notgoinganywhere.co.uk

This is a really clever campaign that has been launched in the last few weeks by Ikea. I saw the TV advert first, and immediately liked the thinking that had gone behind it. The line that they are using is that home is “more than a roof over your head”, this is something that people can sympathise with, and strikes a chord with everyone.

The website is based on a very simple, yet fantastic idea; instead of putting signs up to say your house is for sale, you create one that shows that your not going anywhere. This is one that at the moment is one that has mainly taken off in London, where estate agents frequently contact homeowners on the most saleable streets. Whilst on the surface it doesn’t advertise Ikea’s products, it does sell the idea that ikea can help you transform a building into a home.

I can’t seam to find a copy of the advert online, but one thing I remember is it’s clever use of motion type. It also used words such as “Is your house perfect? Or is it real, and still perfect?” This is a campaign that appears on the surface to have a lot of potential and I look forward to see how this works out.

Penguin, "We print the words you do the covers" some of the results

I have been checking back onto this website since I first posted about this initiative. Here are a few of my favorite covers from the 'online gallery'. I think most if not all rival what is currently on the shelves at the moment. They are all very different in style and some of those that have been done for the same title could not be more dissimilar. This shows how people can react differently to the same novel, I love this idea and the results that it has created.

What I loved by Siri Hustvedt - Book cover

When I saw this cover, my thoughts immediately went to a sex in the city style novel, but from the reviews I have read this is not exactly how it is. Geraldine Bedell writing in the Observer said "Her characters inhabit a rarefied world of SoHo art galleries and universities and are so preoccupied with interpreting their lives that you wonder how they manage to live them." This is not what I would instantly link with the cover art, however I can see that it does have a certain reflective element about it. I do like the style and way that the title has been incorporated into the artwork, however, from what I have found out it doesn't lead you into the story as well as some of the other covers I have mentioned.

Then we came to the end, Joshua Ferris, book cover

This very familiar imagery automatically makes you think of an office environment. From finding out what I can about this novel, I can't think of a much more appropriate way to communicate the story's plot. The book's centre is a Chicago ad agency at a time when the industry was undergoing massive change into the digital era and job losses were following as a result. One book review picked up that it was created in a similar style to the office, it drew you into the lives of fictional characters, but ones that you could actually see alot of people you knew reflected within. Although the post it note style has been used a lot in the past, I have not seen it so frequently on book covers. On top of this from what I have read it is a very suitable way to set the tone of the book which is ultimately what the cover sets out to do.

Another Orange advert

I can't as of yet find a video to include of this Orange advert, but from the image above you can see the gist of how it is created. This is another way of achieving animation, often one that people have been aware of since they were children and therefore can be overlooked. I like the simplicity that this advert shows, its the one that orange is famous for. I am not sure if the main animation has actually been created by a flick book way, but the idea and concept behind it is the bit I like. It creates a personal feeling to the advert, whilst I have to say I am not over keen on the actual content of the advert, I thought it was worth mentioning purely for a technique purpose.

Their eyes were watching god,

I saw this on my housemates course book shelf and instantly I wanted to know what the book had to say. The cover graphics, whilst not shocking or overly innovative work well and look good with the typography that is also on the front. My first thoughts were that it had a very balanced and reflective quality about it, like you sere seeing an image of how the main character felt not looked, I think it was this that made me curious in the first place. From what I have been told and found out from skim reading the first chapter or so, the plot is about the main character Janie who is recounting the events from the last twenty of her life; This obviously is where the very reflective character pose came from. The one thing that did confuse me slightly was that very peaceful images had been shown in colors which are normally associated with danger. This is also something that is a theme within the book.

This cover uses a different technique to simply showing a scene or character from the book, in my opinion it shows a feeling and a theme. The fact that this can be communicated to the author before they even open the book is something I find really interesting, its something that has a large amount of potential for future work.

Lloyds TSB Advert

I like this advert and concept. Its something that doesn't necessarily relate to the bank until you see the end. I like this technique, in a similar way to the Alfa advert someone commented on in their blog last week, it allows you to be pulled into the visuals and music. By the time you get to the end you are actually quite curious about what it is promoting. The animator Marc Craste has created a really stylized scene and characters. It flows well and doesn't over complicate things. Its an interesting direction for a bank to go in but one I think that is quite successful.

Targeted TV Adverts

I saw this advert for the first time last night on TV. Aside from the fact that its a good example of Chanel successfully creating a glossy luxurious advert that will not look out of place either now or at christmas, I also noticed something else. There were two guys and three females in the room at the time, both the lads after commenting on how good looking she was weren't that interested. All of the females however were more captivated by the advert and the product they were selling. I actually asked the people I was sitting with after what they thought of it, both guys said it was boring and not remotely appealing, where as the rest of us were really attracted to it. I know this in itself is not conclusive, but it was interesting to see how we all reacted to an advert none of us had seen before, when we weren't deliberately trying to form an opinion (as you do in a focus group for example). I think this is a case where they know so clearly who their target audience is they are able to design an advert that appeals directly to them. Whilst its something we all try to do, seeing this made me realize how much impact it can have if done successfully. I guess its a good example of the fact you don't have to be worried about alienating some people, in order to reach your desired customers.

Orange TV Adverts

I have really mixed feelings about these Orange adverts. There are some things that I admire such as the fact that it has an amateur and slightly theatrical feel. I also like the fact that they have taken this through to the accompanying music so that it all fits in with the concept. On the other hand there is just something that doesn’t seam as dramatic as you would expect. The only thing I can put this down to is fact that, it doesn’t have as much impact as much as Orange’s preceding adverts. I know that this is an unusual standard to judge it from, but I can’t help but do so given the company’s track record. It is in a similar way to the Sony Bravia adverts, since the success of the first the second has so much more to live up to. The same is true here, I have included two of my favourite past Orange adverts bellow. It may just be me who thinks this but whilst the current campaign is good, it is not in the same class as the other two campaigns.

Toyo Ito

I am relatively late in discovering the wonders of Toyo Ito the Japanese Architect and Designer, but simply looking at his work you can’t deny his creativity. I found out about this architect when I was investigating the architect behind the VivoCity building in Tokyo (below). This is one of Toyo Ito’s most famous designs.












The more I investigate this building the more that it intrigues me. According to their website “ The name ‘VivoCity’ is derived from the word ‘Vivacity’, evoking a lifestyle experience that is modern stimulating and accessible to everyone”. When you think about this as a type of mission statement for the building, I don’t think they could have selected a better design for the Singapore Construction. From what I can discover without having visited it myself, this building has everything. The 1.5m square foot area that it covers it contains event spaces, promenades, cinemas, shopping and food courts, gyms, a spa, living space etc, the list appears to be endless. The intertwining lines that are both an internal and external design feature make you feel that this is a fun place to live, work and relax, the whole thing screams confidence and playfulness.

This isn’t by any means the first of Ito’s constructions to reach the headlines. The design that drew him into the limelight was Sendai Mediathique. This is another multifunction building but this is done in a different almost more spiritual way. The large open spaces were created to allow a variety of exhibits and events and allow the Mediathique to continually evolve.

Another building I want to mention is his famous ‘Tower of Winds’ which was built in 1986. It’s primary function was to disguise a ventilation tower for an underground shopping centre in Yokohama, Tokyo. Toyo Ito transformed the solely functional construction into a design feature with his innovative ideas. In the day it appears to be an opaque tower (with mirrored plates and aluminium shielding the lights within).


At night this building comes to life, a computer programme controls the ring of neon lights surrounding the tower and allows it to respond to noises and movement from the city above. Technically I am not certain how they accomplished this, but the result is so peculiar and interesting I became less interested in finding out everything about its construction and more interested in finding images of it.


Then there was the Serpentine Pavilion in London, which was constructed in 2002. This is constructed within the grounds of The Serpentine Gallery, the idea of this pavilion was to create a space to be used for anything from film screenings and special programs to a café. It may not be the largest scale of his designs, but I love the lines and spaces that it creates, its hardly what you would call your standard café!

The final design that I want to mention is his design proposal for the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House. Toyo Ito himself said that ““Architecture has to follow the diversity of society, and has to reflect that a simple square or cube can’t contain that diversity.” The building is scheduled for completion in 2009, if the final result comes close to these proposal images, I think it could be a really fascinating place to visit.



I have spent a long time investigating and exploring the work of Toyo Ito. The buildings that I have mentioned are simply some of my favorites, there are many more equally impressive ones around. More than anything I love the creativity that this work shows, you can tell that each design grows from it’s surroundings and is designed to best suit the purpose. I can now understand why this Japanese Artist/Architect is considered “one of the world’s most innovative and influential Architects” (Designboom/Wikipedia)

FunkyLittleDarlings.co.uk

I first heard about this design service in the Sunday Times Style magazine. It was founded by Mandy Colliss and David Quinton (former toy and Graphic Designers). The company evolved after the couple discovered the surprising lack of uncheesy wallpapers available for kids. “The idea is that parents send ideas and photos of their children and we create a bespoke picture”. This is often personalized even further when they add characters or imaged based on the child into the design for them to discover.

I think it’s a fantastic idea, I remember when I was younger wanting something bright and dramatic on my walls and my mum begging me to change my mind into something that I would like for longer that a week. Whilst these dramatic designs don’t totally eliminate this possibility, the fact that they are designed specifically to suit both the child and the adults commissioning it does reduce this chance. Its like having a large (but more permanent) picture painted for your wall, it is something that will always remain unique to you.

Tilt-Shift Photography (making reality into a toy town)

I read an article earlier from today’s Telegraph Magazine called “Postcards from Toytown”. The subject of this was the 29 year old Tokio artist Naoki Honjo and the way that he uses the technique ‘Tilt-Shift photography’ to create almost fake looking images from everyday scenes. The article quotes the artist as saying “It’s nothing special in terms of technique, its just a way of controlling the focus” I had never heard of this term before but I have since looked it up on the internet and found that it is not an uncommon or new thing. From what I can gather it requires the image sensor to be moved from the normal right angle with the lens, this alters the perspective and focus of the image, hence creating a toytown effect out of everyday life.

The effect is really unusual, you find yourself studying the images really closely to try and work out if the seemingly lego world your seeing could actually be real. Here are a few scans out of the article, I find this fascinating, I don’t think I have ever fully appreciated the number of different things that can be achieved with a camera and without photoshop.

The Difference in Guidebooks

Whilst I was dreaming of my next holiday I will probably never afford, I started looking through the guidebooks in our house. I don’t think I ever really appreciated the huge differences between the companies, I was naive enough to assume that one book was pretty much the same as another. I couldn’t have been more wrong, some go through describing a place initially by words without a single photographic prompt, where as others feel more like a printed slide show. On reflection I can see why each company has decided to do things differently, as otherwise each book would become (as I originally thought) a clone of the other.

The other thing that I noticed was that whilst each book had spent some time working on the cover, none of them appeared to consider the content layout of the book to be of particular importance. I find this really odd, you expect to feel seduced into visiting all the exotic places on each page. Instead I found myself thinking, “why did they try and put so much on one page I’m getting a headache”. Obviously I am making a very general and biased overview here, but from the 7 different companies books that I looked at, not one of them really looked as if it had been designed. So just a thought, if anyone does know of any good guidebook companies that make their books enjoyable not a chore to read, please do let me know.

Edit: I have since found a book by Alistair Sawdays that does exactly what I was struggling to find before. Also I really liked the bit in the front of the book where it basically said, if you don’t agree with what is written here, let us know, we don’t claim to be objective, this is a book on our opinion and experiences and it wouldn’t be a very good guide book if it wasnt. (I am paraphrasing as I can’t find the book at the moment)

Raise Them on Robinsons

I remember commenting on this TV advert (above) on Holly’s Blog just after it had come out. At the time I thought that it was a very clever way of marketing their drinks to children, but bypassing all the new legislation and laws that have been put in place to prevent this. The “Raise them on Robinsons” line is indicative of a parental audience, as is the website contents and the placement of the press ads. On the other hand if you took out this line and replaced the nutritional information on the website with a game or picture to colour, it would look anything but out of place.



My cynicism aside, I do really like this campaign. It has a fresh feeling to both the graphics and the music surrounding it. At the time when the first TV advert was released, the press ads and website had still to be launched. Now that they have you can see that throughout this has been a well thought out and planned campaign. It defiantly feels like it belongs together as all the components serve to remind you of another. My personal favourite is the No artificial colourings adverts shown bellow. It such a simple way of doing it, yet it makes you smile and draws attention to the point well. Overall I have to say I admire the Robinson’s campaign for finding it’s way round what could otherwise be a very difficult problem. I wonder if we will see more companies being forced approach marketing this way in the future.

CocaCola

I love the latest CocaCola advert, it has such a tangible feel of celebration and joy, it makes even me, who can’t stand the drink, tempted into their world. CocaCola is probably one of the most recognised and powerful brands, it must be hard in a way to know what to do next to build on their brand image. Both the website and the advert combine a mixture of graphical styles, from animation, to 3D modelling to photography, so often when you try and do multiple things the end product ends up suffering and not benefiting, thankfully for CocaCola, this is not true here.

The Advert works with the enchanting music to build up anticipation in their fantasy “world of CocaCola”. One thing that struck me when I first saw it was how clever it was from a marketing perspective. With all the legislation and rules surrounding advertising to children, and Coke’s brand image of being more of a young adult’s soft drink, it was never going to target it’s campaign specifically to kids. Having said this the animated style and fairytale like music would not isolate this audience sector either, i.e it’s customers of the future.



The website (http://www.coca-cola.com) is built on a very light hearted plane. There are interactive parts where you are able to create your own image to be left in “the coke side of life” gallery and also a bit which allows you to “discover the happiness” factory behind the advert. Apart from the expected Christmas advert, I don’t really remember that much self publicity launched by CocaCola recently. With this in mind, there was no guaranteeing that “Happiness Factory” campaign would be received well by the public, but from what I have seen this ‘invitation’ into their world has been a definite success.

Pathway, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds

Even the most mundane everyday things can be made a bit more interesting through design.....

Brylcream, Effortless

I have just seen an advert for Brylcreem on TV and surprisingly it has not yet found it’s way onto you tube. It is a clever sequence advert that whilst it shows the product, it doesn’t specifically focus on this. Instead as Honda, Skoda and many others have famously done, it sells an idea; this time the concept is “effortless”. I think this is likely to work well, obviously it is hard to predict the success of any campaign, but given the music, the style and idea, it will go down well with it’s target audience.


The advert can be seen on their website http://www.brylcreem.co.uk. This incidentally is one of the best websites that I have seen for this young but broad target audiences. The style is contrasting to the advert but there are small things like the sketched old style tv and the competitions that they have run to get the public’s take on the concept ‘Effortless’. I really hope that this is a success as it is one of the better pieces of marketing I have seen targeted at the student type age range in the past few years.

Barbie exhibit Prague

This exhibition really is amazing for anybody who does or ever has liked Barbie dolls. It takes up a whole floor of Prague’s Toy Museum and showed not only the changing fashion of Barbie’s costumes over the years, but also less common ones that had been designed by famous names in the industry. I love the amount of detail and care that has gone into making these costumes. You can really see someone like Kyle wearing these in a show, they are the ultimate in showgirl glamour.





While I was looking for these photos, I also noticed following one which I took in Capri, (Italy) last year. I liked the way that the dolls had been used to show the creative glamour that the shop's clothes displayed.

Shop Window Displays

Shop window design is something that if you do it right can be talked of for years, for example most people will remember of the following design by Thomas Heatherwick Studios, even though it was done years ago.


Although not quite on the same scale, I came across these photos that I took of window displays in Paris years ago.





















I think this is a really interesting area of design as people can do anything from the predictable to the outrageous, and in many ways they can be as creative as they like. The photo below is from the Londonist’s review of the 2005 Selfridges Christmas display.


One thing that I can’t help but notice is that both the Prada photo (which was taken 7 years ago) and the more recent Selfridges display would both look striking if seen today, it just shows how good design will always look just that.

Elemore Leonard UK book covers

These are book covers designed by Tim Marrs for Elmore Leonard’s UK released books. They stood out when I was looking round a bookshop at the various covers, not because they were the most modern, nor because they were the most innovative. These stand out because of the attention and detail that has obviously gone into their creation.

I have not actually read any of the books myself so can’t vouch for if they are designed to specifically relate to the plot. However, given the differences between the covers I think it’s fair to assume that they are. These illustrations are of a style that is quite popular with a number of artists, yet they are well considered and created, and also very appropriate for the type of crime and mystery genre that Elmore Leonard writes in.

The illustrators personal website is also something I want to mention. It is a well-designed portfolio; its not too complicated, but everything from the page list to the background shows part of his individual style. If you are interested in illustration, it my be worth looking at. http://www.timmarrs.co.uk/

Fresh Magazine

This may seam like an odd inclusion, but there is one design feature of this magazine that I really like, it’s use of colour.


If you look at the covers above, they are all remarkably similar in layout, typeface selection and style (if anything they fall into the magazine cover trap of being too crowded). In fact apart from the image on the front, the only thing that really differentiates the covers is the colour scheme. I have known a few magazines to have a palate of colours in which the title is selected from, but here the colours appear to be taken according to what fits the image best.

The same can be said for the inside of the magazine. Below are three articles from different issues, in all of them the way that both the title and subtitle colours have come out of the main photo or theme is striking.































Whilst this may not be a truly fascinating and innovative aspect to design, I have noticed that when you are flicking through the pages, none of the spreads seam to clash or compete. They are all designed in the way that is most appropriate for the photo or subject matter. As I said other publications have done a similar thing in the past, however, in this case it really works without diluting the appearance of the magazine. As with the covers, you could take off the title and still tell that they are part of a set, the colour is not needed to reinforce this. Even though it is a small thing, it has made me realise that in something like a magazine or brochure; it is less important to have a set of ‘brand colours’ and more that each page looks appealing and well designed.

Borders as a Museum?

I was looking through my notes other day and came across the bit where Mike Sheedy had listed Tescos as a Packaging exhibition. Using this same principal, for the most recent book cover design, surely there can be no better place than a bookshop. I know this may sound obvious, but its too often the case for me that when I’m struggling to come up with something innovative and new, I tend to forget the most basic and simple things. So just to jog my memory in the future, there is no better place to explore book cover design (except maybe a library)

Susan Howatch, The Rich are Different

I read this novel first about a year ago, but have just got hold of the sequel so decided to reread it and refresh my memory. ‘The Rich are Different’ tells the story of Paul Van Zale, (an incredibly rich investment banker) and other key characters whose lives coincide with his New York world. The novel is split into five sections with each of these being told through a different character in the book. This is quite a common and clever feature of Susan Howatch’s writing, as just when you are becoming involved with a character and their story, you switch and see it from another perspective. The result of this is that although you begin the story seeing the world as Paul does, you finish with a far more rounded view of the society he was in and also a hint to the repercussions of his actions. The book is set around the time of the 1929 wall street crash and through it you get a hint of just how the economy may have failed at this time.

I enjoyed reading this book the first time, and even more the second, but right at the beginning I was reminded of something I said when I lent it to my sister; Stick with it, the beginning may seam dull but it is important and when you get past the first 30 pages you will be gripped. In a strange way this book seamed to take longer to read than most, it wasn’t that I was less interested in the plot or that I was bored etc. It was more that each sentence is packed with so many words and so much information, it takes longer to digest. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, it may not be ideal for those that prefer magazines to books as you do have to persist with it in places, but when you finally get into it, its well worth the wait.

Shrek Three

Shrek 3 as the title suggests, is the latest instalment of this Disney Series. I had seen both of the previous movies so was determined to see the latest when it was at the cinema. My overriding view of this film is that whilst it appears to have all of the ingredients to make the film successful, the same characters and, the witty lines and improved animation from it’s predecessors, there still seams to be something missing. At first I couldn’t put my finger on what this was, however having thought about it a bit more, I can only come up with one criticism; the plot doesn’t really progress that much from the second movie. This storyline is incredibly similar, and whilst it does have new cast additions and different aspects to it, there’s no doubt that it feels slightly déjà vu at times.

Despite this, I have to say I did really enjoy this film, we went to the cinema as a group of four and all of us came out with slightly different opinions. One said it was the best Shrek film so far, another that one was still her favourite, one that couldn’t choose and me who whilst I enjoyed it, I still prefer the second.

With regards to the design or technical part of the movie, the animation in this film is fantastic. Everything within it is has been made to look as realistic as possible, without actually breaking into photographic filming with special effects. Animated films have come a long way since the first Disney films and even since those techniques used in Wallace and Gromit. With this in mind, I can’t wait to see the results that this industry can generate in the next few years.