Whacked – Sopranos Ambient Media

Another fantastic piece of ambient media from a few years ago promoting a new series of the hit American gangster series The Sopranos.

Madelene Bjork Cake Stand - Wieden+Kennedy combine art and product design

This is a cake stand created by the designer Madelene Bjork as part of Wieden+Kennedy’s W10K project in which a group of product designers where given £10,000 that the design agency had won and told to create something that could be sold and make back the £10,000. The cake stand was just one of several products that they came up with and I think it is a brilliant example of looking at an object differently. Normally a cake stand is designed so that you can cut the cake into several even and identical pieces – with this stand however if you follow the cut lines you will cut the cake into several seemingly random pieces, each of which however will have exactly the same quantity.

Another reason I find this cake stand interesting is that it seems to sit in the gray area where art and product design overlap. In reality (or at least in my opinion) it is a little too inpracticle to be strctly considered a piece of product design - if you where to use it at home you would always have to explain that all the pieces of cake where the same size, or if you used it in a cafe the people getting the long thin slices of cake might feel cheated, as if they where getting less than someone with short fat slice. However as it has a clear and obvious role it can it really be considered art either?

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption was originally written as a short story by Stephen King, who is more famous for his horror stories, entitled ‘Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption’. The film, set over 20 years (beginning in 1946) tells the story of a quiet banker Andy Durfresne (played by Tim Robbins) who is sent to the Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and the man she was having an affair with. Whilst in prison Andy meets Morgan Freeman’s character ‘Red’ (who narrates the story brilliantly) and film is about the friendship that build between them and how Andy learns to survive prison life by using his banking skills to help the guards with their tax and business dealings but all the time quietly wishing for his freedom. I wont give away any more of the plot but I would certainly recommend watching this film if you haven’t already seen it, the casting is perfect and you feel genuine compassion for the key characters, I was almost on the end of my seat for the last 20 minutes hoping for a happy end. The story is intelligent and engrossing and I was surprised to hear that it wasn’t a box office hit when first released.

Fight Club – Ikea Scene

Out of all the scenes in the iconic film ‘Fight Club’ the Ikea scene has to be my favourite. In scene Edward Norton’s character narrates about how he has become obsessed with Ikea furniture but it is the editing or postproduction of the scene that really caught my eye, it is designed to ‘look’ like a page from an Ikea catalogue.

Bains and Haslams ‘Type and Typography’

I recently read a copy of Bains and Haslams book ‘Type and Typography’ in which they pointed out that one of the key problems with type is that it can sometimes fail to get across crucial elements of our sound system (such as expressions, gestures, emphasis, age, accents etc) – it ‘irons them out’. Up until this point I had never really seen type as having these effects, however as I began to think about type does loose these vital characteristics that we take for granted in speech. For example we have all received an email, a text message or instant message that we have taken the wrong way or misunderstood because type has ironed expressions. It is interesting to see how the use of ‘smiles’ and expressions such as ‘lol’ have begun to be used in day to written (or typed) correspondence to get round these problems. Bains and Haslam obviously point out that as designers we are normally able to use typography creatively to get around these issues however we do need to be careful to make sure messages aren’t misread.

Another interesting point from the book is that large amounts of black copy on a white background can put a strain on our eyes – for that reason books are often printed on an off white stock.

Design and build your own typeface for free - http://fontstruct.fontshop.com

This is a fantastic new website from FontShop which allows you to design and then build your own unique typeface. Once you have created it you can then download it (both for a Mac and a PC) and share it with other users of the site (you can also search and download theirs). This is a fantastic idea – if you are working on a logo you can create a really unique typeface for a client or if you want a typeface with a really specific look that you just cant find anywhere now you can just build it yourself (and name it after yourself, naturally). I can’t wait to use it in a project!

Visit http://fontstruct.fontshop.com

En Garde Arts Logo

This is the logo for a non-profit street theatre group called En Garde Arts. I’m usually a bit cautious about designers using spray paint stencil effects in logos as sometimes they look a bit like they are trying too hard to be ‘down with the kids’ but this logo has pulled it off brilliantly thanks to some fantastic typography with the ‘e’ ‘g’ and ‘a’.

Curious Pictures

This is the logo for Curious Pictures, a production company that produces adverts and television programs. I really like the way the question mark has been turned around to make a ‘p’ – it’s what makes this logo really special and you can see that a designer has had a real ‘eureka’ moment when they realised it.

Remembrance Sunday Postage Stamp and the D&AD’s

Only two pieces of design received a nomination and none won a highly sort after ‘Black Pencil’ this years D&AD awards which was abit of a shock to the graphic design industry. This stamp to commemorate Remembrance Sunday was one (see my article below for my thoughts on the other) and I personally fell that the judges may have been a little harsh. Even in a year where, allegedly, the quality of entries was so low that only two where deemed good enough to gain a nomination I still feel this graphic was good enough to take home a pencil. It is a simple idea beautifully executed – everything pencil winning design should be. Or at least that’s my opinion anyway – does anybody else have any thoughts?

Vincon Carrier Bags

These bags where one of the two pieces of work to get a nomination in the Graphic Design category for a Black Pencil at this years D&AD’s (see article above). I can see why they didn’t win – it’s not exactly the most original idea to have the handles working as part of the design, but they are really nice pieces and they do have that all important ‘damm, it’s so simple why didn’t I think of that first’ factor.

Jo’s Jewellery Logo

This is a really nice simple logo designed by Pentagram for an independent jewellery designer called Jo Calver. It’s a really nice simple make that both uses the letters of Jo’s name but also the idea of jewellery in an interesting way (the ‘o’ looks like a ring or necklace hanging on the ‘j’).

National Express – Miniature Prices Adverts

This one of a series of new adverts for the National Express promoting the idea miniature prices to destinations such as London and Scotland by using miniature toys. I really these adverts, the use of the stop-fame animation with the miniature characters is brilliant (reminiscent of the Cravendale Milk adverts – I wonder if the when done by the same guys…) and the scripts and fun (again, like the Cravendale adverts…).

Fine Line Features Logo

This is the logo for New York based film production company Fine Line Features. Simple and effective – I love the use of the top of the ‘F’ being made to look like a movie clapperboard.

The V&A Museum of Childhood – More fantastic design from the V&A

After success of their promotional design work for their ‘Uncomfortable truths’ exhibition (the exhibition that explored the links between art and the slave trade – the logo was the coloured ink smudge that resemble an African head in profile) the V&A have again commissioned some fantastic illustration based adverts to promote their museum of childhood. The 70’s colours, fun illustrations and superb copywriting (headlines include ‘get there by train, by bus or by the power of greyskull’ and ‘vintage Barbie dolls, love like a sister, decapitated by a brother’) combine to make some really good posters.

I’ve also heard that they produced a sticker set as a mailer that allows you to create a spaceship from a old bottle – I haven’t seen one of these yet but it’s a brilliant idea for a piece of ambient media.

American Institute of Architects Logo

A very simple but clever mark.

Skittles Advert

This is a nice ad for Skittles which aims to explain where skittles some from – a take on the idea of the Midas touch.

Art and Architecture Logo

This is the logo for the British society Art and Architecture which aims to promote collaboration between artists and architects – a very nice, simple logo, the large black sans-serif ‘A’ representing the architects and the inner white handwritten or serif ‘A’ the artists – both working together to make the design.

www.modernista.com - Website with a difference

We had a freelancer in at work yesterday who showed me this website for an American / Dutch design agency called Modernista that really caught my eye. Most agencies websites act as and online portfolio/list of famous clients/trophy cabinet – Modernista have on the other hand have created a website which is supposed to show what the internet thinks of their company. The best way to understand how it works is to visit the site for yourself - www.modernista.com - but it basically works by having a red navigation in the top left hand corner then when you click on one of the options the website behind the navigation changes, i.e. when you click ‘about’ it takes you to Wikipedia or ‘work’ it takes you to some Flickr pages that have examples of their work. I think it is a really clever idea and show that the agency do things differently and have original ideas – things that as a client you want from your design agency.

There are however a couple of issues with the site – when you go to ‘about’ and it takes you to the Wikipedia page there is a disclaimer at the top from Wikipedia that indicates that they aren’t best pleased about being used like this. I also don’t understand why they have used words like ‘ab.ou.t’, ‘wrk’ or ‘n3wz’. Also, allegedly, the idea isn’t even that original either – apparently it was done by another smaller agency first.

The Modern Flower Co. Carrier Bag

These are some items designed by Multistory as part of their rebranding of a London chain of florists ‘The Modern Flower Co.’. Although the rebrand as a whole looks really nice (the logo set behind a trellis pattern like a flower growing is fantastic) it is the bag that really caught my eye – I like the way that instead of the rope for the handle being hidden inside the bag it weaves in and out of the wall of the bag like a green plant growing up the trellis.

KFC Finger Lickin’ – New print campaign for KFC based on it’s old strap line

Even thought the company haven’t used the strap line for a few years when you think of KFC you still think ‘Finger licking good’ – this is the key idea or concept behind this eye catching new print campaign for fast food company. The design agency BBH have taken the different items for the KFC menu and made pictures out of them using finger paint. I really the bright, friendly and fun look of the ads, they really stand out from the usual fast food adverts which are just a photos of a large greasy burger and fries. Creative Review slightly spoilt the ads for me though by suggesting that the pictures could possibly look as if they hands made greasy from eating a KFC meal…