitting title as i thought part of it was real- and it is about the global financial crisis. The bull is supposed to represent Wall Street and the man pinned against the wall is supposed to be jailed financier Bernard Madoff. I don't know much about Bernard Madoff but from what I enterpret, the bull is representing Wall Street's anger at Bernard Madoff and the revenge 'it' would like to get on him. I think the sculpture is amazing- it's like a cartoon from a newspaper but with so much animation and life to it. You can get a real sense on the power in the bull. It's quite scary! 

Family Fridge

I watched 'Dragon's Den Online' the other night and one entreprenaur was trying to get an investment for his website: Family Fridge. I was interested to check out the website as it sounded just like another social media website, very similar to facebook, but attempting to be different to attract different people. I struggled to see why anyone would bother to sign up to this website when most peopl are already on facebook.

 After visiting the website and viewing a tutorial. I'm not sure if there is much that is uniquely different about it. Most features that it offers are already available on facebook like photo sharing and advertising events to friends. It also has a 'notebook' which seems to be just a different name to what is known as your 'wall' on facebook but is shared by family members- so a bit more like updating your status on facebook- all of your freinds or family members. There are a couple of features that Family Fridge offers that facebook doesn't. There is a calender where you can add appointments like dentist and doctors appointments to remind family members- a useful tool for mums trying to organise the family, and there's also a 'Gift List' feature where users can make a list of gift's they would like for birthdays and christmas.  This is quite a good idea for teeneagers and those who are hard to buy for. According to the founder of Family Fridge is possibly going to be sponsored by an online store which makes for a good advertising opportunity.  

I think Family Fridge is a nice idea. Although similar to facebook it is aimed at just families so families can organise things amongst themsleves and share photos without having to advertise it to the world on facebook. They can also remind eachother of events which aren't exciting enough to want to post on facebook, like a dentist appointment. I think it will appeal to parents who use the web alot but it may be hard for them to get their kids to sign up to it. Who wants to visit a website to get constant reminders off their parents?  I think it depends on the family relationship, whether it will be useful to them but as social media becomes more and more prominant in our lives I think it could catch on, especially if it becomes available on the iphone. And it takes away the need for bits of paper and post it notes being stuck to the fridge- hence the name - Family Fridge.

Atonement

Joined by Love. Seperated by Fear. Redeemed by Hope.

Last night I watched Atonement, a 2007 adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. It was a really touching and beautiful film and really made me sad to think about being in the same situation as the main characters in the film. The film is about a young couple, Cecilia and Robbie, who shortly after finding love together are seperated by the silly lies of a young and immature child- the younger sister of Cecilia, Briony Tallis. Briony is a budding writer with an active imagination and a crush on her sister's lover Robbie. She claims to have seen him do something she isn't sure she saw to get him taken away so that not only she can't have him, but neither can her sister. Although the main characters are portrayed as Robbie and Cecilia, the film is very much about the effects that Briony's foolish lies have on their lives until the day they die. I think the young actress Saoirse Ronan, who plays Briony is a briliant actress and the real star of the film. 

The film is brilliantly directed and has an award winning score which I noticed involved the sound of a typewriter throughout the film. This was very relevant at the beginning when we see both Briony and Robbie use typwriters, but is used throughout the film, often I think, to emphasise the passing of time- like the ticking of a clock. It's also used to build tension with the clicks speeding up and down as tension builds and fades.

I also noticed the colour of costumes in the fim seemed to be quite significant. Briony, who is porrtrayed as a rather nasty child, is always dressed in white. I think this gives her a look of innocence which seems to be a misjudgement of her character by her parents and peers. Towards the end of the film though, you begin to realise that she was just as innocent as any child, but was naive to what long term effects her lies can have on people. In the end her lies have a big affect on her life too.

I think one of the most striking and memorable images from the film is that of Kiera Knightley in a vivid green dress. It made me think about the colour and what mood it creates. Green is supposed to be calm and soothing and represent good luck. But it also represents jealousy, which Briony feels towards Cecilia. This could be the reason the stylist chose this colour, but I think in the context the colour became very sexy and had the same striking effect that a red dress would usually be used for in a film. I found it quite interesting how the colour of the dress seemed to make the scene so much more impactful and memorable.

Antoni Gaudi Architechture- Barcelona

I went to Barcelona over the Summer and found a city full of beautiful, varied architecture and art. The work of Antoni Gaudi can be seen all over the city and his architectural style is admired all over the world for it’s unique and distinctive style. 

I visited Park Guell – a park full of amazing buildings, sculptures, and tile work designed by Gaudi, including his old home, which is hgh above the city with fantastic views.

Antoni Gaudi's past home as Park Guell

Gaudi's work was greatly influenced by natural forms and this is reflected in the curvy shaped stonework, organic-like forms and twisted iron sculptures and also his use of colour- with mosaic tiling. The vibrant colours he uses add another dimension to his architecture which is often overlooked by other architects.

There are also buildings all over the city designed by Gaudi which have his unique style and features. They're really interesting to look at and covered in details. I love how Gauidi goes against architectural trends and rules that have been followed for hundreds of years with his designs being assymetrical in many places. This building looks almost like it's covered in sea urchins and shells and like it's been worn away by the sea in places. It also reminds me of the house in Hansel and Grettle- it looks like it could be made of sweets and biscuits.

Jame's May's Lego House Nobody Wants

I think it's such a shame that this amazing house, made entirely from Lego, is going to be hacked to pieces with chainsaws if nobody wants to give the home a new home.  Around 1,000 volunteers built the 20ft house for James May's new BBC TV Show 'Jame's May's Toy Stories, but the land on which it is built is now needed back by the owner's. The house is free for anyone who wants to pay for it to be moved to their own land but, being made form around 3.3 million plastic lego bricks it probably weighs a few tonnes! 

The house is big enough for fully grown adults to live in comfortably...except everything is made from lego.

The house comes with a fully fitted kitchen and utensils, although using them might be a challenge and also a bathroom with working taps and basin. The house looks like it would be a delight to visit and have a look around and it seems such a waste for it to be knocked down - especially a waste of plastic that will end up in land fill. It must also be a great architechtural achievement- the first bulding made entirely from plastic blocks that require no adhesives, and it looks great too. Much more interesting than clay bricks. I hope someone can give the home a new home and enjoy it.

What the F**k is Social Media!?

I found this slideshow presentation really interesting about social media. Some of the staisitics are really surprising and makes you realise how big social media is these days. I think the future of advertising is going to evolve around social media a lot and be very different to the last century where advertising was mostly print, radio and TV. Social media is very persuasive and feels more trustworthy than a traditional advertisment- it has potential to be a very powerful way to advertise.

What The F**K is Social Media?

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Colourful Portraits

I love these colourful portraits by Francoise Nielly, they're so good I could almost eat them. The colours are so bright and look so juicy they're kind of mouthwatering. I love how she uses colour to portray light tone and shadow and get's it so right, they almost look 3D. I wish I could paint something that looks so messy yet so perfect- something I've alyways tried to do but failed at, with my results either looking too neat or a total mess. It's interesting how she has painted the eyes with more detail than the rest of the portraits so they stand out and stare at you. 

(500) Days of Summer

I went to see (500) days of Summer last week. I was kind of reluctant to go and see it as there was another film I wanted to see on at he cinema and this just looked like another romantic comedy, of which I've watched a lot of recently and none of them have been that great- mostly because they tend to have a little comedy but very little romance. This one was different though. For one thing the characters really had chemistry between them which often lacks in romantci comedies. At first I wasn't keen on the female character, Summer, but then you are shown what the male character, Tom, sees in her and you really want them to get together. I really liked how the film wasn't in chronological order but skipped from different days of the 500 'days of Summer' and this really showed the contrast in how Summer made Tom feel so happy at some points and so low at others. The scenes would skip from when Tom had just broken up with Summer and then back to when he was blissfully happy and vice versa. I also liked the use of animation in the film. There's a scene that combines live action with animation for a scene in Tom's imagination where he's feeling so happy he can see a little blue bird flying around him. There's other interesting scenes using photo slide shows and the live action turning into a sketchy animation too. It all helps to tell the story really well and keep your interest. I thought it was the best, most unique and unpredictable romantic comedy I've seen in a long time and whenever I hear songs from it they make me smile (it had a good soundtrack too). Highly recommended, to girls especially.

Derren Brown- The Events Trailer

A few weeks ago I saw the first advert for Derren Brown's new series on CHANNEL 4. It instantly grabbed my attention just from the mirrored the text on the screen saying the name of the show. It intrigued me to keep watching and it turned out the whole advert was backwards. I thought it was a really clever teaser campaign as it makes you wonder what the advert is about/why it is backwards and you know there will probably be an advert to follow which explains it- which there was: the advert played forwards. I saw another follow up advert today in which Derren Brown claims he is going to predict the lottery live as one of 'The Events'- I didn't think that was such a clever advert- if he could really predict the lottery numbers wouldn't he have won the lottery by now? Hmm.

How will your eyes give you away exactly? New Think! UK Drug Driving Advert

I saw the new Think! Drug Driving advert the other day and I didn't get it. It could be because I don't drug drive or use the drugs that they are referring to but I tried to put myself in the place of a drug user and I really don't think this advert would make me 'think' much about drug driving. I know that drug driving is dangerous and illegal, but if I wasn't already sensible enough to never do it I don't think this advert would really put me off. The oversized eyes of the people in the car are unrealistic so it just makes me think, well, the police aren't really going to be able to see my eyes when I drive past them, as they don't really increase in size like that. Perhaps the tag line 'Your eyes will give you away' is referring to how the police can see the size of your pupils once they've actually pulled you over.  Or perhaps the whole thing is deisgned to cause paranoia in cannabis users, as they will hopefully be too paranoid to drive aftre seeing the ad. I think the whole angle of the advert is wrong though as it only warns you of how you could get caught. There's no mention of the real reason why you shouldn't drug drive, and why it's illegal: because you could kill someone! I just think the advert has no real impact apart from the kind of freaky-looking big eyes, but they just look like a bunch of bush babies in a car.

Use Hearing Protection

I was watching a documentary the other day about the record label Factory Records and it was really interesting, particularly when they talked about the design side of things. They talked about a poster design that has become somewhat iconic and I remembered that I had recently seen a rip off of the poster on a flyer for a local nightclub.

It's amazing that a poster that such a simple poster design is still being copied 30 years later. 

Factory Records was a Manchester based british independant record label and they used a creative team; most notably record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville, which gave the label and their artists, a particular sound and image. Peter Saville is responsible for designing the famous Factory 1 poster and he said he got the idea from a safety sign in a factory that he would wak past everyday at work. With the club being called factory he thought it was relevant so he decided to use it. He had no expreience is designing club promotion posters but designed probably the most famous poster for a club event ever.

The original design still looks modern now.